What Are the Health Implications of American Food Habits?

[Clausius2]

Ok, thanks to those for bearing with me the flames in the the scientist arrogance thread. I really appreciated your comments. I was in bad mood, but I think my bad mood is caused by your food!.

Now talking seriously. I have noticed during my staying here that your food habits are so bad, so unhealthy!. Ok, maybe you reader are an exception, but everyday I see many people eating this fast food for lunch, day after day. Universities also promote these kind of places. They are so expensive!. For instance here we have a hall with all these fast food companies desiring to make many from us, simple students who are hungry at lunch time. Burgers, burritos, tacos, french fries, pizza. It's ok one day, but not 7/7. And also I don't think it is a good idea that a public institution promotes unhealthy food.

More details: I went the other to the mechanics. The time was close to lunch. The boss of the garage came with a bunch of bags filled with burgers. It was the lunch of the workers!. And I saw it again the other day!. Those guys are eating burgers everyday!.

How is it in Spain. At the university we have a Menú, which is made up of several plates amongst which you can choose whatever you want. You have 1st (usually one for eating with spoon, soup, stew), 2nd (could be meat, fish or similar) and dessert (fruit, flan, cake, icecream). They change from day to day. It's a varied diet. If you don't like the Menu of the university (which usually costs about 3 euros) you can go out and take a seat in one of the hundreds small restaurants they have in the city. They are not expensive, you can have another menu for 6 euros in most of the cases. It is the same case for the workers in companies.

I have seen spanish restaurants here (NO confuse with mexican food please), but they are f... expensive and of very bad quality. So is anybody out there up to do business and put a spanish restaurant cheap enough for being affordable for students/workers who want more healthy diet and not die of colesterol?.

 

[scorpa]

I work with people who go out to get fast food for at least two meals a day (sometimes three!). I don't know how they can stand to eat that crap everyday let alone afford to pay for it. I prefer to pack my own lunch, usually a sandwich or leftovers from whatever I made the night before, way cheaper and tastes better to. Some people are just lazy I guess.

 

[Clausius2]

I prefer to pack my own lunch, usually a sandwich or leftovers from whatever I made the night before, way cheaper and tastes better to. Some people are just lazy I guess.

I use to do the same, but I have checked that my diet is deficient anyway. A sandwich is a sandwich, and it's nothing. And it's nothing compared with the lunch I was used to have. I am very thin, I don't eat too much, but definitely a sandwich leaves me knocked out the rest of the day. It's not a problem of how much we eat, it's a problem of nutrition and variety. I don't truly understand why is there nobody out there serving meals of three plates and varying each day. I'm pretty sure that it is much more cheap to prepare those meals than to do plates with tacos and burritos. It's a problem of culture, not a monetary problem. If those americans would find such a place next to a burger place, they will keep going to eat to the burgers one.

 

[loseyourname]

There has to be a university dining hall at UCSD.

https://tritonlink.ucsd.edu/portal/site/tritonlink-preview/menuitem.b4448692267a11256ec5e210514b01ca?storyID=15390#dining

Looks like there are about 35 different options you have, and they are not all fast food. Awful lot of Asian places, mostly Chinese and Japanese, one Vietnamnese, one vegan co-op. San Diego aint New York, but the dining can't be that bad.

 

[Clausius2]

There has to be a university dining hall at UCSD.

https://tritonlink.ucsd.edu/portal/site/tritonlink-preview/menuitem.b4448692267a11256ec5e210514b01ca?storyID=15390#dining

Looks like there are about 35 different options you have, and they are not all fast food. Awful lot of Asian places, mostly Chinese and Japanese, one Vietnamnese, one vegan co-op. San Diego aint New York, but the dining can't be that bad.

Whatever you want. Do you know how much did I spend last time I ate in the japanese one? It was the cheapest choice there: 8 bucks .

 

[FredGarvin]

You know all about the idea of the path of least resistance. You are experiencing the drawbacks of having so much at your disposal in this country. This is a great example of companys pandering to the lowest common denomonator. Like anything else, you have to take on the responsibility yourself to provide what you need. If the options around you are not up to your standards, you need to get your butt to the grocery store more and pack your own lunches. This is why most people eat that crap day in and day out. They're too lazy to do it for themselves.

 

[JasonRox]

That's why I enjoy McMaster University where my girlfriend goes. They have plenty of options at good prices.

I'm with FredGarvin on this one. Just pack your own lunch. I pack my own lunch every now and then. It's not so bad for me because I work in a grocery store.

 

[Clausius2]

you need to get your butt to the grocery store more and pack your own lunches.

I liked that expression.

 

[Cyrus]

Go make me some arroz con pollo Claus.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

The US is about freedom, the government doesn't tell people what to eat, it advises people what to eat, and it won't force them to do so; that said the US has the most obese people per capita in the world, and in the UK we are following suit, me I'm getting fatter but slowly and it isn't due to food as such, but I refuse to eat fast food, it's cheap but crap and it tastes like shaganheimer.

