During my last trip to Europe I really started thinking about the food, exercise and time usage differences between Americans and Western Europeans (in general). I don\u2019t claim to be a nutritionist, sociologist or expert in really any field, just a regular person with an interest in healthy lifestyles. Based on food, exercise and time, here is what I have observed\u2026<\/p>\n
Food<\/strong><\/p>\n I have noticed that in US grocery stores we have lots of food that says \u201clow fat\u201d, \u201clow calorie\u201d, \u201cno sugar\u201d, etc. and we buy it because we think that it\u2019s healthy. What I have found is that when I look at the ingredients in these foods I often put them back on the shelf and grab the normal ones. What I noticed in Europe was that it is so much more common to grab the normal one. Not only that, in the dairy section, American cheese singles are nearly impossible to find, instead you\u2019re surrounded by real cheeses \u2013 the kind that I always grew up thinking were fancy, buy my boyfriend eats them for breakfast. This made me think about my time in Sweden and all the Europeans in my International House.\u00a0 What I remember is real food and real meals\u2026<\/p>\n Sure I saw microwaves in Europe and absolutely people use them, but what I found fascinating was the level of food quality that my fellow twenty-somethings were preparing. I lived in a dorm with about five kitchens and 100 people. As you might imagine, meal times were crazy! As one of two Americans in the house, my fellow American friend and I expected macaroni and lots of pizza. We were so surprised when we saw the beautiful and wonderful smelling meals that came out of the oven and off of the stove at every meal. I had friends who grocery shopped every day so that they could have fresh vegetables. We Americans had to step up our cooking \u2013 we emailed our moms for our favorite recipes from home.<\/p>\n In Belgium I had this realization: it\u2019s not that people don\u2019t eat fast food, I saw a busy McDonald\u2019s whenever I went into town, what is more common however, is a different type of fast food. Bread shops which whip up cheese and meat baguette sandwiches in a minute, fry shops (well, those can\u2019t be good for you) and kebabs on every corner. What\u2019s different? No drive-thru windows. Imagine if we walked to McDonald\u2019s whenever we ate it? And even more, if we decided to go to the scrumptious bread shop instead.<\/p>\n Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n After living in the Los Angeles suburbs for four years and Chicago for a summer, I have gotten used to lots of gyms all around. I had this realization during my last trip abroad\u2026where are all the gyms? I know that people go to them, I had friends in Sweden who went daily, but the air around the idea was different. Instead of going to the gym for your daily dose of exercise, the gym was the place you went for that bit of extra. Toning, lifting, etc. because your daily exercise was riding your bike to class or walking to a friend\u2019s apartment, it was walking to the town centre or playing soccer at the park with your buddies. Exercise had a whole different mentality around it \u2013 it was simply part of everyday life. And the interesting thing was how much difference that daily portion did make.<\/p>\n Time<\/strong><\/p>\n While every country is different, there are a couple of things that I noticed abroad. Swedes take the end of the work day seriously. They work really hard during the day and then go home and tune into their families. Their work\/family line is quite clear.\u00a0 Also, even the hardest working Europeans take time to go on vacation, and this reminds me that God built vacation into the world, the Sabbath.<\/p>\n The other thing that I continually notice is that when I return to American soil I feel stress right away. (Not because I just came back from vacation \u2013 the majority of my time abroad has been study experiences or I have been working remotely.) The US is a fast-paced and intense culture, and that\u2019s okay. I just remember to walk places when I can, eat real food, and give myself a Sabbath.<\/p>\n The point of this blog<\/strong> is not to make one way better than another, but simply to put out there some observations that I have made during my journeys. As a young woman I have realized that simple changes make big differences. Things like bicycling instead of driving, eating foods with real ingredients, and taking time for myself make me feel so different. Every time I am in a new culture I try to pick out things to learn (even within the US!) and these are my findings. I hope that you will find them interesting too, and that they will help you to think about experiences that you have had, and ways to make your life healthier, happier and more wholistic.<\/p>\n Cheers,<\/p>\n Lana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During my last trip to Europe I really started thinking about the food, exercise and time usage differences between Americans and Western Europeans (in general). I don\u2019t claim to be a nutritionist, sociologist or expert in really any field, just a regular person with an interest in healthy lifestyles. Based on food, exercise and time, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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