Soups & Watermelons
The winters in Ukraine are pretty cold. Probably that is why we got accustomed starting lunch with a bowl of hot soup (soup is a mix of vegetables combined with water). The traditional Ukrainian soup is Borscht which has the beets as the primary ingredient is of rich red color. At warm summers many people eat ‘okroshka’ - cold kvass soup with chopped vegetables and meat. It quenches the thirst very well and, besides, is very tasty! :)
When autumn starts, the watermelons take first place at groceries’ shelves. On the streets even the mini shops appear, representing large cell boxes, 5 meters width per 4 meters height, filled from up to down with watermelons! Watermelons are cultivated largely in the south districts of Ukraine, so the prices for them are quite low (you can buy the huge 15 kilo watermelon for only 2$!). Therefore, the watermelons are really popular as a cheap yet healthy and incredibly tasty fruit! Now you may ask me why I’m telling you about soups and watermelons! I’ll let you know in a minute…
If you come to Ukraine, you will hardly find fat man or women. Yes, there are well-fed people, however Ukrainian fatness cannot be compared to US one, - I will not forget when I first saw the really fat American man at one of Kyiv’s streets. Honestly, I thought he was ill cause I wouldn’t seize even half of his waist with my hands if I tried! However it turned out he was just the usual fat American.
I think I’ve got an idea now why, in general, Ukrainians are in such good shape!
Recently I’ve read about Dr. Barbara Rolls at Pennsylvania State University, who has been doing research for years on appetite, satiety and weight loss. Her findings have been unequivocal: High-volume foods (defined as those that take up a lot of space for a very few calories) are one of men best allies in the quest to lose weight. Rolls has found that water as part of food has a very satisfying and filling effect. For example, soup made of vegetables and water will fill people up and cause them to eat fewer calories than the same amount of vegetables eaten along with a glass of water. “When you add water to a bowl of vegetables as in soup, the soup has greater satiety than when the vegetables are eaten alone with a glass of water”, Rolls says. “When water is incorporated into food or shakes, satiety is increased and (people) ultimately eat less food”.
As I see, the habit of eating the high-volume food like soups and watermelons made the Ukrainians’ way to the good shape and pretty good health. Wish the same to you! ;)
