Eating healthy while traveling can be a challenge, especially when you’re stuck at the airport during the Thanksgiving rush.
Cardiologists are trapped right there with you as weather and other problems often lead to flight delays.
What do doctors eat when heart-healthy options are limited in a place designed to offer food quickly for a captive audience of hundreds of weary travelers?
It’s best to choose your meal carefully.
Cardiologist Tip of the Day: Avoid Fast Food and the Giant Cinnamon Buns at the Airport
Hamburgers, fries and other foods full of saturated fat, salt, cholesterol, carbs or sugar top the list of foods cardiologists avoid when stuck at the airport.
“It’s easy to overdo it, especially when grabbing fast food," the American Heart Association cautions.
“Unfamiliar foods can be tricky to gauge, too, so be mindful of what you’re putting into your body.”
For example, one Cinnabon Classic Roll has 880 calories, 16 grams of saturated fat and 1,150 milligrams of sodium, according to the company.
Why It Matters
The stress of travel can raise blood pressure. Cramped airline seats can slow down blood circulation. There’s also little opportunity for exercise on the road.
All of these factors can negatively impact the heart, and eating food full of saturated fat, cholesterol and salt can make the experience worse.
Travelers with heart failure, high blood pressure or diabetes have to be careful what they eat at the airport, says Dr. Marc Eisenberg, a clinical cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
When it comes to healthy people, one or two days of eating bad food — if that’s the only option available — is unlikely to hurt them, but isn’t ideal, he adds.
How to Get Started
Snacks from home — such as nuts, oranges or apples paired with packets of peanut butter — top the list of healthy foods cardiologists eat when they’re stuck at the airport. So it’s best to come prepared for delays with your own portable and nutritious food.
If you haven’t brought anything, visit grab-and-go stores that usually dot airports to buy a small bag of nuts, a fruit-and-nut bar, yogurt, fresh fruit, a fruit cup or a salad.
Airport coffee shops also tend to have oatmeal available, which is a cardiologist’s favorite breakfast.
TODAY’s Expert Tip of the Day series is all about simple strategies to make life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, different qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental wellness and more.