I won't accept that you can't eat healthily on the go, sadly many people think you can't, and think that to do otherwise will be the expensive option, it's somewhat lazy to think so. I can buy a healthy sandwich for $4 or I can but the goods and make a healthy sandwich at 40 cents. The US's problem is that freedom is gauranteed but food is too cheap and the portions are too large. Don't fall for the foolish option, it's obvious, make your own food it takes as long as discussing what all the people there want for lunch, and hey you might live longer too

 

[Moonbear]

Yes, people's diets in the US are atrocious! There's no argument about that. I've known people who eat lunch EVERY day from fast food places, and sometimes dinner too! :yuck:

When I was in college, one of the student centers had a food court with fast food, which was great when you either missed the dinner hour at the dining hall or when the dining hall food was truly atrocious (yes, there were times when fast food was definitely the preferable choice). The other student centers just had delis or grills, so you could get a nice sandwich, which I really liked.

Now, all my lunches are eaten at the hospital cafeteria (the food quality there is a bit better than the cafeteria in my own building...the two buildings are connected by a tunnel), though, the hospital never has soup, so I have to eat in my own building if I want soup with lunch. Some days they serve rather odd foods, but usually you can get a healthy meal, like some turkey, a vegetable and some rice. And, the portions aren't huge like if you went out to eat. It's also pretty cheap (every once in a while, I'm still at work through dinner time, and can get a complete dinner with meat, vegetable, potatoes or rice and a drink for about $5, usually a bit less). They also always have a salad bar and an assortment of fresh fruits (of course, I end up going for a cookie too if I'm there for dinner).

Then again, if I go out for fast food for lunch, it means hiking the bajillion stairs from the parking lot to my building for the second time in the day, so I can burn off some of those extra calories pretty quickly.

Not quite on topic, but somewhat related, I recently noticed a sign next to the elevators in our building. It reads, "Taking the stairs burns 5 times more calories than taking the elevator." Just how many calories does taking the elevator burn? It sounded like more of a deterrent from taking stairs than an incentive. I was thinking, "Maybe I'll just press the elevator button 5 times and not bother with the stairs if that's all it gains me." :rofl:

 

[Clausius2]

Hey guys, thanks.

Go make me some arroz con pollo Claus.

I liked that too. :rofl:

Not quite on topic, but somewhat related, I recently noticed a sign next to the elevators in our building. It reads, "Taking the stairs burns 5 times more calories than taking the elevator." Just how many calories does taking the elevator burn? It sounded like more of a deterrent from taking stairs than an incentive. I was thinking, "Maybe I'll just press the elevator button 5 times and not bother with the stairs if that's all it gains me."

With your words on this thread and the other one on the scientist arrogance I think now I know a lot more about you.

Even it is off the topic, if you think of the human body as a thermodynamic system, I'm pretty sure that the change of altitude made by the elevator is not isothermal at all...

 

[gravenewworld]

you obviously have probably never been to Notre Dame then. when i used to visit my friend out at ND when we were undergraduates I would actually prefer to dine in the dining hall than go out some where. The dining hall at ND is incredible. they have amazing food there and everything is freshly cooked, not instant stuff. you can't compare what a college student eats to what typical americans really eat. college students have atrocious diets. i knew one kid who only ate easy mac for 2 months. universities usually have 2 types of places to eat. the fast food stuff, and then the dining hall. at the dining hall the menu changes everyday, it is just like the university in spain you were talking about. wow, now that i think about it, i probably haven't eaten any fast food in almost 2 years. nothing beats a home cooked meal.

 

[turbo]

My wife and I make all our own food from scratch, with the exception of a few condiments like ketchup and prepared mustard. I have a severe sensitivity to MSG and glutamates are in practically every prepared food in the US under one alias or another (there are at least 50 , I think) like "modified vegetable protein" and "natural flavors", although what is "natural" about heating corn process waste (after extracting the oil and starch) in acid escapes me. If you don't know this, start reading the labels. In the US, food manufacturers do not have to mention the MSG by name unless the additive stream is at least 97% pure MSG - instead they are allowed to use aliases that sound healthy. It's not just the fast-food places that are killing people, the entire food industry is contaminating the food we eat. Try to find a major brand of tuna without "natural flavors". Even turkey, chicken, and pork are being injected with MSG and water. Other cultures eat far healthier diets, and my wife and I refuse to follow the US trend. We make all our own pickles and salsa with vegetables from our garden, and we have a freezer full of greens, snap beans, fiddleheads, berries, and locally-raised beef and poultry. We eat pizza, but we make them on thin flour tortillas with my spicy-hot homemade sauce. I make it from our fresh or frozen tomatoes when possible, but start with high-quality canned sauce tomatoes when that option is not available.