My Korean Diet

... And by "diet" I mean "eating habits," not "that torturous thing that people do in a misguided attempt to lose weight."

First off, have I mentioned that I've lost some weight? I tend to gain weight when I'm back in the U.S. and then lose it when I'm in Korea, though I don't have noticeably different eating habits. The two main contributing factors:

- I don't own a car in Korea, so I walk wherever I can, including to and from the office.
- Korean food, in general, is healthier than American food.

The car thing is an obvious one, of course. Nothing really to explain further about that.

The Korean food thing, though-- I'm not saying American food is unhealthy, per se, but the food that I eat on a daily basis for lunch is generally healthier in Korea. Thinking about what I used to eat out for lunch in the States sobers me up, generally. Lots of Mexican food, pasta, burgers, Indian food, Mediterranean food, with occasional salads tossed in. Greasy and salty and delicious.

In Korea, it's mostly rice with soup and lots of side dishes (banchan, 반찬). I don't generally eat an entire bowl of rice (usually half) but I eat side dishes and the main dish (generally some sort of stew or chicken or something) until I'm stuffed. Every once in a while, we'll have fried pork cutlet or pasta or something, but it's generally Korean food.

I'm preparing some posts dealing with food- I think it will serve two purposes: enable blogging and also show parts of my life in Korea, which I haven't been posting about nearly enough. I've already started culling photos to use, and that's a big step in my blogging process.

Though people have told me that I've lost weight (and my clothes size has changed when I went shopping in LA in May), I didn't really think I had lost much weight. Until I saw photographic evidence. So here it is. Take it with a grain of salt; I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm quite photogenic (prepare to be unpleasantly surprised if you meet me in person):

This was in 2006, after we won the visual effects Academy Award for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe"-- look at my orange hair, good gravy. I'm so rotund and so tan here! My eyes look positively tiny.

February of this year. I had been back in Korea for almost a month at this point, having gained weight whilst in LA over the holidays. I think I'm not quite as big as I was in the previous photo, but close. My eyes look slightly less small.

In Latvia in April. Less chins than previously, so that's good. I was stressed out, running around a lot, and not eating particularly a lot all through April and most of May.

Last week. Rounder than when I was in Latvia, methinks, but progress in the overall scheme of things.

I didn't set out to lose weight or anything. I actually set out to remain somewhat healthy during my travels in the spring, and I think that the concentration on health actually helped me to drop a few pounds.

I undoubtedly have a long way to go. I don't know how much I'll be posting about weight, because it's just one of those things that I don't want to get into the specifics of (since I don't have a real plan or anything) and I don't know if I want to.

Anyways. I got a haircut today. I look like a boy.

I don't know why my stylist decided to chop all my hair off, but I'm fine with it. I need to adjust a bit, because I still get a shock when I see my reflection anywhere. It hasn't even been a full day yet, so I'm sure I'll get there. Funny how pointy my chin looks in this picture, I'm really very round and not pointy at all in real life.

This was last week, before the haircut. I actually wish I look like this, but it's all a pictorial illusion! I'm great at taking self portraits, if I do say so myself. One of my co-workers actually told me that I shouldn't go on blind dates because my photos are so great that the guys will be misled. A little insulting and a little complimentary, all at the same time- typical Korean.

Self portraits, by the way, are called selcas in Korea (self camera). Oh, Korea, never stop amusing me.

It's just past 2:00 in the morning and I'm still at work, as I have been all this week. It's been grueling, but we're getting through it and we're getting the work done, so I'm not too upset.

Time to wade through a few more things, wait around for artists to finish up, go through some more things, send off some things, write a few more e-mails, and then stagger home.