Doing Whole 30 in a Foreign Country (Different Kinds of Challenges)

[BoCa]

Greetings from India! This is day one for me, my first time. I am writing from New Delhi, India. I'm an American living here because of work. I am here with my husband and our two children. My husband is joining me in the challenge. And quite a challenge it is! 

 

I have limited shopping options, so I'll be relying pretty heavily on just plain old fresh stuff, but I can't get all the things that are on the "you can have this" list, so my options are somewhat more limited. And here in South Asia the labels are a) sometimes in Hindi only 2) not always even provided 3) can be ridiculously vague. So I just skip that stuff, thus limiting me even further, as if we weren't already limited enough! 

 

We have a commissary. I shop there. The first time I went with my handy list, I realized that there was shelf after shelf of impossible foods. The entire cracker/cookie/pasta aisle had two things I could eat: olives and tomato sauce (only one brand was sugar free). On another aisle, I found salad dressings, read every label, and not ONE had no sugar added. Not one. Wow. So I got balsamic vinegar and some olive oil. 

 

I asked the commissary manager if he would consider stocking coconut oil and he asked me "for your hair"? I said, "No. To cook with." And he looked at me askance and asked "Do you think anyone will want that?" And I replied, "Yes. I will" and resisted the urge to laugh. Same conversation when I asked him if he'd stock ghee. We are in India. I can get it elsewhere, but it would be nice if I could get it at the place where I get a lot of my other food. I believe he refused to stock the ghee. But he was vague and noncommittal, so I only think it's a no... I'll go elsewhere for the ghee if it doesn't show up this week.

 

To start my journey with Whole30, I chose today, the very day on which I would have 9 women friends over for a play reading. I baked fresh bread and served red wine... and ate none of the bread and drank none of the wine. I was very proud of myself for my small victory. I ate chicken and veg skewers and had tapenade on yam crisps that I'd also made. They weren't very crisp. I'll need to work on that. I also tried to make carrot crisps. Also not solid enough to use as a carrier, but yummy just the same.

 

So, that's day one of whole 30 in India! Anyone else out there in a foreign country trying this thing? What are you doing about hunting and gathering?

[Marta]

Ooohh - I don't currently live outside the U.S. but live in an area that is so remote I have to drive over an hour to get the things I need for this type of eating.  One comment I want to give you immediately is that Balsamic vinegar is NOT ALLOWED on W30!  Try rice vinegar instead or, if that's not available, fresh lemon juice.  Of course, the rule of thumb is to eat only things that are not prepared by someone else and are "whole" - vegetable, fruits, nuts (in small doses), meats (that one must be tough in India) and fish.  If you do coconut milk, be VERY careful - only use canned coconut milk!  Others typically found in dairy section of the grocery store (commissary) contain too much sugar.

[doreau]

Balsamic is allowed.  You just need to make sure it's compliant - that it doesn't have any added sulfites or anything else

[jent103]

Yes, all vinegars are allowed except malt. But they need to have no *added* sulfites (if the label says "contains sulfites" it's okay, because some occur naturally, but sulfites in the ingredient list are not).

[BoCa]

I had thought Balsamic was okay. I'm glad to hear it is. But I just checked the label and it says "Ingredients: Balsamic Vinegar, Sodium Bisulfate added to protect color" So the question is if a "bisulfate" is the same as a "sulfite". If it's not allowed, that pretty much means I can't have Balsamic, as it's the one and only brand offered at our commissary. :-( But, on the upside, I haven't had any yet (I just bought the bottle).