Sent to you by redcliff via Google Reader:
So, my first response to the statistic that 90% of Americans believe they eat healthy was to murmur "how? How!?" Remember that time Anna Wintour pointed out that most Americans look "like little houses?" That was somewhat offensive! But then, we live in a country where 34% of the population is obese. So, if one out of three people are obese, how can 90% of us say we're eating healthy? I'm aware that there are factors that might limit the foods you can buy, and I'm aware that higher calorie foods are often cheaper – I'm aware, in short, of some of the reasons people are obese – but I'm not sure why everyone would think they were eating healthy. Here are the best explanations I can come up with:
1) We see ourselves as our best selves. Okay, I had a moment where I thought "But I eat healthy!" And I kind of do, I guess. Today, so far, I've had a yogurt, some sort of horrible 100 calorie oat bran granola bar thing that Ashley shoved at me, and a bowl of soup. I'll probably have a banana and Luna bar before I go to my pilates class, and afterwards, I will make myself an egg white and goat cheese omelette and chocolate milk. So, I get to feel smug about what I've eaten, I guess! Smug, smug, smug! Yay!
So, I guess, if you asked me today I would say, yeah, I eat healthy. This weekend I am going out with friends to Sorella where I will guzzle champagne and eat pate de fegato (it's a fried egg on top of chicken-liver mousse on top of an english muffin) and chocolate pretzel ice cream. Oh, and on Saturday morning I like to go to the bakery next to my apartment and buy the chocolate chip cookie with the icing on it and then go home and eat it while watching Firefly. Chocolate chip cookie + icing = double plus good. So I'll be doing that, too.
But I view those days as out of character anomalies that somehow don't count, because, hey, it's only once and while. Weekends are party time. It's cool. It doesn't count.
Maybe this is just what everyone is doing. Maybe everyone is going home and scarfing a whole pizza but not counting it because… it was nighttime, and they assumed the survey referred only to their daytime habits? That makes some sort of sense. And somehow, asking about healthy eating habits seems to give you more leeway than asking about other habits. For instance, if I said "do you do drugs?" you would have a harder time saying "No! I only do heroin on weekends!"
But healthy eating, Jesus, who even knows what that is? There seems like there's an eating middle ground between "Hollywood actress" and "the people on Wall-E" and I do not know how much having super double plus awesome meals when I go out on Saturday ruins my diet overall. So, I guess in the future I will reply "healthy in comparison to Jabba the Hutt" which will always be true, because I don't eat people (yet).
2) A huge percentage of American are terribly informed about what healthy food is. Okay, here I'm just thinking about the woman in the comment section whose husband thinks that pizza is "a nutritionally complete meal." I think this sort of goes along with wanting to see ourselves as our best selves, and in order to do so, we're willing to believe a Domino's commercial that tells us that meat lover's pizza is a totally acceptable meal.
3) Shitty food no longer seems shitty by comparison. My Grandmother is still shocked that people can devour whole burgers when they go out to restaurants, on a routine basis. She enjoys pointing out that when she was young, having a burger, or a milkshake was seen as a pretty big indulgence. Today, I can get a foot long burger from Carl Jr's, or I can go out and have a pie-shake. Taking that into account, a burger and a milkshake no longer seems crazy, it seems normal. It actually seems like an act of restraint if you have a burger without the fries.
4) We're a victim of our genes. Maybe the 34% of the population that is obese is just suffering from conditions that make them obese. We've all known a few people of whom that's true, right? Maybe everyone is eating super healthy and they just can't get the weight off.
What about you? Do you think you eat healthy? Do you think 90% of Americans do? I guess I just sort of assumed a negative here.
Post from: TheGloss
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