‘Plane’ Keto-

Traveling by Air?

I am not an expert on much, and by much I mean practically nothing.  BUT I AM an expert when it comes to traveling keto’ized’.

If you aren’t familiar with mine and Kristens YouTube videos, or don’t follow us regularly, or even if you do, but you skip straight to the recipe (and there’s nothing wrong with that) you’ll know I’m a flight attendant,
and I fly mostly international trips.

So this week I’m going to give you some great advice for keeping keto while you are traveling on the airplane. Aside from the typical advice of foods to carry with you that you can find anywhere (though I will include a few of those) I’m going to give you some practical ideas that you might not have thought of when traveling by air.

1.  Supplements

Do not forget those supplements. If you are going to be gone for less than a week, don’t try to shove 10 bottles of your regular supplements into your carry on bag and concentrate on just packing your electrolytes.  For some reason that I cannot explain, if my feet and legs are going to cramp, it’s going to be while inflight, or a few hours afterwards once I get to the hotel.

To avoid this, pack your magnesium, potassium, and Himalayan sea salt.  Don’t pack the bottles, they take up precious packing room.  Pack them all together in a little bag, which takes up far less room.   I like to stay away from plastic whenever possible, so I have little paper bags where I keep my important supplements making it easier to slip into my lunch bag. Having these few supplements will keep you energized and cramp free.

Once off the plane, and at your destination, choose those dark leafy greens like spinach and kale, avocados, salmon, mushrooms and nuts from the menu for added magnesium and potassium.

2.  Melatonin

Melatonin is excellent for jet lag.  It will help you go to sleep when your body doesn’t want to because you’ve skipped across a few time zones.  This is always in my bag.  There are so many articles on how important sleep is for fighting inflammation and this makes me worry about my health and my circadian rhythm with my chosen profession.  But another problem I have when I’m physically drained  is a lack of good judgement.  When I’m tired I make very bad food choices, because when we become physically drained,  our body produces hormones that encourage bad decision making and we are more likely to gravitate toward comfort food in order to relax.  (speaking for a friend)

Later in the blog I’ll give you a small list of foods to take with you so you’ll be less likely to make bad choices.

3. Travel ‘frother’ for your Bulletproof

This little gadget is the best thing since sliced bread.  Well, keto bread anyway.  Ok forget the bread.  But what I’m talking about is EchoFoods little frother which fits effortlessly in my bag. While traveling and can’t take  heavy whipping cream because of refrigeration challenges,  I’ll take the little single servings of Kerrygold butter, and coconut oil, my favorite instant coffee, and whip up a gorgeous bulletproof coffee right there on the airplane or in my hotel room with this miracle gadget.   If you are on the plane, just ask your flight attendant for some hot water, add your instant coffee, butter and coconut oil and froth away.  This will keep you feeling full and in ketosis for a very long time.

It’s even easier to use in the hotel room.  Just brew some hot water in the coffee maker, or if in you are Europe, you’ll have a hot pot to make your hot water.

*ONE VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ON THIS:  When you are frothing…do it in a deeper cup.  Otherwise you will be asking the flight attendant for napkins.  a LOT of them.  I learned this the hard way. I usually have one of those travel coffee mugs with me that are very tall and I’ll add half the water, all of the butter and oil, a pinch of salt, then froth,  THEN add the rest of the water and stir.  It wasn’t pretty guys.  I wish I had a picture.

If you are traveling with Delta, they will be more than happy to get that hot water for you, but I can’t speak for the other airlines.

If I’m not in the mood for coffee, or just want a sweet, healthy treat, I always have EchoFoods CacaoBliss in my bag.  It’s like a hot chocolate superfood because it has added turmeric, MCT oil, Lucuma and four other super foods………. All organic of course.  This sustains my mental clarity feeds my body and keeps me energized and going for a long time, so I can fetch hot water and napkins with a great attitude!  What I also love about CacaoBliss, is that it comes in little travel size packages as well and per serving costs less than my regular….green and white…..cup of coffee.

4. Coconut Charcoal

This stuff is the bomb, and I just recently discovered it. This supplement will help eliminate everyday toxins, and also toxins from party food and the next day effects of overindulgence.  I’m keto, but I’m not perfect, especially when I work with friends.  What can I say.  Coconut charcoal also removes heavy metals, but the best thing about coconut charcoal while on the airplane, is it eliminates bloating.  And there is a lot of bloating while flying.  But get a good brand, I tend to trust Bulletproof the most.

5. Great Travel Foods

As promised here is a list of awesome foods that travel well with no refrigeration. These are foods that I pack in my lunch bag for every trip:

• Nuts. Usually a mix of Brazil nuts (for selenium) pecans (perfect protein to fat ratio for keto) pumpkin seeds (for magnesium) and almonds (for vitamin E and Magnesium)
• Organic beef jerky
• Cheese Curds.  They don’t have to be refrigerated and these things taste amazing! Another recent discovery.
• Olives. Usually a mix of green, black and Kalmata olives are in my bag, along with:
• Parmesan Cheese.  This can also go extreme amounts of time unrefrigerated.
• Berries.  A mix of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.
• Sardines.  But for God’s sake wait until you get to the hotel to eat these, and don’t open them up on the airplane, otherwise we might have to land the plane and kick you off. In the Atlantic or Pacific.
• EchoFoods Cacao Bliss for added nutrients, and to fight inflammation.  Click HERE and use coupon code KETOINTHECOUNTRY for a 15% discount off of CacaoBliss!!

These are the basics, and they will keep you quite satisfied on the plane or when the munchies hit you, but I keep my ‘take with me foods’ to a minimum so I’m not tempted to eat EVERYTHING in my food bag  because I’m bored.

Another important option to consider while traveling is to Intermittent Fast, or IF.  You can read more about this in Kristen blog here, in case you are not familiar with IF.   It’s the perfect option actually, while traveling. You can do it anywhere, it costs nothing and it supports keytone production.  I actually IF often on the plane for those long international flights and save my food bag goodies for later.

6.  Plastic Cutlery

This is so obvious, but also the most forgotten (aside from bring a pen to write with).  Unless, of course,  you just want to eat your food with your fingers, you’re going to have to have cutlery.  They will most likely have some of the airplane just in case you DO forget, but it’s just something good to have at all times while traveling because I can’t even tell you how may times I’ve been caught without them and ended up eating like a Neanderthal in the hotel room.  It’s not pretty.

So there you go!  The best practical advice for traveling on the airplane that I can give you!  If you travel a lot and have more suggestions, drop a note below and help me and everyone else to travel better and keto!

Happy travels guys, and be nice to your flight attendants!