No sir, I said, knowing all my lotions and potions were legally visible in the required baggie.

“We’re going to have to pat you down,” he explained as he pointed to a female agent slipping on her gloves. After explaining the procedure, she patted me from head to toe and everywhere in between while the other agent inspected every item in my purse.

At the end of his diligent search, he triumphantly pulled a bag of almonds and a peanut butter granola bar out of my purse. I think he smiled. And I was freed to board to plane.

As I waited for a connecting flight in San Francisco, I was aware of how the airlines keep us in shape. My flight out of Gate 69 was changed to Gate 79 in another terminal. I happily walked the half mile to the other gate and took a seat. I glanced at the board as it got close to boarding time. Another gate change…back at the terminal I had just left.

On my commute back I found myself wandering through a display of Ghirardelli chocolates.

A sales woman offered me a free sample of dark chocolate.

“I hope this is good for me,” another shopper said. It is, I justified to myself. Dark chocolate scores high on the ORAC(Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale – -a measure of the ability of substances in food to inhibit “oxidative stress” in the body. Then I realized it was only 7 a.m.

Luckily my peanut butter granola bar and almonds were safely un-confiscated in my purse. They helped tide me over until I got to New Mexico.

It was lunch time when I landed in the Land of Enchantment. And I instantly remembered the game I would play with my mom and now with my sister and daughter.

“What do you feel like eating?” they ask.

Oh..I don’t know, I say. Any ideas?

“How about Mexican food?”

Oh, all right, I say.

And then we head to Cervantes – our favorite after-you-land-at-the-airport green chile enchilada spot.

This time of year, the restaurant is all aglow with – what else? – Southwestern Christmas red chili lights.

After a few rounds of New Mexican “green or red?” chile meals and a special meal with my sister at the famous Luna Mansion in Los Lunas, I head to the airport for my trip home. Just in time for our church annual Christmas dinner and cookie exchange. Ahhh … the holidays.

This year I will relax and enjoy these special times with family and friends. After all, it’s not like I eat a Navajo taco smothered with green chile every day.

I will remember some basic rules this season, however. I will drink more water, especially when I travel by air. One cup fluid per hour of flight is a good general rule.

I will walk when I can. I thoroughly enjoyed the Los Lunas Christmas parade down Main Street as my sister and I walked to dinner one night.

One question though. How did those homemade biscochitos (cookies) get into my bag?

(Barbara Quinn is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Email her at bquinn@chomp.org.)