The Western Diet: Bane or Boon?

[Michaelo]

I’ve just finished reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, which reveals the major disadvantages of the highly processed, industrialized diet prevalent in the USA.

Does anyone believe that this diet is truly beneficial for Americans?

 

[Marfran]

I’ve just finished reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, which reveals the major disadvantages of the highly processed, industrialized diet prevalent in the USA.

Does anyone believe that this diet is truly beneficial for Americans?

I think that the average American has no idea what they’re eating, how it’s made, what it’s made of, how it really affects their health. The average American fears diseases of affluence, like cancer and heart disease, but often does not realize the link of diet to these diseases. Americans subscribe to many** food myths **propagated by the big meat and dairy industries, and ads for various and divergent food products that contain empty calories and have had all the nutrition processed out of them. We are on pins and needles anticipating the latest pharmaceutical to help us with our high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, extra weight, etc, when it is because of our diets, that there is an epidemic need for these pharmaceuticals. And it is in large part, because of our diets, that we are not healthy and in need of so much medical care.

It is very important for individual health, and the health of our nation, that we all learn about what’s going on in the food industry, and demand better. Reading Michael Pollan is a good start–though I don’t believe he takes this far enough.

 

[Michaelo]

In addition to taking conservative stances on issues like abortion and gay marriage, I wish more Catholics would promote traditional, whole food diets rather than submitting to capitalism, considering that it is largely responsible for the Western Diet that so many Americans unfortunately embrace today.

 

[raw_vegan_girl]

Bane. Bane, bane, bane. If there’s any diet that cannot be done right it’s the standard American or Western diet. What’s more is that there’s nothing objective about the recommendations in this diet but they’re passed off as nutrition laws to uncritical consumers. Newsweek made an expose on the infamous food pyramid in the 90s that caused obesity, hypercholesterolemia, CVD, depression, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer in millions of Americans. It has been well-established among longevity, nutrition, and health experts that a diet high in protein and fat is the best formula for degenerative and deadly diseases, yet the USDA ignored this fact and got easily swayed by the cattle and dairy industries lobbying not just for inclusion but for higher recommended number of portions or servings of their products in the food pyramid that was being drafted at that time. The Harvard School of Public Health slammed the USDA for being an inept organization for coming up with such a flawed eating guideline. The HSPH questioned the appointment of the USDA in formulating the ideal eating guide, saying that the Department of Agriculture doesn’t have the right or expertise to come up with a healthy food pyramid. And right they were about that. The USDA, like the Big Pharma, is one money-mongering institution that does not have the welfare of the masses in its interests. Put the FDA in the picture and you have a triumvirate of legalized extortionist institutions out to control information and curtail the freedom of the masses when it comes to health and disease prevention.

 

[Marfran]

In addition to taking conservative stances on issues like abortion and gay marriage, I wish more Catholics would promote traditional, whole food diets rather than submitting to capitalism, considering that it is largely responsible for the Western Diet that so many Americans unfortunately embrace today.

:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

I think capitalism is neutral. The companies produce and make money from what we buy. If we stop buying the junk, and they start losing money, then they will start making changes along the lines of what the consumer wants. Look at a grocery store like WHOLE FOODS. Very high standards. Junk doesn’t make it in through the doors. You don’t find products there made with processed sugar or high fruictose corn syrup. THIS should be the prototype for ALL of our grocery stores.

 

[Marfran]

Bane. Bane, bane, bane. If there’s any diet that cannot be done right it’s the standard American or Western diet. What’s more is that there’s nothing objective about the recommendations in this diet but they’re passed off as nutrition laws to uncritical consumers. Newsweek made an expose on the infamous food pyramid in the 90s that caused obesity, hypercholesterolemia, CVD, depression, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer in millions of Americans. It has been well-established among longevity, nutrition, and health experts that a diet high in protein and fat is the best formula for degenerative and deadly diseases, yet the USDA ignored this fact and got easily swayed by the cattle and dairy industries lobbying not just for inclusion but for higher recommended number of portions or servings of their products in the food pyramid that was being drafted at that time. The Harvard School of Public Health slammed the USDA for being an inept organization for coming up with such a flawed eating guideline. The HSPH questioned the appointment of the USDA in formulating the ideal eating guide, saying that the Department of Agriculture doesn’t have the right or expertise to come up with a healthy food pyramid. And right they were about that. The USDA, like the Big Pharma, is one money-mongering institution that does not have the welfare of the masses in its interests. Put the FDA in the picture and you have a triumvirate of legalized extortionist institutions out to control information and curtail the freedom of the masses when it comes to health and disease prevention.

