What is a Plant-Based Diet and how to find out if it will improve your health.
We all know how hard it can be to stay healthy during frequent travel. Most travelers eat two, if not three meals a day at a restaurant. Many travelers also choose fast food for meals due to convenience. If constant meals out are making you feel bloated and tired; or you are suffering from frequent headaches or upset stomachs, it may be worth considering a plant-based diet.
What is a Plant-Based Diet?
A plant-based diet focused on minimally processed food that comes from plants. This means you are limiting or avoiding animal products and refined foods like sugar. This does not mean you get to live on French fries and cake, but you are eating vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and legumes. Find more answers to what is a plant-based diet here.
According to an article published by Harvard Medical School, “plant-based eating is recognized as not only nutritionally sufficient but also as a way to reduce the risk for many chronic illnesses.”
Choosing a plant based diet has many health benefits including increased nutrients and weight-loss. The World Health Organization states that about one-third of all cancers can be prevented by factors within your control, including diet.
Do I need to follow a plant-based diet?
As someone who has suffered from food allergies and intolerances, let me be the first to tell you how important it is to be aware of your food intolerances. While food allergy symptoms can be easier to see, food intolerance symptoms often hide behind bloating, skin problems, headaches and irritable bowels.
One time I was sitting in an annual corporate planning meeting and literally thought my skin was on fire with hives. I was unbearably itchy and had to leave the meeting multiple times. I ended up taking a Benadryl (then I was super tired) and was absolutely mortified by the end of the day. Shortly after this, I realized I had eaten several items during my trip that I had an intolerance for (including chicken!).
If you are wondering how to find out if you have a food allergy or intolerance, I am pleased to share HealthLabs.com offers blood tests to identify food intolerances. Instead of using the skin prick method to determine if you have an allergy by inserting the triggers into you skin, HealthLabs.com offers a pain-free blood test. No fasting is necessary, and you will get your results in one to two days. The other convenient thing about HealthLabs.com is you can get your blood drawn at over 4,500 nationwide locations.
Cleverly called the “Should I be a vegan” test panels, HealthLabs.com has two options. The Basic Vegan Test Panel checks for food intolerances to the 18 most common meat and dairy products. The Comprehensive Vegan Test Panel test for 38 meat and dairy products. If you are already following a plant-based diet, HealthLabs.com also offers a Vegan Nutritional Maintenance Panel to check for nutritional deficiencies.
I used HealthLabs.com to take the Basic Vegan Test Panel. After creating an account on HealthLabs.com, it took me only a few minutes to order the test and send over to nearest testing location. After I arrived at the location, it took only 10 minutes to get my blood drawn. It was quick, and I had my test results back in a matter of two days.
Once your get your results back, you can easily see what food you have an intolerance or allergy to. Whether your test indicates food intolerances to meat and/or dairy products or not, you may still consider trying a plant-based diet to improve your health.
Is It Hard To Follow a Plant-Based Diet During Travel?
It can feel overwhelming to change the way you eat, whether at home or on the road. If it was easy to eat healthy, there would not an entire industry making billions of dollars to help people lose weight.
We interview a road warrior that travels all over the country for her job and manages to keep to a vegan diet while doing so. She shared her tips for following a Vegan diet during travel here.
In addition to the vegan allergy tests, HealthLabs.com offers several other food allergy tests (think gluten, yeast, soy, etc.). Whether you are thinking of following a plant-based diet or you’re just looking to identify potential food allergies, I recommend using HealthLabs.com to get your food allergies checked.
This article was sponsored by HealthLabs.com. All opinions are my own and are based on my experience with food allergies and using HealthLabs.com.
Business Travel Life
Business Travel Life is an online resource supporting the road warrior lifestyle. We give business travelers the tools they need to maintain their wellness and productivity when traveling. The topics we cover include business travel tips, travel workouts, healthy travel hacks, travel products, general travel tips, and industry trends. Our goal is to make business travel a healthier experience – and to make healthy travel practices more accessible to all road warriors.
This article was sponsored by Healthlabs really says it all.
First of all, chicken isn’t a recognised allergen. Secondly a plant-based diet isn’t the only answer to avoiding allergens, and certainly to recommend a vegan diet to avoid allergens is not appropriate to the general population. If in doubt, please see a State Registered Dietitian.
Thank you for your comment. I actually have a high sensitivity to chicken and pork, along with a number of other foods (which was discovered by an allergy clinic years ago). Being aware of my food sensitivities and allergies made a huge difference for my own personal health.