If your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight in 2010, then you might want to stay away from airport restaurants. A new survey shows that most travelers are forced to ditch their healthy eating habits when on the road. Or more specifically, when traveling through the nation’s airports.
When hunger strikes at the airport, you are typically at the mercy of fast food restaurants. Your food choices are limited to processed “convenience” items loaded with sodium, fat and empty calories. Sure, you could pack your own healthier options, like fresh fruit and a sandwich, but what parent is going to haul around a cooler of food for her kids when airline baggage restrictions are tighter than ever?
USA Today recently sent a reporter to find out if it was possible to eat a relatively healthy meal in a major airport. The results didn’t surprise me, but they were interesting nonetheless. According to the paper, healthy food choices, such as bananas, apples, nuts, yogurt and dried fruit are available in most airports, but they’re not always fresh.
As for finding foods that were low in sodium and fat on the menus of common airport restaurants, including McDonald’s, Au Bon Pain and Cinnabon, the task was daunting. Take a look:
Cinnabon’s popular cinnamon roll contains a whopping 813 calories, 55 grams of sugar and 32 grams of fat, according to the eatery’s nutrition guide. Meanwhile, one slice of Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pan pizza is not much better. A single slice of cheese stuffed crust pan pizza contains 390 calories, 21 grams of fat and a jaw-dropping 820 milligrams of sodium.
Over at Au Bon Pain, if you think you are doing your body good by ordering the Baja Turkey Sandwich, think again. It contains 700 calories, a mind-blowing 1,670 milligrams of sodium and 27 grams of fat. The sandwich, which is stacked with guacamole, Swiss cheese, jalapeno mayonnaise and turkey on a farmhouse roll, is far from a healthy choice. Finally, McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese is not something you want to be eating in an airport or anywhere else for that matter. The burger contains 740 calories, 1,380 milligrams of sodium and 42 grams of fat.
The next time you are trying to quiet a rumbling tummy in an airport, consider the following healthier alternatives:
Au Bon Pain Garden Vegetable Soup: The soup is filled with cabbage, broccoli, zucchini and green bell peppers, and has just 80 calories plus 3 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.
Starbucks Multigrain Bagel: If you eat it plain, you’re looking at just 320 calories per serving.
Dunkin’ Donuts Egg White Veggie Flatbread: With just 290 calories, 11 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber, this sandwich is much better for you than a couple of donuts.
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