Former supermodel Lesley Lawson, a.k.a., “Twiggy,” was huge in the 1960s. She famously popularized the waif look long before heroin chic rolled into town. Her image endures even though she modelled seriously for only five years. Twiggy quickly moved onto acting, singing, and creating her own fashion line. She’s 65 now and puts out an HSN line that caters to older women.
Twiggy’s been making the press rounds lately. She recently appeared on the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered her great-great grandmother died during a stampede at a clothing sale. For real. This was long in 1897, long before Black Friday sales at Walmart. Twiggy responded, “Oh my goodness, oh my gosh. 1897, killed at a bargain sale! Oh I shouldn’t laugh.” That must be absurd news to receive about a relative. Sad, but very strange.
Twiggy sat down for a few interviews with the Mail and the Mirror. Both conversations turned to diet and obesity. Twiggy feels that obesity is a tragedy, and she blames people’s laziness in grabbing fast food. She doesn’t really offer a solution except to say that people should cook at home. I guess former supermodels have never heard the term “food desert.” Let’s do this:
Twiggy on obesity: “I feel strongly that you are what you eat and I do think the obesity problem is a tragedy. They say that what happens in America comes here ten years later and it has. I think it’s a lot to do with fast food and how easy it is to buy it.”
Her solution: “I know people have financial problems sometimes but if one can buy good food and cook it they’ll find it doesn’t always cost more. But it’s whether people have got the inclination or the time. It’s so much easier to buy rubbish. I find that really upsetting actually. The worst thing is fizzy drinks. You see kids walking along the street glugging them down. I watched a program the other night and they were showing four-year-olds with their teeth falling out. We didn’t grow up with that.”
Her own weight struggles: “In my 40s I developed a bit of a middle-age spread. So now I follow a healthy eating regime. Some models starve themselves but I was just a naturally skinny kid. I used to eat everything, even big bars of chocolate, but I could not put on weight. I still have chocolate in my fridge but I’ll only eat one square at a time. And I only allow myself one pudding a month. I don’t believe in dieting, though. It’s so boring.”
[From The Mirror & Daily Mail]
Twiggy admits that she was once blessed with an ultra-high metabolism, so she ate like crap. She only eats healthy now to keep her weight down. Otherwise, she’d still eat garbage. She still feels justified in criticizing others’ “rubbish” eating habits. I agree with her about sugary drinks, but she doesn’t understand how many people rely upon preservative-filled, high-calorie food because it is more affordable than a cart full of fresh fruits and lean protein.
Twiggy is correct about food being cheaper at a grocery store than a restaurant. But healthy food is almost always more expensive than junk food — no matter where it is purchased. She definitely doesn’t get that people who rely on public transportation usually have no way to transport multiple bags of fresh groceries home without them spoiling. And those are the people who are lucky enough to live in a city with reliable public transport.
My take-away from these interviews: Twiggy is kind of privileged and clueless.
Photos courtesy of WENN
I love it when they ask people who have never struggled with their weight (middle age spread notwithstanding) and aren’t doctors or medical experts about obesity. Love.it.
Yes, it just makes me want to pinch their little cheeks. Really, really hard. Lol
Right?? It also makes me want to ask a 17-year-old about ageing.
Lol. Exactly.
TTMuch – were you talks to much on Enty’s site? I’ve never actually posted there – but creep daily.
Nutritionist is to Twiggy as vaccinations expert is to Jenny McCarthy.
hahahahha
Yes and yes.
Not gonna shade. I dislike Twiggy. She was the start of wide spread dieting in America. My biggest problem with this is that pudding in England is like 1000 calories vs pudding in America.
Pudding in UK is like a rhubarb strawberry crisp with custard vs. american jello pudding.
Truly dislike the Twiggy era.
The dieting industry goes way before Twiggy it really started to hit it big in 1920’s. Skinny always comes in and out of fashion and everytime it comes back everyone acts shocked like its never happened before.
@ ERINN mayybe. Are you gonna flip out on me?
@TTMuch, I’m gonna out you! LOL Kidding! That place doesn’t need another site implosion.
Nevermind wrong place.
Love your comment! Exactly.
