I've been noticing....

i completely agree with these statements and have observed the same things. At the same time though, I think even if people do eat healthy, some have major portion control issues. for instance a friend of mine's husband had a heart attack, so I made a casserole for them that my family of 4 has eaten for diner and had enough left over for at least 3 more servings. I made the casserole the same size as it normally (7 servings) for this family of 3. They ate the entire thing for dinner, none leftover! And I am sure that this was not the only thing that was on the dinner table for them. This amazed me! On top of that I made them cookies for if people stopped by (5 dozen - this is what the recipe made) and they had them all eaten over a 3 day period. I was just amazed by this whole incident. Sorry if it seems like a rant.

I guess what I am getting at is people can eat all the health y food they want and still be obese due to no portion control.

I get a good mix of both, so I would be one hard cart to figure out.

My biggest problem is that I need to plan better. With limited time to prepare meals and be the "single mom" I do sometimes go for convenience...thus, the frozen pizzas and ravioli sometimes. Oops!! I'm working on it though!!!

I'm a grocery line bragger/judger myself. I scoff at the person in front of me buying fatty foods if they are not thin and parade around my veggies like I have just cured cancer. I've eaten healthy for years, my problem is cereal, love the stuff but a binge on that vs fast food will never kill me - fingers crossed

Costco has horrible prices, unless you love 1 thing (I hear people love their meat) or have a 6+ person family it’s such a waste of money!

Yeah, I notice the contents of people's shopping carts as well. Some people apparently never cook anything that can't be prepared in a microwave.

There's an ad campaign on tv now for a Virginia power company that says you should use the microwave more instead of the oven to conserve energy. There's shot of a 12ish year old boy taking a hot pocket or some sort of crap like that out of the microwave and chomping on it. It makes me so mad every time I see it. What a terrible example they are setting. I was an environmental studies major in college and I don't care how much energy is saved, it's so much healthier to actually cook your food instead of heating up this garbage.

Yeah save money by using only the microwave but waste it all on expensive frozen crap. :P The only thing I microwave is my peanut butter because natural pb is impossible to spread when it's cold haha.

Do you ever notice the obese/overweight families with the cart full of healthy foods because they want to change? That would be me and my husband, only with our skinny 15 year old daughter. I know there are more of us out there somewhere.

The funny thing is (well not that funny) is that the cart full of processed foods cost less than your cart of fresh good quality produce (in the UK anyways);

I'm not complaining as it's worth the investment but just making the observation... do you notice the same?

Totally, it bothers me but hey, it's the price to pay for a healthier body.

Aubie: this is true! I'm glad our school cafeterias are getting SOME recognition. At our (very southen and low-funded) school, "fried" chicken is actually baked and breaded with whole wheat crumbs! It's terrible that we bash our schools when they are doing their best to balance health, funds, and what kids will eat. (I admit I'm biased

Do you ever notice the obese/overweight families with the cart full of healthy foods because they want to change? That would be me and my husband, only with our skinny 15 year old daughter. I know there are more of us out there somewhere.

I see you guys too. And sometimes we end up swapping recipes.

Do you ever notice the obese/overweight families with the cart full of healthy foods because they want to change? That would be me and my husband, only with our skinny 15 year old daughter. I know there are more of us out there somewhere.

I see you guys too. And sometimes we end up swapping recipes.

I see you guys as well, and honestly it makes me smile. You're making great and better choices for yourselves and your children.

WOW I think I can sum up most of the thoughts from this thread with a couple of sentences:

I look at other people's carts and judge them by what they're eating and what their kids are eating. I then feel better about myself for subsequently judging them.

Wait you forgot one : Unless they are skinny or healthy looking - then it is ok to buy junk food.

The funny thing is (well not that funny) is that the cart full of processed foods cost less than your cart of fresh good quality produce (in the UK anyways);

I'm not complaining as it's worth the investment but just making the observation... do you notice the same?

This is so true. I look at a bag of spinach in Tesco - £1.99, however a bag of 10 frozen, sh*tty sausages - £1.

I used to work in a supermarket while I was at college and it is so true that you can tell without looking up from the conveyor whether the customer is going to be obese or not. Not saying that skinnies don't have chocolate or fatty food, they do! Just they tend to buy 1 bar of chocolate, whereas the not so skinnies tend to have 3 multipacks of chocolate bars, 2 tubs of Ben & Jerrys and a share bag of crisps in their baskets. :ohwell:

I'm lucky, my son likes a ton of fruits and vegetables that I don't. I let him go to the store with me and pick out what produce he wants. He loves broccoli, peas, and any fruit (other than bananas) right now. He is in Kindergarten and I have started packing his lunch. Today he picked most of it and I was so proud.... fresh carrots, broccoli, mandarin oranges, grilled chicken breast, peanuts, and cheetos.... so only 1 thing that was really not nutritious. :happy: I make him try new things at least once and his tastes are constantly changing (when he was a toddler he ate a banana every morning but now "doesn't like" them). I limit his candy and soda intake (Sprite zeros are a once a week treat). I grew up eatting tons of pizza, heavy dinners (spaghetti, pot roast, enchiladas), and Little Debbie was a great friend. I am trying to do better with him though he does still enjoy pizza about once a week. I think its our job to teach the next generation how to have a healthy relationship with food!

The funny thing is (well not that funny) is that the cart full of processed foods cost less than your cart of fresh good quality produce (in the UK anyways);

I'm not complaining as it's worth the investment but just making the observation... do you notice the same?

That sucks for the UK! It is soooooooo not true in Canada and i'm sure the US and the UK has a much higher population than Canada, guess its an import issue....

For me, If you eat a frozen dinner for dinner thats $3, or 2 (so thats 1200+ cals, eww!) cheap-o nasty Michalina's for $2 total to try and get full but you'll still be hungry due to no protein or fiber and a homemade chicken stir-fry with veggies and brown rice and 1 breast costs $3 too!. I have tried and cannot possibly spend more than $150 a month for 2 of us (and $40 of that is diet pepsi - his vice not mine). Frozen meat is cheaper yes but thats it!

The thing I hate to see the most is a 6 year old kid who is busting out of her 8 year old clothes, is dirty and holding a soda and a bag of cookies. Its like they dont SEE that they are setting this kid up for a lifetime of self loathing and low standards.

this so much!! I was skinny as a rail at eight and I played video games and ate snack foods, so there's really no excuses. /: I have parents who come into where I work buying their pre-teen/teens snack foods and grease telling other people it's just baby fat. No, moms of the world, you just want an excuse.

yeah an excuse to be lazy!! i struggle so much with weight and have my entire life that I want to be an example and do better for my kids! i push thru every night that i am exhausted to make sure they eat properly when it would most def be easier to slap some processed crap outta the microwave in front of them! its called parenting!!!

my shopping cart is always filled with healthy food for me and all the junk food for my hubby. I laugh everytime I'm at the checkout. all the organic food is for me and all the processed junk for him...oh well!

Me too, bf will only eat healthy if I cook it, because he can't cook to save his life. I work nights waitressing and he works during the day so the only option is for him to get pizzas, chicken pot pies etc that he can easily cook himself when I'm at work. So our grocery cart is always clearly 50/50 healthy/unhealthy lol.

But, yes I've noticed this too. Actually probably 90% of the people I see at the grocery store have all boxed/packaged foods in their carts. I don't think ANYONE actually cooks anymore! (except for the people on here of course lol)