The Mars Venus and You Blog

US A OKAY!

I'm writing to you this week via my iPhone, sat on a plane to Las Vegas - and I swear the air hostess (are thy still called that??) just did a mean Rhianna impression whilst doing the safety instructions before take-off. She managed to make the hand signals for exits look like it was part of a dance routine whilst chewing her gum in time to the funky moves she was throwing - very entertaining!

So I left Florida this morning - which was my first real taste of the US - as the last (and only other) time I came here I flew into Vegas to do my training, spent virtually all my time in a hotel, and flew home again. But this time I spent the week with my auntie & cousins and was fortunate enough to experience a very American tradition: the 4th July. We won't dwell too much on the fact that it's a holiday celebrating their independence from us ; ) as all I focused on was getting to see fireworks! My cousin, who has lived in the US pretty much all her life, couldn't get why I was sooo excited - until I told her we only have 1 event a year in the UK where I really get to see them: Bonfire Night. Apparently in the US they have all sorts of occasions where they use fireworks to celebrate - which must be why the display on a pretty harbour front was one of the best I've ever seen. Very cool.

There's been all sorts of quirks and interesting things I've spotted in my week here so far - and although I've always known that the US is culturally quite different from the UK, I didn't really realise we were *that* different until spending some time here. To demonstrate, please consider the comedy genius of David Brent in The Office... now I was vaguely aware before my trip that Americans didn't really find it funny, and that they'd made their own US version of The Office - but to be honest I thought 'how can they not find it funny, our Ricky Gervais is comedy genius.' Until I watched a bit of the US version - which I know lots and lots of Americans find to be brilliant - and thought 'I don't get it: it's not funny. Our version’s funny.' And then smiled at the irony of how the tables had turned.

Another obvious difference - in Florida at least - is how differently food/body image is viewed. Granted the following statement is a sweeping generalisation, but it seems the people are either very, very fat or very, very thin. There seems to be little middle ground. This is interesting as in the UK I think adverts etc have become savvy to the fact that most women don't want to be a UK 6 / US 2 - and the men in their lives don't want them to be either. But here most of the slender women I saw really were tiny... Whilst contemplating this I noticed another TV comparison of 'same but different' (I promise I didn't spend the week watching TV - however it did rain quite impressively whilst I was in Florida so it became a way to people watch ;)

- back to my observations: adverts for things like Special K. In the UK Special K is widely thought to be a 'healthy' way to start your day; thus the women in them are shown to be a desirable/healthy weight of about a UK 12 / US 8... And I quite like that it's the image portrayed as being a healthy size at home - I like that it's not an unrealistically looks-like-she-doesn't-eat-to-be-thin person projected out there – and that more and more media peeps are cottoning onto the fact that us women are more inspired by that type of advertising. So I was intrigued when I saw the same advert in the US - which I assume intends to send out the message - except the girl in that advert is about a UK 4 / US 8... Which I think is because the women tend to vary by different extremes here, so 'healthy' is depicted as super slim. Interesting. Ultimately I believe that it all boils down to how you feel... And if you feel fabulous, so you will project fabulousness. Which completely co-incidentally tied in with me stumbling across Suzanne Jaya's blog on the topic... Timely in itself as I happened to be contemplating the same thing - but even funnier as I discovered an unbeknown reference to me : )

Back to ad's - and of course don't get me started on how healthy Special K actually is... I don't have a box in front of me but I'm pretty certain that they mostly consist of sugar, wheat and milk - but I do also remember that they tasted good ; )

The whole health food perspective is also fascinating here - aside from the fact I was *amazed* at how much food choice there is EVERYWHERE you go - be that the diners or fast food places that are literally all around, to the aisles and aisles and aisles of choice in the supermarkets. I actually found the size and amount of choice at normal supermarkets a little bit overwhelming - and there was so much of all sorts of food combinations I'd never seen or thought of that it also made me want to eat all of it - no wonder some Americans struggle with food. Then add to that the - I think really quite naughty - labels of healthy or good for you wording on things and it must make it all pretty confusing. I know we have similarly labelled things in the UK; it just seemed like these labels were taken to another level... Things like microwavable frozen ready meals with sayings on them like 'for healthy digestion' or 'for vision - contains antioxidants that can help improve sight' - which is all well and good, except they don't say 'PS - by being processed and then microwaved, we've stripped any of the aforementioned health benefits right out'

I know I'm being a bit harsh, but it's only because before I learnt all the nutrition stuff - of which I openly admit I'm still learning - it's labels like that which would have made me buy those products as I would have thought I was doing good - just as I used to buy Special K for the same reason. So I would like to see food labelled more accurately - especially now I'm learning even more how food affects us differently on Venus and Mars.

OK, Rant over. : )

The vast arrays of choices that I did get excited by were those in the health food store we visited - super, super cool!! I really did have to restrain myself from buying half the shop. What I did buy however was some amazingly delicious ice-cream called Coconut Bliss. OKay, it does have agave in, and yes I know the jury is still out on how 'good' this is as an alternative way to sweeten food - but oh my, it was blissful coconut heaven. I don't think they do it in the UK - but believe me I will do my upmost to source it when I get back - and will let you know if I get any luck :)

Other yummies included delicious herby quinoa, brown rice, flax and millet crackers from a company called Mary's Gone Crackers, plus other yogurty coconut milk deliciousness - and an amazing tea made with cacao and coconut powder. Can you tell I like coconut? ; )

Oh, and if you're wondering why, after talking about all the delicious goodness I spotted I've chosen a pic of a box of doughnuts for this blog - it's not me intending to be ironic, it is in fact the fantastic looking selection box that my aunties handymen brought as a 'Welcome to America' gift on my first day here. And yes, it did take a little resistance not to scoff the entire tray on the spot ; )

Well I'm almost at Las Vegas now... Very excited both to be part of the mars venus coaching training team *and* to see John Gray again when he flies in for training tomorrow... I know I will learn new stuff listening to him - always do - and love that he supports us all in continuing to grow...

... And I look forward to sharing that with you all soon : ) Till then, over and out - from Nadia, via planet Venus, with love x

Posted: Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

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