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 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 daedalus wrote:
Seriously, we could do something cool here. We could fix you up with a badass food menu. How much time do you want to spend a night working on food. Or even a week on food, if you wan't to consolidate it. I can get you recipes for good gak. Bread? Stew? Crockpotting stuff is easy and beats out McDonalds in literally every way.

For those who live in college dorms, military barracks or the like will often have the major problem of not being allowed any sort of "hot plate" other than a coffee maker, so usually this will knock a crockpot off of the "available cooking items" list (unfortunately)

Which Is why im happy my dorm comes with a kitchen.

 Grey Templar wrote:
A whole chicken is $3-$4 tops and I can get 4-5 meals out of it.

Cutting up your own whole chicken is probably one of the most labor intensive things you can do in the kitchen (but we are talking about kitchen labor, so it's not like it's going to kill you), but man do you save a good chunk of money. Definetly needs a good knife if you are doing it a lot though.

Some good breasts for meals or sandwiches, legs and thighs for meals, wings and bones for making stock and soups.

 d-usa wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
A whole chicken is $3-$4 tops and I can get 4-5 meals out of it.

Cutting up your own whole chicken is probably one of the most labor intensive things you can do in the kitchen (but we are talking about kitchen labor, so it's not like it's going to kill you), but man do you save a good chunk of money. Definetly needs a good knife if you are doing it a lot though.

Some good breasts for meals or sandwiches, legs and thighs for meals, wings and bones for making stock and soups.

Absolutely. And don't overlook chicken thighs. American cooking tends to ignore it and focus on the breast, but the thigh is good meat that is used in all sorts of Asian meals.

My wife makes a Korean dish called dak bokkeum that uses thighs, and it's super tasty.

Also, I want this bread recipe!!

 whembly wrote:
I've been to Paris, France for a few weeks...

Parisian and the the folks out in the sticks are waaaaaay more active than the States. For one, everytihing is basically in walking distance.

Food portions are MUCH smaller.

Yeah, what's interesting is that the food in Europe is often much richer. So you get served what looks like a small portion and you think 'this is bs', and then you tuck in and are stuffed by the end of the meal.

And then when I went to US, and holy crap do they give you a comical amount of food. We learned pretty quick to eat just one proper meal a day, because you'd be given more than enough in that one meal. So we'd maybe have a meal at lunch, and then just split a sandwich for dinner... and we still put on weight

The interesting thing about activity is that it's not that tied to weight loss. Exercise will certainly make you healthier, but not necessarily thinner.


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 cincydooley wrote:
Cooking healthy at home doesn't have to be expensive. Tonight We made Rosemary Yukon gold potatoes (.69/lb), steamed green beans (1.19/lb) and tiger shrimp ($8.99/lb). For my wife an I it was less than $10 for the meal.

One explanation that's always stuck with me is that cooking healthy food can be cheap, nice, or fast... pick two of the three. So you can whip up a fantastic steak dinner in no time, if you're willing to pay for the steak. Or you can slow cook some tough cuts of meat... if you've got the time to do it. Or you can whip up a plain egg omelette, if you don't mind that it's bland food.

Now, we did have the salt, pepper, dried rosemary, and cayenne pepper already, but that's a once a quarter purchase.

Building up that inventory of ingredients is an upfront cost, though, so it can discourage a lot of people.


All that said, I'm not going to argue that poor people are trapped in to buying unhealthy food. I mean, in a hell of a lot of cases we're looking at laziness, it's simply the easy option to get drive thru.

The issue comes when you realise that telling someone else they are lazy won't stop them being lazy, and when they end up with serious health consequences in later life we still have to pay.


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 d-usa wrote:
It's $5.50 here per Quarter Pounder meal (with cheese!).

US McDonalds was crazy cheap compared to Australia. I remember there were ads for like 20 McNuggets for $5 or something crazy. Not just crazy in that someone might sit down and eat 20 nuggets and live, but also because over here it's like $8 for 10.

I don't know why that is exactly. I know there's some food standards stuff that McDonalds can't get away with here, like the pink sludge meat, and our higher minimum wage plays a role as well though. Though from some stuff I've read from Ray Kroc about the McDonald's business model, I'd guess it'd mostly be the much higher Australian rents.

 sebster wrote:
Exercise will certainly make you healthier, but not necessarily thinner.

I have recently become intimately aware of this nugget of truth I've been doing a lot of exercise, watching what I eat, and so on, and the weight is coming off... but the weight loss is slowing down to a drip. However, my stamina is through the roof, I feel like I can walk forever now without getting winded.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
And not just the price, but TIME. If you are working 9-5 you wake up at 7 and make a quick breakfest, make lunch come home at 5 and are exhausted. Who wants to do alot of prep work when hungryman is there.

And I as I mentioned, freedom of choice. You choose not to take the time to eat healthy because it is not convenient for you.


With my wife and I geographically separated I have my daughter, the dogs, the horses, a full time job and the normal chores associated with keeping up a house. We still eat healthy.

Slow cookers are great - I leave stuff cooking during the day when I am at work and then eat it when I get home. Plus with a large volume cooker I can do enough food to last several days and meals.

Though my favourite thing to cook is stir fry. 20 minutes tops including prep and so many different spices you can put in to totally change the flavour.

Another great tool for quick and easy meals is the marinade.

Take your easy-to-cook cut of meat, throw it in a plastic bag with... stuff (seriously, pretty much anything will work here. It's not uncommon for me to just throw in some olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, and whatever spices happen to be on the shelf that day), swish around for a bit, and throw in the fridge until it comes time to eat. Throw it on the grill or pan for 5-10 minutes, add some greens or rice on the side, and you've got a brain-dead easy meal that'll take less time than it does to drive out and get fast food.

And since marinades tend to only get better with time, you can prep for several days at a time with little issue.

 Soladrin wrote:
Stop eating.

Also, the rise? I'm pretty sure you've been up there for a while now.

What he said.

I don't know, this year the scenery has been extremely easy on the eyes. Maybe there's been a pleasant turnaround I am not aware of.

 Frazzled wrote:

I don't know, this year the scenery has been extremely easy on the eyes. Maybe there's been a pleasant turnaround I am not aware of.

It's the glaucoma, it takes off 25 pounds.

 Ouze wrote:

 sebster wrote:
Exercise will certainly make you healthier, but not necessarily thinner.

I have recently become intimately aware of this nugget of truth I've been doing a lot of exercise, watching what I eat, and so on, and the weight is coming off... but the weight loss is slowing down to a drip. However, my stamina is through the roof, I feel like I can walk forever now without getting winded.

Keep it up Ouze!


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 d-usa wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

I don't know, this year the scenery has been extremely easy on the eyes. Maybe there's been a pleasant turnaround I am not aware of.

It's the glaucoma, it takes off 25 pounds.

Thats more true than you might think...

Also, a sure fire cure for weight loss...hyenas. You don't have to be the fastest, just faster than your friends.

Actually my sure fire weight loss trick is pneumonia. When I had it a few years ago I lost over 25 pounds in about 3 weeks (two of that in the hospital).

Except for it almost killing me and it taking me more than 6 months to really recover, it was great!

-Mandatory workouts.
-Introduce a tax for fat people.
-Work out even more.
-Make unhealthy food more expensive.
-Did I mention you need to work out?
-Prevent fat people from getting healthcare.
-The government should make lots of anti-fat propaganda
-Subsidize sports. Every child should have a sport without it costing it money.
-Close MCDonalds and other fat food chains.

Some of the above things may seem extreme, but extreme measures may be necessary to combat US obesity. I realise the above would be impossible in the US because of the amount of government interference it entails, but I fear changing the people's bad habits may not be possible without government measures. I am always quite shocked (even though by now I should know better) when the US is on television and you see all those obese people waggling around. The UK has this too, in a lesser extent. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Denmark or France, encountering such obese people is much, much more rare, and I don't even recall ever having seen a fat person in Russia. The difference is really notable, and quite frankly; shocking.
Maybe the US/UK could learn something from continental Europe about eating habits and sports culture?
I do really think it is a problem. Not only because obese people cost a lot of money due to extra needed healthcare etc. but also because obese people are a danger to themselves. Being obese is really unhealthy, and even though most of them know it, many lack the required willpower to change their habits. I do think the government needs to help with that.

Having just eaten a fridge pizza while reading this, I'm reminded of one tidbit of research that I'm pretty sure is accurate enough for this:

Many people want to change, and they get impulses to change from time to time. However, the brain - the unconsicous parts - kinda likes its routine, so after the euphoria of doing something positive has worn off, people fall back into their old habits. I read that, as a rule of thumb, you have to keep up a change in your life for about two weeks until your brain "accepts" that things are different now and gets accustomed to the new lifestyle, until it actually wants to do it this way.

When I got back from the US years ago, I wanted to see if I can do the BUD/S preparation PT that the SEALs advertise on their website. Beginning it was hard, keeping it up was suprisingly easy on the mind after a while. I stopped because of work-related issues...and boom, the brain changed! Now I barely run once or twice a month and am trying to get back out of this no-sports habit.


If you get people to consciously, against their own objections, keep up something for two weeks, maybe three...that's the key to changing something. I dunno how to do that on a nationwide level, though.

I like no healthcare for fat people. In fact, no healthcare for anyone who does something that will increase the chance of them needing healthcare by doing stuff... no healthcare for people who play sports, do motor racing, drink alcohol, are in the armed forces, live in an area with violent crime, live in a household with guns, etc...

