Healthism!!11

[Lakov_Sanite]

I just wanted to chime in and say newman's is not loaded with shit ingredients and isn't much pricier than the ragu crap when it comes to sauces.

[Evildrider]

I just wanted to chime in and say newman's is not loaded with shit ingredients and isn't much pricier than the ragu crap when it comes to sauces.

When I am lazy, the only bottled sauce I buy is Newman's Own Sockarooni.  It doesn't take much doctoring to make it a great sauce.

[Chimpy]

Newman's Own does have a metric fuckton of sodium.

[Yegolev]

I like this thread.  It's sort of like a Politics thread but whimsical.

1. Read labels
2. Avoid eating crap

Years ago, I fell back to drinking black coffee.  I also backed off to mostly drinking water.  I think that sort of simplification is a good idea and represents a lifestyle change, especially if you are gradual about it, and so can be sustainable.

I can make my own marinara with just tomatoes and a bit of seasoning.  I don't need to load it up.  I don't even put sausage in it anymore.  Actually, I don't really eat pasta anymore, either.  It was pretty gradual.

[rk47]

Im going back tochips and frito lay chips tonight WHY? BECAUSE I CAN.

[Yegolev]

I also like Krispy Kreme and those mysterious Little Debbie "coffee cakes".

[Numtini]

Krispy Kreme feels like spooning vegetable shortening into my mouth. Dunkin/Timmies style all the way.

Has anyone tried these pre-packaged ready to cook things like Blue Apron? They send you the full ingredients all fresh and you cook it yourself. We were contemplating it to add some variety as we've gotten into ruts. A rather elite rut, but a rut nonetheless.

[Thrawn]

Every time that Krispy Kreme vs Dunkin come up I feel bad for both sides that they've apparently never actually had a good doughnut. 

Doughnuts are health food, right?

[Maven]

Going back to the women on the talk show, I wonder if they've ever seen Wall-E. That type of future and what it implies helps to motivate healthier living.

[Viin]

Has anyone tried these pre-packaged ready to cook things like Blue Apron? They send you the full ingredients all fresh and you cook it yourself. We were contemplating it to add some variety as we've gotten into ruts. A rather elite rut, but a rut nonetheless.

I haven't tried Blue Apron, but we did join a CSA which gives us all kinds of random veggies that forced us to find recipes for them. Most of them turned out good!

[Signe]

Every time that Krispy Kreme vs Dunkin come up I feel bad for both sides that they've apparently never actually had a good doughnut. 

Doughnuts are health food, right?

Yes, but only the bit in the middle. 

[Yegolev]

we did join a CSA which gives us all kinds of random veggies that forced us to find recipes for them.

I still can't cook one zucchini properly.  I like the idea fine, but getting a random box of ingredients is difficult to manage properly.

[Numtini]

I haven't tried Blue Apron, but we did join a CSA which gives us all kinds of random veggies that forced us to find recipes for them. Most of them turned out good!

God I wish. Our options on CSAs here on Cape Cod are dismal. One place we tried was obviously reselling supermarket stuff--the squared off blemish free tomatoes were a hint. The other was just a terrible deal, we'd eat the entire basket as a side dish in a single meal.

One zucchini: cut thin on a mandolin and wilt in butter with a little onion (also on the mandoline)

[Yegolev]

I'm probably overcooking it.

[Kitsune]

Fat picture lady isn't even correct in her assertion that only fat people would be asked if they were being healthy.  If I was asked to assess the health of some bodybuilder with jacked-up muscles, I'd ask them if their doctor had given them a clean bill of health, too.  Or someone who looked crazy skeletal thin.

The thing is, health isn't voodoo.  Humans are keyed to be able to assess the state of other humans at a glance; it's wired into us at an instinctual level.  If someone's body is fucked up, other people are going to notice because it's fucking obvious to us when something's not right with someone.  You don't need a medical degree to point at the fat person huffing up some stairs and say, "Hey, that can't be healthy."  It's not any kind of discrimination, it's a simple fact.  Now if you mistreated the fat person, fired them from their job without cause, or something of that sort, yeah, that's discrimination and you're a shitheel.  But the state of a person's health isn't a matter of opinion, it's a fact, and people trying to claim otherwise are goddamned stupid.

