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

[Anonymous]

OP here.

I’m in Florida now, at a beach resort. There are two restaurant in the hotel. Kids eat free. Here is the kids menu:
- cheese pizza with fries
- cheeseburger with fries
- mac and cheese with fries
- grilled cheese with fries
- fried chicken with fries

Salads cost $12-$14 and then you have to purchase a separate entree if you want some protein.

[Anonymous]

We lived in Eastern Europe and we still talk about how when we got the peaches home from the farmer's market you could cut into one and the whole apartment would have this delightful peachy smell. The peaches you get here are not the same! I don't know if it's pesticide use or commercial agriculture or the fact that they are artificially ripened vs ripening under the sun, but they don't make your whole house smell like peaches and they aren't nearly as flavorful. It was much easier to like fruit and to prefer it for a snack when the fruit was fresh and flavorful. Often here the melon or the tomatoes, etc. just isn't as flavorful. The peppers here are very crunchy but don't taste nearly the same. I think it's because sun-ripened things have a lot more flavor, but I'm clearly not a scientist. Maybe people here don't like fruit as much because it doesn't taste as good as it does elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm not going to read read whole thread but I read the OP's post. OP, lots of Americans care about their diet. I'm not pre-diabetic, and I don't need a doctor to alert me to a looming, diet related threat to my health in order to know that pastries for breakfast are a bad idea.

Take responsibility for your own health and stop blaming the availability of junk food. No one is making you eat it. And don't eat from breakfast buffets. You only need 300 calories for breakfast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Can you give me an example of a specific country where the quick and easy foods are healthy?

Sure. In France I can stop by a coffee shop/cafe and get a croissant and a yogurt. It’s going to be healthy, not some sugar infused substance with a shelf life of 60 days.

In France I can also stop by a shop or cafe and get a sandwich for lunch. It’s not going to be like a questionable Subway sandwich with sugar filled bread and cold, sad toppings that look like they had been sitting there for days. It will be made fresh with good quality bread, meat and cheese and vegetables.

Ok, but the real issue is that your French sandwich isn't going to be some foot long behemoth stuffed with meat and cheese. It will be probably a 4-5 inch sandwich. Yes the French sandwich will be fresher with better ingredients, but a 12 inch high quality french sandwich will make you fat too. Self life is not really the issue. American portion sizes are ridiculously large

Not just the portion size. I firmly believe the quality of food affects how it will be processed, stored in our body, effect hormone levels, etc. It’s both - size and quality.

Calories in, calories out. If what you care about is the number on the scale, that's all that matters. You can subsist on nothing but burgers and fries and if you keep your portions small enough, you'll lose weight. The problem is that American portions are massive, so your serving of fries will have as many calories as you need in a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

I’m in Florida now, at a beach resort. There are two restaurant in the hotel. Kids eat free. Here is the kids menu:
- cheese pizza with fries
- cheeseburger with fries
- mac and cheese with fries
- grilled cheese with fries
- fried chicken with fries

Salads cost $12-$14 and then you have to purchase a separate entree if you want some protein.

So order from the adult menu for your kids, and spring for a nice, healthy salad for your pre-diabetic self. Since you can afford to be vacationing at all these places, presumably you can afford a $12 salad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to read read whole thread but I read the OP's post. OP, lots of Americans care about their diet. I'm not pre-diabetic, and I don't need a doctor to alert me to a looming, diet related threat to my health in order to know that pastries for breakfast are a bad idea.

Take responsibility for your own health and stop blaming the availability of junk food. No one is making you eat it. And don't eat from breakfast buffets. You only need 300 calories for breakfast.

