Eating Healthy in Buenos Aires

I've been back in the States now for three months, and my health is definitely improving from all the cycling I've been doing, but my eating has not been as healthy as it could be. I'm not putting myself under a lot of pressure about it, but I'm definitely trying to plan how I can eat better when I get back to Buenos Aires.

I try to stick to a paleo-ish diet at least 80% of the time (No grains, little dairy- a diet of mostly lean meats, fish, eggs, fruits, and vegetables). Lately, this percent has probably gone down to about 50 or 60%, because my family eats different things and it's hard not to eat grains when they are in the house.

But it is possible to eat a paleo diet in Argentina, especially in the city, because meat markets and vegetable markets are all within walking distance. I just have to take the time to walk to them. And now that my Spanish is good enough to actually speak with the vendors, it should
be easier. Here is a list of things I am going to shoot for, and things I'm going to try to avoid:

The good list:

Image via saltshaker.net

1. Meat, of course. Argentine beef is grass-fed, so it is pretty lean. I eat a lot of red meat and my digestion is fine, and my cholesterol is fine. I can order a variety of meat at a parrilla along with a salad and skip the bread. It is easy to get organ meats in Argentina, as well. I love the sweetbreads.

2. Fish- Argentines don't eat a lot of fish, typically, but there are fish markets, and I need to learn a few more types of fish in Spanish so I can pick out some good fish for a quick dinner. Most restaurants have at least one fish on the menu, typically merluza.

3. Salads- when eating out at a cafe, salads usually consist of a list of vegetables you can have cut up and put in a bowl, served with oil and vinegar. You choose from a list- beets, carrots, and lettuce, for example. I definitely need to take advantage of this more often.

4. Nuts. I don't eat enough of these. It's a great way to get some good fat, and make me feel full. They are generally pretty pricey compared to other things in the grocery store, so I tend to avoid them.

The bad list:

Empanadas

1. Pizza. Cheese and bread do not a healthy person make. Carbs, + fat + salt. Avoid when possible.

2. Empanadas. Hard to avoid. They are everywhere, cheap, and fast. Meat and/or cheese filled savory pastry. Some are fried. Ham and cheese is popular.

3. Pasta. There are a lot of home-made pasta shops, so I have to try hard to avoid these as well. Once in a while I will splurge on a special occasion. But a pasta meal makes me feel bad the next day if I am not used to eating it.

4. Pastries. Croissants, facturas, etc. In shop windows everywhere, and popular for breakfast. Not as evil as Krispy-Kreme, but almost.

The once-in-a-while list:

Image of a picada via visualvamp.blogspot.com

1. Tarts. These are very popular, and although they are made with a dough crust on the bottom, they are usually filled with eggs, and various different kind of vegetables. Squash is popular, as is acelga, which I believe is similar to chard.

2. Milanesa Napolitana. Breaded chicken or beef cutlet, fried, and topped with tomato sauce and cheese. There is usually too much cheese to be healthy, but it is so good, I gotta have it once in a while. And other than the breading, there is not much grain. They usually use safflower oil for frying.

3. Picada. This is a platter of meats and cheeses for snacking. Many come with nuts as well. I try to avoid meats that are processed with salt and nitrates. But it is an adequate choice once in a while, when shopping or walking around on a hot day, with a beer. Since there is so much fat, they are very filling, so a little goes a long way.

4. Yogurt. Argentines love their yogurt, but it's hard to get natural yogurt that doesn't have a lot of stuff added. I can find sugar-free yogurt, but that has aspartame, which I don't think is great on a daily basis. But it helps the digestion, and you can't buy the digestive supplements in pill form like you can in the states.

Like I said, I'm not a diet nazi, but I try to keep myself within the 80% range of a paleo-type diet. I do have ice cream occasionally, or pasta. But the healthier I eat, the worse I feel when I go off the pattern, so I can keep it pretty steady when I am on a roll. With a little will-power, it is possible to eat paleo in Argentina.

This post was written, in part, for affordablecallingcards.net where Julia writes about her expat adventures, as well as on this blog. You can follow her in both places.

Bike Fitness

It's my fourth week training for bicycle touring, and my fitness is definitely improving: both my cardiovascular fitness, and my muscle strength. Before I started this "program" I wondered whether I could get a Crossfit-style workout on the bike: variation, big movements, intensity. the answer in general, is yes. Especially if you live in the hills.

• Riding up hills gives intervals of very high intensity with periods of rest. If I push a big enough gear, it's a great leg workout. It's as intense as running sprints.
  
• I work all the big muscle groups in the lower half of my body. Even when trying to keep a high pace on the flats, I work my abs and lower back in order to keep stabilized.
• You can do intervals on the flats if you push the pace high enough.
• We change our route every time we go out so we will get a different type of workout: Long and flat one day, hilly and short another, working skills in the park another.
  
• We take days off in between where we do nothing.

Of course, the obvious muscle group that is missing is arms. Eventually, I will work in some arm exercises after a ride when I can handle it. But you'd be surprised at the level of arm strength needed for descending, so the arms don't stay completely unused.

