When it comes to food, these days everyone is an expert. My advice to these folks is STFU.
These days you can’t go anywhere without someone or something telling you what you should or shouldn’t eat, or how much or when you should eat, or how your food should be prepared. I’m really sick of it all.…
Article comments
26 - Mark Saleski
yea, i have several heathy food stores pretty close to me. of course, i live in the middle of newwhere new hampshire...but it happens to be a sort of granola-ville.
buying local stuff is definitely the way to go.
27 - Bliffle
Most restaurants are happy to split an entree and provide an extra salad for a couple. I've been doing that for 20 years, both on dates and (later) with my wife. Even at excellent restaurants, like John Bentleys in Woodside, you can have a satisfying steak dinner for two for around $50 (wine extra) and it's tasty and healthy.
We eat most meals at home and I shop almost every day. The trick is to start at the produce section and load up on non-packaged foods. Another trick is to never throw food out. Always resolve the problem of leftovers and unused items by finding some way to consume them. That will eventually correct your buying habits. Leftover fruits go into a compote (add dried figs and dried ginger to add texture and hot spice, maybe a little port or sherry in place of sweets).
28 - sal m
great suggestions...
29 - Nancy
FOOOOOOD, glorious FOOOOOOOOOOD.....
30 - Dave Nalle
Just one thing to add about the healthy grocery stores. They aren't always cheap. I left Whole Foods on Sunday with 3 bags of groceries which cost me $168. I'm not sure how, though they do avoid the one item per bag syndrome of the regular stores.
Dave
31 - lori
Dave, I don't live in a major city. There's one healthy food store near me, about a 20 minute drive away. It costs me literally twice as much to shop there as it does the two most common markets in my area, one of which is practically on every street corner around here. If I buy meat, it's three times as much.
You're making my point for me. The fact that the "alternative" food stores are the ones offering healthy choices at a premium price is just backwards. It should be the other way around. Or at least the good stuff should be in the same price range as the bad stuff, and the bad stuff should be in the minority. I don't just want healthier choices; I want them to be as affordable as the other stuff.
These healthy stores haven't put much pressure on the regular markets near me. My local market dedicates 1/4 of one side of an aisle to the Whole Foods type of offerings. The reason: cost. The healthy stuff costs a lot more, and the regular stores know people will still come to them in droves because of their prices on the other stuff.
I don't want to eat nuts and twigs at every meal. I just want the obvious ratio of food-that-has-no-nutritional-value to food-that-has-decent-nutritional-value to be leveled off.
32 - Bliffle
There's no guarantee that "Whole Foods" food is better than Safeways. You have to use your brain to decide what is best. Certainly the Natural Foods people have uncovered some egregious abuses in growing and delivery of commercial foods. But there are some questions about the efficacy of Natural Foods also. And there are various power struggles within the natural foods, "Organic foods", movement itself. You can't just pick one side to turn your brain over to, and then cheer for their success. *Sigh*. Just like politics.
But I'm bragging that if you use your brain to think about food and approach the kitchen as the science lab that it is, you can create meals that are healthy, tasty and even fast!
33 - sal m
bliffle makes a good point that just because something is available in whole foods doesn't mean it's better than what's available in an old school grocery store. for instance if you look at a lot of prepared vegetarian foods - which a lot of people automatically assume are "healthier" - they are loaded with other garbage in order to make it taste good.
people just need to read labels.
34 - Nancy
This raises a question for me: WHY is 'organic' food so much more expensive, when it (theoretically?) costs the raiser so much less, because they don't have to buy artificial fertilizers, sprays, pesticides, etc. I should think their overhead would be lower & therefore the costs should be less. Besides which, they don't have to have picture perfect produce, since everyone knows organic stuff looks like crap anyway.
I'm lucky: I live within striking distance of several pick-your-own farms. Picking your own strawberries, blueberries, & peaches is just HEAVENLY. One for me, one for the basket...one for me....
35 - Scott Butki
Great piece. I don't eat healthy enough but I hate it when people tell me what TO eat.
36 - sal m
scott:
my bet is that you eat healthy enough...but for some people there's no such thing!
37 - Scott Butki
Thanks for the benefit of the doubt.
I'll toast that thought with a coke and a smile.
38 - fiddlercrab
Sal I crave and love Italian food.And the "Boss" (I mean that affectionately ,as Harry Truman called Bess)..is on this health food crusade.I must say she has done a great job..Trader Joes and Whole Foods will provide healthy nutritious meals inexpensively IF one is carefull of What one buys.Who really LIKES Caviar and Champagne.I'll have baked Haddock and those $2.99 bottles of wine (Red please)
Several years ago I was eating in a employees lunch room.And this 36 yr. old guy who was in perfect shape and I'm sure ate brocolli and all those other healthy foods...stood up ...grabbed his chest,and died!!When a Dr. got to him-he said he was probably dead before he hit the floor.I certainly remembered that one,and I try to eat as the "Boss" wants ,as she is a damn good cook and I hate to go out to eat.I always pig out when I go to our Italian friends homes,for she doesn't dare say a word...one can imagine!!But one can go to far with this Healthy stuff.Do you all remember Jim Fixx?Run Run Run... He died...Ewell Gibbons,nuts berries,twiggs and flowers...he died. Good article,I will continue to take my chances (once in awhile Sal) Thanks
39 - Ellen
Great comments-eating heathly gets a bit confusing-common sense should help but I see all around me that it has little effect on a lot of people. I am glad that I cut out trans fats from my grocery list and my kids finally get it.
40 - flyn0092
I actually think that eating healthy weakens the body. When I go on an all deep fryed diet, I feel better than I ever have.
Check out the all deep fryed diet at Bushwackers Review
41 - Rodney Johnson
I liked it,
But you did misuse the term "Foodie" Foodies are generally the opposite of the food police.
42 - Charles Nickalopoulos
Bill Maher needs to read about Ewell Gibbons, if he really thinks he is guaranteed a long healthy life, by eating nothing but vegetables.
43 - ABM
I agree with you 100%. The food fascists need to leave us alone and let us make our own decisions. I'm sick and tired of seeing these skinny bimbos on TV in a cold sweat thinking that eating a cookie or a handful of chips is going to kill them. We don't need a brood of perfect pretty people talking to us like children and telling us how to live. They talk about obesity like its the "End of The World". You wanna' end obesity: How about you give everyone in America a decent wage and more time to cook these so-called healthy meals. The reason for this inactivity is that people are working longer for less. By the time that their shift is over they are too tired to cook and they have to rely on McDonald's and these processed foods that are the "enemy". These uber-yuppie health nuts need to open thier minds instead of shoving this overbearing agenda down everyone's throat!