I talked about this a few years ago. In my small town, about 5 years ago there was a mass opening of 2 types of places. 1 - a shit ton of cross fit gyms and 2 - a ton of Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts. Seriously in a small town of 50,000 there were like 8 cross fit gyms all opening the same year and 5 donut shops. 5 years later, only 2 gyms remain but sure as fuck all those donut shops are still here, going strong.
200 lbs. is way too heavy for me, but as I've gotten older I'm starting to appreciate women a little with a few extra pounds on them, in the right places -- thicker thighs, big floppy breasts and a slight gut. As long as the face is pretty, I'll hit it. I prefer that to a rail-thin woman.
And I'm trim and in good shape.
So many Americans think dieting is just joining a big box gym and "giving up dessert". It's more than that.
A fat girl who claims she hardly eats anything (underestimates) and a thin girl who claims she pigs and eats anything she wants (overestimates) and stays thin: when counted and measured, the fat girl really did eat more.
It's also our culture of poor work-life balance and productivity, long hours, food as the only acceptable vice. Not understanding how Big Agro and Food Industry marketing work against us.
Or not training our loved ones to recognize the food industry commercials -- which are just low grade brainwashing -- and counteract how we're being manipulated. This started with Movie Theaters trying to increase concession stand revenue, then McDs picked up on this, then every other restaurant. Large portions, food science, and comfort food increased revenue. They don't fucking care.
It used to be when people overindulged, they then cut back on what they ate for the next couple of meals, or even skip the next meal. We used to do this without thinking about it. Not any more.
It's a culture of holiday over indulgence that now bleeds into everyday. It used to be we'd just eat cake on our birthday, now it's at everyone's birthday, or because it's Thursday. Yeah, put down the cake.
We also notice when volunteering for the food trucks and food charities, that people seem to only know how to prepare convenience foods (processed foods). It's not just the millennials. It's senior citizens, too. So half of the help I do to volunteer is explaining to people how to cook/plan/prepare real food or stopping by a few homes to help work with them. It's like everyone collectively forgot how to prepare real, nutritious meals.
Is it the microwave oven? Disintegration of the family?
Look in your cabinets and fridge. If you have frozen food and canned food that makes up more than 20% of the food in your house, there's a big reason you're fat. Treat sugar and salt like poison. By high level produce so you finally understand why it tastes great. Eat fresh, limit eating to an 8-9 hoiur period per day, get some exercise, cut back on alcohol and you will notice more than just weight loss.
One more helpful tip for those folks struggling with weight eat several times a day limit yourself to 3-4 hundred calories per meal, and exercise before yo sit down to a meal, you’re less likely to overeat after a workout.
There is a great documentary about this on Netflix called “ The Magic Pill”. Basically, the human body evolved to work with a certain type of food. Meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries. Our body was not built for the massive amount of simple carbs and processed foods that are at the core of the modern diet. It’s like filling a car’s gas tank with olive oil instead of gas and expecting it to operate well.
I'm not 500 pounds but i am not the perfect weight either some would call me fat. I excercise everyday but being a truckdriver is a very unhealthy lifestyle but in turn i am not attracted to big woman so i guess that makes me a piece of shit
^If you are on the road a lot why don't you join a gym with multiple locations and reciprocal access, that would help to eliminate the effects of sitting in a truck cab all day, if i were you I'd work out at the end of every shift before eating,
I’m not perfect about this but I try to eat real food, not the processed stuff the food industry pushes. I mostly kill my own meat and fish, gather berries, grow a garden and I cook from scratch. I don’t do that all the time but I try to make it my norm. Then I also train pretty much every day with a routine that includes strength work, cardio and agility/flexibility.
I’m sure not perfect about all this but our modern lifestyle and the “food” that is readily available and cheap take their toll over time if one isn’t proactive about being a little countercultural when it comes to food and exercise.
Another great resource is “ Eat to Live” by Dr Fuhrman. He walks the reader through why a diet that is high in vegetables and fruit lets the body heal itself while triggering the body to rid itself of excess weight.
Portion sizes have become much larger in the US over the last 2 decades. Plus certain food manufacturers have added high fructose corn syrup which they human body does not process very well to about as much food in the US as they could in my opinion. The nation got much fatter. Add in more kids growing up playing video games and on the phone versus running and playing outdoors, and waist sizes have exploded.
I've seen some pretty big dancers in strip clubs that 20 years ago, would have never dreamed in my worst nightmares would be working in a strip club. I have to think, why am I at a club that hires such 200 pound dancers? If they made an excretion for one girl, I might just ignore the girl and hope she quits. I've seen this in more than one club though. It makes me not want to return. It turns me off and makes me want to leave.
