Are you ever shocked by the lack of knowledge about nutrition and exercise?

I am.

I asked my boyfriend the other day how many calories he thought were in his slice of pizza, and he shrugged and said "200?".

I looked it up, and it said 300.

Overheard a co-worker stating what they ate for lunch, and they thought it was healthy. Ended up calculating it, and it wound up being a whopping 1,300 calories, minimum.

Heard someone in the elevator talking about how they just couldn't lift weights, or they'd end up looking 'like a man' (it was a tiny woman).

I'm not being a snob here (not: ew gross how could they?!), I'm just shocked by how little people know. Then again, I knew very little at the beginning of this long journey too....

Ever wonder WHY we're not taught what we need, nutrition and exercise wise, as a kid? Ever wonder just how we all got caught up in the fad diets, the quick fixes, and the exercise crazes?

Ever wonder if it's ever going to stop? If people are ever going to stop looking for the easy way out, and just focus on life style changes, rather than crash diets and exercise binges?

It scares me that our world is so focused on appearance, and yet we lack the basic knowledge of how to prepare healthy balanced meals! I'm mostly speaking of America here, but I'm noticing more and more that the way the USA eats and lives is spreading...

Oh it's amazing.

I'm shocked every day when I hear my fellow dancers talking about food. One of the girls went on a wheat thins diet. A WHEAT THINS DIET!!! If you're going to restrict food at least restrict it to something healthy.

I have a friend who likes to go on a fruit diet before auditions/shows. She only eats fruit and vegetables. But then I see her eating this huge bag of trail mix w/ lots of dried fruit. Wait a second...what are you trying to accomplish here?

Just yesterday my roommate/dancer friend was complaining that she was constipated. I told her to eat fiber. She asked me if egg whites have a lot of fiber. WHAT!? egg whites a pure protein.

Most of my friends won't lift because they don't want to bulk up. I lift and I'm the scrawniest looking one of them all (granted its all body type...but still)

I'm sure I'll think of more. It's truly amazing. We're dancers. We're supposed to be in touch with our health!

We need to have basic fitness and nutrition education in public schools. End of story.

It worries me how little a lot of people know about basic nutrition. But at the end of the day, I can't preach. I try to guide at best, and if my friend or a loved one is hurting themselves through their actions I will try and inform them - but I guess at the end of the day I'm not there to tell them how to eat, what to do. But yes, the lack of knowledge of the very basics on a general level bugs me.

Original Post by lalabanana:

It worries me how little a lot of people know about basic nutrition. But at the end of the day, I can't preach. I try to guide at best, and if my friend or a loved one is hurting themselves through their actions I will try and inform them - but I guess at the end of the day I'm not there to tell them how to eat, what to do. But yes, the lack of knowledge of the very basics on a general level bugs me.

I tend to try to bite my tongue around my bf, even though he eats like he's just aching for a heart attack! -sigh-

I was taught nutrition in elementary, middle and highschool... I just never implemented it. I am shocked by the lack of knowledge by the majority of people too.

Oh yes, it amazes me. My father thinks the only way to gain weight is with butter, chocolate milk, and ice cream cones. *sigh* The kids at school have no idea what's in their lunches. Sometimes I think the knowledge is a burden, but I'd rather have that than be blind.

When i first started looking into what i was eating...it was a big suprise! Took a while of constantly looking up foods and closely looking at labels to get a firm grasp of how many calories were in different items. Thats the foundation for losing weight.... just knowing the calories...

But beyond that, there is SOO much to learn about (and none of it is 100 percent....sometimes you find information that completely goes against other information). So, its a constant life thing ...learning about different foods and research on how they effect our bodies.

Sad thing is, my sister is still very overweight and no matter how much i try to get her to start watching / learning....she refuses and feels its not important (thinking she can just "eat whenever she is hungry" and "her body knows best"....). Theres just so much people dont understand....and after a certain age, they just become resistant to the possibility of learning about it.

