An unhealthy culture: What do we do?

PJ_Soul

Tritone wrote:

I hate fat haters

Yeah, me too. They come off as insanely mean-spirited. It's really off-putting.

mikalina

PJ_Soul wrote:

Tritone wrote:

I hate fat haters

Yeah, me too. They come off as insanely mean-spirited. It's really off-putting.

Me too - no one Hates fat ppl nor obese ppl. But, there comes a time when you get too obese that it affects your health...

catefrances

mikalina wrote:

josevolution wrote:

Only here in USA , When i was in Italy a few YRs back i did not see any obese folks at all and the one that was the heaviest was from Wisconsin ....

This is so true - my parents have been to Italy about 4 times and they never see any obese ppl.

Again - portion control and sizes are much smaller than here in the U.S.

thats cause they fed all the obese people to the lions at the coliseum.

bindy123

[It's cheap to eat healthy. Basic veggies and fruit, eggs and milk, canned goods, bread and lean ground beef (for the B12 and iron and zinc) is all cheap. People can be healthy for cheap if they want. I personally think that people just like food that tastes really good, and the majority of people think that McDonald's fries and quarter pounder,pizza, and Chinese take-out is tastier (and way easier) than basic healthy groceries. Not cheaper. And honestly, I'm pretty sure most people, particularly less educated people, really don't understand nutrition enough to know what is really really bad for you and why. I.e., many people don't know that one slice of garlic bread is as bad for you as a candy bar. But it is. A lot of people also don't know that drinking a glass of orange juice is as bad for you as a can of Coke with a vitamin C pill on the side


Hi PJ_soul...I am a single dad and try so very very hard to provide good nutrition to my boys...you are right that many people dont understand enough about nutrition...I must be among the uneducated I am afraid...that blows me away that a glass of orange juice is as bad as a can of coke...makes me wonder about what other mistakes I am making!

Do you know any good, user friendly books I could get to educate myself???

pandora

Fast food tastes like crap compared to home cooked ...
really just in and of itself no comparison needed.
If people would lay off for awhile and cook they would know this.

I swear fast food must be addicting the way some people eat it.
2 meals a day sometimes 3 :wtf:

Then getting their young kids to eat it that often they know nothing else growing up.

I've had children come to the house for meals not knowing what a carrot is :shock:
checking out at the grocery store I was asked by a young checker what celery was ...

alrighty then

g under p

I haven't read this entire thread but another contribution to America's unhealthy culture is the reduction of Physical Education in schools today. None of my 3 children at the moment take PE...2 in HS and 1 in MS. If is wan't for their oustside physical activity 2 in football and the other a competitive swimmer they probably be very out of shape. Many schools give the children the option of taking PE and many choose NOT to take it.

This is NOT good news in this computer age where many children are sitting and not being as active as they need to be. The heart is a muscle that needs to be kept active so it prolong a long life...bring back exercise in schools.

http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/advocacy/g ... AL-2-3.pdf



http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.speregen ... erformance

Peace

hedonist

g under p wrote:

I haven't read this entire thread but another contribution to America's unhealthy culture is the reduction of Physical Education in schools today. None of my 3 children at the moment take PE...2 in HS and 1 in MS. If is wan't for their oustside physical activity 2 in football and the other a competitive swimmer they probably be very out of shape. Many schools give the children the option of taking PE and many choose NOT to take it.

This is NOT good news in this computer age where many children are sitting and not being as active as they need to be. The heart is a muscle that needs to be kept active so it prolong a long life...bring back exercise in schools.

Wow...I had no idea. PE was a requirement when I was in junior high and high school. Even in elementary school, recess was all about handball, tetherball, etc. - activity. Granted it's been many years since I was in school, but I just figured it was still in place.

How has Mrs. Obama not gotten all over this? Or has she?

(plus, why should today's kids be deprived of the shame of those awful PE uniforms and showering afterward?)

