Overseas and struggling

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Nikoah
Nikoah Posts: 21 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello, my name is Nikoah, I joined today but am concerned that it is going to be difficult to keep track of my calories because I live in an area where I cannot read all of the nutritional guide due to the language barrier. I am looking for support from others who have either lived out of their original country, or are now. I need to loose about 30 or more lbs.

I am a mother of 2 and teach at an international school in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. We moved here in September to be with my husband who teaches at a local university. I enjoy it here, but eating healthy can be a chore. The local fair is a lot of white rice, which is heavy on the carb counts. My mother is diabetic, and one of her triggers is white rice. therefore I try to avoid it.

As I am just getting started I am looking for support on my journey to a healthier me.

Nikoah

Replies

  • poncho33
    poncho33 Posts: 1,511
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    I usually try and find the closest thing in the food database on MFP if I don't know the exact nutritional info.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    I'm a British expat currently living in Saudi I was teaching EFL but currently I'm a stay at home mum home educating my 5 yr old (no decent schools where we live!!)

    there are quite a few challenges because of things not available locally, especially the lack of gyms and the hot climate, but I've devised my own workout schedule for indoors (with the air conditioning on!) :)
  • Justacoffeenut
    Justacoffeenut Posts: 3,808 Member
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    I lived overseas for a year. I got me a great translator book and used it the best I could. Tried to eat as much fresh veg and fruit as I could. And had friends from my hometown send me dried stuff to me. Like brown rice, dried beans and whole wheat pasta, peanut butter, oats, etc. I was in Hungry so it wasn't to hard to find things close to home like iteams. Hamburger was hard but we trained the local guy to take choice meats and send them through the grinder. He thought we were nuts at first. But when all the others there from America asked for it as well he started stocking it. The locals even started asking us how to cook it. You can usually find lean meats, yogurt, and such. Not sure about where you are since I have never been there.

    Welcome to MFP. Enjoy the area, be safe and enjoy your journey.
  • Nikoah
    Nikoah Posts: 21 Member
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    Inside exercise is a must right now, as much for the heat as for the dirt in the air. There are gyms, but they are very expensive for women. We are lucky that a Carrafour just opened, so we have more options now. I am also lucky that we have a vegetable truck come to our school every other day, so my produce is really fresh. Right now I am trying to find more ways to eat veggies so that no one gets board.
  • darlilama
    darlilama Posts: 794 Member
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    I cannot help, but just wanted to say that I admire you and others that are doing their best to take care of themselves and their families, even when there are multiple barriers to doing so! Wish more people right here where everything is available and accessible had your attitude!

    Best of luck in your journey! :flowerforyou: Maybe you can post interesting recipes! I am always struggling with new ways to cook veggies!
  • daniat
    daniat Posts: 123 Member
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    I'm an Americn expat living in francophone Switzerland . The data base is quite extensive and I have found products that I thought were a long shot. If I can't find exactly what I am looking for I use the info for something similar and select a larger serving to err on the side of safety .
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    Inside exercise is a must right now, as much for the heat as for the dirt in the air. There are gyms, but they are very expensive for women. We are lucky that a Carrafour just opened, so we have more options now. I am also lucky that we have a vegetable truck come to our school every other day, so my produce is really fresh. Right now I am trying to find more ways to eat veggies so that no one gets board.

    That's great about the vegetable truck. I live in an oasis town so we can get a lot of very good local produce. The women's gyms here are very expensive here as well. And we get lots of dust storms. I've got a treadmill (I go on it while watching TV) and an exercise ball and a set of dumbbells (heavy ones) for strength training. The local supermarkets are getting better at selling a range of foods, but unhealthy really dominates the market here. You can't buy protein powder locally, but you can buy 10 kilogram bags of sugar!!
  • Nikoah
    Nikoah Posts: 21 Member
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    Daniat: Since I have been adding food, I have been surprised to find some of it. We had lintel soup for lunch today, it is good heavy on fiber, but more white rice than I try to have, and it was in the system. Also, I found creamed tuna (really bad carb load, but I did use wheat flour).

    darlilama: I will do my best to post some of the recipes. Here is a list of foods I really like that are local, some good for you some not so much. 1. Dolma (a stuffed veggie dish- time consuming, so a weekend special occasion thing) 2. Kuba - depends on how it is made as to how healthy. - here is one that is not too bad, good fiber http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylDEhvjMua8 3. Hummus is very big over here, it is best if you make it yourself. A good recipe has chick peas, yogurt, tahini (sesame seed butter) olive oil, and lemon juice in it. This is one made to taste so it takes experimenting. I also like okra stew here is the link for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IvdstIe2c&feature=related 4. If you are a rice eater (I try to avoid it due to carbs, my mother is diabetic, I am trying to avoid that) Biryani rice, it is one you can change depending on the meat and veg you have on hand. Here is a recipe for it: http://biryanirecipe.net/
    I will also post more when I think of them.

