Healthy Eating Difficult?

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wosnes
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Healthy Eating Difficult?

Post by wosnes » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:15 pm

There's an article on the Food Network blogs that asks if healthy eating is more difficult than doing taxes -- and suggests that for many people it is.

I don't think it is, even though I'm one of those people with heart disease. I've spent enough time to raise a child to college age (that is, 18 years) to develop my own philosophy about food and what foods I think promote health.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

oolala53
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Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:30 pm

I know technically 53% is most, but it sounds pretty evenly divided.

I think for most it's harder to eat well because you have to make decisions every day; taxes are painful but they're confined.

I think it's very interesting that the article reported that most people thought that enjoying their food was more important than worrying about whether it was healthy. I think they may have to redefine what "enjoying" their food means. It looks to me like people wolf their food and have to eat a lot to get enough of the taste. I also have to say it sounds like it isn't working, since we have such high incidences of diseases associated with lifestyle.

I think it's ironic that people say they are confused by conflicting reports since most of them don't actually stick to any rules. I've heard a lot more of "Oh, I shouldn't, but just this once..." than "I don't eat that" in the general population. Or I hear it but it's obvious the speaker is eating something besides celery at other times. That was certainly an MO of mine!

I'm also not surprised it's hard for many people because there is such cultural (not just advertising) pressure in so many communities to eat a lot of salty, fatty, and sweet food almost all the time. However, I don't say that these are excuses, exactly. It's just that we have an adolescent outlook for a long time in our lives these days. To insist we have to overindulge as a remedy for our stressed lives isn't really defensible, especially because the tactics end up creating more problems!

Then again, we're not alone. It does seem that those who have not had access to a lot of food and then get access tend to overcompensatet. I count America in that category because of its being an immigrant country, with so many of the immigrants coming to escape poverty. I know both of my immigrant grandmothers were pretty chunky. By those standards, my siblings and I have actually done pretty well.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
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1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
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Over43
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Post by Over43 » Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:34 am

I hate to use the word intuitively, but I think most of us intuitively know what we should, or shouldn't be eating. I used to wonder why people could lose weight on Atkins, Ornish, et. al. But when you step back and look at them, they have many things in common, no sweets, sodas, etc. I would include McDougall, and other such programs as well. It's not the foods that they tell you to eat that makes them work, but the "bad" foods that they have in common.

I think it comes down to the basic fact that in North America, and many parts of Europe we just have a poop load of choices. For many it is difficult to not eat because it is all so accessible. I heard a great quote on a show on BYU TV about obesity: Telling an overweight person just to quit eating is like putting a porn addict in an adult bookstore and telling him not to look at the pictures. And that would apply to me, because until I started building the No S habit I was an eating machine.
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man

I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79

Thalia
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Post by Thalia » Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:04 pm

I dunno, I think a lot of people DON'T know what a healthy choice looks like, because so much junk is marketed as healthful. Slim-Fast, protein bars, Smart Pop, Powerade, Skinny Cow, Lean Cuisine, Yoplait ... a lot of money is spent convincing people that processed food is BETTER because it has the nutrition information right on the box.

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FarmerHal
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Post by FarmerHal » Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:53 pm

I think, to the average Joe out there, it is difficult to know what to eat. You have the government guidelines which states grains need to be the base of our diets.
Some people's bodies do fine with grains as teh base of their diets. Others do much better with minimal or no grain content. some people do best on a plant based diet with small amounts of meat, or vice versa.

The trouble is finding what sort of combination works best for your own body. And the trouble is, the junky stuff just tastes good! (for various reasons).
{FarmerHal} ...previously Shamrockmommy...
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oolala53
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Post by oolala53 » Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:40 pm

Good point about the protein/meal bars and such, though they have always seemed like a mistake to me. I don't think I ever ate just one at a time! They were too easy to eat a lot of, and that to me is the sign of a junk food.

I just wonder how old these people are and what people ate growing up. I guess I was luckier than I knew, though I think I eat even better than my family did, with more fresh veggies. But my parents served a small salad, a meat, a starch (usually potatoes, not very fatty), a vegetable and a small dessert. It was actually very reasonable. I'M the one who snacked outside of the meals and without my mother's knowledge, plus developed a candy habit and a sneaking-food habit. Then I started dieting, then IF-ing, and I got whacky.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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Over43
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Post by Over43 » Thu Mar 14, 2013 1:52 pm

I don't remember drinking a Coke until I was 16 when I took a job at Burger King.

Growing up it was Kool Aid, a glass, and milk. In the summers we were told to "get the heck out of the house..." No shirts, no sunscreen, and no shoes, (No we weren't pregnant...), at lunch time we had a sandwich and were sent back outside with a popsicle.

The pantry was off limits, and we ate dinner.

Reading the posts that came after mine, and before this one, I would humbly say that I agree. I think we know what to eat here (No S board), but, probably most people do think granola bars dipped in chocolate are healthy, or other processed products. I think being on No S I don't eat that stuff anymore because I wouldn't eat it with a meal, and on S Days I eat maybe a package of fudge pop tarts (my treat), or when they return, a Twinkie. And judging by previous posts, I'm not sure they are any worse for me than any other processed item.

You all take care, I have to work now. :shock:
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man

I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79

Shortformyweight
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Eating healthy

Post by Shortformyweight » Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:50 pm

I grew up in a family where we always ate at home, and every dinner was a meat, a potato, and a vegetable. My father grew up in pretty extreme poverty, so he was grateful for 3 squares, and he's never been a sweet eater or a snacker - maybe once a year, on a really hot day, he'd have a scoop of ice cream. My mom, OTOH, was a binge eater, and we always had a boatload of junk food in the house, and there was an incentive to get there first and eat the most because once they were gone, you had to wait another week before there would be more. Not good!

I have been working on eliminating processed foods from my diet for a while. I think it helps refocus your taste buds on enjoying real food, reduces cravings for garbage (some cravings, anyway - the psychological cravings are the worst to shake, IMO), and is just generally the way we should be eating.

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