ever notice how eating healthy isnt the norm?

Great topic and comments. Everyone is so right about the amount of effort it takes to eat well. I heard a person asked how he had lost so much weight and he said he'd chosen to live an inconvenient lifestyle ( eating well and exercising) and he's right; it's not convenient but the longterm alternative is so much worse.

"inconvenient" can be loads of fun, though. it's a mindset. i don't miss my old life one bit.

I have to agree. I wouldn't trade out most of the food I cook now for the crap I ate before. This stuff is good! And eating the rainbow of fruits and vegetables is a fun project as well. Always trying to find one in a color I don't eat a lot of to add to my meals or snacks. I'm a veggie lover and in this fast-paced, rat-race life where I no longer "had time" to cook, it seems like I had completely forgotten that!

I also splurge on purchases like a racquet of my very own for racquetball instead of continuing to loan out the gym ones. I have whole new hobbies!

I am probably the laziest person I know and still find time to work, exercise, WATCH TV, and eat whole foods 95% of the time. I just don't get how people use the excuse "I don't have time" to eat whatever they want just because it is "easier". I will sacrifice the 10-20 minutes a day it takes to prepare food for the 10-20 years longer I will be living!

Portion sizes are really a huge problem in this country. When my husband orders pasta it looks like an entire box! He loves it bc he takes home 3/4 of it for later and lunch the next day, but some ppl actually eat the entire thing that meal. It's insane! Or when I order salmon, since when is a POUND a serving!!!

I agree with just about everything said on this topic. The reason people make fun of all of us for choosing to eat healthy is because they won't....Not that they can't, the WON'T. I hate all the food police people in this country who say that we should regulate fast food advertising. It's such crap! They earned that money, they should be able to spend it how they want to. The choice is ultimately up to the individual. Have some will power. If you want to lose weight and change your life bad enough, you will, no matter what the television tells you. There's always a way to make it happen. Personal responsibility has been a dieing thing since the early 90's. It's always someone else's fault if we can't reach our goals. Sorry, not true. You are the only one that can make the change happen in you.

I agree with just about everything said on this topic. The reason people make fun of all of us for choosing to eat healthy is because they won't....Not that they can't, the WON'T. I hate all the food police people in this country who say that we should regulate fast food advertising. It's such crap! They earned that money, they should be able to spend it how they want to. The choice is ultimately up to the individual. Have some will power. If you want to lose weight and change your life bad enough, you will, no matter what the television tells you. There's always a way to make it happen. Personal responsibility has been a dieing thing since the early 90's. It's always someone else's fault if we can't reach our goals. Sorry, not true. You are the only one that can make the change happen in you.

I have to agree, I think what is really outside the norm these days is personal responsibility.

I reached a certain point, took a step back and said, "I got fat. How did I get fat? What did I do to MAKE MYSELF fat? And how do I fix it?"

Most people get to a certain point where there doctor finally tells them something or they actually get sick from it and then they reach up, point their finger (at anyone) and say, "YOU MADE ME FAT."

In the end, people need to take some responsibility for their health. It's like how they don't want McDs to be able to use Ronald McDonald anymore, because it targets children. Is Ronald McDonald really to blame? Did the 4 year old hop on his Big Wheel and go through the drive thru? Or did Mom buy it for him? So your kid wants a happy meal. If you know its not good for them and you CARE then don't get it. I wanted a pony. Guess what? It didn't happen.

People that don't want to eat healthy will always find someplace to assign blame - their job, their family, their responsibilities (for why they are so busy). But usually that is all it is blame. An excuse for not finding a solution. And then they will easily tease you about what you eat, whether its because you have a vegetable for a snack or just because you won't eat fast food, because they need to remind you that you're lucky you have the "luxury" to eat healthy and they are tortured by "X excuse" and cannot.

Sorry. That's my rant.

hahaha it's so true!

As a dietitian, you would not believe (well, perhaps YOU guys would!) the kind of crap we have to put up with both if we choose to eat healthily or if we choose to eat something not so healthy.

If you choose the fruit over the cake at the staff morning tea you are the obsessive eating disordered dietitian... but the physio can get away with it just fine! If one of us eats a white bread sandwich for lunch, suddenly there are all these questions about whether we think white bread is better for us and why we are eating it.

Don't even get me started on the people (including staff we work with) that absolutely refuse to eat anything in front of us!! :laugh:

Ha ha ha... So, true. When they have the birthday gatherings I tend to come and sing but refuse the cake and they act like I am a party pooper. Why does it matter what I eat or don't eat? This is all about me after all, right? Nothing to do with their life style but my own choice for a better life and a healthier me.

We who want to live long and live strong do not look back but always look forward.

+1. This pretty much sums it up.

The choice is ultimately up to the individual. Have some will power. If you want to lose weight and change your life bad enough, you will, no matter what the television tells you.

+1 here also. This is a bit off topic, but anyone notice if you are watching a lot of commercial TV it is harder to stay on a diet? I think it is probably a survival instinct or something to want to eat when we see others eat and now we have a box where we can watch people eat 24/7

I agree. Even before I lost the weight, I always tried to get proper servings of fruit, veggies, and milk. I just feel better when I eat that way.

I have a friend who had one of the stomach surgeries.. at the age of 19! and yet she thinks she can still eat the most unhealthy food and be "healthy" (some of the food even makes her sick now bc of the surgery) It upsets me bc that is the wrong way to look at it. It seems like she thinks it was the solution to her "problem" when in reality it wasnt.. it should have just been the first step.

