Why don’t Americans give a f*** about what they eat?

[Anonymous]

I’m a first generation American immigrant (but from Canada so that doesn’t count lol) and I eat healthy. But I’m also a nanny and can’t afford take aways or restaurants. I work 55hrs a week and I bake my own bread, cook everything from scratch, and have a mini garden on the patio. When you’re one of the poors, you don’t have as many choices, so it’s easier to eat healthy and smaller portions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m staying at an upscale hotel in Nashville and for lunch my choices are either mystery bread and meat burgers with french fries or some weird salads with a thousand calorie dressing, as well as some cookie skillet.

I guess should just go, find a farmer’s market and cook it in my hotel room.

As you're staying in an "upscale hotel" that either you or your company can afford, you can surely afford to go out and get a healthier alternative or, if not, I'm sure the upscale hotel in Nashville has access to healthier food options via DoorDash or similar services.

Or you can just eat the burger and then claim "IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I'M A VICTIM OF MYSTERY MEAT!!!"

And how do you not see that's the problem? That eating healthier is ALWAYS about spending more $$, it is always more expensive.

Not true. In fact, often times it’s cheaper to eat well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Food (the unhealthy fast kind with lots of calories but low nutrition) is relatively cheap in the US. Its also serving as entertainment much of the time. Food is pricier at stores in other countries but can be found cheaper at farmers markets which are not just on weekends. More expensive food and lack of easier fast food and convenience foods leads to just less eating for many. Many countries are now experiencing surges in obesity due to new huge quantities of affordable and available junk food.
To add to that nutrition science which shows and humans prefer sweet and salty and fatty foods. Our bodies evolved to seeking max calories to survive and now we cant burn them all by our lifestyles. Never previously in history had there been so much food available. Before modern conveniences and industrial food manufacturing and freezer trucks, so much of the work and daily routine was about procuring food. Now we habe free time and we are bored and watch tv and read our phones but eat the same number of calories as a farmer.

Nanny again- I don’t think fast food is cheap. For a McDonald’s meal it’s $10-12 where I live. I try to only spend $25-27 a week on groceries, so that would be a big chunk of my weekly budget.

[Anonymous]

OP, I see your point and I agree.
And it is funny how they all ganged up on you.

People who argue with you either have never left US, or HAVE travelled outside but do not leave the DC/other huge metro area bubble. It is really idiotic how they compare DC farmer's markets with European stores. Like "hello, DC does not represent the whole country". DUH.

[Anonymous]

Nanny again- on the patio I grow my own lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, strawberries, peppers, and beans. Just from my garden I can make a meal. If you’re poor, you can still eat healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I see your point and I agree.
And it is funny how they all ganged up on you.

People who argue with you either have never left US, or HAVE travelled outside but do not leave the DC/other huge metro area bubble. It is really idiotic how they compare DC farmer's markets with European stores. Like "hello, DC does not represent the whole country". DUH.

Agree with this too. People are very defensive on here. It's a fact that our food system is somewhat corrupted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m staying at an upscale hotel in Nashville and for lunch my choices are either mystery bread and meat burgers with french fries or some weird salads with a thousand calorie dressing, as well as some cookie skillet.

I guess should just go, find a farmer’s market and cook it in my hotel room.

As you're staying in an "upscale hotel" that either you or your company can afford, you can surely afford to go out and get a healthier alternative or, if not, I'm sure the upscale hotel in Nashville has access to healthier food options via DoorDash or similar services.

Or you can just eat the burger and then claim "IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I'M A VICTIM OF MYSTERY MEAT!!!"

And how do you not see that's the problem? That eating healthier is ALWAYS about spending more $$, it is always more expensive.

Not true. There are lots of cheap nutritions food. You know..the stuff real poor people live on in other parts of the world where Kraft Mac and Cheese isn't easily obtained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly you care less about what you eat than the two thirds of Americans who AREN'T pre-diabetic.

I wasn’t pre diabetic until I moved to the states. That’s the point.

OP, it is also lack of walking. When I go back home we walk so much every day, I love it. Here you can only walk if you live right in the middle of a big city.
Exercising 1-2 hours a day is a different thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's honestly crazy to me how reactionary and uninformed this thread is. There is no doubt the US is an obesogenic environment. It's not even debatable. Reading this thread is like some weird angry time capsule. I didn't know smart people even still thought like some of the PPs.

I’m curious what country the US should model itself after. Which country is not obesogenic and how are they doing it better? I have traveled quite a bit throughout Europe, Asia, and Central America and in all those places, the nutritional value of the food seems similar to what you can get here—meaning there are both healthy and unhealthy options and it’s up to the individual to decide what they want to eat. I’m a person who is normal weight and has no problem finding healthful things to eat in the regular supermarket.

