I love to travel…seriously love to travel. Spending time up in the sky is just one of my loves. But to balance out my joy of travel and sitting in airplanes is the food! Sticking to nutritious and whole food while traveling can be one of the more difficult things to do. However, if you learn how to plan and make smart choices before you depart, a healthier way to eat is really not that difficult. Taking that well-earned trip is probably not the best time of the year in which to start a healthier way of eating, but if you are currently making healthy choices in your foods then modifying your diet slightly to accommodate travel, is not as difficult as it first may seem.
When traveling by airplane your food intake will be compromised, no questions asked especially if you chose to eat the airplane food which I highly recommend you don’t because it has poor nourishment value and is laced with… well things I would rather not eat. The good part about leaving your country is that you can take food and beverages onto the plane.
So, let me clarify this…
If you are travelling domestically, you’re allowed water and food that you’ve brought in, you don’t have to set aside money to buy on the inside of the terminal. If you are travelling internationally you can take beverages/drinks on the plane that are in bottles and brought from inside the terminal, remember they take liquids from you when going through security. So, put aside some money to buy water inside the terminal. Don’t take yoghurt because they will take that too. You can take food items into the terminal and onto the plane. In fact, you are better off doing that because the price of food within the terminal is so high and the quality is so low. How does that work? Well that is a whole other post. The food you take in will be scanned by the x-ray machine that apparently doesn’t harm anything or anyone (really!!) so just be prepared for that.
You can eat your food in the terminal and/or take your food on the plane however there is one of four things you must do upon arriving at your destination:
- You must have eaten everything before you land OR
- Leave the food on the plane OR
- If you want to take items into the country you are visiting make sure you declare them OR
- Dispose of your food items in bio security bins which are usually located before reaching immigration in most countries
Here are some of our home made healthy snacks we love to take when we travel on the plane:
- Green juices (domestic only – no fluids on international flights)
- Nuts and seeds
- Fruit (apples, grapes, strawberries, banana’s etc)
- Hummus dip
- Avocado dip
- Carrot and celery sticks
- Almond butter or any other nut butter
- Seed crackers
- Our buckwheat fruit cake
- Our buckwheat wraps with hummus, goats feta, pumpkin and other salad items like carrot and beetroot
When we take our food we pack it in containers which come in handy for when we become the ‘tommy tourists’ wondering around our new destination. If you want to keep food cool there is no reason why you cannot take a freezer bag, just without the ice pack in it!
Yes, eating healthy foods when you travel can be a challenge. However, your health is worth it…a little planning ahead can go a long way.
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