You got that right, sister!!!
:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m not sure there is such a thing as the “standard American diet”, and I’m not sure any of us know a whole lot about how, exactly, people become obese.

One who lives on “most” fast foods is likely to become obese, due to the high fat and calorie content of them, and if they eat a lot of it. But not all fast foods are like that, and therefore, not all eaters of fast foods are eating the same kind of the thing other eaters are.

Some people eat a lot of “take out” from fast food or “near-fast” food places. Some of that is not very good for a person. Some people eat a lot of “near-ready” stuff from grocery stores. Some of it is generally regarded as “unhealthy”. Some isn’t.

Some people eat very reasonably, but become obese because they don’t get any exercise. Some people eat reasonably and get reasonable exercise but become obese because they gobble twinkies or something on the side, or simply eat too much “healthy” food. I have known some pretty chubby vegetarians in my time. On the other hand, I had an aunt who ate two ribeye steaks, two eggs, toast and butter every morning for breakfast and ate just as generously the rest of the day. She was skinny all her life and lived into her nineties. She had a sister (neither married) who lived with her and ate like a bird, but stayed a bit heavy.

Some people eat a lot of high-fat foods. Some people eat too much of foods that are not high in fat.

Some people are skinny. Some are at about the right weight. Some are a little obese, and some are a lot obese. I don’t think we really know, for sure, what all the differences are.

Look at Renaissance paintings; how rolling fat so many of those people, particularly the women, are. They didn’t have McDonald’s or highly processed foods. Their meat-eating was doubtless less than ours, because the only really big meat-eaters at the time were the Brits. But by our “ideal” standards today, they are quite obese. Obviously, the Renaissance painters didn’t think they were grotesque or unusual. That’s probably what their models looked like, and they thought them “normal”, even “ideal”. Even many of the men; the “heroes” and the “athletes” have “handles” men would be embarrassed to show at the swimming pool today. Late Nineteenth century paintings have a lot of fat people in them. The “beauties” of the time would not be given a second look today, because they’re so fat.

It’s interesting to look at old World War II photos of soldiers. They are a lot “fatter”, by and large, than are soldiers today. It’s really remarkable. Yes, if they were fighting on Iwo Jima for two months, and not eating half or more of the time, they won’t be fat. But look at the photos of soldiers who have not been out in some jungle for a month. Even their faces are fat. No doubt their food was packed with fats and calories, to keep their energy up. (So are MREs. I have tried to eat them, and can’t come close to finishing one.) But still, they weren’t eating a “modern” diet as we consider that today. They certainly got a lot of exercise. Were they that fat when they were drafted, while they were eating cornbread, ham and beans at home? We don’t know.

When I was a kid, I picked strawberries in the spring. That will take a lot out of you. Up, down, up, down, bend over, straighten up, twist this way, twist that way. Day-long calesthenics in the blazing sun. Some of my fellow pickers were rail thin. Some were fat and stayed fat. None of them ate what, to us now, would be a “modern diet”. Some of them were really poor, but none of us were wealthy, and not one of us ate processed foods. I remember people whose noon lunch was a slab of cornbread slathered with bacon grease, and were skinny.

I’m willing to stipulate that many Americans are overweight; probably to the detriment of their health, and that many eat awful foods. But, as I said, I truly don’t know that we really do know why given individuals are heavy. And I don’t know that we can say a particular heavy person is unhealthy or that a thin person is necessarily healthy.

 

[latin_rite]

Growing up in Australia in the 80’s. I didn’t have my first mcdonalds until i was 19 yrs old. And i could count the number of times i had pizza on my fingers. (granted i grew up in a small town which didn’t have mcdonalds). And seeing a fat kid was unusual. The country had low rates of diabeties as well as other weight related problems. Now mcdonalds are everywhere. Even my little home town has one. And now the country is neck and neck with the u.s when it comes to obesse people. But i just don’t blame fast food outlets. afterall they don’t force us at gun point to eat their food. Its mainly down to the modern lifestyle. Both parents are normaly working. and mum doesn’t want to spend a few hours over a hot stove after a long day at work. Plus we didn’t have all the home entertainment available to us as they do now. If we wanted to do something it usally involved going out side and playing. Plus we have the cost of food. I remember growing up vegetables were very cheap. So we would get vegetables pilled up on our plate. As meat was more expensive. Now meat is so cheaply proccesed the tables have turned.Especially proccessed meat such as susages and mince etc. And face it. humans aren’t , meant to have meat as their main source of food. Heck i don’t even think our bodies are made to eat three squares a day. I remember watching a show on the abc once. And this man was talking about human eating habits. and he strung out a piece of string that was about 11 foot long Then got a sharpen pencil and put the tip of it at very end of the string. He said that if the string represented the time span of mankind. the very tip of the pencil would cover the amount of time that man has had plenty of food. ( i assume he was talking about the west).

