I find it kinda sad...

southernGIRLgetsFIT

that my coworker thinks a fried fish sandwich with mayo and processed cheese from McDonalds is a "healthy" option. I didn't want to be mean, but I did offer her other suggestions for lunch.

I also find it sad when I come across others who are completely clueless when it comes to good nutrition. I am by no means a nutritionist but I think I have a good idea of what's good for me and what's not. I guess it's not as "common sense" unless you've done your homework and researched healthy eating habits?

What are some other nutrition misconceptions you've come across with friends or family that made you cringe?

wolfchild59

When I first started on MFP my mom was trying to be really supportive and would offer me stuff like her home made ice cream and other items saying that they were healthy (meaning lower calorie) since she made them with all organic ingredients. It took a really long time for her to stop associating organic with being healthier in terms of things like calories, fat, and carbs.

littlehedgy

My fiance is the same way. He would think that because it is fish it is healthy! Or that it is fine that he ate more than half a bag of peanut butter pretzels because peanut butter is good for you and pretzels aren't chips. Luckily for him he has such a fast metabolism and is so active he doesnt gain any weight

Ivana331

my husband thinks anything homemade qualifies as healthy. lol not true at all.

kls13la

To be fair to your coworker, you could do a lot worse at McDonald's than the 380 calorie Filet-o-Fish!

Lina4Lina

A friend told me once that someone sent her a fruit pie recipe (using heavily sugared canned fruit) as a healthy recipe, because it had fruit. Another friend recently told me that their wife thought Nutella was health food as well and insisted on having it regularly.

I think a lot of it is people don't learn to read labels. I was a fat kid so I went to nutritionists and learned to read labels at a young age. Other people though seem to get their ideas from commercials and the front of a box.

TavistockToad

The majority of people have no idea how many calories they need, or how many calories are in most regular food... They r totally clueless, but then so was I until last may when I found this place!

LNZimmer

My fiance is the same way. He would think that because it is fish it is healthy! Or that it is fine that he ate more than half a bag of peanut butter pretzels because peanut butter is good for you and pretzels aren't chips. Luckily for him he has such a fast metabolism and is so active he doesnt gain any weight

sounds like my bf. a couple years ago, he bought me a pint of Dove Ice cream. He looked at it and thought it was lower fat/suger - healthy. HOWEVER....it was so far from it, but I didn't have the heart to tell him. It had a thick layer of just chocolate fudge over the top...HEAVENLY.

I try to slowly explain to him how this works...because he has no body fat. at. all. = he is a punk!!!

Donnaakamagmid

Salads - some people think that all salads a good. But throw on the bacaon, cheese, fried chicken, creamy dresing...:huh:

wlkumpf

my friend I did daycare for told me basically to mind my own business and let her kids eat what they want and how much they want at my house. 2 of her kids, 7 and 12 year ols, were individually eating more than my husband and myself combined at each meal. Her 6 year old equaled what I ate and they would all ask for a snack within 1/2 hour from when we ate.

She thinks fat is "cute". She said not to worry about what they ate here because it was up to the parents to deal with their nutrition. They ate like 5 meals here a week, so quite a good percent of their nutrition. 2 of the kids wouldn't drink milk with meals because I refuse to give flavored milk at mealtime. Mom agreed with them so they would get the calcium, I still refused.

I know they would go home and eat a pizza or whole meal as a really late night snack. I am 100% sure that is why she now keeps them home with their older sister, because I was teaching them substitutions, labels and only making enough for each person to have 1 serving. I always limited cheese and sour cream to a teaspoon and NEVER had treats when they were here. EVER! These are kis that LOVE apples, bananas, no fat yogurt, carrots, cucumbers and plain chicken. In my mind, no way should these kids ever have started their obese patterns. Dad was on disability with the possiblity of never working again and a really good possibilty that he would die in his sleep at about 45 years old. Mom is a super unhealthy weight and promotes how sexy big is. The 12 year old weighed as much as I do last year and wears the same size jeans. She is really unhappy and has a hard time getting along with anyone. So sad.

people are often in denial.

jsjaclark

I have had someone say that ice cream is good for you since it contains milk. Same person also said a Wendy's hamburger is good because you cover several food groups (meat, vegetables - lettuce and tomato, bread, dairy - cheese). sadly misinformed.

CottonCandyKisses

Green tea "drinks", trail mix(handfuls and handfuls of the stuff, it has alot of calories!), power bars, fried chicken sandwiches (yes its chicken, but its not healthy if its deep fried!), salads covered in full-fat dressings & cheeses, I could go on and on.

southernGIRLgetsFIT

Oh I completely agree, kls13la, but the large fries and Coke kinda cancelled that out! lol

Maybe I'm just bitter because I can smell her fries and want to dive face first into them, though;-)

kehuizenga

I agree. My boyfriend's mother once complained to me about how an overweight relative would bring chips to a family potluck, and of course because this woman is overweight she would bring something unhealthy. She then commented that she was going to bring some nice, healthy vegetables in the form of green bean casserole. I did not know what to say.

southernGIRLgetsFIT

^ haha! About as healthy as potatoes au gratin

southernGIRLgetsFIT

wlkumpf, that is so sad! They think they're being cool parents by letting their kids eat whatever, but really, they are setting their kids up to be obese adults. We all know the problems that come along with that.

