to wonder how the hell she stays so slim??

[SequinsAndSparkles]

My BIL is engaged to a spanish woman, and we spent the weekend at MIL's, all of us together.

She is very slim, I'd guess a size 6/8. Her skin is glowing and she is stunning, yet her diet perplexes me?

On the first morning, we were all having breakfast, MIL made a fry up for everyone, but I am on a diet so I had special K and some toast. SIL prepared her own breakfast (they are currently staying at MILs while they have some work done on their house), and she had some kind of cheese, can't remember what she said it was, about 10 olives and a slice of ham! Yet she said that my breakfast of Special K and toast was stodgy and apparently English women have 'very strange ideas about nutrition'.

For lunch, she had a chicken salad, but it involved lots of extra virgin olive oil, all over the peppers and a big dollop of salsa. And then for dinner she had chicken smeared in pesto, with green beans in salt, more salsa and a slice of cheese.

How is she so slim??

I didn't have a particuarly healthy weekend in the end, we ended up having a takeaway on the Saturday evening, and SIL wouldn't eat any of it, she wasn't rude, she politely declined but I just find it hypocrytical that she eats all this fatty stuff and made the comment about England having strange ideas about nutrition when I was eating Special K and toast!!

See whilst your post makes sense Auryane you are making some horrendous sidewards snipes and generalisations about 'people in the UK' just as I would be if I said 'oh well thats spanish people- arrogant'

And ive never come back from a holiday in Greece slimmer- wishful thinking!

Oh, I am glad to see that so many have seen through the whole Special K con. I blogged about it recently - cause I weighed my portions:

The serving size that we should be eating, according to the packaging of Special K is 30g. This is a normal sized cereal bowl, with 30g of Special K.

I will give Kellogs the benefit of the doubt. Elsewhere I have read that the portion size for the Special K Challenge is "up to 45g".

Still, if I am being completely honest, that would not see me through a whole morning. This is more like my normal portion, 90g.

These photos were taken using average sized bowls - from Denby.

So, the next thing I did was to work out how many Weightwatcher points each bowl would have. Bearing in mind that my daily points allowance is 29 points:

30 g - 3 points

45 g - 4 points

90 g - 9 points

Add to that the points of the milk, then you are easily up to 10 or 11 points, depending on the size of the bowl and how much milk you use. A third of the allowed points in one bowl of cereal.

My husband was horrified, as he often peps up his Special K with a handful of CocoPops and some oat flakes.

When you realise that instead of a bowl of Special K, you could have a sandwich with ham and salad, or a bowl of chili con carne, then the "healthy option" becomes less effective.

Aurynne is correct, most British people don't have a clue about nutrition. I didn't find her rude, some people are oversensitive.

I don't anyone other than students who eat like that. OR perhaps some very busy professionals with no kids. Who could afford it for a start.

We, like most people I know, cook our own food, with fresh vegetables, on the hob and in the oven. We eat a range of different foods. We cook our own handmade chips the very odd time we eat them. We eat a lot of pasta and rice and fish.
I also bake our own bread and cakes. With butter, not marge. I don't like low fat/no sugar products as they are usually full of sweeteners and chemicals.

This seems to be the standard way of cooking, I don't know anyone who uses the microwave to make all their food, I'm not even sure you could do that easily for a whole family.

I do agree that people in general eat far too many carbs and too much processed food, but I think you are way off base with your presumptions of how vast numbers of people cook.

I always come back slimmer from the med! PMSL at everyone getting horribly offended by the truth.

I do agree with what Aurynne says about a good diet. I am perplexed by some of her comments.

Bloody difficult to find raw vegetables, healthy meats and oils in the supermarkets. Ummmm just go to the fruit and veg area . I've yet to struggle to find fresh chicken

Don't use their hobs, except to fry an egg? Always have fizzy drinks in the house? That's not my experience as an adult and not when growing up.

Were you a student living in a city and relying on the local corner store?

The UK gave me a proper job, with a good salary and an permanent contract, while if I had stayed in Spain I would probably be working part-time in McDonald's (talk about healthy food!). It gave me friends that I still keep in touch with, and I come back to see whenever I can. It gave me a boyfriend of 2 years (it did not last, but that was not the UK's fault). It gave me a much lower rate of car accidents for 3 years, as British drivers are much better and far more civilized than Spanish ones. It gave me a more fair society, in which black money and family contacts are not the factors that count the most. It gave me more trustable politicians (yes, really... it you don't like your own politicians, I would gladly exchange them for Spanish ones). It gave me opportunities that I wouldn't have had, and that led to my dream job in New Zealand in the end. It gave me a less sexist society.

So yes, the food was worse and some people had crappy eating habits. But hey, if that was all about the UK I would have stayed home.

