calling the "average American family"

IdunAbelone

So, my 15-year old is really hoping (and saving money) for a year as an Exchange Student in the USA in a couple of years. 2-3 weeks ago several of her acquaintances left Europe for a year in the states. Most of them are blogging from their new lives. The ones I've read have all been lucky with their host-families, classmates and teachers. The families all look wonderful, fit, their own children active with sports and other activities. All exchange students seem to have settled well and are happy. But, after some blog-posts every single one of the students have written the same thing: they are not able to find healthy food! One girl had to make up a courage to ask her new family if they never ate fruit or vegetables? All of them learned after some few days to avoid the schools cafeterias.Theres a lot of fried food. And none of them have found wholegrain bread (European style). The blogs I've read are from exchange students living in Tennesse, Mississippi, Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Any good suggestions for these teenagers, for them to truely enjoy their schoolyear without gaining 20 pounds? Any tips on stores they can look up to find organic food?

Thank you - in advance

Lina4Lina

Other than Oklahoma, those exchange students ended up in the south which is the home of fried foods and sweet tea.

I'm not exactly sure about how exchange families work but do the students go grocery shopping with the family? When I was in school, I always took my lunch to school as the normal school lunch programs aren't really very healthy.

The families may also shop at certain grocery stores that don't really have a lot of healthier style food such as true whole grain bread but normal grocery stores vary.

You could see if the students could find a 'health food' store nearby to check out in terms of groceries. Whole Foods is a common chain but there are others that may be better (I don't know personally what might be available in those states).

Since it is summer and they are also more in southern climates, they could also look for farmer's markets in the area. Those are weekly markets where a variety of vendors come to sell their fruits, veggies and other items.

wlkumpf

they would want to check out a food coop or a "whole food" grocery store.

For sure though, food coops make often make their own whole grain or sprouted breads and have lots of organic or locally grown fruits and vegetables. They can look in the yellow pages or ask around. If they can't find that, this time of year there are farmers markets and I have heard of more venders in the south selling baked goods. The venders there would also know where to shop for the healthiest goods

A lot of people have said they go to the coop for fruits/vegies/breads and their meat market for meats and sandwich meats as well as cheeses and other than milk there isnt' much need to head to a full grocery store. In our town, our food coop has milk and meats too! It is like an organic one stop shop.

http://www.pfc.coop/ this is a link to what I am talking about by where I live in the midwest.

xxvogue

But even Oklahoma isn't known for the healthiest eating habits. The students that go to Seattle or Boston might have a different story to tell. The south (including Oklahoma) is kind of known for "downhome (i.e bad and full of sugar) cooking."

You can get organic food at regular grocery stores as well, though there are speciality foods. Organic isn't really a matter of gaining weight though (the nutrients are better, sure). If your son does end up in a house where there are very little vegetables, I guarantee he could buy plenty at the grocery. All he probably has to do is ask though and say something like; "I really like 'x food,' but I'd love to have 'y food.' Would that be OK?" He could also ask for wholegrain bread/pita, though, admittedly I personally don't know anyone who eats the white stuff that's above 13 yeas old.

IdunAbelone

Thank you, all! Good tips and advices, I'll forward them