Anonymous wrote:The issue with Americans and food, regardless of the meal, is that you have to always go to the extremes! Either you only drink coffee and think people that eat pancakes are gluttons, or you want to have the unlimited pancakes and bacon etc.
It is not really about the food choices, but about the quantity, it is either eat nothing or eat till you become Baron Harkonnen from Dune.
I am not certain what it is about the U.S. mind set that makes people so incapable to eat in moderation.

Plenty of us eat in moderation. We tend not to be posting about our diets or talking about it a lot since by definition they are not very interesting or troublesome. You're just getting hit by people who either eat nothing or eat everything and thinking that's all there is.

Very few people have time for a leisurely breakfast that involves a lot of cooking during the week. We are rushing to school and work, which means that most families' top priority when choosing breakfast foods is convenience. Our society in general doesn't value spending much time on food or meals in general, so the fact that the average American can't or won't take a lot of time for breakfast shouldn't be surprising. And we have a robust food industry that caters to busy Americans by offering convenient and fast food choices.

OP let me guess, you don't work. Do you really think it's feasible for most working families to spend an hour each morning preparing some kind of vegetable breakfast? People gravitate toward something that can be easily transported to work or school (granola bars, bagels, etc). I've been trying to do better with my breakfast choices because I agree that it's easy to snarf down a day's worth of carbs and sugar in one go, but you should consider the needs and requirements of an average working parent trying to get out of the house on a weekday.

Skipping breakfast helps me manage my weight. I’m overweight but down 15 pounds and maintaining.

Anonymous wrote:OP my kid and I were talking about this the other day. He asked why cereal wasn't healthy. He assumed it was a very healthy food, because he's been hearing for years that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

1. availability of grains historically, and as sugar has become available and cheap over the last 150 years, those were added to pancake recipes, etc
2. cholesterol and fat breakfasts were good for farmers heading in to a whole day in the fields
3. food industry that could profit off turning oats, corn, etc. into processed cereals

I stand by that plain Cheerios is heathy and fine to have for breakfast

Agree Op. But Americans like easy and sweet. The less work they have to do to prepare the actual food the better. Plus sweet / white flour is universally appealing and somewhat addicting.

My DH is from Middle East. His typical breakfast here at home is the Arabic pita bread with yogurt, tomato, fresh mint, a drizzle of olive oil, rolled up. Or a big bowl of beans with lemon, garlic, olive oil, cumin and some fresh vegetables on the side. But he also grew up in a poor country during war time in Middle East- women didn’t work and schools weren’t handing out pop tarts and chocolate milk. These things weren’t readily available either. If you wanted to eat, you had to cook and prepare food to eat.

Fat Americans will take their dessert breakfasts to the (early) grave with them

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard for so many of you to actually debate this issue instead of being defensive? Op did not accuse YOU of eating sweets for breakfast, but you are all saying, it is not true, I do not.
Is it possible that you are that detached from the reality of others? Me, me, me, me, me NPD running rampant here!

It is my first post, but why dont you reread the OP to see why people are defensive. It's pretty confrontational. She seems nice.

Why is it so hard for so many of you to actually debate this issue instead of being defensive? Op did not accuse YOU of eating sweets for breakfast, but you are all saying, it is not true, I do not.
Is it possible that you are that detached from the reality of others? Me, me, me, me, me NPD running rampant here!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue with Americans and food, regardless of the meal, is that you have to always go to the extremes! Either you only drink coffee and think people that eat pancakes are gluttons, or you want to have the unlimited pancakes and bacon etc.
It is not really about the food choices, but about the quantity, it is either eat nothing or eat till you become Baron Harkonnen from Dune.
I am not certain what it is about the U.S. mind set that makes people so incapable to eat in moderation.

You’re generalizing again.

It's not generalizing if it is the truth for most people. You must be the pp that starts every thing with "I"? You are self absorbed and have no idea about others and their choices.

Anonymous wrote:The issue with Americans and food, regardless of the meal, is that you have to always go to the extremes! Either you only drink coffee and think people that eat pancakes are gluttons, or you want to have the unlimited pancakes and bacon etc.
It is not really about the food choices, but about the quantity, it is either eat nothing or eat till you become Baron Harkonnen from Dune.
I am not certain what it is about the U.S. mind set that makes people so incapable to eat in moderation.

You’re generalizing again.

I’m also not hungry in the morning. Usually coffee and some fruit and yogurt tide me over to lunch. If I’m going out to breakfast, I will get an omelet, avocado toast, bacon and eggs, or a benedict but that is a splurge. Pancakes and waffles are usually too filling but on occasion I will share a side order.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue with Americans and food, regardless of the meal, is that you have to always go to the extremes! Either you only drink coffee and think people that eat pancakes are gluttons, or you want to have the unlimited pancakes and bacon etc.
It is not really about the food choices, but about the quantity, it is either eat nothing or eat till you become Baron Harkonnen from Dune.
I am not certain what it is about the U.S. mind set that makes people so incapable to eat in moderation.

There's a lot of truth to this. I don't know that the problem with American diets is so much quality as it is quantity. Serving sizes in restaurants are insanely huge. And then a lot of us end up replicating that at home.

Agreed. I think part of it is too many choices. We just have access to too much. All of the variety is a double edged sword.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone who eats any of that on a daily basis.

Cereal - sometimes, but more for a snack, not breakfast really.

Pancakes/crepes - rarely (once or twice per year)

Breakfast meat and potatoes - once every other month

Oatmeal/Farina - once every other month

Most days - just once cup of coffee and water, apple or other fruit mid-morning

Who on earth do you know???

DP, but I always thought it was rare for adults to eat breakfast. I’m not hungry first thing in the morning, so it is more likely to be a small kid-morning snack to tide me over to lunch.

I am starving when I wake up. 48 years old. Used to pour a bowl of cereal = but trying to eat better now so make stovetop oatmeal fruit. I don't know people who don't eat breakfast I don't think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know people who eat those big breakfasts on a daily basis, either. Most people I know eat cereal or oatmeal, or have a smoothie, or maybe scrambled or boiled eggs and toast or a bagel. The big sweet breakfasts are a weekend thing.

Still, many of those choices are terrible. Smoothies often contain tons of sugar, especially if they're store bought. Eating a bagel is eating a nutrient devoid food stuff. A single bagel is almost like eating 4-5 slices of bread. All carbohydrates and zero nutrition. Muffins, turnover, donughts....all the same. Eggs...OK good protein source. Oatmeals really depend on whether you're prepping it from scratch or heating up packaged stuff that's often loaded with sugar.

Wow, you sound like a barrel of laughs. I'd love to go out to breakfast with you.