Image via WikipediaAs an expat living in a 3rd world nation, I have come to understand the value to keeping healthy. Eating right takes on even more importance when you live in a nation where the word "organic" barely exists and red meat is around every corner. I take special steps to ensure that my food choices are the best they could possibly be with limited budget and scarce resources available. Going to parillas and eating meat is a special treat for me and when I had my rented apartment, I always made sure there were things like water, eggs, tea, fruit, yogurt. I took care to exercise portion control and never "stuffed myself". It all looks and sounded good.....on paper. All of us know that 1 + 1 almost never equals 2 because there are always variables in the equation. And what I didn't take into consideration was that I have high metabolism and low blood sugar. In addition to that, living in Argentina where 5 things can happen in an hr is an added stress because I constantly have to think fast and be ready to act any given moment. These are things that I did not factor into the equation and it is funny how such a little oversight would result in big consequences.
In previous blogs I mentioned about feeling fatigue. Unfortunately this fatigue kept plaguing me even after I arrived back in Canada. It was then I realized that there was something that I had bitten off more than I can chew in this lifestyle that I had been trying to embrace down in Argentina. My diet was lacking something but I wasn't sure what it was.
It is no secret that I am a high energy person. Not in an athletic sense but in the sense that if I wake up at 8am in the morning, by 8:05 there is laundry on the go and eggs cooking in the pan :) Having low blood sugar is hard because sometimes when I wake up, I have to wait abit before i know my body is strong enough to actually get up. And being full of spirit, while I am lying there I already want to be doing stuff but I know I can't get up too fast or I'll end up nauseated.
Not factoring in a high metabolism rate was a learning experience for me. Yes, I am big on portion control. But when you have a high metabolism rate and you are only feeding your body bits and bites, thats not enough. And what I think happened is that my body realized that I wasn't giving it enough and began taking things into its own hands and began living on the fat storage of my body's reserves. Combine that with low blood sugar and looking back now, that was probably the reason for the fatigue.
It was while resting in Canada that I knew I needed to come up with a plan to accomplish all that I'm suppose to accomplish but still stay on top of things healthwise. Up until then I hadn't really been eating anything rich or creamy like curries or Indian food but going forward, I think that if I want to survive another season of extended time abroad, that will be what I have to do.
While in Canada I tried out a cool $12 Indian lunch buffet at a new place called Sizzling Tandoor. The food was authentic North Indian food and I was able to eat until I was stuffed but not bloated or sick. This is the first time in a long time that I have ever eaten until I was stuffed. I usually stop when my stomach is half way full or sometimes even a quarter of the way full.
As far as I know, there are very few Indian places in Buenos Aires that are truly good and none of them are buffets. However, through "Pick Up the Fork" I found a great Chinese food buffet called Los Sabios. It is a vegetarian/macrobiotic Chinese food buffet. The buffet is in Almagro so it is right around the corner. It is a healthy option at a low price and like Sizzling Tandoor, I would be able to stuff myself on food that is healthy. Amd thinking that perhaps once a wk or once every 10 days if I gorge myself on a calorie rich feast, it might be the answer that my body is seeking to ensure longevity down in Buenos Aires....
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