Purpose

HOW TO HACK JET LAG // KILL IT DEAD

For someone who travels as much as I do, jet lag is simply not an option. Not so much from a ‘too busy for jet lag’ point of view more so from a, well, okay – too fucking much I WANT to do, plus I hate feeling like shit!

So I want to share with you my travel / jet lag / also works like gangbusters for hangovers cure… not that I get up to too many of those these days!! But I’ve been using this cure for DECADES. Okay at least 1.5 decades. Warning:::::: it is quite brutal!

But better a few hours of brutality than a few days, yeah?

Here’s how it went down today:

* 7am landed at LAX after 32 hours (read it and weep for me) of travel. Bali – Brisbane, 6 hours stop, Brisbane LA. Had about 3.5 hours combined sleep in that time.

* {{pre-jet-lag-prep}} > Did an 18-minute body weight workout in the shower cubicle at Brisbane airport. 7 sets, reps 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 of squats, alternate lunges, push ups, single leg dead lifts. This stopped me getting on the 12.5 hour flight already feeling like complete death after the 12 hours before it. I DID feel like death before the workout. Felt good after.

* On the plane: follow instructions like a good little girl or boy. Get up and move! I took advantage when most people were sleeping to do a full body stretch workout in my seat. Yep I am that weird person with my leg sticking straight up in the air pressed to my face. Hey, I felt good and everybody else looked like they felt shit.

Also: avoid the carbs. For the love of God. My saviour? I take CRAPLOADS of BCAA powder with me (everywhere anyway) … on a plane this is what keeps me going with ‘something to satisfy’ so I don’t eat all the chips / chocolate /etc. Ate only meat, salad (which I brought myself), nuts and dark organic chocolate. Eat crap feel like crap, pretty simple and not just a travel hack.

* On arrival … the breakdown:

Got to my LA hotel 8.30am, fortunately they checked me in which was nice … what I FELT like doing was going straight to bed (body was on 11.30pm Bali time) … I know from previous experience that had I have gone to bed then I would have woken up feeling that awful woozy jet lag feeling, upon which I would have laid in bed watching crap TV and eating all the chocolate. And all the mini bar. And then probably made my way out and bought some kind of crappy high fat high sugar lunch to cure my pain. Standard … and exactly what does NOT fix jet lag.

Instead (and trust me I did not do this willingly, I dragged my butt out kicking and screaming for my own higher good) –

* NO FOOD ALL DAY. Had been eating every 3 hours for 32 hours anyway while flying; more than enough food had gone down the hatch plus I wanted to SPEED up my digestion and metabolism to push the effects of jet lag out stat. So instead I mainlined BCAAs all day long (about 10-20 gram an hour with water) like they were going out of fashion. This also ensured MASSIVE WATER CONSUMPTION which was essential as my body blows up like a Teletubby after flying long distances. I remember learning you actually gain as much as 1% body fat temporarily for every hur flying. Wtf!! Certainly seems true judging by appearance though. Which sucks balls. BUT you can turn it around, hence (in part) all this.

Basically a forced intensive cleanse / detox.

* STARBUCKS. No this does not meet the cleanse formula. But, America. Starbucks, Coffee. I’m only human okay?! Had 2 triple espresso cinnamon loaded macchiato’s, and:

* FORCED MY SORRY ASS TO WRITE SOMETHING. Writing is my cure all for my body mind AND soul. It’s not just also awesome that the more I write the more money I make. When I feel like shit, writing clears my mind and lifts my energy. So you would do here whatever does that for you. I wrote a blog. Felt uplifted. Better than sitting in bed eating crap!!

* THE REALLY TOUGH BIT: Went to Bikram yoga. I wanted to cry the whole way through … I GUESS in a good way. This in particular is what I’ve used as a hangover cure for years back in my party days. That plus the fasting day plus the water overload etc. Also Bikram brings on the water overload which is cool. Anyway … keep in mind it is 90-minutes of torture (although i do LOVE it; I do like it rough!) at the best of times, but after 32 hours travel, VERY minimal sleep, body felt ruined, AND I was so bloated and fluid-y from the flying that my ankles were literally the same fucking size as my thighs! The whole cab ride there I wanted to tell him to turn around. Bikram post long-haul flight is the WORST. But also, the best.

