Business Travel Tips Series (BTTS) tip #3 What to eat at airports

Tip #3: What To Eat At Airports

Ideally, prepping your food & snack before you get on your trip is recommended. You can scroll down for a list of options. However, if you do need to eat at the airport, use your "at-home brain" and try to eat what you would have eaten at home. Meaning, don't eat a bunch of Pop Tarts or a slew of overpriced, high-sugar, high calorie dishes. Look for the little snack stores and buy some fruits, nuts or a Greek yogurt. Some of these stores sell somewhat healthy beef jerky for example, which is a good source of protein. But make sure to read the ingredients label. If the jerky is loaded with sodium, "natural flavors" and other chemicals, opt not to buy it. Another option is to try making a meal out of an appetizer and a side dish to avoid the calorie bombs. The appetizer portion of wings, or the burger sliders - and ditch the buns - can give you the protein you need to keep hunger at bay, and a side salad or a portion of the steamed vegetables can round out a fairly well-balanced meal. Here a list from the "SmartTravel" website on somewhat healthy airport food options. Again, best would be to bring your own food (see below) but time and life won't always let you be prepared.

Tips for Restaurant Options at Airports:

• Au Bon Pain Vegetable Soups
• McDonald’s Bacon Ranch Grilled Chicken Salad
• Starbucks Classic Whole-Grain Oatmeal
• Dunkin’ Donuts Egg White Veggie Flatbread
• Panda Express String Bean Chicken Breast
• Chick-fil-A Grilled Market Salad

Unhealthiest Airport Options:

• Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll
• Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pan Pizza
• Dunkin’ Donuts Sausage, Egg and Cheese on Croissant
• Au Bon Pain Mediterranean Chicken Harvest Hot Bowl
• McDonald’s Grand Mac
• Burger King Double Bacon King

 
Your best option is to bring your own healthy, organic and unprocessed snacks (tips summarized below). Prep your sandwiches the day before if any way possible. Most airports do not offer healthy food choices. If you arrive hungry to the airport, most of your options are junk food or processed food. The best advice is to avoid these choices. And unfortunately, this also goes for most in-flight meal options, too. These meals are often nothing more than heavily processed food containing unhealthy substances. Sadly, junk food is loaded with too much sodium (salt), too much sugar and bad meats. These three things will do more to weaken your germ fighting abilities than they will to fight off any disease. If you didn't bring your own healthy foods, your best bet would be to fast. Fasting is superior than eating junk food when traveling and it does less to weaken your body's natural disease fighting mechanisms. Your body can do without food for a while. Actually, you could go for about two to three weeks without food. However, water is a different story. Make sure you drink enough water. At least 60% of an adult body is made of water and every living cell in the body needs it to keep functioning. So drink plenty of water before, during and after your travels.

Tips to Prep Your Food:

• Prep your foods prior to your flight. Make a few sandwiches at home then put them into a separate bag so you can easily pass the security check
• After the security check, go get a large bottle of water. Hydration is key at any airport, as well as in the airplane
• Bring healthy snacks such as a bag of mixed nuts (almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts) and dried fruits such as cranberries and apricots
• Bring a few healthy bars - "Kind" is a good option (www.kindsnacks.com)
• Pack a dark chocolate bar - at least 70+% dark chocolate (no milk chocolate please!)
• Bring a bag of natural, uncured jerky - "Epic" does it right (www.epicbar.com)
• Bring an unsweetened gluten-free oatmeal packet with a single-serve packet of almond butter, and ask for hot water and fruit on the plane
• Pack an apple or two. It can fill you up a bit so it's easier to turn down the starchy foods
• Bring an avocado or two. It's a meal on itself and can help build healthy cell membranes and is an easy way to get healthy fats in your diet every single day. Important for brain health

 
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