I get dinged about this a bit. It's actually one of my pet peeves. I'm actually have a struggle putting into words what I mean. I get flack if my lunch consists of 'a chunk of protein as it came from nature' and vegetables 'as they were picked'. But nobody blinks an eye when someone else eats frozen prepared diet meals everyday.
I was blathering about this during a car trip my husband and I took yesterday. He's an awesome fellow, have I mentioned that? He listens to all my tirades, gives calm, logical responses and is good looking too. He gave me a kind of "WHOA UP".
His response went something like this .... Susan, you may be talking to people who are 3rd or 4th generation TV dinners and hamburger helper eaters. We were raised in rural areas. We ate vegetables and potatoes out of our mothers garden. The meat was probably purchased from a neighbour as were the eggs. You're probably being narrow-minded in your opinion that folks don't get something that seems so simple to you.

It made me feel bad enough that I thought I'd post and explain.
Is it simpler for me because I was raised this way? How about you?

Susan, I think your way of eating is amazing! And, more importantly, it works for you. I think you're right, it probably seems natural to you because it's what you've done most of your life.

For me, it probably wouldn't work. I don't think I could voluntarily eat totally "clean" because I love the taste of too many "non-clean" things . I would feel deprived. I take it you don't feel deprived, because the "non-clean" things don't appeal to you anyway.

I think it boils down to figuring out where each person's comfort level is, and, like you say, what you're used to.

I'm sorry to hear you get flack for your way. I think your way is admirable. It just may not be for everyone.

I'm finding the more I eat home-cooked/natural, whatever you want to call it, food, the less I crave the packaged stuff.

A good night's "homecooked" dinner used to be hamburger helper, and now my husband and I much prefer our homemade turkey chili, or red beans and rice, etc... I've always liked to cook, but only by making myself and my health a priority have I really started to become a really good cook!

I've found almost the opposite, actually.

Most people pat me on the back for eating my (almost) all organic, (completely) vegetarian diet, saying that they'd do the same if they had the willpower or if they were "good" (whatever that means), but the problem I do have is that I can't get anyone to go grocery shopping with me because I take forever reading labels and making sure my food doesn't have any hydrogenated oils or hydrolized proteins or carrageenan or MSG or animal products in it.

In my experiences, the people who give flack regarding healthy choices are either little brothers (mine is 6'2" to my 5'8" and feels the need to give me playful guff) or are threatened or made guilty by your healthy lifestyle.

I think its great the way you eat. Ever since I got a dog and started doing research on what is in their food I started considering what goes into all the food I eat. Ever since then I have been trying to eat less proccessed foods. I try not to eat too many chips or frozen meals etc. I do cook more but its healthy for me I believe. I do the opposite to my boyfriend. I try to get him to eat healthier. His idea of a cooked dinner is frozen burritos or a box of hamburger helper. We are moving in together in August and I have told him hes in for a big surprise. Because I refuse to cook any of that stuff, so he will be forced to eat what I cook unless he wants to cook his own food.

I've got a foot in each camp, actually. My maternal grandparents had a family farm, my paternal grandparents owned a family diner, and both of my grandfathers were avid hunters and fishermen. So, I'm no stranger to fresh vegetables, meats, eggs, fish, etc. However, we are from the South so much of that was fried! Still, I had lots of cooking from scratch training. My mother is a great cook but her generation was really the first to have a full line of convienence foods on the market. She sort of straddled the fresh/convienence line. Our main course was usually homemade but at least one of the sides was probably from a box or made with a can of cream of mushroom soup.

Like your husband pointed out, growing up and living in a rural area makes your way of eating the norm you. I grew up eating homemade, but not necessarily clean. I would venture to say, though, that the internet has made mine the first generation to have in depth nutritional information at our fingertips. And labeling laws give us an opportunity to be more educated as consumers than our mothers were. Whether or not to take that information and put it to use is a personal choice and I agree that how we eat has to boil down to what best suits our needs and lifestyles. But, I think anybody who gives you the business about eating the way you do needs to be taught the old, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" rule!

Do you know that in a lot of countries they don't shower every day and wear clothes once or more before washing? Do you know why Europeans can get away with this but Americans can't?

The extra perservatives in prepackaged foods causes our skins to secrete more oils, making us stinky and gross faster. If you eat more natural foods, your skin is nicer and you smell good naturally!

I try to eat more natural things but I'm not always able. Vegetables are too plain for me, and as a busy teenager I don't always have time to cook my own healthy meals. Poop.

Actually, I think a lot of the reason that Europeans shower less and wash more is because of cultural norms.

What you say about eating natural foods may be true, but I think also they just tolerate body odor in other parts of the world more than we do.

My Belgian cousins shower everyday.

I think the processed food addiction comes too from the "cheap and easy" factor. Back when my family lived in the mountains on a farm, getting fresh food was easy and cheap. When we moved down south to the "big city" (it's all relative) suddenly fruits and veggies were pretty expensive compared to a couple of boxes of Swansons/Banquet/Hamburger Helper. When I became an adult married to a non-working loser of a first husband and only had $10 to $15 a week for groceries, hamburger helper was my friend. I couldn't afford fruit or veggies, and only cheap ground beef which had to be split among several meals. That and McD's running those 25 cent cheeseburger Sunday deals (this was a decade ago...)

