Attention Summer Travelers

Ah, summertime! What a great time of the year to get out of the city, go to the beach, or fly somewhere to chill out (though probably not Europe right now with this dreadful exchange rate!).
 
As we jet set to our fun summer vacations, it is important that we realize that we can suffer not only stress and fatigue from air travel itself, but also free radical damage via high levels of radiation found in airplanes. Planes fly very close to the ionosphere, causing atmospheric radiation to constantly bombard flyers.  Unfortunately, the aluminum body of a plane offers us no protection.

This problem has been known for decades - it was first discovered in the 1960s when the air crews assigned to the first long-distance, high-altitude flights experienced unusually high fatigue.  To try and keep it simple, a flight from New York to Los Angeles is the equivalent of one chest X-ray. The number of chest X-ray exposures a person is allowed to have over any given time is usually limited and measured in three year increments. These usually number in the range of three chest X-rays per year. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration permits aircrew exposures of 1000 times the dosage that a restricted citizen is allowed, although they are usually restricted to 80 hours on duty each month. Studies of these crews have shown that they suffer from changes in blood values and sensitive bodily tissue, e.g., gonads and eyes. Unfortunately there is no one keeping track of frequent traveling citizens who seem to live on planes, especially those who often fly internationally.

In its simplest form, the free radical damage caused by air travel shows itself in the form of oxidative stress in the body and the simplest way to deal with it is the introduction of antioxidants via fruits, vegetables and berries on a daily basis. Oxidation occurs when an oxygen molecule within a cell loses one of its two electrons, becomes unstable and randomly hits everything in its path in an attempt to restore its stability and it will steal an electron from anywhere. If it hits another oxygen molecule, it will steal the first electron it comes to. If it hits fat or protein structures, then oxidative damage will occur. If fat, toxic lipid peroxide (rancid fat) occurs. If protein, then changes in the structure often occurs, joints get arthritis, muscle gets weakened and DNA gets altered while its Genes are bent by this interaction. Bent Genes often result in a cancer and if the body is able, it will clean up the mess before it gets bad. Unfortunately the body is overwhelmed easily; the traveler is subjected to sleep depravation and highly processed and unhelpful foods becoming more susceptible when the consistency of the attack plays against a weakened immune system.
 
Fortunately, a good outcome is possible.  The antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables and berries are able to donate electrons to these free radicals without themselves suffering instability. Fruit, Vegetables, Grapes and Berries are miraculous in their ability to calm the oxidation process. However, it is necessary to renew this cascade on a daily basis. In other words, when whatever supply is ingested runs out, it must be replaced with a new supply of antioxidants.

If the average person (who isn’t flying) requires 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily (Recommendations of the US Dept. of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) then one who is further compromised as is a diabetic, cancer survivor, extreme athlete or frequent long distance flyer will certainly require more. Just how much more is anyone’s guess.
 
When you fly, especially the day of your trip, try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables.  Make it as simple as possible, so that your body’s energy can be used in fighting free radical damage rather than digesting something heavy. Also, you might try taking a whole food (not the store!)- vegetable, fruit, and berry supplement, which will serves as major fortification of antioxidants during strenuous travel.  It of course can also be used when you feel that you are not eating well or have been lacking greens or fruit in the diet.

A whole food supplement has been derived from whole fruits and vegetables, whereas typical synthetic supplements use extracts constructed in a lab (which your body only absorbs a percentage of).  I like the brand Juice Plus+, a convenient and highly researched supplement. They have separate vegetable, fruit, and berry capsules that literally pack pounds of fruits, and veggies.

Travel safely, stay energized and healthy, and keep your cells beautiful on the inside and out!

NYLON Magazine Photo Shoot

My flight home from San Juan, Costa Rica arrived at LaGuardia just before midnight on Monday.  After retrieving my checked luggage, braving inclement weather and navigating heavy construction on the BQE, I finally made it back home well after 2:00 in the morning.

