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We recently changed our eating habits and I will say eating fresh produce is a hassle. It does not keep long, so you have to go to the store constantly. Processed and packaged foods keep indefinitely. Further with processed foods you really do not have to make too many decisions, plan ahead o think a lot. Just look in the freezer or fridge, pick out the meal that looks good and nuke it. You are eating in less than half an hour from the time you open the fridge. Often less than 5 minutes. I can throw something in the microwave or oven and go do something else. No, healthy food is not that quick and convenient.
Healthy food is a PIA.
But then there is bacon. Quick, convenient, delicious and healthy.
Bacon is not healthy. At all. You are not offering healthy solutions. Frozen meals are filled with sodium and less than stellar ingredients and they are not cheap.
Its really not a PIA to prepare fresh food. You just have to want to be healthy more than you want to only wait 5 minutes for a meal.
Great point. Very few people have the luxury of having farm fresh produce available to them, not to mention being able to afford it.
Baby steps. The so-so produce at a grocery store can still be eaten and is a much better alternative to eating something boxed or junky.
Heck, frozen fruit and veggies are another viable solution if one cannot get decent fresh produce.
Yep, most of the produce here is shipped in a minimum of 2500 miles. We still eat it, although it is less than ideal. It's weird, the quality on Oahu is much less than what I get on Maui, so I guess they don't ship much over here. Then there is the cost factor, so most of our stuff comes from Costco.
Our choice is the same, heirloom tomatoes at 5.99 a pound, or flavorless, so that is the one plant we ALWAYS have growing.
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Agreed on both counts. DS told me that he, DDIL and their daughters, aged 2 and 5, spend $100 a week on groceries. DDIL is very pregnant so she needs extra. I'm not sure how they do it because that's what I spend and I eat very little meat, although they buy theirs in bulk and store it in a deep freeze. We both shop at Costco. I was doing shopping for myself with the granddaughters last week and when I threw in a bag of red, yellow and orange sweet peppers their eyes lit up. I threw in an extra bag for their family. That's what they wanted as a snack when they got home! I'm allowed to indulge them with the occasional empty calories (the little one just got her first Starbucks cake pop and it was a huge success) but they truly like fresh fruits and vegetables.
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Originally Posted by reneeh63
Yes, but you're not just talking fresh fruit from the store - you're going another step further and specifying something homegrown or at least from a farmer's market where what's grown are the old heirlooms rather than the newer hybrids bred to be easy to ship without blemishes and not necessarily flavorful.
How many times harder is it for people to jump to THAT level of "homegrown" diet? How many people can even grow their own tomatoes much less any kind of tree fruit or veggies?
When kids taste quality foods and either see or participate in raising them, they typically want more. It makes a much bigger impression than a nutrition class. Even if they never have it again in childhood, they just might want to do something about it when they are grown.
I don't do what I do based on how many others can do it. "But everyone can't do it" is another excuse some people use to avoid making any kind of change.
What surprises me is that since 2008, there has been a huge surge in the wellness industry and production of high end organic products.
Now I never though these things would be a solution as I saw them more of a money making grab, but still...
How has it gotten worse? In 2008 pretty much everyone was eating fast food/processed food, you'd think with the 'new' food options things would at least plateau, but they've kept growing.
Personally I think people should grow their own food, and buy from farmers markets, but that's not realistic for the majority of people.
Has our food gotten worse, or are people moving around less?
I could buy the latter reasoning but even then people weren't very active in 2008, and that's ignoring the recent Gym rise.
Can someone explain this to me?
It's overpopulation, which produces anxiety and compulsive eating, to alleviate it.
The biggest problem I see related to obesity is a sedentary lifestyle.
I work a sedentary job. If I don't get out and walk/exercise on my lunch hour, there will be plenty of days where I will get very little exercise. I could get by with under 2,000 steps most days. Take some snacks to your desk and such, and it's easy to see weight pile on.
Actually the problem isn't the sedentary job. It's that you don't adjust your eating habits to having a sedentary job. If you have a sedentary job, stop with the snacks and eat a couple of decent meals per day. That's all your body really needs. If you're sitting at a desk all day, the last thing you need to do is eat snacks.
I lost twenty pounds over the last six months, went from 175 to 155 at 5'11''. I cut out more high GI gluten free foods, and eat less in the way of "healthier" frozen meals like EVOL bowls. Also, more high fiber granola bars and fruit with two meals a day. I don't need any additional calories as I have an office desk job.
I lost twenty pounds over the last six months, went from 175 to 155 at 5'11''. I cut out more high GI gluten free foods, and eat less in the way of "healthier" frozen meals like EVOL bowls. Also, more high fiber granola bars and fruit with two meals a day. I don't need any additional calories as I have an office desk job.
Good for you, but it really doesn't matter what you eat; it's the number of calories ultimately that determine weight gain or loss. The human body is a machine, pure and simple. If you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. If you burn fewer calories than you eat, you'll gain weight. All the rest is just window dressing.
Our primitive ancestors were programmed to binge. A troglodyte that came across a patch of apple trees in the forest would eat as many as possible in one sitting, and take the rest back to the tribe where they would have a feast. If a Neanderthal took down a 500-lb Pleistocene deer, he'd haul it back to the cave where his clan would cook it and devour it over the next day or two until it was gone, or rotted. You ate opportunistically, or you might starve.
Similarly today, when we go to a wedding and see the huge dessert spread, we are tempted to fill our plates and stuff ourselves. Are we doing that merely to celebrate the newly wedded couple? No, we're simply obeying ancient instincts to pack away the fats and sugars against a dry spell, when we might have to go for several days or a week without eating. In fact we can live for three weeks without food (three days without water, though). The human body is an amazing machine.
Not that long ago, Americans might actually go hungry from time to time. In 1935, if you didn't have a job, you were quite likely to have an empty larder and icebox and you either swallowed your pride and got in line at the local church soup kitchen, or you STARVED. People were skinny.
Today, there are never periods when we might go without food. Food is beyond abundant. We are awash with food, 24x7. Little wonder we're all overweight.
I don't like the idea of shaming people about their weight. People have struggles that are often unseen to us. However I do remember in my high school (since I have mentioned it several times on other forums) the intense pressure to be thin. Especially for the girls. This was a small town of less than 1000 people. There were maybe a handful of heavier folks but no one was obese. If a girl appeared to have any body fat on her - the loud jeering could be heard. I remember someone making fun of my legs when I was doing kicks on the drill team.
I was miserable in high school but skinny. I remember running into one of my high school coaches later on in college and he mentioned how the girls at that school were all so unusually slender and thin.
When kids taste quality foods and either see or participate in raising them, they typically want more. It makes a much bigger impression than a nutrition class. Even if they never have it again in childhood, they just might want to do something about it when they are grown.
I don't do what I do based on how many others can do it. "But everyone can't do it" is another excuse some people use to avoid making any kind of change.
So, even though everyone can't grow their own stuff we STILL have to hold them completely responsible. I guess I'd rather come up with alternatives that the good people on c-d don't immediately ream out. It is not helpful for posters to say "they just need to taste REAL produce and then they'd love it" while not considering the very few people that can even grow their own tomatoes, much less stone fruit!
No, not nearly EVERYONE can grow their own food...but you expect them to pay premium prices for heirloom varieties....or eat tasteless varieties that are supposedly healthier - those are the options? JHC - I grew up in a small town out in the "country" - I'd wager that 50 years ago less than 10% had ANY kind of garden even then!
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