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People do need education. There was a time that I didn't realize that a serving size of pasta is 1 cup. I didn't realize that "1 chicken breast" means the half, not the entire breast. I didn't realize how many calories I consumed on a daily basis. My family largely didn't know either, but they were blessed to not have weight problems either. I readily admit my ignorance; however, once I was taught about portion sizes and food in general, everything changed.
My mantra these days is to eat whatever I want within moderation. I continue to track my food. I use the "Lose It" App to help me keep on track. There are times when a girl doesn't want tilapia. She wants a burger. And I have that. As long as I track, I learn how to balance my caloric budget almost like I would my household budget. The results are making good choices and no depravation.
People will spend money on cigarettes, alcohol, expensive clothes, cable tv, etc. but then complain that they can't afford nutritious food.
The one family had a flatscreen TV as big as my car. Plus they were buying name-brand junk foods like Chips Ahoy cookies and bright-colored sugary cereals (and nary a coupon in sight).
Yes, we all splurge on not-so-wise purchases here and there, but this lady could have refrained while she was being filmed on national TV at least.
People do need education. There was a time that I didn't realize that a serving size of pasta is 1 cup. I didn't realize that "1 chicken breast" means the half, not the entire breast. I didn't realize how many calories I consumed on a daily basis. My family largely didn't know either, but they were blessed to not have weight problems either. I readily admit my ignorance; however, once I was taught about portion sizes and food in general, everything changed.
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But the woman on the show wanted a person to teach her personally! Sure, people "need education" but she had numerous chances to get that education for free. I'm sure you read about these things and didn't need a professional to take you by the hand and teach you. then once you learned, you could no longer claim ignorance; you used the knowledge.
I can read right on the pasta box or bag of rice how much a serving size is. Schools and government brochures all teach how big a serving of protein should be (the size of your hand, without the fingers, or a pack of playing cards). Those damned brochures are everywhere; I could trip over them! We all paid for them, so it's a shame people don't read them! I know our goverment would never squander our tax money on useless educational materials that no one would use!
I'm sorry, but it takes more than six minutes to cook a chicken breast. And if you're finishing your meal in 10 minutes, you're eating too fast.
Cleaning up after dinner in three minutes? Maybe if you're on speed.
It takes less than 6 minutes. It does, however, take a couple of minutes to cut the chicken breast into pieces, which I already included in my prep time. I'm not cooking a chicken breast. I'm cooking, for all intents and purposes, unbreaded chicken strips. In a pan that has already been heated and oiled and is waiting for chicken to be thrown into it. It became heated while I was cutting the chicken up, so it doesn't take any "extra" time to preheat the pan. It's all part of the prep time. It takes around 3 minutes to cook one side, 2 minutes to cook the other side, and a minute to simmer it with the pico.
It's just a salad. A dinner salad, but still a salad. With less than 3 ounces of meat, already cut up into two-bite-sized strips. There's no reason why it should take -more- than 10 minutes to eat, unless you're doing something else in addition to eating and get distracted.
Cleanup takes 3 minutes, including the 20 seconds for the hot water to kick in at the sink. It's one pan, one wooden spoon, one salad bowl, one fork, one knife, and one cheese grater. If you take longer than 3 minutes to clean that, you should invest in a time management program.
Junk food and fast food is expensive. I picked up chicken sandwich meals for dh and the kids from Wendy's a few weeks ago and I was shocked by the cost. Definitely an *occasional* thing only. And aren't Chips Ahoy around $4 a package? Potato chips are around 3 bucks a package maybe more than that. I can see buying a package of each once a week for the family to share, maybe. But you get the impression that some folks live off of that stuff. Not cheap.
I just watched a very interesting episode of Our America with Lisa Ling last night, and the topic was obese kids.
I got a little ticked off at the one point when the mother of a 300lb 12-year-old girl was talking about all the extremely fattening greasy stuff she cooks, because that's how her own mother taught her. She was deep-frying everything, and her idea of "fruit" was canned fruit in heavy syrup. Lisa asked her if she could cook anything healthful and the lady said something like "No, someone has to teach me. I never learned."
Someone has to TEACH YOU? Really?
I honestly think that in this day & age, everyone in our country...everyone in the civilized world, knows what foods are fattening and which are not, knows which are healthy, and has at least a ballpark idea of healthy portion sizes.
This woman may have learned from her mother to cook fattening food, but she never watched any TV show that talked about healthful fooods? She never saw a healthy cookbook? She had a big huge TV, so I'm sure at some point, some small bit of nutrition knowledge would have trickled in. I see messages about healthy foods every single day in the short time I have my TV on. Even if she couldn't afford cook books (the show profiled poorer families) there are libraries, used books, and TONS of free resources. I can't even imagine the immense number of free government-created resources on nutrition that we've all paid for and are still paying for.
