Americans, how do you stay healthy?

[Anonymous]

Since I moved to the U.S. with my husband I gained 15 lbs in just half a year.

I don't even know where it all went wrong, but I need to change something.

I started riding my bike to work again and eat fruit with knife and fork the past 2 weeks, but I feel it's really hard to live healthy here.

We live in Houston so the heat here makes it hard to work out sometimes or even just walk to work instead of using the car with ac.

We have a pool but it's not big enough to work out in and I hate working out in air conditioned rooms. People who live in hot climates, how do you work out?

I guess part of the reason why I gained so much weight is because I bought more processed food than at home and just kinda underestimated how much calories it has. But no processed food is def harder to get here. Like we usually buy at wal mart and they don't even have really fresh salad, like they just have plastic bowls with already prepared salad. Or the plain yoghurt I used to buy still has a lot of added sugar. I would have never thought that. So people where do you buy? What do you avoid eating? Where do you get cheap, healthy food? If you eat out where do you go? What do you pack for lunch?

Of course everyone can answer, but I'm particularly asking for opinion from Americans here, because I feel your eating culture is very different from other countries.

And sorry if I made some mistakes, it's the first time I live in an English speaking country

[nermalinda]

Go back to your traditional diet!

There is something about American food that makes a lot of people fat.

I don't know for sure what it is, but even dieting with "healthy" American food does not work as well as eating traditional diets for most people. Even if you exercise, it will NOT do what the traditional diet does.

You might have a hard time finding some of your ingredients, but you can find a lot of them, just eat as much of them as you can and you WILL lose weight.

Stay away from all the processed crap, it's going to make you sick :(

They DO have plain yoghurt with no sugar, and you CAN find good salad, you just need to look around.

If you want, you can private message me with your country and I will give you some tips :)

[nermalinda]

Oh, OK, it looks like you are from Paris :)

Basically, just eat whatever you used to eat. I know it sounds weird, like "What calories, carbs, ingredients should I eat? etc...", but for some reason, eating your native foods WILL work. There are tons of groceries in Houston where you can find plain yogurt with no sugar, and I'm sure there must be a bakery with decent French bread. Whatever healthy snacks you used to buy out, get them from the grocery and take them with you.

[nermalinda]

Oh, by the way, What I am doing to stay healthy is following a traditional Asian diet. I am not Asian, but I like Asian food :)

[nermalinda]

I have heard that some French people eat hot chocolate and croissants for breakfast, and fatty cheeses are common, but most of them are not fat! So don't listen to American diets that say "don't eat this and that blah blah", most people who go on those diets are fat. Just eat things you used to eat (sorry I keep repeating myself).

[Asker]

Well we eat crossaints with coffee sometimes for breakfast, but they're different from the crossaints you get here.

I haven't really found a french bakery but there is a german bakery in the area and they have good bread too. We do eat a lot of cheese. At home we mostly ate Brie, gorgonzola,reblochon and emmental and they're all super expensive here. I'm not really into cheddar. Food is so expensive here, it's not even that we can't afford it but I'm sometimes thinking why should I spend almost

[Asker]

5$ on an lb of cherries. That's insane. I made quiche Lorraine the other day and overall it was 3 more than at home.

Anyways, as I said in another comment. Lunch is my biggest problem. At home I never packed anything. I either went back home or got a smoothie or crepes with tomatoes. They were just one - 2 over there. Here I don't really know what to get

[nermalinda]

Yeah, that is basically why so many Americans are fat. Processed foods are cheap here, and real food is expensive. But you can sometimes find good deals. Maybe ask people from home how THEY would save money on food there, then follow their suggestions. I would definitely encourage you to buy from any kind of fresh bakeries, and even any other country's stores.

[Asker]

sorry I can't make some charcaters here

[nermalinda]

Here are some good markets you can try

link

Prices can go up and down here, so you have to check often. You can even ask them about sales. Often times, if you go later in the day, produce can be cheaper depending on the place.

[nermalinda]

link

smoothies

link

crepes :)

[nermalinda]

link

This is a good place for inexpensive yogurt, cheese, wine, and natural deli meats. Stay away from all the processed stuff, though, they have a lot of those :/

link

this is a good store for inexpensive fruits and vegetables.