Really, no one needs to be overweight. Its just them eating more than their body needs....in every case. Thats just the mechanics of why we get fat. But they just need to learn that simple fact and start crunching the numbers surrounding it (calories for a pound, metabolism, calories in...bla bla bla, all that stuff).

Original Post by loriklorik:

Sad thing is, my sister is still very overweight and no matter how much i try to get her to start watching / learning....she refuses and feels its not important (thinking she can just "eat whenever she is hungry" and "her body knows best"....). Theres just so much people dont understand....and after a certain age, they just become resistant to the possibility of learning about it.

 

I have this same exact problem with my mother.

Yes I am shocked by the lack of knowledge about nutrition and exercise.

We shouldn't be surprised by the epidemic of obesity and related health issues brought on by poor nutrition and lack of exercise.  I think better nutrition and proper exercise would cure most of our health care issues.

Most of us who are on this website are making an effort to do that.

The difficulty is that most of the foods that are inexpensive and easy to prepare are also nutritional time bombs. If anyone knows of some exceptions, help us out here. It takes a little bit of effort to procure and keep fresh fruits and veggies, but the taste and the health benefits should outweigh the effort. Choose fresh and minimally processed foods and we'll be halfway there.

The food and pharmaceutical industries have done us few favors here, favoring medical procedures to prevention, but I'll save the cospiracy theory for another post

I dont get the excuse "it costs too much to eat healthy" that i hear everyone say.

Like...a bit of fruit or a cup of yogurt costs maybe 1.50 for a meal (and makes a nice breakfast)

A dozen eggs is cheap, boil them and mush them up with some lettus for an egg sandwich (take out the yolks even and add a little mustard / spices)....SUPER cheap for a bunch of meals...

Eating less / eating healthy doesnt really cost a lot. In fact, its probably a lot cheaper than buying the frozen dinners or whatever else pre-made / snack foods out there.....

I agree with you Lorik, eating healthy CAN be cheap...but it's not easy to make it healthy, balanced, cheap and fast.

Most Mothers and Fathers out there have a very hard time eating well themselves, much less teaching their kids the right things, and even harder is making them eat the right things.

I think it needs to start VERY early.

I know I am not going to be feeding any kids I have in the future anything super processed, sugar or sodium filled. I think it has to start young so you never get a hankering for the sugar, sodium filled stuff (like i did, sadly).

I also think that we need to make exercise a priority, not an option. I had the choice of soccer or art classes as a kid...I chose art as my extracurricular...because my Mom couldn't afford more.

I think she should have made time to take me to the park more, and I know I will make a conscience effort to do that for my kids.

Health is so important....that's what needs to be stressed more and just isn't.

Original Post by nasuoni:

 

I know I am not going to be feeding any kids I have in the future anything super processed, sugar or sodium filled. I think it has to start young so you never get a hankering for the sugar, sodium filled stuff (like i did, sadly).

I also think that we need to make exercise a priority, not an option. I had the choice of soccer or art classes as a kid...I chose art as my extracurricular...because my Mom couldn't afford more.

 Just forcing your kids to do something or trying to protect them from everything "bad" never works (for anything, sex, food, anything....). They just end up unprepared to handle things when they actually try things on their own (like going to fast-food with their friends or when hanging out and eating chips).

You need to educate them....the best you can. After that, its up to them to decide how they should act (with some guidance when they are still under your care). Dont just tell them the correct answer or make it so they will tell you what you want to hear....actually talk WITH them and help them think through things. Challenge them to learn and they will grow up FAR better prepared for life than if you just dictate how they live while they are under your watch.

I'm shocked on a daily basis.  Growing up, my mom made balanced meals and regular treats, but I never knew what a calorie was.  I vaguely recall a nutrition class in high school and some grade school introduction to the food pyramid, but that's all.

