Parasites, Prevention, and How to Protect Your Gut When Traveling | Ep 31

Your dream vacation shouldn't end with a nightmare souvenir that lingers long after your tan has faded. Parasites and travel-related gut bugs are no joke – they can hijack your health for months or even years after returning home.

Drawing from personal experience (including my own bathroom nightmare in Puerto Vallarta), I'm breaking down why these digestive disruptions are more than just temporary inconveniences. Beyond the sensationalized headlines, there's a concerning reality: seemingly minor travel illnesses can evolve into chronic health issues when unwanted hitchhikers set up shop in your gut.

Most travelers never connect their persistent fatigue, brain fog, or mysterious digestive problems to that trip they took months ago. By the time symptoms manifest – sometimes 10-14 days after returning home – few people make the connection. These parasites burrow in, stealing nutrients and creating chronic inflammation that conventional medicine often struggles to diagnose.

As I prepare for my upcoming trip to China, I'm sharing my balanced approach to prevention. Rather than fear-based paranoia, I'm focusing on strengthening my internal terrain – opening drainage pathways, supporting bile flow, maintaining mineral balance, and adding targeted antiparasitics. This preventative protocol isn't about avoidance alone; it's about creating an internal environment naturally resistant to these opportunistic organisms.

But here's my candid take: supplement strategies should be intentional and effective. If you can't explain why you're taking something or haven't noticed benefits, it's probably just expensive pee. Every addition to your protocol should serve a specific purpose and produce noticeable results.

Whether you're planning international adventure or a weekend getaway, these practical prevention strategies can help ensure you return home with only the souvenirs you intentionally purchased. Have you experienced travel-related gut issues? Share your story and let's keep the conversation going!

Your body holds so much wisdom — stop relying on outside voices to dictate your health journey. By tuning into the signals your body is sending you, you can gain clarity and take confident steps toward healing and transformation.

I’ve created a free Body Wisdom Journal to help you do just that. Start tracking your symptoms, uncover patterns, and begin trusting your own inner guide.

Download Your Free Body Wisdom Journal Here

Remember, the answers you seek are already within you. Let’s begin this journey toward true transformation together!

© 2024 Holly Jean Mullen

Chapters

• 0:00 Parasite Risks in Travel
• 6:51 Real Horror Stories of Travel Parasites
• 10:34 Parasites and Terrain Theory
• 13:45 My Pre-Travel Prep Protocol
• 20:21 Supplement Strategy for Travel
• 27:13 Do You Really Need Those Supplements?
• 29:23 Travel Advice and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:01

Parasites are having a moment on social media, to say the least, but most of what's out there is more hype and fear-mongering than help. In this episode, I am just cutting through all that noise and talking about the real risks associated with travel-related gut bugs, with travel-related gut bugs, how I am personally preparing without overdoing it, and why prevention is way easier than trying to play catch-up when your digestive system revolts. I am going to be sharing the practical, balanced approach I'm taking before my trip to China and what's in my bag, what I'll be avoiding and what you need to know before your next adventure. This episode starts now. So welcome back to the Real Health Transformations podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:53

And if you've ever had your guts betray you on vacation, you know it is more than just a bad day. It is full-blown survival mode. And if you haven't, consider yourself lucky and also just consider yourself warned. I remember a trip to Puerto Vallarta oh gosh, like decades ago at this point. But we went on a excursion day to an island and so we took a boat out and it was supposed to be like all day of island fun and snorkeling, and I spent the entire day in the bathroom just miserable. Montezuma's revenge got me and up until this point in my life, montezuma's revenge was just a ride at Knott's Berry Farm and if you are not from California, knott's Berry Farm is a roller coaster and it was like one of my favorites growing up. But I experienced Montezuma the most unsanitary, tiny, un-air-conditioned island bathroom. So that is as many details of the picture you need. It was not enjoyable and Montezuma's Revenge really is just an unofficial, dramatic nickname for traveler's diarrhea, and usually it's caused by eating or drinking contaminated food or water while traveling and it's especially common in Mexico, hence the Mexican name. Also Central South America, asia, middle East Africa. It can be caused by bacteria, but it could also be parasitic or could also be viral. So Montezuma's Revenge is just kind of like a catch-all name.

