If you fly regularly for work or pleasure, you know that airline food is not the epitome of gourmet cooking. (We’re not talking about business and first class, unfortunately…). Nor is that foil wrapped, overcooked scrambled egg combo a nutritional powerhouse. However, the major airlines are making slow and marked improvements in healthifying their food. According to Charles Stuart Platkin, the Diet Detective,

10 years ago, the average coach dinner had 1,054 calories, about as much as a McDonald’s Big Mac and large fries. Today those elusive, rarely free airline meals are of much better quality, many with calorie totals half or less of that previous zenith. more…

According to Platkin, here’s how the airlines currently rank in terms of nutritious options: (5 stars is top score)

Continental: 4.5 stars
American Airlines: 3.75 stars
United: 3.5 stars
JetBlue: 3.5 stars
Delta/Northwest: 3.5 stars
US Airways: 2.5 stars
Southwest: 2 stars

What to do:

Why fall into the common trap of not having eaten before arriving at the airport and then having to eat fast food at the terminal or during the flight? A bit of preparing at home can help save you lots of calories, and perhaps heartburn as well. You can stock up on trail mix, healthy granola bars, apples, bananas, dark chocolate, almonds, cashews, chewing gum, etc… Heck, you can even prepare a sandwich or two, just make sure it doesn’t get too soggy by the time you get to eating it 5 hours later.

Yes, bringing your own food to your flight seems a bit dorky, but more and more people are doing it, especially now that many airlines do not provide complimentary meals.

Safe travels this holiday season!

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