 

[raw_vegan_girl]

People have different metabolic rates, that’s why some tend to gain weight even on a healthy diet and some remain skinny on a junk and highly processed diet. It’s not just the amount and type of food that determine how one’s built is going to look like. Other factors such as exercise, heredity, emotional health, thyroid problems, and stress also contribute to one’s weight gain or loss.

I barely lose weight when I fast. The opposite should be happening since I am depriving myself of food. But as I said I don’t lose much weight. That’s because my body knows how to adjust to my food intake and deliberately slows down my metabolism. That’s probably the reason why the soldiers in the jungle are a little on the overweight side. Their body is doing its best to conserve the limited available resources in remote places such as the jungle, hence the weight gain.

Obese vegetarians pile up on starches and this is not healthy. Extra carb will be stored in the body as fat. Being skinny on the other hand, has advantages as well as disadvantages. Centenarians are usually skinny because they tend to under-eat (e.g. the Hunzas, Abkhasians, Okinawans, Vilcabambanos). Some people are skinny because they have a fast metabolism regardless of their hearty appetite and inactivity. Some remain slim because they exercise in spite of the fatty food that they consume. But being thin has its downside too. Since they do not have much fat in their body, skinny people tend to store toxins in their organs and bones, that’s why some skinny people die earlier than their morbidly obese counterparts.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Growing up in Australia in the 80’s. I didn’t have my first mcdonalds until i was 19 yrs old. And i could count the number of times i had pizza on my fingers. (granted i grew up in a small town which didn’t have mcdonalds). And seeing a fat kid was unusual. The country had low rates of diabeties as well as other weight related problems. Now mcdonalds are everywhere. Even my little home town has one. And now the country is neck and neck with the u.s when it comes to obesse people. But i just don’t blame fast food outlets. afterall they don’t force us at gun point to eat their food. Its mainly down to the modern lifestyle. Both parents are normaly working. and mum doesn’t want to spend a few hours over a hot stove after a long day at work. Plus we didn’t have all the home entertainment available to us as they do now. If we wanted to do something it usally involved going out side and playing. Plus we have the cost of food. I remember growing up vegetables were very cheap. So we would get vegetables pilled up on our plate. As meat was more expensive. Now meat is so cheaply proccesed the tables have turned.Especially proccessed meat such as susages and mince etc. And face it. humans aren’t , meant to have meat as their main source of food. Heck i don’t even think our bodies are made to eat three squares a day. I remember watching a show on the abc once. And this man was talking about human eating habits. and he strung out a piece of string that was about 11 foot long Then got a sharpen pencil and put the tip of it at very end of the string. He said that if the string represented the time span of mankind. the very tip of the pencil would cover the amount of time that man has had plenty of food. ( i assume he was talking about the west).

Interesting, and you make some very good points.

I would question the conclusions of the guy with the string. I am not a historian, but I do know that for Indo-Europeans, our ancestors spent millenia out on the Eurasian steppes. They were necessarily herders, as farming doesn’t work very well on much of it, and people cannot digest grass. For thousands upon thousands of years, herders of all kinds subsisted largely on milk and meat. (Doubtless the reason why Indo-Europeans are relatively lactose-tolerant as compared to others.) Undoubtedly there were periods of famine and periods of plenty, as would have been the case for people in the farming regions of the world and for the hunter-gatherers. There is really no good reason for us to suppose that the Eurasian herders did not eat well most of the time. Some do maintain that the Eurasian “invasions” of the Roman Empire were occasioned by “global cooling” following a warming period. In the latter, the population boomed because food was plentiful. In the former, adequate nutrition became more difficult, forcing the large populations that formed during the warming period to move westward into areas of Western Europe in which climate is moderated by oceanic influences and in which population had declined for various reasons.

