It shouldn’t matter if people have basic understanding of nutrition. Yet I hear all the time how someone “quits eating fruits to cut out those horrible carbs, and drinks protein shake instead”!
Also, I agree that it’s possible to plan healthy meals and make them affordable by shopping at Costco, but it takes extra effort and special planning. Unfortunately we have Gristedes and not Costco on every corner.
I am not justifying being lazy or not making healthy eating a priority, but I wish the healthy affordable food otions were more accessible and didn’t require a special trip to Costco.
^An hour at the Supermarket every week is less time than 30 minutes per meal eating out. Even with prep time included. Its pure laziness. Its not even more efficient to eat out.
Saying you wish healthy eating was easier is like saying exercise is too hard. Of course you must put some effort into things that are beneficial to you.
This effort of course disincentivizes people to make healthy choices. However, that is due to their own lack of effort and should not be blamed on the environment.
I’m not sure this is the right comparison. I usually stop by a place and bring whatever back to my apartment. So it’s really the time it takes to order and get the food versus the time to prepare a meal in my apartment. I value my time enough that I pay other people to prepare my food more often than not. Also, other people make food better than I do. I don’t make my own electricity. I’d be another thing if I had to make food for someone other than myself, at which point it begins to get harder to justify eating out as much.
While I find that i cannot lead the lifestyle of CFAvMBA of pooping in my shower stall and Greenman of pissing in the kitchen sink somehow at my age life is good.
^ Buying electricity rather than making it doesn’t have a material impact on your health. Eating well does. Which arguably reduces the risk of higher health care expenditures and the intangible losses of poor health later in life. Notwithstanding, I still don’t agree its more time consuming. I don’t need to go out at lunch today, I just heat up left overs. I do this near daily. For those eating out at say, $8/meal, that’s $168 per week. You can make some damn good meals for that much. Well worth it, IMO. But to each their own. We just have to accept this dependence on prepared processed crap food is the underlying reason why most North Americans die of heart disease and are overweight.
look everyone has to do their part and keep eating processed grains and high fructose corn syrup so all those poor midwestern farmers can survive. those farms are the heart and soul of america.
Is that according to the BMI? Perhaps I surround myself by fit people but the majority of people i see are in good shape and have a decent understanding of the glycemic index.
I believe the biggest contributor to obesity is stress. I’ve mentioned this before, but another big factor is the impulse to “grab a drink” whereas other cultures will have coffee, wine, or hookah.
This is the truth. To be honest, when I network with people and ask them to get coffee it feels wierd. I’m so used to telling people let’s get a drink and going to a bar. I don’t honestly need the beer I just do it from habit.
The US is by far the leading consumer of soda. Like 20% more than anyone else (Mexico) and twice as much as most European countries. This like plays a role too. Getting this from a Slate infographic. The average American drinks 170L of soda per year. That’s average. Or 507 cans of soda. Now there is a disgusting figure.
I remember reading somewhere that the average American eats more than one fast food burger (or comparable item) per day. The scary thing, of course, is that every day I don’t have one (which is most days) someone else eats one for me. Wow.
In New York, I sometimes play the game “hungry on the street” the rule is that you need to find something to satisfy meal-intensity hunger for under $5 within a reasonable distance, it can’t be pizza or a burger, and hopefully not too destructive of one’s health". Fruit is usually the best answer, though it’s not always fully satisfying. I do like some of the small tacos, esp at Great Burrito on 6th and 23rd. They’re no that great in terms of health, but they seem better than most alternatives in that price range.
When Coca Cola is on sale, I buy a 32 pack. I usually average 4 a week, and by the end of that package, I can notice the difference. I can’t imagine what eating 1.5 burgers a day + fries would do to my physique.
what is scary to me is the thought of the type of social unrest we’d see if these cheap calories weren’t available to low income people. cheap calories have been a huge boon to the ability of the government to continue debasing the currency with no real consequences, imo. ipso fatso --> the gubment needs fatties, lots and lots of fatties to be able to run these deficits. ipso fatso --> the current poor quality of food available to low income people is here to stay.
@geo All claims about American obesity are based on BMI, which means they’re all complete bullshit. My BMI is near the obsese level, but no one would actually say I’m obese. I have muscle, and BMI can’t tell the difference.
I eat better because I eat out. If your experience is different, then that’s fine and dandy for you. However, I don’t go around telling people that their decisions are wrong. Oh, and $168 a week (not that I spend $8 on breakfast 7 days a week, but whatever) or $8736 a year for piece of mind to not do something I don’t like to do is worth it. Where’d the BSDs go?
^ Like I said, to each their own. That’s why you live in a free country. For me, it’s not about the money. If you dislike cooking enough to eat processed food, then that’s your right.
farm subsidies --> cheap corn and wheat --> corn and wheat go into just about every processed food --> cheap food that is really bad for you —> low food prices for the masses (except for food that is real and nutritious) --> low official inflation and a nation full of fatties --> government can continue to borrow, run deficits and debase the currency.