Bad food is cheap and that's one reason poverty is a big factor behind the national "epidemic of obesity" that rarely gets discussed.

Just my two pennies...

-Lala

Hi, Susan,

Perhaps it will make you feel better to know I worked my whole life to get back to eating in this way. Last year I finally realized my goal. My husband (another wonderful fellow!) and I moved to a rural property and immediately set about getting self-sufficient in the food department.

I can’t tell you what a sense of accomplishment we felt at having our own home-raised beef in the freezer, fresh eggs from our chickens and a garden full of veggies – so many that as I walked through our local market I found only 3 things we didn’t produce ourselves: avocados, citrus and bananas. Every single other thing came from our garden or our fruit trees, and we have wide and varied produce preferences! I’ve always gardened, even if only in pots on the patio or a small veg garden incorporated into our front yard landscaping, but this garden is what I’d always dreamed of. We still keep some convenience foods around for those nights when we just don’t feel like going through the rigmarole of making dinner, but most of our food is made from scratch.

I also don’t get the whole “comment on someone else’s lunch in the lunchroom” thing… I don’t feel it’s my place to make my views known on what other people are eating, and I wish they wouldn’t do it to me. I work from home now and so no longer must endure the running commentary on my food choices, but I always found it annoying when I worked in an office. Why do people do that, anyway? Aren’t there more interesting things to talk about?

As my husband would say, good onya.

Feeling your pain, Rae

Who's givin' you flack?! I think it's amazing!

I grew up on macaroni and cheese, pizza, hamburger helper, potatoes-in-a-box, and all other kinds of processed stuff. I did grow up in a small town, but we definitely didn't have a garden, and the harsh New England winters limited what was available (in regards to fresh produce). My father worked in a factory, and my mother ran a daycare out of our home until I was about 7 years old, then began working in an office every day.

I know it is healthier to eat whole foods, but it is also a lot more work. I spend many weekends travelling back and forth to Va Beach (where my sister lives--about 3-4 hours drive each way depending on traffic), I drive about 30 miles each way to and from work each weekday, I attend TOPS meetings on Thursday evenings (getting home around 9:15pm), and usually work more than 40 hours a week at my full-time job. Then I come home to my part-time job (another 2-3 hours a day at my computer), and by the time all is said and done, I don't even feel like microwaving food, let alone actually having to prepare it

Now, I know I'm not as busy as some, and I used to be much busier (in addition to the above, I was in a community choir and waitressed/hostessed 4 nights a week), but I still just can't get myself to do much cooking. I don't enjoy preparing food. I hate handling raw meat, and it takes me about 10 minutes to peel a stinkin' potato I think food preparation and cooking is a hobby for some and a skill for others, but for me, it happens to be neither, so I rely heavily on easy meals. I do what I can, but lots of what we eat comes out of the freezer or out of a box!

However, I would NEVER make a negative comment about some who DOES eat whole, healthy meals because it's something I WISH I could do! I would think that maybe some of that flack you're getting is actually out of jealousy. Who wouldn't want fresh veggies and meat prepared to their liking rather than a Hot Pocket?

We grow almost all our own veggies - beets, beans, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, chard, potatoes, tomatos, carrots. I buy onions and some seasonal things - asparagus for one - but most of the time we eat out of the freezer. We also grow strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb which we freeze and can for year-round use. My DH catches salmon that we eat year-round, and if we're lucky, friends give us some moose or caribou. We buy boneless/skinless chicken breasts in bulk. Other meats I buy on sale. In the past we've kept chickens for eggs, and for awhile had goats for milk (and the entertainment value )

For the last 6 years I've had a job that is less than 10 min from home, which makes it easier to cook a lot, but for more than 20 years I commuted over 100 miles a day (2 hours on a good day), plus I've always been involved in community activities. I think what Jill says is true, some people just don't like to cook. Fortunately, I do and I enjoy having my own fresh/frozen produce. It's not totally organic, but has way less chemicals that what you buy in the store.

I think that is right on. Fresh veggies/fruit and "organic" foods get EXPENSIVE. I grew up on a tight budget with hamburger helper and all that nonsense you can stretch. I eat better now but it's because I've had to decide *not* to spend the money on things my family did growing up (travelling) but instead on food and commodities. Time is sure a big factor too.

However, I hate that people give you crap about what you eat. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm eating or drinking at work people will always comment on it. It might be healthy and it might be total crap, people just have nothing better to do and work is dull so they gossip about food. I had a large tub of protein powder hidden beneath my desk and several people when I wasn't there actually turned it around to see what it was, than I got 3-4 people asking me if I was "trying to bulk up." Personally I don't fess up to eating healthy, I just turn the conversation to something else and get people to leave me alone. People will always be critical of something...

Those who have their own gardens, do you garden organically? I am interested in organic gardening as one day I would like to have my own garden. I am reading a book right now by Francis Lappe and it has opened my eyes to the food and production problems plaguing this earth. Are there any good websites for organic gardening that anyone knows of?

Thanks!