Eating on a Jet Plane

When returning from my recent trip to New Zealand, I found this quote in the Qantas in-flight magazine: “Proper eating will enhance your comfort both during and after your flight. We recommend [that you] avoid overeating so you don’t have to digest too much food while your body is inactive.”

I was pleased to see this, since it made sense to me and echoed the sorts of things that I teach in the “Am I Hungry?” program. And yet as we made our way over the ocean in a 12-hour flight, the amount of food provided by the Qantas staff did not jibe with this ideal.

We left at 2:05 p.m., and we got our first meal – “lunch” – at 3:30, which consisted of: choice of chicken with potatoes, spinach ravioli with couscous, or niçoise salad; roll with butter; a dish of custard; beverages of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or wine; and an after-dinner mint.

At around 7:30, they came by again with sandwiches, which I assume was “dinner”. At 9:30, it was ice cream (perhaps dessert?), and then at 11 it was cheese and crackers (late night snack?).

We rounded out the meals at 12:30 a.m., with breakfast: choice of cold (muesli and milk) or hot (scrambled egg and bacon on English muffin with baked beans on the side); blueberry muffin; fruit salad (if four bite-sized pieces of melon and two grapes qualifies); and beverage options of tea, coffee, water, and juice.

I don’t see how this could qualify as eating lightly if you took everything offered and especially if, like me, you had eaten lunch before boarding the flight. Of course you don’t have to take or eat everything, but that can be hard. What if, on such a long flight, you get hungry? And the food is free – shouldn’t you take advantage of it? (I will also add that on these long international flights I’m generally favorably impressed by the quality of the food.)

Then there’s the problem of jet lag, and your body being confused about time of day. Even if you’re being mindful, you may find yourself feeling hungry at odd times. Plus, most people recommend eating breakfast at a “normal” mealtime for the time zone you’re going into, to help you adjust. So while 12:35 a.m. may seem an odd time for breakfast, in my case that was actually 7:35 a.m., which is much more reasonable. Shouldn’t you eat it, then?

If you find yourself in such a situation, here are a few tips based on my experience that may help with following Qantas’s suggestion:

1. You don’t have to accept everything they offer you. This may sound obvious, but my first time flying to England, I didn’t realize I had the option of refusing.
2. As with all meals, you don’t have to eat everything – the staff will not chastise you about cleaning your plate because of starving children in some other country.
3. If you don’t take a snack when offered, and you later get hungry, odds are you can request a snack then. (Note that this generally won’t apply to hot meals.) You can also bring your own snacks if you’re worried about it.
4. If you want to follow the breakfast rule (something I usually do), I suggest that you eat less beforehand, so that you’re hungry for it, even if it comes at an odd time.  In my case, I ate lunch, and later a snack of an apple, which meant that by breakfast, I was ready for it. (Other trips I’ve declined one of the meals entirely, if it’s a shorter flight to Europe.) 
5. Brings things to entertain yourself – books, games, knitting, movies, etc. – so that you’re not quite as likely to eat simply out of boredom (very tempting to do when you’re stuck on a plane that long).
6. Drink lots of water. It’s easy to get dehydrated on a plane, which can make you think you’re hungry even if you’re not.  To aid with this, remember you can bring empty water bottles through security and fill them on the other side.  

If you do find yourself traveling a long distance, I wish you a safe and pleasant journey, and as always, happy eating!

Eating in New Zealand

I recently went on vacation to New Zealand, and I knew beforehand that they are extremely strict about what food you can bring into the country – more specifically, they don’t allow anything. They are concerned enough that they search for food with X-rays and trained dogs, and if they find something, even if it was provided on the plane, it’s an automatic $400 fine.

I have to admit this caused me a moment of panic. I like to be prepared for travel with plenty of food, so as not to be at the mercy of whatever I can buy at the airport or they might serve on the plane. But in this case, I could only bring enough to get me onto the New Zealand flight; I didn’t want to risk having something extra that I would have to throw away.

Imagine, then, my chagrin when partway through the travel I discovered a Luna bar lurking in the pocket of my raincoat. I haven’t the faintest idea why it was there, but at 10 a.m., as we taxied into the Auckland airport, I had to decide – to eat or not to eat it?

I wasn’t particularly hungry, as we’d been given breakfast just a couple of hours before. But I also didn’t know how long it would be until lunch, and despite everything (such as reminding myself that I can let food go to waste or to my waist), I still have a hard time throwing food away.

So – I ate the Luna bar.

It worked out okay, since I didn’t get lunch until 2 (by which point I was hungry again), but that was not the last of my dilemmas. I was fine in Auckland, where I was staying with a cousin whose eating habits were similar to mine, but from there I was going on a 7-day tour of the South Island.

I did pack some snacks to bring with me (thankfully New Zealand could care less what you bring for food between the two islands), but I hadn’t quite counted on the flexible nature of mealtimes on the tour. Breakfast was fairly set, either 7 or 7:30, but other meals were more challenging.

My first day, for instance, I joined the group at 11:30, but for various reasons we didn’t get lunch until 3:30. By then I had gone through most of my snacks for that day, and I wanted to hold out so I’d be hungry for lunch. But I let it go too far. By the time we arrived, all I could think about was eating. I wasn’t interested in conversation, or admiring the beautiful farmhouse we were in. I filled my plate and even went back for seconds, since it was such a lovely meal. Finally I felt satisfied.

Then our hostess brought out dessert.

By then it was around 4, and I suddenly remembered we were also having a meal provided that night as part of the tour.

I was chagrined. Despite having just finished teaching an “Am I Hungry?” workshop, I had not handled the situation the way I would have hoped. I had to rapidly decide again if I should continue eating.

I was at the crux of many of the things we talk about in AIH? as reasons why we sometimes eat even when we’re not hungry:

• The meal was included in my trip cost – I wanted to get full benefit
• Our hostess was very gracious and had made the apple-walnut cake with fruit and nuts from their own trees – I didn’t want to offend her
• Everyone else was having dessert – I didn’t want to start our time together by being the one dissenter
• It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience – when would I ever back in New Zealand, eating such fresh food at a farmhouse?

I didn’t have time to think it through that clearly. Before I knew it, a piece of cake was in front of me. Again, I ate it, without consciously having decided that was what I wanted to do.

Three hours later, I found myself again agonizing over the prospect of dinner. The perch and lobster (what they call crayfish) were fresh-caught the day before by other members of the group, and again it was free, once-in-a-lifetime, etc.

Then I started laughing at myself. Why was I making this so complicated and stressful? I knew I wasn’t truly hungry, but that I would eat a little to taste, and that once the meal was past, I could wait to eat again until I was hungry.

From that point, it was much easier and more enjoyable. My snacks allowed me to avoid getting to the ravenous stage again, and while I did overeat sometimes, I generally didn’t eat again after that until I was actually hungry. That sometimes meant I simply sat with a drink while the others ate, or ate when no one else did, but I didn’t let it worry me.

In the end, I don’t regret anything I had – I just regret having spent so much energy that first day fretting needlessly. But it’s a good reminder that I, too, am still learning.