Are you traveling over the holidays? (or ever?)
Making good or informed choices about what you eat pre-flight can make all the difference in the world to how you feel both during the flight and after it.
And with the inevitable oversold holiday flights, bad weather delays, long lines in airports full of angry and tired passengers, you need every advantage that you can give yourself to not just survive the ordeal, but keep your zen, avoid "jet bloat", not be the stinky passenger, and arrive feeling good.
Check out this list of 8 foods that you should never eat before you fly:
Fried or Fast Foods
Airports are full of fast food joints and restaurants offering low quality and fried foods. Although you may already be wary of hitting up McDonalds pre-flight you also need to avoid the fried foods on the menu at the better restaurants in the airport.
Your body already has a hard time digesting food at 35,000 feet, add to that the trouble the body has processing saturated fats and you've got yourself the perfect recipe for heartburn and upset stomach. Eating saturated fat can constrict blood flow and raise your risk of DVT.
Fast foods and fried foods are generally high in sodium too, causing swelling in the hands, feet, ankles and lower legs.
Cruciferous Vegetables
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| image via livestrong.com |
After takeoff the air pressure in the cabin decreases, causing the cabin air to expand by around 30%. This can cause swallowed air and gases in the stomach and small intestine to expand, leading to an uncomfortable, bloated feeling. Minimize the effect of this by avoiding broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and other cruciferous vegetables.
Legumes
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Beans are well know for being another major gas and bloating culprit. Many types of beans and other legumes naturally contain indigestible complex sugars that can lead to onboard bloating.
Do yourself and everyone else on the plane a favor, and avoid eating legumes before you fly!
Sugar Free Gum And Candy
Sugar free products contain artificial sweeteners, and unfortunately the human body is not designed to process synthetic sugars very well. They can cause gas and bloating, and can even have a laxative effect - not what you want on a full flight with only a couple of bathrooms! Check the warning label on the packet before you buy, or just play safe and avoid artificial sweeteners before and during your flight.
Garlic
Garlic contains compounds that are absorbed both into your bloodstream and your lungs, so even if you brush your teeth you are exhaling garlic and it is seeping out through your pores. If you have ever sat next to a garlic-y passenger you will know how nauseating it is to smell it all flight long. Don't be that person...
Alcohol
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| image via smartertravel.com |
Alcohol is dehydrating anyway, but combine it with the low humidity in a pressurized cabin and you can become even more dehydrated, which can make you feel miserable and give you headaches for days.
Do yourself a favor and skip alcohol pre-flight as well as during your flight.
Carbonated Drinks
Carbonated drinks like soda and beer are major contributors to bloating. Picture the bubbles as tiny balloons that will end up in your stomach, and then rapidly expand when the air pressure changes. Not comfortable!
Airplane Provided Water, Ice, Coffee Or Tea
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| image via smartertravel.com |
It's important to stay hydrated while you fly, but you are better off bringing your own bottled water than grabbing a drink from the beverage cart. Tests done by the EPA showed that one out of every seven planes had tank water that did not meet federal standards, and contained bacteria like E.coli.
Although beverage carts might give you "bottled" water from a large bottle, that bottle may have been refilled using the tank water.
Coffee and tea are often made from the same tank water, which is usually not heated to a high enough temperature to kill germs.
Story source Smartertravel.com