The reason I haven't been eating at Hooters hardly at all is because I visited 2 different hooters in tehcahrlotte area and almost all the girls I saw were not my type. They were almost all one race which wasn't my type. I've seen the some pattern at al it's every hooters I've visited in the last year. I've been eating at twin peaks since then. Been skipping strip clubs after seeing all the 200 pound heffers. Haven't been to Hooters in quite some time. Ate at twin peaks twice last week. I like looking at girls who are my type and nice to look at. Everything else is a waste of money to me.
iPad is going crazy changing my words exception not excretion. Ate at a hooters once or twice in Greenville in the last year or two, used to be girls working there who were my type. Not the last time. I'm in the majority and only saw minorities working there none of whom I was that physically attracted to. I can't change whom I'm physically attracted to and if Hooters only hires less attractive girls, I won't visit anymore. Seems like they are trying to be less sexy. Twin peaks even has much better looking minority girls working there than Hooters. Dieing mean to change topics. I read that the Hooters business model was dying. I read millenials were not into casual dining as much. I thought part of the overall trend with less young people going out dining, eating, going to strip clubs. I'm getting older and no longer seem to be the target market but the target market isn't buying in strip clubs and dining out in my opinion. Strip clubs and breastaurants seem to want to target young people. Well I'm not sure about strip clubs.
People overall in the US are getting fatter. Strip clubs are hiring fatter dancers. It's a trend I don't care for. I myself have gained a few pounds eating out several times a week due to work.
One tip. If you can sleep in one the weekend and skip breakfast and eat close to a normal lunch and supper, helps you shed pounds you may have gained during the week. It's like a 12 to 16 hour fast.
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California is #48 on the obesity list. With the #1 obese state being West Virginia. If you look at the top 10 states on that list, the majority are in the South/East coast.
All my friends, family, classmates, co-workers, and friends in the club....none of them are obese or even close to it. The average obesity rate in America is going because of the other half of the country
I gained 10 lbs in one month a year ago by drinking a lot of wine and eating the delicious food from a club I used to work at.
I looked so much better after gaining that 10 lbs.
When the economy is strong, the hotties in the clubs, and at hooters, have better job options. If the women in these places suddenly seem less attractive, it’s more likely the result of the economy, not diet.
@fat boi nutritious food is not as expensive as the processed junk but you do need to know how to prepare it properly, unfortunately lower income level adults waste a ton of money on processed prepared foods, that’s why there are more aisles of refrigerated and frozen foods it a typical supermarket. Fresh meat and seafood are actually less expensive per calorie than prepared foods
@Vanta I have seen that chart before, unfortunately in even the states that are the healthiest the trend line is rising.
Americans are fat because we are lazy and have McDonald's and other heart-attack, cholesterol clogging fast food "restaurants." Even our chain restaurants aren't healthy (Olive Garden? Ew).
Plus, it's easy to get a car, and everyone has FancyPhones, and in general the need to walk around is not very prevelant.
Also, poverty stricken places are likely to have higher obesity rates; this is one reason the southern states with high poverty rates have high obesity rates, too. Think of a single mom with three kids to feed who is on food stamps. She can buy healthy food, fresh veggies and fruits, etc, that is so expensive to her budget that if she goes the healthy route she can buy enough food to feed her kids for a week and they can starve for the rest of the month. Or, she can buy cheap chips, cookies, (etc) which are obviously unhealthy, and can lead to obesity, but at least her kids will be eating for the whole month instead of just one week.
Also, in a lot of these impoverished neighborhoods, there are food deserts: no grocery stores at all in their neighborhood or anywhere near, making it even more difficult for them to gain access to a healthy diet.
California is one of the states with the least amount of obesity for many reasons. The culture, the economy, and the cuisine. California cuisine is very fresh and healthy. Whereas in the south, you're eating biscuits and gravy and lots of fried food, and in the Midwest, people tend to be very "cornfed," therefore some of them can end up being overweight.
I’ve heard lots of people say that nutritious food is more expensive. I have a relative who uses that to explain why she eats junk food.
I don’t think that’s true. You can cook a meal from scratch, of chicken, a green vegetable, white beans, and a piece of fruit for $5 per person. That’s cheaper than a pizza or McDonalds.
You can get a $5 Hot N Ready from Little Caesars and feed your entire family off it. Not as healthy as a salmon filet with fresh veggies for everyone, but it's food.
Cut out processed foods. Cut down on sugars including alcohol. Cut down portion sizes. Bam you'll cut down a big portion of fatness.
The problem is people grew up upsizing the above shit. And people being people will do what's easiest, most convenient, and path of least resistance. And that path is habits, habits they've always had. The thing is is when people try to lose weight, they try to do everything all at once. Diet, eat healthy, excercise, etc. Eventually they get burned out with such a drastic change to lifestyle. You can't go from 0 to 60 (or from a size 60 to 0) in a day, or even a week or month. Small step it.
