I was listening to Adam Carolla one time and he made a point about unhealthy eating habits and airplane travel that stuck with me. You may have heard of Adam Carolla he was on The Man Show, Dancing With the Stars, Loveline on MTV, has a unibrow, and he rides a unicycle. He was talking about people self medicating with junk food. His point was that people suffer a trauma (in this case airline travel) and turn to food to soothe themselves. Not obvious trauma, but the trauma we all know from traveling these days. All the waiting in line, groping from security, cramped conditions, BO, crying babies, the dude with the huge “I’m backpacking across Europe” backpack as carry on, etc...
After you’ve been through all that you feel like you’ve EARNED some grease and/or alcohol. So how do you get around this?
First thing is being aware of what you are doing. Are things really that bad? Do you think the food is going to make you feel better? You will probably feel worse, truth be told.
The other thing is to plan ahead. Bring some healthy snacks to keep you from going crazy on the bad stuff. Apples, bananas, nuts, protein bars, healthy things that are portable can go a long way.
Chewing gum is not only good for clearing your ears from the pressure (burping is not as socially acceptable as it should be), it can help keep your mouth busy and your brain occupied so you don’t fixate on Budweiser and bean dip the whole flight. Anything to keep you from getting a Cinnabon and a Big Mac and your way out of the airport.