Traveling with Supplements

As promised, I'm going to write a couple of blog posts regarding traveling tips for those with conditions like costochondritis that require special dietary needs and/or pain management needs. This post is solely dedicated to traveling with supplements.

I'm a bit nervous about my upcoming travels. Things that increase my pain are sitting for extended periods, impact to the ribs and aerobic impact, and stress. I'm still ruling out certain foods and other factors as triggers.

To get to Iceland we are taking a red-eye flight that is about 5 hours and then driving by car for 6 hours to our first destination. During our first three days we are exploring, hiking, horseback riding and whale watching. We have a trip planned to the Blue Lagoon after this to help me recover!

My rhemotologist suggested I take my prescribed NSAID, diclofenac, twice a day during the whole trip to reduce inflammation and pain from the get go. While I'm someone who resorts to medicine as a last resort, I have dealt with costo for long enough now (10+ months) to know that staying on top of the pain and inflammation before it gets too bad is crucial. So because the first leg of our trip involves lots of sitting and being bounced around I will heed this advice.

Meanwhile, I have packed all my necessary nutrition and supplement products to keep me as healthy and pain free as possible.

Below are the products I am taking with me for myself and my family for a 10 day trip. All of the items have links if you would like to purchase. Hope this helps anyone who is considering traveling.

Shaklee Performance 

Shaklee Performance is a sports hydration drink that has more electrolytes that the leading brands. It has a unique blend that helps maintain blood-glucose levels while providing instant and sustained energy. And of course it contains no artificial flavors, sweeteners or added preservatives. 

My kids love the flavor and it will help to keep us all hydrated while we are exploring Iceland. 

In order to save room in our suitcase I measured the serving size we usually use into little ziplock bags and then placed all those baggies into a freezer bag. So when we are getting ready in the morning we will just toss a serving into our water bottles with some energizing tea from Shaklee and be on our way!

To get yours please click on this link. 

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Water Bottles

While this is not a supplement, I added it here as it is essential for me to have water as part of my nutrition. I drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day not because that is "what we should be doing" but because my body requires it. I get dehydrated easily and don't feel good if I'm not drinking enough water. 

Lugging big water bottles around though would have been difficult. So I found and purchased this 4 pack of BPA free, collapsible water bottles at a great price (was $24.77 when I ordered) that I can toss in our carry-on luggage and fill as needed. They come with color-coded clips so we can attach them to our backpacks or belt loops when exploring.

To get yours, click here. 

Shaklee Energizing Tea

These are my favorite teas. They are a blend of green, white and red teas that provide a natural energy boost without a "caffeine high." They contain taurine to help alertness and energy levels while aiding in muscle development and weight loss. 

They taste delicious and come in two flavors: Green Matcha and and Pomegranate. We love mixing them with Shaklee Performance in our water bottles to create a "natural red bull drink." 

To pack them, I simply tossed 20 (to get 2 servings a day during our trip) into a sandwich-size plastic bag. 

To get yours, click here!

Shaklee Energy Chews

To round out the energy supplements I am bringing, I tossed a whole bag of Shaklee Energy Chews into the suitcase!

These are amazing! They taste like candy and just two chews wakes me up more than a whole cup of coffee. They are made of natural green tea extract, L-tyrosine, L-theanine, B vitamins and vitamin D and of course contain no artificial flavors, sweeteners or preservatives!

To get yours, click here!

Shaklee Life Energizing Shake

Since going gluten free and dairy free two things have happened: 1) I have to plan my meals carefully so that I'm not hungry with no healthy food choices available and 2) my daily calcium intake has dropped.

Shaklee Life Energizing Shakes has taken care of both of those problems. The two-scoop serving contains 35% of daily calcium needs (as well as 16g of protein!) without including the calcium from the coconut almond milk I mix it with! One shake is all I need to fuel my day.

Plus it a convenient meal or snack replacement throughout the day. I can take it with me and blend or shake it with my non-dairy milk and some fruit or almond butter and I am full and don't need to worry about eating out somewhere and not having dairy-free options.