Perhaps YOU only need 300 calories for breakfast. Many of us need and want more calories for breakfast. I would rather have a nice breakfast than a calorie-packed dinner!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived in Eastern Europe and we still talk about how when we got the peaches home from the farmer's market you could cut into one and the whole apartment would have this delightful peachy smell. The peaches you get here are not the same! I don't know if it's pesticide use or commercial agriculture or the fact that they are artificially ripened vs ripening under the sun, but they don't make your whole house smell like peaches and they aren't nearly as flavorful. It was much easier to like fruit and to prefer it for a snack when the fruit was fresh and flavorful. Often here the melon or the tomatoes, etc. just isn't as flavorful. The peppers here are very crunchy but don't taste nearly the same. I think it's because sun-ripened things have a lot more flavor, but I'm clearly not a scientist. Maybe people here don't like fruit as much because it doesn't taste as good as it does elsewhere.

Totally agree. We started doing a local CSA and the produce is so much better. I will never eat bagged lettuce from the grocery store (even places like whole foods) again. The kale tastes better, the scallions are delicious (and who likes scallions?? never knew I did), even the potatoes we get in fall/winter taste remarkably different. It's really important that we make local produce available, affordable, and learn to eat "in season" again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because our government is influenced by money more than people

This. Americans care about what they eat as much as anyone else in the world. But we live in a hyper capitalist state that has made very limited effort to ensure good nutrition, and does not regulate food well enough. The laws like the one you cite in Europe about Subway's bread simply do not exist here.

It's a system where corporations are given carte blanche to market and sell cheap junk food to Americans, sometimes with the government's assistance, as is the case with many of the contracts food companies have with schools in this country. Then Americans develop diseases and disorders thanks to this poor nutrition, and our privatized medical system fails to serve them, often refusing to pay for preventative treatments (like nutritionists!) that could keep the problems from getting worse. Then the pharmaceutical companies swoop in with drugs to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and the medical insurance companies WILL pay for those treatments.

It's a system where the average American is miserable but the average shareholder is rich. It's going great.

+1
OP, I agree with everything you said. School lunches are outrageous and harmful. School lunches and breakfasts are presented as a great equalizer, but what is served does the opposite - they fill kids up with harmful excessive sugars and outright non-food, and build lifelong bad habits in the children of families who cannot afford or do not know to do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to read read whole thread but I read the OP's post. OP, lots of Americans care about their diet. I'm not pre-diabetic, and I don't need a doctor to alert me to a looming, diet related threat to my health in order to know that pastries for breakfast are a bad idea.

Take responsibility for your own health and stop blaming the availability of junk food. No one is making you eat it. And don't eat from breakfast buffets. You only need 300 calories for breakfast.

LOL, bootstraps! Don't let your kids eat what is served to them by the institutions created to support them! Avoid the majority of what is offered to you to eat! Don't eat what you can afford! Take responsibility! It's your responsibility to not eat the office pizza or the backyard hotdog or the hotel breakfast, not the USDA or FDA's responsibilities to make sure that food is healthy and safe!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

I’m in Florida now, at a beach resort. There are two restaurant in the hotel. Kids eat free. Here is the kids menu:
- cheese pizza with fries
- cheeseburger with fries
- mac and cheese with fries
- grilled cheese with fries
- fried chicken with fries

Salads cost $12-$14 and then you have to purchase a separate entree if you want some protein.

But if these same resorts didnt offer those items on a kids menu, people would complain and order them anyway. People want these things. Restaurants want their business. They give what people want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to read read whole thread but I read the OP's post. OP, lots of Americans care about their diet. I'm not pre-diabetic, and I don't need a doctor to alert me to a looming, diet related threat to my health in order to know that pastries for breakfast are a bad idea.

Take responsibility for your own health and stop blaming the availability of junk food. No one is making you eat it. And don't eat from breakfast buffets. You only need 300 calories for breakfast.

LOL, bootstraps! Don't let your kids eat what is served to them by the institutions created to support them! Avoid the majority of what is offered to you to eat! Don't eat what you can afford! Take responsibility! It's your responsibility to not eat the office pizza or the backyard hotdog or the hotel breakfast, not the USDA or FDA's responsibilities to make sure that food is healthy and safe!

