— story about our cruise in San-Blas islands

Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher . How to travel with a special diet?

First of all, it depends where you spend your vacation, some destinations will be better adapted to your diet than some others cause of the way of life of people itself. some destinations are not really meet friendly for exemple, or some other one are a bit to rich (cheese, cream and butter everywhere). The best is to adapt your destination to you diet. But keep in mind that the beautiful part of travelling is to meet a culture and a way of life. How to travel with a special diet ?

Where to travel with a special diet ?

So, the best is to choose a destination adequate for your diet, but in the same time somewhere exotic where it’s a pleasure to go. For a diabetic, for example, it will be easier to have a healthy diet when visiting Indonesia or the Caribbean islands than by visiting a French ski resorts. Because, of the fruits abundance and fresh fishes naturally present on the territory. For sure, lobsters, and salads are more adequate for diabetics that a cheesy french “fondue savoyarde”.

The same goes for someone eating halal or kosher. It will be easier in a big European city than in Latin-America or worst, in North Korea. Because of their 71.3% of non religious people. This is the first mundial atheist country in the world. So, clearly, it will be hard to find halal or kosher food there, anyway, I m sure you wasn’t planning to travel in North Korea, (but you learned something today: 71.3% of atheist there). More seriously in some place it will be a bit complicated, even if it’s a touristic place, for example in a small little Switzerland mountain village, or in the countryside of almost any country, order a halal or kosher meal will look like a challenge. The choice of destination can really help. The easiest way is to talk with the booker or even better the host before to reserve your trip. In some vacation places like private cruise, or private villa it’s ossible to hire a specialist for cooking proper meals. Note, that depending of the specificity of the request, additional fee will be added.

Health diet

— expectation vs reality

Diet for Health reasons

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama giphy-5 Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

The theory

There are a multitude of reason to travel with a special diet, health reasons is one of them. Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, allergies or cholesterol forced to have specific meal. For this example I will choose diabetics. Because we all know someone with diabete. With almost 10% of the population concerned, diabetes is a disease present in almost every family. Fortunately, thanks to advances of science, it is now possible to live almost normally with it.

? Holidays I’m coming!!!! ?

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama giphy-6 Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

Reality

Ok, it was the theory, now in reality, when you decide to travel with a apcial diet, as soon as you leave your home and your comfort zone, it becomes more complicated. You must carry your equipment with you, have a mini cool box to keep your medicines refrigerated, have some ice to fill it, keep a diet without excessive fat or sugar and regular hours to eat, ensure the hygiene of the kitchen is clean enough, have some special medicines with you, just in case of crisis.

— Talk

Prepare your Travelling trip

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama 20200410_220941 Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

Analyze the area

It’s also good to know where is the nearest hospital and pharmacy in your vacation area. And the most important speak with the host. You will be surprise, how people care about find a good option. It goes without saying that these preparations are binding, but you are probably already used to some of them and once these formalities are done, you will be able to fully enjoy your travel without changing your food habits.
You can also carry with you a little pocket dictionary it will be really useful when you will go to a restaurant.

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama 61O2SsJ1Z2L._AC_SY606_ Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

Take specialized snacks

Be independent, when you travel with a special diet, take with you snacks, and medecine. If you have the crohns disease for example, take some psyllium with you, you may be can’t find any where you will go, if you are diabetic think about healthy snacks, of course you can ask yo have some veggies snacks but if you need some sugar for any reason, it s good to take your usual snacks cause you will know exactly the effect it will have on your body. Of course depending the area you will go, may be your favorite snacks brand will not be for sale anywhere, so, think about details organisation.

Ocean

— life at sea

Can we cruise being Diabetic ?

Yes, if you inform the charter company beforehand to let them have time to prepare specialized menus and speak with the cook. Dont be shy and tell it to the crew when arriving on board. They will know who is the person who needs their special attention and they will choose suitable meals and drinks. If the diet is really specific or restrictive, an additional cost will be added, to allow the crew to adapt to the needs.
You also, should think about snacks, of course there is snacks and fruits on a cruise, but to stay independent and be sure about calories you take, we suggest to bring your own snacks in your luggage and to keep it in your cabin or ask the cook to store it in a private place into the kitchen.

Religion

— personal chef and captain

Diet for Religious reasons

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama 20200425_191804 Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

Kosher & halal diet

It depends on how far you want to adjust your trip with your religion, if it s about don’t eat pork it will be easy, but if you want to follow the strict diet prepare with the perfect cares and with the good tools, for dont mix for example the pot using to cook meat with the ones for veggies.

The most simple solution is to hire a specialized cook, he will come with his own pots and cooking tools and you will feel secure to have a specialist in the kitchen. The best it s to speak with the host, depending in how strict you want your diet, they will tell you before which option to choose.

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama 20200425_202820 Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

Vegetarian, Vegan, gluten free

For vegetarians there is not much problematic, cause for religion reason or by simple ethic there is lot of vegetarian people traveling the world, so, cook are used to provide tasty vegetarian meal. Most of the time, you will not have any difficulties to be accepted with a vegetarian diet.

Vegan diets are a bit more complicated, cause it take a lot more energy and time to accommodate tasty meals without eggs, milk or butter, so speak with the Booker or the host to find a good option, serious people will arrange a special diet for you. Of course, you will be charged with an additional fee for this kind of requests.

For gluten free, travels have to be prepare in advance cause depending of your destination it can be not so easy for the host to find certified gluten free products. You know also the price of this kind of products so, this kind of restricted diet will be charged with an additional fee.

The best option when you travel with a special diet is to propose some simple vegan recipes to your host, cause most of people are not used to cook this kind of meal. But, as a gluten free person you know the replacement option for classic dishes. It can be a good help for your host to start with some tips.

Sports

— burning calories

Physical activities

If you have any disease, of course be careful about physical activities. When you have fun, time fly. This is something you should keep in mind, also, sports are good and healthy but don’t forget it s also a lot of calories lost, and when you are kayaking or doing wake board, even just snorkeling, the pleasant experience can make you forget about taking pills or check your sugar. So, you can use an alarm on your phone if you are in land, but at sea you can also ask the crew to remind you time to time to check if everything is good. Also, you can carry with you a small waterproof bag to fill with pills, and biscuits if you need an additional sugar dose during your activity.

If you feel bad, tell it straight away to someone, don’t be shy with this kind of thing, it s better to have break in the middle of a great snorkeling than to finish it and not be able to appreciate the rest of the day cause you need to rest.

Catamaran San Blas Islands Panama 20170527_000342000_iOS Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet? Blog Travel Vegan Travel Kosher How to travel with a special diet Halal Diabete Crohn Allergies

Talk

— Conclusion

The solution is the communication

Talk, choose destination with a human size, I mean, instead of big resort and huge cruise ship, travel and meet real people. This is the advantage to travel in a human size way, you can talk directly to the one in charge. You can explain exactly what is your diet, and choose with your host the good options. No surprise. Also if you have a really specific or unic diet, propose some recipes to your host to help them to understand for example that a gluten free diet it’s not so complicated if you know by which ingredients replace a gluten ailment.

It s the same for any diet. With a bit of organisation and a good communication, you can travel almost where you want.

— catamaran San Blas

All inclusive San Blas private Cruise start from 1500 $. Diet, or not, take a tasty vacation.

catamaransanblas.com

— our Blog

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Diabete, Crohn, Allergies, Vegan, Halal, Kosher. How to travel with a special diet?