(no subject)
I was sure that I had gained weight in Brazil. How could I not have, considering how much I was forced into eating? I certainly getting more exercise than usual, either... But my parents' scale reads the same weight for me as it did when I left (+/- 1lb, depending on the time of day).
It makes me really think about eating habits and food choices here in the US. There, the base for lunch everyday was rice and black beans; it was often accompanied by salad or fruits, sometimes collard greens, sometimes something with soy protein, sometimes aipim (manioc/cassava; there was almost always some sort of meat on the table, too, but I didn't eat it. Dinner was usually soup, though also on occasion rice and beans. Pasta was a treat. The beverage of choice was fruit juice made in the blender from fresh fruits. Almost nothing I ate there was processed - only the occasional cracker/cookie, candy, or pasta.
If I can eat that much food for a month and not gain weight, then what I'm eating here in much smaller quantities must have issues. I know for a fact that I eat more processed foods here. I'm also sure that, since a lot of the fruits and veggies I had there were from their own garden and therefore definitely pesticide-free, I must be consuming a lot more chemicals here. Don't even get me started on corn syrup here. Oddly, though, it seems to me that Brazilians (at least the ones I ate with) consume a TON of sugar and salt, neither of which seemed to terribly affect their overall health. (Yes, my host father is diabetic, but it doesn't really seem to affect what he eats.)
There must be doing something right with the way they eat...
It makes me really think about eating habits and food choices here in the US. There, the base for lunch everyday was rice and black beans; it was often accompanied by salad or fruits, sometimes collard greens, sometimes something with soy protein, sometimes aipim (manioc/cassava; there was almost always some sort of meat on the table, too, but I didn't eat it. Dinner was usually soup, though also on occasion rice and beans. Pasta was a treat. The beverage of choice was fruit juice made in the blender from fresh fruits. Almost nothing I ate there was processed - only the occasional cracker/cookie, candy, or pasta.
If I can eat that much food for a month and not gain weight, then what I'm eating here in much smaller quantities must have issues. I know for a fact that I eat more processed foods here. I'm also sure that, since a lot of the fruits and veggies I had there were from their own garden and therefore definitely pesticide-free, I must be consuming a lot more chemicals here. Don't even get me started on corn syrup here. Oddly, though, it seems to me that Brazilians (at least the ones I ate with) consume a TON of sugar and salt, neither of which seemed to terribly affect their overall health. (Yes, my host father is diabetic, but it doesn't really seem to affect what he eats.)
There must be doing something right with the way they eat...