 SilverMK2 wrote:
Slow cookers are great - I leave stuff cooking during the day when I am at work and then eat it when I get home. Plus with a large volume cooker I can do enough food to last several days and meals.

Though my favourite thing to cook is stir fry. 20 minutes tops including prep and so many different spices you can put in to totally change the flavour.

Stir Fries are brilliant meals, so fast to make and the ingredients are really cheap. Saved my bacon at university countless times

Oh come on, I'm the only one who wants more hyenas on this thread?

 Frazzled wrote:
Oh come on, I'm the only one who wants more hyenas on this thread?

I'd eat hyena, certainly. At least once anyway.

More hyenas for all!

 SilverMK2 wrote:
I like no healthcare for fat people. In fact, no healthcare for anyone who does something that will increase the chance of them needing healthcare by doing stuff... no healthcare for people who play sports, do motor racing, drink alcohol, are in the armed forces, live in an area with violent crime, live in a household with guns, etc...

Obviously this is extreme, but it should cost more for your health care if you're doing risky things. I mean, with auto coverage you can drive your premiums down by proving to be a safe driver.

@Iron_Captain - In the US we typically believe you should be free to make your own choices regarding your health, but like CptJake said, you shouldn't be free from those consequences. Sadly, we're turning into a zero-accountability country where, strangely, the very fit are often spoken out against more than the obese. See the "real woman" movement or the "real men" movement. Its really weird, and pretty insulting to people that do live a healthy lifestyle and are fit.

FYI, I love the notion of subsidizing sports. I don't think any kid should have trouble participating in an extracurricular due to funding. Sadly, funding for the US public education system is woefully broken. But that's a different topic.

 CptJake wrote:
With my wife and I geographically separated I have my daughter, the dogs, the horses, a full time job and the normal chores associated with keeping up a house. We still eat healthy.

A guy who can afford to keep horses also can afford to eat better/healthier? Say it ain't so.

 CptJake wrote:
Actually my sure fire weight loss trick is pneumonia. When I had it a few years ago I lost over 25 pounds in about 3 weeks (two of that in the hospital).

Except for it almost killing me and it taking me more than 6 months to really recover, it was great!

Appendicitis also worked wonders for me - I got a secondary infection and had to be re-admitted, and man, I lost about 20 pounds, it was pretty awesome.

The weight loss, not the infection. Or the appendicitis.

 Ouze wrote:

 CptJake wrote:
With my wife and I geographically separated I have my daughter, the dogs, the horses, a full time job and the normal chores associated with keeping up a house. We still eat healthy.

A guy who can afford to keep horses also can afford to eat better/healthier? Say it ain't so.

I think it's less the cost than the availability. Poor people tend to have to go farther for fresh produce, and often times via public transportation or walking. Now, a lot of urban centers DO have markets that are in CLOSE walking distance to Section 8 etc, but there is more of a barrier there than a soccer mom in the burbs, even if, distance wise, she may actually have to drive farther.

In Cincinnati we've got Findlay Market and a Krogers (grocery store) in our poorest neighborhood (Over the Rhine), so it is there. But again, the transportation part can be an issue for some.

Anecdote: we went to the grocery store to pick up produce for the week, and, as always happens, ended picking up a few "other" items. My wife paid for the produce (carrots, peaches, bananas, kale, potatoes, etc...) and it came out to be around $20 for a ton of stuff. I paid for all the processed stuff and it was over double the cost for far fewer items. Granted, mine included our shrimp (about $6.50) and some beer (Monk's Blood by 21st Ammendment, it was on sale for $4 a four pack!), but we were both pretty surprised by the outcome.

 Ouze wrote:

 CptJake wrote:
With my wife and I geographically separated I have my daughter, the dogs, the horses, a full time job and the normal chores associated with keeping up a house. We still eat healthy.

A guy who can afford to keep horses also can afford to eat better/healthier? Say it ain't so.

 CptJake wrote:
Actually my sure fire weight loss trick is pneumonia. When I had it a few years ago I lost over 25 pounds in about 3 weeks (two of that in the hospital).

Except for it almost killing me and it taking me more than 6 months to really recover, it was great!

Appendicitis also worked wonders for me - I got a secondary infection and had to be re-admitted, and man, I lost about 20 pounds, it was pretty awesome.

The weight loss, not the infection. Or the appendicitis.

