Our culture is set up for obesity.
Replies
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Prepared food is also quite affordable. I remember when I was a kid, dining out was a luxury. Fast food was available, but the portion sizes were much, much smaller. In high school I worked at McDonald's. A happy meal drink was 8oz. and the kids could choose milk, orange or apple juice instead of soda. They offered small beverages, those were 12 ounces (it was .50-60 cents). If you were to hand an American consumer a 12 ounce soft drink (with ice) he or she would freak out at the tiny size today.
On the other hand, most families had a stay-at-home mom. We could live off of one income with blue collar service work as the wages hadn't become depressed yet. I knew men who had retail jobs at clothing stores or as grocery checkers making $15-17 an hour with bennies back in the 1980's.
Today, blue collar workers have to have two incomes to see any kind of reasonable lifestyle. Even construction workers, who once made some of the best union wages, are only earning $10-12 and hour in the private sector, and that is a skilled job that requires heavy labor.
We are exhausted and broke. So we'll call for Chinese or pizza delivery. Then we get fat.
Portion size is only one piece of the puzzle. I agree with the OP that our whole society is set up for obesity.
Very good observations. I second this, and everything OP said. Yes, each individual has control over what s/he chooses to eat and do, but isn't it messed up how we have to fight against our culture to be healthy?
The wage observations are also important, but could go off into a whole other topic...0 -
And why think control negates cultural influence...because it does.
Impossible. If control negates cultural influence, then there is no such thing as cultural influence, because any cultural influence can be controlled. And if there is no cultural influence, there is nothing to negate.
The very fact that personal responsibility and control must come into play proves cultural influence.
Thank you.0 -
Wow this is a tough room today! I thankfully was not a member of the clean plate club. My parents gave up on that pretty quickly because I ate so darn slow. With my kids the only real rules I have are,you must eat your veggies. If you have room for a treat or dessert you have room for the rest of your dinner before.
That said I am a stay at home mom I cook probably 99% of our meals. So my kids have learned to eat the way people always have. But food companies have added salts and sugars to all of out foods. The better they taste the more you eat the more you buy. Not everybody out there has that natural turn off switch that tells us to stop eating. I don't. It is something I struggle with everyday. I have had to train myself to recocnize the full feeling. Everyone around me keeps telling me I don't need to lose anymore weight. I am at the moment the smallest adult woman I know. Here is the issue I am still 26 lbs away from a healthy weight. It's all in preception.
Recently I talked so someone who's son is obese. He is 7 years old and is 110lbs, and they think it is ok to give their child an entire big bag of chips to eat. My family makes that same bag of chips last almost a week and I have myself my husband my 2 grown stepsons and my 4 kids. It's all in what you allow to happen in your life. It comes down to what your learned from your parents, life experience, and finally genetics you know the 70% lifestyle and 30% genetics?
1) Portions are just to big
2) preceptipn of healthy weight is way off because everybody is big
3) Our is to processed that nobody knows what real food is supposed to taste like anymore.
4) genetics people that gained weight easily lived through times of famine0 -
In the case of a dual earner couple, they are both tired as H when they get home.
In the case of a SAHP-working parent, you would think the SAHP would find ample time during the day to cook with clean foods, especially after children are 5 and in the arms of the school until 3:00pm.
But it is not necessarily the way it's working out for many such couples. ;-)
Again, though, that is all excuses. It is only this way because it's the way people want it to be. It's one thing to resort to a 99 cent box of pasta instead of making your own... but it doesn't take that much longer to whip up some tacos instead of going to Taco Bell. AND the caloric value of those homemade tacos are better.
Same with stating that eating at home is "being a hermit"... um, not really. Invite a friend over or two over and make it pot-luck like. Will, yes, we may have a push from the food establishments to "eat, eat, eat"... that doesn't mean we have to listen.0 -
I am all for personal responsibility when it comes to weight loss. But, one has to acknowledge how crazily our culture is set up in making it an upstream swim much of the time.
A favorite topic of mine - thank you for bringing it up and yes, I WILL take the time to post even though I have none. So I will make.
Like you, I DO understand perfectly well that I need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for my own weight and simply make choices within the constraints of the culture that is indeed SET UP for obesity. Or else.
Sometimes though I feel that the culture is not just "set up" for obesity but it is "conspiratorily" set up for obesity!! I wouldn't put it past the Powers that Be.
While I am making all the choices that I can possibly make, within the constraints of my personal situation, to fight the culture that is set up this way and to maintain a healthy weight, I really do believe that pointing at those cultural determinants and making people AWARE of them does not mean "whining, complaining, blaming others for your own shortcomings" and other "blame the victim" junk that Americans usually adore passing around.
It simply helps people fight back - not just with personal choices but politically too - at least this is what you would hope would happen eventually.