“Twiggy is kind of privileged and clueless.”
That sums it up.
Naw, I was thinking obvious concern troll is obvious troll.
Yep. Dieting is so boring. But you’re all fat and it makes me sad, you boring, fat, sad people who are fat.
Let’s eat croissants and drank mimosas, GoodNames. Never let a twig get get you down.
Deal!
I always buy my own food and I like to cook every night because I genuinely enjoy it and find it relaxing. I usually buy a variety of vegetables and lean protein and I spend a f*cking FORTUNE at the grocery store every week. I’m lucky enough to be able to afford it but to act as if eating healthy is within every person’s budget is just disingenuous.
I’ve been meaning to do an experiment where I just buy take-out every night and compare the cost because I’m certain it would be at least 50% cheaper on a weekly basis.
Anyway, agree that she’s a really privileged concern troll.
@Kitten: Like you, I LOVE to cook, cook almost everyday just for me (since I’m single) and spend a fortune at the grocery store; in fact, I’m in there so much it’s almost embarrassing.
And–I agree w/ your Twiggy comment.
Going on with her “you’re all fat and that’s so sad” concern trolling I’d just like to say. She’s not even that thin! She’s not huge, fat or obese, but she’s not pin thin either!
I’m shocked by everyone saying she’s such a clueless fat hater. I don’t get that vibe AT ALL. She says people do have financial reasons for getting junk food, but she proposes that it is possible to get healthy food and cook it if you have the extra time and motivation it takes. As others have said, it’s really hard for some people to get access to fresh food, but I don’t see why it’s hateful of her to say the truth: that good food is important, and our health is important. If you prioritize your health, it helps to have suggestions on best ways to shop and cook to maximize your bucks for health, but it was a question in an interview, not a nutrition symposium. National Geographic did a great story about malnutrition in obese Americans, and some of it was people not knowing cheaper ways to shop and cook, or being too exhausted. But to savage her as out of touch? I agree with everything she said, and there’s a difference between fat shaming and trying to advocate for health. But we live in a society where every problem is because we are helpless victims, unable to affect our fate. I’m so sick of it! It’s not ignorant or judgemental to say our eating is killing us; it’s true. And ps: I DO know poverty: I was on WIC and lived in federally subsidized housing before I was able to get a better job and claw my way into the middle class. And you don’t do people any favors by victimizing them, but by recognizing what we ARE able to do.
I can only speak for myself, but I hardly think we were “savaging” her. I happen to like her. And of course, everything you said about nutrition and obesity is true. But when a person says in the same interview that they have the kind of metabolism that made it impossible to gain weight as a young girl, then makes it possible for her to stay thin by limiting her chocolate intake now, but obesity is a tragedy and everyone should be eating healthy, but dieting is SO boring, and she would never do that, it just comes across as someone who has never really experienced any weight problems lecturing fat people on why they’re slugs. And maybe a mother of four who works two jobs to feed her family doesn’t need to be told by a rich ex model that she’s a bad person for stopping at MacDonald’s sometimes. It just comes across as pompous and insensitive.
Yep.
I agree with Nikki. I don’t think she’s saying anything insensitive nor controversial here. I think it’s pompous and insensitive that people think she’s not allowed to give pretty standards comments on real issues just because she had the luxury of a fast metabolism (and she knows it). She pretty clearly acknowledged that it is difficult but our health is so important that people should know that there are ways to eat healthy on a time and/or money budget. And like Nikki said, these were comments in an interview, not a nutritional symposium by an expert where she should have to propose a studied solution to her comments.
Also, she is really ignoring the main problem with obesity in poor areas which is the culture. Impoverished populations tend to be marginalized and isolated from mainstream culture so developments that seem like a big deal to us (e.g., trans fats, antibiotics in meat, etc.) don’t really register on their radar. And why should they? It’s difficult to know when something is just hootenany coming from the mainstream and when it’s actual news you need to listen to. Especially if it goes against some of the favored food traditions of your culture.
