Prevent jet lag from beating your body

With summer comes vacations, and with some vacations comes jet lag. If you’re traveling a long distance this summer, you can make the most of your vacation by avoiding jet lag with the Anti-Jet-Lag Diet, developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

Jet lag, which includes symptoms of irritability, insomnia, indigestion and disorientation, occurs when the body’s inner clock is out of step with time cues like meal times, and sunrise and sunset. If you are traveling across three or more time zones, your risk of experiencing jet lag is high, so consider following this diet to reduce or eliminate jet-lag symptoms.

Research shows that travelers who follow this diet are seven times less likely to experience jet lag when traveling west and 16 times less likely when traveling east.

You should begin the diet, which consists of feast days and fast days, three days before you depart. On feast days, breakfast and lunch should be high in protein — try steak and eggs for breakfast and meat and beans for lunch. Proteins help produce chemicals that make you wake up and get going.

Conversely, dinner on feast days should be heavy in carbohydrates since they help the body wind down and sleep.

On fast days, you should eat three small meals low in carbohydrates and calories. Aim for meals with less than 700 calories; salads and light soups make good meals.

Your schedule for these feast and fast days depends on your flight schedule. Let’s say your international flight departs on a Sunday. You would start your diet on Thursday, beginning with a feast day. Alternate feast and fast days, and ensure that the flight day is a fast day.