5 Reasons Why We Don't Eat Healthy Food

I personally face more of a challenging eating my vegetables prepared in a healthy way than with eating them at all. I love vegetables, but sometimes I want to eat the salad with the ton of dressing or the broccoli drenched in olive oil.

I suppose I can understand that to some extent, but there are so many "convenience" vegetables (bags of frozen cauliflour and broccoli, ready to steam in the microwave) that the "convenience" excuse is weakening. Plus, how much effort does it take to rinse off an apple and bite in? (Unless you count the daunting task of throwing away the pit.) Or munching on a bag of baby carrots, even if you need to dip it in ranch dressing? (It's not the healthiest route, but you're still getting the fiber and vitamin C, just the same.)

#4 is the biggie for me. I'm a student who works easily 60+ hours per week. Some days, it's hard enough to get up for my early classes, let alone pack a nutritious lunch and a dinner, knowing that I'm not going to be getting home until 11 PM. Same thing with working out. If you know you're already going to get only 4 hours of sleep, it's hard to tack on an hour at the gym and bring it down to 3. I always lose weight over the summer when I'm working a regular 9-5.

I suspect that the real reason is #5...taste concerns. These foods aren't loaded with HFCS, trans fats, etc.

The thing of it is, once you adjust how you eat, you start to prefer the healthier choices. At least that's how it worked for me.

Brian

TIME: It definately gets harder with time constraints! When I was at school 10 hours a week and working 56-60 hours a week (commute & homework on top of that), fast food got WAY more tempting. I insisted work move me to a more reasonable 40 hours a week.

TASTE: Taste isn't a problem for me-- I love fruits/vegetables because I was raised on them! My parents had me eating fruits/vegetables when I was a child and it never occured to me not to until I had already developed a taste for them. My boyfriend will claim to hate all kinds of vegetables-- it's a cooking challenge for me to prepare them in a healthy way (not smothered in butter or cheese) that he will still eat!

CONFUSION: I haven't had much a problem here because the subject interests me so much. It's my major. :) I also have always assumed that things don't have to be perfect to make obviously healthy choices-- like more vegetables, less junk food!

COST: My grocery bill is higher than my friends who eat junk. I justify, and justify... less health bills later! I could make it cheaper... but that's time I don't have with the other concessions I'm making with my time.

AVAILABILITY: No denying this here... fast food is not healthy food-- and all that is open in my third shift job's lunch break. The grocery store is mainly processed foods outside the perimeter. I try to overcome this by carrying food on me--- packing lunches/snacks-- keeping a spare can of soup and can of artichokes in my locker at work, etc.

I have to agree with Brian. Given the choices of steamed broccoli versus macaroni and cheese, or baby carrots versus potato chips, or an apple versus a candy bar, I'm willing to bet that the majority of folks, even though they KNOW the former is better for them, will choose the latter simply because it tastes better.

I really don't think it is that much more convenient to eat junk food than healthy food. Packing a sandwich and an apple takes less time than going out at lunch to wait in a fast food line. Even fast food restaurants have salads and grilled meals with healthful side dishes. If you have time to get a hamburger, you have time to pick up a rotisserie chicken and a bag of grapes or carrots. Apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, individual yogursts, raisins, bagged carrots, broccoli, salads, they're all ready to go. Frozen vegetables take the same amount of time as a Hungry Man Dinner. I think this is all about taste, NOT convenience.

I agree with Brian, Jan, Alexandra... it must be a taste thing for most folks - otherwise it would become convenient.

The coffee cart next to where I work now keeps in stock raw vegetables, cups of grapes and berries, fresh fruit, small sticks of good cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. It's great that the owner has made healthy food pretty darn convenient and has chosen items that keep for several days so her wastage is low. She sells out of the struedel coffee cake, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and those huge sandwiches bulging with mounds of meat and mayo every day.

I believe cost is the main reason for this. My family has been recently trying to buy healthy food other than junk food but the cost is significantly diffrent. With the Michigan job industry so horrible most families can't spend that extra money even if the outcome is better and worth more than the cost of the food.