[NowhereMan]

She was right insofar as you'd only ask someone who had an unhealthy looking body type if they were healthy. Which is of course a particularly unhelpful point but apparently it makes her feel better victimised.

[Jimbo]

We have a local bakery that makes square donuts from scratch, they open at like 5am and stay open till they are gone. OMG they are the best glazed yeast donuts ever. We call it the "box of evil goodness" when they bring a box to us.

Zucchini is easy to grow, but then again I can make dang near anything grow. Green beans are pretty decent to grow too, along with green peppers (which in Indiana we call mangoes or mangos), and they taste awesome.

Zucchini is one of my least favorite due to us growing so much of it, same with green peppers, it makes the dish taste or overpower with that flavor (peppered beef is awesome...but the peppers over power it for some reason, same on a pizza, the green peppers take the other taste away).

I've also been trying my hand at some canning, fresh green beans with potatoes canned is awesome.

[Numtini]

Fat picture lady isn't even correct in her assertion that only fat people would be asked if they were being healthy.  If I was asked to assess the health of some bodybuilder with jacked-up muscles, I'd ask them if their doctor had given them a clean bill of health, too.  Or someone who looked crazy skeletal thin.

Random people off the street won't comment on whether or not someone who's a bodybuilder or thin is healthy.

[Polysorbate80]

Zucchini is one of my least favorite due to us growing so much of it

Zucchine is a goddamn weed is why.  I plant ONE for my wife.

If only garlic produced like that.  I've got ~35 Romanian Red growing this year, and most of that will go towards seed for next year to expand the crop.  At least the scapes are ready for harvest 

The asparagus patch should start producing harvestable amounts next year as well, if I can keep the goddamn cats from digging around and crapping in the raised bed.  Next year I'm covering the top with chicken wire.

[01101010]

Fat picture lady isn't even correct in her assertion that only fat people would be asked if they were being healthy.  If I was asked to assess the health of some bodybuilder with jacked-up muscles, I'd ask them if their doctor had given them a clean bill of health, too.  Or someone who looked crazy skeletal thin.

Random people off the street won't comment on whether or not someone who's a bodybuilder or thin is healthy.

I dunno about the thin part. I have overheard plenty of people comment about others that are too thin/sickly looking.

There is very much a socially acceptable range of weight and it has been expanding (yes, pun...) over the last decade or two. Whether it is right or not is a matter of opinion, just like whether or not you let it affect you. Sticks and Stones no longer is the mantra to live by.

[Nebu]

I just wanted to chime in and say newman's is not loaded with shit ingredients and isn't much pricier than the ragu crap when it comes to sauces.

It's all shit. All the pre-made, pre-packaged convenience food is garbage.  Period. It takes so little time to make high quality food if people just take the effort to learn. 

You get one body.  Taking care of it seems like a no-brainer.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Well that certainly sounds like a reasonable and well informed response holding no agenda or bias whatsoever.

[Nebu]

Well that certainly sounds like a reasonable and well informed response holding no agenda or bias whatsoever.

What would you like to know?  I'd be happy to discuss the biochemistry and toxicology of the many preservatives used in most convenience foods.  I'd also be willing to explain the effects of elevated sodium levels, the overuse of HFCS in the US, and how the food industry lies in most of its marketing.  

If I have a bias, I'd be glad to hear what you think it is. 

 

[01101010]

Well that certainly sounds like a reasonable and well informed response holding no agenda or bias whatsoever.

What would you like to know?  I'd be happy to discuss the biochemistry and toxicology of the many preservatives used in most convenience foods.  I'd also be willing to explain the effects of elevated sodium levels, the overuse of HFCS in the US, and how the food industry lies in most of its marketing. 

How do you keep vegetables fresh for longer than a few days? Some days I am not in the mood to eat some of the vegetables I bought but know they will be overripe in 12 more hours. My only quip with making food from fresh ingredients is they hardly last long enough to get to them and I really don't want to drag my ass to the store every single evening - I mean this is not Europe. 

[Nebu]

How do you keep vegetables fresh for longer than a few days? Some days I am not in the mood to eat some of the vegetables I bought but know they will be overripe in 12 more hours. My only quip with making food from fresh ingredients is they hardly last long enough to get to them and I really don't want to drag my ass to the store every single evening - I mean this is not Europe. 