After reading tons of articles on obesity from Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and other cross-disciplinary fields - I could count a million ways in which the culture has become set up for obesity. Unfortunately, large portion sizes and a Mc at every corner is just the tip of the iceberg.
- The entire culture has engineered activity out of people's lives in the name of convenience and comfort (from something as simple as remote-control TV-s and buttons-everything to going everywhere by car or HAVING TO drive everywhere given time constraints, to no sidewalks and attractive public venues where people could go for strolls like Europeans do, etc). In order to move enough in this culture, you have to carve out special time during the day and turn it into an efficient task at the gym. This demand will compete with the million other demands that the average person has in this society - so good luck keeping it up and making "MOVING" the queen of all other priorities. Having grown up elsewhere, among people who were all thin despite nobody EVER exercising formally at a gym ...this part is all too clear.
- The Internet, Smart phones and other gadgetry is sucking spare-time out of our day like a sponge is sucking water.
- The TV is a classic.
- Women no longer cook, whether because they are "career women" or just SAHM-s who believe that it is more important to haul jrs. to 1 million organized activities during the day than stay at home to cut up onions. This is largely perceived as "non-sexy, backward, heck even oppressive". Never mind those who get the kids in the bus at 7:30 am so the rest of the day can be dedicated to volunteering at school, shopping, scrap-booking - anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
The bottom line is, career or not, American women on average, no longer cook; or they believe that slapping together some convenience foods qualifies as cooking. For the gender sensitive, if you ask why I only "blame" women for this and not men - I am not blaming anyone. I am simply pointing that half of the population that used to cook checked out of this task and it's not like the other half checked in, rightfully or wrongfully so. Cooking has been outsourced - genie is out of the bottle. It is simply the way it has worked out, gender justice or not.
- The crap the the food industry puts in all of these convenience foods, take-outs or even restaurant food is surreal - from the tons of sugar and corn syrup to 1 million things you can't pronounce, to hormones in milk that makes girls get their periods at 9 and fibroids the size of the New Year's Eve NY apple at 40 ...and balloon like crazy by the time they are 18... ending up with a hanging-type belly that is recognizably American...you get the idea.
- The incredibly fast-paced lives with one million demands and obligations pulling the average Joe in all directions: overload in work-demands, children's school demands, children's activities demands, housework demands, groceries shopping demands, commuting demands, technology that acts as the most insidious time-thief despite having proclaimed the very opposite - to save people time...as well as going crazy over sets of "choices", the list could go on. Some of these demands can be very small *(such as sorting through papers from school or signing papers to send back to school). But between the 1 million big demands (such as work projects), the 1 million medium demands, and the 1 million small demands...people deal with an endless "to do" list that is simply eating away at their quality of life, places them in a constant state of stress, anxiety and restlessness, reduced authentic companionship and leads, for many, to overeating as a way of coping with stress.
- The non-social manner in which Americans tend to eat: fast, efficiently, often at their desks, often alone, often at midnight snacking on "feel good" foods to accompany some action movie, without any conversation or human interaction that help slow down the pace of eating.
- And what to make of those families needing to work 2-3 miserable jobs just to get by in today's society? Or those who have only one job that requires increasing over-time and energy (both physical and mental) so they can compete with zealous co-workers?
- What of genetically modified everything, chickens as big as ostriches (how in the world do they get them like that I will never understand), etc.
The list could go on - and on - and on.
I have met many people who react negatively when they see fat people - as if these unfortunate souls are begging to be hated given their "poor, poor, despicable personal choices".
When I visit back in my country, I hear many people talking condescendingly about how fat Americans are.
Having lived here for over a decade and having become, at some point, decently fat myself, I feel nothing but compassion towards fat individuals because I know how one gets there and I also know they are largely victims of a culture designed to F them up.
Now this culture of obesity is spreading elsewhere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL3iT5MMdQ
.... though I don't think it will ever have the virulent effects it has had here given some local traditions and ways of life that still linger and hopefully will for a while.
Now back to demands.
So men can't cook?! B.S
This is what you got out of this?
They can - but they don't. :-)
It's not like you have men cooking at the same rate as the 1950's housewives were doing.
Do differentiate between how things "SHOULD or COULD be' and how things actually ARE.
Of course your correct.
I just have trouble stomaching your self righteous attitude. My bad.
Self-righteous because I point to the cultural ugliness that has caused masses of people to become mountains of fat? Really? But those who blame fat individuals for making "bad choices" are not self-righteous.
You have it straightened out.
Like I said, many of your points are correct and I agree with them, I still don't have to like your manner of delivery
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anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
If that takes "A LOT of time," it's being done wrong.
BS.
Even the simplest meals can take a significant amount of time...between taking out containers, peeling or preparing the fresh food, and cleaning up, putting dishes away, etc. Do remember I also assume you cook economically. For example I never buy chicken breasts because I want them organic and organic chicken breasts are expensive as H.