Of course its the USDAs responsibility to make sure that food is safe. Who do you think does inspections on meat plants and finds out if there is ecoli in spinach? They also get a ton of push back in requiring restaurants and packaged food makers to have accurate labels so we know whats in the food and how much etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to read read whole thread but I read the OP's post. OP, lots of Americans care about their diet. I'm not pre-diabetic, and I don't need a doctor to alert me to a looming, diet related threat to my health in order to know that pastries for breakfast are a bad idea.

Take responsibility for your own health and stop blaming the availability of junk food. No one is making you eat it. And don't eat from breakfast buffets. You only need 300 calories for breakfast.

LOL, bootstraps! Don't let your kids eat what is served to them by the institutions created to support them! Avoid the majority of what is offered to you to eat! Don't eat what you can afford! Take responsibility! It's your responsibility to not eat the office pizza or the backyard hotdog or the hotel breakfast, not the USDA or FDA's responsibilities to make sure that food is healthy and safe!

Of course its the USDAs responsibility to make sure that food is safe. Who do you think does inspections on meat plants and finds out if there is ecoli in spinach? They also get a ton of push back in requiring restaurants and packaged food makers to have accurate labels so we know whats in the food and how much etc.

Oh really, meat inspections and e coli? Well then, we're all set.
(I bet people find you a joy to have conversations with)

[Anonymous]

I’m in Florida now, at a beach resort. There are two restaurant in the hotel. Kids eat free. Here is the kids menu:
- cheese pizza with fries
- cheeseburger with fries
- mac and cheese with fries
- grilled cheese with fries
- fried chicken with fries

The existence of these foods on a kids menu at a resort does not relegate parents to feeding their kids nothing but french fries forever. Most of us don't spend our time primarily at resorts. And there is nothing wrong with eating this stuff sometimes. (Many kids, mine included, had a chicken nugget and pizza phase that they outgrew). I'm sure you could get your hands on some fruit or a different side.

I've been overweight from eating too much junk food, but I don't blame "America," I blame my own personal indifference and enjoyment of tasty things. It wasn't because I'm some sort of imbecile who doesn't understand healthy eating or because of the middle class American food culture I was raised in. It took me about 6 months to lose a decade's worth of weight gain and all I really had to do was walk and cut out sugar and processed snacks. If 10 years of bad eating didn't ruin my health, I think your kids will be OK if they have a french fry on vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived in Eastern Europe and we still talk about how when we got the peaches home from the farmer's market you could cut into one and the whole apartment would have this delightful peachy smell. The peaches you get here are not the same! I don't know if it's pesticide use or commercial agriculture or the fact that they are artificially ripened vs ripening under the sun, but they don't make your whole house smell like peaches and they aren't nearly as flavorful. It was much easier to like fruit and to prefer it for a snack when the fruit was fresh and flavorful. Often here the melon or the tomatoes, etc. just isn't as flavorful. The peppers here are very crunchy but don't taste nearly the same. I think it's because sun-ripened things have a lot more flavor, but I'm clearly not a scientist. Maybe people here don't like fruit as much because it doesn't taste as good as it does elsewhere.

The answer is how far fresh produce travels. I grew up out West with amazing produce. Cheap, beautiful, and ripe strawberries. They were farm picked fresh. Not picked early to ripen en route in a jumbo jet. When produce ripens naturally it taste amazing. You don’t like produce hers because it’s shipped from far away. The US is huge compared to Eastern Europe and there are different growing zones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

I’m in Florida now, at a beach resort. There are two restaurant in the hotel. Kids eat free. Here is the kids menu:
- cheese pizza with fries
- cheeseburger with fries
- mac and cheese with fries
- grilled cheese with fries
- fried chicken with fries

Salads cost $12-$14 and then you have to purchase a separate entree if you want some protein.

This is because everything on the kids menu can be stored frozen and prepared quickly. A salad requires a whole different level of storage, more frequent deliveries and a ton of spoilage.