Why Americans are overweight.
Okay..... Now this is just my opinion so don't take it to heart. I think the reason Americans are overweight as a whole is because if you go into the grocery store, what kind of items are cheaper to buy? JUNK.... Everyone would eat healthier if you went into the store and the produce, dairy and things that are healthy were cheaper than the sodas, chips, little debbies and processed foods!!!!!!!
My family is far from comfortable income wise and I can get alot more food for my money if I buy the JUNK.
Well anyway, that's just my opinion.
babycakemom
plus, the junk doesn't take much time to prepare it either...
if you figure in the time costs, the junk food is a WHOLE lot cheaper...
Just have to find a way to rise above though! I know I'm not going to let some corporation persuade me to eat franken-foods just so they can make a tidy profit at the expense of my health!
:)
I recently read an article that I thought was really interesting which offered another reason Americans are more overweight than the people in other countries. For whatever reason, American hate to be hungry. In other cultures, you sit down to a meal and you eat until you are no longer hungry, you go about your day, and by the time the next meal rolls around you are hungry again. Having spent a good deal of time in Europe, I know that's how I lived when I was there. Americans, however, treat every meal like its Thanksgiving. They eat and eat and eat until they are not just no longer hungry but until they are FULL. And then, they eat again even if they aren't hungry yet. I wonder why our culture is like that.
Agreed! Since I started trying to eat better and get more organic stuff my grocery bill has skyrocketed!
I also think americans are fat because it's shoved down our throats constantly. We watch a lot of tv as a society, and if you pay close attention to the commercials every other one is for food!
Like the Checkers one... "Ya gotta eat! What are you doin'? Ya gotta eat!" I'm like, "No Mr. Checkers man, I JUST ate and I'm going to go workout soon...THAT'S what I'm doin' "
Whole wheat bread has been at least $.75 a loaf higher every where I?ve been.
I?ve only been at this a short while, and I?m catching on to sales and cheaper choices but I have to hunt to find them. The bad stuff is much more readily available, and in a far greater abundance than the healthy alternatives.
It?s actually tricky to be thrifty AND healthy in an American grocery store. Right now fruits and veggies are pretty cheap because it?s summer---but come winter I wonder how that will affect my food bills.
I?ve been shopping at Aldi?s a lot, they offer a line of Fit and Active items that are pretty healthy and won?t brake the budget. I buy frozen fish and chicken breast there, along with their version of Eggbeaters and Turkey Bacon?they have affordable fruits and veggies and they offer the frozen ones in the bag (Life Saver) And I?m starting to find dinner alternatives that are healthy and quick?98% fat free Ham at Wal-mart?Chefboyrdee pizza box kits?but I?d say my weekly food bill is still up by 25$ for a family of four. That?s a 100$ extra dollars a month.
Hunts spaghetti sauce, that?s another good find?cheap, low cal?tastes good.
But there are ways to reduce costs. Buy in bulk (meat often goes on sale in bulk and can be frozen). Home canning. (I make my own pickles, tomato sauces and salsas, apple sauce, canned veggies - and I do it not to save money, but becuase my home-grown home processed stuff is just better tasting) Food-savers are great money savers becuase stuff lasts a lot longer when you get the air out of the package.
When it comes down to it, food is one of the greatest bargains around. The price of groceries has not gone up anywhere near the price of everything else. It is a wonder there are any family farms left. It certianly isn't a way to get rich. Every one of us need food a whole lot more than we need a new computer and yet Bill Gates makes more in an hour than Farmer Joe make in a year. Go figure.
And bag of steam fresh green peas costs .96 for 4 servings where I live.
Some of the steam fresh veggies cost more, but I think the most expensive is only $1.79 for 4 servings of broccoli florets
And frozen pineapple and raspberries are MIGHTY good in a morning smoothie!
:)
if everyone truly cared about one another, you would not even be able to buy plain white pasta anymore. it would all be whole wheat, and if you wanted white, you would make it at home.
granola bars would all be 18 grams of protein, and not just candy-bar style cereal sticks - if anyone actually cared.
if anyone actually cared, saugages would have been slowly weened from our tables - we would be used to turkey and chicken by now.
in fast food places, each meal would include a complimentary apple or bananna - if, of course, anyone really cared what was going into the mouths of strangers.
this is why mcdonalds wins lawsuits - everyone has a choice. obviously enough people don't care and these brands stay in business - and business is good!
sick huh?
Easy is not usually a factor for me, since I work from home?and I love to cook. I could have made a happy career out of being a chef. I guess part of the appeal of being on a diet is the cooking for me?sure, I want to get healthy, but the cooking is actually fun. I?m weird I know but I put at least an hour into making dinner just about every night of the week?.and I have done so for the last fourteen years . Finding healthy alternatives has been a joy rather than a burden, and trying out new healthy recipes an adventure.
