Moved continent and I need help!

DamienH

Hey all,
I've recently moved to South Korea and food over here is pretty different to say the least. I'm wondering if anyone can give me a little pointer on what/when to eat over here. I've gotten a scales and my weight is about the same, it's gone up about half a kilo but I'm not getting too excited.Below is what I ate yesterday.

Weight 117.8kg, 6ft 1''

Breakfast
50 grams of almonds and an apple the size of my fist (<---GM anyone )

Lunch
Bi-Bimbap - This is rice, with tonnes of vegetables (beansprouts, carrots, cabbage, spinach, cucumber and something else I'm not sure what) a hot sauce and an egg cracked on top.

Snack
Kimbap - A little bit of rice, tuna (a nice bit of it) and some veg rolled up in seaweed

Dinner
Chicken salad I made at home, about 250g of chicken, drizzled with a spoon and a half of olive oil.

Tea
Four eggs with some spring onions and mushrooms.

I know the rice isn't the best thing to be eating but it's a staple over here. The two Korean dishes are also insanely cheap , I can buy two of them a day for a week and spend less than 30EUR.

Beef is of very bad quality over here and their main meat is pork. Chicken can be bought alright but other than that there's nothing else, unless you like dog

I try to stay away from pork, mostly get a bit of chicken or beef jerky. Nuts are really cheap over here, I bought half a kilo of cashew nuts yesterday for less than 8EUR, so I plan on making them a staple. I'm thinking almonds and cashews would be best? I can get walnuts as well but I don't think I've ever tasted them.
Today's food was:

Bi-bimbap for brekkie
Kimbap + about 10 cashew nuts for lunch
Rice + pork cutlet dish for dinner (Dongas)

Dongas isn't healthy I know but I really felt like eating a bit of meat. I'm in work now but plan to make a chicken salad when chicken I have to eat (250g) so I'd say I'll have eaten about 140g of protein today. I've got a 5kg of quality protein coming in the post (as soon as customs let it through) so I figure I could have one or two of them a day to make sure protein content is okay, I know I'll try to eat protein when I can.

I can get apples, oranges, bananas and strawberries here for a song so I definitely need to start eating more of them.

I've got exercise pretty much sorted. I do 15 mins of kettlebell swings one say, then 10 mins of continuous getups the next. This is on a three day rota, followed by a rest day, which is plenty. Some pushups, cleans and presses get thrown in for good measure.

Just looking for some advice really, food has always been a bit of a **** for me. I really want to make an honest go at it, and carry on from where I left off at home (I was loosing just under 2lbs a week for about a month and a half). I've had time to settle down now so I've no excuses. My goal is to drop about 3stone ( bones of 20kg) in a year, which I think I should be able to do.

It's realistic anyway!


Thanks a lot for any replies,
Damien

El_Dangeroso

You're right, rice isn't the best but it certainly isn't the worst.

I was reading the other day that people in asia may be more adapted to eating rice, the same way that north europeans can tolerate lactose. They certainly have larger pancreas relative to their size than europeans do.

So it might be wise if your of european decent to go easy on the rice, you're definitely not going to be able to avoid it nor should you try. Portion control it and don't eat it for more than one meal a day.

Other bits of the diet looks great! Loving the seaweed, a powerhouse of minerals that we just don't seem to get enough of over here. Also, try add in Kimchi if you can, it's nature's probiotic and pretty much a staple everywhere in Korea.

Have fun and let us know how you're getting on and if you ever do sample some dog :eek::)

DamienH

I never realised seaweed was so good for you. They have it in bars aswell to nibble to i'll get on it. Seaweed comes in pretty much everything, they shred it up into all sorts.

Kimchi is the **** aswell, can't get enough of that wonderful stuff!

dudara

Bim-bap and all those other rice dishes are delicious - but that's a lot of rice to be eating. Try not to finish the portion every time.

DamienH

Ya that's what I've been thinking. I'm going to try and have all carbs eaten by 6pm, I usually get up around 1ish so at least they would be eaten early in the day. Bim-bap is lovely stuff alright.

As regards nuts what would be the best choice for low carb?

metamorphosis

Interesting thread because i might be in Korea by years end teaching english ... *prays*

El_Dangeroso

ULstudent wrote: »

Interesting thread because i might be in Korea by years end teaching english ... *prays*

My friend is just back from a two year stint, he absolutely loved it over there.

El_Dangeroso

DamienH wrote: »

I never realised seaweed was so good for you. They have it in bars aswell to nibble to i'll get on it. Seaweed comes in pretty much everything, they shred it up into all sorts.!

Seaweed is awesome, check it out:



100g provides over 100% your RDA for magnesium, copper, iodine, managnese, riboflavin, thiamine and a good percentage of the RDA for others.

I'm still trying to find a seaweed that I like the taste of, so far it's been waaay too salty. Suggestions welcome!

corkcomp

nothing really bad in that diet.. it does look high(ish) in calories though so I guess just cut back a little on portion sizes if you keep gaining weight...

DamienH

Will do thanks for all those comments.

I'm absolutely loving being over here, everyone I talk to over here says they're having a ball aswell. Out of about 40/50 people I've met only one has said they're not enjoying it and that's because her boss is ****. Have a look at the teaching/lecturing forum, there's a big post there.

I'm going to watch the portion sizes alright, if I don't drop a bit in 1 week or two I'll scale back. I might keep this updated aswell, might even log it.
The seaweed doesn't taste salty at all. I was dreading it but you don't even notice it.

About the nuts, cashews or almonds for low carbs?

fatewatchers

Am I reading that right? Did you eat five eggs in one day?

I know an egg a day is okay, but five? Seems like an awful lot of egg in one day. On eggs.ie they say that a healthy adult can eat seven eggs a week!

I love eggs, but my stomach would be turning somersaults if I were to eat that many in a day!

DamienH

Eggs have been okayed by pretty much everyone now. There's lads on the fitness forum who could eat far more than five. Anyway, 1 egg omlettes aren't that fun!