"No Mayo?" Why Americans Are Fat
Replies
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Hmm, I've never seen a difference between the calories in whole wheat bread and white bread. A quick comparasion on here of the same brand shows no difference.
For me, a good mayo adds flavor. I love mayo. i would rather forego cheese over mayo. I guess it boils down to your taste.
I dont really do soda.
PS - not American.
not much difference in calories, but a great difference in how your body processes the breads. If the whole wheat bread is actually whole grain your body will process it differently insulin wise. from my understanding, but I am new at this and my knowledge may be faulty.0 -
Seriously, if I posted a hate rant about how stupid African or Indian people are for what they eat it would be a problem with people. It's not just the US which is becoming overweight.0
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Whenever I order a sandwich at a deli, I give the precise description of what I want: whole-wheat bread, cheddar, lettuce, tomato and mustard. Nine times of 10, the counter person replies: "No Mayo?"
Nope, don't want the empty calories and fat that come with Mayo or white bread.
Mayo is not very flavorful in any case and white bread tastes no better than wheat.
Add up all those mayo and white bread calories, not to mention high-fructose corn syrup in sodas, the propensity of Americans to eat fast food or packaged food products, and a generally sedentary lifestyle, there's little wonder why Americans are so chunky. I recall several "aha" moments even in Italy where I saw thin people drinking wine, eating pasta. They tend to walk a lot more, eat fresher food, their pizzas are ultra-thin crust, and it's nearly impossible to find mayo, Cokes and fries. Dessert and snacks there are usually fruit, sometimes a small scoop of gelat, unless it's a special occassion.
I recall at my heaviest my meals consisted of McMuffins, burritos and chips, Domino's pizza. For what it's worth. One can make allot of progress just by eating more fresh stuff and cutting the junk.
Out of all the things listed, white bread, pasta, pizza, chips, McMuffins, cokes and fries, the tablespoon of mayo on a sandwich is the least of your worries. What do they have in common? Carbs with the fiber removed.
Mayo is the least likely to raise your blood sugar and therefore your insulin, which is a hormone that causes your body to store fat.
Control your insulin and you will control your body's need to store fat. Stay away from processed foods, and only eat carbohydrates in their natural form, which is loaded with fiber.
Man-made food is the primary time that you will find carbs without fiber, outside of a few exceptions like white potatoes, carbs always come with a suitable amount of fiber. None fiberous carbs are a man-made concoction.
Read, "Why we get fat" by Gary Taube, its a great book and very informative.0 -
If you were to hypothetically consume only mayonnaise and consumed over 6000 calories you wouldn't gain any fat at all. Mayo by itself doesnt make you fat carbohydrates do. Why? because of insulin. Mayo is pure fat and does not spike insulin at all. you are blaming something that does not make you fat carbs do. The problem with carbohydrates though is that they taste amazing.
Carbs are NOT the bad guys in the food world. Fruits and vegetables are carbs. The bad guys are all the processed, quick and easy junk foods that we've gotten used to consuming. Overall, a good, balanced, mostly whole food diet is the best, most effective way to lose weight AND be healthier.
Carbs with the fiber removed are the bad guys.
You can eat all of the apples, oranges, berries, mangoes and broccoli that you want and be healthy.
However, try drinking the equivalent in apple juice, orange juice, and other fruit juices and you will be dizzy from the sugar in your blood.0 -
I'm a personal trainer. A majority of my clients come to me to lose weight. I ask them about their diet.
In every case, eating at restaurants is a common habit. Just an observation.0 -
Whatever works for you is good. There is no harm in cutting out mayo. Whole grain bread is more nutritious than white. As long as you are doing something to control your intake while eating good foods then you are on the right track.0
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Well the idea of the thread as I envisioned it was to show that the U.S. diet is not a good one. Mayo is but one symbol of that, but the list goes on--potato chips served with sandwiches, fries with burgers, the calories in a typical meal at Boston Market., the crud put in processed food.
If you want to dispute that argument, to show that U.S. patterns of eating are in fact healthy, go ahead. Otherwise, don't just whine about the thread by using cliches such as "fail." Using a tired cliche to dismiss an argument without addressing it is lame. But if you prefer to write in today's favored cliches, you just committed an "epic fail."
Yes, because mayo is an American-only type of thing (originated in Spain?). Not everything at Boston Market is bad. So you want to live your life without eating fries, fine. Why single out the united states? It has NOTHING to do with your argument, if your argument is that "bad" food is "bad for you".
