I found heaven in a bowl yesterday, a place where my love of travel and healthy superfoods collide. It’s called an acai bowl. Its key ingredient is the frozen puree of the acai berry, the latest US “superfood’ to come out of central and south America, where their populations have been eating it for centuries.
My choice of breakfast says a bit about how I travel.
Holidays mean indulgence. No matter how hard you try. Odds on you’ll eat more (justifying that you cannot miss out on trying the local this and that), drink more (Mai Tais are a staple here), and for most people exercise less and allow their bodies to rest and recover from usual life.
I’ve been in search of healthy food since I set foot on American soil. But a nation that provides for the needs of over 324 million people has to let science help it along a bit by processing food so that it can be delivered to the masses and stored in a freezer for months. It’s the one place where I’ve wondered if the average McDonald’s wrap might be a healthy food option. It’s also the first time that I’ve been grateful for the price we pay for real milk in New Zealand – aptly nick-named the land of milk and honey. Don’t even get me started on the locally grown coffee that they destroy with coffee mate (over 30 chemical ingredients mixed together in a bottle and designed to look like milk).
We’ve tried to self-cater. It’s more economical by a long shot. But it’s still been hard to find fresh whole ingredients. Even I can’t stomach the sweetness of the breads here. We’ve not found the best markets yet (we’re sure they are lurking close by) but I can see that buying whole food from a stall will get us an awfully long way next year in Europe. Being wheat intolerant will mean that I won’t survive on cheese and white baguettes. We’ll just have to work harder to hunt and gather.
Exercise is important too. I scoff at the exercise centres in these hotels, even our basic set of condos has one. But in a hot climate I’m sure it would reach a point where lacing up my running shoes would be an impossibility. I struggled to cover 2/3 of what I’d usually run this morning but it formed a routine No matter where I am in the world I need an exercise routine. My 6 year old has been lapping the garden this morning in her running shoes and cap. This is where it starts.
So I’m heading out this morning with my halo. I’ll try a different flavour bowl today. I’ll scorn the coffee – the absence of milk may cure me of this addiction too. Then I’ll tip the scales by overeating, indulge in sunset cocktails, and hope my jeans still fit when I get home.
Sandcastles & Scribbles 