Why are young men always so hungry?!

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The discussion centers around the challenges of feeding young men with hearty appetites, particularly in the context of preparing meals. A parent shares a recent experience of cooking a lavish meal of red snapper, only to find no leftovers due to the voracious eating habits of their sons. The conversation highlights the high caloric needs of active young men, especially those involved in sports like marathon running. Participants reminisce about their own youthful eating habits, sharing anecdotes of consuming large quantities of food, often fueled by physical activity. The dialogue touches on the humorous side of parenting boys, with suggestions that they should contribute to food costs given their appetites. Additionally, there is a light-hearted debate about the proper way to make chili, with strong opinions on the inclusion of beans. Overall, the thread captures the blend of nostalgia, humor, and the realities of feeding growing boys.
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My young men, that is. I need to rant.

<begin_rant>
I just cooked a fantastic meal, main course was red snapper cooked in wine topped with tomatoes, portabella mushrooms, shallots, and then topped with cheese. I used three pounds (three pounds!) of fish filets for four people. Any leftovers? No. I have two young men at home who would eat wood if necessary to keep their metabolisms on overdrive. At least my son who runs marathons for fun (two so far this year) isn't home. I would have needed to have cooked at least six pounds of fish were that the case. The bright side is that in a bit more than a year and they will all be on their own (or so I hope).
<end_rant>
 
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They sound like healthy young men. :biggrin:

I used to clean my plate and there weren't two many leftovers when I was growing up.

I also needed to eat at least 4 sandwiches (usually peanut butter) and drink two glasses of milk between the time I got home from school and supper time.
 
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Yum - that sounds delicious! No wonder they have such healthy appetites!

At least they eat with you. My daughter decided to become a vegan, and she won't stay in the same room with people eating meat. Sigh.
 
Astronuc said:
They sound like healthy young men. :biggrin:

I used to clean my plate and there weren't two many leftovers when I was growing up.

I also needed to eat at least 4 sandwiches (usually peanut butter) and drink two glasses of milk between the time I got home from school and supper time.

Once I went to Arby's with a group of friends. One of my friends ordered the "5 for 5" special and ate five roast beef sandwiches. He then went on to eat two of my other friend's "five for five" sandwiches.

I commented on how he could eat that much and said he hadn't eaten for two hours. What did he eat two hours before? That's right...four hard salami sandwiches!

Afterwards we went to the movies and he orders a jumbo popcorn!:smile:

Now, I the kind of guy who can eat A LOT, but there is no way I can top that!
 
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I used to run cross-country and would run the entire course twice each day between meets (except the day before a meet) - once with ankle weights and then without. Then I would change up and run/jog over two miles back home. I'd eat several sandwiches when I got home or charge into whatever left-overs were in the fridge, and then have a hearty supper. I never got over 125 # in HS -- skinny as a rail.
 
Im drinking a Foster's beer right now. That fish sure would go well with it...
 
My girlfriend and I used to go out to dinner and buy a small steak and split it in two and share a cup of soup. The waiter was always a bit miffed when we'd order one meal with two plates.

MEN! :devil:
 
Evo said:
a small steak and split it in two and share a cup of soup.
an appetizer.


When I was working iron, I was eating food by the pound. One night was so hungry, I ate a bowl of pasta, a salad, a small loaf of bread, and an extra large pizza (20 inch or so), with a couple of beers.

It was easy to eat a 24 inch pizza by myself, or a 72 oz steak, a large baked potato and salad, and desert. :biggrin:
 
Evo said:
My girlfriend and I used to go out to dinner and buy a small steak and split it in two and share a cup of soup. The waiter was always a bit miffed when we'd order one meal with two plates.

MEN! :devil:
Catch a clue! If you were ordering 1/2 a meal and the waiter expected to be tipped 15% of that little expenditure, he'd expect things to be a bit tight the next day. If you and friend tied up one of his assigned tables, ordered 1/2 meals, and shmoozed and took your time, he was probably freaking out the whole time. I have not worked the restaurant business, but many of my friends and relatives have, and it can be a really tough grind day-to-day, especially if your table assignments are determined willy-nilly by a hostess/manager that might not like you.
 
  • #10
My girlfriend at work has a 17 year old son that plays basketball.

She was telling me the other night she fried a chicken with corn bread and all the trimmings and then he asked her what they were having tomorrow. She told him that he just ate it.