I totally agree. I've said this before, but I think people tend to believe that weight loss automatically equals healthy. And if your skinny, then you're healthy. Like theres no other pieces to the puzzle.

I shared in another thread about the variations of this. I have a friend who feeds her son fast food regularly as well as a completely processed diet otherwise. She says its ok because he is not heavy, he has a fast metabolism. On the other end of the spectrum, I have friends who are extremely heavy. They eat just one meal a day and say that this is how they are meant to be because they are big boned. The common denominator between these two, is that they are always busy and work and fun are their top priorities. Eating healthy, cooking, exercise- those are too much work and trouble so they are not necessary because they do not have any noticable health problems.

They don't consider the fact that they get the flu EVERY year, sometimes twice, and colds all the time to have anything to do with health. They also don't think that the fact that they have sleep issues has anything to do with health. Type 2 diabetes, they say, is hereditary. As is heart disease, GI problems, and even the weight in general. People tend to disconnect reality to suit there own agendas.

I know someone who had sugery too. She would eat macaroni salad for lunch and say she was feeling so healthy since she lost weight. But her eyeballs were sunk into her head and surrounded by purple circles. She was sick all the time with what she called "the flu". And no matter what, every time someone saw her, they said she looked great and weight loss was doing wonders for her. So she believed that this is what healthy is.

I know I can't convice others. I know its not my responsibility to give everyone a reality check. I just keep doing what I do and focus on teaching my daughter to make smart choices. In the end, people around me tend to come and ask me thiings when they are ready. Or they have no choice because they get that "Aha" and decide to change. I try to be as supportive as possible and as non judgemental as I can be without being a pushover.

It has taken me so long to type this because of all the interruptions with the kids..... I think I forgot my point....

hahaha it's so true!

As a dietitian, you would not believe (well, perhaps YOU guys would!) the kind of crap we have to put up with both if we choose to eat healthily or if we choose to eat something not so healthy.

If you choose the fruit over the cake at the staff morning tea you are the obsessive eating disordered dietitian... but the physio can get away with it just fine! If one of us eats a white bread sandwich for lunch, suddenly there are all these questions about whether we think white bread is better for us and why we are eating it.

Don't even get me started on the people (including staff we work with) that absolutely refuse to eat anything in front of us!! :laugh:

Ha ha ha... So, true. When they have the birthday gatherings I tend to come and sing but refuse the cake and they act like I am a party pooper. Why does it matter what I eat or don't eat? This is all about me after all, right? Nothing to do with their life style but my own choice for a better life and a healthier me.

You know, I was actually told by several different people of several different cultures that refusing birthday cake is bad luck to the birthday person, not to mention insulting to whoever baked the cake..... Mostly my grandmother and her sisters/cousins. (Slovak and Polish mostly, but some arabic friends too)

I had to learn to say, sorry, your year is about to suck cuz I ain't eatin that. (I'm actually allergic to everything in cake. But profuse vomiting is not even enough to convince one of those old ladies that I don't need cake. Its never the cake, must be because I eat so little that I can't handle real food. LOL)

The older european ladies in the fam are always insulted..... Whatever. Not a single birthday celebrater has ever died because I refused cake.:laugh:

First off, OMG, really? Secondly :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: at your comeback! Seems so many ppl take not eating when it's offered to be very offense. I'm a bit offended when food is forced on me:laugh: :ohwell:

Thirdly, Holly you're looking so good in your newer photo, so healthy!!

Becca:flowerforyou:

The fact that older ladies try to please you by force feeding, is a cross-cultural phenomenon. It happens here in Greece all the time, I guess because older people lived through World War II when people were starving to death and food was scarce. Remember that the ideal female of the post-war era (the 50's) was fat, a guy with a gut commanded respect because he could afford having one. Gout was a disease of the rich. This is not the case anymore today.

I read the other day that 31% of the US population is obese. Greece ranks 5th on the list with 23% and is second in child obesity. Less than 30 years ago fast food was practically inexistent here, women were cooking more at home, people were eating the traditional mediterranean foods and the percentage of obese people was below 10%. Coincidence?

That is so true. When my uncles family visits from Greece, all we do is cook! When tea says eat, she is automatically shoving in your mouth, LOL. Theres no chance to even say no. Just shut up and chew:laugh: It was Easter when I was 11 that I quit meat after seeing the whole lamb roasting. To this day, I am the weird one on Easter because I don't eat the lamb.

As far as the change in foods, it is quite scary. The mediteranian diet is considered so heart healthy and just healthy in general by american standards. When my cousin spent the summer there a few years ago we expected her to come home thinner because of all the walking and bike riding and good food. But she actually came home 20 pounds heavier! She said the only time she ate fresh food was on the island with the family. The rest of the time she was eating the same stuff she eats here! Even my uncle was shocked, but he hadn't been home in a few years and his family lives on the island.

I agree with just about everything said on this topic. The reason people make fun of all of us for choosing to eat healthy is because they won't....Not that they can't, the WON'T. I hate all the food police people in this country who say that we should regulate fast food advertising. It's such crap! They earned that money, they should be able to spend it how they want to. The choice is ultimately up to the individual. Have some will power. If you want to lose weight and change your life bad enough, you will, no matter what the television tells you. There's always a way to make it happen. Personal responsibility has been a dieing thing since the early 90's. It's always someone else's fault if we can't reach our goals. Sorry, not true. You are the only one that can make the change happen in you.

great point!