So I buy whole organic chickens that come out less expensive, and I butcher them myself.
I can assure you that takes a significant chunk of time - just to get the meat ready for cooking.
I do not buy organic, but I regularly buy whole chickens and butcher them. I would recommend OAMC for you if you have a day with a large time block you can devote to this.
That being said, most of my meals can be completed within an hour, prep and cook time included, if I am starting with no prep.0 -
I also have traveled quite a bit all over the world and no where have I seen anything like the USA. It's refreshing that when you eat out in say, Scotland, they actually serve proper portions and you leave feeling full and happy, but not completely stuffed. Often, even, you actually have room for coffee and dessert, which is also properly portioned.
Below is a photo from the website of a restaurant just round the corner from me. That's what I'd term a normal portion size and you're right, generally if we're eating out over here we can manage a pudding or coffee. To me, if food is heaped on a plate it stops being enjoyable and becomes 'fuel'.
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My issue with calling it a Cultural Issue is that it tends to lessen the responsibility of the individual.
That's fallacious thinking. Issues can have both individual and cultural ramifications. To dismiss the myriad of cultural implications of the "obesity epidemic", in my opinion, is as absurd a claim as saying that personal responsibility plays no role.
Second.
It amazes me to see how many people feel so offended and personally threatened if anyone points to systemic conditions - as if becoming aware of them will suddenly paralyze all of us and turn us into "there's nothing I can do about it " deflated plastic dolls - "'cause it's the culture".
Yes - IT IS the culture and understanding the culture will help you play the cards you do have the right way.
Relying strictly on personal choices when you don't even know about all the choices you must make in order to dodge the cultural bullet - now that's irresponsible as far as I'm concerned.
Very much fallacious thinking, indeed.0 -
I am all for personal responsibility when it comes to weight loss. But, one has to acknowledge how crazily our culture is set up in making it an upstream swim much of the time.
A favorite topic of mine - thank you for bringing it up and yes, I WILL take the time to post even though I have none. So I will make.
Like you, I DO understand perfectly well that I need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for my own weight and simply make choices within the constraints of the culture that is indeed SET UP for obesity. Or else.
Sometimes though I feel that the culture is not just "set up" for obesity but it is "conspiratorily" set up for obesity!! I wouldn't put it past the Powers that Be.
While I am making all the choices that I can possibly make, within the constraints of my personal situation, to fight the culture that is set up this way and to maintain a healthy weight, I really do believe that pointing at those cultural determinants and making people AWARE of them does not mean "whining, complaining, blaming others for your own shortcomings" and other "blame the victim" junk that Americans usually adore passing around.
It simply helps people fight back - not just with personal choices but politically too - at least this is what you would hope would happen eventually.
After reading tons of articles on obesity from Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and other cross-disciplinary fields - I could count a million ways in which the culture has become set up for obesity. Unfortunately, large portion sizes and a Mc at every corner is just the tip of the iceberg.
- The entire culture has engineered activity out of people's lives in the name of convenience and comfort (from something as simple as remote-control TV-s and buttons-everything to going everywhere by car or HAVING TO drive everywhere given time constraints, to no sidewalks and attractive public venues where people could go for strolls like Europeans do, etc). In order to move enough in this culture, you have to carve out special time during the day and turn it into an efficient task at the gym. This demand will compete with the million other demands that the average person has in this society - so good luck keeping it up and making "MOVING" the queen of all other priorities. Having grown up elsewhere, among people who were all thin despite nobody EVER exercising formally at a gym ...this part is all too clear.
- The Internet, Smart phones and other gadgetry is sucking spare-time out of our day like a sponge is sucking water.
- The TV is a classic.
- Women no longer cook, whether because they are "career women" or just SAHM-s who believe that it is more important to haul jrs. to 1 million organized activities during the day than stay at home to cut up onions. This is largely perceived as "non-sexy, backward, heck even oppressive". Never mind those who get the kids in the bus at 7:30 am so the rest of the day can be dedicated to volunteering at school, shopping, scrap-booking - anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
The bottom line is, career or not, American women on average, no longer cook; or they believe that slapping together some convenience foods qualifies as cooking. For the gender sensitive, if you ask why I only "blame" women for this and not men - I am not blaming anyone. I am simply pointing that half of the population that used to cook checked out of this task and it's not like the other half checked in, rightfully or wrongfully so. Cooking has been outsourced - genie is out of the bottle. It is simply the way it has worked out, gender justice or not.
- The crap the the food industry puts in all of these convenience foods, take-outs or even restaurant food is surreal - from the tons of sugar and corn syrup to 1 million things you can't pronounce, to hormones in milk that makes girls get their periods at 9 and fibroids the size of the New Year's Eve NY apple at 40 ...and balloon like crazy by the time they are 18... ending up with a hanging-type belly that is recognizably American...you get the idea.
- The incredibly fast-paced lives with one million demands and obligations pulling the average Joe in all directions: overload in work-demands, children's school demands, children's activities demands, housework demands, groceries shopping demands, commuting demands, technology that acts as the most insidious time-thief despite having proclaimed the very opposite - to save people time...as well as going crazy over sets of "choices", the list could go on. Some of these demands can be very small *(such as sorting through papers from school or signing papers to send back to school). But between the 1 million big demands (such as work projects), the 1 million medium demands, and the 1 million small demands...people deal with an endless "to do" list that is simply eating away at their quality of life, places them in a constant state of stress, anxiety and restlessness, reduced authentic companionship and leads, for many, to overeating as a way of coping with stress.
- The non-social manner in which Americans tend to eat: fast, efficiently, often at their desks, often alone, often at midnight snacking on "feel good" foods to accompany some action movie, without any conversation or human interaction that help slow down the pace of eating.
- And what to make of those families needing to work 2-3 miserable jobs just to get by in today's society? Or those who have only one job that requires increasing over-time and energy (both physical and mental) so they can compete with zealous co-workers?
- What of genetically modified everything, chickens as big as ostriches (how in the world do they get them like that I will never understand), etc.
The list could go on - and on - and on.
I have met many people who react negatively when they see fat people - as if these unfortunate souls are begging to be hated given their "poor, poor, despicable personal choices".
When I visit back in my country, I hear many people talking condescendingly about how fat Americans are.
Having lived here for over a decade and having become, at some point, decently fat myself, I feel nothing but compassion towards fat individuals because I know how one gets there and I also know they are largely victims of a culture designed to F them up.
Now this culture of obesity is spreading elsewhere:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL3iT5MMdQ
.... though I don't think it will ever have the virulent effects it has had here given some local traditions and ways of life that still linger and hopefully will for a while.
Now back to demands.
So men can't cook?! B.S
This is what you got out of this?
They can - but they don't. :-)
It's not like you have men cooking at the same rate as the 1950's housewives were doing.
Do differentiate between how things "SHOULD or COULD be' and how things actually ARE.
Of course your correct.
I just have trouble stomaching your self righteous attitude. My bad.
Self-righteous because I point to the cultural ugliness that has caused masses of people to become mountains of fat? Really? But those who blame fat individuals for making "bad choices" are not self-righteous.
You have it straightened out.
Like I said, many of your points are correct and I agree with them, I still don't have to like your manner of delivery
You don't have to.0 -
Could people please stop trying to make all the drink sizes smaller? I drink unsweet tea and sometimes I need more than a swallow. They do sell things other than cokes.It always blows my mind when I go to get a burger at a fast food place, and I order the smallest one there, on it's own, but then want to share a "large" drink with my boyfriend - and the "large" drink is always twice the size that I think it's going to be (other than at a few select places).
Just so you know, I didn't say I got a coke. I meant I mostly see others doing it. And I was referring to fast-food chains only (and I'm not 100% certain, but the sizes of hot drinks/caffeinated drinks are all smaller than the sizes of the cold drinks to begin with)
And I don't know where you go to get your tea, but any large-chain coffee place I've gone to has not decreased their sizes but increased them. Maybe you should get your tea elsewhere if you think the size is too small?0 -
More and more places also seem to be offering full and half sizes of many entrees.
Speaking as a Brit here, that seems like a really good idea, although I haven't seen it over here.
I wish more restaurants/cafes would show the calorie counts on menus. Yes, quite a few do now, but even more would help.
Also I like the idea of taking a tub to save the leftovers.
I've not seen that done in England, but think I would like to be brave enough to try.
I don't eat out very often, but these 3 thoughts would make it easier.0 -
You know, a couple weekends ago, I made homemade sauce (with pureed yellow squash and zucchini added) and put together a lasagna-like casserole (used whole wheat ziti, part skim mozzarella and part skim ricotta) that was low-cal and incredibly healthy.
I made the sauce and threw two regular-sized and one half-sized casseroles together, froze one of the large ones and baked the other two. That low-cal, healthy, wonderful meal fed three of us dinner for more than a week.
Did one day of prep take a bit of time? Sure. But then I had all those evenings freed up when it was done. I eat salad for lunch nearly every day -- takes about five minutes to put together the night before. I even chop my own onions. I have this thing they call a food processor (and it wasn't expensive). I did two last night in five minutes.
Yes, look at all that time it takes to make healthy meals.0 -
I also have traveled quite a bit all over the world and no where have I seen anything like the USA. It's refreshing that when you eat out in say, Scotland, they actually serve proper portions and you leave feeling full and happy, but not completely stuffed. Often, even, you actually have room for coffee and dessert, which is also properly portioned.
