<p>kids crack me up.
I make a very nice mac & cheese from scratch ( the secret is the dry mustard) but what do they like better?
Annie’s mac & cheese in a box!</p>
<p>I bet a meal at McD everyday is more expensive than I can make it at home with meat and veggies. I was watching a family of 4 (mother and 3 kids)dining at McD yesterday. Each kid (age 4-11) had a cheeseburger, an order of fries and a soda. Assuming each meal costs $3(I am sure it was more), I can feed them at home with a whole chicken and veggies (cabbage or spinach) for less than $12. But of course, it takes more work. </p>
<p>Most of the morbidly obese people we see in the south or midwest look like they could afford more than $3 per meal and they have the basics in the kitchen. They just need to change the diet and I don’t think we could persuade Americans to eat chicken, small amount of meat and veggies every day.</p>
<p>If any parent feeds their kids sweetened cereal for dinner because it is cheaper, then it’s really child abuse.</p>
<p>That’s one way to eat at McDonalds.</p>
<p>I think that it’s pretty hard to beat their double cheeseburger for a buck. Buy a large or extra large fries and split it with the whole family. Same thing with a large soda.</p>
<p>Yup, that’s hard to beat, BCE. And it’s fast, and it gets eaten…</p>
<p>I confess I have eaten many things off the $1 menu at McDonald’s, as has my mom & have my kids. We can’t beat the price. We like the yogurt parfait and ONE burger-type thing and water. It is satisfying (more or less), and gets you to the next meal. We are on the lower end of BMI (mom & kids nearly falling off the chart & I’m about 21).</p>
<p>MODERATION is the key–we don’t eat there more than a few times/month, if that. It is convenient, if you avoid the rest of the menu it’s pretty cheap as well.</p>
<p>Did I mention that the other day we helped at a wellness event/job fair for homeless people. We were provided lunch–a grilled hot dog, nachos (with the goey yellow melted cheese sauce), chips, and assorted beverages. There were NO fruits or veggies of any kind to be had there.<br>
Free haircuts, free health screenings & info were all provided, but it bothered me that so many of the clients were already having trouble with high blood pressure & their salt and they only got high salt things to consume! It was quite troubling to many of us, but that is the life many of them lead.</p>
<p>We also brought some liquid food supplements for folks who are underweight but didn’t come across very many of those–mostly heavy, obese and some morbidly obese folks.</p>
<p>Also having a harder & harder time finding clothing sizes that fit those of us who wear size small – women’s 4 or men’s 30/30 at Costco. 
For D, who is even smaller than that, it is MUCH tougher. For S, who is a 28 waist, he can only purchase on-line and can’t find ANYTHING decent for himself at any store in our state! (I have tried purchasing a dozen slacks & given it up–many of those were even bought on-line.) The crazy thing is that the small sizes sell out immediately at Costco near our home & the XXXL sizes remain there and end up on clearance, but they have to buy things in “lots.” Wish they would buy more in the smaller sizes!</p>
<p>Agreed with the moderation sentiment. I find that a lot of people go to extremes these days. It’s either diet or binge, eat well or eat like crap. No real in between.</p>
<p>This can even be done with favorite foods and dessert. My SIL likes to have just a taste of all the desserts at buffets & then IF desired will go back for a larger piece of a favorite IF she deems it worth the calories and the workout to lose it afterwards. 
This is a great model to me and I do it now too!</p>
<p>When we dine out, we often split our meal (H & I), salad or appetizer, entree and see whether we have room for dessert. It works well for us & generally has more than enough to fill both of us. If we don’t split a meal, we often need to take a portion home for the next day as servings are just way too large and more than any one person should eat (unless they have a very physically demanding profession & are quite young).</p>
<p>Yeah, when McD’s, Rally’s/Checkers, etc. have $1 (or less) burgers (and some of these are actually pretty good), you really can’t beat that price at home.</p>
<p>Also, you should consider the costs associated with a $5 McD’s meal. Although you could definitely feed a family of 4 for less than $20 at home, there are clear advantages to McD’s:
- Everybody can order whatever they want (burger, chicken, fish, toppings, etc.). When you cook at home, to save money, everybody’s eating the same thing.
- There is no labor involved in preparing the food at a restaurant… this adds significantly to the cost of home-cooked meals.
- If mistakes are made with the food’s preparation, you aren’t out the money at a restaurant… at home, if the meatloaf falls onto the floor, you’re out of luck.
- The government monitors food safety, so in a sense you should feel relatively safer at a restaurant than you should at home (preparing potentially dangerous foods such as meat, seafood, eggs, etc.).</p>
<p>interesteddad
Senior Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA
Posts: 8,857</p>
<p>Quote:
It wasn’t till much later that Leptin became important in dietary manipulation.
In other words, when the body-builder, bulk 'n cut, “body recomposition” internet personal trainer nutrition crowd jumped on the bandwagon.</p>
<p>I should have known this was all from internet guru e-book “body recomposition” guru, Lyle McDonald. Maybe I’ll try his 800 calorie a day crash diet the next time I get a little pudgy from a few months of “bulking up” and injecting steroids. Of course, when I’m crash dieting, I’ll be sure to throw in a 4000 calorie “refeed” day once a week to… you know… keep my leptin levels up, dude.
Last edited by interesteddad; Today at 07:34 AM. </p>
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<p>Funny things in my life… being around kids over the years. I am not living in a deprived area in any way, but the huge number of kids around here who live on the “white food only” diet is amazing!
