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There are always going to be exceptions to every situation, of course, but it is another option for most people.
There are so many different types of lentils and tonnes of recipes. To say you dont like lentils is like saying you dont like rice. Im not trying to say you should like them, just that for most people it would be an option.
That's not what I meant at all. I mean, if you can't cheaply or healthily make an alternative, just don't eat them, instead of claiming ignorance or whatever and constantly eating the unhealthy version. I was using that as an example against the argument that some people can't tell the difference. Okay if you can't, but surely people can't actually believe they need to eat a pie, as opposed to maybe just eating a sandwich or something instead.
no matter how "less than ideal" a meal a pie is, swapping the main protein meal of the day with a sandwich doesn't cut it. i'm sure if a kid went to school every day, with their sanga packed for lunch, and said "mum can't afford to buy x" or "mum doesn't know how to cook y so she gives us vegemite sandwiches for dinner as well as lunch" (i'm assuming fussy kids here or parents that can't afford to pay $13 a kilo for tomatoes in winter) - it wouldn't sit very well and DOCS/DHS would likely be called in to investigate children being neglected....
Why does vego = lentils. There are so many other options and vego protein is generally cheaper than meat. On the whole it's best not to eat meat every day. Vego 3 or 4 nights a week saves money and your colin.
Ok, but how many people like this are there actually out there?:
And do they form the majority of obese Australians?
Nah, the majority of fat Aussies are like that because of poor food choices/ lack of portion control and lack of excercise
Why sugar coat it?
I agree I do think time is a massive contributory factor - I doubt it is a coincidence that the rise in obesity correlates with more people working and less time at home. Not only the time to cook but the time to buy - I know our diet is better when I am not working, if you can only shop after work then you are limited to the big supermarkets and is easier to be tempted by convenience there than shopping at markets for example. Time is also a factor in things like veggie patches.:
But to a certain extent is all about individual choice - for some people maybe it is better to have a quick convenience meal so they can then go and spend two hours playing in the park with their kids, others the choice might be different. Depends on the individuals, depends on the kids, but it is a shame that price and lack of education on the matter effect that choice. I can be lazy about food choices sometimes, but I acknowledge that and in my mind the time I save with the laziness is put to good use in some other form that is good for my families overall wellbeing (activities, arts and craft, exercise etc).
Cause we'll eat that too:
Lol, I got that from you!:
Omg no. I'm clearly not making my point clearly. My fault. I'm not suggesting swapping meat for a sandwich. I'm saying, instead of snacking on x, snack on y. I'm talking about snack pies, like 7/11 pies. Pies was just an example.
I'm with you PZ.
It really is not hard to cook cheap, easy and healthy. And like Onyx said, meat everyday actually isn't good for you, and meat would be the biggest expense.
The major supermarkets are constantly advertising cheap meal ideas, like Coles & Curtis Stone's feed a family of four for $10
I've been able to cook a healthy meal every night, including leftovers for lunch saving $10 each if we bought lunch. I can do grocery shopping for less than $100 a week. I do fruit and veg at the Vietnamese grocer in the shopping complex (pretty much every complex in Perth has one). For example, a bag of over ripe tomatoes for $1.50 makes enough pasta sauce for a 500 gm packet of $1 pasta. If I'm feeling fancy I might put in some sliced salami which is $3 from Coles.
And yes, you could cry ignorance. But really, its 2012. Information is a click away. I say laziness.
ETA that $100 includes toilet paper, cleaning products, dog food etc
Ok, can I suggest there are many, many uneducated people out there & different life styles lead to different food choices also.
I didn't know ANY vegetarian choices til we owned a cafe. Then I was cooking tofu & lentil burgers. That was my first introduction to that side of food. Our father was a shearer. One of the hardest physical jobs going. They need energy & strength. The best way they know to get it is through protein & carbs. Meat, veg & pasta. They don't know there are other alternatives. They are also often supplied with 'killers'. Free sheep to cut up & eat. So meat is always there to eat. That saved them loads!
And while I suggested the cheap pies & chips for dollar value, the people who choose those options every day DON'T often know better. They want something quick & easy (and yes, lazy), that will fill their families up & get them to bed. They think meat & potato. Often mash is the choice over chips, I just used chips as an example.
They also don't realise you can make things taste better with different recipe's. I don't know anyone with free internet access. I know people who have no net access as all. And not everyone can afford to buy recipe magazines, or books.
Average Australia doesn't know better. We grew up with what our parents fed us & went from there. Thats the basis of our diets now. We figure if its ok for us, it should be ok for our kids.