I agree with "Lose Weight With Me" guy :)
Veggies aren't so much inconvenient as a different taste and style to get used to. You can't really just supplement or "add" veggies to an unhealthy diet and get results, which I think a lot of people instinctively do. You have to really "make the switch" completely. It is a commitment. However, for me personally, I found that after a few weeks I began craving the veggies and being far more satisfied by them than junk. It just takes a little time to reset your body's tastes. Fortunately we are creatures of habit - we just have to redirect the habit. :) Just my two cents.

How could eating fast food be cheaper? Even if you got four happy meals, which is a very small dinner, that would cost at least $13.00. There are so many meals you could cook for yourself at a fraction of that price, and which are incredibly easy and quick. Examples: whole wheat pasta primavera (lazy version: pasta, frozen vegetables, a little bit of olive oil and parm cheese). Baked chicken parts, rice, broccoli; salad with side dishes of chickpeas, tuna, raisins, cut up vegetables and a loaf of bread--there are a million examples. You could probably make these three dishes together for less than the cost of what would be one normal meal for four at Mickie Ds.

COST is definately an issue. I am a person who likes to stock up. 2 trips a month to the grocery store used to be ideal for me. Of course, nothing was fresh. Canned items, or processed items were always purchased because 1. buying these items in bulk will save me money and 2. they have a longer shelf/freezer life.

With my current healthy eating plan, I have to shop every week, and throw out bags of salad, or turning bananas, which I couldnt eat in enough time. Yes, I see in the long run that eating healthy is a price I should have to pay only at the grocery line, and not with a shorten life span down the road.

But the thing is...does FRESH have to cost SOOOOO MUCH??

I think the main reason why people don't eat vegetables is that there is no compelling or evolutionary reason to do so. The only reason now is for long term health purposes, which we know only because of our improved understanding of science.

Historically our life expectancy has been pretty short and was impacted more by ones ability and motivation to seek out higher energy foods (fat and sugar). Vegetables have a low energy yield and favoring them would not offer a survival advantage over a meat lover given that it is very hard to store fat as human plant eater.

I'd add this as number 6.

TIME TIME TIME. Preparation is a bitch. Who wants to chop veggies? Fricking sucks! If i had someone else preparing everything for me... well I'd eat healthier. But I don't. I am too freaking lazy to pick out what I want at a salad bar! Plus its difficult to make the right combos of veggies and seasonings etc- i rather have someone else do it... like at a restaurant. I'd eat a lot healthier if I ate out at a fancy restaurant event day.

Sorry for the poor grammar- it goes when I am in a bad mood- Can take the girl out of jersey but not Jersey out of the girl.

For me TASTE is the main reason I'm not big on veggies. I eat them because I know they are good for me and because I have to - and no other reason. It's not because I am used to fat, sweet etc. - in fact I don't have a sweet tooth at all - but I am used to a more flavorful diet being from the Caribbean and I don't care what anyone does to veggies when they are cooked - there are only a handful of cooked vegetable dishes that suit my tastes.

Still, I go ahead and eat them anyway - because we need to - and like my mother used to say when she used to give us codliver oil as a kid, "not everything that's good for you is going to taste good."

Tanya, other than salads which to me must be turned into a main meal, and carrots as snacks, I'm not a big fan of "side vegetables" either. To me they taste bland, and that is when I wanna use a lot of fat on them. So I just usually toss them into the main meal, making something like a curry or other stew (Hungarian goulash is another favorite), a stir fry, or a large salad that contains chicken or something in it. I make cauliflower brown rice or broccoli brown rice when the thought of eating a side vegetable is too much, to eat as a side for grilled salmon or other grilled foods. I make a lot of soups and different vegetable lasagnas (using cottage cheese and parmesan just on the topping, so there isn't too much fat) and throw them in pretty much any food I used to make without any vegetables, like the pasta primavera Alexandra mentioned.

There are days when I crave vegetables (today I'm eating nothing but 2 grilled eggplants for dinner), but there are days when it is a chore, and in those days, I'll just "hide them" in my food.

Did I post this recipe here? If so, apologies. But, I've found people who avoid vegetables like this dish.

4C broccoli florets (if you use the stems, which are good, peel them)
2 Tb oil (I use olive)
Salt

Preheat oven to 425 F. Put broccoli in a bowl to toss with oil and salt.
After tossing, put on a cookie sheet and cook in oven, stirring occasionally.
Cook until done to your taste - for me, about 15 minutes.

