´ Fried Chicken
If you’re obsessed with fried chicken (most of us are) then now is the time to be strong and turn down the dirty bird. It’s a real oily mess of a meal. Greasy and pungent, the planes filters can only handle so much. As a matter of fact, it’s not only fried chicken that should be avoided, but any food that has more fatty oil than a teen’s forehead. The fact is, once you’ve eaten anything fried, the fat just sits in your stomach, turns into acid and gives you heartburn.
´ Alcohol
A liquid lunch isn’t technically a food, but it should still be avoided. Alcohol apparently has many medicinal benefits when it comes to flying. Some say it gets rid of their fear of flying, others say it helps them sleep on a long flight and teenagers swear it makes them look really cool! Yes, some of this is true, but it actually disrupts sleep and teenagers are never cool, plus it’ll be hard to stay hydrated meaning you’ll get drunker quicker, resulting in an awkward flirting encounter with the passenger next to you. Apart from that, do you really want to wake up with a terrible hangover?
´ Baked Beans
These little packages of pure evil will have you losing friends faster than a hostile game of Monopoly. It’s best to avoid them, even at the best of times, although everyone loves good ol’ beans on toast! But if you’re going to be stuck in a plane with anxious flyers and short fuses then you don’t want to turn your flight into a catastrophic nuclear accident. Soluble fibre is to blame for the beans explosive properties; broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are also chief culprits, so it’s best to avoid those too.
´ Fish
Leaving fish off a plane should be a no-brainer and this includes nearly every morsel from under the sea. And before you start to argue, yes, this includes sushi, mermaids and the Loch Ness Monster. The smell of fish alone is unpleasant, but it’s also risky. One bad prawn could leave you in the plane’s toilet for the rest of the flight!
´ Curry
Curry is one of the greatest foods, but it’s one of the worst foods to eat before your flight. Spicy foods can cause indigestion and disrupt sleep; and it does this with the help of a cheeky ingredient called capsaicin, which is found in chili peppers. It basically works like broken thermometer and messes up your body temperature. It has also been linked to those horrible trips to the bathroom and the dreaded ring sting.
´ Dairy
Your milkshake may bring all the boys to the yard, but don’t bring them on the plane. Too much dairy, like stuffing down a whole wheel of cheese, has the potential to curdle your stomach and it can also cause problems if you have IBS. Dairy is also one of the most common causes of food poisoning. So maybe give the jumbo chocolate milkshake and the ice cream sundae a skip.
´ Caffeine
Caffeine has its health benefits, such as improved memory and the ability to turn half-dead employees into hyperactive machines. However, one of its benefits is also one of its pitfalls – you’ll be awake and unable to sleep. This is completely fine on short flights, but on long hauls, its best to avoid any sort of caffeine. Keep in mind there is a surprisingly large amount of stuff with caffeine in it, including some chocolate, ice cream, weight-loss pills and painkillers.
If you want to avoid being stuck in a giant metallic bird thousands of miles above the earth with an upset stomach, food poisoning, a hangover or much worse – NEVER eat these foods and then get onto a plane!
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