A Fight Against Obesity: The International Food Challenge

We are an obese nation, the average are getting fat and the fat are getting fatter. Michelle Obama has recently said,

"Nearly a one third of American children are either overweight or obese, and a third will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime".

This sad fact made me want to do something for myself and find out why for others. I don't want to be another fat number in their statistics, so I decided to try out a study.

My theory is that Americans are fat because everything in the American diet is making us fat. I know, not so original because people have said this stuff before. Still, I will personally test this theory by completely changing my eating habits. This means I will no longer eat pizza, hot dogs, burgers, and fast food, all things popular in an American diet. Instead, I started yesterday eating only International food. So I will eat Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese...who knows maybe I'll find places with more exotic food.

I will continue this to see if it has an effect on my weight and health. I know changing your diet alone is not the solution to losing weight, but trying to lose weight on the American diet has not gotten me anywhere. So with this international diet, mixed with exercise, I'll see if there is a difference.

There will be some ground rules and exceptions to this though. First, this will not really change what I drink, because that's harder to do, and I am not giving up caffeine. Hello, look at the name of this blog! Second, it will be very hard and costly to eat international when I'm home. So, I can eat the groceries that are in my house as long as it is something I have to prepare. This does not mean making Chef Boyardee, Hot Pockets, or any other pre-made frozen TV dinner.

The reason for this is because I want to be able to work for my food. I think another reason why this country is so obese is because we have such easy access to fatty foods. We get hungry, we could make chicken breast with some vegetables, but we want something fat so we microwave a frozen White Castle burger. I mean, this has made us lazy too, which doesn't help obesity.

So in my quest to change being just another lazy, fat, American, I hope I can use this study to show people that it's not too late. We can change if we truly want to.

Travel Diary Day 4- Last Day

I woke up at a leisurely 8:00am with the feeling of finally being on my own. As the rest of my group left at 6am surf, I could finally take advantage of my hotel. It feels like there was so many things I wanted to do and never got to. I never ordered room service, had a drink at their bar, wander the different floors...you know things you should do at a hotel.

On that list of things to do was use their lazy river and private beach, and thankfully that morning I got to do that. The weather was sunny and hot...perfect water weather. I put on my recently purchased swimsuit that I got on clearance marked down 60%, and was happy to see that it looked lovely on me outside the dressing room. When I got down to the pool area it was pretty empty since it was early. I wanted to go on the lazy river first since the beach would get me all sandy. Since no one was using the lazy river yet, I didn't want to be the only one, so I went down to the beach.

I just wet my feet in the water to get use to the temperature and sink into the sand. A couple of minutes later I checked back at the lazy river, and seeing people started to use it, I felt happy to use it. The lazy river was simple and relaxing, the jets under the water pushed my inner tube slow in some areas to enjoy the view, and fast around turns for a little fun. I went around twice before I decided to jump off and go back to the beach.

The beach was nice for families, parents didn't have to worry about big waves taking their kids away. For me, it was nice, but I like the thrill of big waves, it's like a game. I think I spent a half hour in the water before I got out to go back to my room. Check out was at 12pm so I wanted to make sure I had enough time to shower and pack.

Once packed and ready, I went to wait in the lobby to say goodbye to my people. One journalist and her son had already left because they had an early flight. I did get to see everyone else and say goodbye and exchange business cards. At the airport I had to do some last minute cramming because I thought they would let me carry on a gift bag and not count that as an additional carry on bag.

My flight was at 3:17pm so they boarded us at 2:40pm. My seat was in the last row so I was one of the first to get on. This time, my plane was one of the older ones, the ones with no in-flight movie because they had no TVs. I can't lie, I was disappointed. Then as we were all ready to take off, the pilot comes on the speaker to say that Newark is delaying all flights for 2 hours, and since they had already boarded us, we could not get off the plane. So I had to spend 2 and a half hours sitting on a stationary plane. It felt like a nightmare, but it did make me realize something very important, I hate children!