It seems that broiled vegetables are the rage among the foodie set, and so there's some great recipes out there.

I really doubt availability is a problem. Where I am, there are farmer's markets (especially through the warmer months) everywhere. And these are gaining popularity across the country (and well into other countries, too, I hear).

Cost is also a ridiculous concern. An apple costs way less than a fast food hamburger.

Confusion, time constraints, and taste concerns - ah, here is, I think, where the problem really lies. What is that funny green stuff? Who has time to figure out what to do with it, then actually do it? And what will it taste like (and, more important, will I like it)? These are valid.

Interestingly, this is what I am working on, too. In fact, my blog post today talks about kale - what it tastes like and a super fast recipe we found really easy and yummy. Funny thing is, up to a week ago, we didn't know what kale was. My lesson - just dive in and try it. Turns out, we love the stuff. What luck.

Cheers!

Quito,
That sounds good! I'll try that tonight!

Quito said:
Preheat oven to 425 F. Put broccoli in a bowl to toss with oil and salt.[...]

If you're going to use that much heat, please use butter instead of olive oil. Butter is much healthier anyways, but especially at high heat, you want a more highly saturated fat.

I think one thing we forget is how much scientific research is done by purveyors of fast foods on how to appeal to our senses and our behaviors. On the other hand, it seems that food growers are prone to sacrificing taste for looks. Big, beautiful tomatoes that don't have any taste.

almost vegetarian said:
IInterestingly, this is what I am working on, too. In fact, my blog post today talks about kale - what it tastes like and a super fast recipe we found really easy and yummy. Funny thing is, up to a week ago, we didn't know what kale was. My lesson - just dive in and try it. Turns out, we love the stuff. What luck.[...]

I love kale, it is traditional here. We roll the leaves tightly and slice as thinly as we can, then just sautee with a bit of garlic and oil. We eat it with rice and black beans, the beans cooked stew-style, served with a ladle.

I also make a lot of modified Caldo Verde (Portuguese kale, potato, and blood sausage soup - I use smoked chicken sausages instead). Kale also is really easy to grow, the only problem may be you have too much of it. My neighbor faces that problem all the time, and I'm happy to take the kale off his hands.

Re the time issue - I get comments virtually every day at work about my "healthy" food. People say things like, "I'd like to eat like you, but I haven't got the time to prepare all that food." Grilling some chicken breasts takes all of 15 minutes on the weekend, packing my food in the morning takes about 3 minutes, and assembling my lunch takes another 3 minutes or so while my green tea is steeping - less time than it takes my coworkers to head down to the staff canteen every day and stand in line while they wait for their greasy chips.

I hate to beat a dead horse here, but that's just not true about availability. I don't know where you live, but if you live in an urban or inner-city area, it's pretty darn hard to get good, fresh (meaning non-rotten) produce, especially if you don't have a car.
If you said "Farmer's market" to someone living in, say, Southeast DC, they would probably laugh in your face. And I'm not trying to be rude by saying that, but that's how it is.

almost vegetarian said:
I really doubt availability is a problem. Where I am, there are farmer's markets (especially through the warmer months) everywhere. And these are gaining popularity across the country (and well into other countries, too, I hear).[...]

Fruit sucks. I buy a ton of it and eat maybe 25%. Costs a fortune and half of it is crap. It's really tough to find a quality piece of fruit, though its probably my own fault. If a piece isnt perfect I usually throw it out.

Oranges are the worst. Even ones that look perfect can be dried up inside and bitter. I was buying "Cuties" for a month that were great, then the exact same bag turned to crap the next month. Threw away 2 whole bags and probably wont buy them again even though they were awesome for a while.

Patrick said:
I think the main reason why people don't eat vegetables is that there is no compelling or evolutionary reason to do so. T

Frozen vegetables don't require chopping. You can buy carrots and celery already cut up. Salad comes in a bag. Tomatoes, you can just cut in four pieces. Bananas are easier to open than a hamburger wrapper. Grapes just need rinsing. This is not an issue of convenience! It really must be taste and preference. Especially if people are throwing away bags of salad because they get old. What could be more convenient than food that's already in your house, ready to eat? J

I think taste/texture and the myth that you need all kinds of time to prep veggies is why people don't eat them. People think of celery and they think "Have to wash it, cut it, take the strings off...major hassle". What I do is buy a giant Ziploc bag and after I hit the grocery store on the weekends, I cut up and wash raw veggies and put them in the bag. Then I can just grab a few and snack on them during the week.