Maybe this is something someone can answer for me – I love going to those cheap hole-in-wall places that offer traditional ethnic food (in this case, we’ll say Colombian). Other patrons will mainly be poor Colombian-Americans. I went with a Colombian-American friend once (wealthy) and she said that the food they served there (and at other Colombian restaurants in America) was pretty much all fatty unhealthy dishes that in Colombia, they would only eat during celebrations, yet poor Colombian-Americans go there because it’s cheap and of their culture. Could this pattern in America partially be contributing to minority obesity?
Well, Mira, you’re entitled to your opinion, though I can’t really tell by what you wrote exactly what it is. Except that I’m pompous and insensitive, of course. That was pretty clear. And white people are fat, too, FYI.
NIKKI, for what it’s worth, I don’t think she is “clueless” either.
Of course it may not be the same with everyone, but what I have seen happening with some of my acquaintances (especially – but not exclusively – US Americans) is that, when they’re in a pinch for money, they refuse to give up the junk that they absolutely don’t need (and I am not talking about the odd chocolate treat or such), so OF COURSE vegetables – being only an addition instead of a substitute (for their junk) – are going to be very expensive.
I didn’t get the clueless vibe either. She may have seemed harsh the way she expressed herself but I generally agree with her. She also did acknowledge that there sometimes financial and time constraints that prevent people from eating healthy – its cheaper to buy fast food than fruits and vegetables sometimes , and if you are working crazy hours just to put food on the table you arent going to spend time cooking. But there are plenty of people where money and time aren’t an issue but choose to eat junk food instead Of healthier foods
@GNAT
Didn’t say you were pompous and insensitive, only that I felt that particular criticism is, which I stand by.
Also, minority is not just a race or ethnicity designation. There are pockets of white cultures that are impoverished and/or minorities and/or not part of the mainstream culture in America. Perhaps I should’ve been wiser in using an example that demonstrates that fact, but I was drawing from a personal experience. You incorrectly inferred I only meant non-whites, which I find ironic.
My second comment could have come with an introduction, I suppose, but my opinion is 1) I don’t think she was being pompous or insensitive, especially given the context of the interview. 2) That being said, her opinion only considers the direct implications of financial and time constraints but probably doesn’t consider that many of the current health concerns are part of the mainstream culture, which marginalized parts of the population may not be aware of or care about for various reasons, 3) just a question I posed to commenters that I thought of due to this topic.
I agree with Nikki 100%.
IMO they should teach smart shopping in schools FCS, instead of filling the halls with junk food vending machines. And the sodas. Don’t get me started. It is a tragedy. And don’t think the diet sodas are any better, the body treats the blood sugar the same when it detects sucralose. I.e. insulin turns any real sugar in the blood directly to fat. Fat that you can then not unlock. People’s systems and metabolisms get all messed up. Just start by getting anything that says sucralose and anything that says HFCS out of your life. Oh, good luck with that… the cards are really stacked against the average consumer.
@mira
“Could this pattern in America partially be contributing to minority obesity?”
How ironic that I thought you were referring to non- whites. I may be pompous and insensitive, but at least I’m honest.
And reread you last comment if you want pompous. You’re teaching me a few things I didn’t know.
@GNAT
So…you still didn’t address my follow-up that minority is not just ethnic or racial and may also include whites. It IS ironic that you are accusing me of being racist when you are the only person who inferred race out of a race-neutral term. The only thing I could give you is that minority CAN and often IS used to refer to race, as in “racial minority,” but it is also often attached to many other groups as well and again, does not automatically mean “racial.” Again, as I said in my last comment, perhaps I should’ve anticipated people would not give me the benefit of the doubt and used a non-ethnic example, but it was drawn from a personal and recent experience.
I don’t think that explaining myself against unfounded accusations makes me pompous, but that’s fine if you want to think that of me. I was trying to just stick as close as I could to answering to your assertions without getting personal. I don’t know, maybe you think not saying cruel and unfounded things back to someone who has done the same makes me think I’m holier than thou. I don’t know, we all get petty sometimes and Internet comments aren’t usually the best way to judge a person. But if this particular instance makes you think I’m pompous, then I’m definitely okay with being pompous.
To be honest, before I responded to you, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and went back to what I said, in horror. I was positive I didn’t mean just non-whites – even though I know they’re not poor anymore I was actually also thinking of Honey Boo Boo family trailer park types when I wrote it – but racism can be so ingrained that it’s subconscious and I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t unconsciously thinking of it in that way. I would’ve had some serious rethinking to do!
