Does anyone else find it hard to eat healthy?

[thomsbrain]

it is especially hard at lunchtime while out working.

 

[IGBT]

..no. what's so hard bout stir fry veggies and fish??

 

[Tiamat]

it is exceedingly difficult. You look one way, its starbucks, or dunkin donuts, or krispy kreme, you look the other way its wendy's, bk, mcD.

Also, it doesnt help that crap food is much less expensive than a real, well balanced meal.

One of my lab mates is from indonesia, and I had a tough time explaining to him why soda is cheaper than water.

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
it is exceedingly difficult. You look one way, its starbucks, or dunkin donuts, or krispy kreme, you look the other way its wendy's, bk, mcD.

Also, it doesnt help that crap food is much less expensive than a real, well balanced meal.

One of my lab mates is from indonesia, and I had a tough time explaining to him why soda is cheaper than water.

Healthy food is pretty cheap, although not as efficient as the dollar menu. The problem is that tasty and healthy food takes a lot of effort to prepare.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: mrkun

Originally posted by: Mill
I've lost 9 pounds in 11 days...

You do realize some of that is muscle, correct?

Point being? I care nothing about strength and muscle loss right now. I won't start weight lifting for another month. Then I will care. Right now I do not. Nowhere did I say "9lbs of fat."

If I were lifting my diet would be heavier on protein and calories. I'm not lifting, so I only get about 120-140 grams of protein a day.

Good lord, 9 lbs in 11 days! How much do you weigh?

Now? 224.

sorry but how tall are you.

6ft tall.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
it is exceedingly difficult. You look one way, its starbucks, or dunkin donuts, or krispy kreme, you look the other way its wendy's, bk, mcD.

Also, it doesnt help that crap food is much less expensive than a real, well balanced meal.

One of my lab mates is from indonesia, and I had a tough time explaining to him why soda is cheaper than water.

..when you consider the health consequences of junk food it's a lot cheaper to eat healthy.

 

[Tommouse]

Yea I hear that. I first realized this in high school when you could buy tatter-tots for $.50 or a salad for $1.75. I'm now about to graduate college and finally trying to eat healthier and its a chore, but its part of the plan if I don't want to be a blimp.

 

[chr6]

not really, i never had a sweet tooth, so i hate candy and soda.

it doesnt take me too long to fix up rice and steamed vegetables in the morning or evening, and maybe one of those costco chickens, or tri-tip roasts from woodranch bbq and pack it in my lunch

 

[Lola]

Not really for me, but that is because i love all kinds of food... junk or otherwise...
I would rather choose some fruit than chips most of the time... or some veggies and hummus rather than a candy bar.
I think it is all about balance. its ok to eat some junk, as long as you eat something good as well.

 

[fLum0x]

Originally posted by: mrkun
It's a lot easier to eat well if you prepare food ahead of time during the week, then just heat it up as needed.

if you can do this like sunday night and wednesday night, it is easy and a great way to do it...the problem is i get too lazy for that. I did it for ~4 weeks and was like...wtf, let's put that in pizza in the microwave.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: LarryS
My typical day:

1 cup of cheerios & fat free yogurt (light and fit) (probably about $1.20)
1 Kashi Golean bar (200 calorie variety) ($.94 at Walmart)
45 minutes of cardio (treadmill and/or elliptical)
1 slice of plain pizza ($1.75)
1 fat free yogurt or low fat/high fiber granola bar ($1.00)
1 Lean Cuisine turkey or salisbury steak ($2.00 on sale)
1 bag microwave popcorn (94% fat free) ($.30)

Lost 54 lbs since last May 22nd. It really helps to keep all kinds of good food in the house and it also helps to have a fridge and microwave at my office and a supermarket across the street from my office. I'm 200lbs at the moment... trying to get down to 190lbs. (6 foot tall)

You have a good start. Why don't you just lose the popcorn and pizza? Those two stick out like a sore thumb. I can understand pizza for lunch, but popcorn? that can easily go unless you're addicted.

:thumbsup: to you once again!

 

[LarryS]

I throw in the pizza and popcorn to keep my sanity.

 

[Gibson486]

not only that, but healthy food is more expensive.....

 

[purbeast0]

Not really.

It's mainly hard at the beginning, then after like a week it is pretty easy. I've been doing it the past month or so and have noticed my 6 pack coming through a lot more than it was a month ago. When you start to see the physical changes it pushes you to continue the eating habbits as well.

On the weekends I find it a litlte harder thogh because my schedule isn't as routine as my work week. However I tend to let myself cheat on the weekends anyway.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: angminas
It's very hard to eat healthy. Part of this is simply the difficulty of preserving healthy food as opposed to, say, candy. But I'd say most of it is just that most people don't want to eat healthy. They want to eat good-tasting crap (I plead guilty, though I'm trying to change). Therefore you can't produce healthy preprepared food in the quantities needed to keep the price reasonable. This means buying a lot of individual ingredients and spending a lot of time cooking them yourself, and knowing how to properly do both of those, which is where I stumble.

There are plenty of good tasting foods to eat that are healthy. My lunch during the week work consists of a turkey sandwich around noon or so, and then a roast beef sandwich around 4pm or so. Dinners consist of either tuna sandwiches or some kind of chicken + rice.

