Americans have it so much better than us in UK/Ireland

Are you serious? I shop at Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons & M&S and they all have excellent quality healthy eating ranges, as well as huge varieties of fresh produce. The meat sections also have leaner choices such as steak mince with a lower fat content than usual.

Living alone, I often eat ready prepared meals, and unlike America and Canada, they are of excellent quality with far lower sodium content. Tesco promises that they never put anything into their ready meals that you wouldn't find in your own kitchen, and M&S are just superb.

Go look at the labels on diet meals over the pond, they're full of sodium, preservatives, artificial colours and flavours, hydrogenated fats, all sorts of junk, YUCK! "Diet" maybe, healthy and edible, definitely not!

Be very grateful you live here...

Honestly, that prepackaged crap keeps a lot of us Americans sick. Aside from having a large percentage of overweight people, we also take more medications (both over the counter and prescription) than any other country in the world. Switching to a diet that consists of fresh raw meat, fresh seafood, raw nuts, fresh fruits, fresh veggies, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil and more eggs than you can shake a stick at---I'm finally healthy. If you want to know more about my diet and maybe connect with some people in Ireland, check out the link below:
http://crossfit.ie/nutrition/

There is crap food everywhere, no matter where you live. I am a Brit living in the States, so see it from both sides. When it comes to excess the US certainly is king, portion size certainly being the most telling evidence of that. In the last 20 years portion size has doubled and so have the average American waist line.
If you stick with fresh, organic whole foods as much as you can and stay away from processed and fast food, you will do just fine, no matter where you live.

I have to admit, when I went to stay with my sister in NY I lost about 8lbs purely because I couldn't afford to eat there.

I never lost weight as effortlessly as I did when I spent 3 months in London. First, it was all the walking everywhere! It was glorious to not need a car to go somewhere... Just hop on the Tube and in a few minutes, you're there! Second, the food was so much more wholesome and nutritious in the UK than what I was getting back home in the states. I estimate I lost about 10lbs in those 10 weeks, and when I came home, I immediately gained it all back and then some.

So while we may have more "diet food" available here in the states, that's really not a good thing. I really try to buy the most nutritious foods now, trying to avoid all the "low-fat" and gimmicky diet foods that crowd the shelves, because they're really just replacing good fats for bad fats, high sodium, and loads of chemicals.

Also, the best strawberry I ever ate was in England. And the cherry tomatoes! No one ever told me they were actually supposed to TASTE LIKE CHERRIES! God, I miss the UK... The grass is always greener, eh?

All those 100 cal packs of things are not good for you, yes some MFP'ers use them out of desperation (i.e. movie night with family) but the majority of us here recognize them for what they are - marketing ploys.

Not only are they processed in general but the "diet" foods all have additional added chemicals and sugar to make things low-cal or fat free, nasty!

Those Fat-Free Pringles that came out in the USA a few years ago never made it out of the US (I'm in Canada) b/c anal leakage just isn't a cute side effect of diet products.

Check out the threads for fun and filling snacks.

Plus they charge you 25% or more for those little packages when you get more and a better value by not buying the prepackaged snacks. I suppose this is mainly aimed at those who have a little difficulty with self control.

I'm kinda glad I don't live in America (Dublin girl living in Meath married to a french man!). Alot of their food is pre-packaged and not healthy.

I prefer to buy fresh veg etc and cook myself. At least I know what goes into it. Even my snacks I make myself from scratch. It isn't easy but at least I can cut down on sugar etc. I don't believe in buying Weight watchers food etc as I think they are a marketing ploy. I bake alot also and cut down on fat/sugar/make a healthy scone so I can have the nice things in life but a healthier version.

I buy mixed ground seeds from any supermarket, health food shop. Tesco do lean meats. Aldi are great for veg and Lidl is revamping at the minute and their veg is good also. I bulk buy meats like chicken fillets and freeze them. Make my own food for lunches in work.

