Restaurant food: Healthier vs?

[Cyrus]

You forgot binge drinking themselves too. It's not fun until your stupid drunk.

 

[Pengwuino]

Although you are making a hyperbole, i agree it is true that food takes on an importance in life that is above the norm of other countries and is an important part of many events in life where it isn't in other countries.

 

[Pengwuino]

You forgot binge drinking themselves too. It's not fun until your stupid drunk.

Yah what about binge drinking? That's even worse. It's like your expected to get drunk before your 18... in a society where the legal limit is 21... At least eating isn't against the law

 

[chroot]

Sure we eat on Easter, for example, but it's really centered around the easter egg hunt.

Is it? What about when the kids are all grown up, and the family just gets together for another gut-busting binge?

4th of july, we don't even have food but i do know most people have bbqs and all that other stuff which is the center of their 4th of july.

I'm not talking about you, Pengwuino, but I'm glad your family has some sense.

- Warren

 

[chroot]

I agree that I'm being a little sensational -- but I'm trying to bring attention to something that is often sidelined in this country:

Our culture practically revolves around food.

For some reason, many people just seem so reluctant to admit it, but it's painfully true.

- Warren

 

[Pengwuino]

Is it? What about when the kids are all grown up, and the family just gets together for another gut-busting binge?

Actually there was a gap when most of the kids were too old for the egg hunt and the rest were too young for it. I THINK we did actually have a bbq come to think of it those 2 years.

 

[Pengwuino]

I agree that I'm being a little sensational -- but I'm trying to bring attention to something that is often sidelined in this country:

Our culture practically revolves around food.

I've heard European countries do the same thing, except with drinking. I've always heard a lot of things we do in restaurants and cafes (meetings, social events, sitting and talking to friends), they do at bars and other alcohol-selling establishments. I keep hearing a lot of Europeans and Canadians saying that they're going out "to have a drink" with friends or family for no real reason other then to chat and hang out where Americans would say "we're going out to grab a bite" for no real reason.

 

[Cyrus]

But when they have a 'drink,' they don't go out to get smashed.

 

[Pengwuino]

But when they have a 'drink,' they don't go out to get smashed.

I didn't say that. Not everyone goes out and eats a 18oz steak when they want to discuss business or whatever.

 

[Cyrus]

Have you seen the size of drinks in Europe? Their 12 oz. is a large.

 

[Pengwuino]

Have you seen the size of drinks in Europe? Their 12 oz. is a large.

What, beer?

 

[Cyrus]

Yeah, their drinks are tiny. I did not see many people with double super quadruple big gulps from 7-11.

 

[Pengwuino]

Yeah, their drinks are tiny.

Well the point is I'm wondering if they're culture's activities revolve around drinking like our culture revolves around eating (and not whether or not they binge drink like we binge eat)

 

[Moonbear]

Yeah, their drinks are tiny. I did not see many people with double super quadruple big gulps from 7-11.

A 12 oz drink being called a large would be about right. Those are the portions restaurants had when I was a kid. The small in most fast food places is the size that used to be large, and the kiddie cup is what we used to call small (and they used to have "courtesy cups" that were a little bigger than a Dixie cup that you could get if you had kids and wanted to pour a little of your small drink into each cup for the kids). There's just no reason for the portions we have now.

I do think the portions are a little better when you go to a fine dining type restaurant, because they want you to enjoy the food, not walk out with your stomach hurting.

I'm trying to figure out how Chroot thinks weddings are an excuse to over eat though. I swear, they put the plates down, circle once around the table, and pick them back up again. Who ever gets to eat their meal at a wedding? You pretty much have to hope for good appetizers during the cocktail hour to sustain you through the evening.

Thanksgiving, yeah, but you don't unbutton your pants...you wear ones with an elastic waist or for the men, ones that are a little bit big so you can just undo your belt a notch! We never had 4th of July parties where anyone got overstuffed though. At best, you get a burger and a hot dog, and some salads and chips. But, then you're usually off playing lawn games or swimming or stuff like that, so you're also active.

 

[Mk]

Is it? What about when the kids are all grown up, and the family just gets together for another gut-busting binge?

Eating is a social event. People like social.

No wonder 2 out of 3 Americans are overweight. The medically obese population is growing steadily.