Anyway, you seem to just want to think ill of me. Hope you reread my other comments and understand that I wasn’t attacking you, just a particular viewpoint.
Mira
I don’t really think you meant anything by that. I believe you. I was being a jerk because you hurt my feelings. I’m embarrassed, and I apologize. I don’t blame you if you don’t accept my apology.
I don’t get the hate either. She answered asked questions and she was thoughtful and kind about her answers. She wasn’t being malicious nor was she humble bragging unlike so many other models and actresses who do interviews and are pretentious, haughty, and even cutting.
“Twiggy is correct about food being cheaper at a grocery store than a restaurant. But healthy food is almost always more expensive than junk food — no matter where it is purchased. She definitely doesn’t get that people who rely on public transportation usually have no way to transport multiple bags of fresh groceries home without them spoiling. And those are the people who are lucky enough to live in a city with reliable public transport.”
Isn’t that entire paragraph a generalization of obese people – that they are all poor. Well, that’s sure not accurate. I’m pretty middle class and so are most all of the people I associate with at work, in my neighborhood, at my son’s schools and all his sports stuff and I think I’m being generous when I say 3/4 of the parents (mothers) are over weight and dare I say, lazy and undisciplined. They can very well afford to buy fruits and vegetables, but prefer pizza and chips. I am a cooker. I cook every day. They all say the same things – don’t have time, don’t have the energy, don’t want to. I work just like everybody else and I make the time. I also walk 2 miles at the track across the street from my house. I find the time and I feel better for it. I had my son a bit later than most – age 34. I am now 45. All my son’s friends’ parents are younger than me – most by a decade. These women are in their 30’s an already letting themselves go. They do not feel good about themselves either. They’ve become matronly before their time and it is sad because it’s totally unnecessary. Being accepting, passive, or over sympathetic to the issue does nobody any good. It’s time to be honest and face the reality that American’s have increasingly become so spoiled, over-indulgent, and undisciplined that they’re killing themselves, slowly, but surely. Sparing everybody’s feelings isn’t going to stop people in their 40’s and 50s from having strokes and heart attacks.
Late to the convo but just wanted to add that in the USA “Minority” is mostly used to describe racial or ethnic categories. White people are statistically the Ethnic Majority in the USA. If a study is mentioned or a news report is given, the term “Minority” almost never refers to White people, regardless of their socio-economic situation.
In matters of equal opportunity, employment, govt statistics, and legal matters women are considered part of a protected class. Federal anti discrimination laws discourage discrimination in employment, housing, contracts etc due to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, etc.
In America, Minority is usually a reference to race or ethnicity, unless one is describing something like a poll result ie, “a minority of dentists prefer baking soda over toothpaste”
You make a lot of important points. It’s worth the time and effort to eat as healthy as possible.
Agreed Nikki and I know plenty of people who are always trying new dad first or complain about how expensive healthy food is but you bet they have that brand new iPhone 6 and PS4 the day they come out. If you want to make a change you need to stop blaming other people and take charge but cutting back on somethings so you can spend more on other. The first thing Mr. M and I did when we wanted to start eating more organic healthy produce was to get rid of cable tv, we use netflix now. That was the first step amongst many that we have taken to better our health. I know this is not possible for all but for a lot it is. People don’t know the difference between want and need anymore.
@NIKKI. Thank you for the very well-stated injection of sanity.
@GNAT
Thank you, I really appreciate it. Hope we can be internet-comment friends 🙂
She didn’t grow up privileged
But she has been privileged since her twenties, so she’s 65 now, so do the math.
She may be privileged, but I don’t think she’s completely clueless. I’m sorry but most of the Americans who are overweight didn’t become that way simply because they can’t afford to purchase more nutritious food. Obesity cuts across class and racial lines (though impoverished families are disproportionately affected). I come from an African-American family where obesity has resulted in my relatives dying young due to hypertension and diabetes. Shortly before her death, my diabetic grandmother had both legs amputated, so I do think obesity is tragic. While it’s easy to blame food deserts for the obesity trend, my family members are middle class and can afford to eat more healthfully. That said, it can be difficult to prepare meals at home when you’re exhausted after working all day. Eating healthfully and exercising requires planning and time that some people don’t have.
