One of the attractions of living in Spain is leading a healthier lifestyle. You visualise getting up early in the morning and going for a run along the beach and returning to a bowl of fresh fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch etc. However, life in Spain is not always conducive to maintaining a body beautiful as one might expect. On the contrary, there is as much in the way to tempt the taste buds as any bakers shop window in the UK.
Although, the markets are stacked with giant veggies and exotic fruit, coffee shop’s counters present an array of sweet little irresistible treats, many of which are tiny but lethal.
Don’t think that just because you don’t have a sweet tooth it’s going to be easier when out and about. Do not be lured into a false sense of “eating healthy equals keeping slim” security. Some of the most vitamin enriched foods such as avocados can be fattening if eaten in vast quantities.
In Spanish restaurants, apart from salad most of the food is fried.You can argue that it is fried in healthy olive oil but do not forget that olive oil is hugely calorific. A plate of fried fish, a salad drenched in oil, a few wedges of bread all washed down with half a bottle of wine actually contains more than half a day’s recommended calorie intake. You may mistakenly justify this indulgence by promising to compensate by taking a long walk by the sea afterwards. However, realistically at this point of the day in mid July you would not be wanting to be walking up and down but lying in a cool room resting your full stomach.
You might imagine that in such hot temperatures that you wouldn’t feel like eating and you would want to drink water all day. No, in actual fact you crave ice cream and refreshing bottles of beer!
There are some UK indulgences that one learns to live without as they just cannot be replaced with a Spanish substitute e.g. chocolate. However, as a chocaholic who has been weaned off Cadbury’s, I have found other culinary vices to replace the addiction. It is of no surprise to find other expat women who complain that moving to Spain has actually resulted in them going up a dress size. To quote a friend of mine “The weight sticks to you out here!” During the summer months you probably won’t even realising it happening under the loose kaftans and sarongs. Often it happens very subtly and it is not until you next go shopping for clothes or you return to the UK and people tell you that you look 'well' that you make the discovery.
So what can you do to avoid the inevitable weight gain and sluggishness?
- Try to do as much exercise as possible during the cooler months i.e. throughout the winter.
- Just as you would in the UK, incorporate exercise into your daily lifestyle and that way it is easier to keep it up e.g. walk your children to school, walk to the local shop instead of driving to the supermarket for a few items.
- Try to get out and do some exercise first thing in the morning either walking or swimming in the pool on your urbanisation.
- Do not keep too many cakes and treats into the house, you will eat them.
- Keep lots of water in the house and the fridge well stocked with it.
- Try not to get into the habit of drinking wine every evening with your meal, half a bottle soon becomes a full bottle.
- Look for low calorie juices (sin azúcar).
- Do not get into a habit of ordering cake every time you have a coffee (very easily done).
- If you are not working do not make eating your hobby, find another pass time preferably something that takes your mind off your appetite.
- Try to avoid getting satellite television. You may find yourself vegging in front of the TV every night just as you did in the UK. If you only have Spanish television to watch you are more likely to get out more and less likely to sit indulging in front of it.
- Find an exercise buddy to motivate each other.