I'm so glad that I had girls. One pot of soup could last us two weeks.
 
  • #11
Astronuc said:
an appetizer.When I was working iron, I was eating food by the pound. One night was so hungry, I ate a bowl of pasta, a salad, a small loaf of bread, and an extra large pizza (20 inch or so), with a couple of beers.

It was easy to eat a 24 inch pizza by myself, or a 72 oz steak, a large baked potato and salad, and desert. :biggrin:
When I was running, I could eat a couple of "regular" pizzas and then start tucking into ice cream, and sweets after supper. Luckily, my mother was well-versed in high-carb cooking for farm-boys, and there were usually lots of left-overs in the fridge that I could eat without putting the family in the poor-house. One time, I ate 18 ears of corn (along with our evening meal) - it just seemed as if I needed the fuel. My sister was counting, though I'm not sure why - she could pack food away, too if she wanted.
 
  • #12
turbo-1 said:
Catch a clue! If you were ordering 1/2 a meal and the waiter expected to be tipped 15% of that little expenditure, he'd expect things to be a bit tight the next day. If you and friend tied up one of his assigned tables, ordered 1/2 meals, and shmoozed and took your time, he was probably freaking out the whole time. I have not worked the restaurant business, but many of my friends and relatives have, and it can be a really tough grind day-to-day, especially if your table assignments are determined willy-nilly by a hostess/manager that might not like you.
We tipped heavily, about 40-50%. Sometimes 100%. If a meal was $10, we might each leave $5 as a tip. I was such a heavy tipper, that at one night club, the waitress would always reserve my favorite table for me in the hopes that I would show up. She'd make more money off of me alone than 3 full tables that kept her running all night.
 
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  • #13
I see my son the most, when he's hungry.
 
  • #14
Evo said:
We tipped heavily, about 40-50%. Sometimes 100%. If a meal was $10, we might each leave $5 as a tip. I was such a heavy tipper, that at one night club, the waitress would always reserve my favorite table for me in the hopes that I would show up. She'd make more money off of me alone than 3 full tables that kept her running all night.
I've always been a heavy tipper, too, especially if the service is exceptional, but sometimes the wait staff does not share that information because they want to keep the primo customers for themselves. There are a few high-end steak-houses here where if a waiter/waitress saw me near the entrance, they would come up and speak to the person at the front desk and my party would be seated at once, as if we had a reservation that was overdue. This kind of treatment can be secured by polite intercourse with the staff, kind treatment of the staff, and decent behavior.

I was at a Robben Ford performance in Portland quite a number of years back, and some advance-persons for Kevin Costner showed up and started demanding special treatment (Raouls's Roadside Attractions). The special treatment that they were given was a small table wedged against a wall in a high-traffic area. Raoul's was a class act.
 
  • #15
Turbo, about how heavy were you as a freshman (15 or so). I'm about 95 pounds right now (15.5 yo)
 
  • #16
We can't use the crockpot to make chili anymore. It's too small. Five pounds of beef, minimum.
 
  • #17
D H said:
We can't use the crockpot to make chili anymore. It's too small. Five pounds of beef, minimum.
I feel for you D H!
 
  • #18
D H said:
We can't use the crockpot to make chili anymore. It's too small. Five pounds of beef, minimum.

Chili! Now you've gone and got me thinking of it. Ugh, I won't be able to sleep now.

Just little beans and hamburger bits running through my head all night long...
 
  • #19
I could understand eating a lot over the course of a day if you are burning a lot of calories doing physical work, and I know guys go through those growth spurts where they suddenly need to eat you out of house and home, but HOW do you fit that much into one stomach in a single meal?! Are you sure they're young men and not cattle?
 
  • #20
dawin said:
Just little beans and hamburger bits running through my head all night long...
Well now you've done ruined my dreams, too. The carne in "chili con carne" means beef. There ain't no beans in my chili con carne. I use real beef, not that ground up, who-knows-what-part-of-the-cow it comes from hamburger stuff. And no beans. If I want beans I eat chili con frijoles. Mixing them is pure evil. The next thing you know we'll have dogs and cats, living together. Armageddon.
 