    dhakiyya; The local markets here are also getting more diverse, but they seem to want to be more like the west, and so they are bringing in processed food. The one good thing is that they do not allow certain additives and so the processed foods are not quite as bad, but they are still not good. For example the Oreos over here are different than in the states, but they still are not good for you. Also, the sodas over here have sugar not high fructose corn syrup. My aim is to eat less than 10 % of my food from preprocessed items. That does not always work since my husband is the main cook. He cooks on the healthy side, but does not see the problems with processed food products.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    you know what one of the main issues for me right now? Translating food words between English and Arabic. On the packaging they tend to transliterate rather than translate unless it's really common (like milk) so I end up calling things by the Arabic name and not realising that it has a different name in English. it took me months to realise that labaneh is actually greek yoghurt (although there are no versions of it available that are low in both fat and carbs so it's better to just make it from yoghurt). And phrase books and dictionaries rarely translate accurately enough to get the right item, or they just leave it out because it's to obscure/non technical. And my bilingual friends only seem to know *food* words in their home language, not both.

    now I'd like to try blackstrap molasses because apparently they are high in iron and I'm a bit concerned about my iron intake. However *what's Arabic for blackstrap molasses*? molasses can probably be translated, but differentiating between different kinds?? Dictionary/phrase book writers, if you are reading this, please realise that there is a need for you to be both accurate and technical in how you translate food words!! I'd also like to know Arabic for cottage cheese because they might have some at the deli counter.

    Oh well I can try...... starting with google translate as always. But if anyone happens to know the correct translation please help me out :) I can read Arabic script if necessary :)
  • Justacoffeenut
    Justacoffeenut Posts: 3,808 Member
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    you know what one of the main issues for me right now? Translating food words between English and Arabic. On the packaging they tend to transliterate rather than translate unless it's really common (like milk) so I end up calling things by the Arabic name and not realising that it has a different name in English. it took me months to realise that labaneh is actually greek yoghurt (although there are no versions of it available that are low in both fat and carbs so it's better to just make it from yoghurt). And phrase books and dictionaries rarely translate accurately enough to get the right item, or they just leave it out because it's to obscure/non technical. And my bilingual friends only seem to know *food* words in their home language, not both.

    now I'd like to try blackstrap molasses because apparently they are high in iron and I'm a bit concerned about my iron intake. However *what's Arabic for blackstrap molasses*? molasses can probably be translated, but differentiating between different kinds?? Dictionary/phrase book writers, if you are reading this, please realise that there is a need for you to be both accurate and technical in how you translate food words!! I'd also like to know Arabic for cottage cheese because they might have some at the deli counter.

    Oh well I can try...... starting with google translate as always. But if anyone happens to know the correct translation please help me out :) I can read Arabic script if necessary :)

    Ive never been where you are, but Ive been a transplant before so I kind of know how you may feel. Not sure if these will help you.

    http://www.google.com/ta3reeb/

    http://www.stars21.com/translator/english_to_arabic.html
  • Nikoah
    Nikoah Posts: 21 Member
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    I just found this: http://www.moneycrashers.com/strength-training-exercises-women/
    It looks great. I am going to do this. I will need to change the jugs, because water does not come in them here, but I like the idea.
  • Nikoah
    Nikoah Posts: 21 Member
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    I am impressed. I cannot read Arabic at all. Also, here you never know if you need to speak Kurdish or Arabic. I am lucky in that most of my friends are able to translate what I need to. My biggest issue is finding high fiber foods. I cannot find whole wheat flour, but you can buy "brown bread." I am searching now for high fiber fruits and veg. Whole grains are a big issue here, they prefer the stripped and bleached stuff. Then a coworker was upset with me yesterday because she said I "need" white rice. I tried explaining that my grains were coming from high fiber cereals not from rice which has no fiber to speak of.


    Oh well I can try...... starting with google translate as always. But if anyone happens to know the correct translation please help me out :) I can read Arabic script if necessary :)
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    That website looks good :) Never would have thought of using a gym bag as a barbell. You can probably use any kind of container as a dumbbell, even regular water bottles (full of sand or water) - there's no shortage of sand where I live LOL my husband left the air conditioning vents open in a sandstorm once, the air was thick with sand then it settled... everywhere!! Looked like the house hadn't been lived in for many years there was that much dust lol

    That's a pain if you can't get wholewheat flour. Be careful of brown bread, a lot of the bread here that claims to be wholegrain isn't, or it's mixed with too much white flour. I'm quite carb sensitive so I can sometimes tell fake wholegrains by how I react to them (e.g. if I start getting carb cravings later in the day). I've given up on shop bread and make my own. 5kg bags of whole wheat flour are cheap here :) But in our household grain issues get quite crazy because my younger daughter who's 2 is allergic to wholegrain durham wheat - i.e. bulghar and wholewheat pasta (she's fine with regular wheat, i.e. weetabix, bread) - but a lot of the white pastas here are not very well refined and she's quite sensitive, and sometimes reacts to the white pasta (that's how we found out some brands are refined better than others!!) So that makes cooking complicated!! She is also allergic to chickpeas and lentils.... which makes eating round other peoples houses rather difficult!

