5 Foods to Avoid Before Flying

Pre-flight anxiety triggered by endless luggage lanes, security checkpoints and children shouting unnecessarily extends to recurring travel concerns to the aircraft toilet. But eat the wrong thing before you fly, and you might argue with more than just a horrible movie in an airplane or attacking neighbor.

Unfortunately, the choice of eating at the airport such as greasy fast food burgers, greasy pizza or liquid lunch at bar concourse is rather limited. However, if you are disciplined, avoiding fatty trifat, alcohol, and painkill carbonization can help contribute to thigh-free flight. There are even some surprising nutritious foods on the "do not eat" list that should be avoided before you descend into the sky. And for long walkers wondering if there's anything that can be done to prevent jet lag as they fly from New York to Beijing, maybe there's only a food-based medicine: no eating at all.

Remember to drink plenty of water, eat some carrots and beans, and check five foods that are forbidden for consumption before flying.

1. Fast Food

All right, so we use Mickey D's as the embodiment of the stinging and arterial fast food joints commonly found at airports. According to the medical community, the body does not do well to digest sodium and saturated fat foods right from the start - and digestion at 35,000 feet proves even more difficult. So it makes sense to avoid this worst performer before flying.

But beyond the digestive problem, there is also a problem of blood circulation in flight. Sitting in a closed state and moving in a pressurized cabin obstructs the flow of blood, triggering a physiological chain that can cause swollen feet, or worse, deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT involves the formation of a blood clot deep in the body so that during free rest can enter the brain, lungs or heart, causing severe damage, even death. According to doctors at the Canadian Congress of Cardiovascular, incised bacon sandwiches, oily egg sandwiches and cheeses can cause an almost immediate constriction of blood flow. Although there is no direct relationship between DVT and eating pre-flight foods that are high in saturated fats, fried chicken and narrow airline chairs are probably the best combination to avoid.

2. Gas Giants

For obvious reasons, it is very clever to avoid foods that encourage intestinal expansion, because the nature of the pressure plane's cabin encourages further bloating. Heads among such foods are fried and super-saturated dishes, but even certain "healthy" foods - onions, cauliflower, cabbage, nuts, lentils - can make you feel like a balloon that is too dense. The high sodium foods mentioned above can cause you to hold water, contributing further to that bloated feeling.

And the gas issue can overcome the question of personal discomfort or public decency. In 2006, a flatulent aircraft forced American Airlines to make an emergency landing. Fellow passengers reported a match that burned, and the plane had to go down. A female passenger later admitted that she had hit a match to hide a certain aroma.

3. Alcohol

For many leaflets, downing a few cocktails is part of their pre-flight protocol. It helps relieve flying fears and functions as a liquid sleeping pill. But doctors (yes, they again) say that consuming alcohol before or during flight should be avoided, at least in excessive amounts.

Alcohols cause dehydration, which has been the concern of most leaflets given the dry air and salty foods on airplanes. If drinking is a must for you, counter the effects of liquor by consuming lots of water.

4. Carbonated Drinks

When flying, and especially on long distances, it's good to think of yourself as a super athlete, competing against the power of dehydration, boredom, rough stewardess and the smelly person sitting next to you. As an athlete, you will never consume Pepsi during a triathlon, do you? You must be at your peak, and carbonated beverages contribute to bloating and cramping, two long-distance athlete enemies. Again, we recommend that you avoid foods that inhibit digestion, cause gas and potentially cause distress for you and your fellow passengers.

5. Everything

In a study published in the journal Science, researchers suggested that fasting for about 16 hours before a long flight can really help fend off jet lag.

Here's a quick study: It's usually mild that triggers an internal clock that controls when we eat and sleep. But according to the study, the second hour seems to rule out the first when the body senses that food is in short supply. So researchers believe we might be able to more quickly adjust to timezone changes by manipulating this second hour, based on hunger. The point is, if you make your body think of it as starving, you will be able to stay awake and alert until it is time to have dinner at your new destination, rearrange your body light hours in the process.

Of course, we must emphasize that research is done on laboratory mice, and the linkage has not been found in humans. But travelers are desperate to avoid slumping more than 6 pm. may want to test the research findings. For more tips, see our article on how to fight jet lag.