Talking to husband about his all American diet
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Anonymous
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My dad is a very healthy 88 years old--no cancer, no heart disease. He has mainly subsisted on a diet of cereal, eggs, bacon, beef, potatoes, homemade enchiladas and chili, Coke, iced tea, fruit, and pecans, with the occasional cookie or bowl of ice cream thrown in. He has always been overweight but healthy as a horse other than hypothyroidism. I suspect he's gluten intolerant but won't change his ways.
Growing up, we had home-cooked meals every night. Ex: Meatloaf, chili, a pot of pinto beans and cornbread, spaghetti, etc, plus a starch and a green or Jel-lo salad. We ate out once per week at a restaurant, usually a cheap steak place, like Sizzler or Ponderosa. This was before Applebees or Olive Garden were a thing. I would say your husband eats more fast food and processed food than most. |
Anonymous
| Some Americans eat like that, but not all. I grew up in a home where everything was made from scratch. My mom was a homemaker. I also make almost everything from scratch. |
Anonymous
Same and we were too cheap/poor/disorganized to afford to eat Applebee's and Olive Garden as a regular thing or make it to McDonald's every single day after school, which was the case with most other families with multiple kids. |
Anonymous
By disorganized I mean that my mom was an organized homemaker, but by the time dad got home from work, us kids did the stuff we needed to do with homework and sports, who has time to drive to Applebee's two towns over and sit down? For that reason alone, those sit down places were for special occasions. |
Anonymous
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I grew up eating a "typical all-American diet". Some typical meals at our house:
Grilled steak, baked potato, steamed broccoli Pot roast, salad Roast chicken, steamed green beans, dinner rolls Spaghetti, meatballs, salad Salmon, asparagus, rice Pork chops, sweet potatoes, spinach In other words, protein/vegetable/carb in varying combinations. We had a lot of things roasted or grilled with minimal added fat/oil. We went to Chinatown for dinner a couple times a year, and ate at the local Tex-Mex restaurant a few times a year. Also went out for sushi, Thai, Indian, Italian, and anything else we could find, but no more than 1-2 times a month total. Our dinners out, regardless of cuisine, were generally FAR less healthy than the "American" food we ate at home. |
Anonymous
OMG...My American diet was like this growing up. So boring, so bland, no fat. The basic starch, vegetable, and meat. Often baked chicken or dry as hell pot roast and the starch was baked potato, baked yams, baked squash. The vegetable was always steamed, steamed broccoli, green beans and God awful steamed cabbage. Frankly, I would be better off health wise if I had stayed on that diet. It was very healthy, very well rounded and very boring. Food for sustenance, not taste. |
Anonymous
Not OP, but it can be healthy, just like American food can be healthy. Indian restaurant food is not typical of homemade Indian food. Yeah. Like we would eat naan every day? No, whole wheat chapatti. I've often said if I live to be 100 it's because my mom had us eat lentils, vegetable curries (cooked in olive oil), homemade yogurt, for dinner 5 days a week. the other days? Pasta...burritos...pizza....takeout. Why do you need to address your husband's diet? If you do the cooking, just cook what you want to cook. If you don't do the cooking, step up and do some of the meal planning. I make Indian food and I also make lasagna, pasta and meatballs, etc., and it's no less healthy than the Indian food I make. no matter what we eat, our meals are loaded with vegetables. |
Anonymous
My guess is that they are making "special occasion" food for you to appease your American palate. In a couple pounds of vegetables I use a couple tablespoons of olive oil max. No ghee. But if non-Indians are coming I am more likely o make dishes that Americans like - palak paneer, chicken curries, etc. Maybe it's because I live in California but no one in my family makes oily food and everyone cooks in olive oil. |
Anonymous
Also - fried bread - "poori" - is definitely not an every day food. We eat chapatti, which most non-Indians would NEVER order at a restaurant. Whole wheat flour mixed with water, cooked on a dry griddle. |
Anonymous
I'm Indian and can't even tolerate the food. It is indeed heavy. I know exactly zero Indians that cook with olive oil. Maybe it's the Californian Indians as you say. 
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Anonymous
Sooooo... I'm guessing your family doesn't ever make aloo gobi with avocado oil?!? 
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Anonymous
Not bland at all, if the ingredients are high quality and you use appropriate seasonings! We used minimal added fat, sure, but steak or salmon have plenty of fat and flavor. Judicious use of salt and pepper, herbs, and spices. Fresh vegetables, roasted or grilled, have a ton of flavor. We just didn't have a lot of things fried or drowned in cream-of-whatever soup. |
Anonymous
Yep and it's gross. It's like chewing on shoe leather with fiber in it. |
Anonymous
NJ Indian family here -- mine cooks with olive oil and everything is pretty bland and coupled with dry/burnt rotis. I'm Indian and no fan of the food though I recognize it's healthy -- the way my family does it at least when it's pounds of vegetables cooked in 2 tbps of olive oil. |
Anonymous
I cook very much like this, but I’ve long since added more taste than my very germanic parents like. |