I grew up eating junk because I lived in a single parent household with a mom who worked two jobs. She didn't have time to prepare elaborate, healthy meals, but quite frankly didn't know how. Now she's much more educated on nutrition and has lost a large amount of weight. She has even apologized to me for not providing me with nutritious meals but I understood that it wasn't her intention. She just didn't know. If anything, becoming healthy has taught me that I will have kids who eat healthy, nutritous meals. Hopefully they will grow up to make healthy choices and never have to struggle with their weight as much as I did! You've gotta end the cycle somewhere.

jessicae1aine

Any argument that includes, "But it's NAAAAATURAL" depresses me. Just because it's not synthetic doesn't mean it's healthy.

flag91

I think sometimes people may be talking about "healthier" options. A lot of the things mentioned on the thread may not be "healthy" per se, but some may be better than other options. It's relative. It's also a journey for people. Some people are so far on the other end of the extreme that having fried chicken is a vast improvement to how they normally eat. Improving is what we are all trying to do.

Mistyblu08

lol fiancee ( I call him hubby lol) thinks that pizza is healthy option because it has all four food groups-meat, dairy, carbs and veggies lol and no its not the canadian bacon on thin crust with very little cheese....its the full options! lol

Mistyblu08

I agree. My boyfriend's mother once complained to me about how an overweight relative would bring chips to a family potluck, and of course because this woman is overweight she would bring something unhealthy. She then commented that she was going to bring some nice, healthy vegetables in the form of green bean casserole. I did not know what to say.

lmbo ...but hey it had veggies in it!! lmbo .....love green bean cass btw...yum!

vytamindi

Here's one I see a lot on this board: Dietary fat = Body fat! Couldn't be further from the truth! The right fat can keep you full and is needed by your body for many functions. Yes, it may be more calorie dense, but you'll eat a lot less of it and feel fuller longer.

Just stay away from artificial trans fats and hydrogenated oils, and you'll be good!

SamAdams125

my friend I did daycare for told me basically to mind my own business and let her kids eat what they want and how much they want at my house. 2 of her kids, 7 and 12 year ols, were individually eating more than my husband and myself combined at each meal. Her 6 year old equaled what I ate and they would all ask for a snack within 1/2 hour from when we ate.

She thinks fat is "cute". She said not to worry about what they ate here because it was up to the parents to deal with their nutrition. They ate like 5 meals here a week, so quite a good percent of their nutrition. 2 of the kids wouldn't drink milk with meals because I refuse to give flavored milk at mealtime. Mom agreed with them so they would get the calcium, I still refused.

I know they would go home and eat a pizza or whole meal as a really late night snack. I am 100% sure that is why she now keeps them home with their older sister, because I was teaching them substitutions, labels and only making enough for each person to have 1 serving. I always limited cheese and sour cream to a teaspoon and NEVER had treats when they were here. EVER! These are kis that LOVE apples, bananas, no fat yogurt, carrots, cucumbers and plain chicken. In my mind, no way should these kids ever have started their obese patterns. Dad was on disability with the possiblity of never working again and a really good possibilty that he would die in his sleep at about 45 years old. Mom is a super unhealthy weight and promotes how sexy big is. The 12 year old weighed as much as I do last year and wears the same size jeans. She is really unhappy and has a hard time getting along with anyone. So sad.

people are often in denial.

That is so so sad. Those poor kids. That's partially why I'm getting healthy now (before I even think of having kids) so I can be a good role model for them.

jlapey

Dietary snacks! Diet sodas (Fat-free, sugar-free or caffeine-free versions of otherwise unhealthy snacks) You're better off not having a snack at all than eating those weird substitutions. Less calories does not mean healthy. They have very little nutritional value and just leave you wanting more. If you're going to snack, snack on something REAL.

neverstray

Finances and good nutrition are two of the really important elements of education that are not taught at all. When schools serve bascailly fast food in their cafeterias, what does that teach kids.

Fortunately, my kids are awesome and hate the school cafeteria. I stopped allowing them to eat there when my son told me he had two pieces of pizza and a chocolate milk. I was livid. Why the F*** do they have chocolate milk as an option? Are you f***ing kidding me? In an elementary school?

Anyway, I used to give my kids the option of buying their lunch or taking it,and they always choose taking it. they say that when they buy their lunch, they feel tired afterwards. Where when they take their lunch, they have more energy. Ha, ha. my kids rock!

