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What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

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Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    My unpopular opinion (probably depends on the generation) is that if you are full and it isn’t practical to save leftovers, then it is okay to throw food away. I think that the avoidance of food-wasting guilt causes people to overeat.

    Yes, I had to teach myself this position, but I agree.

    No one else is affected if I waste food, and me eating food I don't want (whether because it's not worth the calories to me or I'm not hungry) is not helping anyone else and is hurting me.

    I go to a lot of plays and concerts and we often get a meal before, and I can't really bring my leftovers, so I often don't get the takehome box. I just let it go. For a while I felt like I was hurting someone's feelings by leaving (sometimes) lots of food and not taking it home, but I got over that.

    It took me a lot of years to fully realize this, but I'm of the opinion that eating food that I don't need and don't want just to avoid "wasting" it is just as wasteful as throwing it away. It doesn't help world hunger for me to carry around excess body weight.

    Yes, that's exactly how I convinced myself on the matter! It's wasted either way.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited August 2017
    mmapags wrote: »
    TR0berts wrote: »
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    My unpopular opinion (probably depends on the generation) is that if you are full and it isn’t practical to save leftovers, then it is okay to throw food away. I think that the avoidance of food-wasting guilt causes people to overeat.

    Yes, I know there are babies with distended bellies in Africa who are starving to death, my mom told me that consistently throughout my childhood, and my parents always made us completely clean our plates or suffer the Depression Era guilt that was inflicted upon them by their parents. I try to avoid waste, but sometimes it just happens and I’m not stuffing myself if I have reached my limits.

    Do you not own a freezer?

    I hate waste, it's a bug bare of mine.


    Some things simply don't freeze or reheat well, though. There are also times - if eating out before a movie, for instance - that the leftovers may sit in a hot car for a couple of hours. Or maybe there's just a couple of bites, to where it might be more wasteful to dirty a to-go container. There are a number of other possible reasons, but like he said - sometimes it isn't practical to save the leftovers.

    My wife can't stand to waste. So she wraps up every little leftover and puts it in the fridge. Once a week, I go though and throw away the stuff that is now unsafe and/ or growing mold. It's like our little ritual. ;)

    You're married to my husband's soul mate. He's the same way. I'm ruthlessly realistic about the possibility of food getting eaten and know when it's useless to save it.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    goldthistime wrote: »
    Previously the answer would probably be trans fats. Now that trans fats have been removed from the vast majority of packaged foods the many studies that referenced processed foods or convenience foods or any grouping of foods that once upon a time contained trans fats and now don't, are no longer valid. Negative association lingers I guess.

    But there's also possibly excessive sodium, omega 6 fats, and the fact that many of those foods have been engineered so as to be dangerously desirable to your average Jane/Joe as well as not satiating (low fibre and low protein).

    But obviously if one is concerned about these things one can avoid foods that don't contain them in excessive amounts/pose an issue. Once again, the ingredients vary quite a lot. I continue to not understand the point of generalizing.

    As for the "engineering," I think we should be clear what we are talking about. Are these foods somehow more delicious and hard to resist than those from a good (high quality ingredients, good chef) restaurant? Or homemade by a good cook? No. Will a home cook or restaurant chef trying to increase flavor also use similar ingredients (butter, butter, butter, salt, sugar in the right dishes, etc.)? Absolutely.

    So what is the deal with this SUBSET of processed foods that is being focused on? Increasing knowledge/skill at using cheap ingredients to better mimic the taste/satisfaction of home cooked indulgences in a product that is also shelf stable and affordable. So ultimately it comes down not to the foods being dramatically different or harder to resist (I just don't believe that store-bought cakes and cookies and pies are harder to stop eating than homemade versions, same with chips, fries, frozen pizza, fast food, etc.). It's super available and cheap compared to the alternative (which involves some time commitment and knowing how to cook and so isn't as likely to be snacked on all day or impulse purchased for "I'm tired and had a bad day" kinds of reasons). I think when we try to pretend it's about some bad effect of the processing we miss this (or pretend it's not about our choices and what we can and cannot control but "the food caused it.")