Wait, here is a quick summary: You are stupid. Go away.0 -
I like filling a doughnut with mayo yummmm0
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Read the above post, yes there are other factors. The "No Mayo!" story was intended as a story to illustrate a larger problem--poor food choices of Americans when eating out, which also includes fast-food, larger portions than what's available in other countries etc., and all the sedentary factors you mentioned.
Yes, you can eat mayo with lunch every day, and still lose weight, but if you follow an American pattern of eating highly-processed, nutrient-shallow foods and having a sedentary lifestyle, chances are you will gain weight.
The story was intended to illustrate a problem: Why are sometimes people so surprised in America when you ask for a more nutritious choice?
unless you eat too much of that "highly processed, nutrient-shallow food[/i], no, you won't, gain weight.
True, but you would be horribly malnourished and perpetually hungry, hence the nutrient-shallow nature of processed foods.
Look at the amount of micronutrients that you get from consuming 2000 calories of any processed food, then look at the level of micronutrients when you look at 2000 calories of whole foods. The difference is staggering.
People eat process foods, get cravings and eat more (or simply suffer in the name of "diet"), and get fat.
See if you can find someone that ever got fat from eating all of their carbs in the form of real (whole) fruits and veggies, you likely won't.0 -
If you were to hypothetically consume only mayonnaise and consumed over 6000 calories you wouldn't gain any fat at all. Mayo by itself doesnt make you fat carbohydrates do. Why? because of insulin. Mayo is pure fat and does not spike insulin at all. you are blaming something that does not make you fat carbs do. The problem with carbohydrates though is that they taste amazing.
OK, this wins for the funniest post I have ever read.
Anyway, when I used to eat McDonald's and pizza every day, I wore a size 3.0 -
I'm a personal trainer. A majority of my clients come to me to lose weight. I ask them about their diet.
In every case, eating at restaurants is a common habit. Just an observation.
Bingo!!
And in the restaurant they are likely eating more processed starches than they normally would.
How many people really sit down with a basket of bread before each meal like we do when eating out?
When people eat at home are french fries a common side item?
Do you give yourself constant refills of soda like a restaurant does?
If more people checked their insulin after a meal in a restaurant they wouldn't wonder why their feeling tired afterwards.0 -
I'm American and I hate mayo... never have and never will lol sometimes that's just how people are trained to make sandwiches (at a deli). Not all Americans are "fat" you can eat bad food where ever you live0
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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, here, but eating mayo on a white bread sandwich isn't what makes Americans fat. Putting aside the TACIT over generalization in the sentence "Why Americans are fat", the problem with the eating culture in any developed nation isn't WHAT they eat, it's HOW MUCH they eat, as compared the amount of activity they engage in.
We eat too much, in general. It's gotten too easy to get red meat---something that was a luxury only sixty or seventy years ago---on the table for every single meal. It's too cheap to eat a 3,000 calorie meal, and because we don't grow our own food and put in hours of heavy, physical labor every day, all those calories are stored as fat. That's why your grandmother's generation could get away with making baked goods with lard and frying everything and not worry about being obese. Because they didn't eat that much and, when they did, a lot of activity was almost garaunteed.
Why Americans are fat. Give me a break.0 -
If you were to hypothetically consume only mayonnaise and consumed over 6000 calories you wouldn't gain any fat at all. Mayo by itself doesnt make you fat carbohydrates do. Why? because of insulin. Mayo is pure fat and does not spike insulin at all. you are blaming something that does not make you fat carbs do. The problem with carbohydrates though is that they taste amazing.
wow, really? (I need a smiley banging his head on a wall)
Stealing this!0 -
I'm a personal trainer. A majority of my clients come to me to lose weight. I ask them about their diet.
In every case, eating at restaurants is a common habit. Just an observation.
Bingo!!
And in the restaurant they are likely eating more processed starches than they normally would.
How many people really sit down with a basket of bread before each meal like we do when eating out?
When people eat at home are french fries a common side item?
Do you give yourself constant refills of soda like a restaurant does?
If more people checked their insulin after a meal in a restaurant they wouldn't wonder why their feeling tired afterwards.
You said Taubes and Why we Get Fat was informative, your argument is invalid0 -
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, here, but eating mayo on a white bread sandwich isn't what makes Americans fat. Putting aside the TACIT over generalization in the sentence "Why Americans are fat", the problem with the eating culture in any developed nation isn't WHAT they eat, it's HOW MUCH they eat, as compared the amount of activity they engage in.
