Beat Jetlag; Don't Eat During Flight

[Flying Fox]

Tripped over this interesting article that suggested that the author could beat jetlag by only eating on the ground at departure and upon arrival. During the flight, they only had water.

I've never done this, and never really had exceptionally bad jetlag. Plus, I'm too greedy to say no to food onboard especially when not in Y.

Thoughts/discussion anyone?

Why I never eat a thing on a long-haul flight

Sue Williams is an Australian travel writer who took 12 international flights in the last four months of 2022 alone. She has honed her routine for long-haul flights, and believes this is the key to avoiding jet lag.

www.escape.com.au

 

[Quickstatus]

author could beat jetlag by only eating on the ground

It's a travel blog which by definition is not exactly very accurate when it comes to these matters

Basically re meals and jet lag:
Alcohol free,
Caffeine free,
Complex carbs.
Light meals
Try to eat based on destination local time.

If you really want to maybe make a little difference on the jetlag thing
Don't eat when you are supposed to be asleep at your destination.

Airline catering are usually refined carbs + alcohol.

IMO, mealtime is a natural synchronizer.
The more you can mimic where you’re going before you leave, the better off you’ll be.

For example let's take QF12
It departs LAX at 2230hrs which is 1730 SYD time
You would want to eat a light lunch around 1700hrs LAX (1200hrs SYD)

Then no more until departure.

Then eat a light inflight dinner at 2300-2400hrs LAX which is 1800-1900hrs

Limit any inflight snacks

But then again there are a whole lot of other factors affecting jetlag such as time zones.......

 

[drron]

I eat at the times the food is in front of me. Drink a few glasses of wine. Big meals and have no idea if it is meal time at my destination.
But the only time I have what may be called jet lag is after an overnight flight. But I presume that is due to the fact i really can't sleep on planes.

Warning. Any anecdotal report by a single person has no scientific credibility at all. That goes for the escape dot com.au report as well.

 

[Mattg]

No thanks

 

[SYD]

Thoughts/discussion anyone?

Piffle….

 

[Happy Dude]

Wouldn't trust the "author" to sit the right way on toilet seat. Reading anything on that site would waste valuable minutes.

I eat and drink as much as I feel like (or as much as possible if in J or F or somewhere awesome like TPR) and don't seem to get seriously jet lagged.

 

[Human]

The best way to beat jet lag in my experience is to fly in business class or higher, with a proper pillow and blanket and room to lie flat and stretch.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Tripped over this interesting article that suggested that the author could beat jetlag by only eating on the ground at departure and upon arrival. During the flight, they only had water.

I've never done this, and never really had exceptionally bad jetlag. Plus, I'm too greedy to say no to food onboard especially when not in Y.

Thoughts/discussion anyone?

Why I never eat a thing on a long-haul flight

Sue Williams is an Australian travel writer who took 12 international flights in the last four months of 2022 alone. She has honed her routine for long-haul flights, and believes this is the key to avoiding jet lag.

www.escape.com.au

"
It's astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
"

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

"
It's astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
"

But listen closely
Not for very much longer
I've got to keep control!

Post automatically merged: Jan 12, 2023

Tripped over this interesting article that suggested that the author could beat jetlag by only eating on the ground at departure and upon arrival. During the flight, they only had water.

I've never done this, and never really had exceptionally bad jetlag. Plus, I'm too greedy to say no to food onboard especially when not in Y.

Thoughts/discussion anyone?

Why I never eat a thing on a long-haul flight

Sue Williams is an Australian travel writer who took 12 international flights in the last four months of 2022 alone. She has honed her routine for long-haul flights, and believes this is the key to avoiding jet lag.

www.escape.com.au

Not a chance for me.

I adored those flights with Malaysia Airlines where I could order seemingly any number of meals in advance. I'd always order at least two. I was the best fed passenger by far!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Not going to happen for me.
I fully intend on getting my money’s worth in premium cabins.