Below is a photo from the website of a restaurant just round the corner from me. That's what I'd term a normal portion size and you're right, generally if we're eating out over here we can manage a pudding or coffee. To me, if food is heaped on a plate it stops being enjoyable and becomes 'fuel'.
And here is a meal I recently had at a small plates restaurant. Small portions you just have to order more plates
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1015910-what-do-your-meals-look-like-show-me-pictures?hl=serpico&page=10#posts-157388080 -
Must we always blame someone or something for our own lack of control? I LIKE the large portions and the ability to take some home for lunch the next day.
don't you know? It is always someone else's fault...
You did not get fat by overeating, you got fat because society wanted you to be fat...0 -
Could people please stop trying to make all the drink sizes smaller? I drink unsweet tea and sometimes I need more than a swallow. They do sell things other than cokes.It always blows my mind when I go to get a burger at a fast food place, and I order the smallest one there, on it's own, but then want to share a "large" drink with my boyfriend - and the "large" drink is always twice the size that I think it's going to be (other than at a few select places).
Just so you know, I didn't say I got a coke. I meant I mostly see others doing it. And I was referring to fast-food chains only (and I'm not 100% certain, but the sizes of hot drinks/caffeinated drinks are all smaller than the sizes of the cold drinks to begin with)
And I don't know where you go to get your tea, but any large-chain coffee place I've gone to has not decreased their sizes but increased them. Maybe you should get your tea elsewhere if you think the size is too small?
I believe she is talking iced tea and not hot tea. Iced tea is generally served in similar sizes to the carbonated beverages.0 -
I agree with you...Portion sizes are WAY out of control. Also, foods that seems like they should be healthy are not always the best options. For example, salads are often full of high fat, high calorie ingredients. I went to Chic-Fil-A with my kids, and was shocked to find that a grilled chicken wrap with dressing and a small fry was 1000 calories. I thought I was doing well with the chicken wrap, but it was a crazy number of calories. You really have to do your research.0
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The clever marketing strategies that sold the idea that "more is good" and led to the fat epidemic
Here is the history of bigger portion and the profits earned by big food. Great Entertainment.
The Men who Made us Fat Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLNbwNMtXQ0
right..so marketing made people fat, not overeating...got ya...0 -
anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
If that takes "A LOT of time," it's being done wrong.
BS.
Even the simplest meals can take a significant amount of time...between taking out containers, peeling or preparing the fresh food, and cleaning up, putting dishes away, etc. Do remember I also assume you cook economically. For example I never buy chicken breasts because I want them organic and organic chicken breasts are expensive as H.
So I buy whole organic chickens that come out less expensive, and I butcher them myself.
I can assure you that takes a significant chunk of time - just to get the meat ready for cooking.
Haha and then you wonder why people don't want to do it?
Why would any women or man at that want to spend so much time in the kitchen when they could be playing with their children,at the gym or working their job.
No, cooking time can be kept to a minimum, especially with simple meals.
You don't have to...in a span of 6 hours on a Saturday I can have made at least a winters supply of homemade spagetti sauce from organic veggies grown in my own garden plus have the fresh pasta made and frozen to go with said sauce and fresh strawberry rhubarb pies x4 made and frozen as well never mind the homemad bread in the ver...that above all sounds like someone who can't organize their time well....0 -
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I agree with the OPs premise.
It is one reason I hate eating out. I think sometimes while standing in line at Starbucks, it would be nice to have a muffin or something, with my coffee, then I see them, and I think Jesus f'ing Christ. I don't need all that. Just a small couple of bites with my coffee is all I need, not a heart attack.
Restaurants serve way too much food, but it's what people want. Read Yelp reviews. Within the first two sentences, portion size is always mentioned. As if many of them know what a portion size is supposed to look like. Yes, you can always take it home, but I don't want it. And, often, many food taste like crap later. Mexican food does not taste good the next day, as an example. Hamburgers taste like crap the next day. The reason I mention hamburgers is because monstrous 1 lb hamburgers are becoming a thing now at Gastro pubs. They are probably 1500 calorie burgers, maybe more, I don't know. It's really out of hand.
I don't eat out often anymore because of this oversize problem. I just want normal portions of food to eat. Why does a sandwich have to be stacked higher than my mouth can open? That's just stupid nonsense. Why does my portion of fries have to be enough to feed 6 people? It's really crazy.
Totally. One time I went to this place just to get a little thing of fries. They displayed a maybe 4-5 oz cup they put the fries into, and I thought that was okay for my meal. But after I pay and they hand me the bag, I found not only that cup filled with fries, but the bag itself is almost half way filled with fries! I hate reheating fries, had to go somewhere, and ended up throwing the rest away. My mom would have killed me for wasting food, but seriously, they saw that I was just one little person... so why did I need half a bag of fries?!0 -
You know, a couple weekends ago, I made homemade sauce (with pureed yellow squash and zucchini added) and put together a lasagna-like casserole (used whole wheat ziti, part skim mozzarella and part skim ricotta) that was low-cal and incredibly healthy.
I made the sauce and threw two regular-sized and one half-sized casseroles together, froze one of the large ones and baked the other two. That low-cal, healthy, wonderful meal fed three of us dinner for more than a week.
Did one day of prep take a bit of time? Sure. But then I had all those evenings freed up when it was done. I eat salad for lunch nearly every day -- takes about five minutes to put together the night before. I even chop my own onions. I have this thing they call a food processor (and it wasn't expensive). I did two last night in five minutes.
Yes, look at all that time it takes to make healthy meals.
I wanna try one of those chop wizards so I can cut my cooking time down a few minutes.0 -
I agree that our culture is set up for obesity, and its not just the restaurant portions! Like others have said, we are overworked and overscheduled, without enough time to cook or exercise, yet somehow, a cost effective, nutritious alternative to cooking has not evolved. Other than at a salad store (expensive!), I don't know anywhere where you can go and get a plate that is 1/2 healthy veggies, 1/4 starch, and 1/4 lean protein.
I cook for my family 5-6 nights per week, and I plan out balanced dinners. But go to any restaurant and you're getting lots of carbs, almost no veggies, and the meat... sometimes okay, but more often than not has some kind of sauce, or is cooked in a way that introduces a lot of fat.
I find it very frustrating that I have to choose between, say, working out, or eating healthy, because after work, doing homework with the kids and running to a soccer game, I simply do not have the time and energy to both cook and hit the gym. Needless to say, I usually end up cooking and skipping the gym, because who would want to work out with a belly full of pizza!
You will find plenty of people who will tell you that you're doing everything the wrong way, you have bad time management skills or something that will somehow manage to dump the load on your virtue-less head and not on the structure of the world within which you live your life.
And then of course, you will still have to make choices because the darn restaurant is not changing their way of serving foods, so it's on us.
Saying "no" to some projects at work, if possible... and if that doesn't involve losing the job; or to some children's activities (this is a fertile area for cutting back as most will hardly benefit kids in any significant way over the long term), etc can be a start.
But being aware of the range of choices you can or cannot make is important.
I completely understand what you mean, good luck to you!0 -
anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
If that takes "A LOT of time," it's being done wrong.
BS.
Even the simplest meals can take a significant amount of time...between taking out containers, peeling or preparing the fresh food, and cleaning up, putting dishes away, etc. Do remember I also assume you cook economically. For example I never buy chicken breasts because I want them organic and organic chicken breasts are expensive as H.
So I buy whole organic chickens that come out less expensive, and I butcher them myself.
I can assure you that takes a significant chunk of time - just to get the meat ready for cooking.
Haha and then you wonder why people don't want to do it?
Why would any women or man at that want to spend so much time in the kitchen when they could be playing with their children,at the gym or working their job.
No, cooking time can be kept to a minimum, especially with simple meals.
You don't have to...in a span of 6 hours on a Saturday I can have made at least a winters supply of homemade spagetti sauce from organic veggies grown in my own garden plus have the fresh pasta made and frozen to go with said sauce and fresh strawberry rhubarb pies x4 made and frozen as well never mind the homemad bread in the ver...that above all sounds like someone who can't organize their time well....
Agreed, that sounds like some good prep work going on there.0 -
I am all for personal responsibility when it comes to weight loss. But, one has to acknowledge how crazily our culture is set up in making it an upstream swim much of the time.
A favorite topic of mine - thank you for bringing it up and yes, I WILL take the time to post even though I have none. So I will make.
Like you, I DO understand perfectly well that I need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for my own weight and simply make choices within the constraints of the culture that is indeed SET UP for obesity. Or else.
Sometimes though I feel that the culture is not just "set up" for obesity but it is "conspiratorily" set up for obesity!! I wouldn't put it past the Powers that Be.
While I am making all the choices that I can possibly make, within the constraints of my personal situation, to fight the culture that is set up this way and to maintain a healthy weight, I really do believe that pointing at those cultural determinants and making people AWARE of them does not mean "whining, complaining, blaming others for your own shortcomings" and other "blame the victim" junk that Americans usually adore passing around.
It simply helps people fight back - not just with personal choices but politically too - at least this is what you would hope would happen eventually.
After reading tons of articles on obesity from Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and other cross-disciplinary fields - I could count a million ways in which the culture has become set up for obesity. Unfortunately, large portion sizes and a Mc at every corner is just the tip of the iceberg.
