S/O 25% obese-What do people in other countries eat?

[Quad Shot Academy]

I don't think it can be blamed on corn, as I eat lots of corn every day. I think a lot of it comes down to tasty food. If I set out a lunch of dried mango (with added sugar), raisins, cranberries, pecans, and cheese, the family will love it and eat until full. But if I set out a processed lunch of sandwiches or pizza pockets, fresh fruit, carrots and chips, I can guarantee that my family will eat at least double the calories and they will get hungry again at the same time as with the plain lunch.

 

I have widespread food allergies and have to follow a hypoallergenic diet, but thankfully I can eat corn. The only processed foods I can eat are plain corn chips, corn tortillas, dried fruit, pasta sauce and rice pasta. Other than that, I eat beans, chicken, popcorn, vegetables and rice. When I go off of the diet and allow myself one allergic item a day, adding about 200 calories a day (usually being a processed food), I gain 10 lbs very quickly, so I don't think it is just the calories. I think eating processed foods causes water gain, and/or changes my appetite and/or metabolism for at least a few days.

 

There is a new study out about the bacteria in our gut causing obesity:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/12/nation/na-weight-gain12

[Melenie]

I did not read all the responses, but here is my 2c.

 

We moved to the US about 10 years ago and within months DH and I put on a good amount of weight. There are a few reasons for our weight gain:

 

1. I used to cook from scratch and in the US it is cheaper and easier to buy convenience food.

2. Treats and snacks are found in most homes here, chocolates, chips, cake mixes and so on. Before we only had those things on special occasions.

3. We ate more fresh fruits and vegetables, it was much cheaper than it is here.

4. Food here is less flavorful, thus you tend to eat more of it to feel satisfied.

5. Restaurant portions are huge here! When the kids and I go out we order one meal and have left overs.

 

I am sure there are more reasons, but that is all I can come up with now.

 

I do believe the rest of the world is starting to eat like the US though and the weight is catching up with them. If you checked the figures of the rest of the world, you will see an increase in overall weight there as well.

[Nicole M]

I agree with what has been said up to this point, especially regarding diet habits in other countries. And although it's been mentioned briefly, I would emphasize that the pop / soda habit is a terrible problem here in the US. I have a friend who is a pediatrician, and her mantra is that if we want to do one thing to lose weight, the most important step you can take is to eliminate all soda.

 

But people. I gotta tell you. I read through this whole entire thread while eating 2.5 ounces of my birthday Ghiradelli dark chocolate, nearly the whole bar. And dang. It was good.

[Melenie]

I agree with what has been said up to this point, especially regarding diet habits in other countries. And although it's been mentioned briefly, I would emphasize that the pop / soda habit is a terrible problem here in the US. I have a friend who is a pediatrician, and her mantra is that if we want to do one thing to lose weight, the most important step you can take is to eliminate all soda.

 

But people. I gotta tell you. I read through this whole entire thread while eating 2.5 ounces of my birthday Ghiradelli dark chocolate, nearly the whole bar. And dang. It was good.

 

So true about the Soda. I read somewhere that the US consumes a large amount of their daily calories in drinks.

 

Now hand over that chocolate, I need some today. :D

[Jean in Newcastle]

One thing that I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet in this thread is how most people outside the U.S. smoke like chimneys. Cigarettes are deadly but tobacco does speed up one's metabolism. Many models and actresses here smoke as a weight control measure. :thumbdown:

 

 

 

This is true in Japan. Even if you don't smoke, you are subject to so much second hand smoke that you might as well be. . .

 

Not sure if this has changed recently though.

[Nicole M]

So true about the Soda. I read somewhere that the US consumes a large amount of their daily calories in drinks.

 

Now hand over that chocolate, I need some today. :D

 

The only reason I'm not a pop addict is because I cannot stand carbonation. Blech. This is why I can, on occasion, eat a whole chocolate bar. I would have shared, but it's too late now. Gone. Sorry you're having a high-chocolate needs day!

[stripe]

Really? I don't know, baklava, luqmat (fried balls of dough soaked in date syrup), many desserts here are really sugary -- but then again, a serving of baklava is generally a small diamond-wedge, while the desserts I've gotten recently in the States are, like, a quarter of an entire pie for a serving, with ice cream lol.

That's true, but who needs a sweet dessert when you fill the tea cup half full of sugar before adding in the tea?! Holy moly! However, to Arabs' credit, I think there's a fair amount of whole grains (burgal, frika, ...), lentils/beans, and vegetables worked in, along with meat, in the Arab diet. It doesn't really leave you hungry and wanting to fill up with junk.

 

I do NOT think people in most other countries eat salad all day long! But in many cases, it's a lot more work to cook (you have to, say, grind things to eat them, and wash and chop and so forth; you may have to walk for water), whereas most Americans can just flip a switch, and often eat SO MUCH food that's prepared by someone else. There is also so little opportunity for people to walk anywhere.