Freeze them?  Vacuum seal them?  Seriously?  Is this your big objection?

How about making your own sauce and freezing it?  It's really easy and much healthier and requires very little extra work. 

[Hoax]

Fat picture lady isn't even correct in her assertion that only fat people would be asked if they were being healthy.  If I was asked to assess the health of some bodybuilder with jacked-up muscles, I'd ask them if their doctor had given them a clean bill of health, too.  Or someone who looked crazy skeletal thin.

Random people off the street won't comment on whether or not someone who's a bodybuilder or thin is healthy.

 

Bullshit. You are completely wrong. There may be more fat people and you know what they are harder to miss because they are fucking huge but believe me that there are plenty of roid dudes and crack addict looking thin people that everyone assumes are living an unhealthy life and yes its not unusual to comment on it when pointing them out.

[Nebu]

Let's all be honest here.  Unless you have a biochemical or psychological disorder, we know what "healthy" is and/or feels like.  It's just easier to make excuses. 

[Malakili]

Let's all be honest here.  Unless you have a biochemical or psychological disorder, we know what "healthy" is and/or feels like.  It's just easier to make excuses. 

I don't think this is true actually.  A lot of people have no idea what healthy is or feels like.

[Merusk]

How do you keep vegetables fresh for longer than a few days? Some days I am not in the mood to eat some of the vegetables I bought but know they will be overripe in 12 more hours. My only quip with making food from fresh ingredients is they hardly last long enough to get to them and I really don't want to drag my ass to the store every single evening - I mean this is not Europe. 

If you aren't willing to go to the market every few days, buy flash-frozen and buy from farmer's markets.

Know why that shit goes bad in a few days? It's spent a week or better traveling to the supermarket before being put out on display. That's why they only have a few days shelf life.  Farmer's market goods will last longer because you've gotten them sooner in the process.

You know the old "one bad apple.." idiom?  It's true.  Rotting vegetables make others rot faster because they give off ethylene as they decompose. It's why you don't stick bananas near anything and don't put them in an enclosed space. They emit more ethylene than just about any other fruit or vegetable.

[Numtini]

Fresh veg is going to have a lot to do with the quality of your supermarkets. Stop and Shop and Shaws/Star in Massachusetts are pretty damned good. Back when we lived in the DC area though, the produce anywhere even in the huge mega-Giant in the burbs was complete crap and barely edible the day you bought it, much less a few days later. Locally, the broccoli and zucchini or yellow summer squash are all good for two or three days. Lettuce is good for a week in the crisper, as long as you don't mind discarding the top few leaves.

Generally though for day to day food, we do frozen peas, corn, and green beans (green beans only from Trader Joe's) which are the ones we find palatable when they're frozen.

My partner loved the idea of trying out Blue Apron, so we're giving their three meals a week plan a go. I'll let people know my thoughts. It's obviously more expensive than buying it all at the shops, but we need to have our general menu shaken up and its a good chance to try some new things even if we cancel it after a few weeks. $10 a meal, fresh food, all the spices, and delivered to your door.

[Count Nerfedalot]

How do you keep vegetables fresh for longer than a few days? Some days I am not in the mood to eat some of the vegetables I bought but know they will be overripe in 12 more hours. My only quip with making food from fresh ingredients is they hardly last long enough to get to them and I really don't want to drag my ass to the store every single evening - I mean this is not Europe. 

If you aren't willing to go to the market every few days, buy flash-frozen and buy from farmer's markets.

Know why that shit goes bad in a few days? It's spent a week or better traveling to the supermarket before being put out on display. That's why they only have a few days shelf life.  Farmer's market goods will last longer because you've gotten them sooner in the process.

You know the old "one bad apple.." idiom?  It's true.  Rotting vegetables make others rot faster because they give off ethylene as they decompose. It's why you don't stick bananas near anything and don't put them in an enclosed space. They emit more ethylene than just about any other fruit or vegetable.

It was also probably picked green (so greatly lacking in flavor, texture and nutritional value), grown in a field irrigated with water loaded with unhealthy amounts of human wastes, picked by people who are either clueless or careless about hygiene, washed and packed in a processing facility that handles dozens of farms which cross-contaminate everyone's crop if even only one slips up, and then handled by who knows how many people between the packer and the store shelf you picked it up from.  And that's the "healthy" organic stuff, you don't want to contemplate the industrial farm or third-world origin stuff! 

