UK vs. US portions and nutrition
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I'm in the UK, personally not a fan of fish and chips although I do love mushy peas!
Anyway, personally I think in the UK we tend to eat out less but if you are over visiting you are probably likely to be taken out a lot. Depending on the type of places you go, you can either get reasonable portion size and healthy foods, or large portions of rubbish.
Just for example most English people just eat cereal or toast for breakfast unless it's the weekend when we might have egg & bacon etc. But again if you are going our for breakfast you'll find menus tend to offer anything from pastries and porridge, to eggs Benedict or pancakes.
Cheltenham has loads of variety when it comes to food, the common popular chains and smaller independent cafe's and pubs. The latter tend to cost more but be better quality in my opinion although can still be calorific.0 -
Bailey_432 wrote: »shannonbun wrote: »Thank you all for the responses! I'll be in Cheltenham, but visiting my boyfriend in London pretty frequently, so I'll have to drag him along to one of the farmers' markets a few times. Thankfully (for my diet's sake), my home school has a rule against drinking alcohol, so I won't be drinking while I'm over there. I've been making my tea the "proper English way" the boyfriend taught me, but I found out I put way too much sugar into it--gotta change that.
Cheltenham is a beautiful town! How many sugars is too many? I put 2 in my cuppa
I usually use like 2 packets of splenda, but I was told that's a whole lot :c0 -
Cheltenham is lovely. Pity you just missed the (horse) races.
I know it's not great diet food, but make sure you get fish & chips once, and try toad-in-the-hole. We also do a good stodgy pudding here, like jam roly poly or sticky toffee pudding.
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rainbowbow wrote: »(The UK has an obesity rate of 62% in adults of both sexes; so take that as you will.)
I think "only" around 25% are obese in the UK. (You're maybe including overweight adults as well?). Still high, but quite a bit lower than your figure, and lower than in the US (where it's about 35%, I believe).
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rainbowbow wrote: »(The UK has an obesity rate of 62% in adults of both sexes; so take that as you will.)
I think "only" around 25% are obese in the UK. (You're maybe including overweight adults as well?). Still high, but quite a bit lower than your figure, and lower than in the US (where it's about 35%, I believe).
Sorry, yes, "overweight".0 -
Or (SAY IT!!) Spotted Dick! Americans always get shifty-eyed about that one!Cheltenham is lovely. Pity you just missed the (horse) races.
I know it's not great diet food, but make sure you get fish & chips once, and try toad-in-the-hole. We also do a good stodgy pudding here, like jam roly poly or sticky toffee pudding.
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Or (SAY IT!!) Spotted Dick! Americans always get shifty-eyed about that one!Cheltenham is lovely. Pity you just missed the (horse) races.
I know it's not great diet food, but make sure you get fish & chips once, and try toad-in-the-hole. We also do a good stodgy pudding here, like jam roly poly or sticky toffee pudding.
TRUE. What I wouldn't do for Spotted Dick...
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Or (SAY IT!!) Spotted Dick! Americans always get shifty-eyed about that one!Cheltenham is lovely. Pity you just missed the (horse) races.
I know it's not great diet food, but make sure you get fish & chips once, and try toad-in-the-hole. We also do a good stodgy pudding here, like jam roly poly or sticky toffee pudding.
Sorry about that...but really...does that sound like anything one would want near one's mouth?
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livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Have any of you been to Australia and tried fish and chips here? So much better.
The fish are better, the batter is worse, the chips.. just aren't right.
Perhaps if chip shops stopped using frozen chips so often then it would be better. And they really need to start having vinegar in the shop too!
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...double post - I'm blaming Aussie internet
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Dreamyriver wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Have any of you been to Australia and tried fish and chips here? So much better.
The fish are better, the batter is worse, the chips.. just aren't right.
Perhaps if chip shops stopped using frozen chips so often then it would be better. And they really need to start having vinegar in the shop too!
I prefer Australian batter - English is thick and stodgy... And the English chips are disastrous! Soggy and blah. I've not been to a chip shop in Australia that doesn't have vinegar....0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Dreamyriver wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Have any of you been to Australia and tried fish and chips here? So much better.
The fish are better, the batter is worse, the chips.. just aren't right.