Regarding the spoilage issue: Just buy enough for a week (except for potatoes, onions, apples, and carrots...they'll last almost a month if you store them right). I always buy enough lettuce, fresh spinach, tomatoes, celery, etc., for a week and I only shop once a week to stock up.

For me, part of learning to like veggies was discovering how good they could be when properly prepared. Growing up, we had veggies a lot, but they were almost always overcooked and bland. I remember liking veggies from our garden best, because I used to eat most of them raw. But we bought lots of mushy apples that got stored at room temp and turned even mushier after a couple days. Or we'd buy oranges and they'd mold after a while because they didn't get eaten. Bananas almost always turned mushy and black because they didn't get eaten. It's a vicious cycle...you don't want to eat mushy produce, but if you don't eat it, it gets mushy.

Oh, and regarding Quito's recipe...you actually don't want to use butter at that high of temperature because it will have a huge tendency to burn at that temp. Oil has a higher smoke point and works a lot better.

Spectra said:
Oh, and regarding Quito's recipe...you actually don't want to use butter at that high of temperature because it will have a huge tendency to burn at that temp. Oil has a higher smoke point and works a lot better.[...]

Oh, that's interesting. The way I do vegetables, I just steam them and coat them in butter and celtic sea salt with the residual heat, so I've never found that out the hard way, as they say.

Quito, I made the broccoli. It was good. I agree that oil is better--butter burns at high temperatures.

Alexandria, I'm glad you liked it! It's easy, and the broiling intensifies the flavor.

If I were to do it with butter, I'd use ghee - the milk solids would turn black.

That's right, Quito. Ghee could work, too. I'll bet this would work with carrots, too. Did you try doing this with any other veggies?

By far, the bulk of my diet is vegetables. This wasn't natural to me. I grew up eating a lot of meat. Side vegetables in my house, growing up, were awful, especially the !@#$&%* canned red beets, which I hate to this day. Piles of soggy, unwanted vegetables always showed up alongside the meat, and it was always a chore. Except corn on the cob, which I loved.

What made corn different? It wasn't soggy. It was firm and resisted the tooth. It usually had a little fat in the form of butter with it.

Flash forward now to my adult life, and I eat mainly undercooked stir fries and fresh salads, shopping once a week on Saturdays for produce.

Yes, I get sick of chopping. But I look at it this way - the time I spend chopping vegetables to make dinner, is that much less time I'd spend watching TV. There are some people without a second of free time during the day, and I feel for those people, but in my experience, when most people tell me they don't have the time to do something what they really mean is that they have TV to watch. Not impressed with that.

If you want to change your diet to eat healthy, you have two choices - hire a cook or find a restaurant you can eat at every day that cooks healthy food (for the wealthy) or you have to learn to cook and just accept the fact you deserve better than the crap you've been eating. Put on some music. Make yourself some tea. Try to take the chore out of cooking and think of it more as an art. This helps.

I cook every day, which means chopping vegetables *every day of my life*. Many nights I really don't want to cook dinner; those tend to be salad nights. A good salad takes 15 minutes to make. If 15 minutes is too much of an investment in your basic survival, I'm not sure what to say.

On Sundays, my wife and I cook bulk foods to take as lunch throughout the week. Soup works very well (also stews and turkey or vegetarian chili). Pasta salads also work fairly well if you use durable vegetables like asparagus and broccoli, and whole wheat pasta tends to hold its integrity in the fridge for several days. I might pan fry some chicken breasts with Pam and put those in some Tupperware. We generally pre-measure each lunch out as soon as we're done cooking, and put it in Tupperware containers which can just be grabbed out of the fridge.

One other easy to make lunch is franks and beans. Ball Park makes a fairly astounding fat free hot dog, and I personally like Bush's baked beans. Just pan-fry the hot dog and throw it into the beans, then microwave at work. This is a little saltier than is optimal, but it's not a problem having it every so often.