DP here. I've also lived and/or traveled quite a bit in those regions (well, South America, not Central America), and I disagree. I think options skew far unhealthier in the US than in other places. Also, in the US a lot of food that should be healthy (e.g. rotisserie chicken) is injected with fat, sugar, and other fillers that make it a lot less healthy. In addition, many foods are marketed as "healthy" when they really aren't. Kids are taught really poor nutrition in schools (thanks to a USDA that is beholden to Big Food), and they carry those unhealthy habits into adulthood.

I think if we had better and more accurate food labeling, it would help a lot. We also should have more nutritious food in schools and much better education about food. And there are things sold in the US that barely meet the standard of being called food in other countries. They are often labeled as a "food product", because the proportion of fillers and chemicals to make them taste like something compared to the actual food is so high. As a country, we've created a food system that prioritizes calories over nutrition. Maybe that made sense a century ago, but it no longer does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's honestly crazy to me how reactionary and uninformed this thread is. There is no doubt the US is an obesogenic environment. It's not even debatable. Reading this thread is like some weird angry time capsule. I didn't know smart people even still thought like some of the PPs.

I’m curious what country the US should model itself after. Which country is not obesogenic and how are they doing it better? I have traveled quite a bit throughout Europe, Asia, and Central America and in all those places, the nutritional value of the food seems similar to what you can get here—meaning there are both healthy and unhealthy options and it’s up to the individual to decide what they want to eat. I’m a person who is normal weight and has no problem finding healthful things to eat in the regular supermarket.

DP here. I've also lived and/or traveled quite a bit in those regions (well, South America, not Central America), and I disagree. I think options skew far unhealthier in the US than in other places. Also, in the US a lot of food that should be healthy (e.g. rotisserie chicken) is injected with fat, sugar, and other fillers that make it a lot less healthy. In addition, many foods are marketed as "healthy" when they really aren't. Kids are taught really poor nutrition in schools (thanks to a USDA that is beholden to Big Food), and they carry those unhealthy habits into adulthood.

I think if we had better and more accurate food labeling, it would help a lot. We also should have more nutritious food in schools and much better education about food. And there are things sold in the US that barely meet the standard of being called food in other countries. They are often labeled as a "food product", because the proportion of fillers and chemicals to make them taste like something compared to the actual food is so high. As a country, we've created a food system that prioritizes calories over nutrition. Maybe that made sense a century ago, but it no longer does.

Can you give me an example of a specific country where the quick and easy foods are healthy? I hear a lot of people on this thread saying they don’t have time to cook from scratch so they would like to pick something up that is not filled with sugar, preservatives, whatever else. What kind of food can a working mom pick up for her kids that is healthy and quick in those countries? Is that not available here in the US?

[Anonymous]

European countries have very strict food laws and regulations. I read a comment on a youtube video that tiny, poor Serbia was or still is banning GMO products.
https://nomadcapitalist.com/2013/06/25/the-best-countries-to-live-abroad-and-gmo-free-no-genetically-modified-food/#:~:text=Serbia%20has%20one%20of%20the%20most%20restrictive%20laws,of%20GM%20food%2C%20feed%20and%20seed%20is%20banned.

[Anonymous]

Quick food can be a very good option in many countries. You get bbq meat in most of the Balkans in pita-like bread. These patties are made in their own shops and are not frozen. Bakeries there make their own pastries too, on the spot.
I am confused about pp that wanted to state which countries have quick and easy food that is healthy?
Many countries, most countries do.
Restaurants in my Balkan country make everything in the kitchen. Here, most restaurants open up a plastic package and put the burger on the grill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I see your point and I agree.
And it is funny how they all ganged up on you.

People who argue with you either have never left US, or HAVE travelled outside but do not leave the DC/other huge metro area bubble. It is really idiotic how they compare DC farmer's markets with European stores. Like "hello, DC does not represent the whole country". DUH.

Agree with this too. People are very defensive on here. It's a fact that our food system is somewhat corrupted.

+1

The defensive reactionary people seem pretty ignorant to me.

[Anonymous]

Why does the rest of the world suck? To each their own. We eat like we eat and the rest of the world sucks like it sucks. Not sure it is more complicated than that.

[Anonymous]

There used to be more fresh cooked options in the US. Even in big grocery stores, the baked good used to be baked on site by actual bakers. Now it is made in big production facilities, shopped to the stores and then just reheated or finished at the store. It’s cheaper that way and people like cheap. It’s the same reason that most mom and pop places aren’t around (except in big cities where people like to spend money on artisanal stuff, etc. because it’s trendy). Main streets were hollowed out because people drove to Walmart to get cheap stuff. Small coffe shops that made stuff on site driven out of business by Starbucks, etc. America is phenomenal at creating large efficiencies in production and distribution—it’s sort of our thing. So we do it with food and people flock to the cheaper options.
I do hope the millennials can actually bring back a value system in which people think some things are worth spending more money on....or maybe once they have kids and buy a house, they will also want the cheap crap too.