 

A really good illustration of what people eat is "Hungry Planet" -- here is an excerpt from Time Magazine. Some people (not necessarily Americans, by the way) have their tables piled high with cheese, processed meat, soda, cakes, and so on, while other people have a sack of grain and beans, some others have a table full of vegetables and wheat flour/grains. It is so interesting.

[Heather in OK]

And a lot of it starts in the public schools.

 

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

 

She had a guest blogger from Japan who shared what he and the school children there eat.

[Nicole M]

And a lot of it starts in the public schools.

 

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

 

She had a guest blogger from Japan who shared what he and the school children there eat.

 

As an aside, sort of, I have a former student who is now teaching in a grade school in Japan. The teachers and children eat in the classroom together, rather than in a large cafeteria, like our children do. Small but satisfying hot meals are brought to the room for the class. I don't know if you've been in a grade school or middle school cafeteria lately, but the ones I have seen are positively inhumane. I cannot imagine that we are teaching our children a positive relationship with food when they have 15 minutes to gulp down their food and are not allowed to talk.

 

ETA: I should have read what the guest blogger wrote first. Very touching. The direct link to Sensei Daniel's post is here: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-blogger-american-teacher-in-japan.html

Edited March 19, 2010 by Nicole M

[WishboneDawn]

How and what do people in other countries eat? Do they eat salads and raw veggies all the time? My dh works out everyday and doesn't eat too much and is still over weight. My teen dd takes dance at school and doesn't over eat and is over weight. What is the difference in other countries. Are people constantly hungry in other countries and just ignore their hunger?

 

I just can't pin point what is causing the weight gain in America compared to other countries. I know they say it is fast food and lack of exercise, but I don't know if I believe that is the real cause.

 

Anybody move to a different country and lost weight without trying? What was different in you diet/lifestyle?

 

I wonder if it isn't because there's not the same obsession with it. Diet is simply what you eat, not what you try not to eat. Exercise is just what happens as you go along in your daily life, not something you buy gym memberships or workout videos to do.

 

I keep thinking that if the NA obsession with weight were a garden we'd be planting bulbs only to dig them up every day to check for growth and apply newly-purchased products to them. Then wonder why our gardens seemed so sad and unproductive.

[RegularMom]

Where is corn hidden?

 

From In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan:

 

With the rise of industrial agriculture, vast monocultures of a tiny group of plants, most of them cereal grains, have replaced the diversified farms that used to feed us. A century ago, the typical Iowa farm raised more than a dozen different plant and animal species....Now it raises only two: corn and soybeans. This simplification of the agricultural landscape leads directly to the simplification of the diet, which is now to a remarkable extent dominated by -- big surprise -- corn and soybeans. You may not think you eat a lot of corn and soybeans, but you do: 75 percent of the vegetable oils in your diet come from soy... and more than half of the sweeteners you consume come from corn. (pp. 116-117)

 

Generally, when looking at the labels of any pre-packaged food item in a supermarket, anything on the list of ingredients that is difficult to pronounce, or ends in "ose" or "trin", comes from corn.

 

Pollan also talks about how the livestock we eat are now fed mostly corn, even though it's basically a poison to them. So we're also getting "corn" if we're eating meat products that have been raised on corn. (Unless you're buying organic grass-fed-only meats, that is.) Fish farmers are now training tilapia and salmon to eat corn as well, even though corn is by no means a natural food item for fish. He takes the idea of "you are what you eat" one step further: you are what what you eat eats, too.

 

Someone further down recommended watching Food, Inc. I second that, and I also recommend Michael Pollan's books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

 

Speaking of food... time to go plan where I'm planting tomorrow's snap peas and other spring time things. YAY! :)

Edited March 20, 2010 by RegularMom

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Generally, when looking at the labels of any pre-packaged food item in a supermarket, anything on the list of ingredients that is difficult to pronounce, or ends in "ose" or "trin", comes from corn.

 

Thanks for educating me, you and SnickerDoodle.

Generally speaking, we eat little that comes pre-packaged. So I guess I don't eat that much corn anyway. Although it would still be in our diet, because we do have some prepackaged food.

[myfunnybunch]

I haven't read all of the other responses, but....

 

Our Japanese student and I were talking about exercise, and she mentioned that she'd gained weight since she got here. She eats out for lunch every weekday and sometimes dinner or lunch on the weekends.

 

She said, "I used to think American restaurants served too much food. But now I can eat it all. I need to go on a diet!"

 

A lot of the problem is portion sizes, plain and simple. That and the empty calories in our food that cause us to feel unsatisfied and crave more food.

 

Cat

[Rosie_0801]

A rushed lifestyle makes people unhappy, and when people are unhappy, they want comfort food. I don't think comfort eating is bad in itself. If it was, babies wouldn't be programmed to head for the boobies to make them feel better! The trouble comes from us outgrowing that particular comfort food. Now when we're feeling a bit miserable, we eat donuts. Nice, refined flour and sugar donuts.