I agree with what u say here. I saw a show on tv recently about a 16 year old kid in Scotland who is so heavy, she is at risk of dying. Her mother has been shoving processed ready meals and sugary drinks into her since she was born. Her excuse was that she couldn’t afford real food. When a nutritionist took her to the supermarket and made healthier choices, it worked out much cheaper than ready made oven chips, pizzas etc. and the other fast foods she was buying. It turned out then that the mother couldn’t cook though. I can’t believe people here are saying that it’s cheaper to eat rubbish than fresh food. What does a few potatoes, carrots and a piece of chicken cost? A big bag of rice lasts ages. It comes down to – I believe – an addiction to more sugary, higher salted processed and fast food. It is really hard to get off that stuff when you start eating it regularly and it is easier to throw a pizza in an oven, than spend 10 minutes chopping and half an hour cooking fresh food.
I agree, it irritates me when people say eating junk is cheaper than eating healthy. Maybe that’s the case in America, but that’s definitely not the case in Canada. Fast food and junk food is expensive! For instance, it costs about $20 when my husband and I go to mcdonalds. I can make several meals at home and have leftovers for 20 bucks, especially if I use in season food. And it tastes a millions times better than fast food! There are lots of inexpensive produce out there as you say: potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, squash etc. And there’s nothing wrong with buying meat and produce that’s frozen either. And processed food at the grocery store is expensive too. Chips, frozen meals, cookies – that crap adds up in the grocery cart and by eliminating those things, I’ve personally really reduced my grocery budget (not that we’d eat them often as it is).
I think a big problem is that many people just don’t know how to shop smartly and then be able to cook that food healthily :(.
I agree with almost all of what you say, including that it can be difficult time-wise and energy-wise to cook at home. My only additional thought is it’s a necessary part of life, so we should do it anyway and quit whining about it. It doesn’t take that long to cook meals. It doesn’t require that much energy. Most of us are still wound up from work anyway. Everybody who does cook on a regular basis finds it calming and rewarding – rewarding in that any one of us can cook better food at home than what we get at fast food restaurants and w/out the food coma feel because we’re not cooking with preservatives or at least not the same level. I use my crock pot…a lot.
I totally agree with her, I live in England and it’s by far cheaper to buy fresh fruit and veg, rice, pasta, passata, etc then buying processed ready meals and other junk. Although it would be far easier to zap a ready meal in a microwave for me, my husband and 5 year old each night, after I finish work but as I’ve got older I’ve realised that I got away lightly in my teens and early twenties eating rubbish (vegetarian that didn’t like veg…) but now I actually prefer eating far more healthily, it’s cheaper to do so, and I feel far better about my diet then I used to, ten or so years ago. Maybe it’s different in the US, in terms of expense, but if I was to live on takeaways for a week, I’d be skint, in comparison to cooking something from a supermarket, that was fresh…..
I dunno. We spend a fair amount on groceries each week (lots of produce, but we do cut cost by using dried beans instead of meat pretty regularly). My husband and I recently went to dinner at an Indian restaurant that was basically just a takeaway place with a couple of tables (they serve the food on styrofoam plates, classy). For five people it was $55. Granted, we got a lot more calories per person than I would normally have in a homecooked dinner, but our home cost-per-person-per-meal averages $1.50-$2.00, much MUCH less than we paid. “Eating out” is generally only cheaper if you are comparing against the absolute bottom of the barrel options (e.g. McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell…).
I do find it pretty ironic that people with more money will typically also have resources available to get good food cheaply, while these same resources are not as frequently available for poorer consumers. For example, if we buy a 25-lb bag of pinto or black beans at Costco, the cost per lb is more than 50% less than what we would pay to buy a 2 or 5 lb bag of beans at a grocery store or one of the nearby Hispanic stores. Other really basic and healthy groceries (eggs, milk, yogurt, oatmeal, brown rice, olive oil, onions) are often also significantly cheaper at Costco or other warehouse clubs than at a regular grocery store. We definitely save several hundred dollars per year by shopping there, and we’re a 2-person family with fairly basic tastes (we don’t eat much meat, no fancy prepared foods, and I rarely buy produce there because ours doesn’t really stock much in the way of very cheap vegetables, they just have better prices on high-end vegetables).
But, we have the means to purchase a Costco membership, and are stable enough in our living situation and have enough storage space that buying in bulk makes sense, and we are actually able to GET to a store like Costco. I have lived in areas where the options for shopping were much more limited, and yes, I definitely had to spend more on groceries.
It’s also worth noting that in many cities, the cheapest housing options will often not have any kitchen facilities beyond a microwave, mini-fridge, and toaster oven or hot plate. Cooking from scratch with those limitations is HARD WORK.
actually I should have said that I live in Germany and it is cheap here at the supermarket, so I can’t compare to the states. I didn’t know that buying fresh produce could be expensive there.
Cost of produce varies a lot by region and also by store. For example, we live near a local produce market that has very good prices. They get a lot of things that are a little bruised or maybe a little overripe, so they aren’t “suitable” for the big chain stores. Shopping there lets me get a lot of fancier vegetables (red bell peppers, chard, baby salad greens) for a fairly modest amount of money. If I were shopping at a regular chain grocery store it would definitely cost me more. I find that produce is also quite a bit cheaper here in California than it is in, say, the Northeastern US. Although I say we spend a “fair amount” on groceries, our spending for 2 people is typically $300-350/month, which is definitely less than most eating out options. It is our biggest monthly expense after our rent, but that’s mostly because we’re pretty frugal overall, not because food is soooooooo crazy expensive.
I don’t know that groceries are really that much more expensive here in the US than in the rest of the developed world. I know groceries in Canada are MUCH more expensive than in the US. From my limited experience with a few European grocery stores, I have not noticed that produce is massively cheaper in Europe than in the US. I do think Americans have an expectation that food should be really cheap, which is possibly driven by the incredibly low prices of foods that benefit from the massive subsidies to big agriculture. Reworking agricultural subsidies would probably do a lot to change people’s impressions of which foods are cheap and which are expensive.
I can’t say I disagree her on some points. I’m not fat by any means but I am a few pounds heavier than I used to be and I know it’s because of my lazy diet. I work out regularly so Im in shape but my stomach isn’t as flat as it used to be. I know I could be right back to where I want if I took the time to cook healthy stuff ahead and not just grab something quick b/c Im too lazy to cook something decent.
Ok, so this is just my opinion. But I worked at Whole Foods for 4 years as a cashier and without a doubt the people who only bought fruit and veggies ( and a lot of it) ALWAYS had the lowest bills, always. I was always surprised at how low the bill actually was once i was done entering all those millions of codes, lol. So i’m not sure that the argument that horrible food is always the cheapest is always true. And mind you the fruit and veggies bought at whole foods are usually organic and still they were the cheapest. Now when it comes to “healthy” prepackaged food or grass fed beef then the price is a different story altogether. I know that situations differ for people but those are just my two cents:)
That’s interesting! If we focus on the current recommendations for healthy eating (mostly fruits and veggies), our food bills will be lower.
I’ve had Whole Foods cashiers marvel at the amount of stuff I get for the price. I can buy a ton of food and spend little at Whole Foods.
When I go to the fruit and vegetable section, I first look around and see what’s on sale. That becomes my basis for a week’s shopping. There are always a few things on sale.
Next, I go to bulk and get my lentils, oatmeal, and spices.
After that, I see what’s on sale in the aisle with the oils and the small boxes of diced tomatoes. When I see anything on sale there, I get a case.
I then go to fish (followed by meat) and if there is anything interesting on sale, I buy it. If it’s freezable and really a good price, I buy a good quantity for freezing.
I make my own broth for soups, my own pasta sauces, everything. I do not waste time or money in the pre-prepared section.
I eat well, and cheaply, for this reason. And no kidding, there have been times when the cashier just marvels at the amount of food I’ve purchased for such a small amount of money.
(I can’t pat myself on the back too hard though; when I was a kid, my father–who loved to cook–taught me how to shop at a grocery store and I use the techniques he taught me to this day).