We eat too much, in general. It's gotten too easy to get red meat---something that was a luxury only sixty or seventy years ago---on the table for every single meal. It's too cheap to eat a 3,000 calorie meal, and because we don't grow our own food and put in hours of heavy, physical labor every day, all those calories are stored as fat. That's why your grandmother's generation could get away with making baked goods with lard and frying everything and not worry about being obese. Because they didn't eat that much and, when they did, a lot of activity was almost garaunteed.
Why Americans are fat. Give me a break.
The American diet change dramatically in the 1980s, there was an increase in consuming "convenient" easily prepared foods. Things with a long shelf life, fast cooking, and more easily manufactured. The American obesity rate has more than doubled in since that time.
Your grandmother may have eaten more fried foods with lard, butter and animal fats. I bet that she wasn't chasing it down with Ocean spray juices (you ever notice its kept at room temperature for days), sodas, sugary cereals, crackers, or potato chips.
The food that she was eating was more satiating because of the fats and fibers, so she could get her daily calories and feel good versus today when 2000 calories leave most people still wanting to snack.0 -
Double post.0
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I'm a personal trainer. A majority of my clients come to me to lose weight. I ask them about their diet.
In every case, eating at restaurants is a common habit. Just an observation.
Bingo!!
And in the restaurant they are likely eating more processed starches than they normally would.
How many people really sit down with a basket of bread before each meal like we do when eating out?
When people eat at home are french fries a common side item?
Do you give yourself constant refills of soda like a restaurant does?
If more people checked their insulin after a meal in a restaurant they wouldn't wonder why their feeling tired afterwards.
You said Taubes and Why we Get Fat was informative, your argument is invalid
??0 -
You've obviously never lived in Japan. They love mayo. On Takoyaki (yum), okonomiyaki (double yum), pizza (not so yum IMO). So I wouldn't say Mayo is what is making Americans fat. If that was the case I wouldn't feel like the Goodyear blimp walking around downtown Tokyo.
BTW, the Japanese make awesome white bread. Made with real butter. Wheat bread is tougher to find.0 -
I love mayo - i've been around 180 pounds for the last 10 years - yes i want to lose 15 pounds (I'm 5'6") but eating mayo hasn't turned me into a blob. Excess makes you fat - all those 100 calorie bars and snacks that spike blood sugars and drive you to eat make you fat. Drinking 64 ounces of soda with a sub is more of a problem than any basic sub itself (with or without mayo). Eating basic clean food - fruits and vegetables is the way to be lean. Mayo doesnt make you fat any more than anything else. Its all choices - some choices are better than other - it all becomes at what point are you tipping the balance in what you eat - you eat lots of junk? then you look like junk....eat well live well. p.s. I'm Canadian and yes i eat gravy......on that note i might eat gravy but boy have you send the plate size in the US???? holy crap. That could feed a family of 5!! I asked for grilled veggies one time in the US - it came out grilled in butter? WTF? Who the hell eats like that! Even when you ask for a healthier choice you still get junk.0
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American's are fat for a whole list of reasons. Not having "no mayo" in our vocabulary is one of the more tame ones. Its really pretty sad. After losing 112lbs i just cant help but see that people are a lot lazier in the US.0
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I never ate mayo when I was fat. I must have gotten fat because aliens were coming into my room while I slept and injecting it into me, then erasing my memory.
Yeah.....that's the ticket.....0 -
Every country has SOME bad eating habits. Don't fool youself. Did you know that many Canadians' condiment of choice for french fries is GRAVY?! They serve that option in most restaurants there that offer french fries. I had never heard such a thing before we started vacationing there once a year (from childhood on.)
we have that here in NJ. Disco fries. yuck
It's not a condiment of choice, canadians are more known for using vinegar (why, i have no idea). what you're refering to is a poutine: fries, gravy and curds of cheese, and some poutine places will have a bunch of other toppings on them too
Personally I think it's more about cutting out the processed stuff. If you made fries with fresh potatoes, chances are it wouldn't be as bad as the frozen stuff. For a several weeks I didn't lose any weight at all, despite being on my feet 60hrs/week for work. but then for two weeks I ate nothing but leftovers from a big party we had (and all of it was my mom's cooking, mostly rice-based dishes since it was all perian food *drools*) and in those two weeks I immediately lost 4 pounds. It didn't matter that I was eating a bunch of carbs sloshed in deliciously oily sauces, what mattered was that it was REAL FOOD, and not the cold-cut sandwiches and granola bars I was having at work everyday. And I think the best part of that time was that those two weeks was the only time I was ever actually full. Aside from then, every time I had a bagel or some other kind of sandwich or cereal for breakfast, I ALWAYS would suddenly become starving 3 hours into work on the dot. But with real food, I was always content. It was a beautiful time, and I now eat leftovers for breakfast every chance I get!