 

Rosie

[CAMom]

I agree with what has been said up to this point, especially regarding diet habits in other countries. And although it's been mentioned briefly, I would emphasize that the pop / soda habit is a terrible problem here in the US. I have a friend who is a pediatrician, and her mantra is that if we want to do one thing to lose weight, the most important step you can take is to eliminate all soda.

 

But people. I gotta tell you. I read through this whole entire thread while eating 2.5 ounces of my birthday Ghiradelli dark chocolate, nearly the whole bar. And dang. It was good.

 

I wish! I don't drink soda at all (except on very rare occasion) and I'm considered obese...probably morbidly so.:glare: I drink water, green tea (decaf) and a Starbucks latte about once a week.

 

I also can't eat chocolate. Blah!:)

 

I wish I could find the magic solution!

[Janet in Toronto]

My husbands siblings (5) and their families are all in Europe (France and Sweden). Those who are overweight tend to either (1) eat a lot of sweets or (2) eat a lot of processed foods. There is virtually NO snacking between meals in France. My sisters-in-law kitchens are closed, lights off, no-one in there when meals are not being prepared. The kitchen is NOT the centre of the household, LOL! Much lower sugar consumption. More walking as part of daily life. Very little eating out. Mainly water as a beverage (other than wine/beer). They do NOT eat a low fat diet.

 

When my nieces and nephews visit us in North America, they can't believe that you get free pop refills in restaurants, and how much food is served on the plate.

[Melissa in Australia]

I always thought the recommended daily calorie total for women is around 1500. not the 2000 that you are all taking about.

we don't eat much processed food. and then is is only a little bit of ham occasionally. I make all our food from scratch. the kids do eat cookies and milkshakes between meals ( milk from our own cows) . and they are all thin. we do have an active lifestyle though. They go boogie boarding every second day. and are all in multiple basketball teams.

[Peela]

I was reading (I cant remember where) recently that something like 90% of the average Westerner's diets consist of just 13 foods- something like chicken, corn, wheat, oranges, milk etc We eat too narrow a range of foods, and most of those foods are now hybridized, mass produced, chemicalised and basically no where near as nutritious as they were 100 years ago anyway.

 

I agree with the other factors people have suggested- lack of exercise/ car dependence, portion size, overeating because the food is not nutritious, soda pop/ drinking calories, and the sheer availability and ease with which we can go out and eat unhealthy food, at much less cost, compared to preparing something healthy at home. Since I switched to eating mostly fruit and vegetables our food bill has gone up a lot and I am struggling with keeping it down. It costs more to eat fruit and veg than it does to eat packets of dead food.

I think the fat issue is important, also. We have been sold "low fat" for so long and all that has happened is that everyone has got fatter. Fat makes you feel full. It is an important part of the diet- yes, it has more calories per gram than carbs or protein, but if you skip the fat, you will just eat more carbs and protein and still feel hungry.

 

 

Another factor I havent seen mentioned but which I think is singificant is the amount of MSG that is added to snack food and many, many foods. MSG is a neuro toxin and it interferes with your satiety mechanism- when there is MSG in food it tastes more tasty but your body tends not to recognise when it has had enough and just keeps scoffing down the food. So rather than having a few chips, one eats the whole packet. It is amazng how many foods have MSG added.

There is a lot of info on the net about it- I just picked a couple:

http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com/msg.html

http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/msgstudy.html

[stripe]

When my nieces and nephews visit us in North America, they can't believe that you get free pop refills in restaurants, and how much food is served on the plate.

Yes, an employee at the London airport exclaimed to me how he and his wife couldn't believe how much food one got at American restaurants, and for how cheap. American food is truly, truly cheap compared to what the rest of the world pays.

[kmacnchs]

I wish! I don't drink soda at all (except on very rare occasion) and I'm considered obese...probably morbidly so.:glare: I drink water, green tea (decaf) and a Starbucks latte about once a week.

 

I also can't eat chocolate. Blah!:)

 

I wish I could find the magic solution!

 

Do you eat processed food? Do you eat veggies? I LOVE Pollan's In Defense of Food, Eat Clean (author?), and the Eat Clean Diet (lots of great recipes!)

 

ETA: I say this b/c my dh is the same way (no soda or chocolate) but he NEVER exercises and eats fast food whenever he gets the chance...it's not just about soda (though I agree for some that would be an easy (or simple) change). I didn't want to sound judgmental... Those books have really changed my way of thinking about food (I NEVER want to be on a "diet", I just want to eat fresh!)

Edited March 20, 2010 by kmacnchs

[Heather in WI]

American food is truly, truly cheap compared to what the rest of the world pays.

 

Only because our government subsidizes corn (which ties in to much of the previous discussion). And, we get what we pay for long term in terms of our health and related health costs.