    I agree, I don't think most processed foods are more delicious than those prepared by a good cook. I wasn't consciously trying to infer evilness when I said "engineered". Although I do think trying to manufacture a food product as cheaply as possible and with as long a shelf life as possible might lead to the choice of ingredients that are less than healthful. Palm oil comes to mind. A little off topic, but your comment about prepared cookies and pies reminded me that although almost everything in the grocery store no longer contains trans fats, I have wondered if the same could be said for pies and pastries produced in smaller bakeries.

    Back to the idea that the suggestion by some to avoid processed foods is a generalization that may be more harmful than helpful. I can't recall singling out processed foods personally, but it also hasn't bothered me when I've read others do it. Is there a shortcut way of more accurately expressing a similar sentiment?

    Like "limit non-satiating low nutrient foods, especially those containing excessive sodium, or fats like palm oil, coconut oil, or other vegetable oils containing omega 6's"?

    Your personal policy of avoiding snacks lemurcat12 sets you up for success by automatically limiting your consumption of snack foods. How do you feel about a comment like "limit snack foods" instead of "limit processed food"?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2017
    goldthistime wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    goldthistime wrote: »
    Previously the answer would probably be trans fats. Now that trans fats have been removed from the vast majority of packaged foods the many studies that referenced processed foods or convenience foods or any grouping of foods that once upon a time contained trans fats and now don't, are no longer valid. Negative association lingers I guess.

    But there's also possibly excessive sodium, omega 6 fats, and the fact that many of those foods have been engineered so as to be dangerously desirable to your average Jane/Joe as well as not satiating (low fibre and low protein).

    But obviously if one is concerned about these things one can avoid foods that don't contain them in excessive amounts/pose an issue. Once again, the ingredients vary quite a lot. I continue to not understand the point of generalizing.

    As for the "engineering," I think we should be clear what we are talking about. Are these foods somehow more delicious and hard to resist than those from a good (high quality ingredients, good chef) restaurant? Or homemade by a good cook? No. Will a home cook or restaurant chef trying to increase flavor also use similar ingredients (butter, butter, butter, salt, sugar in the right dishes, etc.)? Absolutely.

    So what is the deal with this SUBSET of processed foods that is being focused on? Increasing knowledge/skill at using cheap ingredients to better mimic the taste/satisfaction of home cooked indulgences in a product that is also shelf stable and affordable. So ultimately it comes down not to the foods being dramatically different or harder to resist (I just don't believe that store-bought cakes and cookies and pies are harder to stop eating than homemade versions, same with chips, fries, frozen pizza, fast food, etc.). It's super available and cheap compared to the alternative (which involves some time commitment and knowing how to cook and so isn't as likely to be snacked on all day or impulse purchased for "I'm tired and had a bad day" kinds of reasons). I think when we try to pretend it's about some bad effect of the processing we miss this (or pretend it's not about our choices and what we can and cannot control but "the food caused it.")

    I agree, I don't think most processed foods are more delicious than those prepared by a good cook. I wasn't consciously trying to infer evilness when I said "engineered". Although I do think trying to manufacture a food product as cheaply as possible and with as long a shelf life as possible might lead to the choice of ingredients that are less than healthful. Palm oil comes to mind. A little off topic, but your comment about prepared cookies and pies reminded me that although almost everything in the grocery store no longer contains trans fats, I have wondered if the same could be said for pies and pastries produced in smaller bakeries.

    Back to the idea that the suggestion by some to avoid processed foods is a generalization that may be more harmful than helpful. I can't recall singling out processed foods personally, but it also hasn't bothered me when I've read others do it. Is there a shortcut way of more accurately expressing a similar sentiment?

    Like "limit non-satiating low nutrient foods, especially those containing excessive sodium, or fats like palm oil, coconut oil, or other vegetable oils containing omega 6's"?

