Funny CW moments page 588

[Kata]

I am in the process of getting rid of some junk that I have accumulated in my room over the past few years and I came across a "diet" given to me by my CW doctor, try not to laugh:

Breakfast: 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 30grams of mozarella or ricotta, 30gr of lean turkey, 1/2 teaspoon of margarine.

Breakfast 2: one boiled egg and two slices of whole wheat brad.

Lunch: lean beef, chicken or fish, 1/2 cup of rice or pasta, one small salad with a little bit of olive oil or other vegetable oil as dressing.

Dinner: similar to lunch, but only half of the protein portion.

Putting aside the fact that it relies on grains and vegetable oil, can you imagine how depressing it would be to eat that crap and in those portions? I'm 5'10 and was probably about 245lbs when I was given that diet, I would have been starving all the time, no wonder we constantly failed when trying to loose weight on CW.

Ugh. What a miserable diet. My doc put my on one just like this when we found out my cholesterol was "on the high side" (I was eating "healthy" SAD at the time). I only lasted two months on it because it made me tired and depressed. I'd never been more miserable in my life! I lost ten pounds, but I was so weak I couldn't even push myself up when I fell snowboarding. Not to mention my cholesterol skyrocketed eating like that, only to go down once I adopted paleo. I threw away my prescription for statins.
You're absolutely right, this is EXACTLY why people think being healthy is a struggle. I believed my doc and thought I was eating healthy, and it made me hate life.

[Corvidae]

I was talking yesterday with a guy who has been in the working broke category for a long time and just got his first non-starvation job in years. He was going on about how eating out sucked because the portions were so small and unsatisfying, plus it was all so expensive, and food at home is just as expensive, and the fact that he was going to be working longer hours meant he was going to be spending a lot more on food. So I started asking questions, just trying to figure out where he was coming from. Turns out everything he eats is some sort of prepared food. Bags of "chicken", boxed "meals", all frozen and all really expensive by my standards. The sort of stuff I don't eat because it seems like a total rip-off.

I tried suggesting, "You know, you can actually buy real meat and vegetables, and cook them in a skillet. It's cheaper and it tastes better." Then the excuses started. He didn't have time. Then he would have to clean. Then it would take too long to shop. Then he would be worried about food poisoning. Every time I said something he had an excuse for why he wouldn't..."couldn't" in his mind. After awhile I just sat there thinking, "this guy is almost 40, how can he live like that????" He was convinced that if he didn't eat pre-made "food" of some sort, whether a TV dinner or fast food, it was too much work and probably unsafe. Store bought cakes, though? Right up his ally.

Putting aside the health of the food issue for a moment, this sort of thing has been frustrating me more and more lately. Basically people--especially Americans, but it's not limited to us--seem to have completely forgotten the fact that there is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch; everything has a balanced cost, its just that sometimes that cost isn't money, or sometimes that cost isn't necessarily paid for by you.

If he continues to complain about the price of premade/pre-prepared food, you might say, "Look, you're paying that extra price for the convenience, since you have decided not to spend the time or the effort to cook from scratch instead."

But then again some people just want to complain either way. >.<

[magnolia1973]

I am in the process of getting rid of some junk that I have accumulated in my room over the past few years and I came across a "diet" given to me by my CW doctor, try not to laugh:

Breakfast: 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 30grams of mozarella or ricotta, 30gr of lean turkey, 1/2 teaspoon of margarine.

Breakfast 2: one boiled egg and two slices of whole wheat brad.

Lunch: lean beef, chicken or fish, 1/2 cup of rice or pasta, one small salad with a little bit of olive oil or other vegetable oil as dressing.

Dinner: similar to lunch, but only half of the protein portion.

Putting aside the fact that it relies on grains and vegetable oil, can you imagine how depressing it would be to eat that crap and in those portions? I'm 5'10 and was probably about 245lbs when I was given that diet, I would have been starving all the time, no wonder we constantly failed when trying to loose weight on CW.

Where are the vegetables? Ooooo a small salad. Sad.

[MaverickBris]

...this sort of thing has been frustrating me more and more lately.<

That was me as well right up to the moment my Personal Trainer friend dragged me kicking and screaming to the Primal Lifestyle. I have then spent the past 4 months kicking myself for why I waited so long!

