Snacks On a Plane: How to Eat Healthfully at 30,000 Feet

It's no longer difficult to find healthy food at (most) airports nowadays. According to the latest Airport Food Review, published by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (a vegetarian-oriented medical society), 79 percent of restaurants at the nation's busiest airports now offer at least one low-fat, high-fiber, cholesterol-free vegetarian entrée. It seems that the combination of airlines charging for food onboard the aircraft, along with the public's increasing demand for something other than hot dogs and onion rings between flights, has led to a slimming down of airport food courts.

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Sadly, another survey, conducted by Charles Stuart Platkin, PhD, MPH and founder of the website DietDetective.com, found that the airlines themselves aren't doing anywhere near as well in terms of making healthy food choices available for passengers. Those free tiny packets of peanuts may not be enough to boost your BMI, he says. But the food for sale in the air, such as 500-calorie salads and 800-calorie stacks of chips, are a different story. Which means frequent fliers may be gaining pounds along with their miles.

THE DETAILS: Platkin says he sends surveys to all the major U.S. airlines and asks for feedback about the nutritional content of the food that's served for free or sold during flights. In this year's survey, the findings of which he published in November on his website, he found that Continental ranked best for serving and selling low-calorie snacks and meals among the seven airlines that responded. Continental was followed in the rankings by American Airlines, United, JetBlue, Delta/Northwest, US Airways, and Southwest. In some cases, these airlines scored low points for offering snacks that should be split between two (or even three or four) people, like Delta's 840-calorie Fruit and Nut Trail Mix. The Nutrition Info panel says that each bag contains six servings, but, says Platkin, "we all tend to eat what's in front of us."

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Adding to the problem, he says, is the fact that the airlines make it so difficult to find out the calorie content, particularly of the foods served as meals and in those snack boxes, since nutrition information isn't listed on the individual items. Platkin laughed at one package that instructed the eater to call or write the company for nutritional information, which isn't going to help you make that split-second decision as the flight attendant goes sailing past you. And you can't always assume that "healthy" equals "low-cal." For instance, United's seemingly healthy chicken salad box, with chicken salad, multigrain crackers, dried almonds, trail mix, and cream cheese spread, serves up 825 calories.

"Airline travelers are a captive audience," Platkin says. "It's not like you can go down the street while you're up in the air and buy something different from another airline."

WHAT IT MEANS: Most airlines did away with free food in 2001 when the last economic downturn hit them particularly hard, and that could actually work to your advantage, says Platkin. "You're better off now," he says. "When they put that free meal in front of you, you were eating 1,000 or more calories and it was terrible food." At least having to pay $5 may make you think more about that 500-calorie snack box with the cheeselike product, the dried stick of salami, and the buttery crackers.

Here are a few tricks to eating healthfully at 35,000 feet:

Pack it at home
"You're allowed to bring food through security, and many people don't know that," says Platkin. Even if you don't make yourself a full meal, a piece of fruit (choose something sturdy enough that won't get squished in your luggage, like an apple) and some homemade trail mix will tide you over between takeoff and landing. Platkin personally likes taking dried cereal, such as Cheerios or Shredded Wheat, and healthy energy bars (look for the kind with very little sugar added). While you're at it, toss in an empty reusable bottle that you can fill up at a water fountain once you go through security. Empty bottles are allowed, but it helps to pack them in a side pocket, in case the security agents ask you to open it.

Fill up on land
As the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine found, it's getting easier to find healthy food at airports. On their list, Detroit International got a perfect score for having restaurants that all offered at least one healthy alternative. Even at the less-healthy restaurants, you can buy grab-and-go salads, which Platkin likes because the toppings are usually individually packaged. That makes it easy to go light on the croutons, cheese, and dressing on your Caesar salad.

Don't ask — and you won't gain weight
One trend catching on at a few airlines is the idea of unlimited free snacks. Most airlines will give you more bags of peanuts or pretzels if you ask — which you shouldn't, Platkin advises. That's one reason he gave JetBlue low marks. Despite the fact that their free snacks all fell in the 100- to 200-calorie range, the fact that you can have as many as you want means that people do overeat. And by the way, for the one free snack that you do indulge in, keep in mind that a tiny bag of peanuts has more nutrition than the tiny bag of pretzels, as well as fewer refined sugars.

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