DEAR DIANA

"I would like to first thank you for what you are doing and promoting. I am a child of an airline employee. My father worked for Delta for 29 years. He has recently retired from the troubled airline and we often talk of how Delta and the airline Industry as a whole have drastically changed over the decades. I am also a very frequent flyer and have noticed in my lifetime how the service and attitude of employees on all US carriers has diminished. There was a time when the customer came first. Now the airlines have cut back so much, it's like you can feel the attitude and the lack of conscern. What I'm writing about today is for your advice on what you might recommend passengers do if there is no meal on board." -Andrew Griffin Jackson

DIANA RESPONDS

Airline food is now missing on many flights. I, for one, don't miss those tasteless meaty meals, for I am a vegetarian. Nor do I miss the pasty sauces smothering the meat—one dare not even imagine the unappetizing inedibles concealed in sauces concocted in cost-saving kitchens.

For many decades, while I was working as an international flight attendant, I constantly drank water and found that even if I was hungry, water satisfied me. I learned that occasional fasting benefits both the digestive system and the waistline—and that when I didn't eat on the plane, I felt better both on board and after landing.

Okay. I agree, it is inconvenient to be forced to miss a meal at normal meal times when flying, because we're already feeling so deprived on planes; deprived of decent doses of oxygen, humidity and legroom and of our human rights, such as the right not to get sprayed in the face with pesticide.

DIGESTION AT ALTITUDE

The real problem with airline food is that at 30,000 feet it is difficult to digest. In flight, it's difficult to digest food because the dry cabin air causes our bodies to lose the water necessary to move food along the digestive tract.

The intestine becomes like a dry riverbed. In addition, the low air pressure in the cabin causes the intestine to swell up like an unopened bag of potato chips. Swollen and dry: not the best place to digest even airline advertised so-called "gourmet meals."

Honestly, there is no gourmet food on board. In flight, food is not prepared with care then served right away as defined by "gourmet." Instead, after minimum-wage "chefs" cook them on the ground, airline meals are cooled or frozen, stored, shipped, and then reheated on board.

Nor are airline meals wholesome. As a flight attendant, I witnessed food provisions that were spoiled and, even once, meals dropped on the galley floor then scooped up and served.

It is also common knowledge that in-flight food poisoning exists from time to time. This is why the captain and co-pilot are never permitted to eat the same entree.

BYO

Flying is an arduous condition on the body because the high-altitude environment affects oxygen assimilation and all metabolic functions. However, some passengers are medically are unable to fast. So if you are going to want to eat on board (if you are pregnant, or diabetic, or just need food for any reason), your best bet is to follow the wisdom of mountain climbers. (The "interior altitude" on board is generally close to 8,000 feet, which defines a mountain environment.)

The mountain climber has to deal with a gradual altitude change, but the airline passenger has a rapid altitude change along with a time-zone change, which additionally may cause us to forget what we usually remember and become sleepy at odd hours.

Here's the advice from mountain climbers: carbohydrates offer an "altitude advantage" that helps them to stay healthier at high altitudes. This is the optimum diet I recommend for airline passengers, so you'll need to bring your own good-quality carbohydrates if you're planning to eat on board. In fact, it's always a good idea to have something in your bag in case of delays.

BUY ON BOARD

"Buy on Board" snack boxes now offer passengers junk food: potato chips, cookies, animal crackers, and candy bars. I recommend you say "No, thanks" to these pitiful offerings. Think about it: avoid stuffing your digestive system with chemically-enhanced over-processed snacks, and your flight fatigue will naturally be milder.

Instead, relax, drink water, and plan to eat after landing. I recommend you eat on the mealtime at your arrival destination.

After several weeks at our new location, our internal cycles automatically resynchronize to the new time zone, but you can help speed this up by avoiding junk food in flight then, after landing, eat fresh food at the new local meal time.

So, when the meal carts start rolling and other passengers drop their trays and salivate, say to yourself: "I am not interested in junk food. I fly smart class."

Remind your mind that the offered respite from hunger is just a junk meal, at best, high in fat and preservatives. Where's the appeal in that? Remind yourself that the only reason this junk food is on board is because it's cheap and it's a revenue stream for the airline.

So—bon appetite, after landing.

FROM READERS

"Your site looks great and offers many great tips for the traveling public. I am a broker of food to the airline industry (yes, I sell airplane food). The frozen meals range from $ .70/unit to $1.30/unit." --Joe Broom

"I just read in your website about eating carbohydrate snacks in airplanes instead of the meals being served. Can you please give me examples of carbohydrate snacks? I am taking a trip to Asia next month, and I want to make sure I eat the right stuff since I don't relish airplane food. I did get a lot of travel hints from your website. Thanks very much." --Maria Pobre

Answer: Some of the carbohydrate snacks I enjoy eating on jets include my own cooking and takeout meals from vegetarian restaurants and health food stores. Ethnic restaurants such as Thai, Chinese, Greek, Lebanese, and Indian also have a number of high-carbohydrate vegetarian meals to choose from. These include steamed or sautéed vegetables, as well as pasta and grain (rice, millet, couscous) dishes. Salads are also good, though I find a cooked meal satisfies me more when I'm traveling, and cooked food is easier for me to digest.