Rachel Gamarra explains how Peru’s abundance of fresh, unprocessed, nourishing, tasty and cheap food can help keep you slim, and tells of her first experience in a Peruvian supermarket and how it compares to one in her home country, the super-sized United States.

The United States takes the cake on being the most obese society in the globe, but what is the secret to Americans slimming down abroad?

FRESH VARIETY
I once went into a Metro supermarket with my Kodak and recorded a few short clips to show to the folks back home. The produce manager wasn’t too thrilled with me recording in the store, but I explained to him that we didn’t have this much variety back in the States and that an American has to see it to believe it.

My very own eyes popped out of their sockets and my jaw dropped the first time I visited a Peruvian supermarket, I couldn’t believe the number, colors and variety of starches, grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, dairies, etc. that were in a commercial store. I saw foods I had never witnessed or tasted before in my life!

The produce section in Metro alone makes any American supermarket’s produce department look minuscule in size and variety.

While produce and meats are often fresh in commercial supermarkets in Peru, you can still find fresher ingredients by visiting any of the numerous municipal or district markets that dot the country.

With the Christmas holiday just weeks away markets will soon be filled with crates and truck beds loaded with Turkeys, YES – LIVE TURKEYS! Choose the bird you want to roast and they’ll slaughter it right in front of your eyes at the market – forget preservatives, genetically altered slaughter house poultry and a “Lord only knows how long it’s been sitting on the shelf” worries. You can check the quality and health of your food for yourself in the Peruvian markets.

If Poultry, Pork or Beef aren’t on the day’s menu for you, then you can hop on down to the Fish Markets of the Costa Verde.

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Tags: food, fruit, health, metro, obese, [Featured]