ever notice how eating healthy isnt the norm?

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!!!

DITTO HERE !! just this morning asked was i on a diet ?? did not want to eat a kolace

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

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!

Have a good one!

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."

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!

Watch FOOD INC, if you want to know whats in your food....creepy!

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.

I was thinking about this just last night while I was making a healthy dinner lol. The norm for me is I cook a healthy meal every night, and once in a while I will make something kinda more junky like a vegetarian lasagna or something like that... But for a lot of people I know., they do the opposite..a good healthy meal once in a while.... What kind of way is that to live????? lol

I was talking to someone the other day and they ask me how much weight have I lost and I told them 90lbs altogether. She ask me when will I stop dieting. I looked at her with a surprise look and said I will never stop. Im not on a diet ,Its a lifestyle change. If I went back (not because I ever want to feel that way ever again) I would gain back everything. I've work to hard to give up.

Also, I you liked Food, inc. , etc. there's another book called The End Of Overeating. It's mainly about additives and manipulation by companies that make processed foods.

So yeah, whatever. Screw 'em.

Dang right!

I'll admit, I'm one of the lazies that doesn't always cook...but I'm working on it! I grew up poor with just my dad who thought that all dinner came from a can or a box and it's definitely a tricky habit to break when you've been doing it for 20+ years. I mean, we were the house that bought maybe a half-gallon of milk a week or so because any more than that would go bad. I hesitate alot to buy fresh ingredients because I worry that it'll mostly go to waste since I don't use them regularly and no one in the house usually will at all. It's a work in progress, though. I've been collecting recipes and it'll certainly help to find a few that have similar ingredients.

That's my excuse. :blushing: