Anonymous
03/14/2018 15:18
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
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.
I cook very much like this, but I’ve long since added more taste than my very germanic parents like.
Anonymous
03/14/2018 14:45
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I live in Ashburn...an Indian Mecca. Over the years I've been invited to countless Diwali parties and to neighbors house for dinner cooked from scratch. I've always left so full of carbs and grease. If I ate that food in a daily basis, if have a man sized gut. I love the food, but But OMG, I don't need diabetes!
Except if you're going to parties and special dinners your hosts are serving you special occasion food. No one eats those things on a daily basis in any culture.
You missed it. In addition to Diwali, I go for a regular dinner as well. Same. Super greasy, very carb heavy, and all of the vegetables in a thick heavy sauce. This is not one Indian family, but quite a few.
Don't get me wrong, I love fried bread, but could not tolerate it on the regular and remain a size 6. All of the Indian women I know (with a few exceptions) have pot bellies.
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.
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.
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
03/14/2018 14:44
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I live in Ashburn...an Indian Mecca. Over the years I've been invited to countless Diwali parties and to neighbors house for dinner cooked from scratch. I've always left so full of carbs and grease. If I ate that food in a daily basis, if have a man sized gut. I love the food, but But OMG, I don't need diabetes!
Except if you're going to parties and special dinners your hosts are serving you special occasion food. No one eats those things on a daily basis in any culture.
You missed it. In addition to Diwali, I go for a regular dinner as well. Same. Super greasy, very carb heavy, and all of the vegetables in a thick heavy sauce. This is not one Indian family, but quite a few.
Don't get me wrong, I love fried bread, but could not tolerate it on the regular and remain a size 6. All of the Indian women I know (with a few exceptions) have pot bellies.
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.
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.
Yep and it's gross. It's like chewing on shoe leather with fiber in it.
Anonymous
03/14/2018 14:11
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
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.
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
03/14/2018 12:37
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I live in Ashburn...an Indian Mecca. Over the years I've been invited to countless Diwali parties and to neighbors house for dinner cooked from scratch. I've always left so full of carbs and grease. If I ate that food in a daily basis, if have a man sized gut. I love the food, but But OMG, I don't need diabetes!
Except if you're going to parties and special dinners your hosts are serving you special occasion food. No one eats those things on a daily basis in any culture.
You missed it. In addition to Diwali, I go for a regular dinner as well. Same. Super greasy, very carb heavy, and all of the vegetables in a thick heavy sauce. This is not one Indian family, but quite a few.
Don't get me wrong, I love fried bread, but could not tolerate it on the regular and remain a size 6. All of the Indian women I know (with a few exceptions) have pot bellies.
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.
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.
Sooooo... I'm guessing your family doesn't ever make aloo gobi with avocado oil?!?
Anonymous
03/14/2018 12:30
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I live in Ashburn...an Indian Mecca. Over the years I've been invited to countless Diwali parties and to neighbors house for dinner cooked from scratch. I've always left so full of carbs and grease. If I ate that food in a daily basis, if have a man sized gut. I love the food, but But OMG, I don't need diabetes!
Except if you're going to parties and special dinners your hosts are serving you special occasion food. No one eats those things on a daily basis in any culture.
You missed it. In addition to Diwali, I go for a regular dinner as well. Same. Super greasy, very carb heavy, and all of the vegetables in a thick heavy sauce. This is not one Indian family, but quite a few.
Don't get me wrong, I love fried bread, but could not tolerate it on the regular and remain a size 6. All of the Indian women I know (with a few exceptions) have pot bellies.
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.
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.
Anonymous
03/14/2018 12:20
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I live in Ashburn...an Indian Mecca. Over the years I've been invited to countless Diwali parties and to neighbors house for dinner cooked from scratch. I've always left so full of carbs and grease. If I ate that food in a daily basis, if have a man sized gut. I love the food, but But OMG, I don't need diabetes!
Except if you're going to parties and special dinners your hosts are serving you special occasion food. No one eats those things on a daily basis in any culture.
You missed it. In addition to Diwali, I go for a regular dinner as well. Same. Super greasy, very carb heavy, and all of the vegetables in a thick heavy sauce. This is not one Indian family, but quite a few.
Don't get me wrong, I love fried bread, but could not tolerate it on the regular and remain a size 6. All of the Indian women I know (with a few exceptions) have pot bellies.
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.
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
03/14/2018 12:18
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I live in Ashburn...an Indian Mecca. Over the years I've been invited to countless Diwali parties and to neighbors house for dinner cooked from scratch. I've always left so full of carbs and grease. If I ate that food in a daily basis, if have a man sized gut. I love the food, but But OMG, I don't need diabetes!
Except if you're going to parties and special dinners your hosts are serving you special occasion food. No one eats those things on a daily basis in any culture.
You missed it. In addition to Diwali, I go for a regular dinner as well. Same. Super greasy, very carb heavy, and all of the vegetables in a thick heavy sauce. This is not one Indian family, but quite a few.
Don't get me wrong, I love fried bread, but could not tolerate it on the regular and remain a size 6. All of the Indian women I know (with a few exceptions) have pot bellies.
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
03/14/2018 12:12
Subject: Re:Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]Uhm Indian food is not healthy. Tons of ghee, fried breads and the sweets are filled with sugar. With growing wealth India is actually facing a growing obesity problem as their people are able to indulge in more of these foods. Get a grip on yourself OP.
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
03/13/2018 21:34
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote: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.
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
03/12/2018 14:38
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
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.
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
03/12/2018 14:00
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
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.
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
03/12/2018 13:58
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
Anonymous wrote: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.
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
03/12/2018 13:54
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
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
03/12/2018 13:48
Subject: Talking to husband about his all American diet
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.
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.