My cheeky nature and love for controversial language, and tongue-in-cheek remarks, came with my genes and personality... once again, I apologize if I have offended some people. After all, this is a mainly UK forum... and if I am posting here, and not a Spanish one instead, is because you guys are far more civilized than any Spanish forum.

So yes, there are quite a lot of good things about the UK too :)

I lived in Spain for a while (Malaga) and to be honest the food wasn't good at all. Everything was deep fried - including all the beautiful looking fresh fish..bloody deep fried.

We weren't there as tourists, we went to small local places and the food was generally pretty awful due to its greasiness.

The supermarkets we used were very similar to supermarkets in the UK as far as I can remember.

This is the best book I have read about eating healthily and weight loss: In Defense Of Food

He actually talks a lot about the things that Auryane mentioned - the processed crap that we eat too much of, too little veg, the "I can't believe its not butter" shite.

He says if your great grandmother would not have recognised it as food, don't eat it.

After all, this is a mainly UK forum... and if I am posting here, and not a Spanish one instead, is because you guys are far more civilized than any Spanish forum.

OMG. I won't ever be going near a Spanish forum, if MN is considered civilized.

" There are lots of things wrong about Spain, and lots of good things about the Uk (well... I am sure I would find some things if I really thought about it ;). " That was what I found a little rude Not the nutrional advice which if a little brusque was quite correct.

The less a food item looks like it's original form the worse it is for you. This is why smiley faces and turkey twirlers are much worse than fried fish as at least the fish is still recognisable!

Aurynne while I agree with pretty much everything you say, I've always been puzzled about the availability of fresh fruit and veg in Spain.

As a vegetarian who eats pretty healthily and likes fresh fruit and veg, I've often found it really hard to find fruit and veg in Spain. I've spent a lot of time there and I've been to some places where literally the only place I could find fruit and veg was El Corte Ingles food hall (Bilbao).

I always feel I'm missing out on a secret. Are there secret fruit and veg markets that only locals know about?

Aurynne I think maybe (no offense intended) possibly your boyfriend and your friends are maybe a bit possibly a leettle bit common.

I do think its fucked up to think special K is healthy.

I think British people generally must have been more hoodwinked into the whole processed low fat sweetened crap is better than food, possibly because British people watch more TV than other countries because it is generally excellent.

loving this thread- has gotten me out of my food rut

RamblingRosa, as I said my family has always (and still does) bought fruit and veges in "Fruterías" (fruit shops) that sell exclusively that: fruit and veges. They are not market stalls, and there are usually one in every block or building. Unless this has changed since I left Spain (in 2003), that would be the only secret :)

In little villages, there is usually a market 2 days a week where people buy them.

Honestly, I've spent days scouring every street of Bilbao in search of a fruteria and found nothing. Panaderias, yes. Tapas bars, yes. 5000 branches of Zara, yes. Fruit and veg, no :(

Perhaps it is because, according to some of them, Basques are not Spaniards ;)

You dont say how old she is? If she 's young and active (not necessarily exercising, but on the go a lot) her metabolism will be high.

As somebody that has lived a lot in southern europe, I would say that there are things in those diets that can help keep in check weight gain; naneky they dont have "afters" as we do here, so the carbs are in check more; use of butter is limited (they dont even spread it bread, most homes are without), they drink very little, they drink more water, they dont snack (no "elevenses"), fish is very prominent in their diets, they eat more slowly etc.
All these little bits, over months and years, do make a difference- though you wouldnt see any difference overnight for sure.

Funnily enough, in countries like France you would be find it hard to find low-fat versions of say yoghurts, like we have here.
We concentrate on little details here, whereas its the whole sum that makes the difference, if that makes any sense!

By the way, you must have suffered being a vegetarian in the North of Spain... sometimes people there have never heard of one, or believe that fish and ham are included into the vegetable category :)

Yes, maybe it's just the Basques :)

I did suffer. I honestly have survived for 3 days in Bilbao on nothing but tortilla, chocolate, and nuts.

I once went on a work trip to San Sebastian which involved going to all of these gastronomical clubs and fancy places to eat. It was a nightmare. They'd never heard of a vegetarian and would just bring me plates of plain veg to eat (eg. a mountain of green peppers with nothing else) while everyone else tucked into 6 courses of meat and fish.

Hahahahahaha or they would have tried to convince you that a salad containing tuna, ham and shrimps is suitable for vegetarians :)

One of my English friends came with me to Asturias (my region) and I actually had to explain to some waiters that she was not sick, or allergic to meat and fish... she really had CHOSEN not to eat them. They would leaving tut-tutting and amazed of how weird some foreigners were.

Correction: "they would leave".

Yep. I used to live in South America though so I'm pretty used to it :) It doesn't put me off going. I just accept that I won't eat while I'm on holiday!