Speaker 1: 3:47

But parasites are GI bugs and parasites and deadly GI bugs. They've been making headlines lately and not in like a clickbait kind of way. We're talking actual cases of people becoming severely ill or even dying from infections that they picked up while traveling. I personally know a couple people have become deathly ill from parasites picked up on vacation, ending up with hospital stays, and they're lucky to be alive Now. Contaminated water, improperly washed produce, unsanitary food prep that's really all it takes, and it's not just third world problems. It can happen anywhere, and these little bugs don't care what passport you're carrying.

Speaker 1: 4:45

And this matters because most people really have no idea how incredibly easy it is to contract a parasite. We're coming in contact with them all the time and, honestly, parasites are just a part of life. So I don't want this to be like be afraid of parasites because they are just a part of our life. I don't believe that they are the root of any illness. It actually goes much deeper than that, to the foundational level.

Speaker 1: 5:13

However, when that perfect storm hits, it can be ridiculously hard to fully eliminate a parasite once it sets up shop. Fully eliminate a parasite. Once it sets up shop. Some of them burrow in, they can hide, they can disrupt your gut for years and they can leave behind just a mess of symptoms that no one can diagnose. So a lot of times when people just aren't getting answers, they're getting runarounds. It can have a parasitic link Not always, but it definitely can. Once you're dealing with that, like the aftermath of it unexplained fatigue, bloat, brain fog, mystery rashes at that point it's rarely a quick fix, and so that is why I am taking prevention seriously, especially when traveling, because the goal just isn't I don't want to get sick. The goal is I don't want to bring something home that lingers and hijacks my health for the next three years.

Speaker 1: 6:16

So let's just talk about how people get parasites. I kind of touched on it a little bit, but there are pretty common sources. As I mentioned contaminated water. Now most people have heard like, yeah, don't drink the water when you go to Mexico. I know on my upcoming trip to China, you can't drink any of the water, like none of it at all. There's no potable water, and so this is things. Also, people don't think about Ice cubes, tap water when you're showering or brushing your teeth. Those are all sources of coming in contact with contaminated water.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Undercooked or raw foods, especially street food, salad, seafood I know it can be fun to explore the different, like regional foods while traveling and have street foods and stuff, but it could also come with some risks too. Unwashed produce is a source too, and that could be even at nice restaurants, right, even at fine dining. It doesn't have to be from the cart vendor on the street Insect transmission. When I say insect transmissions cart vendor on the street, insect transmission. So when I say insect transmissions, most people think of mosquitoes, but anything that bites can pass along mosquitoes, bugs, whether it's parasitic or viral or bacterial. So don't think just mosquitoes, we're also talking flies, even bed bugs. So one more reason I like to be a hotel snob, but again, even in nice hotels they can be infested with things. The other way is just close contact transmission, so this can be through unsanitary bathrooms. So my experience on the island in Mexico probably didn't help the situation, given the fact, just the location. I was hanging out all day with my situation but just handling cash, public transportation. These are just some places where you can pick it up.

Speaker 1: 8:27

As I mentioned, these are real situations. There are real horror stories out there of people just returning from trips with undiagnosed gut issues for years after travel and severe cases of parasites can lead to hospitalization and, yes, even death. Most people think of travel-related parasites as just a bad case of food poisoning, something that knocks you out for a few days and then disappears, and that's great if that's all it is. That's all it was for me, yay. But some people never really fully recover and just years after their trip they're still dealing with these mystery symptoms that we talked about and they're never really tying it back to that bug that they picked up on their trip, because sometimes it can take like 10, 14 days after traveling, after returning home, for symptoms to kick in and by then they might not be connecting those dots right. So these are the severe cases we hear about, the ones like in the news that are sensationalized. I mentioned the clickbait, but some people who contract parasites that are so aggressive that they're landing in the hospital and stuff, like I said, they just don't have those happy endings that we're looking for.

