Nutrition Advice That Really Flies

When airline officials decide to overhaul their menus, they typically take into account passenger surveys along with comments made about the food to reservations agents.

Based on that input, passengers generally fall into two camps, said Jim Brown, a TWA spokesman. Some want healthful, low-fat meals and snacks. Others are what Brown calls “meat-and-potatoes” travelers. They aren’t nearly as weight- or health-conscious, if at all. Or, especially if they are on vacation or stressed out, they consider eating a way to pass the time. They’re in that “bring-on-the-chocolate-chip-cookies” mode.

“We try to cater to both,” said Brown, echoing spokesmen from other carriers.

It’s smart business. But for the passenger, it can make finding nutritious food and passing up the not-so-healthful fare a bit more challenging, though not impossible.

When asked to describe recent innovations in menu offerings, officials from 11 airlines most often mentioned the hiring of renowned chefs, the continuing trend of giving passengers familiar brand-name coffees and snack foods and jazzing up the trays and napkins.

But a few also have made some menu changes with nutrition in mind.

For instance, in TWA’s coach sections, menus have been redesigned, Brown said, with many deli-type sandwiches served on a hero- or hoagie-style roll, stuffed with turkey, which can be lower in fat than other lunch meats. (But some are served with cheese, which adds fat.) Lower-fat milk is offered, as are lower-fat breakfast choices such as yogurt instead of pancakes smeared with butter, Brown said.

Late last year, TWA revised its domestic first-class menu for its new TransWorld First service to offer more healthful options without getting too spartan. A typical lunch, said Brown, now includes Jamaican jerk chicken pasta and a vegetable salad. But for those who want it, there’s also a warm chocolate chip cookie.

Virgin Atlantic’s economy and premium economy menus now include nutritional information on calories and fat grams so that passengers can choose among the typical three entrees based on that information and avoid the fat traps. “We did some research on what was lacking, and people were more interested in learning about what they are eating,” said Gareth Edmondson-Jones, a spokesman.

The range on a sample menu he supplied was illustrative, from the standard vegetarian entree of penne pasta, with its 397 calories and 12.9 grams of fat, to the more fat-laden beef-and-peppercorn-sauce entree, totaling 509 calories and 39.3 grams of fat.

US Airways recently hired a full-time registered dietitian to help plan healthful meals, said spokesman David Castelveter.

At many airlines, the array of special-request meals has expanded. Generally, airlines request 24 hours’ notice for such meals or encourage travelers to ask for the special meal when booking the reservation.

On American Airlines, for instance, special-request meals include Weight Watchers’ entrees on flights serving lunch or dinner. On Northwest Airlines, passengers can request vegetarian meals or a fruit plate in addition to gluten-free, low-fat, low-cholesterol, sodium-free or kosher food, among other choices. On Air New Zealand, 32 special meals are available with advance notice.

No matter what’s on the menu, air travelers can follow some simple guidelines to minimize the nutritional damage.

On breakfast flights, for instance, choose the dry cereal or bagel rather than pancakes, muffins or croissants, advised Mary Donkersloot, a Beverly Hills dietitian and spokeswoman for the California Dietetic Assn. “You know what you are getting [in fat and calories]. That’s not always true with pancakes, muffins and croissants.” And when butter and syrup are added to pancakes, the calorie and fat tolls climb.

The boxed lunches served by many airlines, usually including a sandwich and fruit, sometimes with chips and a cookie, aren’t too bad, either, nutritionally speaking, Donkersloot said. “The sandwiches are not huge. The mayonnaise is served on the side.” And it’s usually a single-packet serving. The downfall here, Donkersloot said, is that it can be difficult to abstain from the cookie and chips. She advises passengers to pick one.

Passengers who opt for dinner aloft can learn to make their meal more healthful with a few simple choices. “If you have pasta, think about skipping the bread,” she said.

Dessert? “So have it if you want it,” Donkersloot advised. “It’s usually a very small portion.”

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The Healthy Traveler appears on the second and fourth weeks of every month.