ever notice how eating healthy isnt the norm?

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I think it is so wierd that eating healthy and "right" for our bodies is not the normal thing to do..

Why do people sometimes assume that just because your eating healthy your trying to lose weight.. why can I just not enjoy eating that way?

Yeah I am trying to get back on track and lose weight now. But even when I was just eating normal for myself I had people ask if I was on a diet? what the heckk

I guess it just bothers me that sometimes it is assumed if you eat veggies and fruits and dont like chowing down on a steak and dont drink soda your "on a diet"
I think it is a bit ridiculous and ignorant.

If someone is eating healthier than the general population.. I think it shows they are just more aware and educated on what goes into their body. Those people actually know the consquences food can have on our bodies and health (not just weight). I am by no means a health guru, but since learning more about all the foods out there I like to know what i am putting into my body.. it the only one i have and i want to take good care of it.
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Replies

  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
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    That is soooo true. The media pushes so much unhealthy junk foods and marketing is geared to promote it everywhere you look, that is the norm now. All the garbage they put in the foods, and people are amazed that most of the general population is overweight with multiple health issues????

    When you go to the supermarket what do you see, junk junk and more junk plus lots of overweight people. When you go to WholeFoods Market (an organic/natural supermaket/deli) the norm there are slender people. I like that norm way better!!!
  • sabrinafaith
    sabrinafaith Posts: 607 Member
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    Yeah, I completely agree with you. I don't eat processed foods or refined sugar and I hate fast food and junk. I don't like the way my body feels after eating that stuff even. It feels bloated and lethargic and gross. I don't even understand how people could want to eat french fries or pizza or a bag of chips. It just doesn't appeal to me.

    Now if someone put a big bowl of berries in front of me... WOW! that would disappear fast! lol
  • eriny
    eriny Posts: 1,509 Member
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    DITTO HERE !! just this morning asked was i on a diet ?? did not want to eat a kolace
  • csingleton24
    csingleton24 Posts: 235 Member
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    I concur! And why is it people feel like they have to say "ignore what I'm eating!" or "Don't say anything about my eating McDonalds" or "I didn't have time to make dinner" or something like that. Like you are all up on their business on what they are eating because you eat healthy. I sometimes feel like others feel guilty or something for eating crappy around me. Almost like I'm the health police or something! I don't care what they eat! If they are feeling guilty about it then obviously they know it's not good for them. It's almost like they are making excuses for their food choice.
  • gvcgoldmedal
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    Yea you are completely right. I don't think I've ever eaten completely healthy, always skimmed the lines. But I have coworkers asking whats up when I have a salad for lunch instead of a burger piled high with everything you shouldn't eat. Another thing to point out that its largely our culture. Other cultures don't view eating healthy the way we do. Its too bad really.

    Its funny though, now that I am making an effort to eat healthy 95% of the time, I notice how often I wasn't eating healthy.

    -Matt
  • Michellerw1
    Michellerw1 Posts: 367
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    Such a good point!

    I always eat healthy, and even before I did people at my office always commented on my "weird" food, like homemade hummus and carrot sticks. Pretty normal stuff to me...
  • JensLogin
    JensLogin Posts: 74
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    Agreed. We live in a "super-sized" society and our statistics on obesity prove it. It is absolutely horrific the amount of food we as Americans eat. We have completely forgotten what portion control is and both adults and children alike are paying for it with their health. Recently, Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef - because he cooks clean!) ran a short series on TV called, The Food Revolution (You can see the videos online). His goal was to transform the school district in the city that was documented as the fattest city in America in a recent study. You wouldn't believe the standards these schools must abide by based on FEDERAL standards. For instance, they have to have so many vegetables in each meal. Great, right? NO - tell me why they count pizza sauce and french fries in the vegetable count? Again, these are FEDERAL standards the schools must abide by. The food is frozen and processed with very little fresh anything. It makes it that much more important to education ourselves and our children in our homes about eating proper nutrition, clearly they are not getting anywhere else!

    I choose to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, as well as keep a vigorous fitness routine. I love the way it makes me feel and I have so much more energy when I eat right! Although, the thought of not having an occasional slice of pizza would make me too sad. I just try to do it in a more healthy way! :wink:

    Have a good one!
  • khskr1
    khskr1 Posts: 392
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    Don't even get me started on trying to clip coupons for healthy food! They don't exist! But if I want some "food like substances" I can save up to $1.00 each! LOL
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    Absolutely right. I just spoke with the nutritionist on campus. We were talking about how to maintain a healthy weight without feeling the need to count every calorie or become too obsessive (I know myself and I know this is a danger for me). Anyway, she remarked that just "paying attention" to what you eat and making healthy choices can sometimes be viewed by the larger society as disordered eating or not "normal" but then she said "But look around at all the people who aren't paying attention. We've made it nearly impossible to maintain a healthy weight without at least paying a little attention to it."
  • Holton
    Holton Posts: 1,018
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    I just think this speaks strongly about where we are in society with fast foods. Growing up on a farm (50 odd years ago), fast food was not even in our vocabulary, so everyone ate healthy (if you can get beyond the fact that everything was fried!). We raised our own meat, we fished, we grew our own vegetables, so every night our plates were filled with healthy choices (and I assure you the kids ate the same thing as the adults or they didn't eat!). We now live in a "super size, right now" society that doesn't want to wait for anything and feels entitled to receive as much as something as possible. We have become gluttons in general. I think you are right on target with your remarks and it is a shame that those of us who are choosing our foods more carefully these days are sometimes the ones oogled for being strange!
  • kaittx13
    kaittx13 Posts: 88 Member
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    Im so glad to see there are actually others out there that think "wierd" like me.
    Good point on the Whole Foods vs. Grocery Store...it is soo true. It irriates me sometimes when i cant find something at the grocery store that i think is normal. Since their "organic/healthy" section is so small. Shouldn't that part of the store be larger since that is how we are suppose to eat?