With an annoying baby in front of me who kept turning around and trying to touch me, and even more annoying brother and sister who were loud and wouldn't stop whining, I was in hell. What is it about white parents that won't let them take charge of their children. If your child is loud and obnoxious, tell them to be quiet and say it in a way that they'll believe there are terrible consequences to disobeying. No, this brother and sister were whining and complaining, and fighting, and how does the mother respond, "If you're good I'll take you to Toys R Us" Oh yeah, that will teach them!

Finally, 5 and a half hours later, my plane landed and I didn't want to see another child for the rest of the week. Overall, I think my first press trip was a success, and I hope I have enough to write about for work.

Travel Diary Day 3

This trip is sure taking a lot of energy out of me, and has made me realize that I haven't had caffeine since Tuesday. No wonder I'm falling asleep on swamp tours! I was a little late meeting my group for breakfast, really only 10 minutes, but our guide likes to keep everyone on time. He left me two voicemails, I didn't think it called for that. As I'm still not accustomed to eating breakfast, my queasy stomach didn't want anything too big. Luckily today's breakfast in the hotel was buffet style so I could take just what I wanted. I went with a cheese omelet and bacon in small portions.

On today's agenda, our first stop was a drive to Butterfly World. This was something that I was looking forward to because I like butterflies. Fun fact, Vanessa is a name for a genus of butterfly. It was interesting to see all the different types of butterflies flying around me, but I was worried about stepping on one of them. If I killed a butterfly this would have been a very sad day. Along with butterflies, they also had many birds flying around which made me a little more worried that they would swoop down on me. Then of course there was a special area with just birds that like to land on people. There was even a sign that said if you have a fear of birds landing on you, you should not go inside. I listened to that.

Everyone else in my group went inside the area but me. I didn't want to be a complete wuss so I went in for about a minute. A bird flew right by my face and then I promptly left. I think it was very smart that I did because six birds landed on one of my group members and were just climbing all over her. I wouldn't have been ok with that.

When we were done at Butterfly World we went to grab lunch at the H20 Cafe. My breakfast had me still pretty filled up so I passed on eating. All I got was ice tea, my first caffeine drink on this trip. I felt I would need this for everything else we were going to do today.

I think what I really would like to do in the future is to go around and rate bathrooms. Ever since I was little and I would go out, I had to always see the bathroom. So far all the bathrooms I have seen here were pretty nice, except the one at the Swamp Safari which smelled like an animal house.

Anyway, I brought up bathrooms because I decided to use the one at the H20 cafe and came out to see my group had left. I actually thought they had driven off, which really didn't have been that upset. Honestly, I would have just walked back to my hotel, because I wasn't that far from it, and relax. Sadly, or rather I should say, Luckily, my group had only walked to the shopping district up ahead to get the tickets for our next activity.

Yes, next was the Duck Tour, and I thought that would be mildly interesting because ducks are nice. This tour was very misleading! It shouldn't even be called a duck tour, it should be called the "History of Ft. Lauderdale Tour...Now with Water!". We didn't see a single duck, the only duck relation was that the overhyped tour guide kept making the bus quack like idiots to the people in the different places we passed. And to top it off, it was raining. It really was just a history tour where the guide pointed to places and told us some information and history about it. Then when we finally hit the water I thought finally this is where we'll see the ducks. No, then it turned to a house tour, poitning at different houses along the water and telling us who use to live there while boating at the slowest speed possible. This tour should have been the one that made me feel like sleeping, and at points I felt it, but I managed to stay wide-eyed.

Then our guide gave us free time to do whatever we want. I was going to go to either the pool or the beach, but since it was still rainy and cloudy I didn't want to. So I just came back to my room and relaxed. I'm planning tomorrow morning to use the pool, hopefully the sun will be shining!

When my free time was over, I met my group back in the lobby for dinner at the Mai Kai Resturant. I really liked the place, it was authentically decorated like a Polyensian village. Even the bathrooms were authentic. Since they knew we were on a press trip, they gave us a tour of the place and gave us a special menu to order from. I had crab rangoon, soy sirlon steak, and tiramasu. I also had my first alcoholic drink on the trip ad it came in a take home glass...I love those! Then they had a show with dinner that was basically alot of hula shaking and fire throwing. It was fun to watch, and they even pulled up my guide to dance on stage. Since they had a gift shop, I decided to look because I thought they must have some nice things.

