Human Diet Blog Entries (1st)
5/14/2015-8/20/2015
Lauren Ortega
Blog Theme: The effects of food consumption away from home vs at home.
During the summer I spent a lot of time away from my immediate home in the states. During the time that I spent away from home, there came about a lot of change, and by changes I mean to my body, skin, mood and interruption to sleeping cycles. I travelled to Mexico City, Chicago, Toronto, Chihuahua, MX and Monterrey, MX. One of my biggest fears about spending so much time away from home, and even now being here in Angers, France, is the chance of my body changing more than I would like. With my past experiences being away from home for a long period of time was not very good, body wise. When I was in Ecuador, I gained 15 pounds over a three month period. The experience was great, but the change in diet was one that I could never forget. As one may already know, rice is a source of carbs, and when you eat too much of it, just like any other food, your body will begin to lack other nutrients and proteins it needs to have an all round balanced diet. But yes, that is where my weight gain came from, all of that rice, everyday. I have realized that I have a tendency to gain weight, and my body processes different foods very differently than others. So while some of my classmates are losing weight I feel as though I am gaining it.
To start off, I live and was always raised in a Mexican household. For many people, the thought of traditional foods such as tacos, burritos, corn on the cob, etc is what comes to mind when they wonder about what Mexicans might have for a typical dinner. However, this is not the case in my immediate family, and throughout all of my family. Of course we might enjoy those sorts of foods on the weekends, but that has never actually been the sort of food my family would prepare. It’s a very common misconception that other people might have of Mexican cuisine. While at home I always ate very healthy, and with that came a balanced diet and controlled weight. My parents have always been nutrition nerds and I had no choose but to accept it. Along with eating healthy meals everyday, and having a little bit of fatty foods on the weekends, I felt great. I would go to the gym regularly and even have time to sit and give myself some time to literally just think about my day and find my inner peace. This is true for my second home in Chihuahua, Mexico. As I had mentioned before, the diet doesn’t just end with my immediate family, it is similar amongst everyone in my family, so I never really had to worry about my weight gain.
I started my little getaway in Mexico City with my parents. Since we weren’t there for a long time we ate out everyday, but luckily by being with my parents, they were able to pick the best/healthiest plates from the menu for me because without them my mind screamed pasta but my body urged salmon. With that being said, I probably know what you’re thinking, how hard is it to eat healthy without your parents being there all of the time to tell you right from wrong? Not to say that I am completely unaware of what is good and bad for me but trust me, its probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to get use to since I started college. And now since I am here in France, I find myself eating out a lot too, and at the places where I should avoid the most (pizza, pasta, hamburgers, plus extra bread on the side). I think that my habits are the worst when I go to the grocery store. I find myself with a cart full of high carb foods, a little bit of greens to feel better about myself, and a small range of fruits because I need them to add my Tajin to (Mexican spice). When my host mom here in France asked me to start buying groceries for the weekends, I felt a little uneasy. I went to the store with my friend and when I got back home, my mom saw what I brought and just laughed.You would think that with such lenient parents, I should know better and have adapted well to their ways, but I think its actually very hard to not have so much temptation to enjoy the foods that make up most of the most common American cuisines (hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta, etc), when it has been taken away form you for the longest you can remember.
After we came back home, I took off to visit some friends in Chicago and then right after my stay there I went to Toronto to visit a cousin. Now both my friends and my cousin I would say are in the same boat as me, because these cities are not their actual homes. My cousin who stays in Toronto, lives in Chihuahua, and my friends that studied in Chicago are from Honduras. When I was in Chicago, I ate out most of the time but ate breakfast at home because normally I just prepare a shake or eat arroz con leche, which is technically a Mexican dessert but you can also have it as breakfast. Both my friends and family told me that they really missed home cooked meals and they felt that they had lost their ways from back home since they didn’t have their moms to cook for them. My cousin Osiris immediately told me she had gained 8 kilos since she had started school in Toronto, and that she felt not like herself anymore. She also mentioned to me that since Canada is very expensive, most people just eat out at cheap places like McDonald’s, Tim Hortons (similar to Starbucks but only in Canada), etc..So I guess it also had a lot to do with how much one can spend on buying healthy food every week, along with other expenses. It’s safe to say that this was also the case in Monterrey, Mexico, because my cousin that lives here is also from Chihuahua and he is there for business. The week I was here we are out everyday and I felt like I had already gained more weight than I imagined. Leaving the ranch, he says, and having to work long hours, makes it easy for him to just get quick food and call it a day. It will never be the same, a home cooked meal versus one away from home.
Being in Angers, France, and from past experiences, I try to be more cautious of what I eat and how much of it I eat. Although it is easy to go out and buy something that is quick and 99 percent of the time unhealthy, I really try to learn from the French home cuisine so that I can not only have much more a balanced diet, but also help my energy levels to stay active, and consequently having better night sleeps.
Work Cited
Bergman, Ethan. “Is Eating At Home Healthier Than Dining Out?” Best Food Facts. Best Food Facts, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.
Hoffman, Beth. “What’s So Great About Cooking?” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 June 2012. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
McAllister, Joseph. “Benefits of Eating Homemade Meals.” LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 10 June 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Robinson, Lawrence, Maya Paul, and Jeanne Seagal. “Healthy Eating.” : Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet and Sticking to It. Help Guide, Aug. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Wilsson, Kate. “Expat Health Insurance News and Health Tips » Top Tips: Avoid Gaining Weight Abroad.” Expat Health Insurance News and Health Tips RSS. Just Landed, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.