The European quirks that helped me lose 20 lbs. without dieting one shift changed everything
An American content creator who relocated to Portugal was surprised to discover several simple lifestyle “quirks” that helped her lose 20 pounds.When Richa Prasad, 39, moved from Seattle to Portugal two years ago, she found that her consumption habits clashed with local traditions.“I’d walk around with a drink in hand, sometimes even having my lunch on the go.I felt it was productive to knock out two tasks at the same time, but I noticed people kept giving me weird looks.
Turns out nobody in Europe walks and eats,” she recently explained in a video posted to YouTube.Prasad noted that even on workdays in Europe, meals are seated affairs that last one to three hours — not because people are eating more, but because they’re pacing themselves through conversation.She learned that the same ethos applies to drinking.“In Seattle, nights out meant slamming drinks.
In Europe, people nurse their drinks for hours,” she said.This slow, steady, savor mindset extends beyond eating and drinking and into workflow as well.“Whenever I meet new people in Europe, nobody ever asks me, ‘What do you do?’ In the US, that’s the first thing people want to know…In Europe, work is just one part of life, like going to a cafe.There’s no urgency, no drama,” she shared.Prasad believes the US is a nation of extremes that could benefit in mind, body and spirit from a less severe approach to wellness.“It’s shifting our mindset from dramatic high-stakes sprints to steady, consistent marches, meaning you commit to no longer pendulum swinging between being on a diet or completely off the rails,” she said.
“Meal prepping with military precision or bingeing on takeout when life gets busy, then doing hardcore workouts as punishment for the binge.”Prasad said that Europeans tend to eschew diets for consistency.“They just exist in a steady rhythm, and that’s the shift that changed everything for me.”In accordance with that steady rhythm, she noticed that Eu...