AlabasterVerve

my friend I did daycare for told me basically to mind my own business and let her kids eat what they want and how much they want at my house. 2 of her kids, 7 and 12 year ols, were individually eating more than my husband and myself combined at each meal. Her 6 year old equaled what I ate and they would all ask for a snack within 1/2 hour from when we ate.

She thinks fat is "cute". She said not to worry about what they ate here because it was up to the parents to deal with their nutrition. They ate like 5 meals here a week, so quite a good percent of their nutrition. 2 of the kids wouldn't drink milk with meals because I refuse to give flavored milk at mealtime. Mom agreed with them so they would get the calcium, I still refused.

I know they would go home and eat a pizza or whole meal as a really late night snack. I am 100% sure that is why she now keeps them home with their older sister, because I was teaching them substitutions, labels and only making enough for each person to have 1 serving. I always limited cheese and sour cream to a teaspoon and NEVER had treats when they were here. EVER! These are kis that LOVE apples, bananas, no fat yogurt, carrots, cucumbers and plain chicken. In my mind, no way should these kids ever have started their obese patterns. Dad was on disability with the possiblity of never working again and a really good possibilty that he would die in his sleep at about 45 years old. Mom is a super unhealthy weight and promotes how sexy big is. The 12 year old weighed as much as I do last year and wears the same size jeans. She is really unhappy and has a hard time getting along with anyone. So sad.

people are often in denial.

Kids need saturated fat so their brains can develop. Everyone needs fat but especially kids.

tracie_minus100

A lot of foods are marketed as being "healthy" options. I remember being at a fast food restaurant and they had muffins called "healthy sensations". (I think it was McDonald's, but can't remember for sure). I looked at the nutritional info since it was posted on the wall, and those muffins had over 400 calories each. And they weren't very big either. There seem to be a lot of people out there who take that at face value, and assume that they really ARE healthy options, when they definitely aren't! The onus is on us as individuals to do our homework and research to find out how good/bad these things are, but unfortunately, not everyone makes that effort.
Sometimes it's people who are in denial. They tell themselves that whatever food they are eating is healthy and good for them because deep down, they don't want to know or believe that it's really not.
And then of course you have people who just don't care!

HelloDan

Whilst I get the intent of this thread, remember healthy is a very broad term.

Most people are here to lose weight, so I understand the feelings in most posts here. Some people (yes, myself included) are trying to gain weight, or fuel sports performance, so something being high calorie is not a problem, in fact it's a blessing when 3,000 calories is the smallest amount you eat for a day.

Even stuff which truly is junk food will be in my diet sometimes, if it fits my macro profile and I am already getting other nutrients, vitamins etc... from other foods.

Kelley528

my boyfriend thinks just because its fruit, vegetables, wheat, or anything else he deems healthy that you can eat as much of it as you want because its not bad for you. I keep telling him it does matter because those things have calories and you cant eat a entire loaf of whole wheat italian bread, following by a plate full of veggies covered in butter or dipped in some creamy dipping sauce, and fruit drenched in whip cream as if they dont count in your daily intake.

I have a friend that thinks anything with fruit in it is not junk food because fruit is good for you. So that means an entire fruit pie is ok to eat.

careyannal

My friend told me the other day that Taco Bell wasn't unhealthy since its "just ground beef" and not fried like most other fast food.....

ummmmm ....

careyannal

Finances and good nutrition are two of the really important elements of education that are not taught at all. When schools serve bascailly fast food in their cafeterias, what does that teach kids.

Fortunately, my kids are awesome and hate the school cafeteria. I stopped allowing them to eat there when my son told me he had two pieces of pizza and a chocolate milk. I was livid. Why the F*** do they have chocolate milk as an option? Are you f***ing kidding me? In an elementary school?

Anyway, I used to give my kids the option of buying their lunch or taking it,and they always choose taking it. they say that when they buy their lunch, they feel tired afterwards. Where when they take their lunch, they have more energy. Ha, ha. my kids rock!

Yep, my favorite lunch in elementary school was nachos & cheese day (cheez wiz). That was a "meal" and fruit sherbert was a "side dish."

That was 20 years ago, but my mom is now a teacher in the same school system and says that sadly, not a lot has changed....

careyannal

A lot of foods are marketed as being "healthy" options. I remember being at a fast food restaurant and they had muffins called "healthy sensations". (I think it was McDonald's, but can't remember for sure). I looked at the nutritional info since it was posted on the wall, and those muffins had over 400 calories each. And they weren't very big either. There seem to be a lot of people out there who take that at face value, and assume that they really ARE healthy options, when they definitely aren't!\

You're right, I used to be one of those people.

I would get Starbuck's lowfat blueberry muffin, thinking I was doing myself a favor. Nope, 430 calories!!