What exactly constitutes overweight? If overweight means over the average weight of the population, than that would mean about half of the population is overweight, and about half is underweight. Last time I saw a definition, overweight meant having 10% or more body fat.

 

[Pengwuino]

Not many people have ever died of being too fat. I can't think of anyone immediatly. And no one I've ever met or heard of has been in the hospital for being too fat. Liposuction maybe...

I've heard of PLENTY of people who have been hospitalized for being too fat. Directly, you don't really die of being too fat... you die of the problems associated with being too fat. You die when you have a heart attack from overworking your heart, you die of diabetes, and I am sure there are other things.

 

[Mk]

hearing a lot of Europeans and Canadians saying that they're going out "to have a drink" with friends or family for no real reason other then to chat and hang out where Americans would say "we're going out to grab a bite" for no real reason.

Crumpets and tea anyone?

 

[Pengwuino]

Crumpets and tea anyone?

If the people i know are going out to get tea, I'm not associating myself with them anymore :tongue2:

 

[Cyrus]

Then don't talk to me. Tea is for the civilized gentleman.

 

[Monique]

Everyone likes American restaurants.

Um, not really, I never liked them. Everytime that I went to an American restaurant, I came home with a doggy-bag that lasted me for two more meals. I did have to scrape all the solidified butter out of the bottom of the platter, where the food was swimming in. I don't know how they get away with it.

 

[Pengwuino]

I just remembered something!

There was a poll taken a while ago and I remember it was about views toward obesity. It turned out that like 60% of americans weren't concerned with obesity because they expected science to have an answer for diabetes when they become older.

 

[Azael]

It's a choice that people make. Everyone seems to forget that there is indeed tremendous satisfaction in good food. What's the compromise? 50 years of incredible food vs. 10 years off your life (and realistically, you could be taking 0 years off if you actually get off your butt and excercise). There doesn't HAVE to be a compromise, it all just needs to balance out.

Yes there is tremendous satisfaction in food. I love food more than anything. When cutting I look forward to my cheatdays like a kid for christmas. But just like with everything there has to be discipline and restrain. Its fun to drink alcohole but everyone knows you shouldn't drink everyday. The same goes for crap food.

Excercise can not make up for a horrible diet. You can not burn several thousands of kcal through exercise each day. Maby 600-700 if you are active. Thats still just a serving of fries and burgers. Excercise can not totaly negate the horrible effects of high gi food either and it can do nothing about trans fatty acid.

People today are used to eating hamburgers, french fries and **** like that as food. Not as treats. They have becomed seriously addicted to crap food. Now the adults they know wtf they are doing so I don't care one bit about that. If they want to sacrifice there health and lifespan for burgers and candy go ahead.

But the kids, that is where the problem is. We are forcing these bad habits on a entire generation.
Parents to fat kids needs to take a good look at themself in the mirror and ask themself how they can ruin there own childs life like that even when they damn well know they are doing it. But most parents to fat kids just blames genetics, the tooth fairy, the school food and alien conspiracies.

 

[Monique]

If a mother eats a lot of vegetables during breast feeding a baby, the baby gets used to the taste and will like vegetables more than a baby that was fed on bottled milk. It's not genetics, it's upbringing.

If someone serves me a plate overflowing with food, I'll likely eat half the amount that I'd otherwise would have eaten: the sight of it just puts me off when I know I wouldn't be able to eat it all. I'd never choose a restaurant just because they serve full plates, I like good food.

There was a time I went to a 'proper' American restaurant and ordered potatoes with white fish. I was expecting spicy potatoes with a nice lean piece of fish. I'd never ever expected they would serve me DEEP-fried sliced potatoes and three DEEP-fried fish, enough to feed an orphanage I probably ate a single chip and a bite of fish, after having scraped off the breading, until I turned to the dish of my friend who had some kind of vegetarian stew.

 

[Mk]

Um, not really, I never liked them. Everytime that I went to an American restaurant, I came home with a doggy-bag that lasted me for two more meals. I did have to scrape all the solidified butter out of the bottom of the platter, where the food was swimming in. I don't know how they get away with it.

Mmmm, butter... I love American restaurants. I defiantly prefer them over European ones :yuck: However, upper-class Thai restaurants, I likey.

If a mother eats a lot of vegetables during breast feeding a baby, the baby gets used to the taste and will like vegetables more than a baby that was fed on bottled milk. It's not genetics, it's upbringing.[
/quote]
It sounds like a myth to me. Maybe I'm wrong?

If someone serves me a plate overflowing with food, I'll likely eat half the amount that I'd otherwise would have eaten: the sight of it just puts me off when I know I wouldn't be able to eat it all.

Hey, the fatter tend to eat the whole thing, the thinner tend to eat part of it now, and save for leftovers. I like Red Lobster.

I'd never choose a restaurant just because they serve full plates, I like good food.

This is the way you should go... unless you aren't willing to spend more than a buck. At McDonald's you can get a lot of cheap, fatty food. Or on the same budget, you could get half of an appetizer at a Red Lobsters or Olive Garden. Some of us have different values, or less money or both. That is why McDonald's prospers in America.

 

[Evo]

One restaurant meal will last me three days. I agree with Monique, the stuff is always swimming in butter. But I like butter.

Usually after eating the salad I'm full and can't even get to my entree, so I always end up eating it cold the next day.

The BEST food I've EVER eaten was in Sicily. Everything was to die for. Well, except that one pizza made out of cement. I could NOT cut into it, I tried hacking into it, tried chopping into it, I could not break the crust, then my boyfriend Antonio, native Sicilian, offers to help, he finally manages to break it and pieces go flying everywhere. He ended up sharing his with me. I really think the kitchen help heard I was American and did something to the crust.

 

[Moonbear]

One restaurant meal will last me three days. I agree with Monique, the stuff is always swimming in butter. But I like butter.

I only think that's true with the "cheap" restaurants (not to say the prices are exactly inexpensive in them, but Outback and similar type restaurants are not a "fine dining" experience...they serve a steak for one that's larger than what we cooked to feed a family of 4 when I was still living home). As I mentioned before, if you go to a very nice restaurant, one known for quality of food, not quantity, you'll have a very different experience. Each course is rather small...sometimes it even looks funny to have just a few tiny slices of meat in the center of a huge plate. But, that's all you need if you're eating 5 or 7 courses, just a few bites from each course so that by the time you get to dessert and coffee, you can still savor it and walk away satisfied but not stuffed.

Usually after eating the salad I'm full and can't even get to my entree, so I always end up eating it cold the next day.

It USED to be a trick that they'd serve you a big salad so they could get away with a small main course (salad is cheap, beef expensive), since you were already full. I'm not sure when it switched that the chain restaurants started serving giant main courses and didn't stop serving the giant salad before it. If I'm going to a chain restaurant, I usually just skip the salad course unless it's included in the price of the meal, then I just nibble at it, but don't finish it...it's always iceberg lettuce anyway - might as well just have another glass of water for all the nutrition that provides.

 

[Astronuc]

Apparently on average, Americans eat nearly twice as much as they should, and they eat too much refined grains, sugar and fat.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/FoodReview/DEC2002/frvol25i3a.pdf

Excercise can not make up for a horrible diet. You can not burn several thousands of kcal through exercise each day. Maby 600-700 if you are active.

It really depends on the excercise. Playing soccer or bicycle riding or swimming for prolonged periods can burn several thousand calories. However, most people do not engage in such activities.

Anyway, exercise does not make up for a bad diet.

 

[Monique]

Mmmm, butter... I love American restaurants. I defiantly prefer them over European ones :yuck:

I always go for authentic asian restaurants, cannot go wrong there. I had the best classic chinese stew today in a restaurant, it came in a small bowl and I ordered a small bowl of soup with it. No big salads. Best thing I tasted in a while.

 

[chroot]

You can not burn several thousands of kcal through exercise each day. Maby 600-700 if you are active.

Of course you can. Each day that I ride my bike to work (around a 32 mile round trip), I burn approximately 1400 kcal. When I'm pedaling as hard as I reasonably can, keeping a heart rate above 160 beats per minute, I can easily burn a thousand calories an hour. It's not that hard to burn off a thousand calories. I burn 50-70 calories per mile at 20+ mph.

I've done several 100+ mile bike rides and burned more 5,000 kcal for each one.

And yes, I'm using a heart rate monitor on the bike; I'm not just guessing.

- Warren

 

[Azael]

Of course you can. Each day that I ride my bike to work (around a 32 mile round trip), I burn approximately 1400 kcal. When I'm pedaling as hard as I reasonably can, keeping a heart rate above 160 beats per minute, I can easily burn a thousand calories an hour. It's not that hard to burn off a thousand calories. I burn 50-70 calories per mile at 20+ mph.

I've done several 100+ mile bike rides and burned more 5,000 kcal for each one.

And yes, I'm using a heart rate monitor on the bike; I'm not just guessing.

- Warren

well keeping a pace where you burn 1000 kcal/hour for extended timeperiods is far out of reach for most. I could not do it and I am fit above avarage(strenght athlete though, not at all a endurance athlete) I assume you have a lot of experience with endurance training?
When I am at it at the stairmaster I burn roughly 300kcal in 12 minutes. But I would be half dead doing that for a hour.

I was talking about avarage people, I should have specified that. I meant something a avarage person can do daily. I doubt most avarage people burn more than 700kcal tops when they train and very few have time or most importantly motivation to do that 7 times a week.

I would not even recommend anyone to try to burn more than at most 1000 kcal/day through endurance training since I personaly feel it is a much better way to cut down bodyfat by trying to improve muscle mass. To much cardio doesn't go hand in hand very well with increasing muscle mass. Slow twitch fibers doesn't have much growth potential.

I feel my point still stands firmly. Cardio can not balance out a poor diet. Unless we talk about extrem amounts and those that do those ammounts of cardio are usualy smart enough not to stuff themself with bigmac's everyday.
Everything revolves around what you put into your mouth.

 

[chroot]

Azael,

I agree that you can't eat slop and then try to exercise yourself to death to counteract it. I agree that poor diets are hard on the liver, kidneys, and other organs.

I disagree that an average person can work their way up to 1000 kcal/hr exercise. From the time that I began biking, it probably took me about two months to get to the point where I can maintain 160+ bpm heart rate indefinitely, which burns about 1000 kcal/hr. I'm no elite cyclist by any means. I'm probably in the 60th-70th percentile among (recreational) competitive cyclists.

It sounds to me like you're hitting the stair master a bit too hard. The highest heart-rate that I can maintain indefinitely is about 175 bpm. Anything over 185 bpm (which would correspond to about 1400 kcal/hr) is not sustainable for me. That's above my lactate threshold, and I end up taking about five minutes to recover from even a brief sprint above 190 bpm. I strongly suggest that people use a heart rate monitor for any kind of cardiovascular exercise -- they make a remarkable difference. And, you're right, the vast majority of people are not physically capable of sustaining more than 1000 kcal/hr without enormous amounts of lactate-threshold training, which is pretty much hell on earth.

- Warren

 

[Moonbear]

Of course, the people who are exercising enough to burn 1000 kcal/hr are generally not the ones engorging themselves on fat-laden, oversized portions in restaurants.

 

[chroot]

Of course, the people who are exercising enough to burn 1000 kcal/hr are generally not the ones engorging themselves on fat-laden, oversized portions in restaurants.

You'd be surprised how much I can eat after two hours on the bike.

- Warren

 

[Mk]

I can easily burn a thousand calories an hour. It's not that hard to burn off a thousand calories.

Wow. That sounds unhealthy. To me, that sounds just as a bad as eating several big macs. If you are on a standard 2,000 kcal diet, and bike like that for two hours... how much energy do you have left? A few days with only one hour of biking and 2,000 kcal/day, you're a dead man.

I know you don't eat that little during biking like that, but that seems too close to death to me.

 

[Moonbear]

Wow. That sounds unhealthy. To me, that sounds just as a bad as eating several big macs. If you are on a standard 2,000 kcal diet, and bike like that for two hours... how much energy do you have left? A few days with only one hour of biking and 2,000 kcal/day, you're a dead man.

I know you don't eat that little during biking like that, but that seems too close to death to me.

Why do you assume he isn't increasing his caloric intake sufficiently to make up for the energy burned with biking, especially given the post directly above yours where he references the amount of food he eats after biking?