Speaker 1: 9:58

There's this story floating around, the news of this traveler who came back from Southeast Asia and he thought he had just a stomach bug and he just kept pushing through, ignoring nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, until just one day he collapsed in his apartment and by the time the doctors figured out he had a parasitic infection. His organs were already shutting down and he didn't make it infection. His organs were already shutting down and he didn't make it. Now again, I'm not trying to scare you. If you are going to be traveling and you have symptoms after you return, don't just chalk it up to the flu or catching a bug, because I know even just traveling it lowers your immune system. So a lot of people get sick when they travel anyways, and so just maybe be a little more diligent with taking your symptoms seriously, if you do come home with some kind of some kind of bug, okay. So I don't want to share this other story.

Speaker 1: 11:00

I I have like a list of stories that are recently in the news and I was like you know what? You get the point. I don't need to share these stories. You can Google it yourself, look it up. But the point is these aren't just like one-off fluke stories. They really do happen more often than we realize, and most people who pick up a parasite really never know it. They just chalk it up to post-travel fatigue, the digestive issues, immune struggles, the normal stress of life. Like I said, it just never really connects the dots back to the trip. Meanwhile, the parasite is still there, it's stealing your nutrients, it's messing with your digestion and it's keeping you or the person in this chronic state of inflammation.

Speaker 1: 11:45

Now I want to pause here and say something important. So if you've tuned out in my rambling about stories in the news, come back to me. I want you to understand and I want to acknowledge that parasites exist as a part of our world, by design. They are not just invaders, but they are part of this beautiful, perfect ecosystem that we all live in and our bodies were created to handle them. It's when our internal environment is off that is when problems arise. Prevention isn't paranoia. This topic is not to cause fear. It is my hope that it will be the difference between coming home healthy and bringing a hitchhiking souvenir with you. So let's flip the script here for a minute. Most people think of parasites as something you catch, a nasty bug you pick up from the bad food or the contaminated water, as we talked about Now that example, those examples. That is germ theory, the idea that illness is caused by an invader that needs to be fought off with medication. But there is a flip side to this. And what if parasites aren't just something you get, but there's something that your body invites when your internal environment is off? This is where terrain theory comes in, and it's exactly what we're talking about here.

Speaker 1: 13:30

I was just when I said that I was thinking about my upcoming trip to China, and the whole reason that this podcast episode was inspired was because I'm talking about how to prepare for international travel, and it's not just by avoiding that sketchy street food, but it's by strengthening your gut and your detox pathways before you ever step on a plane. But I was just struck with this vision. I was looking at food tours of things to do and I came across this picture of a food tour. That's like the local street food type thing and it was pictures of like kebab type things, so like skewers, and on these skewers were seahorses and scorpions and starfish. And I'm just looking at it horrified and thinking to myself I would never eat that. I have zero sense of adventure. I have zero sense of food adventure. One time in Washington DC I ate a cricket taco, but that was. I did not eat the whole thing, I mostly just did it to get a reaction and to freak out a friend's mom who was with us. I had no desire to be eating a cricket, but I don't know. I honestly think the food is what I'm most afraid of on this upcoming trip. But I digress.

Speaker 1: 15:11

But as I'm getting ready for my trip to China, these are the things that I have been doing for the last few weeks to prepare, because your terrain determines your risk, so I've been focusing on opening drainage pathways. This is something I already struggle in. It's been an issue for me my whole life, probably because I've been mostly living in mold my whole life, and I have some genetic issues not issues I have some genes that make it difficult for my body to detox and clear, so those two things have made it so. Drainage is just always something that I struggle in anyways, and so I've been really putting in extra attention to opening up my drainage pathways. I'm supporting my liver, kidneys, lymphatic flow, and I am doing that with, with. I'm using mostly cell core products, using the advanced Tudka drainage activator in their BC ATP, and just keeping these pathways opens ensures that anything my body is encountering can be processed and eliminated efficiently. The other thing I'm doing is focusing on bile and making sure that is flowing, since bile is antimicrobial and it's just essential for digestion and detox and again, the Tudka and the drainage activator help with that. So it's kind of like some dual action there and it's just helping to keep bile production strong and moving.