I saw a very pretty tiki necklace with matching earrings so I asked the worker how much it was. $75! Are they out of their freaky tiki mind? Of course I didn't buy it, but at least I still have my souvienar glass. When we were done, we had to go back to our rooms very fast because we had to be at this sea turtle thing at a certain time.

Now the purpose of going to this sea turtle attraction was because we were suppose to see the turtles come out and lay their eggs. It was very boring for me. What we were really doing was turtle hunting because the entire crew was scouting the beach to see if a turtle was coming out of the water. They had us on the beach watching the waters in silent for 45 mintues.

At this point, waiting to see the turtle wasn't the only problem. All the food that I ate at dinner wasn't blending so well in my stomach and pain was coming in waves. So when we started walking to the other end of the beach I told my guide that I was going back to the main area where the bathrooms were. Then our driver gave me the keys to the van so I could sit inside the car and not be outside anymore. Wouldn't you know it, the damn turtle came out right after I left.

Once again my day concludes back in my room here writing. Tomorrow is when I leave, so this trip is almost over. This time I get to sleep a little more because everyone else in my group is going surfing at 6am, I kindly passed on that one. Surfing would be cool to do one day in my life, but doing it hours before my flight made me nervous. So tomorrow is my day where I can do whatever I want before I leave. I just hope for no rain!

Travel Diary Day 2

My second day started bright and early at 7:00am so I could get ready and meet my group for breakfast at 8:30. We had breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, and I'm not use to having breakfast so I was worried my stomach wouldn't like it. Food was alright, I had two eggs with bacon, the eggs were just ok, the bacon was better. Then the people from the hotel took us on a tour of the place. Seeing the private beach and the lazy river made me wish I could use it right there, but sadly they just wanted to torture me. Hopefully I'll get time to use them before I leave, even if it's only for an hour.

Then we went on a long drive near the Everglades to Billie Swamp Safari. We had to make sure we had on plenty of bug spray for this place because those critters were everywhere. I got to see nice big tortoises, tropical birds, and snakes in cages. After these preliminaries, we went on an airboat ride through the swamp. I got scared when one of the alligators came right up next to our boat next to me. Next we had lunch at their cafe which had a very disapointing menu for me. Everything was deep friend. And they actually had real alligator nuggets, alligator tail, and frog legs on their menu. It seems weird to me that a place based mostly on the gator, they would respect them...not hack them up and serve them to tourists. Whatever, I wasn't eating that.

After that we went on a swamp buggy tour and for some reason I started feeling really sleepy and was falling in and out of sleep. That wasn't good, and I was trying everything to stay awake. That tour was very long though, and was mostly alot of trees almost hitting me in the face. Then ostriches attacked our buggy and once again one of them was right next to me. I was happy when we finally left because we spent a long time in the sun.

Now it was a long drive back, but we were now heading to Wannado City, a role playing theme park for kids where they can be any profession they want. It was so very cute that I can't even say how cute it really was. They give kids their fake money and credit card so they can run around and either buy things or earn money working jobs. Every profession was made to look very realistic. They had every job from doctor to model. So for instance, in the hospital kids can work in the emergency room, the operating room, or the nursery, and they have realitsic looking instruments, bodies, and tools. It can actually be a little scary for younger kids.

Every profession is run like a time scheduled activity. A worker is in charge of facilating the jobs and when it's time for one to start they will walk the kids through them. Another fun one is working as a firefighter, they have a building on fire and the kids come from the fire station in the truck to put the fire out with real working hoses. If I was still a kid I would love this place.

So yeah I saw all of this on our tour that they gave us. They also gave us a gift bag of press material with a brick...that was weird. Then while we were all waiting for the kids to finish playing we learned Michael Jackson died. Sad. Finally we could move on to dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe. Talk about a fancy looking place! Everything was so nice and spacious. The food was better than anything I had so far. I had the blue cheese salad, it was actually very big. After dinner I was feeling way beyond stuffed and couldn't wait to get back to my room.