The first thing I did when I arrived, soggy and exhausted, was drop my bags and check my email.  Uh oh!  My fears were confirmed.  My photo shoot for NYLON Magazine’s upcoming feature about THE SOLUTION was scheduled for the very NEXT morning (actually the SAME morning, since it was already past 2am).  In my apartment, no less! After being gone for 2 weeks, my apartment was a mess and I had to give my plants their badly needed water, air the place out, pick up my pet turtle from my partner Adam, vacuum, clean out the clutter that accumulated in the chaos before my trip, and do a million other things.  Not to mention getting myself in the shape for the shoot, which included getting a hair cut and my eyebrows done!  Talk about culture shock returning to life in NY- back to the craziness, immediately!

That morning I got up super early, made myself a cup of green tea, and ran around crazily unpacking, picking up and cleaning.  Then I rushed around town preparing myself to once again be presentable as the leader of a luxury skincare company.  When I was in the jungle and waves of Costa Rica, I…uhhh… let my hair down, both figuratively and literally.  J  By the time the photographer, Peggy, arrived, I was ready to go.  I was groomed, wearing a cool outfit, and my apartment was ready to be shown to NYLON’s readers. 

My apartment is…eclectic, you might say, and Peggy loved it. We had a great time thinking of angles for the shoot that would reflect Envision Beauty’s feel and my own personality.  First, we decided to take some pictures near my travel wall, which features framed pictures from my travels in Africa and Asia.  Since my worldwide journey was a huge influence to found Envision, and many of the THE SOLUTION’s ingredients are sourced from around the word, we thought this was a perfect place to start.  Next, we took a bunch of pictures in front of my bookshelves, which are loaded with tons and tons of health and beauty research books.  Finally, we went out in the sunshine and fresh air of my back yard.

I think the pictures came out great.  After NYLON decides which they plan to use, I’ll post a few of the extras here.  It will be fun giving you a peak of my apartment!  

Eating Vegan in Costa Rica

I am writing this from the beaches of Costa Rica.  Tough life, right? 

As great as the beach is, it was really hard to leave the mountains.  Waking up to the Arenal volcano and watching it erupt from my bed at night (every night!) was a nice departure from waking up to honking cars and a tiny Manhattan bedroom.  There were at least 10 hummingbirds outside my window every morning, plus giant hawks, yellow-tailed birds, blue birds, and parrots with curved beaks!  Every morning I took in the amazing view and meditated for an hour. 

The rainforest was amazing.  I took jungle walks almost every day, hiked to waterfalls, rode on horseback, and even trekked up to the lava flow.  You can actually see and hear the rocks crashing down.  Now that we’ve made it down to the beach, a few hours drive away, the surfing begins.

One thing people always want to know is how I eat when I’m on the road.  It depends quite a bit on the country.  In Mongolia, for example, it was really tough.  But here, in Costa Rica, the earth provides many amazing options. 

Along the road and in the towns, fruit stands are everywhere.  During the day I feast on freshly cut papaya, pineapple and watermelon.  I signal with my hands that I want the stand owner to cut my fruit up for me, since I know nada in Spanish.   Whenever possible, I eat the nutrient-filled coconut (pipa).  First, I drink out the water with a straw.  Then, I ask the stand owner to split open the shell and cut a sliver off the end for a spoon, so I can eat the wonderful meat inside. 

Now that I’m surfing a lot and doing yoga on the beach, I need more substantial food.  More coconuts!!  Just kidding.   I could get by on just fruit and coconuts, but I also like to experience the local food.  This is when being flexible is really important.  After all, I am in Costa Rica, and I’d like to see what Tico food is like. 

Big salads can be found everywhere, with tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and topped off with a big avocado.  There are lots of different varieties of veggies in the cucumber family.  They crinkle cut the veggies, which reminds me of french fries from when I was a kid.   Since I don´t drink coffee, they have manzanilla tea, or herbal chamomile tea. 

I haven’t seen many lemons, so for a dressing I plop down a bit of vinegar.  I avoid the oil because I have no idea what kind of oil it is.  Here, I’m sure they use irradiated salt, so I avoid using it as much as possible, though I know it is probably in the food. 

I’ve even tried the vegetarian casados, which are a staple food.  They go great with a salad, vegetables, rice and black beans.  Since I’m not getting as many greens as I usually do, I am also taking a wholefood supplement of Greens.