PS yes that pic is me … not today mind you.

I am a long-time Bikram lover!

I walked out of that room CLEANSED baby. Smashed a couple big Fiji’s. Stood with my head on the shower wall {{{COLD SHOWER}}} for 5-10 minutes and just felt my body INHALE the water through my pores.

I literally walked into the studio head spinning not knowing which was was up and walked out feeling like fucking Angelina Jolie in a cat suit.

upon which:

* MEGA GREENS AND REAL FOOD OVERLOAD

Went to Wholefoods. Bought ALL the salad stuff and some grilled chicken. Plus inanely high quality cinnamon-y chocolate and organic wine. Because … wine. Not part of the detox? Nah … stuff it, emotional detox!

Walked back to hotel … probably did about an hour walking in all this, in the sun, which helped. Next (did not eat yet, still BCAAing aka flushing all the crap / jet lag out)

* SAT BY POOL

SUN really helps if you can get it. I did 2 hours of coaching calls by the pool, with my clients. After that I ate half my chicken and salad (at around 4pm, so did the fasting for 12 hours) and then may or may not have shown my not so super-human jet-lag beating side by passing out rather unceremoniously face-down and I’m PRETTY sure snoring, for about 45 minutes with a really hot guy next to me.

Whoops. Felt great after that though

* SHARK TANK … okay this isn’t an official jet lag beating must. But it’s the US of A and they have Shark Tank plus I NEVER sit and watch TV so the ‘cure jet lag’ element of it is that once you’ve sweat (by the way I sweated out ALL that from-flying fluid, which usually would take 4-5 days, in that class!), cleansed, moved, etc you deserve a little rest. So I watched Shark Tank, fell asleep again for about half an hour then had a very energising call with my mentor.

* MASSAGE. Had an 8pm 75-minute massage in the hotel spa, preceded by champagne and involving hot wax on my feet. Which was different but ah-may-zing. Also cost more than about 3 months of Bali massages but how often are you in LA by yourself? PLUS I consider it money well spent to feel human again!

Which brings us to now … it’s 10.30pm, just ate rest of my salad and chicken for dinner … am dressed up feeling pretty in the hotel bar doing my work (writing this!) and enjoying a beautiful glass of Syrah … and honestly I feel on fucking fire right now. It was really tough to push myself to not only stay awake through the day but to NOT give in to stuffing my face with junk for short-term energy and there is no way in HELL I felt like any form of exercise let alone the mega sweat factory. But … it works! And there is a certain joy that comes with the pain of pushing yourself to do stuff you know is awesome for you. And the best bit? I bought some kind of paleo-y- almond butter homemade chocolate sugar-free pie thing which is waiting for me upstairs.

Would love to hear your travel / jet lag hacks! I know I had a bit of fun writing this, but honestly, I can’t afford (for enjoyment never mind biz!) being wiped for half a week with how much I travel; this week I’m flying again in 2 days, then 3 days after that, then 2 days after that from LA to London, then 5 days after that back to Aus and Bali … so if it was the ‘old Kat’ I would be a sugar-loading weight-gaining binge-drinking over-sleeping grumpy ass mess that whole time!

There’s a bunch of stuff I didn’t include (cold drip coffee, couple of sneaky panadol comes to mind) but the key is to keep moving all day, do some seriously ACTIVE (ideally heavy duty sweat) workout (if I can’t do Bikram for location reason it’d be a serious circuit), flush flush flush, have a LITTLE rest, and when you do eat (and trust me the no eating and flushing feels way better for the day) eat MEGA good food. I ate about 3 huge plates worth of salad (real salad not just lettuce) today – more flushing. But then also HAVING the treat / feel good stuff but making it quality and after doing what you need to do first to sort your bod out.

I hope you find this helpful next time you have a long haul flight you don’t want to let get to you. Oh and today was way easier for me to do what I wanted as I’m traveling alone, but even with the kids I do all of the above except maybe the massage; I’d substitute that for extra stretching in the room. So worth it to be able to re-set your body and get in sync to enjoy your travels! I’m off to watch some Netflix, drink more Syrah, and eat my late night treat! Ready to DOMINATE LA TOMORROW!!