QC: Food Travel Tips for Endo Warriors: Fight The Flairs

Registered dietitian Sarah Rae shares practical strategies for managing endometriosis symptoms while traveling and eating at restaurants. She provides evidence-based nutrition advice specifically addressing how to reduce bloating and discomfort when eating outside your controlled home environment.

• Avoid skipping meals when traveling - aim to eat every 4-5 hours to prevent increased bloating
• Pack portable snacks like protein bars or hard-boiled eggs to maintain regular eating patterns
• Don't hesitate to ask restaurants about food preparation or request modifications to avoid trigger ingredients
• Consider carrying digestive enzymes like FODZYME to help break down trigger foods when unavoidable
• Stay well-hydrated and consider limiting caffeine and alcohol when traveling if these trigger symptoms
• Remember that supplements like FODZYME should be discussed with healthcare providers

Send your questions about endometriosis management by using the link in the episode description, emailing contact@endobattery.com, or visiting the EndobBattery.com contact page.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Quick Connect with Sarah Ray
• 1:06 Travel Nutrition Tips for Endo Symptoms
• 2:48 FODZYME and Helpful Supplements
• 4:10 Episode Wrap-up and Contact Info

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Life moves fast and so should the answers to your biggest questions. Welcome to EndoBattery's Quick Connect, your direct line to expert insights Short, powerful and right to the point. You send in the questions, I bring in the experts and in just five minutes you get the knowledge you need. No long episodes, no extra time needed, and just remember expert opinions shared here are for general information and not for personalized medical advice. Always consult your provider for your case-specific guidance. Got a question? Send it in and let's quickly get you the answers. I'm your host, alana, and it's time to connect. Today we're joined by Sarah Ray from Pacific Northwest Endometriosis Nutrition. She's a registered dietitian specializing in endometriosis and fertility nutrition. She's here to cut through the noise and share real, evidence-based strategies to help you fuel your body without the confusion. Let's dive in. How can someone traveling or eating out navigate food choices that won't trigger symptoms?

Speaker 2: 1:06

Yeah, that is a really tricky one and it depends on kind of where you are with your gut health and you know, if somebody has SIBO it's going to be really hard to eat out untreated. So if you're having daily bloating maybe you've already had excision surgery it might be worth kind of looking into what's going on there. But one thing is trying to avoid skipping meals too often. So a lot of times, like when we're on vacation or we're really busy with work, meetings and things like that, people might fall into like a two meal a day eating pattern because we're eating larger meals and maybe we're full. But that can really set you up for having increased bloat or feeling really uncomfortable. So whether you pack snacks with you or maybe the first stop you go is to the grocery store to get some things that you can carry with you or have in your bag, some protein bars or some hard boiled eggs or something just to kind of keep you going and try to eat about every four hours at you know, the longest five hours in between meals can be really helpful.

Speaker 2: 2:09

The other thing is, if you're not sure what's on a restaurant menu, ask how it's prepared. Or if you're particularly sensitive to garlic or fried foods, ask if it's possible to have that thing altered. So we pay a lot of money for our meals and we don't want to completely recreate the dish, but a lot of times, like for me, raw onions are really triggering, even, you know, with all of the things I've done. So I will just ask could I have no onions on my salad? Or, you know, is it possible to get the guacamole made without onions? So just ask, and a lot of times they'll say yes or no if that can be done.

Speaker 2: 2:44

So you know, asking questions and advocating for yourself in that sometimes traveling with like a gas X or some digestive enzymes, when you know restaurant foods are really going to be triggering for you, can be helpful. So it's, you know, sometimes we just can't avoid the food, or maybe we're at a conference or something where we don't have control of it. But having a band-aid approach on board just to get you through that, so your pants fit at the end of the day, can be really helpful. Yeah, Make sure you're drinking enough water. Limiting your caffeine If traveling is particularly triggering. Don't do the alcohol while you're traveling.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Yeah, that's probably a big one for a lot of people. Maybe you can speak to this. There is, like this thing that you can put and you've talked about it before where you can put it on your food. That will help break down your food.

Speaker 2: 3:34

The one that I have found really helpful for people is called FODZYME. Yeah, so it's F-O-D-Z-Y-M-E. So it's F-O-D-Z-Y-M-E, and that helps with when you're eating higher FODMAP foods, which tend to be the ones that bloat us. It kind of helps break that down for your body and so it can give you a little bit more freedom for eating out. That one can be good. There's other digestive enzymes out there. You know, as with all supplements, it's good to talk to your health care provider before you take them, because supplement industry isn't regulated. But yeah, something like that can be really helpful.

Speaker 1: 4:08

That's a wrap for this Quick Connect. I hope today's insights helped you move forward with more clarity and confidence. Do you have more questions? Keep them coming, send them in and I'll bring you the expert answers. You can send them in by using the link in the top of the description of this podcast episode or by emailing contact at endobatterycom or visiting the endobatterycom contact page. Until next time, keep feeling empowered through knowledge.