So there you go- I’m not completely all raw at the moment, but I still feel great and have lots of energy to hike and surf and do all the other physically demanding things that I have been doing.  Proof yet again that you don’t have to leave your diet at home when you travel.

Bienvenido a Costa Rica

Hola!  Here I am on my first day in Costa Rica.  Altogether, I’ve had quite an amazing day. It is hard to believe that I was in New York at 6 am this morning.  On the plane to San Juan I was stuck in the aisle row which at first seemed to be a sweet deal but turned out to be crappy since my seat wouldn’t recline at all!  I managed to sleep a tiny bit but kept waking up. 

Out of nowhere, I heard a voice behind me ask his friend if he wanted Goji Berries!!!  Hmm.  My ears perked up, since goji is not (yet) an everyday snack that people think to bring as plane food.  I started a conversation with the three friends behind me.  Their somewhat clichéd opening question was whether I am Costa Rican. I should be glad I blend in when I travel.  Once the conversation got going I couldn’t believe it — these three guys, Steve, Zach, and Jake, were not only from New York but two of them (one in particular) were aspiring raw foodists.  We spent the last 2 hours of the flight talking about Acai, raw tacos, salad dressings and natural health.

It impressed me immensely that they, like I, had researched sunscreen, and found many of the same studies that I had.  Sunscreen keeps the skin itself from getting red, but it is still chemical, is reactive and can still promote cancer from within.  The guys were facing the dilemma of how protect their skin while surfing, and settled on a zinc compound to put on their face, wearing a rag shirt to surf, and keeping out of the sun as much as possible when not in the water. 

Amazing!! I mean, what are the chances that I would sit on the plane right in front of 3 guys in their mid-20s that speak some of the same health language that I speak?!  I guarantee that no one else on the plane would have wanted to talk about raw apple cider vinegar and dinosaur kale.

Anyway, I of course referred them here.  I hope that this very minute they are reading this post at an internet cafe somewhere near the panama border and chuckling.

Right now I am in a small town named San Ramon, on my way to the mountains.  So far, Costa Rica has impressed me with its lush, incredibly diverse plants.  It reminds me of Laos in some ways, though it is also quite different.  The people have been awesome and friendly.  Its too bad that I speak hardly any Spanish.  Why did I pick to study French in school!?! 

It is the beginning of rainy season, so it sometimes rains in the afternoon.  I love watching the Costa Ricans walk around in the rain- some with umbrellas and some without.  Either way, they seem really happy and content in the warm rain, which doesn’t seem to bother them at all.  The people here seem pretty synced up with Mother Nature, at least in that way.  It is part of life.  It’s so green and full of life here that I think everyone is grateful for the rain. 

I am very grateful, on this first day of a new adventure, to be out of the city, in nature, not wearing any makeup, letting the rain come down on me and letting my hair be as curly and frizzy at it wants. 

China: Across The Land of Characters

The thing that woke me up was the group of loud, brash men, chatting away in Mandarin and unnervingly close to me.  The Mandarin spoken in China always seemed ridiculously loud.  Upon waking I immediately noticed that my back and neck were horribly stiff and achy.  I unstrapped the backpack from my lower back and shoulders and sat up, still drowsy- eyed. 

The group of twelve, or so, Chinese men surrounded my bench, leaving no more than two feet between us.  Some of them glanced at me briefly when I sat up, some didn’t at all, but I certainly wasn’t interesting enough for them to stop their incessant conversing.

I started to collect myself to head to the public bathroom located right across from my bench, to brush my teeth and wash my face.  I was not used to carrying out my morning routine in a dirty, strange smelling public setting surrounded by strangers speaking a loud, sharp tongue, or signs in Chinese characters that did little to remind me in what city I was currently stationed.

I had fallen asleep across three attached chairs in the back of the Lingzhou train and bus station, my backpack strapped to my body to ensure it would still be there when I awoke.  It had been a restless night of light sleep, as I was frequently roused by the floor cleaners, bathroom cleaners, and various passer-byes.  I unfortunately had had no choice but to sleep there. 