Speaker 1: 16:45

Once I'm traveling, once I'm on the road, I'll be adding in some more digestive support with a good digestive enzyme. This is something I already use sporadically. Anyways, I switch up the brand, so honestly I don't know what I'll be taking with me, but I'll throw in one of those. I'm also supporting methylation and elimination. I like a product called Methylgenic. This is by Systemic Formulas Actually they might have just changed names, but it has methylated B vitamins and these are really necessary for cellular health and the detoxification process also helps with energy production. When you're traveling, you know, you can just like be really fatigued. So it has vitamins in them that are in their most bioavailable form, meaning the body can absorb and use them more efficiently, which is especially important for those with MTHFR mutations, like I have, or those who struggle to properly convert their B vitamins.

Speaker 1: 17:55

And then bowel mover. I am taking this product because it just helps ensure that toxins don't get stuck in the system. It does exactly what it says it does. It just supports regularity in a way that is gentle and non-habit forming, which is really the most important part. You don't want to become reliant on a product for that. So it just helps your body maintain this natural detox rhythm without that dependency.

Speaker 1: 18:23

And then minerals. Minerals are so important all the time, especially when traveling, because just travel, dehydration, emf exposure that can all wipe out your essential minerals, which is just going to leave you feeling depleted and sluggish and more susceptible to picking up a hitchhiking passenger. So for that I'm using the Frequence products, rise and Source, and those are to replenish electrolytes, trace minerals. They just help with energy and just keeps my body feeling balanced and resilient. Those are two things that I'm taking every day anyway, so those aren't things that I'm adding in, just the other products are. I don't like taking a bunch of products, it's not something I do regularly. But what I like about the Frequence products is that they are frequency charged, meaning they're energetically enhanced to support cellular communication, bioavailability and just overall body vitality, by um kind of creating a homeostasis of frequencies within your body. And so this just makes them more effective than just a standard mineral supplement, because the body recognizes and absorbs them more efficiently.

Speaker 1: 19:43

So once I'm traveling also I will be adding in some antiparasitic support. This is not something I take all the time, but since international travel comes with a higher risk of parasite exposure, I'm taking Para One and Biotoxin Binder. Again, those are cell core products and that's just to make sure my body can bind and eliminate any bugs I might come across. And Para One it's made with mimosa pudka seed and that forms this like gelatinous, sticky substance in the digestive tract. It's also known as like a gut scrubber, and what it does is it allows the product to just like physically grab onto parasites, biofilm, gut debris and it makes it easier for the body to flush it out naturally. Like I said, it's kind of like a gut scrubber parasite remover all in one, but it also supports immune function and gut health, so you're getting like a multifaceted little product there.

Speaker 1: 20:58

And then biotoxin binder is one of my favorite binders. I use it pretty regularly because it's a versatile, broad spectrum binder. It helps neutralize, remove toxins that could be removed, that could be like released by parasites. Parasites release their own toxins once they're in their body, but can it also pick up mycotoxins. So you never know if you're like in a moldy hotel room or in different parts of the airplane or just what. All the different environments that you're coming across Musty, musty, musty, I don't know when. I think of going into damp places, like we'll be in Shanghai and I know it's a water town and I'm thinking it's just probably parts of it might be musty. Heavy metals China is known for having very bad air pollution, so the biotoxin binder will soak up heavy metals and also just other environmental pollutants. So what makes it unique is that it doesn't bind to nutrients. So if you're familiar with binders at all, normally you have to space them away from your food or other supplements, because it could also bind to those and so you're not absorbing the good stuff you're trying to eat or take. Biotoxin binder doesn't do that.

Speaker 1: 22:25

And so that I specifically chose this binder for travel because of all the reasons I said, because it's pretty broad spectrum, but mostly because it doesn't bind to nutrients, because I don't want to have to worry about timing it away from everything else I'm doing, because when you're traveling you're off your normal routine. I love that. I can just open a capsule, I can mix it in water. It makes it easy to drink and sip on throughout the day for some gentle, ongoing detox support and, unlike other binders, that can cause constipation, which for me is already a problem when I travel anyways. I don't need to be compounding that issue. So this is another thing I like about it. And so this one's just designed to support detox without slowing digestion, and it's not going to interrupt whatever we have going on during the day where I have to worry about oh, I can't eat or do anything right now because I just took my binder, so that's what I'm doing. I like that these all work well together, because para-1 is just kind of sweeping out parasites and toxins from the gut. Biotoxin binder ensures that just all those toxins are safely trapped and eliminated, because the last thing you want to do is have those things recirculating in your body or causing more symptoms, because if you're not getting them out of your body once they're being trapped in your binder, then it's going to cause more issues if it's just recirculating. So this is my precautionary protocol. It's also an overall, just value added routine.