I need to go shopping with you. Some kind of trance overtakes me in the grocery store, especially in the cereal aisle, and I can’t concentrate or stay focused. I like your plan, which sounds much more efficient than wandering around in a daze.
Great story. I agree that it is possible to eat inexpensively on a limited budget. Also, it’s possible to get food delivered almost anywhere these days, even if you live in a ‘food desert.’ But yeah, cooking takes time and cleaning up takes time. Some people have a major time squeeze, particularly working parents.
I like going to Whole Paycheck because they have a bar. I fill my belly up with some insanely hoppy beer that tastes just like weed, grab some Barbara’s jalapeño cheese puff thingies on the way out and bam, grocery shopping done.
“Whole Paycheck”, brilliant @mimif. The irony in using this store as a baseline for Trolltwiggy argument is amusing to me.
Let them eat (rice)cake.
The cheapest items at Whole Foods ARE their produce. Usually, their locally-grown stuff is cheaper than in the large grocery stores.
But people with families don’t necessarily have kids who want to eat boiled beets and fennel for dinner.
@Kitten, not to mention the locations of Whole Foods says something about the neighborhood to begin with.
@Kiddo-we recently had a Whole Foods open up in my neighborhood and it was a huge boost as far as luring a bunch of yuppies to Chucktown.
East Boston and Mattapan don’t have a Whole Foods because they’re not considered “wealthy, desirable” neighborhoods and are mainly Latino/black populations. Pretty f*cked up when you think about it.
Check out #1:
http://www.trulia.com/tips/2014/10/4-tips-identify-next-hot-neighborhood/
@Kiddo. No worries, i was contemplating not mentioning Whole Foods because i know a lot of people have animosity towards it, which is fine. But try working there, you would hate it 100 times more, lol ;). I should have just said a supermarket. My main goal was to just say that i saw a difference in price. And since i don’t work there anymore i shop at regular grocery stores and i still see the same thing when i go shopping and try to be healthy. But most of the time i have no will power and i give into the prepackaged, easy to make food too. ha!. I know that not everyone has access to large grocery stores, etc. I was just commenting on the fact that it’s a common idea that healthy food is ALWAYS expensive. That is not always the case. I just wanted to state what i had seen throughout the years as a cashier 🙂
We have a Whole Foods and it annoys me because they are always out of some basic thing, like cilantro, or basil or cabbage. So I go there thinking I’ll make so and so, then I have to go to Acme to get the ingredients they don’t have. Every time. Is yours like that?
Yes, Goodnames! That’s because they tend to only carry produce that’s “in season”.
They’re annoying but I shop there because it’s the only supermarket with walking distance. I do end up going to Shaw’s on the weekend though to the junk I can’t find at WF.
@Kitten: “But people with families don’t necessarily have kids who want to eat boiled beets and fennel for dinner.” I hear that so often and it’s a strange argument for me. It might be true, but when I was a kid I never got to complain about the food. You eat what’s on the table and that’s it. If it is boiled beets and fennel, that’s what it is (even if you might prefer pizza and burger). Due to my parent’s job we always went to restaurants when we had a special occasion, like a birthday, and they never ordered the “children’s menu” because it was mostly some rubbish like fish nuggets with fries. Instead we got to eat like the adults and were encouraged to try everything they ordered, at least a bite, even if it sounded or looked gross (like kidneys or tripe). And we had to eat our salad before anything else.
So for me children throwing tantrums because they don’t get what they want, that’s a strange concept. I mean.. they are children, they never get what they want, no chocolate for breakfast, no car of their own, no living in a castle like Cinderella, no panda bears as a pet.
Fair enough, Isadora.
I don’t have kids so I don’t have any real investment in this subject matter.
FTR, growing up, we ate “real” food that my parents cooked but kale and almond milk wasn’t a thing when we were kids so it wasn’t always health food. We also ate chicken nuggets and fast food occasionally and we both grew into health-conscious adults.
I guess my point is that I’m not going to judge what other parents choose to feed their kids. If it’s like pulling teeth to get your kids to eat broccoli, then maybe it’ll have to be spaghetti instead.
