Healthy eating/living while studying abroad (Germany) ?

Ttopeka
Ttopeka Posts: 151 Member
edited December 18 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone,

I've been on this website for about a month now, and have been logging my food and exercise pretty consistently ever since. I've made some decent progress thus far, and am now concerned with maintaining/continuing that over the next few weeks (and throughout the summer).

Next Tuesday I will be leaving to study abroad in Germany, and will be there for about 3 months. Does anyone have any experience trying to eat/live healthy while studying abroad, or in Germany in particular? I'd love to hear some tips or suggestions if anyone has any.

I will have an apartment w/ kitchen, but that's limited to a stove and mini-fridge -- no microwave, oven, or freezer. I think I can manage to eat decently at home, but am slightly concerned with when I'll need to eat out. Does anyone know of some typical German meals I should look out for and try? Keep in mind, I'm a vegetarian so that limits my options a bit.

I've just heard stories about the "study abroad 15", similar to the freshman 15, and I'd like to avoid that. I think the increased amount of walking I will be required to do for transportation (no car) will help, but I'm concerned with difficulty logging foods and meals that are in a language that I don't speak.

I guess I'm just looking for some tips, suggestions, or support from people who have studied or lived abroad. Thanks...

Replies

  • Ttopeka
    Ttopeka Posts: 151 Member
    Bump? Any input?
  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
    Hey, I'm German, have lived there for over 26 years, so I guess I can tell you something about German food :wink:

    First of all, you gonna love it! Everybody I know who has ever traveled to Germany loved it! Where are you going to study? Different regions in Germany have different specialties.

    In Germany you will get pretty much the same food you get in the US. And overall I think groceries, especially produce seems to be cheaper. The bread is REALLY good. It's carbs, I know, but you can get a lot of different kinds and many are whole grain ("Vollkorn"). I miss good German bread in the US :cry:

    It is not hard to come by healthy food. When you live in a city, usually supermarkets are in walking distance and because German package sizes tend to be smaller than US, you can get groceries easily without a car.

    When it comes to logging food, I have good news: many packaged food are already in the MFP-database. My family sent me a German care package and I could find almost all things in the database.

    Add me as a friend if you want to. And just let me know if you have any more questions, I will be happy to help you! :smile:
  • ili_s
    ili_s Posts: 66
    I used to live in Europe. Stay away from the desserts. And generally just live an active lifestyle. If you are living the life of a healthy person right now then things shouldn't change when you are over there.

    Good luck.
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