Eating Abroad: How To Find Balance On The Road.
Backpacking is hard enough. It tests you in ways you could never imagine. When you take an open-ended backpacking trip you will inevitably navigate foreign land surrounded by strangers who don’t speak a lick of your language. You will feel lost at times, lonely, hungry, thirsty, emotionally pushed to your limits and you will be without your favorite snack.…yeah, hanger is a real thing. So why make it all harder for yourself?
Imagine this: *You get off the bus in a small town in Colombia, it’s a scorching 95 degrees outside and you’re starving, exhausted, and sick of schlepping your 60 liter backpack. The mid afternoon sun is beaming down on you as beads of sweat roll into your eyes. You’re haven’t eaten since the early morning and you don’t know where you’re sleeping that night. You need food in your belly before you search for a hostel. Food is calling your name. But you’re vegan, by choice. You search and search, scanning down street after street with no sign of a vegan option, only cheese empanadas. You’e been living off of exotic Costa Rican fruits for the past month so your’e craving a papaya. You can’t find one. With no tienda’s in sight where you could at least get some pretzels, you finally spot a street vendor in the near distance. You approach the vendor in hopes of sinking your teeth into fresh delicious vegan food, maybe a few ears of corn or some yucca fries. You confidently approach the man behind the steaming cart. As it turns out he is frying up plantains and you order 10 of them, turning down the delicious dairy-based yogurt sauce that accompanies it. You find a small stoop to sit on and munch on the plantains that were just fried in mystery oil. It’s delicious but quite dry because you turned down the sauce. You finish your “meal” but it leaves you feeling parched and for some reason you just aren’t satisfied. The lack of protein and amino acids leave you sluggish as you continue on with your day.*
^That was me 3 years ago on my first ever backpacking trip. This true story along with many situations like that made me one stressed out vegan - more stressed than I should have ever been! During this time I was a new vegan having just watched the horrifying documentaries on Netflix and convinced that plants were sufficient enough for me to sustain life.
Now don't get me wrong, I admire veganism and I myself eat a diet comprised mainly of vegan food. I buy vegan products and it sickens me how factory farm animals can be mistreated. However during this trip I let my extremism get the best of me despite my opportunity to eat fresh, local, sustainable, delicious (and still healthy) food made from scratch by locals who really know how to cook. Instead, I resorted to fruit and peanut butter, became malnourished, lost weight and eventually became ill.
Food is an important part of travel and I believe it is integral to sink your teeth into the flesh of wherever you are, literally. International travel is an opportunity to open up, expand your horizons and try new things. It’s a chance to step outside of yourself. You may only be there once in your entire, so why create needless boundaries?
Here is another story: *A week prior to my plantain experience I was sitting in the city square of Cartagena on a Friday night with a group of backpackers I befriended on the ferry ride over the day before from Panama. The smell of BBQ filled our nostrils as street vendors began to grill burgers besides us. Of course everyone in the group ordered a fat juicy burger except for me. I was stuck with fries, because that was all I told myself I could eat. They munched and moaned over what they referred to as “the best burger they have ever had” as juice from the patty dripped down their chins. My subconscious jealously skyrocketed as I began to consciously resent every one of them for being “ignorant” and “uneducated” about the impact of meat consumption on themselves, the animals, and the planet, turning over my pent up frustration on to them. But then that anger turned into resentment towards…ME. I felt stupid in that moment for having such a narrow mind regarding food and even more stupid for building a wall around myself during this time of my life where I should be exploring. In that moment my self-pity reached it’s limit and I wanted to break down that wall and end my 8 month vegan streak but I knew that a greasy burger would make me vomit since I hadn’t consumed meat in so long. So I persevered and continued to nibble on my fries.*
^Since this break-through of mine, I began incorporating quality meats and cheeses into my travels, balanced out with the typical vegan food I normally eat at home, such as greens, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds. And because of this, my openness to try new things and my limitless potential to experience foods I have never eaten, have exponentially heightened my overall enjoyment of travel.
A paleo diet is restricting as well, along with other fad diets which are fine when you’re at home however I suggest you drop it when you’re on the road. Why? Because you can always come back home and pick up where you left off. Food is an important element in travel, and can make for the best memories.