Bicycle touring does not equal fitness necessarily. One can ride from town to town at a leisurely pace, and drink a bottle of wine and a huge pasta dinner each night. But if you keep the intensity up, vary the route so that you work in some hills, and watch the diet, it can be a great way to keep in shape, and see some of the country besides.

Being Healthy vs. Being Thin

It's now the third week of training for bicycle touring, and I am already feeling a lot fitter. The first two weeks were very difficult to get through- I felt tired all the time. But now I am recovering faster, and starting to feel a boost in my energy. My bike handling skills have gotten better as well--I am clipping in and out, climbing quite well (relatively), and rode three hours out to the beach with panniers (of course Rob takes the heavy stuff on his bike). Yay, me!

I haven't lost much weight, though. I thought I would be down about five pounds at this point. I was discouraged at first, but it has made me reflect on why I am doing this in the first place, and how important the weight loss is.

First of all, you have to ride intensely to get fit and start losing weight. In order to ride intensely, you have to build up your capacity to do so. Noodling around at 10 miles an hour isn't going to help you burn calories. So I need a few weeks to be fit enough to handle the intensity that will lead to weight loss.

Second, and more importantly, I need to keep in mind that being thin and being healthy are not the same thing. I want to be healthy. That means have a healthy heart, good lungs, some strength, and good energy throughout the day. I can be 15 lb.s overweight and have all this.

Losing 15lbs. is vanity. I don't want dimply thighs or a fat ass. I want clothes to look good on me. There is nothing wrong with this, it's just important to keep it in perspective. Judging one's health by weight alone is like judging the health of the economy by the stock market, and we all know how that goes. I've seen plenty of skinny people who drink too much, smoke too much, eat poorly, and have a high body fat percentage because they don't have any muscle. You can be skinny and unhealthy.

Of course I have some health issues that make staying thin a good idea, like type II diabetes in the family. But these health issues usually come at the border of obesity, and I am not there.

So I'm not discouraged by the scale. The weight loss will come. (My vanity cannot be shaken.) But more importantly, I have energy today! And after the months (years?) of suffering fatigue from being hypothyroid, this is heavenly. Dimply thighs or not.

Fitness Check-in

The first week of the push-up challenge is done. I can now do over 10 push-ups in a row. Next week will be a little harder.

I've been consistently losing weight, although I don't have a scale to measure. My clothes are getting looser and looser, though. The Evo-fitness seems to be working. I have been lifting weights a couple of times a week (I wish I could do crossfit, but it doesn't exist here!), and eating a paleo-ish diet. No grains, no beans, little dairy. Just lean meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, oils. I also have a mini-fast every few days- just eat dinner early and then not eat until about 2:00 the next day. Then I eat a little more later to make up for it.

It's pretty easy to eat this way here in Argentina, if you don't give in to the pizza and empanadas. The meat here is lean (beef is grass-fed), and it's easy to shop every couple of days for fresh fruits and vegetables. I eat very little processed or canned food.

Of course I'm not too strict about the diet- but I try to hit the 80% ratio. Things I've noticed;

• I no longer have low blood sugar crashes. I get hungry if I don't eat, but it's a hunger that can be tolerated. No lightheadedness, or shakiness.
  
• My energy level is generally higher, except the day after workouts, when I need extra sleep.
• I have trouble digesting big starchy meals now. I no longer want to binge on bread or potatoes, because it just makes me feel bad.
• Fasting (from 8:00PM to 2:00 Pm the next day) is no big deal- it seems to happen naturally anyway. When I'm not hungry, I don't eat much. When I'm hungry, I eat as much as it takes to satisfy me.
• My alcohol tolerance is much lower (learned this the hard way)- two glasses of wine MAX. If it's a very long evening, maybe one more. That's it. Otherwise, I'm sick the next day. (This is probably a good thing.)
• I've been losing fat without a lot of time spent exercising- I workout hard and fast. I walk through the city maybe once or twice a week to do errands, since I have no car.

So far so good.

Evolutionary Fitness Argentine Style

Somehow, being gone has given me a motivation to get back in shape and get healthy. I've essentially been ignoring my body for the last six months, and I've put on a little padding around my waist. I'm also sluggish a lot.

I've been following Art Devany for quite a while, since I did Crossfit before I left CA. I'm going to start following his suggestions and see what happens. After reading his blog awhile, I think they make a lot of sense.

Eating a paleo-style diet here is easy and difficult at the same time. Easy because there are a lot of fresh ingredients, and a steak/salad combo here is a no-brainer. But it's also hard (at least for now) to ignore the pizzas, empanadas, pastas, etc.

Of course, I'm not completely anal about any diet- I figure I will try for 80% and go from there.

Art De Vany: Evolutionary Fitness

Art De Vany: Chapter One

Art De Vany has made the first chapter of his new book, Evolutionary Fitness, available on his website. His theory is that our genes have not evolved much since the stone age, and we are living a lifestyle not conducive to our genotypes. He advocates intense, short workouts that vary (sounds like crossfit) as opposed to either pure endurance or pure anaerobic (power lifting) workouts. Interesting read. His blog is interesting stuff, too.