Don’t Eat On A Flight – It’s The Cabin Crew’s Secret To Avoid Jet Lag

Ever wondered how the cabin crew on flights fight jet lag? Here’s a little secret. They never eat on flights. But don’t worry there’s science behind it. At high altitudes the digestive system stops down and restarts only after you’ve landed. So now that the system has to star digesting your flight food, which it has been holding in for several hours, it leaves your body fatigued during the process. Hence, the jet lag.

This was shared by Melissa Biggs Bradley to Bloomberg Pursuits. She is the founder of Indagare which is a luxury travel firm. What’s more?  She’s a frequent flier herself and goes on holidays for three to four months at a stretch. She says, “I eat nothing on flights. I’ve talked to a lot of stewardesses about it, and it’s a stewardess secret. Ten years ago, it was [a cabin crew member] on Singapore Airlines on what was, at the time, the longest flight in the world (17 hours from Singapore to New York). She told me that her tried-and-true trick was not eating in-flight.”

She also added that people tend to divert themselves or kill time. She suggests, “Even the best plane food is over salted and preserved so it can be microwaved. So I have something to eat a couple hours before getting on the plane, but otherwise it’s nothing but lots and lots of water.” Just as well, food on flight doesn’t taste all that appealing anyway.