Live Healthy Abroad: Use a Food Scale

Who am I?

Throughout my life I have traveled with family, volunteered abroad, studied abroad, worked abroad and lived abroad for varying amounts of time. Throughout my various adventures abroad I have struggled to maintain physical and emotional well being while away from home. At times I have felt so emotionally and physically depleted that I no longer wished to travel. Rather than letting my struggle to maintain health abroad stop me from living the life I desire, I have decided to dedicate more time and energy to finding strategies to alleviate the struggle.

In this blog I will share my experience finding strategies to create and/or maintain health while abroad. Not every tip will work for everyone or in every context. Always bear in mind that I am writing from the perspective of a vegan living in Santo Domingo. However, it is my hope that anyone who reads this will be able to take away bits and pieces to implement in their own unique context. If you find one piece of advice in my blog that increases your quality of life while abroad, then I have accomplished my mission!

This blog is a journal of my efforts to learn more and, as such, I welcome and encourage comments and suggestions and for you to share your own experiences.

In health,

Katie

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Use a Food Scale - home and abroad

For many of us, portion control is the biggest challenge standing between us and our ideal weight. If you need help managing your portions a food scale can be a great tool to have in your kitchen both at home and while you are traveling. This tip is more for those who are tracking their caloric intake or those who want to better understand the substance in varying amounts of food.

I recommend the EatSmart Precision Pro - Multifunctional Digital Kitchen Scale. Measuring your food, you will better understand things like - ok 50 grams of beans can be 300+ calories so maybe I won't eat an entire bowl of beans as an afternoon snack!

I find that with a better understanding of how many calories are in my food I better control my portions. I also have more respect for the substance of what I am consuming - it helps me navigate the fine line between what my body needs for sustenance and what I just want to eat for the sake of eating.