Pajiba

The subject has always been interesting to me, so I enjoyed your review.

I'm curious about something, so I'd be glad if somebody would answer my question. I am aware that junk food tastes better (or it feels better) than vegetables and fruit, but is it also cheaper? Also, are fruit and vegetables less tasty in the States in comparison to other countries? Could price and quality be a factor in the obesity rates?

Sofia, junk food is generally cheaper, more available and more convienent than vegetables and fruit, particularly organic fruits and veggies. As for tastiness, local fruits/vegetables are good, but a lot of the stuff we get is designed more to withstand travel than taste good. I'd really recommend the book Banana which is a great story about the history of Central America, Asia, etc., and impact bananas have had.

I don't think junk food is cheaper Sofia. Pears thend to cost approximately $1.00CDN/lb whereas potato chips (my favorite) cost about $3.00CDN/lb.

As far as the taste of fruits and vegetables, I think that the taste has been diminished. I believe growers (at least those who supply major retail chains) have cross-bred their plants to produce more profitable traits such as production volume and the ability to withstand drought/changes in weather, sometimes at the sacrifice of taste.

I suppose it's just one more reason to go to the farmers market down the road.

I also enjoy both, Kayanne. It's all about knowing when to stop. I spent the first half of 2008 having McDonald's for lunch at least once a week, but I started gaining weight so I switched to salads and water and only drink sodas on the weekend.

A friend of mine who lives in Michigan always mentions seeing Chilean fruit at the supermarket. The taste has to change after travelling across a continent. I can't imagine it smelling or tasting the same as it does here.

I guess what I've been doing the last few years is the opposite of what she's been doing: just wanting to get off the self-doubt, self-criticism merry go round and live my fucking life. Stop worrying about it so much.

Ironically, it led to weight loss. Huh. Whatdaya know? So nowdays, I'm all Queen Latifah about it. I'm glorious, I'm gorgeous, I could stand to lose about 30 pounds, who cares?

Great review.

When I moved to Florida from Michigan a couple years ago, I was SHOCKED by the relative produce section shittiness. I grew up with large barrels of fresh, local apples and 6-10 varieties of lettuce available all the time at the local, normal person grocery store, plus a huge (1 city block) long farmer's market every Wednesday and Saturday. You knew what varieties of blueberries, strawberries, and corn were your favorite.

Down here the most prevalent vegetables are bagged romaine lettuce and under-ripened avocados. No, the oranges are NOT better here. When I go to the tiny farmer's market (although the city has 3x the population of my hometown and my college town) and I asked the one guy selling corn (in season!) what variety he had, he stared at me blankly and said "yellow?". Pathetic. /rant

So yes, eating fresh can be a bitch depending on where you live.

Great review, and great timing too, I just put a hold request on this book at my library a couple weeks ago. I'm really looking forward to reading it, though I'm a bit sad to hear about her Weight Watchers write-off; as someone who's lose 131 pounds through WW, I've got nothing but praise for the program.

We moved to lower Delaware almost three years ago and discovered a great variety of locally grown products. There are several orchards and farm stands within 10 miles, and a great little butcher shop. I never thought that plain roast chicken could taste great, but when it doesn't come off of a styrofoam plate, you can taste the difference. Mr. Lower waxes poetic about the steaks that come off his grill. Unbelievabably, the meat and eggs costs less than regular price at the super Walmart. I only shop there for staples now. I spent from September of 07 through last spring losing about 50 pounds. After 4 kids and being on the north side of 40, this was no picnic. You just have to find what works for you. I'm a numbers person, so I needed logic and a spreadsheet. I weighed everything, and, if it went in my mouth, it went on the list (insert fellatio joke here). I'm fortunate that I'm at home for lunch, so that was not a big problem. When I was working, that was the hardest. Yogurt got old for me really fast. The major upside, besides the weight loss, is that my kids eat less processed foods now. I make bread twice a week and limit fast food as much as possible. Third upside: my car no longer smells like french fries.