MotoDC

bindy123 wrote:

PJSoul wrote:

It's cheap to eat healthy. Basic veggies and fruit, eggs and milk, canned goods, bread and lean ground beef (for the B12 and iron and zinc) is all cheap. People can be healthy for cheap if they want. I personally think that people just like food that tastes really good, and the majority of people think that McDonald's fries and quarter pounder,pizza, and Chinese take-out is tastier (and way easier) than basic healthy groceries. Not cheaper. And honestly, I'm pretty sure most people, particularly less educated people, really don't understand nutrition enough to know what is really really bad for you and why. I.e., many people don't know that one slice of garlic bread is as bad for you as a candy bar. But it is. A lot of people also don't know that drinking a glass of orange juice is as bad for you as a can of Coke with a vitamin C pill on the side

Hi PJ_soul...I am a single dad and try so very very hard to provide good nutrition to my boys...you are right that many people dont understand enough about nutrition...I must be among the uneducated I am afraid...that blows me away that a glass of orange juice is as bad as a can of coke...makes me wonder about what other mistakes I am making!

Do you know any good, user friendly books I could get to educate myself???

Bindy, you didn't know that b/c it's not true. The notion that a glass of OJ is as bad for you as a glass of coke just demonstrates the nutritional ignorance (not saying PJsoul is ignorant -- perhaps he/she just didn't feel like putting it all down here) in America. A glass of OJ is calorically just as bad as Coke (which, admittedly, DOES surprise alot of people), but in terms of chemicals, preservatives, processing, etc, it's not even close. And for 95% of young, active kids, the 150ish calories in a glass of OJ are no big deal. The problem is if they drink half the carton of OJ and then go play Warcraft for 5 hours.

PJsoul - I already said it's possible to eat healthy relatively cheaply. Indeed, not everything has to be organic, gourmet, from Whole Foods. And if you want to eat nothing but plain, unflavored chicken, steamed veggies, and plain rice for every meal, then sure, in small portions that's probably about as cheap as fast food. However, that's a pretty boring, unrealistic, unsustainable diet. Oil, spices, sauces, etc, (i.e., flavor) all add up in terms of cost and, of course, calories.

Overall, 1/4 pounders, mass-produced pizza, and chinese take out don't "taste good". They overload the primary sensors -- salt, sweet, fat -- and train us to only enjoy those. It's more like addiction than an appreciation of what "tastes good".

edit: Of course I realize "fat" is not part of the primary taste spectrum, but it serves to enhance the other two -- salty and sweet.

polaris_x

the thing to note about fast food and a lot of processed junk food is that they are designed (operative word) to be like cigarettes in that you continually crave it ... a lot of people are actually addicted to coke and soft drinks ... fast food places like mcdonalds if eaten often will make you crave it ... for lack of a better phrase ... it feeds itself ...

i do think the point about ignorance is significant ... it can be confusing to someone when they are inundated with advertising and information that are only partial truths ... it's unsettling to know what certain industries get away with ...

if people want to be healthy - diet is by far the number 1 change they will have to make ... and then exercise ...

catefrances

bindy123 wrote:

... A lot of people also don't know that drinking a glass of orange juice is as bad for you as a can of Coke with a vitamin C pill on the side...

make sure that glass of OJ is freshly squeezed. commercial juice just looks wrong. not to mention what they put in it. and its colour is def not the colour of orange juice straight from nature. the toddlermonster gets a kick out of watching me squeeze oranges(and lemons for that matter). its like some sort of revelation to her tiny mind. plus im sure she likes that im doing something for her. plus its good exercise for your hands.

RW81233

polaris_x wrote:

the thing to note about fast food and a lot of processed junk food is that they are designed (operative word) to be like cigarettes in that you continually crave it ... a lot of people are actually addicted to coke and soft drinks ... fast food places like mcdonalds if eaten often will make you crave it ... for lack of a better phrase ... it feeds itself ...

i do think the point about ignorance is significant ... it can be confusing to someone when they are inundated with advertising and information that are only partial truths ... it's unsettling to know what certain industries get away with ...

if people want to be healthy - diet is by far the number 1 change they will have to make ... and then exercise ...

but now you are taking the sole blame away from the individual, and, apparently, there is no room for structural influence in our lives.