Can I ask what everyone elses average meal plan is for a week? Because an average week for us is meat 5 or 6 nights of the week, coz thats how we were brought up. Potato is almost every night. Though sometimes its pasta, or rice instead. Veggies are usually at least 6 night a week. Sometimes once night I won't bother because we will just have pies & chips etc.
Snacking is different to meals. Snacking is a little easier to switch than dinner time meals. We all know an apple is better than a chocolate. What we don't know is that white bread is full of sugar. That pre made jars & packets are full of additives that aren't healthy. The average Aussie see's nothing wrong with pies & chips tonight, crumbed steak & mash tomorrow, steak & potato bake the next night. Take away pizza for a treat. They don't see that the pasta's, sauces, carbs etc are all contributing to weight problems & high colesterol. They think if they're not eating chocolate, macca's, kfc, bikkies, cakes, etc every day then they are eating healthy.
They don't understand that no cereal is really healthy. That they are pretty much all sugar coated. And how do they work all this out when the ads etc go on & on about how healthy these foods are? How are they supposed to know better if noone actually tells them???
And yeah, information is only a click away. If you are lucky enough to have internet access.
We have meat every night in some form or another. It may be a bit of chicken with a plate full of veg. Bit there is meat there every night. I also have protein in the form of meat or egg every lunch time. Always left overs for the night before. I'd love it if a meatless salad were enough to sustain me and stop low bsl's and dizziness but it isn't, so meat it is. There are probably other alternatives but I'm Wyeth to find one that I can stomach that works.
ETA. The alternative for me is medication to mange insulin levels. I'd rather stick to protein a coupes of times a day than to revert to meds again
As an aside, the Coles/Curtis Stone Feed a Family of Four for Under $10 was a bogus promotion that was taken off the air because it was deceptive.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/media...026-171ih.html
Yeah, feed your family for $10 my butt. We do feed our family for $10, so we tried the Curtis stone cards....ha, they were soooo not that cheap. Cheap if you already had fancy, rarely used spices in your pantry and all that.
Ill give you some examples from before we moved because now we have 2 hotplates and a microwave to cook on. Its pretty boring round here lol
In the oven - (most of which are 3/4 cooked before going in the oven to speed things up) pasta and veg bake w homemade white sauce, veg lasagne, roast veg with bolied greens and carrots in honey sauce, fruit muffins (banana strawberry and apple or banana apple and cinamon are soo good and no sugar), spinach and feta pie, vego shepherds pie
On the stove - Dahl and rice with veg, pasta and veg with whole cherry tomatoes (add to water and cook until the skins burst before draining), pasta and veg with cream and garlic, stir fry with homemade sauce (peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic and honey or sweet chilli) + coconut rice (rice with 1 cup water 1.5 sih cups coconut milk)
My lazy cheat meal is nachos. Its pretty bad and doesnt really support the case Im trying to make but...
Tin of corn
Tin of tomatoes
Tin of 4 bean mix
Rice
Corn chips
Garlic
Avocardo
Lettuce
Cheese
Sour cream
Lunch is usually left overs, occas ideally a sandwhich with avocado
Snacks are mostly fruit with the odd biscuts and cheese or handful of some kind of nuts.
Obviously I dont make all this in a week but it all comes from the same variety of ingredients. Im sure theres more but its been so long Ive forgotton a few recipes...
I still see that around Coles though. It might have been taken off air, but they still use it. I think some people think everyone has the same level of education and access to information as everyone else, and the same ability to analyse the information given to them. This is simply not the case. Simply putting a tax on junk food will not work (and as an aside what values will make a food be classified junk or healthy?). There will need to be education at all levels to teach how to make better use of the food they can afford.:
As previously mentioned, libraries have free internet access and books. But god forbid you'd actually have to *go* there.
My food policy tends to be, if I can't pronounce the ingredients, its not healthy.
Didn't know that N2L. Was wondering what happened to all those ads
ETA I've never actually made anything from the Curtis stone recipes.
Clover, you make some awesome points.
I do think that most parents want feed their kids a healthy diet, and therein lies the problem.
We are lied to about what is healthy.
Fat free doesn't mean it won't make you fat.
No sugar added doesnt mean there isn't a ton in there.
We are manipulated into believing that a fruit roll up is a healthy alternative to an apple.
I think there is now more focus on this in schools, but what we really need to learn to do is to read labels and to understand what they mean.
I dont know how you teach that to the general public. :(