7 Healthy Airport Foods You Can Eat on the Go

Eating well at the airport is easy to do if you know what to look for. Here's your very own cheat-sheet of healthy airport food available at virtually every airport nationwide.

You might not even notice it, so overshadowed is it by the bigger, bolder, more caloric creations on displays at most airport food areas. But nearly every cafe and quick-stop restaurant has a bowl of mixed fruit—apples, oranges, and bananas—within arm's reach of the cash register.

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Want to move beyond the apple-banana-orange trifecta? Look for pre-cut fruit alongside refrigerated items. A seasonal mix that can include fruit such as cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew melon, grapes, blueberries, and strawberries, this simple mix keeps things light. And since it's fork-friendly fare, you won't end up with sticky hands.

Is there a Starbucks at the airport? Of course there is. And where there's a Starbucks, there's oatmeal. Want to go austere? Wait the allotted three minutes for the oats to soften and then top it with a bit of non-fat milk. Get fancier with added toppings (which should all come in little packets along with your bowl of oatmeal) like brown sugar, nuts, and dried fruit. It's healthy airport food at its finest.

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Warm, nourishing, and available at many airport food outlets, soup is a healthy eater's ally on the go. Skip cream-based soups and look for old favorites like chicken noodle, vegetable, lentil, and minestrone. You'll get a dose of vegetable goodness and the energy you'll need to power you through your day of travel.

When it comes to yogurt, seek and ye shall find. While not all yogurt is created equal (more on that in a minute), it's widely available at just about every airport outlet that opens for breakfast. On the healthy airport food spectrum, plain yogurt ranks highest, as it's not loaded with extra sugar (but is easily sweetened with a bit of honey). If you're eyeing a perfectly packaged parfait, know that the fat and sugar content gets an unsavory boost from the granola and the (usually) vanilla yogurt.

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Salad is one tricky dish, masquerading as the ne plus ultra of health while sometimes weighing in with a Big-Mac-worthy calorie count. Avoid the pitfalls, though, and you can up your veggie count while keeping calories within a reasonable range.

Rule number one is to dress it yourself, since dressings can easily triple the fat and calories of a salad. Dress it lightly or simply ask for few lemon slices and squeeze them over your salad for the same acidic quality you get from a vinaigrette with none of the guilt. And stick to salads adorned with veggies and fruits rather than cheese and croutons.

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Snacks you make and bring yourself are likely to be healthier than those you pick up at in the airport food areas. Carrot and celery sticks, your favorite fruit, a make-your-own snack pack of nuts and dried fruit—these are the bring-along snacks of travel champs.

Even bringing a less-than-perfect granola or an energy bar can save you from the sort of hunger-driven airport indiscretions you're likely to regret as soon as you get on the plane.

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Christine Sarkis recently had a very fine orange at the Long Beach Airport. Follow her on Twitter @ChristineSarkis and Instagram @postcartography for travel inspiration and advice about making every vacation the best vacation.