Too good to be true!!?

Mr_Knight wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

A lot of people fail at diets because they think it must be complicated and there are millions of rules or special eating plans needed or because they think they hate all the foods they must eat (or that they must eat ridiculously low calories).

A lot of people also fail at diets because actual implementation of CICO - a conceptually simple idea - is bloody hard to actually stick to in a world full of tasty temptations.

I don't disagree at all.

emmaprov2015 wrote: »

WOW 100 notifications! And a massive debate! I only started this feed for advice and encouragement lol!

I've had bangers and mash at a pub and couldn't count calories properly and feel really guilty!!!

Lol! It's probably around 800-1000 cals. Don't feel guilty

mamapeach910 wrote: »

Mr_Knight wrote: »

mamapeach910 wrote: »

Poverty is more of a driving force behind obesity than the fast food industry is. It's CHEAP to eat fast food.

It's cheaper to not eat it.

In urban deserts where people are struggling, it's not. There aren't grocery stores there. Work all day, take a bus 2 hours to get to a dead end job, come home with another 2 hour commute, dead tired, what are you going to do for a meal? Take another bus to another neighborhood for a big grocery shop?

There are convenience stores where people can buy necessities for inflated prices. It's ridiculous. The dollar menu at Mickey D's is a cheap option.

And, even beyond that, people in poverty have REAL infrastructure issues to face when trying to produce home-cooked meals. My SIL worked at a social service charity, and they heard from many clients that they had grown up either in foster care situations or eating fast food themselves and had no idea of how to start eating healthier. So, the agency brought in a nutritionist to give some classes in easy-to-prepare healthy food. Many clients came in, legitimately wanting to learn...only to keep raising their hands to ask where to buy pots and pans, how much do they cost, can you cook any of this on a single hotplate burner in an SRO hotel, what if you don't have a working fridge.....

lemurcat12 wrote: »

EWJLang wrote: »

And, even beyond that, people in poverty have REAL infrastructure issues to face when trying to produce home-cooked meals. My SIL worked at a social service charity, and they heard from many clients that they had grown up either in foster care situations or eating fast food themselves and had no idea of how to start eating healthier. So, the agency brought in a nutritionist to give some classes in easy-to-prepare healthy food. Many clients came in, legitimately wanting to learn...only to keep raising their hands to ask where to buy pots and pans, how much do they cost, can you cook any of this on a single hotplate burner in an SRO hotel, what if you don't have a working fridge.....

This is an excellent point.

I think it's a different issue from what creates difficulty for people on MFP, of course, but it's one reason why simply addressing the urban desert problem (which is a good thing) frequently don't make as big a difference as people assume it will, at least not in the short term.

I agree this is an excellent point. We saw a similar thing when Jamie Oliver did one of his school editions in England. The children had no idea what a vegetable was. He was holding up various fruits and vegetables and they could not identify them. Chips - now they were a vegetable! Some of these children are growing up without even learning the most basics rules in regards to good nutrition.

This is not an ad but hey look at this really great lunchbox I just found for kids (and me).
http://planetbox.com/

Re: identifying fruits and veggies: I learned most of them (beyond basic common ones) in cashier's school when I started a job at the supermarket. This was about 10 years before scanners became common in our area...now I bet they don't even have to learn them...

Schools should focus less on obscure bizarre common core math lol...are and focus more on basic nutrition and independent living. Those classes were optional when I was in high school. They should be required.

mamapeach910 wrote: »

JaneiR36 wrote: »

mamapeach910 wrote: »

Mr_Knight wrote: »

mamapeach910 wrote: »

Poverty is more of a driving force behind obesity than the fast food industry is. It's CHEAP to eat fast food.

It's cheaper to not eat it.

In urban deserts where people are struggling, it's not. There aren't grocery stores there. Work all day, take a bus 2 hours to get to a dead end job, come home with another 2 hour commute, dead tired, what are you going to do for a meal? Take another bus to another neighborhood for a big grocery shop?

There are convenience stores where people can buy necessities for inflated prices. It's ridiculous. The dollar menu at Mickey D's is a cheap option.

No grocery store on the bus routes to buy food once a week or once every two weeks? Many grocery stores I've been to have the city bus stopping in front of them

Not always, no. It's dependent on where someone has to commute. Also, don't discount the depressive effect that poverty can have on someone's psyche. Its all well and fine to say that if someone wants it badly enough they'll find a way, but I doubt most posters here could imagine living in such circumstances.

There's also the psychology of deprivation. I always feel hungry (and somehow end up eating more) when there's nothing in the fridge. However, if it's overflowing, I barely feel hungry or eat at all - probably because there's no sense that starvation is imminent.