Breakfasts are a couple of eggs, or oatmeal. Neither takes very much time or effort.

I think the truth of the matter is that yeah, eating right takes more effort than eating badly, but not nearly as much as people complain about. Bad food is definitely cheaper than quality food (and less spoilage), but you get what you pay for, and if you pay rock bottom prices, you're eating garbage. And if eating garbage doesn't bother you, then there's no problem. But it bothers me.

American palates are awful. We deserve better than this. Quito's broccoli recipe above is a great example of how simple "real food" can be.

And always, when it comes to vegetables, when in doubt, bomb them with garlic, hot peppers (I use a Magic Bullet - something everyone should have IMHO - to pulverize these together), and just a drizzle of sesame oil. I challenge anyone to tell me with a straight face that one of my garlic and hot pepper-laden stir fries is tasteless or boring.

My theory as to the #1 reason why Americans don't eat vegetables is because they've been fed badly cooked vegetables throughout their childhood.

I think most dieters have learned, that if you want to eat healthy, you have to learn to cook. Why so many people I encounter have never bothered to learn is a mystery to me. Because even if you like really unhealthy food, wouldn't you rather make that food the way you like it, rather than the way someone else does?

The internet is the best cooking resource in the history of mankind. There's very little excuse for not learning the basics if you can follow simple directions.

I believe that availability, time constraints and confusion are the main reasons for not eating healthy.

I doubt that cost is a big factor. There are other fruits and vegetables producer that sell it for lower price. Neither is taste concern. There is a wide variety of healthy foods that are delicious.

Ryan said:
If you're going to use that much heat, please use butter instead of olive oil. Butter is much healthier anyways, but especially at high heat, you want a more highly saturated fat.[...]

Unless you're a vegetarian, you get plenty of saturated fat in your diet. Olive oil is an extremely healthy fat, and better to cook with because of the higher smoking point (I think someone already made that point). I'm not saying we don't need saturated fat as well (the jury is still out on that one), but to call butter "much healthier" is a bold and ridiculous statement!

jp said:
Unless you're a vegetarian, you get plenty of saturated fat in your diet. Olive oil is an extremely healthy fat[...]

Not enough saturated fat, from what I see people eat. Unless you're sensitive to fat, I think a diet with at least half of calories from fat is healthiest, and you should shoot for about half of your fat intake being saturated. Monounsaturated fats are ok if you don't overdo them and polyunsaturated fats should be kept to a minimum, only enough to get your EFAs. Each day, I typically take in 1.5-2 dozen whole eggs, 1/3-2/3 cup heavy cream, a cup of whole milk, and, if I want to eat vegetables, butter to flavor them.

Alexandra, you can do almost any vegetable this way. It can't be cut too thin, and the time varies. I've done beets (at a lower temperature and for longer - I guess that's more like baking them), cauliflower, and carrots (also a bit lower temperature - being denser they cook a bit more slowly).

There's lots of recipies out there now for broiled vegetables. I just followed one for asparagus, but this was done in a pan on the stovetop because they cook so quickly. It's a nice use for fatter-stemmed asparagus.

I'm getting hungry! ^_^

Iggy that was AWESOME advice. I shamefully admit that I never cook and have thighs to show for it.

You should write diet book!

Ryan said:
Not enough saturated fat, from what I see people eat. Unless you're sensitive to fat, I think a diet with at least half of calories from fat is healthiest, and you should shoot for about half of your fat intake being saturated. Monounsaturated fats are ok if you don't overdo them and polyunsaturated fats should be kept to a minimum, only enough to [...]

I admire your commitment to the keto lifestyle, but most of us love our carbs. I'm not ready to replace my sweet potato with saturated fats. I've tried keto diets and while I lose body fat on them, I also lose the will to live and the ability to make people around me not want to kill me for being such a pain.

That said, I'll say what I've said here before: while keeping a moderate fat intake, around 30-35%, like Iggy, I've had better results in terms of health, stamina, and body fat by making more of those fats saturated than when I got them mostly from vegetable oils. About 25% of the fat I get is saturated now, and I feel better.

Folks need a simple structure that includes loads of fruit and veg so they aren't thinking about what to eat all the time. No one has the time for that these days.

We're creatures of habit. It's a good idea to use that to our advantage, no?