Here are a few very simple GAPS “hacks” if you are traveling while on the GAPS diet.
While traveling may never be optimal on the GAPS diet, it will likely happen at some point, especially if you are on the diet for a long period of time. I would always recommend full GAPS for travel, if at all possible, since it has a great deal more leeway and food options. If you are on the Intro diet, stage 4-6 are more ideal when it comes to travel. If travel can be avoided in the early stages of Intro I would always recommend that.
- One of my favorite hacks is for dairy. Ferments are a big deal on GAPS and a necessary component. It isn’t always possible to take your fermented foods with you when you travel so here is a good hack for dairy:
When you arrive at your destination, find the best option of full fat, plain yogurt, sour cream, kefir or creme fraiche at a store. Ideally, the label should list milk and cultures. Bring it back to your home and place it on the counter for an additional 24 hours. Once the 24 hours have passed, place the dairy into the fridge and consume. This ensures the lactose in the dairy is fully gone and makes it GAPS-legal. If possible, it is good to place it in a glass container to sit on the counter. Plastic can leach many chemicals and when you are in the early stages of healing it is always ideal to limit as many additional toxins and chemicals as possible.
2. If you are flying – you can bring food through security and onto the plane. We have traveled on a plane once while on GAPS and I prepared chicken ahead of time as well as prosciutto to eat during the flight. It is easy to pack fruit, veggies, hard boiled eggs, GAPS-legal cheeses and dried fruit for snacking.
I’ve also had a client travel on the early stages of Intro. She got really creative. She shredded chicken from stock ahead of time. She wanted to bring her own meat stock and purchased thermoses to keep the meat stock frozen in her checked bag. This allowed her to have food when she arrived so she didn’t have to run strait to the store and spend a few hours making food. She said it worked well for her despite being a lot of prep work.
There are all kinds of travel food warmers available out now as well as really well made thermoses that can keep food warm for long periods of time. Some of these travel food warmers really make it easy. You just premake the meals, freeze them and warm them just by plugging them in.
3. In a pinch, most grocery stores will have a GAPS-legal option for sauerkraut. Be sure you get one in the refrigerated section. Grocery stores will also likely carry pre-made hard boiled eggs, GAPS-legal cheeses, prosciutto and even a rotisserie chicken. Obviously, purchasing a rotisserie chicken that is warm and sitting in plastic is not ideal, but I have found that some grocery stores like Sprouts and Whole Foods, make their organic rotisserie chickens with just salt as a seasoning. So in a pinch, this is certainly where I would go first if we were in a dire-need-to-eat-now type of situation.
4. There are a couple of brands of water bottles I like that we take with us on longer trips when we can’t be sure about water. I like Clearly Filtered and Life Straw are both decent options with different price points. I’m not the biggest fan of most bottled waters so I like knowing I have a good filtered water bottle to depend on.
Got any hacks? What has worked for you? I’d love to know.