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A lot of people can have plenty of flexibility in what they eat and still be really healthy.
Eating something like fast-food 4 to 5 times a week does not sound overboard to me, as long as the person is healthy, and they are not gorging themselves on it.
Probably a lot of the finger-wagging is due to the fact that the US has so many very unhealthy,
overweight/obese people within its borders.
A lot of people can have plenty of flexibility in what they eat and still be really healthy.
Eating something like fast-food 4 to 5 times a week does not sound overboard to me, as long as the person is healthy, and they are not gorging themselves on it.
Probably a lot of the finger-wagging is due to the fact that the US has so many very unhealthy,
overweight/obese people within its borders.
I realize reading that that it is probably higher than most people. My diet doesn’t consist of a lot of snacking on things like Oreos, potato chips, ice cream etc though. For me those are occasional treats. If I’m eating fast food it’s going to be one of my 3 meals but I’m not going home and eating a chocolate bar after that either. I guess it’s not the best diet but it isn’t the worst either and I think the judgement seems unfair considering how accepted other types of unhealthy food are
Just for reference I have a 30 waist and don’t have a belly. I do short, light workouts with weights a couple times a week and go for walks occasionally on weekends when I can. I also eat fast food like burgers, fried chicken, pizza around 4 or 5 times a week.
I like these foods but people sometimes at work and at gatherings make comments about me eating McDonalds, Harvey’s etc like “how can you eat that crap?” And “it’s just empty calories”. So what? If someone eats lots of vegetables and protein as well I don’t see why it can’t be part of a balanced diet. It tastes good, is fast so I don’t have to pack a lunch always, and I don’t see how it’s any worse than someone eating sugary frozen yoghurt or frozen drinks from Starbucks, which many of my colleagues do.
My point is, I wish society wouldn’t shame people so much for the kinds of foods they like. You can eat anything and have it as part of a balanced diet, it’s just about moderation.
Thoughts?
I think it's now the new wave of diet conscious people and also the body positivity movement which has just grossly gotten out of control. The thing is that they're looking at what you're eating not who you are or how you look. If you were bringing in salads from WinCo, McDonald's or Wendy's they wouldn't say squat but you bring in that "Oh my God she's got a hamburger shame! shame! shame!"
And if they keep asking you how can you eat that crap just do like one person said "I open my mouth I put it in I chew I swallow next question?"
Many people love to shame others for what they eat. It's really a popular thing to do right now.
The reason there are so many people, especially young girls and women, with eating disorders is because people label foods "good" and "bad," use the words "guilt" and "cheat," and try to tell people what they should eat and what they should look like.
I follow several nutritionists, and several diet therapists who try to help people understand food (can you imagine?) and have a decent relationship with it. SO many people are afraid of food and eating. It's sad.
If you do a Google images search for pictures of black people (or if you're old enough to remember the 50s and 60s, as I am), you will see that black Americans, men and women, were a slender people until the 1980s. The nonsense about it being natural black genetics is not true. Your relatives in the 60s were probably not overweight. Weight was something that caught up to us only after we got old...if even then. Look at the photographic evidence...you don't see young black men and women from the 50s and 60s walking around with big bellies and fat asses.
What happened to us in the 80s?
First, the same thing that happened all Americans: The chemicalization of our food supply increased exponentially in the latter 70s. We're only beginning to understand how things like estrogen and PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that began entering the food and water supply in the latter 70s are causing people to become fat. In comparison, the food we ate back in the 60s was practically organic. Then we have the overabundance of super-processed foods that comprise the majority of most black people's diets today. Back in the 60s, most of the food we ate was whole food. Even "fast food" back in the 60s was regular food...just cooked in a casual restaurant. Fast food back then wasn't special highly processed food like hamburgers made from "meat paste," it was plain, grass-fed cow without hormones or antibiotics ground locally.
Second, our eating habits changed. Up through the 60s, we consumed calories three times a day. Between that, most of us got nothing but water. Period. Any age, all income levels, there was almost no between-meal snacking, no sodas, no chips, not even sugared coffee. If you were a school kid in the 60s, you went to school and there was no eating and nothing to drink but water until lunch. After lunch, again, no eating and nothing to drink but water. And mom didn't keep a whole lot of snacks at home, either. If you were a white-collar adult, there were no break rooms, not connivence stores...there was the water cooler in the hall and no eating or drinking at your desk. If you were blue collar, you had a "water buffalo" to get water during your breaks, then you got lunch.
I distinctly remember in the 60s when the food industry invented the "after-school snack." I remember the advertisements telling mothers to get on board with giving their kids a treat right after school. Before that, it was "not before dinner, you'll ruin your appetite."
Today, with snacks, sugared drinks, vending machines, eating at our desks...many people are taking in calories every waking hour of the day. We know now that takes an incredible toll on the pancreas, which produces insulin. That continuous calorie consumption keeps insulin levels high which results in insulin insensitivity and Type 2 diabetes.
The third factor in our eating habit change is eating while stressed, especially black women. When we are stressed, our bodies release hormones that prepare us for action: Fight or flight. But instead of running or grappling with someone, we sit at our desks and eat. Eating causes the body to release different hormones, because in nature eating is done while relaxed. The mix-up of hormonal influences causes us to store fat that we otherwise would have burned.
Eating while stressed, eating while at work, is one of the worst things we do. If you're stressed, skip that snack. Instead, meditate. Jesus was right about fasting and praying when you're dealing with your demons.
Well, that's what so wonderful about being an adult - you can eat whatever you want. Having said that, I've been indulging in a lot of fast food lately and I really do not feel well.
If you don't have access to an oven or stove and only have a mini fridge, sometimes fast food is all you can have. To me, baked goods are the problem with weight gain but sometimes you gotta have dessert.
You can make do with a simple one burner hot plate or an electric/wok and a toaster oven if unable to have a full-blown kitchen--doesn't have t be fancy.
You can stir fry veggies on the hotplate or in the wok and also cook noodles, other whole grains or good rice...
You can make do with a simple one burner hot plate or an electric/wok and a toaster oven if unable to have a full-blown kitchen--doesn't have t be fancy.
You can stir fry veggies on the hotplate or in the wok and also cook noodles, other whole grains or good rice...
With only one burner and (in that case) likely no counter space and little pantry space, storing whole foods sufficient for a balanced diet (a whole lot more than merely noodles and rice) is a serious logistics problem, especially after having worked a 9-5, spent an hour on the bus, and picked up ravenously hungry children from daycare.
With only one burner and (in that case) likely no counter space and little pantry space, storing whole foods sufficient for a balanced diet (a whole lot more than merely noodles and rice) is a serious logistics problem, especially after having worked a 9-5, spent an hour on the bus, and picked up ravenously hungry children from daycare.
Guess it depends on what one views as "healthy food" and a balanced diet.
Millions of Asian folks live on stir fried veggies plus a bit of chicken and/or tofu over rice (pick brown rice for more nutrition), noodles (many varieties including rice noodles) or other whole grains such as bulgur, millet. barley, quinoa....
And these folks have much less obesity, heart disease and high blood pressure, diabetes...
The two of us eat this way 'cause it's easy to fix, not expensive, and we want to stay healthy.
The S.A.D. (standard American diet) is one of the least healthy diets in the world...
It's good to consider other options...we didn't grow up eating this way but we made a switch. We're not Asian...
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