We recently took a trip to Europe on American Airlines, landing in London, England. Just how good was the low carb / diabetic diet offered by AA?

First, you need to make sure you order that menu at least two days in advance to get it into their lists. Be sure to put the food order in immediately when you order your tickets to make sure your request gets in on time.

You get a bonus right away in the delivery time of your meal. All special meals are done first, so that was a full twenty to thirty minutes before others were fed. This can be a huge advantage for you although it might make others around you jealous!

On the way from the United States to the United Kingdom, we were given chicken with rice, a roll with margarine, a bottle of water, a salad and green melon for dessert. The primary ingredient in the salad dressing was high fructose corn syrup. Ummmmmm ...? The chicken was fine, and the salad was OK when eaten dry. But that was about it.

The regular eaters got chicken with mashed potato, the salad and roll, and a chocolate brownie. So in the grand scheme of things it was indeed better.

On the way back, the meal served was fish in a sauce that tasted rather sweet, the roll and margarine and rice, and a fruit cup of sweet fruits. In this case the normal eaters had fish and green beans - so their normal food was actually more healthy than the supposed diabetic meal!

So in both cases a low carb person wouldn't really have much to eat. I would still recommend ordering those diabetic menus to have your best chance of something edible. That being done, I would also really recommend eating a full meal at the airport before leaving. Then carry on a backpack and/or small cooler full of snacks - cubes of cheese, cubes of steak, hard boiled eggs, celery sticks, broccoli, whatever it is you enjoy. Do not rely on the airline to keep you fed - rely on yourself.

Be sure to check with current security precautions so that you are sure what you intend on bringing on board will pass through their security checks.