Thirding the love for the Asian markets. I buy all my fresh veggies and meats there, and typically spend about $25-30 a week for two people, who don't eat out (except for my daughter's school lunch). The bad part is we buy some snacks there, too. My kid likes her Pocky and Baby Star snacks, and I love the frozen cinnamon-raisin tamales. But just Sunday I bought a quart of strawberries for $1.49. That's less than the grocery store charges during *summer*. Not crazy about DeKalb Farmer's Market because they tend to charge boutique prices.

I still go to the regular grocery store to buy everything else, but my overall buying is better quality and cheaper now.

Some of us are....single, local courtney!

*runs away crying*

I've also read this book and I thought it was great. The review is spot on. She's very realistic about her weight loss and about finding the right strategy for her. As someone who's done it all, including Jenny Craig and WW, it was refreshing to read my own thoughts on the page. And she's fucking hilarious. I would probably want to smack her in person, but in writing I laughed my ass off.

Some of us are....single, local courtney!

Jeebus Christ Jay, that just makes it easier. Single, drunken athletic fucking burns even more calories than sober athletic fucking as long as you consume low calorie drinks. Plus, if you do it right, there is absolutely no guilt or fear of judgement. You'll never see them again.

The trouble is that junk food is just plain easier and quicker than the good-for-you stuff. And often tastier. It's cynically designed that way for reasons of profit, and there's additives in there that keep you coming back for more. Or so I'm told.

I suspect it's a bit cheaper to eat junk than to eat healthy - though if you add in the cost of unused gym membership, probably not so much....

I've done WW twice, it worked both times. But the discipline needed to maintain weight loss, meh, I don't haz it. So I try to eat healthily, minimise the junk food, take the stairs, and do at least 30 minutes walking a day. I'm still fat though. The trouble is I've run into the middle-age wall. The weight has now caused problems which ironically make exercise harder and more painful - back trouble, joint trouble, requirement for oxygen after 5 minutes on a cross-trainer... that kind of thing. Yes, I know, excuses, excuses! But since it hurts that much, how am I supposed to motivate myself to do it regardless?

Ugh. Weight loss sucks. My mom has fought her body her whole life, and she's never really made any headway, despite being a great healthy cook. Meanwhile, I am a size that in most professions would be shapely and normal, but since I'm an actor, I am 20 pounds overweight at 135 pounds (yep, I have had directors/instructors tell me this to my face, in auditions. Thanks!). I have only recently found the determination to hit the gym religiously (I'm approaching 30 and my career and health depend on it), but I still can't diet for shit. Mama loves good food.

Marilyn Monroe was a size 16, ya'll. America's idea of beauty has shrunk, while her waistline has ballooned. It's all kinds of wrong.

It's all about the CSA's, people. Join one and it will change your life. Plus, it's definitely cheaper than buying veggies at the grocery store.

As far as junk food being cheaper, I've got to disagree. My homemade lunches never cost more than a few bucks - meanwhile, a combo meal at a fast food place easily goes above $5 (with drinks). If you make your lunches for a week and pocket the money you would normal spend on prepared food - you'll see.

Also, if you stop cooking out of boxes, you always end up eating better. Even something like Mac n Cheese. Strictly homemade everything (even the noodle - it's not that hard people, really), you end up with a real meal with real ingredients. Plus making a rue is fun.

Jay, I only make you cry to feel better about myself.

You know Jay, with some modifications to that bike....

Hey Tammy, that "Marilyn Monroe was a size 16" is kinda an urban legend. Read about it on snopes, but basically, vanity sizing has run rampant and what we call a size 16 today was about a size 20 or 22 during Monroe's time. In our day, at her heaviest, Marilyn would've been in a size 12.

Not saying it's bad to be a size 12, or 16, or 22- just setting the record straight on Marilyn.

And MB- Jen Lancaster actually endorses Weight Watchers as a program in her book. She just doesn't like the meetings. She likes the POINTS system (me too!).

I think you also have to eat at the right time. No snacking. It's tough, but it works.