Personally, I'm shocked that we know so little about food.. Not the science of food, the nutrition content or the calorie content particularly.  Just the complete lack of understanding about what is 'good to eat'.  The human race has survived and thrived for milennia presumably because we used to know this well enough.  Cave men didn't know the calorie content of the antelope they'd just killed.  The people in the middle-ages didn't understand that their rustic bread contained useful fibre or Vitamin B.  They just knew it was 'good to eat'.  Nature played a part e.g. fruit changing colour when ripe to show us that is was ready to be picked, eaten and help distribute its seeds at the same time.  But now we have such a plethora of edible 'food-like substitutes' that many have lost touch with that innate knowledge in a relatively short period of time.   And then  - the most dangerous part - we believe we don't know how to eat properly unless we can consult 'experts'.  Then we're sunk

So I don't think we should be educating people in nutrition or calories, especially.  I think we should be educating people to differentiate between 'real food' and things that are merely edible.  Food preparation and cookery skills would be a good start.

Original Post by nasuoni:

I am.  Me too!

Heard someone in the elevator talking about how they just couldn't lift weights, or they'd end up looking 'like a man' (it was a tiny woman).  Common misconception.  Even my 'trainer' told me to be careful..."you don't want to bulk up!"  1.  Yes, I do, a little.  2.  It will be very difficult.

Ever wonder WHY we're not taught what we need, nutrition and exercise wise, as a kid? Ever wonder just how we all got caught up in the fad diets, the quick fixes, and the exercise crazes?  We are taught this at school.  At least, I remember learning about it in health class.  We (as kids/teenagers) just don't care to listen.  What can you tell me about noun phrases and participles?  We learned that too, but who cared and who remembers?!

Ever wonder if it's ever going to stop? If people are ever going to stop looking for the easy way out, and just focus on life style changes, rather than crash diets and exercise binges?  It'll never stop.  People are lazy.

Original Post by nasuoni:

Overheard a co-worker stating what they ate for lunch, and they thought it was healthy. Ended up calculating it, and it wound up being a whopping 1,300 calories, minimum.

Does the lunch being 1300 calories make it unhealthy?

Low fat/low caloried doesn't always = healthy just as high fat/high calorie doesn't always = unhealthy.

Watched a program on the "Ice man" recently. The well precerved body found in a retreating glacier in the alps. Dated at 5300 yrs old. The contents of his stomach showed that his last meal consisted of meat, bread and a green vegetable. More balanced than what a lot uf us are eating today.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Does the lunch being 1300 calories make it unhealthy?

 

 Good point.  No it doesn't....  I often see posts asking 'which is healthier?' of various food choices when what is really being asked is 'which is lowest in calories?'   Subsequently someone will post that they have a 'healthy diet' with lots of low calorie things like cucumber and low-fat yoghurt.... but then work out that it comes to less than 900 cals.... i.e. not healthy in the slightest.

Two problems, as I see it. While we do get information on nutrition in school, we  seem to have no education regarding

1. Portion sizes: I remember when a cup of coffee was an actual cup. When you got soup it came in a small bowl at a restaurant. A McDonald's hamburger or cheeseburger was the only choice, and most people only had one. At 280 calories, a McD's hamburger is not an unreasonable meal.

2. Food quality: HFCS has been added to our food supply almost at random, increasing calories per serving without adding nutritional value. Genetically altered food stuffs, a food chain rife with pesticides and hormones. Even when you buy fruits and vegetables fresh, they still offer only about 50% of the nutritional value compared to 30 years ago. And don't even get me started on organics....We can't guarantee peanuts are safe in Texas - does anyone really believe there is such a thing as 'organically grown' in China?

/grumpy codger rant

Ending with a positive: One way to eat cheap and healthy is by making everything you can from scratch. Regardless of what it is, it will have less salt, HFCS and will have more flavor than anything pre-processed or pre-packaged.

edit: good website for saving dough and making fresh

www.hillbillyhousewife.com

In other words..'...they put an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it fortnightly....smart ass'