Truth be told, we simply don’t know how well, e.g., Eurasian herders ate during the first century B.C., let alone five thousand years prior to that. What is certain is that large populations of them burst upon more settled regions time and again, suggesting a more cyclical pattern of feast and famine over long periods, though greed for spoils undoubtedly underlay much of it.

 

[aspawloski4th]

I’ve just finished reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, which reveals the major disadvantages of the highly processed, industrialized diet prevalent in the USA.

Does anyone believe that this diet is truly beneficial for Americans?

I think what is being neglected here is the reason for this. First, these type of foods are easiest and quickest to prepare. People don’t have the whole afternoon to prepare the day’s dinner anymore for most families, letalone having even an hour to prepare a meal. To many people these foods taste good. These foods store well compared to the more basic foods of the past. In the American culture we buy food for the week or month, or even the season. We rarely buy food for the same day, thats too time consuming. With the average lifespan 30 years longer than it was a 100 years ago, I’m not too worried about all these diseases. I know my family background, what I can and and likely cannot get. I’ll take the the processed foods with the risk, Id rather spend my day doing things other thqan cooking and cleaning up buku dishes. If I live to be 88 instead of 92 as a result, ohwell!

 

[Marfran]

I think what is being neglected here is the reason for this. First, these type of foods are easiest and quickest to prepare. People don’t have the whole afternoon to prepare the day’s dinner anymore for most families, letalone having even an hour to prepare a meal. To many people these foods taste good. These foods store well compared to the more basic foods of the past. In the American culture we buy food for the week or month, or even the season. We rarely buy food for the same day, thats too time consuming. With the average lifespan 30 years longer than it was a 100 years ago, I’m not too worried about all these diseases. I know my family background, what I can and and likely cannot get. I’ll take the the processed foods with the risk, Id rather spend my day doing things other thqan cooking and cleaning up buku dishes. If I live to be 88 instead of 92 as a result, ohwell!

Actually, the children of today can expect a shorter life span than their parents because of the type of food that is being consumed by the current generation. We are killing our children’s future, not enhancing it. Children of today are more obesse, their diets are lacking in vital nutrients but plentiful in calories and fat, and the roots of heart disease and plaque accumulation are seen earlier and earlier…

 

[aspawloski4th]

Actually, the children of today can expect a shorter life span than their parents because of the type of food that is being consumed by the current generation. We are killing our children’s future, not enhancing it. Children of today are more obesse, their diets are lacking in vital nutrients but plentiful in calories and fat, and the roots of heart disease and plaque accumulation are seen earlier and earlier…

Thats more because todays kids don’t get the exercise, that my generation got. One must remember something very important when it comes to food. If one doesn’t like the taste of it they are not going to eat it. If you take the ram health down people’s throughts approach, people are going to reject it. Another thing that is lost in the shuffle is with both parents working mom doesn’t have the afternoon to prepare dinner anymore. Whatever is going to be prepared needs to be able to me made in an hour or less, during the work week. To change the American diet would take a total overhaul of the American lifestyle. Either working hours are going to have to be cut, or leasure time is going to have to be cut. Americans already to get enough sleep and sleep less than any other culture in the world, so that can’t be cut.

 

[Marfran]

Thats more because todays kids don’t get the exercise, that my generation got. One must remember something very important when it comes to food. If one doesn’t like the taste of it they are not going to eat it. If you take the ram health down people’s throughts approach, people are going to reject it. Another thing that is lost in the shuffle is with both parents working mom doesn’t have the afternoon to prepare dinner anymore. Whatever is going to be prepared needs to be able to me made in an hour or less, during the work week. To change the American diet would take a total overhaul of the American lifestyle. Either working hours are going to have to be cut, or leasure time is going to have to be cut. Americans already to get enough sleep and sleep less than any other culture in the world, so that can’t be cut.

Or American’s can learn about nutrition and what’s in their food and make healthier choices. And they can shop at a grocery store that has high standards–like WHOLE FOODS. (And you can shop in a regular grocery store too–just avoid the processed foods aisles and utilize your understanding of good nutrition.) Eating and cooking healthy is not neccessarily more time consuming. I make my dinners in an hour or less using healthy plant-based ingredients. This is completely possible and realistic. Unfortunately, it often takes a health crisis for an American to change his/her diet. If Americans stop buying the junk–the companies will stop makin’ it. Voting with your grocery dollars has a lot of impact. One person won’t make a big difference–but as more and more people demand better–things WILL change. You can start out by buying healthier cereal. Stop buying the sugar junk cereals. Buy cereals like Kashi Strawberries fields, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Peace Wild Berry Crisp, Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, or Envirokidz Organic Amazon Frosted Flakes. You can buy all these cereals at WHOLE FOODS, some of them at Trader Joe’s. and some of them are even in tradional grocery stores. I think you will definitely find the Kashi cereals in ANY store.