    Your personal policy of avoiding snacks lemurcat12 sets you up for success by automatically limiting your consumption of snack foods. How do you feel about a comment like "limit snack foods" instead of "limit processed food"?

    Well, I also avoid (well, this implies effort, more accurately just never bother to eat) most so-called convenience foods and ultra processed foods just because I enjoy cooking, they tend not to have as much protein/veg as I like (although there are exceptions), and my own cooking tastes better to me. I plan ahead to have fast options that fit my preferences (leftovers, mainly). I do buy lunch too often, but I choose things similar to what I would make if I made it myself (there's a really good salad bar place near my office, for example).

    I happen to agree (but I would) that limiting snack foods is more to the point, not because they can't be part of a healthy diet, but people not tracking often consume them in addition to meals that should in theory be sufficient, just because they are there, tasty, and these days expected.

    I avoid palm oil and various other types of added fats (I'm not going to preach it to others or defend my position which is not adequately researched, but I am skeptical of a lot of ultra processed vegetable oils that get used as additives in some processed foods). With palm oil I think there's a strong ethical reason to avoid it, so stick to that more seriously than some other "I generally choose not to eat them" things, but again MANY processed foods don't have such ingredients. Chips (to pick a snack food) are easy to find without it. I just checked Kettle baked olive oil chips (I don't really buy chips, since I prefer to have my potato and fat indulgence for rare fries as a restaurant that makes really good ones, and I don't personally consider any deep fried foods anything other than an indulgence, whether prepared at home or not) and, as expected, they were potatoes, olive oil, sea salt, flavoring. Pasta is a common example of a processed food, and it has no fat (and is really just wheat flour and water). Protein powder is processed, and again generally no added fat at all.

    Re transfats and small bakeries, if it's a good bakery I tend to assume they will use butter -- the switch to transfat was always based on alleged health and ease of use in processed foods, NOT taste. But depends on the place (I generally have a rule of forgoing baked goods unless homebaked by me or someone I know, not for health reasons, but because it acts as a limiter. Luckily I am lazy and enjoy cooking more than baking, even when bingeing on that British Baking Show.) ;-)

    Anyway, I do weird things to limit calories, so absolutely don't criticize others who do similar things (or different weird things). My only criticism is of the idea that just being "processed" saying anything about the nutritional content of a food, makes the food "unhealthy" or "bad," or makes it somehow harder to overeat (or in some cases more delicious than homemade, which I just think is false, period). Also, and this is really significant to me, people who choose not to eat these foods (whatever ones are being discussed) looking down on people who do or proclaiming in various threads that others should cut out processed foods or suggesting that people who don't don't care about health make me angry, as it's not true, and often the people who include some packaged foods of the type being called processed have overall HEALTHIER diets, in part because for them the foods make it easier. And the folks (often newbies) going on about processed foods not only (from what I see) often ARE eating them, but are lacking other things important in a healthful diet, like more than a bare minimum of vegetables.

    I think abundance and availability and a food culture that promotes constant eating (often of snack foods) is related to the presence of lots of shelf-stable, tasty foods, but does not mean that those foods are somehow less healthful than homemade counterparts would be or in themselves (vs. being overeaten) causing obesity.
  • Jonesuna64
    Jonesuna64 Posts: 233 Member
    Heather4448 wrote: »
    Jonesuna64 wrote: »
    What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

    Eat Less
    Exercise

    BURN THE WITCH!

    :)
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,937 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    ...also, trying to lift one's breasts to "deduct " them from one's weight is hard to do. It involves a towel rack and some scale-dancing and it looks utterly ridiculous.


    A friend told me. :neutral:

    Bwaaahahaha!! You win the internet!! One of the greatest post evah!
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    ...also, trying to lift one's breasts to "deduct " them from one's weight is hard to do. It involves a towel rack and some scale-dancing and it looks utterly ridiculous.


    A friend told me. :neutral:

    Wouldn't using a kitchen scale while seated be more useful?
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