Perhaps if chip shops stopped using frozen chips so often then it would be better. And they really need to start having vinegar in the shop too!
I prefer Australian batter - English is thick and stodgy... And the English chips are disastrous! Soggy and blah. I've not been to a chip shop in Australia that doesn't have vinegar....
If you've had thick and stodgy batter then you've gone to the wrong places!
I've only been to one chip shop (actually it was a cafe rather than a takeaway) that had vinegar. It was also probably the best chips I'd had too - perhaps the two were connected?
Our first ever trip to a chippy here, I asked for vinegar.. they went in the back and got me some white vinegar. It ain't the same, lol.0 -
shannonbun wrote: »I've been making my tea the "proper English way" the boyfriend taught me, but I found out I put way too much sugar into it--gotta change that.
This sounds weird, but are there things like Splenda over there? Just no-calorie sweetners in general?
Oh my goodness... we aren't a third world country you know.
Yes, we are civilised enough to have sweeteners. I really don't know how else to respond to this...
There are no rules regarding sugar in tea, there are no rules full stop... you really are over-thinking this! There is zero reason for your diet to change *AT ALL* unless you eat out at American chains constantly and they don't exist here, in which case your diet will probably improve vastly (unless of course you replace them with British chains such as Wetherspoons mentioned above.) Eat what you want, drink what you want.
In regards to Wetherspoons, avoid it like the plague. God awful food.
Chocolate is different, yes, however, most Americans seem to end up preferring ours, our recipe's aren't modified to avoid melting because the weather here is pretty crap for the most part, it's not like our chocolate needs to withstand Arizona heat. I often get friends asking me to send Cadbury's chocolate stateside.
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Or (SAY IT!!) Spotted Dick! Americans always get shifty-eyed about that one!Cheltenham is lovely. Pity you just missed the (horse) races.
I know it's not great diet food, but make sure you get fish & chips once, and try toad-in-the-hole. We also do a good stodgy pudding here, like jam roly poly or sticky toffee pudding.
Sorry about that...but really...does that sound like anything one would want near one's mouth?
That's how we keep non-Brits away from it... We're clever really.0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »shannonbun wrote: »Thank you all for the responses! I'll be in Cheltenham, but visiting my boyfriend in London pretty frequently, so I'll have to drag him along to one of the farmers' markets a few times. Thankfully (for my diet's sake), my home school has a rule against drinking alcohol, so I won't be drinking while I'm over there. I've been making my tea the "proper English way" the boyfriend taught me, but I found out I put way too much sugar into it--gotta change that.
This sounds weird, but are there things like Splenda over there? Just no-calorie sweetners in general?
You aren't going to a third world country,haha. Perhaps take supplies of your favourites, or arrange to have them sent over.... Even if they have the same product made by the same company it may not be the same recipe. (English Cadbury chocolate is nothing like Australian Cadbury chocolate for example...)
They have Wholefoods! The first one opened in London when I was there, it was heaven
English Cadbury was the finest milk chocolate in the world until the lousy Kraft bought it and ruined it. Humph.
YES! RIP Cadbury...
and for the record, I hate tea. COFFEE ALL THE WAY! And I know you said you don't drink but... you will be by the end. That is how we deal with living here. lol0 -
UK pastrami sandwich = 2 slices of bread, a slice or two of protein and salad / dressing
US sandwich = 2 slices of bread, half a cow and pickles / salad / dressing
Buy a UK sandwich and you will consider it an amuse bouche in comparison0 -
I've heard our food is a bit richer than american food, I'm surprised we don't all have gout to be honest...0
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Ha ha ha he is the only reason I know about gout. I would like to try swan pie...0 -
UK pastrami sandwich = 2 slices of bread, a slice or two of protein and salad / dressing
US sandwich = 2 slices of bread, half a cow and pickles / salad / dressing
Buy a UK sandwich and you will consider it an amuse bouche in comparison
Reuben's in NY... Oh my... I'll never have one anywhere else again!0 -
I have visions of this massive pie with a swans head stuck out of it hahaha0 -
Ah man. Toad in the hole with lashings of onion gravy. Sigh.0 -
Ah man. Toad in the hole with lashings of onion gravy. Sigh.
Haven't had a proper toad in the hole for ages, really want one now! This thread is going to be so bad for making me crave stodgy food haha. Must wait til dinner, cheesy potato bake tonight...