[nermalinda]

link

That's a product you can get at walmart.

It looks like this link

and turns into this link

It's the best American pastry I have found.

[Asker]

ok, OK ,thanks for all the links. I actually wanted to go to trader joes for a quite some time. Some strores in france feature single products from them.

I know some smoothies places, but I'm just not willing to spend 5$ or more on a "smoothie" that consits to 2/3 of ice cream or some other undefined stuff. I wasn't really satisfied with the crepes shops either so far, they put too much chemicals inside them, it tastes horrible. Like your Mcdonalds applie pie and chicken nuggests. I used to love

[Asker]

those back home, but here they just taste bitter to me.

I get those puff pastry things sometimes and pies out of them. I can make it myself too(or something familiar) but it takes a lot of time so I prefer to buy it. It's super unhealthy though. You pretty much mix butter and flour 1:1, add some water, rum sugar or salt. And who knows what else is in the bought ones.

Anyways thanks for all the tips

[nermalinda]

I hope you have some better luck finding foods that work for you. I know it can be really hard moving away and not having that stuff. One thing you could try are the other ethnic foods that are readily available in Houston. For example, they have fantastic Vietnamese food there, and it's relatively cheap, and Vietnamese are usually thin :)

[Asker]

Ya idk, the thing is that food they sell is usually Americanized. It was the same in france you don't really get real vietnamese food they adjust it so it fit frances or American flavours.

Like we went to this place called "little italy" the other day. They said brochure "authentic italian food" well that place was a big disappointment. There was nothing italian about that place. The pizza and pasta they sold had nothing to do with itlian original

[madmisskelly]

I definitely stay out of the fast food thing. I rarely if ever, eat it.

I always load my fridge with fruits, veggies, lean meat, and whole grains. Essentially, I try not to eat a ton of prepackaged stuff. Prepackaged veggies are great, bread and whole grain crackers.

I also get active every day. I enjoy doing a lot of cardio like running but also weight training. I at least run every day. Even if Its not in the gym, I am stilly getting active. I'll clean like crazy, run errands, etc.

The greek yogurt with fruit isn't too bad with added sugar if that is one of the few things with added sugar that you eat.

[Asker]

i don't eat fast food either. But the point is you guys here have processed everything. I couldn't even buy pineapple the other day. The only thing they had was already cut pineapple a plastic box and who knows what's in there.

And whoe grain crackers are not healthy, it's like chips, a little better maybe but still not really nutritous. I didn't really come across real whole grain bread yet exept in that one german bakery but all I could find in ordinary shops was something like

[Asker]

this weird soft stuff that looks like toast just darker, sometimes they do have pumpernikel though

[madmisskelly]

If you look in the right places you can find healthy stuff. Walmart isn't the place to go for it though. I can easily find fresh pineapple, not already cut up.

Whole grain crackers are just fine as a midday snack with hummus.

Also, whole grain bread is easy enough to come by. The first ingredient will say "100% whole wheat"

Youre speaking with a nutrition major btw.

[KingsOfleon88]

I have never been to America, but from what I have heard there is a lot of cheap, fast food with Insanely huge portions which basically allow you to feed a family of 12 on virtually nothing. In my opinion, I would just eat out less and make your meals from home. I know with fast food, it makes it so easy to gain weight because of the unhealthy calories that the food has, too much sugar, saturated fat and salt lead to quick and unhealthy weight gain.

[Asker]

I don't even eat out a lot, I cook at home everyday

[THE_Godfather]

I noticed you mentioned Subway. They are usually in strip malls. Go to the butcher or deli counter.

They have turkey or chicken sandwiches or will make you one. It's cheaper then subway. Anyway throw away the top portion of bread. Just eat the sandwich open face.

[XNicholex3]

Why not just buy organic fruit and vegetables and make your own meals? I know I'm not much of help, but I just sort of eat whatever I feel like. It is one of the benefits of having a fast metabolism.

People here usually exercise outside when it cools down in the afternoon, or in the early morning, others go to the gym. Not many people walk around town these days because our destinations are pretty far.