In the past though I have been guilty of using a lot of high fat red meat in my recipes, heavy sauces and making desserts that were probably as awful for you as anything you could get out?and not always with healthful ingredients. I used what was cheaper for years without considering the health ramifications of it.
I grew up in a low-income southern household, and although southern cooking can be healthy?the kind in my house was anything but! My dad tossed a pound of bacon in with green beans and potatoes whenever he fixed them, and there was always cornbread and homemade gravy with every meal. As a child I was pretty skinny and wayy active but that kinda went out the window during my first pregnancy?and I haven?t seen under 200 Lbs since.
The point is this is where I learned to cook, and my childhood memories, like many peoples revolve around food?in my case very unhealthy food.
So I?m learning, for the first time (at age 32) exactly what IS healthy! Sad really, to think how many bad cooking/eating habits I learned from my parents who probably did it from a combinative of low income/ and repeating the sins of their parents?It?s also sad how long it?s taken me to realize that something HAS to change.
In this day and age, you?d think no one could be oblivious for that long.
I wish I would have learned what eating healthy was when my children were still small, because trying to get a teen and a pre-teen to eat healthy after so many years has been super frustrating. Not to mention I could slap myself when I see what they?ve become accustom to eating <sigh>
Just a friendly reminder that organic isn't necessarily always best. Check out local farmer's markets. Buying local is often better than buying organic (there was less shipping cost, and you support your local economy).
I'm not sure how a bag of baby carrots, which runs me around $2 a bag, and each bag has, what, 5 servings is more expensive than buying a bag of potato chips, which are approx. $4 and I don't even know how many servings because I don't buy them.
Think about it this way: if you eat junk, you're malnourished. So even if you are eating "cheaper" your body doesn't get what it needs.
A head of lettuce in my grocery store is usually $1. I can get a good amount of salads out of it.
Beans, brown rice, whole grains all run around $1 a pound at my local grocer.
I think the real reason Americans are fat is because of our lifestyle. We drive our cars everywhere, we eat fast food, we are constantly stressed out from work, we sit in air conditioned comfort every day, etc. I think if we cut back on some of the things we pack into our lives, slowed down a bit, enjoyed a walk with friends or playing tag with our kids, took the time to prepare our foods, and then sat down at a table and enjoyed them with people we care about, obesity wouldn't be the issue it is today.
I've heard that too about staying on the perimeter of the store for healthier foods.
Junk costing less has led to the most bizarre thing in the US, fat poor! In one way it makes you grateful after traveling to developing countries to see that we don't have rampant starvation. However, there is something so sick about seeing unhealthy corporate fed poor people that at times I think it is a conspiracy to keep the population under control.
*blames rant on 1500 cal a day and still not smoking*
however, where there's a will, there's a way, right?
HELLO CROCKPOT!
:)
{{everybody}}
Aldi?s has really been a life saver for me, they also have in addition to what I mentioned above, canned fruit in the Fit& Active brand, light pop corn, rice cakes in cheese and Carmel, nuts for snacking, cheap canned veggies, frozen fish that I?ve been able to do amazing things with involving tin foil pouches?fresh salsa (A bit high at $2.49) but AMAZING! So much better than the jar---they have corn chips in Fit& Active. They have bagged hash browns that are wonderful (Akin to simply potatoes) if cooked with only a dab of non-stick spray. And they have turkey lunchmeat and the turkey ham?though you have to slice it.
I do most of my shopping between Aldi?s, Wal-mart and Meijer?since I find it?s actually cheaper to shop around.
Meijers has the best prices on produce here, and Wal-Mart is good price wise for low-fat peanut butter, margarine, mini whole-wheat beagles, wraps, healthy cereal, yogurt and lunchmeat. They offer the 40 calorie ballpark franks for $3.00 (High, I know) and they have the turkey sausage and bratwurst Their produce is usually pretty cheap but the quality is lacking a lot.
One thought though, don't you think that nutrient dense foods and portion control good be better economically? And I eat or order out less and now that I don't mindlessly eat I also don't mindlessly buy.
Yeah, Nomo, I know it takes more time to do it. I work 8.5 hours a day and commute 4. It's like I'm basically working two jobs (but I don't get paid for my parttime one). I still manage to make dinner and pack my lunch everynight. You're right -- you have to be willing to do it. Some people just aren't *shrug*.
It would be nice if the food producers in this country made healthy food available cheaply and abundantly, and just as convienently as Easy Crap Mac. But that won't change until Americans stop buying the junk and start buying healthy foods. If Americans stopped demanding junkfood cheap and in bulk, producers would have to change their business plans.
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