Hello friends, I am back from a long break. I was on a long 5 week vacation to India. Had a wonderful time visiting family, friends and places. And of course trying out a lot of regional/local food as well, including some mouth watering street food. Will do a separate post on how you can eat well while traveling, without compromising much on your healthy habits. Today's post though is on eating and feeling well during a long haul flight.
Have you been enjoying eating on long flights? I have never liked eating on flights for a couple of reasons. One being that food on the flight is not healthy, hygienic or tasty, and two being that you are sitting for a long time doing nothing and your body does not need so much of food. If you happen to have a 24 hr journey with a break in between, the airlines over feed you between 5-6 meals. Eating too much on a long flight wreaks havoc on your digestive system as you feel too full, especially since you don't do any work to help with the digestion. We travel at least one long trip every year, and every time at the end of the flight I feel miserable. So this time we decided that we are not going to eat anything from the flight.
Here is what we did, and why we did it. We packed some high energy food while being light on the stomach. It included home made nut balls, good arabian dates, raw cashews and some good chocolate. So you just had to eat a little as the food was high energy, and it did not make you full or heavy, and no urges to rush to the toilet. We did drink a lot of fluids (water and juices) though which is very essential on a flight to keep you hydrated. We also took time to stand-up and walk around to stretch our legs 2-3 times during every leg.
So what was the result? We have never felt so good about a long flight, had a lot of energy all through the journey, felt light, slept well, and no signs of headaches/nausea/bloating/vomiting that I have had on every other journey. This is going to be our mantra for every flight trip going forward. Try this on your next flight and you will surely feel the difference.
Suggestions on food to take:
-Nuts: Any nut that u like to munch on, don't go for unhealthy trail-mixes though. We prefer raw cashews and almonds, and roasted peanuts if we can get hold of organic peanuts
-Energy bars: Home made is best, else u can get from a good health store like Wholefoods
-Dry fruits: Raisins, Dates, Dried Figs or Apricots
-Chocolates: Take good quality chocolates in moderation, sugar will be on the higher side, but a little indulgence when you travel is OK I guess :)
You can be innovative too with your own preferences for the above items. It provides for good energy, good fat and protein, and needed sugar as well, while keeping you light and energetic. This is not a diet for a long period, would recommend it while you are on a flight. Try this on your next long haul flight and your body will thank you :-)
