Yes. You CAN eat 'normal' food! (my rant.)

Real quick here: for those "healthy eaters" who think that what they eat now as "normal" food, do you think that if everyone "normally" ate that way, they'd be overweight or obese? I'm betting the answer is no.
So since the majority of overweight and obese people probably didn't get that way from eating whole grains, vegetables, whole foods etc., then wouldn't the processed, junk, high sugar, high fat foods actually be the norm?

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I definitely got overweight that way. Eating a huge bowl of pasta with meat sauce while you sit on your *kitten* is still going to pack on the pounds whether or not the pasta is whole grain and the meat sauce is made with veggies and grass fed beef. Making a wonderful veggie stir fry and serving it over a double helping of rice is still going to get you overweight. My problem was portion control. And sitting on my *kitten*. My problem was not that I ate a bunch a processed junk. Sorry to disappoint.

I grew up with a home cooked and well-balanced meal everyday to go along with my packed lunch. Every once in a while my mom would fry chicken or fish or take us out to eat at McDonald's or Taco Bell. I still cook all the time. I LOVE to cook. I love to cook with whole grains and veggies. I always have. Even in college I was the one having baked chicken with brown rice and veggies while everyone else ate their Hot Dogs and top ramen. I had fast food maybe once or twice a week when I was too busy with school to cook.

The fact of the matter is that eating processed junk is not everyone's normal.

Same here. I always ate a lot of veggies and fruits and hardly any junk food. Almost always bought produce and meat instead of boxed stuff. What changed for me when starting MFP was becoming more active again and controlling my portion size. For me to still eat my "normal" foods means still eating pasta/rice, an occasional pastry, ect. but probably less than I use to before joining.

What's considered normal to someone isn't normal to another person, whether that normal is junk food or health food.

I feel like we've all somehow gotten distracted from the most important issue, though...

What IS going to happen to my boobs?

You CAN'T eat processed foods and expect things to be great. Just saying

You CAN'T eat processed foods and expect things to be great. Just saying

Depends on how much of it you're eating. My body is adaptive enough to be able to handle a Snickers bar, or pizza, or Hot Pocket, every now and then. I wouldn't expect great things if I ate only Snickers, pizza and Hot Pockets, but since more than 80% of my diet is healthy and I'm meeting my nutritional requirements... I'm going to enjoy my weekly pizza and daily fun-sized Snickers, and on days when I'm absolutely stumped on what to have for lunch, I'll have a Hot Pocket.

Processed crap isn't "normal" food to me. I don't like the way I feel after I eat it--physically or mentally. So why would I eat it?

I'm very happy with my healthy options. I actually enjoy them more.

I find it very amusing that so many are so self righteous about the processed stuff they eat; it's like you're looking for validation. I'm just happy that I actually ENJOY healthy foods. My bowl of oatmeal this morning may have had the same amount of calories as an Egg McMuffin, but I know that in the long run, steel cut oats, blueberries, and ground flax seeds are WAY better for my body than the McMuffin. Calories aside, the actual foods themselves are waaaay better for you.

I'd rather have a baked sweet potato than some fries. Honestly.

It has NOTHING to do about being "self righteous". It has to do with NOT fighting against weight gain by FORCING the a person to deny themselves foods that they like to eat. You'd be less likely to die from a car accident if you didn't drive. Or even risk much less of a chance of getting muscle injury by NOT working out or doing physical activity. But that wouldn't be practical for a lot of people. We like our "normal" foods because it's food we ENJOY eating. Take enjoyment out of life, then what are you living for?


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

You CAN'T eat processed foods and expect things to be great. Just saying

Yeah, this is wrong.

I can't believe this topic is still going. What have people been talking about for the last 10 pages

Ate this x3 last night. OMG.


Woke up this morning. Not dead & not fat. Amazing...

This post really resounds with me.

I used to really really try to live to the ideals of the holy church of the ORLB (at one point I was vegetarian) and then the paleo brigade - low carbs! All natural! All hail the chief of raw dairy!

Then I realized I was still overweight, my cholesterol was getting high, and I was still eating too many calories through eating nutrient dense (but organic veggies! raw sugar! whole fat organic dairy!) foods.

I've been approaching my goal weight at a sustainable rate not really giving a damn about whether it's organic, or clean, or any of that happy horses*it. Does it fit my macros? It's fair game. Sometimes I even eat in excess of my calorie level! Rebellion!

You know what's absolutely great about this? I can eat at restaurants, I can travel with no issues, and I can LIVE MY LIFE without being a preachy SOB to everyone around me. Oh and I can lose weight and improve my medical markers while doing it. (side note; I'm also a very active person which affords me more calories on awesome foods).

WINNING...and sitting here drinking non-organic hot tea flavored with Splenda.