PCV Health and Weight Loss

During my first few months in Azerbaijan and during Pre-Service Training (PST), I remember one of my fellow PCVs giving a presentation on life in Azerbaijan. During the presentation, she mentioned that while serving in AZ most men will lose (about) 20 lbs whereas most women will gain about 20lbs. What I remember most about the presentation was the panicky feeling I had when she said that. I could not afford that kind of weight gain. In the year prior to coming to AZ, I worked in an office and had been taking night classes, both of which required me to do a lot of sitting. Due to this inactive lifestyle, I had (regrettably) put on some weight, which I had every intention of losing while in Azerbaijan.

One of the goals I set for myself before coming to Azerbaijan was to create a work-out routine (which would become a habit I could take with me back to America), to eat well and to get healthy. The blogs and various internet entries I had read about PCV work was that (often) there was "a lot of down time." PCV blogs discussed free time which consisted of: reading books, exercising, learning a musical instrument, studying for grad school, etc. Setting the goal of "getting healthy" didn't seem unrealistic, but upon hearing this presentation, I felt a little defeated.

I'm happy to report that each person's health experience (just like their service experience), will vary. Since I've been here I've been lucky enough to shed a few pounds, but I've had to work at it.

Currently, my health success is due to:

1. Daily work-outs (with Sunday as my "day off")

2. Running every other day

3. Eating well through the incorporation of (many) vegetables and legumes

4. Time to cook/prepare food I enjoy and time to "savor the flavor"

My site placement is one which has served me well. I say this because I had housing options which allowed me to live away from my host family. My host family is wonderful, but when living with a host family, you are (usually) limited to eating what is being prepared. Here foods are saturated in oil and white bread is served at every meal. (Cultural note: bread is extremely important culturally and a great deal of respect is given to bread when it's being handled or served.)

I currently live in my own apartment next to a sports stadium. The stadium is used for soccer, basketball and other various sports. Although the people most frequently found there are men, this has been the easiest (and most comfortable) location for me to run. Despite strange looks from individuals while I'm running, it's at least expected that individuals will be engrossed in physical activity while at the stadium.

Diet. My diet consists of very little meat. I'm not a vegetarian, I like chicken a great deal, but this vegetarian status is primarily due to high costs, as well as the complete difference in preparing it. Meat is found in a butcher shop and the animal is slaughtered that same morning. Ground beef? Buy a slab of meat and grind it yourself. Chicken? Buy it live at the market and kill it when you arrive home. (There are some exceptions to this, I can actually buy packaged chicken in my city.) However, for the most part I omit meat from my diet and supplement it with a lentil/rice mix (complete protein!) which is also lower in fat. I eat more beans and legumes in general and will confess that prior to coming to AZ, I had never cooked a lentil in my life.

I don't drink (alcohol) in Azerbaijan, not that I was drinking a great deal in the states, but those beers which tasted so good while I was in America aren't calories I'm consuming while I'm here in AZ.

I eat fresh. I go to the market at least every other day on my way home from work and my diet consists of very little canned or processed food. I don't think I've ever eaten as well as I have here (I think it helps that I really enjoy cooking). And I never, well, I very rarely, eat out. I think that's huge.

I turn 30 in a month or so and it's nice to know that I'll be beginning my 30th year in good health. This is possibly the most boring post I've ever written on my blog, but my health has been a big focus while I've been in AZ and it seemed like something I should write about.