Can we please settle on at least a loose definition of...

RE: conniej
These are the kind of things I find so interesting. I know, I know, I know that we can lose weight eating crap. The assumption gets made here, and in the "real world" for me, as I am still heavy, that we ONLY want to lose weight. I have said it so many times I am starting to get on my own nerves, but losing weight is awesome, I'm excited about it, but it is a BYPRODUCT of being healthy. I think many of the people who preach clean eating, no processed junk, or whatever you want to call it feel the same way. Most KNOW you can lose weight at a deficit. Some don't, but it has been done to death. They will figure it out. Many would say there is no proven reason to avoid processed food and that it is extreme. I feel like we consume enough artificial, man made chemical abominations on accident, that if we can avoid having them on purpose, we should. It seems extreme to me that people would vilify that in favor of what is faster, cheaper, and easier if the subject has the ability and desire to do otherwise.

I couldn't agree more. It is heartbreaking when you actually start seeing sick sick sick children--then look at what we are feeding them....as a parent--I am so grateful to get a wake up call early in my children's lives! It has never been about losing weight for me. Yes--that has been a happy benefit....but I am enjoying the steps of the trip from here to there!! I am glad to see that you are too! As are many people on this thread!

I think what kids are fed at school alone is absolutely horrid. There is a minimum amount of calories that need to be provided in school lunch. Ok, fine.
Why is there not a maximum? That's not cool.
So kids eat corn, corn, corn, and more corn in everything, as well as anything else subsidized. I'm not going to touch the quality of meat served in schools, or the fact that milk is often the only option (it was when I was in school) because I do not eat those for personal reasons, and my bias would show. I do feel like they could do better by our children by not serving Grade F meat, however.
Schools need money, so they have vending machines. Great.
Then the US Gov't classifies pizza as a vegetable. Are you just f***ing with us now?
Then they say the solution is to tell kids to go out and play. Yeah, well, we on MFP know that if you eat a 1,700 calorie lunch, that would be a ***** for anyone to burn off. The trick is to not consume it in the first place.
You can tell me all day that it's about choices and parenting, and I'll agree with you wholeheartedly. It still makes me feel icky that kids are surrounded by that garbage. Even if a parent ate every single meal with their child and promoted healthy food at every single sitting, the same child will have 90% of marketing directed at them be for junk food. It's hardly impossible to feed a child what they should eat, but the odds are stacked against many of us. We have Netflix, but no cable, so we can avoid our four year old being inundated with marketing. My husband stays home with our daughter and sets a fine example, but we are lucky we can do that.

Did you miss the recent attempt at controlling the maximum calories kids were allowed to eat at school and the subsequent videos from student athletes who were not getting enough to eat?

What's wrong with milk? Again, this is why I feel that the clean eating approach is way off. There was a thread this morning from a woman complaining because her kid's doctor told her to start giving her butter in an attempt to get her to put on weight. Her reaction was to worry about cholesterol. It's absurd. Kids need the fat and protein milk provides and it's a very convenient source of those nutrients.

I did miss that. Good to know! My beef with that is that a healthier lunch often would not pass the minimum, but kids can eat pizza and fruit cocktail and that passes.
I wasn't saying there is something wrong with milk. I'm saying there should be other options. And what do kids get? Chocolate milk LOADED with sugar. That doesn't exactly send me into a panic, but with everything else being laden with sugar and the availability of soda in vending machines, I don't think it's good.
I'm not trying to be militant about it. Like I said, it just gives me an icky feeling. The healthier options just aren't even there.
Again it's a choice, but it's not really in the hands of parents, it's up to the kids.
I respectfully disagree that anyone NEEDS milk. I grew up on it, and we used to drink a gallon every two days or so in my household, but it seems silly to me that we would require the milk of another animal to survive. I know it's the norm, but it's certainly not my normal. There is nothing in milk I can't get elsewhere in my diet.
No matter what a doctor says, a know it all patient will refute it. The woman freaking out about her kids' cholesterol is obviously missing the point that there is another concern that the doctor finds more urgent. She can also get a second opinion if she so desires, only to refute that too.

