Diet & Weight Loss on a Tropical Island

Chicago-style pizza at Due's

Where I live is something that has always majorly affected my diet.  When I lived in Chicago, I would eat out all the time (Chicago has great restaurants with even greater portions), but I also bought organic items at Whole Foods and would attempt to offset my eating out with low fat or sugar free "snack" foods - AKA "food" filled with tons of chemicals.

Spain: where beer is cheaper than water

Living in Barcelona for two years, I didn't eat more per say, but my diet became richer with denser, high calorie foods.  Tapas of jamon & manchego cheese, yummy patatas bravas with a spicy mayo sauce, gelato in the street, sangria pitchers, and sharing delicious bottles of 4 euro wine with myself was probably not the best for my waistline, but who could resist!?  I did walk A LOT though, which I feel prevented me from gaining even more extra pounds.

Afternoon cava with friends

One thing I love about being in the Dominican Republic now is my diet.  My fiancé and I do not eat Dominican food very often, but we incorporate a lot of the staple ingredients into our meals.  For example, instead of having rice & beans as a heavy side dish each day, we buy brown rice and eat beans as protein in salads.  Here, stocking up on fruits and vegetables is much cheaper than stocking up on packaged and canned goods, so healthy, clean eating actually costs less than eating junk!  This is one of the ways I wish that the US was more like the DR!

See my "country" eating post here

When I first moved here I avoided drinking fruit juice and eating more than one piece of fruit a day, because I was afraid of the sugar.  Now I think, was I crazy?!  Had I been so brainwashed in the US to believe that too much fruit would make me fat?!  I have slowly let go of this misconception, and as a result of eating less "healthy" packaged goods and replacing them with LOTS of fruits and vegetables (sugar and all), I have lost 13 pounds!  Coming from someone who has PCOS, and had been unable to change her body's "set weight" for 10 whole years, this is huge for me!  Yes, its been very gradual (over the course of an entire year), but I'm a believer in slow and steady wins the race.

Pomegranate 

Last Sunday's ice-cream

I am a total foodie and I love sweets; anyone who follows me on Instagram knows how much I love to eat!  I never count my calories, I still indulge, I sometimes order pasta when eating out, and I eat ice cream, but I eat more fruits and veggies than ever before.

Its true what they say - eating more plant based foods works best when trying to maintain a healthy weight.  Of course, exercising also helps, but thats for another post. ;)

Sipping on a fresh coconut in the car