(White bread, pasta, fries, chicken tots, cereal, bagels, chips, ice cream, pancakes, waffles, cookies…)
So it is not just about Fast Food, but what is easy, with parents stressed and busy. They should know better. Put the veggies on the plate, at least. And serve fruit for dessert. And provide water as the main beverage.</p>
<p>These kids were generally not overweight (yet), but maybe under-nourished. They would refuse to eat anything but these things at our house where we do NOT eat these things very much at all- I had to make them something different. My kids love a huge variety of foods, partly because we have lived in several different countries so, they have broad palates.</p>
<p>We are very very healthy eaters and athletic, but we are big-boned and muscly, and gain weight more easily than others. Who knows!! We try to go for health not size…</p>
<p>HI offers some great ethnically diverse foods. We love the huge variety of fruits & vegetables available and would really have a hard time if confined to a “white food only” diet (had not heard that term often/recently). Farmer’s markets are fascinating because you can see & taste foods that you have not previously been exposed to in small quantities & they’re quite fresh.</p>
<p>This is an interesting study:</p>
<p>Clin Nutr. 2010 Jun;29(3):288-303. Epub 2009 Dec 28.
The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders.
Benton D.
Source</p>
<p>Department of Psychology, University of Swansea, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, United Kingdom. <a href="mailto:d.benton@swansea.ac.uk">d.benton@swansea.ac.uk</a>
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS:</p>
<p>To consider the hypothesis that addiction to food, or more specifically sucrose, plays a role in obesity and eating disorders.
METHODS:</p>
<p>By considering the relevant literature a series of predictions were examined, derived from the hypothesis that addiction to sucrose consumption can develop. Fasting should increase food cravings, predominantly for sweet items; cravings should occur after an overnight fast; the obese should find sweetness particularly attractive; a high-sugar consumption should predispose to obesity. More specifically predictions based on the hypothesis that addiction to sugar is central to bingeing disorders were developed. Dieting should predate the development of bingeing; dietary style rather than psychological, social and economic factors should be predispose to eating disorders; sweet items should be preferentially consumed while bingeing; opioid antagonists should cause withdrawal symptoms; bingeing should develop at a younger age when there is a greater preference for sweetness.
RESULTS:</p>
<p>The above predications have in common that on no occasion was the behaviour predicted by an animal model of sucrose addiction supported by human studies.
CONCLUSION:</p>
<p>There is no support from the human literature for the hypothesis that sucrose may be physically addictive or that addiction to sugar plays a role in eating disorders.</p>
<p>would really have a hard time if confined to a “white food only” diet (had not heard that term often/</p>
<p>We live in a neighborhood that has been predominantly Scandinavian & they eat a lot of white food. White bread, white noodles, white fish, white sauce.
In fact last weekend our summer festival featured a lutefisk eating contest.
( I’ve never actually felt the need to try it)
[About</a> Scandinavian Foods & Gifts from ScanSelect](<a href=“http://www.scanspecialties.com/about.php]About”>http://www.scanspecialties.com/about.php)</p>
<p>My room mate in grad school was from Sweden. She was a gourmet cook – made favorites she grew up with as well as some we found in a gourmet vegetarian cookbook. Yum! It is amazing we didn’t gain a ton of weight as we made some great food, including homemade bread, bagels and croissants with REAL butter! We also loved fresh produce that could be gotten so inexpensively at the local farmer’s markets. Wish it were as cheap and convenient here! We could just ride our bikes there & bring back all we could carry in our baskets and backpacks, now I have to get in the car & find a parking space.</p>
<p>Inspired by this post, I called Costco’s toll-free number & complained that there are so few of the smaller clothing sizes available & always need to have a clearance in the larger sizes that just don’t sell much in our neighborhood Costco. The lady I spoke with said she’d submit my comments & have them get back to me–will see what happens. 
It is crazy that they only bring in so few in the smaller sizes when there are a LOT of thin/trim people in our neighborhood, including many young adults and petite folks. Will see if anything happens or I get some response.</p>
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<p>Even sports stores often have a shortage of smaller (waist) size clothing for some reason…</p>
<p>My S who as a 28" waist has to buy by mail order. Even BR & GAP & everywhere else only carries a few 30" waist things. We are happy that at least we have found a 28" waist slacks that look good on him & are currently available via mail order but it took ordering about a dozen things to find SOMETHING that works. In Thailand, he was able to get a few things off the rack–slacks and long-sleeved shirts.</p>
<p>He can also sometimes get things at surf shops that fit, tho he doesn’t surf. They have some board shorts for folks with 27 or 28" waist, but rarely on sale. At least they are in the store so he could try them on. Maybe they’ve realized that there are still some trim folks who buy clothing. LOL!</p>
<p>I figured that the few small sizes Costco carried was a result of their being low cost, but I agree it is annoying.
I would love to be able to buy basics there for H, but smallest size is often 32", I also get fed up having to dig for 20 min to find a smaller size for myself- if I am even lucky enough to do so- their clothing is often generously sized anyway, so even a small is roomy.</p>
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<p>Well, we have our share of Scandinavians here in Minnesota, too, and in fairness they eat an awful lot of things that aren’t white: rye breads and rye crackers, pickled herring, smoked salmon, meatballs, lingonberries, fruit soups, spice cookies, along with plenty of beef, pork, and lamb dishes. And of course a true Nordic diet would include a good reindeer stew, not widely available in this country.</p>
<p>forgot the lingonberries- love lingonberries on swedish pancakes ( of course now that I am gluten-free, I can’t go out for them anymore )</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to say they only eat white food, but I think of Swedish meatballs as white, same with all the cookies & pastries. My H is Swedish/Norwegian but he has had to learn to eat what I cook, & I like Thai/Indian food more than the more subtle flavors of fiskesuppe. ( we eat more salmon than beef though )</p>
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<p>All the Finns I know are outraged over how the Swedes somehow stole the credit for inventing this dish when actually it was originally a Finnish dish (according to them). Same deal with the Belgians and French fries.</p>