Eating Right to Stay Fit

By ALPA Staff

A healthy lifestyle begins with making good decisions about the kinds and proportions of the food you consume. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Adults with healthy eating patterns live longer and are at lower risk for serious, costly health problems. Examples include heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity.”

The human body is similar to a combustion engine. Fuel interacts with oxygen to create heat. This exothermic reaction within the engine generates mechanical energy. Correspondingly, when food is ingested, it’s metabolized or broken down by your body to release stored energy called calories, which the body burns to perform its various functions.

If you consume more calories than you use, you gain weight. Physicians use the body mass index (BMI) to assess reasonable weight levels based on an individual’s height and age. BMI results determine whether you’re underweight, healthy, overweight, or obese. However, BMI is only one of several considerations, which also include family medical history, health behaviors, and physical exam and lab findings.

Controlling your BMI begins with eating a balanced diet. Focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and calcium-rich foods. Consume proteins found in seafood, lean meats, poultry, eggs, beans/peas, and seeds/nuts. Avoid added sugar (including sugary drinks), sodium, saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. Another important component of being healthy is staying properly hydrated, particularly while flying. Humidity tends to drop at higher altitudes, causing you to lose fluids faster.

The International Civil Aviation Organization’s book Fitness to Fly: A Medical Guide for Pilots notes, “Professional pilots and others often find themselves in situations where they cannot directly control the components of the food they eat, e.g., restaurants, canteens, on board aircraft.” The book recommends taking the following precautions:

• “Check the menu to see if the number of calories in a food item is included. An average woman needs about 2,000 calories a day; a man about 2,500 calories.
• Avoiding a starter and/or a dessert is one way to keep the calorie count down.
• If you take a starter, consider choosing a salad (lower in calories).
• Avoid bread or other nibbles before your food arrives as they’ll increase the number of calories you eat.”

Understanding the benefits and drawbacks associated with fats is also important. Despite negative claims surrounding fat consumption, some vitamins require fats so that they can dissolve into the bloodstream and provide nutrients.

However, trans fats can be harmful to your health. Foods that contain these types of fats include fried foods, baked goods, and processed snacks. Trans fats have been linked to increased risk of inflammation in the body, which can cause heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Saturated fats can be found in fatty cuts of beef, pork, and lamb; dark meat cuts of poultry; and high-fat dairy foods like whole milk, cheese, sour cream, and ice cream and can increase your blood and LDL (i.e., “bad”) cholesterol levels.

Alternatively, monounsaturated fats are found in nuts, avocados, and vegetable oils. Polyunsaturated fats come in omega-3-rich fish like salmon and certain kinds of seeds. Both decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease. Nonetheless, moderate your consumption because these foods are high in calories.

While the right diet is an important consideration for reaching a healthy bodyweight based on age, gender, and height, keep in mind that it’s only a single aspect of your well-being. The CDC asserts, “Achieving healthy growth and weight includes healthy eating, physical activity, optimal sleep, and stress reduction.”

Fitness to Fly: A Medical Guide for Pilots also contains other beneficial information to help airline pilots maintain their medical certification and remain cognitively sharp. Other chapters address topics like cardiovascular risk, mental wellness, drugs and alcohol, cancer, musculoskeletal injury, sleep, travel health, and hearing and vision. Visit the ICAO Store for more information.

This article was originally published in the October 2024 issue of Air Line Pilot.