Also, fruit and vegetables are very available here. If you're stuck in traffic there's a big chance somebody will come up to you and sell you some. People sell fruit cups on the sidewalk, or natural juices (fruit juices, not human - Those are for free) and it makes a lot of sense to have only fruit and vegetables in the summer.

Hmm, I guess I really have been spoiled after all.

Oooh, one more important question: is avocado expensive? 'Cause my sister lived in Austin for a while and said she had to think twice before buying a few because of the price. Seriously, avocado is expensive????

Avocados in the Midwestern US are expensive but well worth it, about two dollars a piece.

Avocados are packed with fat, when I read the fat content I almost passed out. I had been eating a whole one for breakfast at least twice a week, and I had lost 50 pounds last summer. Oddly, I stopped eating them and stopped losing weight!

Something about those delicous things, it's like they're good for you, they fill you up and satiate cravings for uglier, sugary fats.

Mmmmmmm, avocado. I deem you my personal Ennis DelMar.

TWO. DOLLARS???? We get three big ones for that price over here. A single avocado is about 60 cents at the market.

I'm not good with knowing what's in food or what they do, but maybe avocados absorb fat, like steamed potatos? Am I making any sense here?

Eep, I completely agree with you. I am on month 7 of a fitness plan. I started by hiring a trainer, who after 5 months told me if I wanted to lose more weight, I would have to start jogging. I have always been petrified of jogging, but since I was paying her, I decided to take her advice. Since then I can't stop thinking about how much fun it is, I go 5-6 days a week and I'm feeling great. I'm still above a healthy BMI, but it's getting better all the time.

Diet alone cannot fix the problems. All you're doing is shrinking the fat cells. If you don't replace fat with muscle, the fat will come back.

Pookie - no kidding. I get mass flack for being a general 95 pounder my whole life (I was not allowed to talk about it with my friends, and now they're not my friends anymore - that sucked) but before anyone snipes that I'm writing to be a smug bitch - trust that a cleavage area that resembles a xylophone isn't what you'd call hot, and neither is having a convex ass.

Thin is no automatic beauty enhancer - so keep on keeping on with anything that improves your general health - the walking and cardio may not give the most dramatic changes, but I gaurantee that you'll look way better than I have for most of my scrawny-ass days. When I was pregnant with my first kid I gained 60 pounds (more than half my body weight at the time) and I f'in LOVED it. I was all 'rollin rollin rollin' down the street and finally felt substantial and proud of my physical presence. It took about a year to melt off with all the nursing and I just felt bad about all the new mommy friends who went absolutely hysterical over it all...

It is often a place thing too - I live in Vancouver which makes it easier to make healthy choices, seeing as it's kind of a major scene here. My tater-tot loving Aunt will NOT move here no matter how much of a better life she could make for herself because she's insecure about the lifestyle - hardly anyone smokes or is obese (in general). If you can, find a zone that suits you, and make your contacts in it.

A slow, romantic sensualist and a librarian? Oh Jay, I swoon....

Oh my, the weight issue...yeah, I've never been particularly thin. I used to wish I was teeny and delicate like the other gals in my office. A couple of years back, I started going to the gym for the first time in my life, and after a few months found myself discouraged that I wasn't losing much weight. But when a (male) coworker and I had to lug 5-gallon pails of water half a kilometre out of the woods for a job, and I found that I was having a *much* easier time of it than he was, I gained a whole new appreciation for my not-so-delicate little self, dammit!

"It took about a year to melt off with all the nursing and I just felt bad about all the new mommy friends who went absolutely hysterical over it all..."

I couldn't believe the insane amounts of pressure my friends put themselves under to lose the baby weight. There are some serious misperceptions out there about how long this shit takes for the vast majority of us. About six weeks after my daughter was born, one of my more sensitive aunts asked if I was back in my old clothes. I just started laughing and said "Nope. Not even close." As if a new mother needs to hear that!

Now that I'm trying to have another child without success, I'd do anything to be worrying about the weight gain rather than worry about whether it's going to happen at all. Have some perspective, ladies - baby weight is, at root, a good thing!