"You can cook a meal from scratch, of chicken, a green vegetable, white beans, and a piece of fruit for $5 per person."
Let's say this is a single mom with two children. They all eat this meal. That's $15 per day, or $450 per month. And that is just for ONE meal out of the day. A lot of poor people cannot afford that, so they stock up on ramen noodles, junk food, lots of processed foods, and get cheap greasy pizzas.
Your grocery bill obviously does go up when you have children or other people to support, so maybe the example I’m about to give isn’t the best for everyone’s situation. However, this example is relevant to single people who don’t have other mouths to feed.
For the past 2+ years, I estimate about 80% of the meals I’ve eaten were prepared at home from healthy food sources. I do not have to break the bank to do it either.
This morning I went to the grocery store and this is what I bought:
- family pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($1.99/lb)
- 1 lb bag of frozen salmon filets
- carton of 18 large organic eggs
- box of organic instant oatmeal (8 packets per box)
- 2 lb bag of organic brown rice
- 5 lb bag of organic russet potatoes
- 3 10 oz bags of frozen organic broccoli
- 1 lb bag of organic baby carrots
- 3 lb bag of organic gala apples
- 5 organic bananas
The cost was right around $50 and this is going to last me a week.
Mark94, they don't prepare in bulk like you and bj99 (in earlier thread) have suggested.
Boxed Mac & Cheese w/ "Chicken Product" ($ 2.44 - $ 3.34, feeds 4)
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$0.90 Kraft Mac & Cheese (1-2 boxes)
$1.54 canned chicken product
Salisbury steak and Rice ($ 4.05, feeds 4)
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$2.57 Salisbury Steaks & Brown Gravy, 27 oz, 6 Count
$1.48 Butter & Herb Pasta Sides Dish, 4.4 oz
Little Caesars Hot'n'Ready or Hungry Howies To-Go Pizza, ($5.00)
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I Splurged on prices from Walmart. They can save more $$$ by buying the food "down-market" at a Dollar Store.
I'm a big believer in not obsessing about what you eat. Avoid snacking and stick to three meals but eat pizza and french fries if that's what you like. BUT get your ass out to the gym or to the park, build some muscle. When I gain weight it's cause I slack off on the exercise not because I change my diet.
Chicken thighs $0.99/lb much cheaper than pizza or McDs. Add cheap veggies (lettuce, carrots, spinach, and lemons for dressing) and make a chicken salad. There goes lunch everyday for the week. Don't have the receipts but about $2.50 per meal. And that's bc half my salad is the chicken. Portion the protein smaller and becomes even cheaper.
I don't believe in 3 meals a day, (unless you're a growing minor). Intermittent Fasting 2 meals a day. Saves money. Saves time. No longer miss breakfast in the am.
It's absolutely tough to feed a family healthy meals on a tight budget. But it's also undeniable that a lot of lower income people make horrible food purchasing decisions. For a couple of years in college I worked in a moderately busy grocery store, most of it behind the seafood counter. It was rare to go more than a couple of days without someone coming in and asking for $50 or $60 of steamed crab legs and/or shrimp, always asking that you not marked them as "steamed" because they thought that would make them ineligible for purchase with EBT.
And here is more info for people who can't understand the concept of the lack of availability of fresh and affordable produce, including a map showing the areas with the greatest prevalence of the "food deserts" I was talking about. Notice how they are far more prevalent in the areas of the US where poverty is higher:
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Also, I would recommend the documentary "Place at the Table," which Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio helped create to bring awareness to the lack of food and nutrition for people and specifically children in America. It gives an in-depth look at both urban and rural poverty and the effects it has on growing children, families, and in communities.
There was an article years ago about a poor area of Glasgow, Scotland where grocery stores stopped carrying fruits and vegetables because no one bought them. Everyone smoked and drank. Most people lost their teeth by the age of 40.
These poor people weren’t in a food desert, they just made really bad life choices.
Poor people do tend to make bad decisions. But living with scarcity and thin margins in your budget can do that. When a small thing out of your control can set you back, why not occasionally indulge in random things within your control to also set you back (frequent fast food, cigarettes, gambling, etc)
Then at least such setbacks will be on one's own terms. As opposed to feeling powerless to things outside of one's control.
(Here's a link about scarcity mindset and poverty: [view link] )
In order of expenses: prepping crap food at home is cheaper than prepping more nutritionally whole food at home. Prepping nutritionally whole food at home is cheaper than eating food from a drive through.
But also think about somebody's time as well. Poor people tend to work hourly jobs instead of salary. For them, the way to make more is to clock more hours in. Usually, these jobs are repetitive but also stressful.
