I watched a show on the travel channel called Extreme Pig Outs. It was about restaurants that serve really huge meals. I mean really, seriously huge. Many of them have challenges – if you can eat the challenge meal within a given time it’s free.
Frankly, I find these pig outs appalling and I think, “These people are insane,” but, on the other hand, I see them as the front line in the war against the health nazis. As long as places like that exist we are still free to choose what we eat. Hopefully we won’t choose to eat at places like The Chip Shop or Jack-n-Grill too often.
In the healthier but not really healthy department, Green Giant has a line of “healthy” vegetable mixes. They have names like “Healthy Weight” and “Healthy Heart” and so forth in big, lettering on the front of the package. I do want to eat more vegetables (and not just because I’m supposed to) and some of these looked good so I thought I’d try a couple of them. I bought one that had navy beans, yellow carrots and spinach. I generally don’t like cooked spinach but it was a very small amount.
Now I don’t obsessively read labels but maybe I should start. As I was opening this product to microwave it I noticed that the percent of “daily value” of sodium per serving was 16%. That seems rather high for something that claims to be “healthy” or even for something known to be fairly unhealthy. It also tasted very bland. With all that sodium already in it I didn’t want to add any salt so I sprinkled on a generous amount of black pepper and that was just what it needed. It was quite good.
So, I guess the only way to get healthy food is to buy or grow fresh vegetables and make everything from scratch. I think some frozen vegetables are okay but not the kind that have seasonings or sauces. And never trust anything with a label that says it’s healthy or low fat or whatever because if it’s low one thing it’s sure to be high something else.
August 25th, 2009 - 9:03 am
A local steakhouse chain in my area has this special in which people who eat a six-pound steak (plus baked potato and vegetables) in less than one hour get it for free, and they also get a T-shirt and their picture on the wall. I’ve looked at the pictures and nearly all of the winners are fat men.
August 25th, 2009 - 9:59 am
there’s also a show called “Man V. Food,” which is fascinating if more than a bit horrifying (some of the “challenges” are not so much sheer food-volume as they are food-torture – extremely spicy food where you have to wait five minutes after consuming it before you can drink milk, for example).
(I think part of my fondness for the show is that I miss my brother and his crazy friends, and it reminds me a bit of the kind of things they do)
I dunno. Competitive eating totally doesn’t appeal to me (and I couldn’t do it, anyway – I get full too fast) but I do see your point that if we condemn these people too hard, or even call for outlawing it, we’re just playing into the hands of people who would prescribe exactly what and how much we’re “allowed” to eat.
August 25th, 2009 - 6:43 pm
I like those vegetable mixes too, despite all the health nazi propaganda all over them. My salt needs have gone down in the past several years so I haven’t found the need to salt much of anything except salad. I will say I don’t concern myself with salt much because I’ve never had trouble with my blood pressure. It’s gone up a bit over the decades but the doctor says that’s due to my weight gain, so I’ve been dieting. That means eating less mostly; already I’ve lost about fifteen pounds and I find I don’t need to eat as much as I used to to feel full — which is all to the good. I also avoid restaurants like those above. Even normal restaurants give too much food — I always end up taking at least half my meal home.
August 26th, 2009 - 6:49 am
“As long as places like that exist we are still free to choose what we eat.”
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Yes, thank God for that. Lord knows the list of food the U.S. makes illegal to produce, sell and consume grows exponentially every year. Why, just the other day I went to buy something and my grocer said to me “Oh, the food police made that illegal! Don’t be caught eating it or you’ll go to jail!” Thankfully most other items I’m used to eating are still available. It’s just too bad that in twenty years we’ll be reduced to some sort of oat paste and water for sustenance…..