The exception being short overnight flights from Asia to Australia.
I hate red eyes at the best of times so I prefer to maximize my sleep on all of those sectors. I eat in the lounge beforehand.

 

[turnipapple]

I ended up in a rabbit hole of flight attendant videos and they say to follow the timezone of the arrival country when you're on the flight. No mention of not eating on the plane. From what they said, you don't "beat" jetlag, you can either deal with it or not. I'm a person who cannot

 

[Forg]

I can honestly say I’ve never experienced jet lag.
Almost every long-haul flight I’ve taken I’ve been in economy or premium economy, which means no sleep for 24+ hours. I’ve experienced the negative effects of lack-of-sleep.
The one time I’ve done long-haul in J, I had a cold on the way there … add a cold to the maybe-50%-of-normal sleep you get in a J “bed”, how I felt was pretty normal. On the way home, I just felt lightly sleep-deprived, which is fair according to the very light “naps” you get …

I probably had jet lag, but the exhaustion masked it … there’s a way to beat it, have something worse at the same time!

 

[SYD]

I wonder if she does the same flying to/from Japan (or other north/south trips…..

But seriously, as mentioned above, flying with a flat bed seat obviously makes a huge difference - so denying yourself is just dumb. Whilst I don’t sleep great on planes, I can usually get sufficient forced rest to hit the ground running and usually don’t get bad jet lag.

To be honest, I have less jet lag going on a holiday trip (when I’ve probably eaten and drunk more before, during and after the flight) than a business trip. The key being able to work to your own schedule and not trying to concentrate during that first 9am meeting after landing at 6am having flown 24+ hrs….

 

[Quickstatus]

Possibly trying to score a invite gig (and then give an "independent" review) to one of the premium cabins on a major airline

 

[tdimdad]

SIN-LHR without a single meal at the back of the bus? Yeah, sure, any day - if you want to start seeing me at my crankiest.

Daytime flights or a flat bed on overnights. Or just dealing with it. I usually have about a day of jetlag for each 1-2 timezones crossed but sunshine, coffee and good habits help. Melatonine on the flight helps, too, in most cases.

 

[Lynda2475]

I do not think ive ever had jet lag. For me its all about staying awake when you arrive at destination until at least 8pm (preferably later no naps) and no sleeping in first morning, get up and moving.

I dont think ive ever had more than 3 or 4 hours sleep (often none) the night before a long haul flight (due to rush to get work finished, clean house and pack); and if in Y or PE i get no sleep on the plane so yes often tied first day, but it means no problem sleeping through the night.

Maybe being a night owl and some one who rarely gets the luxury of more than 6 hours sleep helps. Im also used to late meals or eating where i can squeeze it in between commitments so dont have set times.

I seriously doubt when or what you eat has much influence provided you stay hydrated and are not sloshed.

 

[UP4014]

Interesting and maybe it works for this writer.

Me, on the other hand, if the food and drinks trolley turns up at my seat well I just can’t say no.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I was looking for ‘the author flew as a guest of [xx_] airline’… with a reduction in food and beverage to follow at some point in time ‘due to customer feedback’

 

[dajop]

Yes, it may well work for writer.

I find wine a no-no for jet lag ( aside from sparkling wine, particularly Champagne, the bubbles make all the difference, right ). The odd coughtail is fine, but I would also probably avoid beer , but irrelevant as I don't drink beer anyway.

 

[tdimdad]

Yes, it may well work for writer.

I find wine a no-no for jet lag ( aside from sparkling wine, particularly Champagne, the bubbles make all the difference, right ). The odd coughtail is fine, but I would also probably avoid beer , but irrelevant as I don't drink beer anyway.

On my last trip I decided to try flying with low or no alcohol and focus on drinking water. The only drink was a champagne in LHR a few hours before boarding. Staying away from alcohol overall made me feel lighter and easier on the flights and connections (good) though no clear difference to the ensuing jet lag (meh).