[Sputterduck]

Our last house was very close to a business area. We could walk to church, library, post office, grocery store, etc. I miss those days. :) Anyway...one time my neighbor stopped and asked if I was having car trouble because I was walking home from the bank & library. "Umm...no...I'm just walking because it's only 1/2 mile!" The idea was completely foreign to her. Although, she was very fit, and I would run into her while she was jogging for exercise! It just didn't occur to her that she could walk to the store.

 

I'm trying to get into walking places now that I've left America. Everyone walks here, and I know it's healthy. But I still have this, "Wait... you want me to walk??" thought process. lol

[knit247]

Watch Food Inc. Once you know what we Americans eat (and I don't think it qualifies as "food"), you'll understand why we are all overweight...

 

Can I tell you that I am just 8 min. into this movie and already am disgusted... TY for mentioning this - very interesting!

[Wyndie]

I didn't read all the replies but had to comment on the below quote. My mom found out she is anaphylactic to corn (actually I figured it out after her doc couldn't figure out what was wrong) and she lost about 50-60 lbs cutting out that one thing. She's now a very healthy 130lbs and she didn't try, it just happened.

 

I have noticed that when I've tried to avoid corn (food allergies) that I tend to lose weight. It may just be that I eat a lot less pre-prepared food, or eat out less. Or maybe there's something about corn.

[CAMom]

Do you eat processed food? Do you eat veggies? I LOVE Pollan's In Defense of Food, Eat Clean (author?), and the Eat Clean Diet (lots of great recipes!)

 

ETA: I say this b/c my dh is the same way (no soda or chocolate) but he NEVER exercises and eats fast food whenever he gets the chance...it's not just about soda (though I agree for some that would be an easy (or simple) change). I didn't want to sound judgmental... Those books have really changed my way of thinking about food (I NEVER want to be on a "diet", I just want to eat fresh!)

 

I do eat processed food but have cut way back as I learn that none of it is healthy.:) Yes, I eat lots of veggies. I do have an underactive thyroid but my blood work shows that it's leveled out.

 

Oh and I do exercise.:)

[myfunnybunch]

Anyway...one time my neighbor stopped and asked if I was having car trouble because I was walking home from the bank & library. "Umm...no...I'm just walking because it's only 1/2 mile!" The idea was completely foreign to her. Although, she was very fit, and I would run into her while she was jogging for exercise! It just didn't occur to her that she could walk to the store.

 

Ugh, yes! Our neighborhood school is less than half a mile away, and the moms on the neighboring streets drive their kids to school to drop them off, then drive to the gym (a little more than 1/2 mile away) to RUN ON THE TREADMILL. :confused:

 

Heaven's, if they walked the kids to school, then ran up to the gym parking lot and back home, they'd get virtually the same workout for free. (Granted, the gym has weights and a sauna and it doesn't rain inside, but still...)

 

Cat

[Nicole M]

Ugh, yes! Our neighborhood school is less than half a mile away, and the moms on the neighboring streets drive their kids to school to drop them off, then drive to the gym (a little more than 1/2 mile away) to RUN ON THE TREADMILL. :confused:

 

Heaven's, if they walked the kids to school, then ran up to the gym parking lot and back home, they'd get virtually the same workout for free. (Granted, the gym has weights and a sauna and it doesn't rain inside, but still...)

 

Cat

 

Did y'all see the Baby Blues comic from (in our papers) yesterday?

 

http://www.arcamax.com/newspics/11/1141/114158.gif

 

I think it points to how much as changed in our culture concerning our cars. Now, I realize that many live in areas where walking is simply not an option, but I'm talking about those of us who live where we can walk -- and don't. The schools in our areas actively discourage bike riding and walking to school. Bizarre.

[Tap]

Ugh, yes! Our neighborhood school is less than half a mile away, and the moms on the neighboring streets drive their kids to school to drop them off, then drive to the gym (a little more than 1/2 mile away) to RUN ON THE TREADMILL. :confused:

 

Heaven's, if they walked the kids to school, then ran up to the gym parking lot and back home, they'd get virtually the same workout for free. (Granted, the gym has weights and a sauna and it doesn't rain inside, but still...)

 

Cat

 

I have always wondered how much electricity could be generated if treadmills were set up to generate electricity instead of consume it. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a gym set up to be a little power plant and every one's work outs to be the source behind the power!

 

We used to take ds to a Bali's Fitness for rock wall climbing. It used to crack us up to see people circling the parking lot, trying to get a close up parking place....at a gym. Like the walking into the gym didn't count :lol:.

[myfunnybunch]

I have always wondered how much electricity could be generated if treadmills were set up to generate electricity instead of consume it. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a gym set up to be a little power plant and every one's work outs to be the source behind the power!

 

http://www.downtoearthnw.com/stories/2009/may/18/universitys-gym-a-power-generator/

 

:)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I have to agree about the walking. When I lived in France, I walked everywhere- to the supermarket, the bank, the post office, the movies. Walking home with your groceries burns off quite a few calories! I even lugged my laundry on the bus to the laundromat. I didn't concern myself with watching what I ate, really, but I didn't gain a single pound and certainly came back here much more toned than I'd been before.