 

[aspawloski4th]

Or American’s can learn about nutrition and what’s in their food and make healthier choices. And they can shop at a grocery store that has high standards–like WHOLE FOODS. (And you can shop in a regular grocery store too–just avoid the processed foods aisles and utilize your understanding of good nutrition.) Eating and cooking healthy is not neccessarily more time consuming. I make my dinners in an hour or less using healthy plant-based ingredients. This is completely possible and realistic. Unfortunately, it often takes a health crisis for an American to change his/her diet. If Americans stop buying the junk–the companies will stop makin’ it. Voting with your grocery dollars has a lot of impact. One person won’t make a big difference–but as more and more people demand better–things WILL change. You can start out by buying healthier cereal. Stop buying the sugar junk cereals. Buy cereals like Kashi Strawberries fields, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Peace Wild Berry Crisp, Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, or Envirokidz Organic Amazon Frosted Flakes. You can buy all these cereals at WHOLE FOODS, some of them at Trader Joe’s. and some of them are even in tradional grocery stores. I think you will definitely find the Kashi cereals in ANY store.

Whole foods, especially the kind for lunch and dinner take longer to prepare. I know Iv’e made mashed potatos just about all the ways one can do them, and one could’nt pay me enough for the oldfashioned peel them and use the hand masher way of doing it. it’s tons quicker to get out the box and follow the instructions on the side, and that box will keep a lot longer than the unprocessed one’s. Most of the time I just do the microwave kind myself. Like it or not I value my time more than health. One big health factor that always seems to get forgotten is genetics. Heres a comparison that anyone who knows both familys will back me up on. My family and my wife’s family. My family is a quick meal type family, we eat lots of meat. A 30 oz steak is the typical size for my father when it’s steak night. We have been called carnivores before. We are always in a hurry and love our meat, easpecially redmeat. My wife’s family is more apt to do the traditional take the whole after noon to prepare ddiiner thing, they usually have meat as a main course,but in a much smaller proportion to my family. They eat salad’s with everything, they eat a lot more veggies than mine ever did. They eat a lot less salt than mine ever did. The average lifespan in my wife’s family is about 69, and in my family ius about 86 or 87… The oldest Ive known a person to live on my wif’s family is 76, and in my family is 98. I have an 86 year old grandmother who’s cholesterol always run’s 80 to 90 despite all the fat and bad carbs she takes in. I might add she always has been skinny as a rail also. With that comparrison made, I’m going to look at many other facotors when it comes to health before I worry about diet. I’'m never going to let what I eat take up so much of my time that in other aspects of life I’m become just a bump on a log.

 

[rtconstant]

I’ve stopped eating fried foods, and now I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. The only meat I eat is Salmon, or Tuna or the like. I also tend to eat a lot of raw foods now. I really can’t believe I’m doing it because I’m half Sicilian, but I eventually got to a point where that I just started feeling “gross” when I ate high fat foods, or didn’t get enough vegetables. So I kind of just drifted towards it. I also stopped with the pop (except for the occasional Vernor’s cuz I love that stuff)

I do feel a lot better.

To me the biggest thing is high nutritional content. I’m not really looking to lose weight, I’m looking to eat well. I do agree though that Western diet is terrible. Between BC, abortions and diet its like Western Civilization is trying to commit mass suicide.

 

[aspawloski4th]

I’ve stopped eating fried foods, and now I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. The only meat I eat is Salmon, or Tuna or the like. I also tend to eat a lot of raw foods now. I really can’t believe I’m doing it because I’m half Sicilian, but I eventually got to a point where that I just started feeling “gross” when I ate high fat foods, or didn’t get enough vegetables. So I kind of just drifted towards it. I also stopped with the pop (except for the occasional Vernor’s cuz I love that stuff)

I do feel a lot better.

To me the biggest thing is high nutritional content. I’m not really looking to lose weight, I’m looking to eat well. I do agree though that Western diet is terrible. Between BC, abortions and diet its like Western Civilization is trying to commit mass suicide.