Maybe it depends where in Canada you are from? Up here (Northern BC) We eat gravy with our fries. You can't even get vinegar unless you are at a seafood place having deep fried fish sticks. Gracy is offered at every restaurant if you order fries, and gererally I order it. Then I dip my fries into it.
Poutine is good too....so cheesy. Its brown gravy made from beef stock....not that white stuff I keep seeing on American food shows.0 -
American's are fat for a whole list of reasons. Not having "no mayo" in our vocabulary is one of the more tame ones. Its really pretty sad. After losing 112lbs i just cant help but see that people are a lot lazier in the US.
I see too many lazy people here in the UK to agree with that. People seem to just amble about stsnding still on the escalators, waiting for lifts that are next to stairs, driving around looking for the very nearest parking space to the shops; I'm sure they would just stand still on a moving walkway between shops if they had the option!
When I visit America it's the huge portions of everything that I notice - I guess it's supply and demand, bu I haven't noticed any more laziness than here in UK0 -
I love Mayo in my tuna salad. Oh hey, I'm still losing weight. Shocker0
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I understand what you're trying to say. Most people make thoughtless decisions about what they put into our bodies and our society has become accustomed to that and you're right - that's why people get fat. They don't take the time to gather information on the foods they're eating.
Good post.0 -
Every country has SOME bad eating habits. Don't fool youself. Did you know that many Canadians' condiment of choice for french fries is GRAVY?! They serve that option in most restaurants there that offer french fries. I had never heard such a thing before we started vacationing there once a year (from childhood on.)
Don't forget the cheese curds...POUTINE FTW!
:oD0 -
Carbohydrates are not bad or unhealthy as long as they are complex carbs. I have lost tons of weight 130 pounds eating carbs. I choose to limit animal products, oil, and fat to very very minimal once in a while treats. My diet consists of whole foods, fresh veggies fruits, beans, potatoes, whole wheat bread and pasta, and i also use brown rice pasta. Wheat bread may have the same or more calories than white but it has less processed sugar and wheat bread has more fiber which helps you feel full longer. Carbs are not bad they are healthy and delicious. Processed carbs such as sugar, candy, high fructose corn syrup are all very unhealthy along with every type of oil. Check out the engine 2 diet, the china study, and forks over knives. Fat and animal products is why americans are so obese. My mom has been following this diet for four months lost 60 pounds and has stopped taking all insulin, her type 2 diabetes has been cured. Along with blood pressure meds being cut in half.0
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The American diet change dramatically in the 1980s, there was an increase in consuming "convenient" easily prepared foods. Things with a long shelf life, fast cooking, and more easily manufactured. The American obesity rate has more than doubled in since that time.
Your grandmother may have eaten more fried foods with lard, butter and animal fats. I bet that she wasn't chasing it down with Ocean spray juices (you ever notice its kept at room temperature for days), sodas, sugary cereals, crackers, or potato chips.
The food that she was eating was more satiating because of the fats and fibers, so she could get her daily calories and feel good versus today when 2000 calories leave most people still wanting to snack.
Pretty sure that's what I said, added in with the bit about quantity and the amount of physical activity we---that is, developed nations---don't engage in anymore. There's a reason "exercise" wasn't an industry until almost the fifties.
The whole foods thing... look, obviously everyone should eat more fruits and vegetables, and less processed foods. But, just like the inane comment that started this discussion, cutting mayonaise (or candy bars, or sodas, or whatever) completely out of a diet, without making other changes to your lifestyle, isn't going to help you lose weight or necessarily make you healthier.
Eating normal portions of food, cutting back on the gargantuan quantities of meat we're all eating here in first world nations, and getting in a little regular physical activity WILL help you lose weight. Channel a little Siddhārtha Gautama and embrace "the middle way".
And don't even get me started on fad diets...0 -
I wouldn't call mayo "empty calories". It's made from egg yolk, oil and either vinegar or lemon juice. All very healthy ingredients that you're probably incorporating into your diet in other meals anyway.0
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