Kat

One answer.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3dc51a ... rel=player

RW81233

nice one kat

PJ_Soul

bindy123 wrote:

[It's cheap to eat healthy. Basic veggies and fruit, eggs and milk, canned goods, bread and lean ground beef (for the B12 and iron and zinc) is all cheap. People can be healthy for cheap if they want. I personally think that people just like food that tastes really good, and the majority of people think that McDonald's fries and quarter pounder,pizza, and Chinese take-out is tastier (and way easier) than basic healthy groceries. Not cheaper. And honestly, I'm pretty sure most people, particularly less educated people, really don't understand nutrition enough to know what is really really bad for you and why. I.e., many people don't know that one slice of garlic bread is as bad for you as a candy bar. But it is. A lot of people also don't know that drinking a glass of orange juice is as bad for you as a can of Coke with a vitamin C pill on the side


[quote/]Hi PJ_soul...I am a single dad and try so very very hard to provide good nutrition to my boys...you are right that many people dont understand enough about nutrition...I must be among the uneducated I am afraid...that blows me away that a glass of orange juice is as bad as a can of coke...makes me wonder about what other mistakes I am making!

Do you know any good, user friendly books I could get to educate myself???

Hi Bindy. Hmm. I do know a lot about it, but I'm afraid I've gleaned my knowledge over a long period of time from many different sources, so I can't recommend a particular place for you to go... But this is some advice:

The main problem with foods that are bad for you and cause weight gain is that they contain too many calories and/or fat and/or sugars (carbs). The food that is surprisingly unhealthy (like fruit juice and starches) tends to have one thing in common - a very high amount of sugar and carbs. Juice is a big one. Many of the schools who took soda out of schools also removed all juice from vending machines as well because the calorie and sugar content are the same. ALL fruit juice is simply incredibly high in calories because they have a high concentration of sugar (just think of how many oranges go into one glass of orange juice... once may as well eat 8 oranges in one go; an average glass of the stuff has 350 calories). So I would avoid juice for the most part, and stick with water and actual whole fruit only. Bread is also one. One bagel, for example, normally has 350 - 500 calories per! Make a sandwich with that and add mayo, cheese, meat, etc, and a salad with ranch dressing on the side and a glass of juice or milk, all of a sudden you've got a lunch that is as much as 1000+ calories, nearly half of what many people should eat in a whole day.

Fat is other big factor obviously - everyone knows that. The fries and ice cream and what not is obvious, but other things not as much. For example, a noodle cup has as much fat in it as 2 candy bars! 2% milk has, of course, double the fat as 1%. Cheese is basically solid fat, so go for the reduced fat harder cheeses, like medium half fat cheddar, which is actually still very tasty (the softer the cheese, the higher the fat) ... and so on. I really think it's just a matter of reading ALL labels for calories, carbs (sugars), and fat, and to pay special attention to the serving portions that the labels are talking about. I.e. one of those little bag of chips might have 40 chips in it, but the label is only giving you the nutritional info on 17 chips, not the whole bag. And watch out for sodium levels too. Some salt is necessary for health, but ONE slice of processed cheese has half of an entire day's recommended intake of sodium, and a noodle cup has more than 100%! Most processed food is loaded with sodium. Nutritionists recommend that you don't buy any product that has more than 15% of daily recommended intake per serving of sodium... and it's pretty surprising how hard it is to find that in pre-packaged food.

And finally, no one anywhere should ever drink non-diet soda. EVER. If you like soda, stick with diet (not too much because of the aspartame, or go for the ones sweetened with Splenda). Otherwise, just drink water and 1% or skim milk. And just take a vitamin C pill, as that is the only redeeming quality of juice, and an important vitamin, easily absorbed by the body when it comes in supplement form, unlike many other supplement vitamins. BTW, the vitamin pills that are readily absorbed by the body and therefore worth taking to supplement a healthy diet are:

Calcium
Vitamin D (important, as it is not in natural foods in any quantity - just in fortified milk products generally, and in sunshine... Apparently, 60% of Americans are now deficient in Vitamin D because no one spends enough time outside with exposed skin anymore, and sunscreen actually prevents absorption of Vitamin D as well, so it's a good supplement to take everyday)
Potassium
Zinc
Magnesium
B6 and B12

Anything else, you should try to get exclusively from real healthy food rather than trying to get some from supplements whenever possible, Vitamin D excluded.... and if you don't like bananas, I recommend a potassium supplement as well.