I see alot of people on MFP who have lost 100lbs+ and they are in the states (who I totally admire BTW). People in Ireland/UK generally don't have that amount to lose on average as convience is such a major factor to obesity in the US.

lol what? America has one of the biggest obesity problems in the world! Yes we have pre-portioned foods, but they're also all loaded with calories and salt. And all of our "diet" foods are loaded up on sodium to keep them "preserved." Trust me, it's not that great here :P

have you ever been outta the country? im from the usa and live in germany there is a ton of over weight people here and i totally see what she's saying theres not alot of options here. in the us there is just more options in more places. this is what i have noticed over here. and every food ive gotton over here they try and load it full of some kind of sauce on it so i have to be very specific that i dont want some kind of weird sauce on my food and i definatly dont want french fries with every meal.

I believe the U.S. also allows a lot more "crap" to be put in our food than Europe allows. Generally foods made to be "low fat" have chemicals added to them to make them taste good while being low fat. We also have HFCS in just about every food product made here.

Try eating whole foods made at home instead of packaged foods.

This.

The FDA isn't as protective as people would like to believe. There are plenty of foods that are sold to American's that other countries refuse to allow for one reason or another.

Consider yourself blessed.

Personally speaking I think diet foods are bad anyway, regardless of the country you live in. Most times the salt is upped, fat is replaced by sugar or the sugar is replaced by sweetener, the safety of which is still being debated,.

I think they also encourage a false idea of what is healthy and what isn't - a false diet economy, if you like. I prefer a portion control approach. I eat what I want, but in reasonable proportions. I need to learn what I can get away with healthily. I need to learn what is a healthy size of something for me. Not be told I can eat this, that and the other because they've been altered.

And have you ever eaten one of those pre-prepared diet meals? Thy're titchy, teeny meals! I would rather load up on good food, lean meats, veg, unprocessed carbs etc. and curb my hunger than having a Barbie sized meal and feeling short-changed and hungry.

I think that is also where MFP comes in, because there are calories left over for me to eat 'the naughty stuff'. But instead of eating two, three packs I can see that one is enough. Healthy choices and 'treat food' in moderation. I need educating, not duping.

I think we do alright here in the UK.
If I were richer I could easily live off Marks and Spencers food and be super healthy. They do amazing salads, pre-prepared fruit and snacks, plus some really 'clean' ready meals. Just a shame it would cost too much.

But seriously, we have such a huge range of fresh produce and some truly inspirational chefs on TV. Check out Thomasina Miers new show on Channel5, she does gorgeous, healthy authentic Mexican food. I tried the sweetcorn and green chilli soup last night and LOVED it.

I'm a French girl and when I see some products you've got in A merica I can't believe people eat that maybe because my food culture! I like America and the people but not american food (.I'm not speaking about the cooking but the products used in...) and the servings are so big
Hope I don't offend people

we might have a lot of alternatives but we also have a lot of bad choices in my 2.4 mile wide town we have a wendy's, mcdonalds, burger king, kfc, 7 pizza places, 3 Chinese places, and 2 diners. all within the 2.4 mile wide town!

and yes we have nutrition labels that are on all our food that are the same.

I find a lot of "reduced fat" or "low calorie" options are actually not that much different from normal options!! Yes you may save a few calories here and there but I'd sooner use some extra calories and enjoy what I eat?

Take bread for example - Hovis Nimble is 48 cals per slice but it is mainly air, I'd sooner have a proper slice of small wholemeal bread for 60 cals !!

Same with humous - yes the low cal version may save you a few calories but it doesn't taste anywhere near as nice!

You can find lower calorie alternatives for most foods without turning to "diet versions". If you want something pasta based go for the wholemeal version. If you want potaoes swap roast / jacket for new potatoes etc..

The only things I buy that are diet are the occasional ready meal from M&S (Fuller for Longer range - under 400 cals) that is probably less than once a month.