[stripe]

Only because our government subsidizes corn (which ties in to much of the previous discussion). And, we get what we pay for long term in terms of our health and related health costs.

Oh, I don't think it's even just corn. It has to do with any number of other factors (including a lack of concern for food safety, not to mention taste), as far as I'm concerned. But as Americans, I think we've spoken -- we won't pay much for food. We want to eat a lot of cheap junk, not a small amount. Compare French or Italian ice cream with American ice cream, or American vs. European chocolate -- people want a whole bar, or a giant dish, and dilute flavor is okay with many people. Whereas a tiny scoop of some potent ice cream satisfies some people just fine.

 

There are any number of products that seem to be stuck at the same price. Taking a non-food example, embroidery hoops or a package of hand sewing needles. It seems like 20 years ago, they were both $1. They're both still about $1! And I can personally testify that today's embroidery hoops are really quite awful quality -- they're already falling apart when you buy them.

[MomsintheGarden]

Another factor I havent seen mentioned but which I think is singificant is the amount of MSG that is added to snack food and many, many foods. MSG is a neuro toxin and it interferes with your satiety mechanism- when there is MSG in food it tastes more tasty but your body tends not to recognise when it has had enough and just keeps scoffing down the food. So rather than having a few chips, one eats the whole packet. It is amazng how many foods have MSG added.

There is a lot of info on the net about it- I just picked a couple:

http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com/msg.html

http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/msgstudy.html

 

:iagree:

Dh (RegGuheert on these boards) is extremely sensitive to MSG, so we are avid label readers, and we buy very little premade food. His problem has actually been a positive thing.

 

We've found

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html

to be a helpful site, and carry the list with us when we go shopping.

 

GardenMom

[Mergath]

Where I live, I think the biggest problem is that people drive everywhere, even if they're only going a block down the road. It's truly ridiculous. A lot of the roads with the most essential stores don't even have sidewalks. I try to walk everywhere when the weather allows, and I don't know how many times I've crossed in a crosswalk and had people honk at me and give me a "wtf?" look, as if they'd never seen a pedestrian before.

 

My family makes no attempt to diet, and we're all at reasonably healthy weights. We just eat mostly whole foods, and I make a lot of stuff from scratch. I think part of the problem is that people try to eliminate all fat from their diets, and they end up starving all the time. Also, so many people use jarred baby food when their kids are little, and in my experience, a lot of it is overly sweet. Kids learn to like what they're given on a regular basis. Give them sugar, they'll want lots of sugar. I made my daughter's food from scratch for her first year, and she loves vegetables and whole grains now. Her favorite foods are broccoli and lentils.

[Mama Anna]

We were in East Africa for a little while, and I noticed a few things.

 

Their meat has a much lower fat content. I don't think the animals are fattened for slaughter like they are here. When we came back stateside, one of my re-entry shock moments was confronting a package of chicken thighs and contemplating all the fat and grease. <shudder> I used to like the dark meat of the fowl before we went overseas! I can't take it, now.

 

Also, my typical daily diet seemed to mimic what nationals would eat during a celebration. Having meat, starch, and veggies all in the same meal was a feast-style meal for them. Standard fare tended to be starch with veggies (and maybe beans) with meat-protein added occasionally. Use of fat when cooking a meal (oil, butter, shortening, etc.) was not taken for granted.

 

Of course, malnutrition was around, especially in the kids. Fat was beautiful. I declined buying a piece of clothing for my mother once because it was too small for her and the seller was happily appreciative of the fact that it meant my mom was "big." I tried to gently communicate that my mom wouldn't take that as a compliment (so the lady wouldn't try to woo future US customers by complimenting them on their large size), but between my deficiency in the language and the culture-gap between us, I don't think it got across.

 

Now, we pretty much scratch cook. Part of it is control/pride - I like to have things the way I want them and few cheap items are the way I want them - and part of it is budget. We still fare much more richly than our friends did there, but not as richly as many of our friends here. Both dh and I monitor our weight closely, striving to control it through both diet and (very) moderate exercise and we don't have huge struggles. But then, is that because of our diet, our genetics, or some other factor? I don't know.

 

Just my 2 cents. Should I have read the entire thread . . . ? :blush:

 

Mama Anna

[mcconnellboys]

I think that most other countries do not eat the same proportion of fast-food, or convenience (garbage) foods that contain 1001 different types of unpronouncable substances spun out of corn.

 

I'm old, but most folks I knew growing up did not have weight problems. When modern "convenience" foods were introduced to our grocery stores in the mid-1970's, en masse, we began seeing changes in the population. Some were more sensitive than others.

 

Older people, like my soon to be 102 year old grandmother, who did not embrace the new food culture, maintained their health very well. Others, like my junk food loving parents (turning 75 this year), gained both weight and health problems, such as diabetes. My own generation is less fit than that of my parents. And I can see that those generations younger than me are less fit even than we are.