    I did a google search on courses to learn to read Arabic, this one looks really good, I had a look through quite a few of the lessons: http://www.shariahprogram.ca/Arabic-alphabet.shtml it's just reading/writing, no vocabulary or grammar. If Kurdish is written in a modified Arabic script where you live (just wiki'd it seems there's different alphabets for it, including one based on Arabic) then it might be useful for both languages. Once you've learned the Arabic alphabet (a bit tricky because there's 2-4 forms of each letter!) it's easy to read because the spelling is completely regular, not like English (I've taught English phonics a lot; Arabic phonics is waaaaaaaaaaay easier!!! no digraphs or trigraphs or split digraphs or irregular words or any other craziness, just one letter one sound!)
  • SyntonicGarden
    SyntonicGarden Posts: 944 Member
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    I travel extensively all over the world and can relate to what you're dealing with as far as documenting food choices and getting exercise in. I agree with increasing the fruit and veggies where you can. If you have the privacy in your home to do it, yoga might not be a bad way to go. No need for lots of bulky equipment and you're targeting all areas. Since you're lifting your own body weight, there's no need for weights either. Plank pose, for example, will get your arms, legs, core and backside if you hold it properly.

    I wish you good luck with your stay overseas. If you want additional encouragement, please feel free to add me. :)
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
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    you know what one of the main issues for me right now? Translating food words between English and Arabic. On the packaging they tend to transliterate rather than translate unless it's really common (like milk) so I end up calling things by the Arabic name and not realising that it has a different name in English. it took me months to realise that labaneh is actually greek yoghurt (although there are no versions of it available that are low in both fat and carbs so it's better to just make it from yoghurt). And phrase books and dictionaries rarely translate accurately enough to get the right item, or they just leave it out because it's to obscure/non technical. And my bilingual friends only seem to know *food* words in their home language, not both.

    now I'd like to try blackstrap molasses because apparently they are high in iron and I'm a bit concerned about my iron intake. However *what's Arabic for blackstrap molasses*? molasses can probably be translated, but differentiating between different kinds?? Dictionary/phrase book writers, if you are reading this, please realise that there is a need for you to be both accurate and technical in how you translate food words!! I'd also like to know Arabic for cottage cheese because they might have some at the deli counter.

    Oh well I can try...... starting with google translate as always. But if anyone happens to know the correct translation please help me out :) I can read Arabic script if necessary :)

    Wait, labaneh is greek yogurt??? Huh.

    In any event, molasses is dabs as-sukr (honey of sugar). Not sure how to say blackstrap, though. ;)
  • Nikoah
    Nikoah Posts: 21 Member
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    SyntonicGarden: I do yoga, love it actually. I can get away. However, if my son catches me he is in down dog underneath me making it hard to go into plank from down dog. Thanks for the help and suggestions

    Dhakiyya: Not being able to eat chickpeas and lentils would make it almost impossible. I know at school we eat one of the 2 every other day, and pasta often also. If you are still there when she starts school you will need to send a lunch with her I am sure.

    The Kurdish is quite different. I will look at the web site though. Thanks for your help, I am interested in learning as much of the languages as possible.

    I did a google search on courses to learn to read Arabic, this one looks really good, I had a look through quite a few of the lessons: http://www.shariahprogram.ca/Arabic-alphabet.shtml it's just reading/writing, no vocabulary or grammar. If Kurdish is written in a modified Arabic script where you live (just wiki'd it seems there's different alphabets for it, including one based on Arabic) then it might be useful for both languages. Once you've learned the Arabic alphabet (a bit tricky because there's 2-4 forms of each letter!) it's easy to read because the spelling is completely regular, not like English (I've taught English phonics a lot; Arabic phonics is waaaaaaaaaaay easier!!! no digraphs or trigraphs or split digraphs or irregular words or any other craziness, just one letter one sound!)
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    Thanks bathsheba :) ....not sure how I'm going to find Arabic for blackstrap though!!

    Nikoah, yes it's a real pain eating round other people's houses, one time we went to have dinner with my husband's friends and his family, and I told my husband to tell them in advance about my daughter's allergies but he didn't... the only thing they served that she could eat was plain rice (which she happily ate!).

    For learning Arabic, learning modern standard Arabic is best because the dialects are very different, although you might be able to learn Iraqi dialect Arabic as well (or you'll probably pick it up if you interact with native speakers a lot) and they all learn MSA in schools, from the TV etc so you can always make yourself understood with it. The "teach yourself..." series is quite good, they have a MSA book/CD course and also Gulf Arabic, don't know what other dialects they have. I don't really know anything about Kurdish at all though!

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