The moral of the story is, grow your own, and/or buy local from someone you know and trust. Well.  And for the vast majority of us who can't do that, wash everything, cook as much as you can as well as you can, wash your hands every time you touch anything, don't touch your face after touching anything from the grocery store until you've washed your hands again, don't reuse the containers you bought fruit and veggies in especially not to put the newly cleaned things back in(!), definitely don't reuse plastic grocery bags for food storage, wash all food prep and eating surfaces before and after you use them, every time, etc. etc.  All of a sudden, high sodium, HFCS-sweetened processed food with a dozen chemical preservatives in a BPA-lined can seems almost healthy.  Or not, but the alternatives aren't all that great either!

About slowing fruit and veggie spoilage, my sister swears by those green bag thingies but I haven't bothered to try them yet.  Do they actually work?

And after losing 2/3 of my garden crop last year (everything maturing after mid-July was pretty much destroyed by a plague of Egyptian proportions of every single kind of beetle, fly, worm and moth known to inhabit this area, plus mosquitos, ticks and fleas) and finding those icky green worms in the broccoli I just picked from the garden this evening, I'm about ready to go nuclear with the pesticides myself.    It's not a big garden, just a few small raised beds with a couple of each type of vegetable that I actually like to eat (except corn which takes up way too much space) a few herbs and usually one new experimental veggie each year.  Two years ago the experiment was a resounding success as I discovered, much to my surprise, that Swiss Chard is actually quite good AND incredibly easy to grow AND very disease and pest resistant!  I'm thinking I might try turnips next year.  Or sweet potatoes.

Oh, and zucchini is so damn prolific we joke about having to lock the car doors at work from mid-summer till frost just to keep people from dumping their surplus as a gift in your car seat - after it actually happened to a friend one year! (Zucchini wasn't immune to the bugpocalypse though - I got no zucchini or squash at all last year. )

[MahrinSkel]

Most people who do backyard organic gardening get away with it because there aren't enough food crops in the area to support the relevant bugs.  Then it passes the critical density and an entire city worth of them gets wiped out.

--Dave

[Yoru]

I really don't want to drag my ass to the store every single evening - I mean this is not Europe. 

Honestly, this is a knock-on effect of bad urban/suburban planning. I had the same "buy & hoard" mentality when I moved to Europe six years ago, but I've since adjusted and it's actually wonderful. No more worrying about anything going bad, no more fridge crowding, far less waste and cash outlay.

What's really needed is a return of the neighborhood market - whether that's a general store/greengrocer/butcher trio or a one-roof deal, doesn't matter, but being able to walk five minutes to buy stuff at almost any time of day solves this problem handily. Save the car trips to the big store for nonperishable bulk goods and unusual ingredients.

Funny thing is, you see a very similar problem happening in Iceland; they let suburban sprawl take over in the past 10-20 years and have become an American-style car culture, with infrequent shopping at malls and hypermarkets. The local stores are collapsing (yay unemployment), consumption of (imported) convenience food is rising and - surprise - waistlines are expanding.

[rk47]

[ezrast]

Fat picture lady isn't even correct in her assertion that only fat people would be asked if they were being healthy.  If I was asked to assess the health of some bodybuilder with jacked-up muscles, I'd ask them if their doctor had given them a clean bill of health, too.  Or someone who looked crazy skeletal thin.

Random people off the street won't comment on whether or not someone who's a bodybuilder or thin is healthy.

 

Bullshit. You are completely wrong. There may be more fat people and you know what they are harder to miss because they are fucking huge but believe me that there are plenty of roid dudes and crack addict looking thin people that everyone assumes are living an unhealthy life and yes its not unusual to comment on it when pointing them out.

I call bullshit on your bullshit. How many meme-y internet pictures can you find inviting us to laugh at skinny or muscled people because of their bodies, outside of communities where that sort of thing is topical? Are there popular websites basically built on them? Are they this year's highest-voted Reddit submission? How often do they feature in the f13 funny picture thread? Yeah, nobody wants to be thought of as anorexic or on steroids, but people are particularly smug about fat for whatever reason.