    Oh yeahh our culture has definitly "super sized" everything and tries to force feed all of us crap! Especially with all the marketing and advertsment geared toward kids. Yeah the Government if anything is part of the problem. They dont do enough to help.
    They subsidize farmers who grow corn.. it is amazing how much corn the U.S. grows. Guess where is goes? Into all the refined food that is eaten. Alot of the corn in made into high-frutose corn syrup. blehhh.

    Ohh its amazing all the things that are hidden in our food.

    Its good to hear information, ideas and opinions of others.

    Thanks. Hope everyone enjoys beating the norm :)
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
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    I'll take a meal from 1930 anyday (lard and all, baby...oh yeah) over most of the "meals" that pass as dinner in today's society.

    I guess there's nothing wrong with being busy and running here and there, but I always hear all these excuses from family and friends who eat a lot of processed foods - the "ugh, but I don't have time to make healthy food" or "well, pizza isn't that bad, right?" or "it says healthy on the label!" and it sort of makes me want to pound my head on the wall. I probably spend more time than the average person in the kitchen, but that's because I think of cooking as a hobby. I do know, though, on weeks when I'm short of time, I prepare things ahead of time and leave them in the fridge. Really ain't that hard.

    But I tell people that and they get uppity in my face (still) about how they don't have time to be healthy like that and it's going overboard. They'd rather go out and get "normal" meals at restaurants, because hey it's only the 4th time that week they went out to dinner, right? I get condescending looks if I get a large salad for a meal or meat with vegetable only. I mean, nevermind the fact I'm sitting there eating an 8 ounce ribeye, I'm a friggin weirdo for not getting a pile of mashed potatoes.

    So yeah, whatever. Screw 'em.
  • tn2010
    tn2010 Posts: 228 Member
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    I've been gradually trying to become more of a locavore (eating mostly local foods) and have had some really huge eye-opening experiences. My husband and I are very busy people, both teachers and musicians, with 2 kids and a busy social life. We found ourselves eating out a lot, especially when one or both of us would come home from work, pick up the kids, and then race off again to teach a night class or run a rehearsal. When our lives slowed down a little bit we came up with a game plan for eating healthier. So, now we set the bread maker to have wheat pizza crust ready when we get home, the crock pot with a hearty soup, or we go to a local restaurant with local ingredients (we're lucky enough to have that around here). Recently we were on a road trip and found ourselves hungry for dinner around 10 pm. We pulled into a Burger King and my hubby got a Whopper meal and I got a Jr. Whopper meal. We took one bite of our fries and decided they weren't worth it. Such a great feeling to say "no" to something that 6 months ago we would have happily gorged on.

    I love to cook and regularly bring leftovers to work. I love it when my colleagues see my lunch and say, "did you MAKE that?!?" Or when they see my bread and ask, "Where did you get that?" (I make all my own bread). I had a colleague comment on the CSA we both belong to, saying that she'd been using vegetables she'd never even heard of before. I commented that I agreed...I loved the salad turnips and the garlic scapes. And she said, "Oh, I meant all the zucchini." Wow...I thought everyone ate zucchini!
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    "ugh, but I don't have time to make healthy food"

    this is my favorite coming from people who watch television.
  • Dreamerlove
    Dreamerlove Posts: 441 Member
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    Watch FOOD INC, if you want to know whats in your food....creepy!
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    Oh yeahh our culture has definitly "super sized" everything and tries to force feed all of us crap!

    last week my bf & i rode our bikes out to our csa farm to check it out. on the way back we spotted a handmade ice cream joint, so we thought "well, we biked uphill for 3 hours, why not?" i ordered a medium cone for each of us and she said "we only have small or large" so i went with two smalls.

    it had 3 scoops of ice cream teetering on a sugar cone. when i saw it, i was like "my god, this is the small??" it was enormous.

    now, don't get me wrong, i ate lovingly every single scrap, but the point is i was expecting something like 1 healthy scoop. but when it came out to be that much more, i was like "damn, i'm so glad i didn't order the large."
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    Not sure if anyone here is familiar with Dave Ramsey. I appreciate his no nonsense approach to getting/staying out of debt. He always says "You don't want to be normal because normal is BROKE!"

    Well, you can look around and make an equivalent statement when it comes to "normal" eating. :wink:
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    " i ordered a medium cone for each of us and she said "we only have small or large" so i went with two smalls.

    OMG. Don't even get me started on ridiculous portion sizes. But at least she didn't say "We only have medium and large." WHAT? Doesn't a binary system make one the "small" by default? Super-sized society, indeed!
  • kaittx13
    kaittx13 Posts: 88 Member
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    I have wanted to see Food, inc. ever since it was in theathers! yeah i heard it was umm..really informative. lol
    I have read Fast Food Nation and Skinny *****.. both of them talk about whats in our foods.
    I usually read articles in yahoo!health, they also talk about what food has in it.. It so interesting. I think i read that Baskin Robins shakes have like 50 ingredients in them. CRAZYY!
  • 1Steph1
    1Steph1 Posts: 145
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    Watch FOOD INC, if you want to know whats in your food....creepy!

    LOVED this movie! And super size me too :)