Living in a new culture where food is front and center!

I moved to Cape Verde, Africa with the Peace Corps back in July.  While I lost weight at first, I have since gained about 10lbs, on top of the 10 - 15 I already needed to lose.  Last monday I started to pay attention to what I'm eating and basically measure my food etc.

But...there's today.  Today there is a big festival in the town next to ours.  There will be lots of food and drinks, nothing diet, nothing healthy.  I work with the local government office, an it will be very, VERY culturally inappropriate if I snub the food and just don't eat.  Plus Cape Verde is a very pro-drinking culture, and my boss expects me to have wine and grogue (it's like 151 rum, or moonshine lol) and beer and if I don't it'll be...well it'll just be bad.

I don't have time to wait for responses since I'm leaving to go in 30 min, but  maybe people could give me pointers for the future.  I can't skip it, there are no healthy options, I HAVE to eat and drink (if this doesn't make sense to you, I'm not sure how to explain the importance of community integration when you are a foreign aid worker in a new culture, but trust me it's not like I can refuse or I will be thought of as rude, an "ingratu" and it will make the work I'm here to do very hard). 

Please send me positive portion-control vibes and energy lol!  I'm hoping I can get away with just taking a little and no one will notice and force more on me!

On culture occasions like this, honestly i'd just enjoy it and not worry about it. When it comes to eating you can try to look at the ingredients and guess which is better but a celebration is something I've always felt should be worry free and full of fun.

Honestly weight loss is important over a period of time, not on instances or occasions. It might set you off a week from your goals, but in the long run thats almost insignificant. As long as you don't do this every week and don't go overboard and only eat/drink to your fill, who cares? Not everybody gets to go to festivals in Cape Verde. Enjoy it to the fullest extent you can!

You have every other day to be picky about how you eat. In the future maybe when you know the day is comming eat less that entire day and focus more on water to give yourself more leeway on the festival. Hope this helps. =)

It is important to join in, of course it is.  But there are ways around it.... There will always be healthier foods at any bash.  You may have to look a bit harder, that's all.   Fruit, for example... vegetables or salads of any description.... fish isn't a bad thing to go with if it's available.   Pile your plate with those things and you're halfway there.

The next trick is to eat as slowly as you can get away with.  You don't have to fill your plate, gobble it down and go back for seconds & thirds.  Slow things down by talking to people in between mouthfuls.  Wander around the room so that one set of people can't see how much you've eaten.  Don't draw attention to yourself too much

Pro-drinking....  Warning... my brother in-law spent three years as a civil engineer in Botswana and came back with a serious drink problem because he 'didn't like to refuse'...    Coming from Britain where not drinking is often frowned upon I think you again have to fudge it a bit.   Drink as slowly as you can get away with and if bullying alcoholic bosses start refilling your glass, when no-one's looking tip it into a pot-plant... seriously.  If you're clever you can make a glass of water look like a gin and tonic with a slice of lime and a few ice-cubes.   Never refuse a drink but conveniently 'lose' it on another table.

I agree with gi-jane, I've done a lot of missionary work which is different but it's totally the same when it comes to food.  Especially when you are staying in someones home.  I've been to India, Costa Rica, Guatemala and they are all the same when it comes to food - they want you to eat eat eat.  You have to just eat SLOW and ditch your food when their not looking because refusing is so disrespectful.  It's always been hard for me too because I'm a vegetarian and other cultures don't understand why you don't eat their meat...I always had to pawn mine off on a friend. LOL  Good Times. :)  Hope you had fun!

Portion control is very vital here. Good luck, and you can definitely do it. ;)

Lots of great ideas above! I encourage you to THANK everyone who gives you a plate of food profusely--saying how "wonderful" everything tastes and how full you are getting...then wander a round and lose the plate of food...drinks too. If you hold on to a diet soda or water (in a class so no one knows what it is) that will help too. Then if you have to have alcohol, lose it quickly and go back to soda or water. If you can't wander around (like a sit down meal) good luck. Take a large purse and discreetly keep putting the food in there! It is pretty amazing that most people will not even notice that you did it, especially once they start drinking too much! Claim alergies too, but then make sure your host "sees you eating lots of other food" again, even if you discreetly pitch it. Have fun on your adventure!!

Good advice here.  We've probably all been in situations where drink is strongly urged upon us - I've held the same "drink" in my hand for hours sometimes, bringing it up to my lips but not actually drinking it.  If asked if I want more, "I'm just getting started on this one, thanks!" and changing the subject works.  Heading off to the ladies' room is another good dodge.

Being effusively complimentary about the food is good too along with patting the tummy and groaning about how full you are, even if you've only eaten moderate portions.  But heck, you may as well enjoy at least some of the yummy stuff - after all it is a celebration!

I agree that celebrations should be worry free and enjoyed to the fullest.  There will always be days when it's not possible to follow a strict diet plan, and those rare days will not make or break your weight loss goals.  I also think that there are other things in life that are equally as important as maintaining a healthy weight, like experiencing other cultures.  This kind of event is a once in a lifetime experience, embrace it!  Think about when you're in your retirement, will you look back at this experience and say "I wish I had eaten less on that day" or will you look back and say "that was an amazing experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity to be part of it".

I have to disagree with the idea of bringing a large purse to discreetly stash the food in.  You would certainly offend your hosts even more if you were caught in the act, it would be an embarrassment to your boss, and the risks of jeopardizing your job far outweigh any benefit you'd get by avoiding a few calories. 

Enjoy the day!

Take a large variety of small portions, smaller portions of less nourishing foods, larger portions of vegetables

Eat slowly

Drink water with the meal even if you're drinking booz

Talk a lot

I completely agree with participating to the fullest and not worrying about a special occasion...

Unfortunately they seem to have a special occasion every week.  Seriously.  We just got over the holidays, and then we have a festa yesterday, another this weekend, another next Tuesday...lol.  It's just insane that they can have some many celebrations and I refuse not to go.

I wouldn't be able to take a purse and stash it, or throw the food away.  Despite all the festas this is a poor country and were I, an American guest, to waste food, it would be a really bad thing.  Fortuntately my trash compactor of a husband takes my remaining food and eats it so it's ok. 

Yesterday actually went ok because it wasn't one of the festas where you go from house to house all day and are required to eat at everyones; it was a big party outside and so just asked for rice and beans (they serve you so I got a TON) and mystery meat and kale and potatoes all together, with rice (cooked in oil oy) and just ate a bit of it. 

Drinking...that was another story but I think my drinking helped me eat less.  I was so tired at the end that we got home at 8pm and I didn't eat dinner and went right to bed. 

So all in all, I probably drank 700-800 calories, ate 250 for breakfast, had no dinner and probably ate 400-500 of the rice/bean thing, so I actually think I came in UNDER my calories for the day after all the worrying.  Plus we never sat down and were dancing a lot too.  I got up this morning and had lost .6lbs. 

I do recognize what a great opportunity this is, please dont' get me wrong I'm not complaining (ok, I AM complaining, but not about the chance of a lifetime lol), it's just soooo often and sooo much food and soooo much drink, I have to get better about negotiating the culture and my weight. 

Thanks for all the excellent advice, I'll need it for THIS weekends festa lol.

Hello!

I went to Ghana for a month and stayed with in local homes and villages.  While I was there I told them I was a vegetarian.  I thought I was gaining so much weight because I ate a lot of rice and pasta and cookies and crackers.  However probably because of all the exercising I did from even just walking much more then I did in the States I actually lost weight.  If you really can't cut the food out and I understand being a guest in someones country or home, then see if you can work more exercise into your week like hiking and walking. 

And they love lybations in Ghana as well!