I throw protein shakes in the mix as well. I also eat some cereals as my "snacks" when I get hungry but don't want to eat a full meal.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: BigToque
I've been eating well the last little while, but I find it to be quite the chore. Everywhere you go you are bombarded with junk. When you happen to be away from home, you pay twice as much to buy "healhy" alternatives.

It's quite annoying.

You're also bombarded with media images of sexy men. Train your eye to focus on those men instead of the food and you'll be fine.

Remember: Man candy, not real candy :thumbsup:

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
it is exceedingly difficult. You look one way, its starbucks, or dunkin donuts, or krispy kreme, you look the other way its wendy's, bk, mcD.

Also, it doesnt help that crap food is much less expensive than a real, well balanced meal.

One of my lab mates is from indonesia, and I had a tough time explaining to him why soda is cheaper than water.

My lunch for the week costs me less than $20 and I don't eat out. That's pretty damn inexpensive if you ask me.

 

[Descartes]

I don't find it all that hard. You don't have to eat the typically healthy foods every meal of the day to eat healthy overall, imo. Eating healthy could mean avoiding soft drinks, snacks, fast food, etc. If you have no choice but fast food, then there are still usually a lot of semi-healthy options available. Don't eat the double quarter pounder when a grilled chicken might do, for example.

Obviously, the best way to control your diet is to cook for yourself. My fiance and I cook at least 7 meals out of the week. When we eat out, we tend to eat at nice restaurants. Very little fast food, and almost no snacks or soft drinks.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Tell me about it. For the past 18 weeks I've been putting in 70 hour weeks between work and a class. Luckily the class ends this week. But I've had no time to cook or even shop for food really, so I've been living off fast food and junk... I cant wait to have time to cook a good meal once again.

Every fast food place has some healthier alternative...

 

[vi edit]

I used to, but not anymore. Evtually it just becomes a routine.

Instant oatmeal is cheap and filling. High in fiber, low in fat. Easy to make at work on break. A bowl of cereal is cheap and easy to grab in the morning with more and more "health oriented' varieties popping up all the time.

I usually have a yogurt sometime in the morning for around $.50 a piece.

A big tub of salad at Sams Club is $4 and easily lasts me a week. I just grab a couple handfuls and toss it in a tub and take it as a side salad each day. I usually toss in some turkey pepperoni for a bit of flavor/texture too. Sometimes I toss in some bean sprouts, broccolli, or peppers for a mixup. Top it off with a light honey mustard or vingegar & oil dressing for a bit more flavor.

"Healthy" microwave meals (South Beach, Lean Cuisine, health choice, ect) can be had on sale for $2 a piece (or less) pretty routinely so I stock up on those when they are on sale.

I grab clif bars from sams club for a late afternoon for around $.84 a piece. They are high in fiber and have a decent amount of protien. Filling too because of the fiber.

At night I usually take some sort of lean meat and cook it up with veggies to make for a high protien, low fat meal. Usually have some sort of starch for a side for some carbs to balance out the meal.

I can easily eat for $5-$8 a day and get in a very balanced, high nutrient diet without a lot of sugar or fat added. It's just like anything else that requires a change in habits. You quickly learn what stores sell what and when they have their sales. So you just buy cheap when you can. You also learn to buy some things in bulk and how long you can keep them on hand before they go bad (veggies for example).

I can't say that I *look forward* to having my spinach salad every day, but I don't loathe it or feel forced to eat it. It's a great way to satiate and also one of the most nutrient packed things you can eat.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Tell me about it. For the past 18 weeks I've been putting in 70 hour weeks between work and a class. Luckily the class ends this week. But I've had no time to cook or even shop for food really, so I've been living off fast food and junk... I cant wait to have time to cook a good meal once again.

Every fast food place has some healthier alternative...

yes but "healthier" is relative. that doesn't mean anything is actually healthy in those stores.

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: angminas
It's very hard to eat healthy. Part of this is simply the difficulty of preserving healthy food as opposed to, say, candy. But I'd say most of it is just that most people don't want to eat healthy. They want to eat good-tasting crap (I plead guilty, though I'm trying to change). Therefore you can't produce healthy preprepared food in the quantities needed to keep the price reasonable. This means buying a lot of individual ingredients and spending a lot of time cooking them yourself, and knowing how to properly do both of those, which is where I stumble.

I agree, we are surrounded by cheap, good tasting junk food. To compete with the flavor in a $1 cheeseburger from Wendy's means spending considerably more money and taking the time to prepare it yourself. I could never survive on turkey sandwiches, chicken breast, salad and frozen vegetables. Way too bland, I could never stick to that. Anyone can lose weight, keeping it off long term is the hard part. If it were easy than there wouldn't be so many overweight people.

 

[DaShen]

I didn't until I started to work and go to school. Now I eat like crap.

 

[PepePeru]

ive made a concerted effort to eat healthier, its paid off.

ive lost about 20 lbs since i started. For a while I was drinking 6-8 miller/natty lights a day, completely stopped that about 6 mos ago & that alone is probably 75% of those 20 lbs.

anyways, i usually snack on raw almonds, pistachios, real granola (not that garbage at the store w/ high fructose corn syrup), veggies, fruits. i'll still go eat a burger, pizza or something once a week.

 

[ScottFern]

Yes it is extremely hard. Healthy food is unappealing and doesn't net quite the profit a 99 cent cheeseburger can! Capitalism FTW!