I have come to the realisation that each person will find the Primal Way when they are ready - I had to experience myself heavier than every to drop my CW ways.

My Funny CW Moments are when I was telling a really fit friend of mine about the lifestyle and he couldn't stop telling me how eating saturated fats would be so unhealthy and I would get so fat doing it. I then told him I had lost 20kgs and he just said "oh no thats not the fat doing that its the sugar you are not eating" - everything I was telling him about Primal he had an excuse as to how Primal wasn't helping that.

For me the biggest shocks are when you drop the IF bomb on people - god you would think I was mainlining cocaine into my eyeballs the way people have replied to me about that!

[Twibble]

I have a coworker that just moved here from AZ for a job. He was hunting for a rent place, which are rarer than hen's teeth out here, and cost an arm and two legs when you do find one. He finally found one he could afford in a decent neighborhood, but the catch was that it had no kitchen. Not even a kitchenette. When I expressed wonder that it would ever get rented, he said, and I quote, "I'm going to take it. It's a great deal, and I never cook anyways. I always pick something up on the way home." I quite literally stood there slackjawed for a good 10 seconds before I remembered my manners, closed my mouth, and asked when he was moving in.

You can also pick up things like an electric burner and convection oven for pretty cheap. The friends living in the shed have a pretty decent kitchen set up going out there, for something temporary.

[Wildrose]

A rather amusing thing happened to me... one of my co-workers was heating up an instant meal in the microwave and mentioned that it was all she had for lunch. I mentioned that I had a huge salad with tinned salmon on it. She said she saw that, but she didn't have time to cook.

I was thinking to myself, cook? I didn't cook a thing. I snarfled up a head of romaine lettuce, grabbed a bunch of spinach, and topped it with a chopped green pepper, a tomato and a quarter of an avocado. Then I brought a store bought, but very primal dressing. (Stonehill... it's olive oil, balsamic and herbs) It took me maybe ten minutes, tops. Peculiar.

[Him]

I sometimes "make" salads by taking a gallon zip-lock bag, ripping up a head of lettuce and putting it, cheese, nuts, whatever sliced veg, 'shrooms, and smoked/cooked meat I have on hand in the bag. Top with olive oil and some hot sauce I have lying around, seal, and throw it in my "work stuff" bag. If it the entire prep takes 5 minutes I'd be amazed.

You can also pick up things like an electric burner and convection oven for pretty cheap. The friends living in the shed have a pretty decent kitchen set up going out there, for something temporary.

You can cook an amazing variety of food with just an electric skillet. The last one I saw was $23. Add an electric pressure cooker and your range expands tremendously.

But that's not what's going on with those kitchenless homes. One of my best friends bought himself a condo and lived in it for 10 years without ever installing a fridge or buying a single pan. This was a condo with a full kitchen. He maybe had one plastic cup for water but he simply didn't eat at home. His parents didn't eat at home either. The thing is, his parents were fiscally responsible with decent income. He is fiscally responsible and had decent income. It's not really a problem for a single/no family guy who's making $80k+/yr to spend $7500/yr of that on eating out. He once told me that eating out was the most cost effective way he knew to improve his quality of life. My response was to stop by his place one day with a grocery bag with a skillet, pork, onion, etc...it was about $10 worth of food... and proceed to throw together some really tasty grub in about 15 minutes. I then handed him the receipt and said, "If we had started driving towards a restaurant when I started cooking, where would we have gone for food as good as that, at that price, and how long would we still need to wait for our food?" He said that I was the first person to ever cook a meal in that condo's kitchen. He also had a fridge the next time I visited.

[WaylandC]

I then handed him the receipt and said, "If we had started driving towards a restaurant when I started cooking, where would we have gone for food as good as that, at that price, and how long would we still need to wait for our food?"

*applause* Extremely effective tactic

[Xisiqomelir]

#5878 is a wonderful post.

[seashells]

I've turned my husband into a monster (I've finally gotten him to start eating primally). This morning I confessed to him that I'd had two cookies at work yesterday and he cried, "for shame! You have taken of the devil's wafer!"

I'm thoroughly chastised but at the same time I'll forever think of cookies now as satan's communion wafers.