  • #21
D H said:
Well now you've done ruined my dreams, too. The carne in "chili con carne" means beef. There ain't no beans in my chili con carne. I use real beef, not that ground up, who-knows-what-part-of-the-cow it comes from hamburger stuff. And no beans. If I want beans I eat chili con frijoles. Mixing them is pure evil. The next thing you know we'll have dogs and cats, living together. Armageddon.
:smile: Yep, real chili has no beans.
 
  • #22
The Johnson Space Center holds an annual Chili Cookoff contest. One of the contestants a few years ago served COTS chili. They were judged "not even wrong".
 
  • #23
What is COTS chili?

I like beans in chili. I like to use ground beef, hot sausage meat (adds some spice, plus the little extra fat to give the chili more flavor), black beans and red kidney beans. The meat:bean ratio should be high though (and my chili is THICK, no chili-flavored soup around here).
 
  • #24
I also like beans in chili as well, whether they should be there or not. I like red kidney beans the best, with lot's of beef. It MUST be spicy too. No mild chili here.
 
  • #25
Mmmmm, Pinto beans are the BEST beans!
 
  • #26
Moonbear said:
What is COTS chili?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_off-the-shelf"
COTS chili comes out of a can.
 
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  • #27
D H said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_off-the-shelf"
COTS chili comes out of a can.

EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!
 
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  • #28
Moonbear said:
EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!
Exactly. Hormel chili, particularly in a chili cookoff contest, is "not even wrong".
 
  • #29
D H said:
Exactly. Hormel chili, particularly in a chili cookoff contest, is "not even wrong".

My stepfather would eat that stuff...and by calling it "stuff" I think I'm being generous. I wouldn't get near it...it smelled like dog food when he opened the can.
 
  • #30
We had some, once. For whatever reason we had a big can of chili in our cupboard after a hurricane came through. No power, all food in the fridge was tossed. As I recall, it tasted pretty good at the time. Then again, so did the MRIs we had leftover from camping.

BTW, if I have let my own thread get out of control, my fault. I cooked the fish with wine, maybe half a cup. Somebody had to finish off the wine ...
 
  • #31
I don't like chili, my body can't process it. It goes in one end and straight out the other, much more dramatically.
 
  • #32
DH, you ate Magnetic Resonance Imagers? I applaud your unhingable jaws and massive stomach.
 
  • #33
Oops. That's the wine. It was MREs, not MRIs.
 
  • #34
lol, just being a smartass.
 
  • #35
binzing said:
Turbo, about how heavy were you as a freshman (15 or so). I'm about 95 pounds right now (15.5 yo)
I was about 100# as a freshman in HS, and about 125# as a freshman in U. No fat. I could (and sometimes did) run for hours.
 
  • #36
Cyrus said:
I don't like chili, my body can't process it. It goes in one end and straight out the other, much more dramatically.
Glad I don't have your physiology. I would have to give up life as I know it.
 
  • #37
turbo-1 said:
Glad I don't have your physiology. I would have to give up life as I know it.

I used to have that kind of reaction when I was younger. My parents never offered spicy foods and when I did eat anything spicy, although I liked the taste, it didn't agree with my digestion. After moving to the southwest and changing my diet, I seem to have lost any negative effects of eating very spicy foods.

The consequence is that any time I visit home anything my mom cooks tastes horribly bland. Medium strength salsa that she buys from the grocery store makes her sweaty and uncomfortable. I don't even get started until I dig into the fire sauce. I think her head would explode if she ate some of the things I enjoy.
 
  • #38
I've never had an appetite that large, not even when I was supposed to be growing. Then again I'm not very big. I still weigh just 60 kilos (about 130 lbs).
 
  • #39
Moonbear said:
I could understand eating a lot over the course of a day if you are burning a lot of calories doing physical work, and I know guys go through those growth spurts where they suddenly need to eat you out of house and home, but HOW do you fit that much into one stomach in a single meal?! Are you sure they're young men and not cattle?
One just works up to it.

I have a high metabolism. Back in high school, I rode a bike, played football (more soccer than US), ran long distance, and did weight training. I kept it up in college. During college, I started doing iron work, which was 8 to 10 hrs a day of constant heavy physical labor.

By the time I was 15, my weight was about 150-155# (68-70 kg). I could lift my father who was about 170#. By the time I left high school, I was about 165#, and when I was doing iron work, my weight max out about 180# (~82 kg).

