I just came from the store bottom dollar and spent $23 on snacks for my kids, for $20 I could of got 9lbs of boneless chicken breast or tenders. "But but but snacks are cheaper in poorer areas"
My son makes the same argument that crappy food is cheaper and more satisfying than healthy food. He goes to Mickey D's and buys $6 worth of food from the dollar menu and it keeps him full for hours. If he buys a $6 salad or buys the ingredients to make a salad (what he likes on it) plus a grilled chicken breast, it costs more than $6 and keeps him full for about an hour. Which is understandable - fat keeps us sated and fast food/snacks is loaded with it. I have no choice but to eat healthy/prepare my own food, being diabetic and living on a strict budget. But I still am overweight. Part of my issue may be portion control (I don't pig out, but I don't eat birdy portions either) and admittedly, little activity. I hate to work out. Hate it. And one of the reasons I hate it is because when I do, I'm hungry all the ding-dang day. So any value I gain from working out is lost when I want to eat to satisfy my growling stomach.
One thing I noticed on my visit to the states was the amount of fast food drive thrus and the portion sizes served at restaurants. Both shocked the hell out of me. Eating and cooking a healthy and balanced meal is not hard, how hard us it to slap a piece of protein the size of your palm on a plate with 3 veg? Fruit take no preparation to eat and neither does water as its readily available from a tap. If you really want to do best by you and your family you will do what is necessary.
It's funny you say that since Australia has nearly as many obese people as we do but a surprising amount of gmo food. No one is saying the mechanics or making healthy food is hard but sometimes the price may be crazy. For example I bought a bag of apples after the gym. At 1.99 a pound 3 apples cost me 5 bucks. 5 bucks of shitty food would be keep me more full than 3 apples. I think its hard to adapt everyones circumstances to our own.
When it comes to working out, you are correct. For awhile, a couple of years ago, I actually did maintain a regular workout schedule but I had to work out twice a day to see any progress and it was maybe a pound or two loss per month? Discouraging.
I don't understand the price of healthy foods being so expensive, it truly baffled me. Our obesity levels have increased so much and keep on creeping up there at an alarming rate. The availability of processed food, lack of exercise and the instant gratification need is what I blame. I'm studying nutrition because I'm passionate about the health and wellbeing of my children and of others. I strongly advise that people buy only organic or try to grow their own (I'm actually looking at keeping chickens so I can have free range, vegetarian eggs) and eat more whole grains and vegetables, cut out the sugar and dairy, steam where you can or eat raw. I budget hard so I can feed my kids and I properly. It's hard but it's worth it
And that's one of my main points is it shouldn't be so damn hard for a person to eat good healthy food. You shouldn't have to grown your own food to have healthy vegetables and fruits. You shouldn't have to raise your own chickens to have affordable clean meat. Its ridiculous and your average person shouldn't be held completely responsible for it. Some of it is choices but its also worth recognizing how things are stacked against us so we can change them.
It's a combination of both points/sides. But it's definitely not one or the other. Yes, we've become a society of convenience, of leisure, but we have companies who subliminally manipulate, or often slyly trick us to think their food is good when it's not good food, who often add addictive chemicals to it. So for anyone saying it is just mere willpower, is disheartening. If it was so easy, the billion$ dollar diet industry would disappear tomorrow. For those who like their booze, tomorrow just stop drinking alcohol. Ciggies, just stop, ok? Btw, they don't advertize those two things ^ everywhere.... Food, they do though. When I go to the gas pump, they have a commercial playing on the pump stand with a pretty voice telling me, "come inside and for $1.49 get a breakfast sandwich" (even though I just came for gas, damn.) It's never fruit right where I pay, just chips and chocolate. Million$ spent on figuring out impulse-buying triggers in humans, they have this down to a science. The game isn't an easy one, for sure.
"No Excuses"! Impressive points! Damn good ones, I must say. (and $70 is actually high, most are $40 a mnth and Planet fitness is $10.)
Excellent points. We're bombarded on a daily basis with ads for fast food restaurants, etc. And they do have the impulse buys at the registers down to a science. You just have to try to avoid the registers that have candy at them. It's very hard to be bombarded like that and not go at least once in awhile. When I've taken the little one to McDonald's, 9 times out of 10 I'll get the side salad instead of fries. But their fries are so good it's hard to resist eating them. But lately I've tried to stay away from fast food unless it's an unwich from Jimmy Johns or a sandwich from Subway. I think I need to move to Philly. It's $60.95 a month for my Lifetime Fitness membership. I keep it though because they're open 24 hours and I love going into the sauna after my workouts.