As we all know, American diets can be a big change for au pairs. Many au pairs are afraid they will gain weight while they are here. Here are some tips from a host mother, who runs the realfoodrn blog (https:\/\/realfoodrn.com\/)<\/p>\n
In order to maintain a healthy weight while in the United States:<\/span><\/p>\n – don’t eat the sugary foods we have here – there is hidden sugar in almost everything we eat. Read the nutrition label on the packaging of any food to see how many grams of sugar it contains.<\/span><\/p>\n – don’t eat late at night – try to keep from eating for a couple of hours before bedtime, to give your body time to use the energy in what you’ve already eaten.<\/span><\/p>\n – don’t eat fast food – McDonald’s or Burger King may be convenient, but they put all kinds of extra, unnecessary additives in the food. Plus, it’s largely empty calories and unhealthly fat. Look at the calo<\/span>rie counts posted on the menu before you order.<\/span><\/p>\n – drink tons of water – the more water you drink, the better you will feel. Water helps you flush unneeded things out of your system.<\/p>\n – remain active – even if it’s cold outside, find a way to get some exercise. The Mall of America is about half a mile around, so if you go two times around each level, you just walked 3 miles. Edinborough Park in Edina is an indoor park with a big playground for kids. There are lots of other choices. Plus when it’s nice out, you can easily rent a bike and ride around the chain of lakes in Minneapolis, or you can go swimming in one of the many lakes around here.<\/p>\n – whenever possible structure meals like this: healthy meat, lots of veggies, healthy fat, spices (no breads, sugars, sauces, rice, etc) – try to make your meals as healthful as you can.<\/p>\n