Guest guest Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 Hi: Here is my feedback, based on a fair amount of personal experience travelling in Latin America, including the countries you mention. Your principal objective with regard to nutrition, imo, should not be CRON, but avoiding getting sick from the food you eat. This is a major issue. Anyone who is not meticulous about this in Latin America will always get sick from diseases that range from the 'very inconvenient but rather trivial long term' on the one hand, to 'very dangerous' on the other. So here are the rules I use when down there: Eat only things that have been boiled or baked and barely handled since being cooked. Drink (and wash your teeth in) only beer or cola. In practical terms this means (except in five star hotels which should not be a problem) eating pretty much just soup and bread. Vegetable soups for preference. Bread in the form of the whole loaf bought at the bakery, so minimally 'handled'. You might think eating fruit is OK. It isn't because what is on the outside of it will inevitably get into your stomach, pretty much no matter how careful you are. Bananas are likely an exception if you are careful. Other things that people will also try to rationalize as being OK, aren't. Vegetables bought in the local market, for example, unless boiled before eating. The first time I visited the region I did not take extreme precautions. NEVER AGAIN! Rodney. PS: I lost quite a lot of weight on this diet. About seven pounds a month! You might want to take with you some Lomotil, just in case. > > Hi all, > > I've been doing CR for about half a year now and have gotten very > comfortable with it, ~1500-1600 daily calories, lots of veggies and no > problems whatsoever with hunger. > > In a few weeks I'll be going on a 3-months backpacking trip (a few > weeks in Europe and then two months in Mexico and Guatemala), and I'm > not sure about the transition from my current nutritional habits to > having much reduced control over my nutrition. > > One of the things that worry me is that having much less control and > information about my caloric (and nutrient) intake might lead to a > large rather sudden increase (because I don't want to risk > malnutrition, I'd rather err on the overeating side), which sounds > quite unhealthy to me. > > I've seen a few posts about CR on the road before, but nothing about > very long trips, only short ways of watching your nutrition until you > get back home. > > Would appreciate any tips anyone might have on this. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 The following information is based on my personnal experience. Please use any of it at your own risk. Canned salmon tuna, vegetables and most products available in the US can be purchased in supermarkets in the larger Central American cities. Since your trip is going to expose you to this environment in a short term basis, I would exclusively use bottled water (even to wash my teeth). Bottled water of fair quality is widely available. All varieties of fruits and vegetables are also readily available (and in many cases of very high quality). The safest procedure to safely consume these products is to thoroughly disinfect using a bleach/water solution and then rinse with copious amounts of bottled water. This can prove to be a challenge in a backpacking situation. I would go out of my way to avoid all small restaurants, eateries and street vendors (which by the way are everywhere). These establishments do not have access to clean water or sewer infrastructure and cannot guaranty minimum hygiene level. However, excellent restaurants can be found in larger cities. Avoid raw fish, " ceviches " , oysters and any other type of mollusks which are widely available and sough after by many locals in the coastal areas. Do not go for it. Consumption of these products is downright dangerous. At a minimum, I would rinse all fruits and vegetables with bottled water and take a single dose anti-parasite medication (get medical advice) as you get into the plane back to wherever home is at. GEnjoy your trip and good luck. > > Hi all, > > I've been doing CR for about half a year now and have gotten very > comfortable with it, ~1500-1600 daily calories, lots of veggies and no > problems whatsoever with hunger. > > In a few weeks I'll be going on a 3-months backpacking trip (a few > weeks in Europe and then two months in Mexico and Guatemala), and I'm > not sure about the transition from my current nutritional habits to > having much reduced control over my nutrition. > > One of the things that worry me is that having much less control and > information about my caloric (and nutrient) intake might lead to a > large rather sudden increase (because I don't want to risk > malnutrition, I'd rather err on the overeating side), which sounds > quite unhealthy to me. > > I've seen a few posts about CR on the road before, but nothing about > very long trips, only short ways of watching your nutrition until you > get back home. > > Would appreciate any tips anyone might have on this. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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