1. I've been a fat kid, teen and adult a.k.a. my entire life.
2. I live in Egypt.
3. Last year, I got to change #1.
I'm really passionate about nutrition and fitness because I pretty much owe them my life now. I believe in health, both mental and physical. The Egyptian cuisine and street food isn't *particularly* fattening to be honest as it's mainly vegetarian and unlike the US for example we still cook most our food from scratch. However, our culture revolves entirely around food; you can't go out and have fun unless you're eating junk with your friends, you can't visit your family without your relatives force feeding you heaps of food and you certainly can't find one square meter without at least 2 kiosks and 3-4 fast food outlets not to mention the multiple cafes/bakeries. This is probably a very good time to mention the mind-bending concept of 'Delivery', I don't know about all of your countries guys, but every single restaurant and fast food outlet in Egypt delivers. I'm not talking about your local pizza place; think burgers, pizza, pasta, sandwiches, cinnabons...any.thing. even soda and candy from supermarkets. All are just one phone call away.
Try to couple that with non-existent exercise and you get yourself a fat population.
It's twice as hard when you decide to be healthier, try telling your aunt that you can't eat her kosharibecause you want to be healthy. I dare you. I double dare you.
you'll be ridiculed and you'll eat twice the amount you were going to eat anyway and everybody will make sure of it. Hell, try telling your mom that you're not going to eat her labor of love a.k.a meal of the day/week and you'll be emotionally abused to no avail. Try going out with your friends without eating, or worse, try to find a healthier place and order a 'healthier' dish and get ready for the misery that will ensue. (It will, I promise).
It is a real struggle to be on top of your game when socially, everything around you is about food and portrayed to embody love, care and celebration. This was not a big problem for me though because I was never really keen about the Egyptian cuisine. My diet's pyramid was only acquainted with 5 kinds of food: Fast food (read: McDonald's), pasta, french fries, pizza and junk (read: chips, soda and candy). I rarely ate meat/chicken/fish and let's just not mention salads, that would have been an offense.
but it is a struggle now that I've lost most of the weight. Because health needs dedication and support from your surroundings, and when you dedicate yourself to something, you need to balance it out or it consumes you.
And here I am,on a quest to maintain all the healthy habits without overpowering myself.
Fun Fact: The name of the blog is some sort of an analogy because when I was fat, I used to eat french fries nearly everyday. I remember I used to think I could live off them for the rest of my life, funny thing is when I nearly eliminated deep fried food from my diet I stopped craving them completely, and moved on to their next of kin; the cute sweet potatoes. We call them 'batata' in Egypt and the roasted variety (batata mashweyya) is actually a street food where you'd usually find the guy who sells them pushing a cart that has a small coal-fired oven on it. They're heavenly and healthy and that's why the analogy makes perfect sense (at least for me?).
2. I live in Egypt.
3. Last year, I got to change #1.
I'm really passionate about nutrition and fitness because I pretty much owe them my life now. I believe in health, both mental and physical. The Egyptian cuisine and street food isn't *particularly* fattening to be honest as it's mainly vegetarian and unlike the US for example we still cook most our food from scratch. However, our culture revolves entirely around food; you can't go out and have fun unless you're eating junk with your friends, you can't visit your family without your relatives force feeding you heaps of food and you certainly can't find one square meter without at least 2 kiosks and 3-4 fast food outlets not to mention the multiple cafes/bakeries. This is probably a very good time to mention the mind-bending concept of 'Delivery', I don't know about all of your countries guys, but every single restaurant and fast food outlet in Egypt delivers. I'm not talking about your local pizza place; think burgers, pizza, pasta, sandwiches, cinnabons...any.thing. even soda and candy from supermarkets. All are just one phone call away.
Try to couple that with non-existent exercise and you get yourself a fat population.
It's twice as hard when you decide to be healthier, try telling your aunt that you can't eat her koshari
you'll be ridiculed and you'll eat twice the amount you were going to eat anyway and everybody will make sure of it. Hell, try telling your mom that you're not going to eat her labor of love a.k.a meal of the day/week and you'll be emotionally abused to no avail. Try going out with your friends without eating, or worse, try to find a healthier place and order a 'healthier' dish and get ready for the misery that will ensue. (It will, I promise).
It is a real struggle to be on top of your game when socially, everything around you is about food and portrayed to embody love, care and celebration. This was not a big problem for me though because I was never really keen about the Egyptian cuisine. My diet's pyramid was only acquainted with 5 kinds of food: Fast food (read: McDonald's), pasta, french fries, pizza and junk (read: chips, soda and candy). I rarely ate meat/chicken/fish and let's just not mention salads, that would have been an offense.
but it is a struggle now that I've lost most of the weight. Because health needs dedication and support from your surroundings, and when you dedicate yourself to something, you need to balance it out or it consumes you.
And here I am,on a quest to maintain all the healthy habits without overpowering myself.
Fun Fact: The name of the blog is some sort of an analogy because when I was fat, I used to eat french fries nearly everyday. I remember I used to think I could live off them for the rest of my life, funny thing is when I nearly eliminated deep fried food from my diet I stopped craving them completely, and moved on to their next of kin; the cute sweet potatoes. We call them 'batata' in Egypt and the roasted variety (batata mashweyya) is actually a street food where you'd usually find the guy who sells them pushing a cart that has a small coal-fired oven on it. They're heavenly and healthy and that's why the analogy makes perfect sense (at least for me?).
So, what to expect?
Stories, recipes, information and journals. I'll try not to suck at this butican'tguaranteeit.
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