So here I am now, and I should sleep much earlier than I did yesterday. I don't want to be falling asleep with butterflies all over me.

Travel Diary Day 1

As I continue my quest as a journalist, I can cross off some of the things I have already achieved. I have been an Editor-in-Chief, won an award for my writing, and got a lot of free stuff. Now I can cross off being a backpacking journalist, because I am now on my very first press trip in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

I had a mixed feeling of excitement and fear in going because I would be traveling alone, something I haven't done ever. Still there was one thing that made me happy about going alone; I would finally have my own room. My whole life I have never had a room alone, so this was what I was looking forward to.

I had left packing for last night which had my stomach all in knots because I could feel the time passing which put more pressure on me. My flight wasn't until 2:35pm so that meant that I could kind of sleep in, but only a little bit. I still managed to waste my time in the morning because I was not expecting my taxi to come 25 minutes early. It actually was crazy! They called me to say they were outside and I was just beginning to get dressed.

So you know how they always advise people to get to the airport three hours in advance? Yeah, well I didn't need that. It took me all of 15 minutes to check in, get past security, and find my gate, so then I had 3 hours to kill before my flight.

Now I'm not a happy flier, the whole process makes my stomach turn, so getting a window seat didn't make me feel better. I was surprised that my flight actually went well, I didn't have to get up and use the bathroom, no turbulence, I got to watch the TV shows I liked on those tiny screens on the backs of the seats, and the plane landed early.

Once out of the plane I called the guy in charge of the press trip so he could pick me up and take me to the hotel. As the driver took me and another journalist with her kid to the hotel, he gave us a tour of the area we were in. Then there it was, like a white castle upon a hill, our hotel, the Pelican Grand Beach Resort.

When I checked in they gave me a complimentary bag of stuff from the good people taking us on this trip. What a cute tote it was! Hot pink, big, and water resistant. then it was time for what I had been waiting for...my room! Once I opened my door a smile spread across my face as I saw the huge room that was all mine. It has a big closet, huge bed, two TVs, a living room area with two sofas, and a balcony facing the beach. I may have jumped up and down from glee. There even was an envelope with my name on it with more free stuff.

I couldn't enjoy my room for too long because I had to be back in the lobby for dinner in 15 minutes. Tonight for dinner they took us to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, the chain restaurant based on the Forrest Gump movie. I don't know, I just found the whole place weird. It really wants to be a kid-friendly place, and they have alot of cute things that are interesting that kids might get a kick out of. the problem is that their whole focus is about the movie they were based on. Now that's fine, they should be like that, but why would kids be interested in that? For example, the coloring book they give has trivia questions all from their movie. How would a 6yr old know that?

Another thing I thought was stupid were the signs they placed on the table. They were metal signs, and if you wanted attention from the waiter you would turn the sign to say "Stop, Forrest, Stop", and then if you didn't need them, switch it to "Run, Forrest, Run". Haha, I get it *eye roll*. Anyway, I was very hungry because all I had was a small bag of pretzels from the plane. I ordered their dish, Shrimp New Orleans, because I'm a big believer in getting food they're named for. The wait was long, the presentation was nice, and I can't say anything food about the taste. At first I thought it was good, it was a nice portion of shrimp over rice in a good tasting sauce. After four or five bites it didn't taste so great anymore, it actually made me feel a little sick.

When I decided to stop eating, I couldn't wait to come back to my room because the traveling was catching up to me, and I wanted to rest. Before I went up, I decided to get a milk shake from the ice cream parlor in the lobby for dessert. To my dismay they were overpriced, I paid $6.30 for a small milk shake.

Now I'm just back in my hotel room, enjoying this lovely experience and the free internet. I debated getting room service because that disappointing meal left me wanting, but I'll just wait for the morning. I must think of a way to horde food so I can eat when I'm not with my group. I should sleep soon, I have an early morning filled with activities, and I promise myself I will blog every day I'm out here. I mean, how can I be a writer if I don't write?