 

Now when I look at those who have embraced a healthy food lifestyle long-term, I don't see those sorts of problems. They seem to have bodies more like those of my grandmother's generation - but they're really a minority right now. I cringe to think what adult life could be like for my own children if they embrace pop culture foods.

 

Perhaps the new trend toward organic and slow foods will help us get things back on track for ourselves and our children.....

[Guest momof2inmn]

I think that most other countries do not eat the same proportion of fast-food, or convenience (garbage) foods that contain 1001 different types of unpronouncable substances spun out of corn.

 

I'm old, but most folks I knew growing up did not have weight problems. When modern "convenience" foods were introduced to our grocery stores in the mid-1970's, en masse, we began seeing changes in the population. Some were more sensitive than others.

 

Older people, like my soon to be 102 year old grandmother, who did not embrace the new food culture, maintained their health very well. Others, like my junk food loving parents (turning 75 this year), gained both weight and health problems, such as diabetes. My own generation is less fit than that of my parents. And I can see that those generations younger than me are less fit even than we are.

 

Now when I look at those who have embraced a healthy food lifestyle long-term, I don't see those sorts of problems. They seem to have bodies more like those of my grandmother's generation - but they're really a minority right now. I cringe to think what adult life could be like for my own children if they embrace pop culture foods.

 

Perhaps the new trend toward organic and slow foods will help us get things back on track for ourselves and our children.....

 

I think one of the problems for me is that I don't know how those other generations ate. What, exactly, do people mean when they say whole food/real food/truly made from scratch. Do you mean baking your own bread from your own milled grain or fresh veggies from the store (they don't seem that healthy and nutrient rich to me) or fresh meat or do you mean stuff you grew from your own garden? To me, made from scratch is baking the cake from the box myself vs. store bought or using Bisquick for pancakes rather than buying frozen ones.

 

I don't have recipes for anything truly made from scratch - wow, so much to learn . . .

[kmacnchs]

What, exactly, do people mean when they say whole food/real food/truly made from scratch. Do you mean baking your own bread from your own milled grain or fresh veggies from the store (they don't seem that healthy and nutrient rich to me) or fresh meat or do you mean stuff you grew from your own garden? To me, made from scratch is baking the cake from the box myself vs. store bought or using Bisquick for pancakes rather than buying frozen ones.

 

I don't have recipes for anything truly made from scratch - wow, so much to learn . . .

 

I make my own bread from my own sprouted and milled grain and use fresh veggies from farms around me. I would *like* to get meat from farmers around me but it is too expensive so I just try not to eat much meat. We do get eggs from a local farmer. I do not make cakes, etc., so I couldn't help you there but as for other stuff, we eat raw fruits & veggies, steam, bake, or saute our veggies - yum!

 

breakfast - eggs in many ways, oatmeal, jelly bread, muffins, yogurt & granola, fruit...

lunch - leftovers, sandwiches, turkey dogs, pancakes & eggs (special), fruit...

snack - salad veggies (got that idea from the Hive!) - cucs, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, mushrooms...

supper - a meat, 2 veggies, a salad at times, bread (or pasta - whole wheat)

 

of all that, only the hot dogs are processed - oh, and we're kinda bad about sliced cheese :tongue_smilie: we drink milk (the kids) and water and juice after an afternoon of playing out in the hot sun (we've had a few of those this week)

 

I'm not a good cook so I just try to eat things that do not have many steps :D Around me, "from scratch" means MANY steps and lots of butter & sugar. I just try to season well so I don't have to add other things that aren't as good for us...I hope that helped...

[Mergath]

I think one of the problems for me is that I don't know how those other generations ate. What, exactly, do people mean when they say whole food/real food/truly made from scratch. Do you mean baking your own bread from your own milled grain or fresh veggies from the store (they don't seem that healthy and nutrient rich to me) or fresh meat or do you mean stuff you grew from your own garden? To me, made from scratch is baking the cake from the box myself vs. store bought or using Bisquick for pancakes rather than buying frozen ones.

 

I don't have recipes for anything truly made from scratch - wow, so much to learn . . .

 

We buy staples- flour, sugar, eggs, butter, stuff like that- and make as much as possible from that. So we don't mill our own grain, but we bake our own bread, for example. I don't grow my own vegetables, since I live in an apartment and don't have the space, but I do grow my own herbs during the spring and summer. Basically, the fewer steps between the animal/plant and the finished, edible product, the better, and the more steps you do at home, the better. Don't try to change everything at once, though, or you'll have a nervous breakdown.

[DarlaS]

I was reading (I cant remember where) recently that something like 90% of the average Westerner's diets consist of just 13 foods- something like chicken, corn, wheat, oranges, milk etc We eat too narrow a range of foods, and most of those foods are now hybridized, mass produced, chemicalised and basically no where near as nutritious as they were 100 years ago anyway.