For packing, I just placed the serving size I normally use in little baggies and tossed those in a freezer-size plastic bag. I'm so excited that I can take this with me and not take up too much room in my suitcase.

To get yours, click here.

Natural Vitality Natural Calm Magnesium 

In addition to taking Shaklee's Chewable CalMag Plus daily, I also take Natural Vitality's Magnesium powdered drink every 2-3 days for an extra boost. It is vegan, organic, all natural, non-GMO and gluten free.

This is a highly absorbable blend of magnesium that helps me sleep, decreases my restless leg syndrome, reduces stress levels and helps my tummy. To drink I just scoop a serving size into water, mix and drink. It taste's like bubbly lemonade.

To pack, I also just scooped the serving size into plastic bags and tossed them in a bigger bag.

To get yours, click here.

 Essential supplements

Some of the supplements in the picture below are ones I take daily and some are as needed. I am under the care of a doctor, a rheumatologist, and a nutritionist and my blood is tested regularly. I am going to list the supplements I take with links but please talk to your medical professional before starting supplements other than a multi-vitamin. 

Daily supplements:

• Shaklee Vita D-3
• Shaklee Vita-Lea
• Shaklee Chewable CalMag Plus
• Shaklee Iron plus C complex
• Shaklee Advanced Joint Health Complex
• Shaklee Optiflora pre- and pro-biotic complex
• Jarrow Formulas B12

As needed supplements:

• Shaklee Nutriferon
• Shaklee Vitalized Immunity
• Shaklee Stomach Soothing Complex
• Shaklee Stress Relief Complex
• Shaklee Pain Relief Complex
• Source Naturals Melatonin 1mg

To pack I was able to put everything I needed into my vitamin organizer and toss in the Vitalizer, prebiotic and Stomach soother into a freezer-size bag. In a snap I have everything I need to optimize my health. 

And for the finale....all of the supplements I described in this blog fit into one, yes one, freezer sized plastic bag. I can easily take this bag out, put it in our kitchens at our Air BnB rental homes, find what I need, and easily pack it back up again.

And I am ready for Iceland!! Can't wait to share more with you all!



Comment below or message me with questions or comments. Be on the look out for the next blog post.

*Note: As you can see most of my supplements are from Shaklee. The reason being is that I trust the safety and quality of Shaklee products. The company has been in business for over 60 years and the founder, Dr. Shaklee, invented the first ever multivitamin in 1915! Shaklee does not allow fillers in their supplements, tests for 250+ contaminants, conducts over 100,000 quality tests per year, and will not sell anything that does not meet their strict requirements. Shaklee has over 70 patents on their products and are backed by over 120 published scientific papers and presentations. In addition, Shaklee was the first company in the world to be certified climate neutral and many Olympic althetes take Shaklee supplements. For more info about Shaklee's company and safety click here.

*Disclaimer: I am a Shaklee distributor.

Anti-Inflammatory foods and the relation to common illnesses

Ive slipped up a number of times but I'm working hard to eat an anti-inflammatory diet as much as possible after being diagnosed with costochondritis: an inflammatory issue.

Inflammation has been found to be the cause of most major medical illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune disorders, alzheimer's and so much more. It is crucial to try to eliminate processed, chemical ridden and inflammatory foods from our bodies in order to live a full, healthy life.

Here is a good list of anti-inflammatory foods from Discover Shaklee on Facebook.

1. Almonds
2. Avocados
3. Broccoli
4. Blueberries
5. Carrots
6. Dry Beans
7. Kale
8. Olive Oil
9. Oranges
10. Salmon
11. Spinach
12. Strawberries
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Swiss Chard
15. Walnuts

Dr Weil created the anti-inflammatory diet.http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02012/anti-inflammatory-diet

And I find his food pyramid very helpful. I have it hanging on my refrigerator door as a reminder, as well as at my desk at work. It is quite different from the traditional food pyramid, but makes much more sense.
http://www.drweil.com/…/Dr-Weil-Anti-Inflammatory-Food-Pyra…

Lastly, there is a lot of information and recipes on Pinterest I find helpful. This is a link to my anti-inflammatory board that I'm always adding to.
https://www.pinterest.com/charlene1401/anti-inflammatory/

I will soon be posting recipes that include all anti-inflammatory foods that I eat on a regular basis.