- The entire culture has engineered activity out of people's lives in the name of convenience and comfort (from something as simple as remote-control TV-s and buttons-everything to going everywhere by car or HAVING TO drive everywhere given time constraints, to no sidewalks and attractive public venues where people could go for strolls like Europeans do, etc). In order to move enough in this culture, you have to carve out special time during the day and turn it into an efficient task at the gym. This demand will compete with the million other demands that the average person has in this society - so good luck keeping it up and making "MOVING" the queen of all other priorities. Having grown up elsewhere, among people who were all thin despite nobody EVER exercising formally at a gym ...this part is all too clear.
- The Internet, Smart phones and other gadgetry is sucking spare-time out of our day like a sponge is sucking water.
- The TV is a classic.
- Women no longer cook, whether because they are "career women" or just SAHM-s who believe that it is more important to haul jrs. to 1 million organized activities during the day than stay at home to cut up onions. This is largely perceived as "non-sexy, backward, heck even oppressive". Never mind those who get the kids in the bus at 7:30 am so the rest of the day can be dedicated to volunteering at school, shopping, scrap-booking - anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
The bottom line is, career or not, American women on average, no longer cook; or they believe that slapping together some convenience foods qualifies as cooking. For the gender sensitive, if you ask why I only "blame" women for this and not men - I am not blaming anyone. I am simply pointing that half of the population that used to cook checked out of this task and it's not like the other half checked in, rightfully or wrongfully so. Cooking has been outsourced - genie is out of the bottle. It is simply the way it has worked out, gender justice or not.
- The crap the the food industry puts in all of these convenience foods, take-outs or even restaurant food is surreal - from the tons of sugar and corn syrup to 1 million things you can't pronounce, to hormones in milk that makes girls get their periods at 9 and fibroids the size of the New Year's Eve NY apple at 40 ...and balloon like crazy by the time they are 18... ending up with a hanging-type belly that is recognizably American...you get the idea.
- The incredibly fast-paced lives with one million demands and obligations pulling the average Joe in all directions: overload in work-demands, children's school demands, children's activities demands, housework demands, groceries shopping demands, commuting demands, technology that acts as the most insidious time-thief despite having proclaimed the very opposite - to save people time...as well as going crazy over sets of "choices", the list could go on. Some of these demands can be very small *(such as sorting through papers from school or signing papers to send back to school). But between the 1 million big demands (such as work projects), the 1 million medium demands, and the 1 million small demands...people deal with an endless "to do" list that is simply eating away at their quality of life, places them in a constant state of stress, anxiety and restlessness, reduced authentic companionship and leads, for many, to overeating as a way of coping with stress.
- The non-social manner in which Americans tend to eat: fast, efficiently, often at their desks, often alone, often at midnight snacking on "feel good" foods to accompany some action movie, without any conversation or human interaction that help slow down the pace of eating.
- And what to make of those families needing to work 2-3 miserable jobs just to get by in today's society? Or those who have only one job that requires increasing over-time and energy (both physical and mental) so they can compete with zealous co-workers?
- What of genetically modified everything, chickens as big as ostriches (how in the world do they get them like that I will never understand), etc.
The list could go on - and on - and on.
I have met many people who react negatively when they see fat people - as if these unfortunate souls are begging to be hated given their "poor, poor, despicable personal choices".
When I visit back in my country, I hear many people talking condescendingly about how fat Americans are.
Having lived here for over a decade and having become, at some point, decently fat myself, I feel nothing but compassion towards fat individuals because I know how one gets there and I also know they are largely victims of a culture designed to F them up.
Now this culture of obesity is spreading elsewhere:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL3iT5MMdQ
.... though I don't think it will ever have the virulent effects it has had here given some local traditions and ways of life that still linger and hopefully will for a while.
Now back to demands.
So men can't cook?! B.S
This is what you got out of this?
They can - but they don't. :-)
It's not like you have men cooking at the same rate as the 1950's housewives were doing.
Do differentiate between how things "SHOULD or COULD be' and how things actually ARE.
Of course your correct.
I just have trouble stomaching your self righteous attitude. My bad.
Self-righteous because I point to the cultural ugliness that has caused masses of people to become mountains of fat? Really? But those who blame fat individuals for making "bad choices" are not self-righteous.
You have it straightened out.
Like I said, many of your points are correct and I agree with them, I still don't have to like your manner of delivery
You don't have to.
Glad that you were able to make some time away from those demands of yours.0 -
I go to restaurants because I like their food, not because of portion sizes...
I was so looknig forward to the "amazing, wonderful, tasty" food when I went on a cruise years ago. Of course, food was readily available 24/7, but it was pretty low-quality, I thought. Even the dinners weren't very good.
This is how I feel when people start talking about the food on cruises.people rave about restaurants, because the portions are "MASSIVE".
I had no trouble not eating too much because of that.0 -
On my recent trip to New Orleans, when I asked for people's recommendations for restaurants, I would get same comment from more than one person -- people rave about restaurants, because the portions are "MASSIVE". I felt that it would be a waste of time to explain to them that "massive" is not necessarily what I am looking for in a meal.