It's a negative feedback loop that keeps perpetuating. It's possible to break that loop, but it's very difficult to do so. Somebody from another background who never lived through it, or personally knows others from that background, would have a difficult time understanding.
Also on topic about weight. It's part of our culture to indulge hard at something. It's part of our culture to eat food that has been processed in some form or fashion (Even more harmless processing, such as *requiring* pasteurization of milk).
And it doesn't help that crap food is also less expensive. Which is our fault as a nation btw. The USDA has a hand in subsidizing the crops that turn into ingredients for most of our crap food.
"...When a small thing out of your control can set you back, why not occasionally indulge in random things within your control to also set you back (frequent fast food, cigarettes, gambling, etc)
Then at least such setbacks will be on one's own terms... "
That is such a fucked up mentality. I've heard the same explanation for the "make it rain" behavior.
It's like saying:
"Okay, I'm in debt. I could work harder to make more money and sacrifice a bit to dig myself out of this hole. Nah, fuck that. I'm gonna be lazy and throw money away and dig my hole deeper. I'm a victim."
> That is such a fucked up mentality. I've heard the same explanation for the "make it rain" behavior.
> It's like saying:
> "Okay, I'm in debt. I could work harder to make more money and sacrifice a bit to dig myself out of this hole. > Nah, fuck that. I'm gonna be lazy and throw money away and dig my hole deeper. I'm a victim."
and behind door #3 is spending it on lap dances!
When you boil it down, the key to living a successful life is self discipline. Living healthy. Avoiding drugs. Studying. Saving and investing. Getting married only after you have some financial security.
These are all learned behaviors. If someone grows up in a safe, secure environment where their parents have discipline, the children have a good chance of also being disciplined. If someone grows up in a dysfunctional household, they are less likely.
There is nothing fair about this, but it’s the way the world works.
@ flag "That is such a fucked up mentality. I've heard the same explanation for the "make it rain" behavior.
It's like saying:
"Okay, I'm in debt. I could work harder to make more money and sacrifice a bit to dig myself out of this hole. Nah, fuck that. I'm gonna be lazy and throw money away and dig my hole deeper. I'm a victim." "
Oh it's definitely fucked up. But I've met plenty from that (poor) background. And that happened because it was mostly people from that background who also happened to be the most selfless in allowing me to live with them when I was a teenager. When I was taken in, they did not harshly question my motives or give me harsh terms of conditions to live with them. (Unlike the rest of my middle class respectable blood relations)
...I'm getting a bid sidetracked there. But what I want to impress is that yes, circumstances can fuck with a poor person's otherwise rational psyche. But they are also people who are trying to get by in earnest the best way possible.
Btw, it's not always as easy as "going to school to get something better." One also has to also make conscious choices to move into a different social class in order to get out of that negative poverty feedback cycle. Making decisions like that can hit someone's core identity and it can be difficult to get out of.
^ Yeah, I understand that. I'm not intending to belittle the individual, just that pervasive mentality.
We are all dealt different hands to play. Some good, some bad, and we all play our hands differently. Some take a great hand and fold while others are able to take a shit hand, bluff, and win a big pot.
But it certainly is easier to do well when dealt a winner.
^This is true, Flag.
I'll try to un-derail this thread.
The US Government subsidizes the crops that contribute to processed junk foods. (To the extent that those who accept such subsidies aren't even allowed to diversity their crops.)
It's a hassle trying to meal prep consistently. It used to be that the responsibility fell onto a stay at home mom. Now it's on us. Hopefully meal prep boxes or the like become even cheaper and more common as time goes on.
There's too many temptations in US culture. Poor people succumb the most to it, but those in higher brackets are also susceptible.
In The Magic Pill movie, they show what happened in South Africa when a doctor published a paper proving that processed food is bad for you. The food companies, including Coca Cola, went after him legally and tried to have his medical license revoked. The court case lasted 2 years.
"It's a hassle trying to meal prep consistently." --nice
It's a hassle bc they've never done it, nor were never taught to and/or really don't prioritize it. Changing your lifestyle is a hassle... but really it's just an excuse not to do something. Plenty of cooking equipment that makes bulk cooking so much simpler such as pressure cookers, Flavor-wave, and hell even stove or oven has plenty of one pan cooking recipes that simplifies everything.
I don't want to come off as saying this is easy, especially for a struggling family that has other priorities on their minds. I will say it's simpler than what most opposition makes it out to be though. The problem is the wealth of mis-information and brainwashing out there that makes it so challenging, something a working family has trouble sorting through.
It's not the timing, nor the finances that makes eating well difficult, so much as the education.
The cuisine and culture here in California is definitely on the opposite side of the spectrum compared to the rest of the country. We have poké and tons of other healthy fusion based food. I'm trying to avoid eating too much red meat myself
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