If you have any health concerns or any food allergies please talk to your doctor or nutritionist before making changes to your diet. 

My health story

Hi everyone,

I would like to share my health journey so that it may help you as well.

I was first introduced to Shaklee products years ago through a magazine ad for all natural cleaning products. I was just learning about the impact of chemicals in our environment and my daughter was young and I became a Shaklee distributor, changed brands and threw out all of my conventional cleaning products in favor of Shaklee's Get Clean Products and I've never looked back.

Shortly after this time my daughter's allergies began increasing and my amazing Shaklee mentor and friend, Beth Duris, suggested starting my daughter on Shaklee's supplements for children. It was amazing to see my daughter's allergies subside and be able to take her off of her allergy medications that the doctor had started her on. One of these medications gave her a serious side effect. My daughter is now 15 and while she doesn't always remember to take her vitamins daily, at the first sign of a cold coming on she is the first to up her intake of healthy foods and vitamins as she can recognize that they make a huge difference.

I started taking Shaklee supplements as well after seeing my daughter's improvements. However, I had a harder time sticking to it as well because I was generally healthy, or so I thought. This past year, however, I began experiencing a lot of pain when under stress and was diagnosed with costochondritis, a painful disorder that affects the cartilage that are connected to the ribs. For anyone that has ever had this illness, or knows anyone else who suffers from it, it is quite debilitating at times and can affect every part of a person's daily life.

In addition to having costochondritis I began to have other unrelated symptoms such as: pain and swelling in the knees, shoulders, neck, hips, hands and legs; brain fog; headaches; exhaustion; insomnia; emotional sensitivity; and more. I met with my doctor more than once, wound up in the ER to check for blood clots, and then finally met with a rheumatologist to check for underlying issues such as lyme disease or auto-immune disorders. I had extensive blood work done which ruled out most health issues but was essentially inconclusive with regards to auto immune disorders. Luckily, the rheumatologist is open to holistic health care and suggested I start taking therapeutic doses of essential vitamins and nutrients to see if I find any improvement. I was low on vitamins D, B, and iron so she suggested those as well as fish oil and glucosamine. I was glad she did not jump to medication as a first resort.

Without question I started on Shaklee vitamins, with the exception of two products. The fish oil and the vitamin B I had to order from other companies, not because of anything on Shaklee's end but because  I cannot swallow pills (yes I'm 33 and cannot swallow pills, it's very frustrating for me because boy have I tried). Most of Shaklee's supplements I just crush with a pill crusher from my local pharmacy, but the fish oil is a soft liquid gel not meant for crushing and the B vitamins are patented with protective coating to ensure proper absorption of the B vitamins and crushing the pill will destroy the coating.

It's been a month since I started on this regimen of vitamins and while I've still had two spans of 4-5 bad days, I am improving and seeing more good days than bad. I'm hoping I am on my way to healing for good and I now know how important these supplements are to my health and will continue to take them forever.

What worked for me may not work for everyone as our bodies are all different and we need different things. If you are suffering from health issues, chronic pain, or just every day recurring headaches, sinus infections, lethargy, etc, I recommend you talk to your doctor about supplements and do some of your own research as well. I'd be happy to help you come up with questions for your doctor or suggestions from my personal experience. If you decide to try Shaklee products, please know that they come with a 100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked. So if they don't work for you or you are dissatisfied for any reason you will get your full refund back.
Below is a video of my story and me showing you the supplements I take. It's a little over 15 minutes but please watch when you have time. The links to the supplements I take are listed below the video.

Vita-Lea: multivitamin and multimineral 
Vitamin D3
Iron plus C complex
Advanced Joint complex
Energizing shake with pre and probiotics
Omega Guard fish oil
Vitamin B Complex