healthy weight/lifestyle while studying abroad in Russia?

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hausisse
hausisse Posts: 90
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello!! Does anybody have any experience with this- Russia, specifically?

From the people that I've spoken to, eating healthy over there is difficult but not impossible. They're really into meat, cheese, bread and potatoes, apparently, which is yucky! I've been raised on a healthy, mostly-vegetable, mostly-vegetarian diet all of my life, so too much heavy food like that makes me feel sick and bloated shortly after eating it. Of course I want to sample international cuisine, but I just want to *sample* it, certainly not gorge myself! I know that if I don't have access to food that makes me feel good I won't enjoy my time there nearly as much.

So does anybody have any kind of advice as to how to deal with this? Thank you!

Replies

  • Mock_Turtle
    Mock_Turtle Posts: 354 Member
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    The thing is, all of those eastern euro countries (including Ukraine, Poland, Czech Rep) and Russia have an average BMI of like 23.5 whereas the USA is 27.5

    So what I would suggest is to get a good feel for what the locals consume overall - yes there are going to be high calorie meals but there has to be a trade off somewhere else. I'm only speculating but they probably drink a lot less soda, eat a lot less snack food type stuff and it ends up balancing out.

    THere are also parts of the diet that are going to be high volume but low calorie - any type of soup like borscht, or any cabbage based dish.
  • steinsopp
    steinsopp Posts: 14 Member
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    I don't live in Russia, but I live not too far from Murmansk (in Arctic Scandinavia) and have a general idea of the cuisine, since it's traditionally not so different from here.

    It will depend somewhat on what city you'll be in. Getting pretty much anything is possible in Moscow or St Petersburg, though food is expensive. Choice will be seasonable, but there should be a wide variety of vegetables in markets, and check Asian or Middle Eastern shops for more unusual ingredients. Elsewhere, if you don't eat full-fat dairy or potatoes or bread, it's going to be a bit (or a lot) more difficult. I used to eat mostly vegetables until I moved here, and started eating a lot more grains/dairy/fish because the cost of a vegetable-only diet was too expensive. Root vegetables are widely available year round in most places, plus things like peppers and tomatoes and cucumber.

    Vegetarian food at restaurants outside the main cities will be difficult to find (and not widely-available, even in Moscow or St Petersburg). Dishes often contain at least some meat broth, and fish or small bits of meat may be considered a vegetable. Get used to making your own food.. I go out to eat almost never.
  • hausisse
    hausisse Posts: 90
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    Thank you both! Ill only be there for a month, and my parents are also pretty health-conscious and won't mind if I have to spend some extra money to make sure I'm eating well; however, I'm going to be staying in a dorm at Moscow State University. I'm hoping I'll have the time to buy things from grocery stores or markets myself...though I doubt I'll have a refrigerator. I suppose I could bring a cooler, though...
  • steinsopp
    steinsopp Posts: 14 Member
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    HappyCow has a list of vegetarian-friendly restaurants and markets in Moscow:
    http://www.happycow.net/europe/russia/moscow/

    You can get an idea of non-vegetable ingredients and prices here:
    http://www.shop.happy-vegan.ru/

    I don't know if you read Russian, but Google Translate makes it vaguely readable otherwise.
  • hausisse
    hausisse Posts: 90
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    Thank you so much!!! I can read some Russian, but I'm learning. I plan to keep a booklet of useful words and phrases to remember while I'm there. Thank you :)

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