5 Myths that you can’t travel with Food Reactions or Chronic Health Issues + Reasons that just AIN'T TRUE!

Life with chronic health issues and food restrictions can be SO limiting and TIRING! You might be wondering if traveling is possible. Like what if I don’t find food? Will I have fun? What if I get sick? What if it’s stressful? What if I have a flare-up of symptoms? These are valid worries that I’ve felt. But then I went out and experienced travel for myself. So here’s my journey of addressing these worries...

Myth #1 - “I won’t find food I can eat.”

In Athens, Greece, I found sheep milk ice cream!

You’re not crazy for feeling this. This is a reasonable thing to fear. This is what led me to do a “test-run” of long-term travel before quitting my job and traveling for a year. It can be daunting to travel knowing that there are certain foods or ingredients you need to avoid. Finding food while on a restrictive diet can seem like a paralyzing task anywhere in the world. Needing to avoid certain food creates a challenge but not an impossibility. 

I am allergic to gluten and wheat. I am extremely intolerant to dairy, soy, and corn, and I am sensitive to 20+ other foods. I’m not going to lie, it can be a challenge. I’ve had moments where I’ve gone into restaurants and stores without finding any food I can eat and walked out crying. I’ve walked through amazing foodie cities with my mouth watering, knowing full-well that I couldn’t try the local cuisine because it wasn’t safe for me. 

But I’ve also had moments where I found that the world was my oyster because I could eat almost anything I wanted to without fear. I’ve visited countries fully expecting to cook all of my own meals, and then suddenly found restaurants and cafes that were completely safe. I’ve found the joy of scouring local markets for alternative ingredients for local cuisines, and then replicating local recipes so I could try my own version of the local dishes that I would have never thought of if I had just stayed home.

I’ve had to learn to compromise, to be adaptable and let my expectations go. But the joys and experiences I’ve had taking the leap of travel has filled my life with joy and made every food victory taste just a little bit sweeter.

Myth #2 - “It won’t be fun to travel with health issues.”

This one depends on your mindset and your attitude, not on whether you have food reactions and chronic health issues or not. I’ve traveled with a bad attitude and had no fun at all. I've traveled with adventurous excitement and had the best time of my life. The time in my life that I had no fun at all traveling, I was only gluten-free. The times that changed my life have been when I was reacting to over 30+ foods and had chronic migraines. Attitude is key! In life there will always be something to complain about, but that doesn’t mean you have to! You get to choose how you live, react to situations and see the world around you. It’s important to choose a positive mindset! When you do this you might even find that you react less to food and have better health. Prepare for travel by mediating regularly, journaling through your fears, and talking to a friend. You will be alright!

Myth #3 - “It will be too stressful.”

Life demands a lot from us. New environments can be stressful, but at the same time they are an opportunity to let go of the stress of our normal lives. Letting go of the normal routines and busyness can lower stress by removing some of the demands on our plate. Life shouldn’t be only these things. It’s good to try new things, rest, have fun. I’ve found travel is actually when I experience my best health because home is where the most stress is for me, and a break can actually put me ahead. Plan the details out: accomodations, long distance transportation, restaurants, markets, and daily transportation. Know the sites you want to see. But keep it simple! You don't have to have every minute of your trip planned out, and you probably don’t need to hit every place on some guidebook’s “Must See” list. Let yourself take long walks. Explore. Sit on a park bench with a tea or coffee and soak in the city. Go to a cafe and sit for hours over your meal. Travel doesn’t have to be complicated and at a rapid pace, you enjoy it more if it’s not.

Myth #4 - “I'll get more sick.”

Swinging on the edge of a volcano in Baños, Ecuador!

The reality is that you might get sick while traveling, it’s always a possibility. You could get sick at home too. Germs are everywhere. But if you are taking steps to build your immune system and working on healing, you can feel confident in your body. I don’t want to stay home anymore and let life slip by unlived, things unlearned, sites unseen, and people unmet. Adventurous souls like us are meant to be exploring, discovering, learning, meeting, seeing the world. We aren’t meant to be cooped up at home. I remember walking into someone’s house in my home city and finding the husband sitting on the ground and the wife on the chair. Neither of them talking or knowing what to do with each other, their children running around and they looked dazed out from life, like life had left them behind. They didn’t look or seem happy with their life at that point, but they were “comfortable” instead. They said they were hiding from a flu going around the city. But honestly my husband and I have found them in the same place every time we visit. 

Remember this: You get to choose how you live your life. Yes, leaving home has some risk involved. For me, it’s scarier to stay home. 

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Myth #5 - “Staying home will help me manage any flare-ups better.”

I, of course, don’t know what your exact health issues are and how bad your symptoms are when you have a flare-up. What I also can not say is that you won’t have a flare up while traveling. It is always a possibility. I’ve experienced a flare-up of my autoimmune symptoms while traveling. Was it annoying? Yes. Was I alright? Also, yes. It happens.  So I can’t say with all certainty that it is ok for you to travel without knowing your unique situation. But I can say that having a flare-up of symptoms while traveling is not the end of the world. And it honestly doesn’t feel any different if I have a flare at home in the US or if I have a flare-up while traveling in a foreign country. But what does matter is how I prepared for the possibility of having a flare-up. This applies to at home in the US or overseas. Preparation is key. Make sure you have a clean and safe kitchen to cook your foods in, have a comfortable bed to sleep and rest in and get adequate amount of sleep, plan out a schedule that doesn’t overwhelm you, figure out transportation options, know where hospitals and pharmacies are located in case you need them, have someone with you that knows your unique case to help you when you need it. These are tips you can use anywhere in the world. Don’t let fear stop you. You will probably have a flare-up at some point and it could be anywhere. I always recover, usually within a few hours or sometimes in a few days, rarely it’s weeks. I prefer to spend time around those flare-ups doing something I love and seeing places that breath life into me, rather than being at home alone, watching tv.