Massive is AWESOME... it means not only do I get dinner that night, but I get lunch the next day too!
Just because it comes to you as a single meal doesn't mean you have to eat it all, or all in 1 meal.
Exactly! I've been known to turn one massive meal into 3.0 -
Exactly.anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
If that takes "A LOT of time," it's being done wrong.
BS.
Even the simplest meals can take a significant amount of time...between taking out containers, peeling or preparing the fresh food, and cleaning up, putting dishes away, etc. Do remember I also assume you cook economically. For example I never buy chicken breasts because I want them organic and organic chicken breasts are expensive as H.
So I buy whole organic chickens that come out less expensive, and I butcher them myself.
I can assure you that takes a significant chunk of time - just to get the meat ready for cooking.
Haha and then you wonder why people don't want to do it?
Why would any women or man at that want to spend so much time in the kitchen when they could be playing with their children,at the gym or working their job.
No, cooking time can be kept to a minimum, especially with simple meals.
You don't have to...in a span of 6 hours on a Saturday I can have made at least a winters supply of homemade spagetti sauce from organic veggies grown in my own garden plus have the fresh pasta made and frozen to go with said sauce and fresh strawberry rhubarb pies x4 made and frozen as well never mind the homemad bread in the ver...that above all sounds like someone who can't organize their time well....
Plus, she's only talking prep time, not the actual time it takes to make a meal. If you choose to butcher your own chicken, sure, it will take longer. But there are other ways that don't.
I always thought it took hours and hours to bake from scratch before I actually learned to do it myself. I make the best apple pie (including crust) any of you will ever have and it takes me about 20 minutes to put it all together, then an hour in the oven. Now, it takes an hour and 20 minutes total, but only 20 minutes of that requires me to be actually working. I don't stand over the oven for 60 minutes.
Also, I can hand-wash an entire day's worth of dishes in 20 minutes.0 -
It is amazing how many people think that preferring an option to purchase a normal single meal when going out for dinner or lunch = wanting to police restaurants.
That an option of being required to purchase 2-3 dinners at that one seating (one fresh and 2 stale ones to take home) is a far more reasonable alternative to so many posters there than a normal portion size And that if this is not my preferred choice, than there is something wrong with me.0 -
I agree that our culture is set up for obesity, and its not just the restaurant portions! Like others have said, we are overworked and overscheduled, without enough time to cook or exercise, yet somehow, a cost effective, nutritious alternative to cooking has not evolved. Other than at a salad store (expensive!), I don't know anywhere where you can go and get a plate that is 1/2 healthy veggies, 1/4 starch, and 1/4 lean protein.
I cook for my family 5-6 nights per week, and I plan out balanced dinners. But go to any restaurant and you're getting lots of carbs, almost no veggies, and the meat... sometimes okay, but more often than not has some kind of sauce, or is cooked in a way that introduces a lot of fat.
I find it very frustrating that I have to choose between, say, working out, or eating healthy, because after work, doing homework with the kids and running to a soccer game, I simply do not have the time and energy to both cook and hit the gym. Needless to say, I usually end up cooking and skipping the gym, because who would want to work out with a belly full of pizza!
You will find plenty of people who will tell you that you're doing everything the wrong way, you have bad time management skills or something that will somehow manage to dump the load on your virtue-less head and not on the structure of the world within which you live your life.
And then of course, you will still have to make choices because the darn restaurant is not changing their way of serving foods, so it's on us.
Saying "no" to some projects at work, if possible... and if that doesn't involve losing the job; or to some children's activities (this is a fertile area for cutting back as most will hardly benefit kids in any significant way over the long term), etc can be a start.
But being aware of the range of choices you can or cannot make is important.
I completely understand what you mean, good luck to you!
Not sure where you go out to eat, but when I go it is 1-1.5 hours of time invested plus travel. This is plenty of time to make a meal.0 -
The clever marketing strategies that sold the idea that "more is good" and led to the fat epidemic
Here is the history of bigger portion and the profits earned by big food. Great Entertainment.
The Men who Made us Fat Part 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLNbwNMtXQ0
right..so marketing made people fat, not overeating...got ya...
I understand your mindset, but you might misunderstand and miscalculate the power of marketing. It is no secret that next to R&D, marketing is a corporations largest budget. Think about that. If it didnt work, they wouldn't do it. We're talking billions a year for some companies. It's not because they are stupid, it's because it is effective.
I get that; they got you/us/me/whoever to but their product...Just because I liked the dominos commercial, and liked their pizza, does not mean that if I decide that I am going to eat a medium pizza every day for lunch and then get fat that it is the marketing campaigns fault. Their marketing says "buy my product you will like it" but then it is up to the individual to make a responsible choice as to how much to consume of said product.0
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