Our naturopathic nutritionist Rhi Hepple offers handy holiday hints, from how to fend off mozzies to guarding against holiday stress and sun damage

  • Taking a B Vitamin Complex that includes Vitamin B1 is great for preventing insect bites. Local bee pollen is effective at warding off nibbly insects, and it will naturally help your histamine levels – stopping you from being sensitive to local pollens. Neem capsules are another insect repellent. But if you do get bitten then feverfew tincture applied topically will relieve swelling.
  • It’s worth boosting your antioxidants to help with sun damage – try high-dose Vitamin C, or a superfood rich in Vitamin C like baobab or camu camu. Blueberries, blackberries and goji berries are also excellent sources of antioxidants and watermelons contain lypogene which helps prevent sun damage.
  • When we travel our immune system can get compromised not just from mixing with lots of different people, going to new environments and travelling on planes or trains, but also sometimes we can be very stressed leading up to a holiday trying to get everything organised before going away. Stress has a very negative impact on our immune system, and falling ill on holiday is not what you need. So strengthen your immune system with Vitamin C, zinc and probiotics.
  • If you suffer from allergies then ensure you are not dehydrated. When our body is dehydrated it puts on a stress alert and our histamine levels increase. So make sure you keep hydrated (see also our guide to Staying hydrated in hot weather). Other natural antihistamines are nettles, liquorice, elderflower and reishi mushrooms.
  • If it’s prickly heat that is your bane on holiday then it’s worth some prepping beforehand, at least two weeks ahead. Drink plenty of carrot juice which is rich in beta carotene, or you can take beta carotene in capsule form.