Throughout my most recent backpacking trip through the Balkans, I met a few vegans. Two of them were new vegans who reminded me a lot like myself on my first backpacking trip. I could sense their tension. They complained how “hard it was” to travel through the Balkans on a vegan diet (which is nearly impossible). One of them even remarked “That smells SO good,” when my lamb dish came to the table. An extreme (and new) vegan I met in Greece was restricted to only one restaurant throughout her week in the village I stayed in, and honestly her restaurant wasn’t that good. I could tell she wasn’t too happy, plus she got salty towards me when I refused her offer to join her for dinner one night.
That being said, whatever you eat - you must always be careful with the food you eat, anywhere you go. If you’re going to Italy for only a week, go ahead and splurge on all the gelato, pasta and meat you can handle, eat it all - ALL OF IT! However if you’re in Italy for an entire month, go inevitably crazy for the first week and then slow it down a bit. When you travel you tend to eat foods that are heavier than foods you normally eat. You must find balance. Be mindful of your consumption quantities and try not to over-do it. You eyes are always bigger than your stomach when you travel, at least mine are. When I was in Italy I ate a substantial amount of dairy in literally every meal. In the States I rarely consume dairy. So what happened? Two weeks into dairy-city I got sick!
That is why I have created a set of key points for eating abroad. Think of this as your “10 Conscious Commandments to Keeping a Healthy Body and Mind”:
1. If a healthcare professional has not assigned a specific diet for you to overcome a dis-ease in your body, do NOT create one for yourself. If you find yourself depriving yourself of food that would otherwise be perfectly healthy for you, ask yourself “Why.” *If you are a veteran vegan who will never cheat on your diet and you know ahead of time where to eat or you bring your own food for a trip abroad, then great!* Otherwise, why even bother going to places that you know won’t accommodate you? There are no vegetables in Albania.
2. When you deprive yourself from experiencing foods, you miss out on the true authentic local flavors. There truly are incredible foods out there in this world,
3. When you deprive yourself of certain foods, especially in countries that eat mostly those foods you deprive yourself of, you risk malnourishment and your chance of becoming sick increases.
4. When you deprive yourself of certain foods you miss out on social memories. Eating is a social experience. If you don’t have an allergy or a sensitivity to something, just eat it. It will bond you closer to people.
5. When you deprive yourself of foods, stress may (and most likely will) accumulate, even on the subconscious level. The stress / resentment towards yourself or others in regards to eating a particular food will bottle up inside you, hence creating a tensified aura around you.
6. Always bring vegan probiotics when traveling abroad. Heavy foods can create mucus in your GI tract and the mucus producing areas in your body will follow suit, including sinuses and ears.
7. Do your best to eat light and clean meals on days in between large and heavy meals. Get a juice. Buy a smoothie. Eat some fruit. Cleanse yourself from time to time on long trips to prevent sickness and built up mucus.
8. Exercise! You gotta do more than just walk. Wake up early and jog around the city center, or find a park to do yoga in. Maybe find a conducive space in your hostel or place of stay to do some push-ups, squats, lunges, and other bodyweight exercises that can get your heart-rate up and your body moving. Swimming is also a great exercise. Your body is your vehicle, take care of it! I am a big advocate for meditation as well.
9. Drink clean water. This may be my most important commandment of all. Water quality varies by country so please do your homework and know when you need to buy bottled water. In Central and South America water it is not advised to drink water straight from the tap. South-Eastern European countries also have sketchy tap water. I got sick in Albania from drinking their tap water. When you brush your teeth rinse your mouth with bottled water. Avoid iced drinks and ice cubes including iced coffee and teas. And beware of people selling bottled water on the streets that were previously opened and filled with tap water (this scam happens more so than one might think), so always check the seal before purchasing.
10. Life with NO REGRETS. Eat with NO GUILT.
In conclusion, balance balance balance. Aim for the middle path. Too much or too little of one thing can create an imbalance in your health. If you are vegan it is possible to life a vegan lifestyle at home and cheat a little on the road to experience a place more fully. There is nothing wrong with some flexibility, even if it’s one or two bites. I just want YOU to experience the most out of life. :)