 

 

Sounds about right. I was eating a MUCH greater variety of food while following "restrictive" Eat to Live. That's something I'm going to get back to ASAP. I miss the variety of my whole foods diet.

 

It was no use trying to explain that to certain family members though. Too funny they were concerned about what I wasn't eating...

[hornblower]

To me, made from scratch is baking the cake from the box myself vs. store bought or using Bisquick for pancakes rather than buying frozen ones.

 

I don't have recipes for anything truly made from scratch - wow, so much to learn . . .

 

Flour, sugar, oats, olive oil, butter, milk, eggs..... real ingredients. One tip I liked was that if you can't identify the plant or animal the ingredient comes from - generally you shouldn't cook with it or eat it. Exceptions are minerals like salt, and chemical additives like baking powder.

 

Here's a website where you can take a quick look at the types of foods eaten during the 19th C.

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpioneer.html

BTW, I think a lot of that would not be so good for us now b/e we're much more sedentary. And I also think that there was a fair bit of nutritional deficiencies then (as now) and we need to be careful to not look back on that time with a blissful rose tinted nostalgia.

 

I also think the big problem is that we don't have the time to prepare all these foods. It takes time to cook from scratch & while many of us manage to do it, I think it's really easy to see how desirable it is to rely on convenience packaged/prepared and take-out to round out our meals. My own suspicion is that some of the countries that have managed to stave off the appeal of convenience foods have different family structures, in which an elderly female relative is often in residence & cooks for the extended family.

[jld]

When we were living in France, it did seem like people were much slimmer than in America. Portion control seemed to be practiced pretty carefully, along with no snacking, and lots of smoking. There seemed to be a lot of societal pressure to be thin.

 

Yesterday dh and I ate lunch with a French couple here in India. The lady ate part of a salad and part of the piece of baguette that came with it. I ate two salads, both pieces of bread, and half a sandwich. Then I had a dessert and half of another one. I am sure that lady was shocked. But I think we have to be who we are, too, and I am not going to pretend in front of French people that we eat the way they do, even if dh is French. His mother and sister are two of the few heavy people I know in France. It's hard to be heavy in a thin society.

 

Here in India there are a lot of very thin, almost bone thin people, and plenty of overweight people, too. The poor people tend to be thin, and richer people heavier. Richer people seem to have access to richer food than poor people, like meat and dairy on a regular basis. The poor people seem to eat more starches and vegetable gravies. Fruit is still somewhat of a treat for poor people, who only eat sweets, like candies or cake, on special occasions, like birthdays or weddings.

[mcconnellboys]

No, lol, I don't mean things like Bisquick vs. frozen. I do mean making baked goods from meals that didn't contain tons of preservatives, whether you milled them yourself, or not. The different sorts of flour products we used when I was growing up came from mills in the nearest large city, less than two hours away. And they were more pure in terms of the ingredient list than products of today.

 

The same was true for meats and vegis. Meats mostly came from that same large city or from slaughter houses in our own or surrounding counties. Vegis were from local farmers or from a market in that same large city. We didn't have all the things from all over the world so that all vegis were available in all seasons.

 

Now fruits, often did come from further afield: Florida for citrus; apples from the North; some things even then coming in from California, but not much to my part of the country (TN).

 

But if you imagine today's store, there were canned goods, but there was no where near the numbers of specialty, packaged foods, mixes, sauces, pre-made, ready-to-go meals, or the numbers of frozen dinner type things. There were not even nearly as many cereal type products as today.

 

So if you go by the advice of experts today for eating more healthy, they say to just shop the perimeter aisles and avoid all the middle aisles. That's produce, meat, dairy, fresh juices, and maybe bread basics. Everything else is to be avoided. That's more what our family grocery store looked like until the mid-1970's. The middle aisles held the canned goods. Other than that, there wasn't much else. There were huge bags of flours and meals (because people made most things themselves) and huge vats of lard. There wasn't even that much in the vegetable oil category, as it still wasn't used that much.

 

In trying to get back to that, I think the key for me in buying something that's not completely fresh and whole is to look at its ingredient list. If it's longer than about six items, if it includes unpronouncable words, or ingredients that I can not define - I don't buy it any more.

 

Here's some info on a men's health site about the ills of corn syrup (and that's just the beginning - hundreds of different ingredients are made from corn and its in nearly EVERYTHING we eat as a convenience food):

 

http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/highfructose.html#dangers

[mcconnellboys]

And here's a pretty good list of the food ingredients that may contain corn:

 

http://www.cornallergens.com/list/corn-allergen-list.php

 

Not surprising, then, that in DNA testing we Americans today come out more truly "People of the Corn" than natives of Central or South America.......

[Free Indeed]

For tips and recipes on eating whole foods, or just healthier on a budget try this website http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/ She shares lots of tips and recipes for how she feeds her family non processed foods on a budget. It is full of useful information. I know not everyone here is Christian, so be forewarned that this site is from a Christian perspective- although I am sure you could tell by the title. ;)

[myfunnybunch]

I think one of the problems for me is that I don't know how those other generations ate.