I can’t help, but wonder in my mind how you would answer catagorically the points I made in post#15. Especially the comments about time and genetics.

 

[aspawloski4th]

For the record I think it’s neither bane or boon, it’s just another way of eating. When comparing any two cultural diets in this world there are trade offs. One might say there Japaneese diet is much better than ours, until they take a look at their extreme high stomach cancer rate compared to us. In all truth one really can’t paint the American diet with a broadbrush. I live in an area where 9 times out of 10 you can predict a family diet based on sirname. Nextdoor to me lives a Hispanic family that eats absolutely nothing thats not Mexican. The only thing not Mexican I see there is Bush beer. Most Polish and Lithuanian decent people I know can’t imagine a meal without sourkraut. If the lastname has a Vander in it they are meat and potatos people strictly. There is no one American diet. There are many subcultural, and locational variations. All of them have their own advantages and disadvantages.

 

[Cat]

Many Americans (including me) simply eat too much sugar, salt, and fat. Our sense of “portion” is too huge.

And perhaps this high-calorie, rich diet would have been fine 50 years ago when many of us were farmers or at least did a lot of physical labor in the city. But now, most of us have sedentary jobs and lifestyles, so this diet is definitely not good for us.

This is a link to a really good book on the American diet:

amazon.com/End-Overeating-Insatiable-American-Appetite/dp/1605297852

The book is called The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by Dr. David Kessler. It’s all about how we eat too much sugar, salt, and fat.

As I read the book, I remembered back to when my brother and I would SPLIT a small McDonald’s hamburger. The small fries were shared by four people (mom, dad, brother, and me), and we didn’t drink soft drinks with the meal, we drank milk or water. Wow.

 

[rtconstant]

Whole foods, especially the kind for lunch and dinner take longer to prepare.

Cooking well does take time that’s absolutely true. I work 50 hrs a week as a senior developer, and I go to school full time so I understand wanting to conserve time. However, I don’t spend to much time on it. On Sunday afternoon I spend about an hour prepping things for up coming week. As I say I tent to not cook food (which save time now). For dinner I often have salads which are made up many types of greens, vegetables, fruits, and Salmon or Tuna, and I make a home made dressing that is low in fat. It takes just a few minutes to put together every evening, but I get a broad range of nutrition, and it is filling. There more exciting meals, but its hard to beat in terms of economy, and nutrition so I’m happy with it.

I know Iv’e made mashed potatos just about all the ways one can do them, and one could’nt pay me enough for the oldfashioned peel them and use the hand masher way of doing it. it’s tons quicker to get out the box and follow the instructions on the side, and that box will keep a lot longer than the unprocessed one’s. Most of the time I just do the microwave kind myself. Like it or not I value my time more than health.

[Well all of those things are choices that you’ve made. Those are your priorities. I used to have a similar view, now I don’t.

One big health factor that always seems to get forgotten is genetics. Heres a comparison that anyone who knows both familys will back me up on. My family and my wife’s family. My family is a quick meal type family, we eat lots of meat. A 30 oz steak is the typical size for my father when it’s steak night. We have been called carnivores before. We are always in a hurry and love our meat, easpecially redmeat. My wife’s family is more apt to do the traditional take the whole after noon to prepare ddiiner thing, they usually have meat as a main course,but in a much smaller proportion to my family. They eat salad’s with everything, they eat a lot more veggies than mine ever did. They eat a lot less salt than mine ever did. The average lifespan in my wife’s family is about 69, and in my family ius about 86 or 87… The oldest Ive known a person to live on my wif’s family is 76, and in my family is 98. I have an 86 year old grandmother who’s cholesterol always run’s 80 to 90 despite all the fat and bad carbs she takes in. I might add she always has been skinny as a rail also. With that comparrison made, I’m going to look at many other facotors when it comes to health before I worry about diet. I’'m never going to let what I eat take up so much of my time that in other aspects of life I’m become just a bump on a log.

Well, its good that you’re family have long life spans. For myself I tend to not be all that concerned about the weight, or life span. For me its more immediate. Changing my diet has improved, my experiences with allergies, headaches, energy, and general day to health and just feeling good.

As to time, well spending time cooking isn’t really a bad way to spend life, its a skill, its active, and its fun to do. I’d rather work in kitchen than watch TV, or waste money on fast food that doesn’t even taste good. But again that’s all about choices. Its worth it to you or its not. Life is all about choices.