Also when I was 15, I got a job at a gardening center which involved lifting 50 and 70# bags of fertilizer, or up to 100-120# of dirt (soil), manure or sand. I got to the point where I could grab a 100# bag in each arm and carry it to a car, then lift each and lay them in the trunk. I also helped unload trucks and stack the fertilizer in the shed, so I got to point where I would lift two 70# bags overhead and toss them up to someone standing on the stacks.

When I worked iron, I'd do the work of two people, so I could lift 200+ # and simply put the iron (column or set of purlins) where I needed it. It was faster than someone helping me or waiting for the crane or forklift. I loved the heavy work and working high off the ground!
 
  • #40
Kurdt said:
I've never had an appetite that large, not even when I was supposed to be growing. Then again I'm not very big. I still weigh just 60 kilos (about 130 lbs).

Don't woryy kurdt!, when you start doing heavy and i mean heavy physical activity, you'll get that appetite in no time. It's one of the sideffects.

Right now, i weight 170. I used to weigh in 2005 140, but then i got into lifting weights and riding my bike. I get so hungry these days, it's like i am always eating.

WOW, Astronuc! that's a real heavy work!.
 
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  • #41
Cyclovenom said:
Don't woryy kurdt!, when you start doing heavy and i mean heavy physical activity, you'll get that appetite in no time. It's one of the sideffects.

I used to do loads of physical activity when I was a teen. I was in an athletics club, I played football and I cycled over 200 miles a week. I've only ever eaten normal portions. I tend to snack a bit though since I don't seem to be able to eat a normal portion without feeling sick. I must have a small stomach.
 
  • #42
D H said:
Well now you've done ruined my dreams, too. The carne in "chili con carne" means beef. There ain't no beans in my chili con carne. I use real beef, not that ground up, who-knows-what-part-of-the-cow it comes from hamburger stuff. And no beans. If I want beans I eat chili con frijoles. Mixing them is pure evil. The next thing you know we'll have dogs and cats, living together. Armageddon.

Con frijoles, con carne... Call it them what you will, I call 'em all delicious!
 
  • #43
Moonbear said:
I could understand eating a lot over the course of a day if you are burning a lot of calories doing physical work, and I know guys go through those growth spurts where they suddenly need to eat you out of house and home, but HOW do you fit that much into one stomach in a single meal?! Are you sure they're young men and not cattle?

I don't know how exactly it fits in. I think it's like how Astronuc said, you just work up to it. My girlfriend is always asking me, "You're eating again?" I don't change weight though, I've been 6'2" and average about 196 lbs since high school. That is, save for the one stint when I was seriously working out and got myself up to 220 lb... You want to talk about eating? :smile:
 
  • #44
Yeah, I need to calculate my fat percentage sometime. I did once off of estimations and it came back about 6% or summat.
 
  • #45
LOl I remember when I played lacrosse and ice hockey in high school my daily caloric intake was probably around 4000+ calories and I was still cut. I used to eat almost an entire box of cereal every morning. My dad would always get so pissed.
 
  • #46
D H said:
My young men, that is. I need to rant.

<begin_rant>
I just cooked a fantastic meal, main course was red snapper cooked in wine topped with tomatoes, portabella mushrooms, shallots, and then topped with cheese. I used three pounds (three pounds!) of fish filets for four people. Any leftovers? No. I have two young men at home who would eat wood if necessary to keep their metabolisms on overdrive. At least my son who runs marathons for fun (two so far this year) isn't home. I would have needed to have cooked at least six pounds of fish were that the case. The bright side is that in a bit more than a year and they will all be on their own (or so I hope).
<end_rant>

They would eat wood but instead you serve snapper. What am I missing here?
 
  • #47
Ivan Seeking said:
They would eat wood but instead you serve snapper. What am I missing here?
I wouldn't eat wood. I prefer food that has some taste.
 
  • #48
So make enough snapper for yourself, and enough wood for the lot of them?
 
  • #49
NeoDevin said:
So make enough snapper for yourself, and enough wood for the lot of them?

Or tell them they don't get snapper until they bring it home themselves. :biggrin: If they're old enough to eat THAT much, they're old enough to get a job and help with the food bills. (Now I think I see why parents of boys are more likely to shove them out to a job sooner than parents of girls are...they NEED the boys to earn some money to pay for the enormous amounts of food they consume. :biggrin:)
 
  • #50
Just buy them a cord each per month and theyll be fine!
 

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