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Ah man. Toad in the hole with lashings of onion gravy. Sigh.
Haven't had a proper toad in the hole for ages, really want one now! This thread is going to be so bad for making me crave stodgy food haha. Must wait til dinner, cheesy potato bake tonight...
I made one a few months ago... It was like return of the Triffids... Was massive hahahaha!0 -
Ah man. Toad in the hole with lashings of onion gravy. Sigh.
Haven't had a proper toad in the hole for ages, really want one now! This thread is going to be so bad for making me crave stodgy food haha. Must wait til dinner, cheesy potato bake tonight...
I made one a few months ago... It was like return of the Triffids... Was massive hahahaha!
Lmao! I never learned how to make a decent batter, probably a good thing. I swear I put on half a stone when I learned how to cook good roast potatoes!
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I got fat in uni in England. Eating out is expensive so the portions in question were what I was cooking for myself. Mainly pasta! If I could go back in time to my 18 year old self the main advice I would give is "weigh your pasta" and "pasta is not a snack".
I walked a lot as I had no car and we lived 40 minutes walk from one subject (I was joint honours), 30 minutes to work, 30 minutes to my other subject and 45 minutes to the student union. I still got big. 2 stone bigger. 28lb. So if you're mindful of your weight please sign up to the uni gym or join a sports team or use the pool or anything! Walking doesn't always cut it.
I read your no-alcohol rule. Sucks to be you! But seriously, that will make a big difference. I did weightwatchers in 3rd year and wow, I was blown away by realising how many calories I was taking on in the form of cider (mmm cider), wine, gin and tonic, snakebite, mojitos, shots, cheap lager in cans on clubs on boats etc... Basically - booze in general. Not all students drink but there is a massive drinking culture and although you can buy from age 18, everyone I knew had been drinking through sixth form. (The IDing rules have changed massively in the last decade though - I get asked for ID now as I look under 25 but I'm 32!)
If you're in halls don't go up for seconds as I did. Like any cafeteria style food, make sensible choices.
I hope you have an awesome time and make some great friends. My uni housemates are friends for life.
Also, on a non-food/exercise note: while you're in the UK, make the most of it. An American guy in my halls would go on trips with other US students around the country and one day he was working in the halls bar with me and said they'd been to the Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans (which is near where I'm from) and I was asking him what he thought, had he done this thing or seen that thing and he said they'd sat in the café and didn't look around and I was like "whaaat?!" I just felt it was such a missed opportunity! I used to go there every school holiday and now I take my own kids. Anyway, Cardiff isn't too far from Cheltenham and cheap to get to from London so you could go see for yourself!
#longestpostever
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MonsoonStorm wrote: »shannonbun wrote: »I've been making my tea the "proper English way" the boyfriend taught me, but I found out I put way too much sugar into it--gotta change that.
This sounds weird, but are there things like Splenda over there? Just no-calorie sweetners in general?
Oh my goodness... we aren't a third world country you know.
Yes, we are civilised enough to have sweeteners. I really don't know how else to respond to this...
Some of the so called "third world countries"do have sweeteners.0 -
Ah man. Toad in the hole with lashings of onion gravy. Sigh.
Haven't had a proper toad in the hole for ages, really want one now! This thread is going to be so bad for making me crave stodgy food haha. Must wait til dinner, cheesy potato bake tonight...
I made one a few months ago... It was like return of the Triffids... Was massive hahahaha!
I can't make toad in the hole to save my life. I end up burning the outside and raw batter with the sausages. Apparently its genetic, my mum can't make it either. lol0 -
Ah man. Toad in the hole with lashings of onion gravy. Sigh.
Haven't had a proper toad in the hole for ages, really want one now! This thread is going to be so bad for making me crave stodgy food haha. Must wait til dinner, cheesy potato bake tonight...
I made one a few months ago... It was like return of the Triffids... Was massive hahahaha!
Lmao! I never learned how to make a decent batter, probably a good thing. I swear I put on half a stone when I learned how to cook good roast potatoes!
Yes! And the ONLY time we make it with goose/duck fat is at Christmas and they are the BEST things in the world. I made cottage pie the yesterday and I admit it did make the mash with butter
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