I forgot how good I had it in Encinitas - 'til I visited Minnesota last week.
In Encinitas, I can pretty much go into any restaurant and easily get something healthy to eat. I can also walk or drive 5 minutes to a grocery store that's stocked with lots of fruits and veggies - and lots of 'em organic.
That is NOT the case in Minnesota - it ain't easy to eat healthy there! And I bet it's NOT the case in many other places across the US, too. Let me also say that I ate at some amazing, wonderful, healthy restaurants in the metro area of Minnesota, too. This is NOT an indictment of Minnesota - hell, I'm from there and I love that place!
But there are places all across the US where it's hard to find healthy food. I went out to eat with my family in outstate Minnesota and there was NOTHING healthy on the menu.
Most things were cheerfully deep fried. The bread was stark white. The meat was gray (I'm NOT KIDDING). Many things were covered in thick, gooey cheese. The salads were downright pathetic.
The meals were pretty much meat, bread and french fries. Where the hell are the vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains!?!
I ordered a salad at a small town restaurant and there were more croutons and shredded cheese bits on the salad than there was lumpy, brown iceberg lettuce. I asked the server if I could get some other veggies to put in my salad (after I picked off the croutons and cheese). She cheerfully invited me to load up at the salad bar. Sweet! Or not. The salad bar was (more) iceberg lettuce, green peppers, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and lots of goopy, creamy dressing.
In another situation (at a very nice restaurant) I ordered grilled fish. What I got was a raunchy, fishy-tasting fillet of fish that was crusted in nuts, clearly pan fried in a vat of oil (it was SO GREASY) and then placed in a deep pool of some kind of buttery, creamy sauce. It was served with potatoes - no vegetables.
The restaurant food choices I found were downright pathetic and sad. The more I tried to eat healthy (and failed), the more sad - and angry off - I got.
I stayed with family who live in outstate Minnesota and they don't have a grocery store in their town. They have to drive 15 minutes to a store and more than an hour to a store that carries a (very limited) selection of organics. An HOUR to get healthy food!?!
Yet in every single one of these tiny towns I visited or drove through, there was a liquor store and a convenience store loaded up with the sugary, salty, fatty junk foods that are making us sick and fat. It gets worse: this little town that didn't have a grocery store had the standard liquor store and convenience store, but they ALSO had a pizza place and an ice cream shop.
It's easy to understand why we're getting fatter and fatter and more unhealthy by the day when many of us don't have access to healthy, REAL, whole foods. So even if you WANTED to eat healthy and slim, the world is conspiring against you. Junk food sells - it's big business.
And I have to say that the people's body shapes and sizes were reflective of the crappy food options. There were SO MANY overweight people - and I totally understand why. Cause and effect.
What can you do if you're living in or traveling to a place with crappy food options?
1. Cook your meals at home. You control what's in your food when you cook it at home.
2. Stock up on frozen veggies if you don't have easy access to a grocery store with fresh veggies. Load up on green veggies like green beans and broccoli.
3. Buy bulk foods that store for a long time such as whole grains, dried beans, raw nuts and dried fruit.
4. If you are going out to eat, choose the restaurant carefully. Look at on-line menus before you go and choose places that have healthy options such as GREEN (not iceberg) salads with grilled fish or chicken. Go to Asian restaurants - they always have a ton of fresh veggies. Ask that your food is steam-cooked, not cooked with oil. Be careful of the sauces at Asian restaurants. Ask for it on the side so that you can control it.
5. Travel with snacks so that you aren't super hungry and vulnerable. These are great travel foods: oranges, apples, bananas, dried fruit, raw nuts, apple sauce, Lara bars, air-popped popcorn and whole grain crackers.
6. Drink lots of water - bring your own stainless bottle with you. Fill up your tummy so that you're not tempted by soda or junk food.