This lady is cooking and eating in an unhealthful way BY CHOICE, not due to any lack of knowledge.
I don't eat the most healthy diet all the time, but I certainly know what is and isn't fattening, and what is and isn't healthy. When I eat fattening stuff, it's by choice. An informed choice. I can't blame it on ignorance.
It just really annoyed me when this woman abdicated all responsibility and said SOMEONE ELSE must teach her. Even the 12 year old girl was trying to tell her mom how canned fruit doesn't really count as fresh fruit.
To me, it's like smoking. This isn't 1955...by now everyone knows that smoking causes lung disease. People have the freedom to choose to smoke, but it's a choice, an informed choice. Lots of people eat really unhealthful, fattening foods, but it's always by choice if the person is an adult with at least an 80 IQ.
I just wish that all of us, those who eat 100% perfectly healthy diets, those in the middle like me, and those who eat crappy diets, could all just agree that what we buy and eat is our conscious choice and not claim ignorance. How much more "education" can we pay for? Mrs. Obama, Dr. Oz, and Richard Simmons could have all gone in-person to this woman's house and spent a full week teaching her about food, and she STILL would choose crappy food.
I just ticks me off when I hear people say "oh the poor just need more education about food" or "it's the person's culture...they don't know any better." It's insulting.
Though I basically agree with you about our diets being our own choice, I also realize and we all have to understand: 1-not everybody even has the intellegence to think about the connection between diet and heatlh: 2-their enviornment growing up exposed them to unhealthy choices and 3-it is no different today than in years past. Some have always eaten a healthy diet, some middle of the road and a certainl element of our society have lived on junk food. Even when it comes to illnesses like diabetes, the difference today as compared to 30 or 50 years ago: we didn't used to even get checked for it and a huge part of soiciety never heard of welmess check ups. one more thing, the availbility of fast food hasn't helped.
There you go with those Arizona prices again, Chey. Ours are easily 30% or more higher, even using loss leaders. Why didn't you just suggest that people go pick the oranges and lemons that are hanging on the tree for free? That's an exaggeration (though we certainly took advantage when we were in Tucson), but meant to point out that you're in a region where what's available for low cost is not the way it is in a large portion of the country, and most especially not in the higher population regions like the East Coast. My food budget has gone up substantially since we moved here, and that is partly because we don't eat crap, and the prices on good food here are much higher.
I just looked at the circular for one store in DE. It was for ShopRite of Christina Crossing, 501 South Walnut Street, Wilmington, DE. That should also fit your criteria of a "higher population region like the east coast" and it's also the state I think you live in, where you say prices are easily 30% more or higher, even using loss leaders. I saw some very good sales in just that one store alone, meaning even someone who lives in that area could eat healthy and inexpensively.
Here are some of the current sales:
- Chicken leg quarters $ .77 lb.
- Pasta $ .80
- 4 lbs. naval oranges $1.99
- Russet potatoes 5 lbs./$1.49
- Tuna $1
- General Mills cereal $1.99 (or Quaker cereal 5/$7.49 = $1.50)
- Rice 20 lbs. $10.99 ( = $ .50/lb.)
- Eggs $1.99/dz.
- Carrots 1 lb./$1.50
- Pita bread $1
- Pasta sauce $1
- Mushrooms, 10 oz. (fresh) $1.50
- Bagged salad $2
- Cottage cheese $1.99/16 oz.
- Yogurt $ .44
- Cantaloupes $ .99
- Bananas $ .40/lb.
- Butter $1.99
- Onions 3 lbs./$2.49
Why does it matter what this one woman does? The issue is systematic. Anecdotal evidence and what one person does is irrelevant.
Because the women in the TV show were being presented as "case studies" of the larger problem: people who are relatively poor who have kids who are relatively gigantic.
Yes it was not scientific sampling; it was a television documentary. But as you can see, the families chosen really did highlight the very common problems. I'm certain that a show produced by the Oprah network would not purposely present atypical families that would present the poor in a bad light.
The third family, which I didn't post about, had an obese teenager and the mom was also obese. This mom set up a community exercise group in her poor West Virginia town, and together they've collectively lost hundreds of pounds so far. She was also a good illustration of how our CHOICES play out. Even after she knew she and her son had to lose weight, and even after they started exercising and getting members of the community together to get in shape, she admitted she still CHOSE to get snacks out of the vending machine several times a day at her (low paying) job. She had to then make a choice to change what she ate. She was struggling, but headed in the right direction.
I think all 3 families were a fair representation of the low-income obesity epidemic. Each family was different from the others of course, but I think they are all pretty typical. And as you can see from this thread, the producers of the show must have chosen well, since many people seem to want to jump in and defend/explain/excuse these families.
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Maybe if you're on speed.