I didn't say that anyone "needs" milk, I said it is a "very convenient source" of fat and protein. To argue that any one food is not necessary to our diet doesn't really move the discussion forward. Do we "need" apples? Or broccoli? Or carrots? No. But these foods do add something to our diets. Wether their nutrient value can be replaced with something else only matters if there is a good reason not to eat them. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to not drink milk unless you don't like it or you are allergic to it. Those are not reasons that give anyone a position to argue that others "shouldn't" drink milk.

As for school lunches, meh. My kids get plenty of quality nutrition at home so if they choose to eat the pizza at lunch or get a dessert, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I spend a good deal of time talking to my daughters about nutrition and fitness and leading by example. They will eventually grow up and have to face a world full of beliefs that I disagree with and plenty of things that are dangerous for them. By that point, I want them using their own critical thinking skills.

I hear you, but I disagree. I'm sorry. But, each person has a slightly different definition. Bread, pasta, and rice are processed. Ya know? They are. You can argue about it all day. But, they are processed foods. So, to some people, that is a processed food. To many people though, it's not.

My definition is things like Pop Tarts, Doritos, and all fast food and candy is processed. That's what I mean by processed food. But, since lots of people have slightly different definitions, you have to understand what they mean. Same with clean eating. What do you consider clean? Some people would argue that you're not eating clean if you add butter. Some people would say a little butter is fine.

That's why people argue about it. But, it is a bit exhausting.

I agree with the good/bad food thing here is ridiculous. Food does not have characteristics of being good or bad. It's just food. The good and bad labels are constructs that we have developed and it's shameful. I am fit and in great shape and well within my BMI for normal health. If I eat cheesecake, in context, it's fine for me. I'm just having a treat. It's OK for me. So, in my overall health any doctor or any other person would say it's fine for me to have a piece of cheesecake once in a while. But, some people would categorize cheesecake as bad. We shouldn't do that with food. It's a treat and it should be used that way...something to have on occasion.

I hear you, but I disagree. I'm sorry. But, each person has a slightly different definition. Bread, pasta, and rice are processed. Ya know? They are. You can argue about it all day. But, they are processed foods. So, to some people, that is a processed food. To many people though, it's not.

My definition is things like Pop Tarts, Doritos, and all fast food and candy is processed. That's what I mean by processed food. But, since lots of people have slightly different definitions, you have to understand what they mean. Same with clean eating. What do you consider clean? Some people would argue that you're not eating clean if you add butter. Some people would say a little butter is fine.

That's why people argue about it. But, it is a bit exhausting.

I agree with the good/bad food thing here is ridiculous. Food does not have characteristics of being good or bad. It's just food. The good and bad labels are constructs that we have developed and it's shameful. I am fit and in great shape and well within my BMI for normal health. If I eat cheesecake, in context, it's fine for me. I'm just having a treat. It's OK for me. So, in my overall health any doctor or any other person would say it's fine for me to have a piece of cheesecake once in a while. But, some people would categorize cheesecake as bad. We shouldn't do that with food. It's a treat and it should be used that way...something to have on occasion.

Absolutely. My statement about know it alls was more about people who are being petty. They come into a constructive conversation and bring up that my beans are in a plastic bag. You don't think I know that, fool? My personal definition is much like yours. If someone were to hop into a forum and be all cocky about eating 100% clean and never eating processed food ever again, I totally get it.

Yeah, I hate this place because of that. It really gets on my nerves. It applies to ANYTHING you say here. Someone with nothing better to do will point out the flaw in your precision of the English language. Let's please not get into the muscle weighs more than fat debate. That thing drives me so insane, that I just laugh now when I see it. I mean, we all know what we mean. But, there's always some petty person that has to disagree and argue that some opeople don't know what they mean, and they need to be corrected. LOL. It's so stupid. Who gives a flying *kitten*.