(sorry if I'm telling you a lot of stuff you already know)

catefrances

PJ_Soul wrote:

... ALL fruit juice is simply incredibly high in calories because they have a high concentration of sugar (just think of how many oranges go into one glass of orange juice... once may as well eat 8 oranges in one go; an average glass of the stuff has 350 calories).

how big is that glass? and are you speaking of commercial juice and/or fresh ? cause i find 2 oranges is plenty of juice for breakfast(or whenever)... though more often than not i tend to cut it with the juice of a lemon.

catefrances

PJ_Soul wrote:

...Vitamin D (important, as it is not in natural foods in any quantity - just in fortified milk products generally, and in sunshine... Apparently, 60% of Americans are now deficient in Vitamin D because no one spends enough time outside with exposed skin anymore, and sunscreen actually prevents absorption of Vitamin D as well, so it's a good supplement to take everyday)...

i recently got my vitamin D levels tested as part of a bigger process and it turns out my levels are high. and thats from just going about my normal day. im not a fan of the sun so im not likely to be found lounging around in it. i dont wear sunscreen tho... i find it constrictive and icky.

PJ_Soul

catefrances wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

... ALL fruit juice is simply incredibly high in calories because they have a high concentration of sugar (just think of how many oranges go into one glass of orange juice... once may as well eat 8 oranges in one go; an average glass of the stuff has 350 calories).

how big is that glass? and are you speaking of commercial juice and/or fresh ? cause i find 2 oranges is plenty of juice for breakfast(or whenever)... though more often than not i tend to cut it with the juice of a lemon.

Most people have a much larger serving (and most don't squeeze their own, although there is no difference in calories between fresh and concentrate or bottled), and single serving bottles are 350ml to 500ml normally, like Coke, and given that it is fair to assume that a perceived serving is the same as that. They are comparable - i.e. same sized glass of each have about the same amount of calories.

PJ_Soul

catefrances wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

...Vitamin D (important, as it is not in natural foods in any quantity - just in fortified milk products generally, and in sunshine... Apparently, 60% of Americans are now deficient in Vitamin D because no one spends enough time outside with exposed skin anymore, and sunscreen actually prevents absorption of Vitamin D as well, so it's a good supplement to take everyday)...

i recently got my vitamin D levels tested as part of a bigger process and it turns out my levels are high. and thats from just going about my normal day. im not a fan of the sun so im not likely to be found lounging around in it. i dont wear sunscreen tho... i find it constrictive and icky.

Great! Sounds like you're more healthy than the average American.

Jason P

If anyone is looking for a (good free) tool to help improve your own knowledge and health, Live Strong has a real nice calorie tracker. You just type in the food and it will auto-populate a list to choose from. It's easy to use and is eye opening.

Here is the link:

http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/

The free version handled everything I needed. The most eye-opening thing to me was the amount of sodium that I took in each day. And there were several "holy crap, that has that many calories!!!" items that a removed from my intake completely.

After I started using it, I estimate I've taken about 700 calories less per day just from what I learned and adjusted ... and that isn't dieting, it's just making smart changes on what I ate. Trust me, you will avoid fast food once you plop in an average meal from McDonalds and see what the results are. :shock:

(although I still struggle to stay under my daily limit for sodium ... it's everywhere)

PJ_Soul

Jason P wrote:

If anyone is looking for a (good free) tool to help improve your own knowledge and health, Live Strong has a real nice calorie tracker. You just type in the food and it will auto-populate a list to choose from. It's easy to use and is eye opening.

Here is the link:

http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/

The free version handled everything I needed. The most eye-opening thing to me was the amount of sodium that I took in each day. And there were several "holy crap, that has that many calories!!!" items that a removed from my intake completely.

After I started using it, I estimate I've taken about 700 calories less per day just from what I learned and adjusted ... and that isn't dieting, it's just making smart changes on what I ate. Trust me, you will avoid fast food once you plop in an average meal from McDonalds and see what the results are. :shock:

(although I still struggle to stay under my daily limit for sodium ... it's everywhere)

Thanks for the tip!