Speaker 1: 24:14

I have shared many times that I am not a big supplement pusher. I fully believe in proper nutrition and that we need adequate nutrients, we need vitamins, we need minerals. I personally do not like taking pills. I can't stress that enough. I don't believe that we can supplement our way out of bad diets or bad lifestyles, bad habits, and I don't believe that we can outsmart nature or our creator. And most supplements are just crap anyways. They're not good products and I truly, 100% just don't believe any of us are sales and marketing gimmick deficient, because most of the things out there like that's all they are. It's just marketing, it's just someone trying to sell something right? No one's dying because we don't have that one miracle product. And that's just my biggest beef with, and my personal bias against, the supplement industry. That's my little side rant.

Speaker 1: 25:29

Anyway, since I've started this protocol, I'm feeling good. Right now I can feel the difference in my body. I have started consistently adhering to this protocol. It's been about a month now and I do feel a difference. I believe I'm setting up my body for success. I'm doing what I can to be a good steward, making sure my body is strong, resilient and ready to handle whatever comes my way as we go about our travels.

Speaker 1: 26:00

If you are taking a product or supplement, you should feel a difference. So, okay, let's do a little pop quiz. If you are currently taking vitamins or supplements, answer these two questions right now what is its purpose? Why are you taking it Like? What function is it supposed to support in your body? And two, is it working? Can you actually feel or notice a difference? Or are you experiencing the desired result? If you can't confidently answer at least one of these questions, I have a radical, dude suggestion Stop taking it.

Speaker 1: 26:44

I see this all the time in my client intake process. People come in with this laundry list of supplements, sometimes even like an actual spreadsheet. I shit you, not a spreadsheet. And when I ask hey, why are you taking this Like? What are you taking this for? The answer is like, I don't know. I like saw it in an ad. Or someone on Instagram said it might be good for blah, blah, blah. Or my friend takes it. Meanwhile they're here sitting across from me still feeling like crap. They're exhausted, inflamed, struggling with the same symptoms. And here's the truth like more pills do not equal better health, we are so easily influenced. One scroll through social media and suddenly you're convinced you need 12 different vitamins, six adaptogens and some mystery powder from an influencer's daily stack. And then you fast forward a few months and now you've got 35 pill bottles, hundreds of dollars down the drain and zero progress. So let's just stop the madness right there. If a supplement isn't intentional, necessary and actually doing something for you, it's just expensive pee and you can honestly be doing more harm than good, just like throwing your body out of balance by causing an imbalance of certain minerals or nutrients. So, instead of blindly taking more, just start taking the right things strategically, purposefully and in alignment with what your body actually needs. Okay, back on track. Let's wrap this up.

Speaker 1: 28:25

If you are listening to this episode in real time, ni Hao from Shanghai, from Shanghai. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to me humiliate the Chinese language. I'm trying, I'm really trying, but I appreciate your prayers for safe travels and our safe return to the States. Thank you, I'm so excited, but as we head into spring break and the summer travel season, I hope this episode just helps you feel more prepared and confident for any trips you have planned, and whether you're heading overseas or if you're just taking a weekend getaway, supporting your body before, during and after travel can really make a big difference in how you feel. So if you have found this episode helpful, please share it with your friends and your family who travel, because no one wants to bring home an unwanted souvenir and no one wants to be on their dream vacation feeling awful.

Speaker 1: 29:35

So, as always, this is what I am doing personally the stuff that I've shared, what I would generally consider as safe for most, but everyone is unique. We are bio-individual, as we talk about on this show, so take what resonates, do your own research and remember that this is all just for informational purposes. I am not giving you medical advice. If you want to learn more and explore the specific products that I've shared on your own, I have created links in the show notes. You can just go check them out if you want to just see what they're all about, see if they might work for you, and that's it. Reach out to me on Instagram if you have any questions. If you want to keep this conversation going, I'd love to chat, and if you're going on a trip, I want to know where Safe travels Stay healthy. I'll see you on the next episode.