One of the things I had learned during the previous three months, which I spent backpacking through the rural areas and smaller cities of China, was that there is a distinction between “Chinese” hotels and “Non-Chinese” hotels.  Foreigners were not allowed to stay at the former.  If one arrived at a city late at night and couldn’t locate a “Non-Chinese” hotel with an available room — which had been the case the previous evening — one was screwed and had to spend the night in public somewhere. 

I had experienced, for the very first time in my life, the cold reality of being homeless.  I felt embarrassed, self-conscious, exposed, and infinitely humble.

Kashmir: 3 Tourists in the Whole Damn Place

 

 

I don’t know who felt more uncomfortable.  I was dressed in my rough, woolen abaya (a robe-like garment covering my body from neck to ankle that women wear in Muslim countries) donning fake Chanel sunglasses I had purchased on the streets of Bangkok, and bright blue plastic bags between my socks and shoes.  They were dark-skinned, mostly mustachioed members of the Kashmir military sitting around me at a picnic-like rectangular table, each with a heavy artillery rifle resting between their knees.  They had no idea of what to make of a Western tourist, and a female one at that, traveling to their remote, conflict-stricken military outpost.  Yet here we were, none of us speaking a common language, sharing chai teas at a tiny cafe.

 

Upon my arrival in overcrowded Delhi, I decided spontaneously to push to the far north of the country — to unsettled Kashmir — despite numerous travel warnings against visiting the area. 

From Dal Lake, where I was staying with a Muslim family on their houseboat,

 

I had another impulsive idea:  to climb to an excellent viewpoint of the mighty mountain K2.  I would begin from the last village in Kashmir, which was only five miles from the Pakistan border.

 

There were a few issues with my unplanned adventure.  First and foremost was the dangerous, brooding military conflict on the border of Pakistan and Kashmir.  From the little guest house room where I was staying, I could hear the pounding noise of gunfire at all hours of the day, which I was told was just ‘gun training.’  Over the horizon, in the distance, was a thick tree line beyond which was Pakistan- and their rival military base. 

 

The other major problem with my little foray was the terrain.  Much of the climb was through the snow, straight in one direction, without any trails or paths.  To make matters more difficult, the only footwear I had was a pair of sneakers.  It goes without saying that this was not a place with equipment rentals of any sort.  Hence: my brilliant idea of donning plastic bags over my feet in an attempt to keep them dry. 

Botswana Without Shelter

Our guide Bryson started into an almost running trot.  He even stopped glancing back over his shoulder to see if we were still following him.  Every man for himself in the bush, I mused.  The sun was going down very quickly now, the beautiful reddish streaks across the sky fading into absolute grayness.

The four of us travelers- JC, two Slovenian wildlife photographers we had randomly met (with all their tripods and massive lenses), and I began to hasten after his quickly fading outline.  After all, we didn’t know where the hell we were.  Well, we were in the Okavanga Delta in Botswana, on a dugout canoe escapade where we were paddling along tiny rivulets deep into the bush for three full days.  There were two people to a canoe, with each of our two canoes having a guide standing on the back, pushing us down the streams with a long pole.  We had only the water, food, and tents in the canoes as our only supplies- and our only shelter. 

During that first day we had gone exploring on foot, and had seen lots of hippos, elephants, and large animals at almost alarmingly close distances, with Bryson wielding around a walking stick.  Great protection that is, I thought to myself.  Bryson had been very light-hearted during the trip, until that moment. 

With the sun going down on our first evening, the professional photographers were hell-bent on getting the perfect sunset picture over the picturesque African savannah landscape.  Bryson kept reminding the amiable but definitely determined Slovenian couple that we had to be back by sundown because the lions hunt from sundown to sunup.  And they in turn, keep telling him they needed just “a minute.” 

After more than a few reminders, a clearly anxious Bryson simply turned around and walked away, with one last, “Let’s go,” then started into a pretty brisk jog.  Later, after a half hour at that speedy pace, we were welcomed safely back at camp with a huge blazing fire started by our other guide.  Bryson casually mentioned that while we were circling around the area (which was pretty tight) looking for the perfect sunset vantage point, he had noticed the tracks of a female lion starting to trail us from the shadows.  “Very dangerous…but I just didn’t want to scare you so I didn’t say anything,” he smiled.