Nothing ruins an amazing vacation like your body turning traitor the moment you finally get there. You know the symptoms. Trouble sticking to your usual sleep schedule. Drowsiness. Headaches. Jet lag. 

Thankfully, you can beat jet lag by changing up your diet before and while you travel.

In the 1980s, the U.S. government developed the Argonne Anti-Jet-Lag Diet to help traveling Americans adjust their bodies’ internal clocks to new time zones. A Pentagon study in 2002 found that people who followed the Argonne diet were seven times less likely to experience jet lag when traveling west and 16 times less likely when traveling east.

The Argonne Anti-Jet-Lag Diet

At its heart, this diet is about fasting and feasting before your trip in order to reset your inner clock in advance.

STEP 1: Determine what time you will have breakfast at your travel destination four days before you leave. This gives you plenty of time to execute the feast-fast diet.

STEP 2: Four days before you eat breakfast at your destination, feast on a high-protein breakfast (eggs, bacon, steak, beans) and lunch and a high-carbohydrate dinner (pasta, potatoes). Don’t drink coffee or caffeinated drinks except for between 3-5 p.m.

On the next day, fast by eating only light salads and soups. Again, only drink coffee between 3-5 p.m. Repeat this feast-fast cycle for two more days.

STEP 3: Travel to your destination and break your final fast at that first breakfast.

Alternatively, you can just eat nothing for 16 hours before travel. Most people tend to prefer the Argonne diet.

You can read the original diet plan here.