[XNicholex3]

I also normally don't eat that much, I weigh 110-112 lbs.

[Asker]

I do make my own meals everyday but I feel really fresh veggies and fruits are always super expensive.

And my biggest problem is lunch. Back home in Paris I never really packed lunch because you could buy lots of affordable and healty snacks. Here it seems like th healthiest option is Subway. So I don't really know what to pack for lunch

[XNicholex3]

I know, I understand. It really annoys me too that everything that seems the healthiest is always the most expensive. Now you know why quite a lot of people in America are fat. I don't eat a lot, and plus my fast metabolism, so it has a lot to do with why I don't have a weight issue. With people trying to get more hours for work, they don't have time to exercise or cook, so they probably end up eating out at a fast food place.

[XNicholex3]

Oh, try drinking warm lemon water, it helps your metabolism and weight loss.

[RoxyKAy]

Some parts of America are worse then others. I think Texas is one of the fattest states in the nation so it may hard for you there. Where I live it's pretty easy to buy healthy food.

Wal mart's not the best place to find the food you're looking for. You might want to check out farmer's markets and health food stores. Also start looking at other normal grocery stores, some of them have a bigger selection of healthy food then others.

[Anonymous]

Do you have time to cook? I've never been to America, but I'm sure it's easy to buy fresh fruit, meat and vegetables. I you don't have much time, you could bulk make some meals, put them in containers and freeze them (your own healthy microwave meal).

For vegetables, you could buy frozen vegetables so that they keep. They're quick to steam.

As for yogurt, ou could buy a yogurt maker, or simply make it in a thermos. That way, you don't have sugar and thickeners added.

[Opinion Owner]

Also, when you eat out, share with the person you go with. I went to an American restaurant once, and I shared with my cousin. The portions are massive lol

[Asker]

I cook everyday, but still.

Fresh fruit is not as easy to get as you would think. They have a lot of prepared food there toTo, like already cut veggies and fruits with some kind of dip.And who knows what's in there. he real fresh fruit is usually very expensive

[DutchAtheist]

I've been to America and fresh ingredients are hard to find actually.

[iPood]

@dutch atheist, fresh fruits and veggies can be found at every grocery store in the country

[Asker]

I would kinda agree with both of you. Of course there is actual fresh vegetable and fruit here but not as much as I'm used to.

And I think some things American consider fresh wouldn't really be in other countries. Like those pre cut vegetables and fruits. Or those big salad bowls with everything already inside them.

[Opinion Owner]

Wow, so you don't get aisles dedicated to fresh fruit and veg? Like in their natural form?

[iPood]

Yes, there is. I've never been to a grocery store that didn't have a section dedicated to fruits and veggies in the US (I'm from Canada).

[martyfellow]

Yes, processed food always has a lot of sugar; try to eat more fresh fruit, salads, nopales, buy at local farmers' markets instead of Wal-Mart. Eat kale and other greens every day with vinegar or hit salsa for flavoring!

[Asker]

Nopales? I had to google them but sounds interesting I never had those.

I try to avoid processed food, but I find it's very hard here. You have processed everything. Like oatmeal. I usually ate oats with milk or juice for breakfast and you could get one lb of oats for 20 cents. Here I could only find oatmeal, which sucks because it usually contains sugar and a lot of chemicals

[Anonymous]

wow where do you live before?

anyway just avoid processed food. I only lived in America my whole life. I just avoid fast food and processed food. I avoid white flour and carbs as much as possible, and I exercise.

[supersean123]

Eat meat without fat like chicken breast, and salads, yogurts, nuts. Avoid fast food, high fructose corn syrup, soda. Drink water.

[Anonymous]

America and healthy don't belong in the same sentence. lol

[DutchAtheist]

They don't, Americans for the majority, stay fat.

[Asker]

Well I'm not surprised. The food they sell h

[Asker]

here makes it really hard to lead a healthy lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

majority of Americans are fat

[Wayne22]

I'm pretty sure American's don't stay in shape.

[Anonymous]

Most of America is fat

[Opinion Owner]

Fat like DutchAtheist

[Anonymous]

Newports and vodka