 

Michael Pollan touches on this problem in his book In Defense of Food, which I think has already been mentioned in this thread and others. According to him, Americans don't have time-tested cultural food traditions, so we're particularly vulnerable to the "science" of food--think dieticians and magazines and even food packaging telling us what to eat--and to all of these quick-and-easy nutritionally empty foods.

 

I do think we have lost what bit of food culture we did have as life became more busy and food became cheaper and more convenient. Or rather, it now revolves around convenience foods: Fast food, meals-in-a-box, canned meals, chips and cookies and soda.

 

My mother and her mother and the woman who raised my grandmother raised their own chickens for eggs and meat, raised their own pigs and even cattle, grew their own gardens, and canned or froze most of their food. I try to feed my family that way too, as much as I can, and I am really grateful to have been raised in a family and community where those "old ways" were still traditional. (Oh, but maaaaaan, I was so jealous of my friends who got to eat bologna sandwiches and Twinkies in their school lunch! ;) )

 

Our very very basic guidelines are: If it comes in a box, don't buy it. If it's got HFCS, don't buy it. If we can't pronounce the ingredients, don't buy it. Always have at least one vegetable on the table, preferably two. They're not hard-and-fast rules, but we find if we usually abide by them, we end up eating fresh healthy foods almost all the time.

 

We eat homemade muffins, scones, pancakes, oatmeal (not instant) or toast with eggs and fruit for breakfast. We eat dinner leftovers, fruit, yogurt, sandwiches, cheese for lunch. We cook dinner from scratch, planning our meals around our veggies instead of our meat. Lots of soups (easy!) in the winter and salads in the summer. For snacks, the kids get fruits, veggies, cheese. (They're more portable than I thought...no need for "snacks in a bag" on park days!) In the summer and fall, I pick and buy fruits and veggies in season and dry, freeze or can them. (It's easier than it sounds. Really truly.) We choose one thing at a time to make fresh until it becomes a habit. Right now, it's fresh tortillas.

 

I don't know if that's necessarily all traditional, beyond the canning and preserving, but it is the way I remember eating as a child. :)

 

Cat

[Laura Corin]

I think that I cook from scratch, but I exclude baking. I think people use the phrase in a lot of different ways. Yesterday, our food was:

 

Breakfast: various low-sugar whole grain cereals with milk/soy milk, fruit, tea/coffee, orange juice

 

Lunch: tuna sandwiches on low-sugar whole grain bread with raw carrot sticks and fruit

 

Supper: paella made from rice, olive oil, chicken breasts, prawns, onions, paprika, bought chicken stock, wine, bell pepper; served with steamed purple sprouting broccoli with butter.

 

So, I didn't bake my bread, brew my own wine, or make my own cereals. Nor, on this occasion, did I make my own chicken stock/broth. However, dishes were made from single ingredients, so I knew what was in them and could avoid extra fats/sugar and use a lot of whole grains.

 

Laura

[Amber in AUS]

Interesting reading.

[kmacnchs]

Did y'all see the Baby Blues comic from (in our papers) yesterday?

 

http://www.arcamax.com/newspics/11/1141/114158.gif

 

I think it points to how much as changed in our culture concerning our cars. Now, I realize that many live in areas where walking is simply not an option, but I'm talking about those of us who live where we can walk -- and don't. The schools in our areas actively discourage bike riding and walking to school. Bizarre.

 

that is HILARIOUS!:lol::lol:

 

and so true :glare:

 

I love that comic :)

[Cheri Warren]

For tips and recipes on eating whole foods, or just healthier on a budget try this website http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/ She shares lots of tips and recipes for how she feeds her family non processed foods on a budget. It is full of useful information. I know not everyone here is Christian, so be forewarned that this site is from a Christian perspective- although I am sure you could tell by the title. ;)

Thanks for posting that site. We are really trying to cut out all processed foods. I think processed foods contributes to obesity

[4wildberrys]

Grains and sugars!!! This is my immediate conclusion, simply because due to Celiac diagnoses for all 4 in our family, we had to cut out wheat and other gluten grains----which meant almost ALL processed foods and junk foods. Immediate weight loss. Before this time, I was up and down with my weight, but more up than down. My dh was definitely starting to get the 'typical' gut and 30's weight gain.

 

My husband and I have acquired further food problems are not eating ANY grains at all now---everything homemade and from fresh foods. I am back to my almost pre-pregnancy weight! Americans eat a LOT of grain based foods----and a LOT of processed and sugary foods. Both of our kids are pretty much skin and bones like most kids in the 70s were.

 

FWIW---we eat a LOT of fatty foods and meats---butter, whole yogurt, cream, fatty meats, eggs, etc. We are finding it is true that fat doesn't make you fat. And we drink wine every day too.