Give me a break. A carton of 18 eggs (hard boiled eggs = easy protein source for breakfast/lunch) is about 3 bucks and last a week or more. A container of Greek yogurt is 75 cents (so less than 10 bucks for a couple of weeks worth) and coupled with a bit of high protein granola cereal ($3.50 for over 2 weeks worth) makes breakfast come in at about a buck a day. A 12 pound Boston Butt at less than $2 a pound and $8 worth of charcoal is dinner meat in several different dishes for a week. 5 pounds of boneless chicken thighs is under $10 and grilled up on a Sunday provides meat for several dishes during the week. Fuji apples at $1.50 a pound gives me an apple or two a day as a snack, and I got 2 pounds of cherries at $2 a pound this weekend as well, which is more snacking for the week. I don't drink soda, typically drink coffee in the morning and water with a bit of lemon or lime juice during the day/evening. I buy a big can of coffee for about $7 bucks which lasts me 2-3 weeks. I get a pound of spinach leaves for under 5 bucks (about $3 this week) which is salads with dinner all week.

What I don't buy is a ton of chips and cookies and crap that is nutritionally worthless. Good produce is more expensive, but worth the costs. But though I love Honeycrisp apples for example, at $4 a pound I pass them up. I got enough zucchini for under 3 bucks to make a couple of side dishes this week. If you plan out what you intend to make, you can eat pretty healthy without breaking the bank.

 CptJake wrote:

What I don't buy is a ton of chips and cookies and crap that is nutritionally worthless. Good produce is more expensive, but worth the costs. But though I love Honeycrisp apples for example, at $4 a pound I pass them up. I got enough zucchini for under 3 bucks to make a couple of side dishes this week. If you plan out what you intend to make, you can eat pretty healthy without breaking the bank.

This. Better education at what food you require and how to effectively plan meals and a weeks shop is the way to tackle obesity. Show people that they can eat healthily within their budget. They can always take any left over money and save up to get something special, like cookies or a cake or something. Make that a treat, not an everyday thing.

I've seen a lot of people at University who when shopping just go and pick up stuff which they like the look of at the time. They get home and realise they don't actually have the ingredients for any real meals, just random stuff. So they end up trying to live on crackers, some cheese and cake or something along those lines. And then they get ill because their body isn't getting anything it needs.

'Course teaching people that things are bad for you can be tricky in the USA where you have huge corporations advertising their unhealthy products as healthy to young people and opposing any legislation to ban such practices. Amusing/terrifying example was an old McDonalds advert which had ronald mcdonald telling children that their burgers were grown in the "burger patch".

 CptJake wrote:




I don't drink soda,

What I don't buy is a ton of chips and cookies and crap that is nutritionally worthless.

I'm not a really hard dieter, I just avoid a few worthless food items.
Things I don't eat/drink: Flavored beverages, chips, cookies, ice cream, fried foods, processed foods.
I like to call it "The don't eat crap diet", it works pretty well.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:


This. Better education at what food you require and how to effectively plan meals and a weeks shop is the way to tackle obesity. Show people that they can eat healthily within their budget.

The frustrating thing is that these programs are available in the US through the Head Start program and the first lady's Let's Move campaign. I don't know about Let's Move, but Head Start has some pretty healthy funding, too, at around $10B a year..... and yet diabetes is still on the rise.

It doesn't matter if the programs exist if there's no societal consequences for having the poor health.


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 Random Dude wrote:
I'm not a really hard dieter, I just avoid a few worthless food items.
Things I don't eat/drink: Flavored beverages, chips, cookies, ice cream, fried foods, processed foods.
I like to call it "The don't eat crap diet", it works pretty well.

The hardest thing for us to cut back on is pasta. It's easy to make, and my wife is Italian....

We limit it to 2-4 times a month now, which has made a pretty big impact, and of those 2-4 times, we try and make our own pasta at least one of them.

 cincydooley wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:


This. Better education at what food you require and how to effectively plan meals and a weeks shop is the way to tackle obesity. Show people that they can eat healthily within their budget.

The frustrating thing is that these programs are available in the US through the Head Start program and the first lady's Let's Move campaign. I don't know about Let's Move, but Head Start has some pretty healthy funding, too, at around $10B a year..... and yet diabetes is still on the rise.

It doesn't matter if the programs exist if there's no societal consequences for having the poor health.

Exactly. It's socially unacceptable to point out someone's bad health even if it will save their life. Then there's the "real people" nonsense saying normal people are overweight or curvy. We shouldn't ridicule people for being unhealthy, but we should find some constructive way to point it out.

 cincydooley wrote:
It doesn't matter if the programs exist if there's no societal consequences for having the poor health.

It does take quite a while to trickle into the numbers, especially something which can take as long to develop as diabetes. You also have to note that parents of obese kids can hardly be preparing good meals and are so not likely to be taking on board lessons aimed at their children.

Much like with other areas of education, if it is not taken on and reinforced at home, there is not much chance of it sinking in.

As a fat unhealthy man, I look at people who think it's "good" and think "You're insane".

 MrDwhitey wrote:
As a fat unhealthy man, I look at people who think it's "good" and think "You're insane".

Throughout history I think humans have always tried to convince themselves that the wrongs they were doing were "good".