*shrugs*
@Isadora – I feel the same way. When I was a kid I loved beets and all kinds of vegetables. My mother put the food on the table and I ate it. When I had a child I did the same thing. If she did not eat it she did not eat it. I always figured that she was unlikely to starve herself (she did not – as a teenager now, she eats everything.)
I was always astounded when I met mothers who told me they cooked a completely different meal for their kids because – “that’s all they will eat (usually chicken nuggets, pizza etc.). I worked full time and when I came home, I made a home-cooked meal every night. I certainly wasn’t going to cook TWO meals a night! 🙂
But aren’t all kids just different?
Maybe you had a natural taste for those kinds of foods, but not every kid does. When I was a kid I hated brussel sprouts, cauliflower and mushrooms. Still can’t stand mushrooms but I like brussels and cauliflower now.
I loved candy as a kid but my neighbor hated candy–he just didn’t have a sweet tooth.
As far as kids eating whatever is put on the table, maybe you’re right? All I know is that growing up, I had friends who would refuse to eat something and would go to bed hungry before they would eat it.
I mean..I don’t know. The judging just seems like an excuse for another Mommy War to me, another reason for one mom to feel “better than” another mom.
But what did people in the “old days” do? I mean the business of cooking separate meals of “kid food” seems to be a pretty modern thing. Certainly when I was a kid in the 1960s, none of my friends (and they all had different tastes) got a completely different meal, nor did their mothers dumb down the family meal to their limited tastes. My own sister hated vegetables – but they were put on the table and if she did not eat them – well tough (she likes them now by the way.)
The thing is that a kid might go to bed hungry a few times, but human beings will not willingly starve themselves.
I’m an older mother so I really was astounded when I rather regularly ran into women who catered to their children’s tastes like that. I rather think the microwave might be behind it, making it easy to heat something frozen up in a few minutes, thus making the two meals a night less of a burden.
“But what did people in the “old days” do?”
Good question. You’re probably right that the kids ate whatever they had to for nourishment.
Absolutely agree. You CAN feed a family well but it takes time and obviously effort. The high cost of our groceries comes from meat (and instead of saving for designer bags I prefer to spend on good food, imagine that) because I choose organic, grass fed etc. Even so, if you plan your meals and buy only what you need from your list, you come ahead when comparing with fast food. I am Canadian, so our prices are always higher than US but on the rare occasion I get a three person fast food meal at A&W it comes to about $30. I can make two home cooked very nice dinners including salad, main dish and dessert from scratch for that. (I actually did the math: fresh veggies, fruits, dinner rolls, one pork tenderloin for Wiener Schnitzel and a pack of 8 chicken thighs for stew with dumplings, including the flour and creme fraiche for dumplings, the eggs and apples, butter and sugar for an apple crisp). The big factor though is time and knowing how to cook.
As far as feeding kids healthy, I think it is a combination of how you train them and their own natural inclination. If you give them soda, they will drink it. I like the taste of it too, but we do not buy it for home, it is a rare thing to be drunk if we eat out. If you are thirsty you drink water, not pop or juice, or whatever vitamin enhanced, energy drink fizzy stuff they bottle. Regarding veggies, there are so many options out there, even if a child hates broccoli or Brussels sprouts, you can hide tons of things in pasta sauce, apples and zucchini in muffins etc. And you can buy items like a rotisserie chicken, washed salad and a few veggies and make a very healthy meal in minutes if you are strapped for time. Pizza dough is available refrigerated and pizza sauce comes in a can, add toppings in five minutes and get your own custom pizza. Not everything has to complicated.
Twiggy’s comments may come from a privileged stand point and to me she came across as slightly obnoxious, but they are no less true for that, obesity has lots of horrible consequences. But just throwing shade at mothers, for example, does not help. When every other ad on TV is for pre-packaged junk or fast food, when you take out the home ed type classes out of schools, you leave all the responsibility for getting educated, making good decisions, learning how to shop and cook to someone who may be a super tired mom barely making ends meet. And then you blame her for making her family overweight. Well, duh. I was lucky to be taught cooking by my mom as a child and learned how to read labels because I got interested in clean eating, and I choose to spend a lot of time and money cooking, but I know it is not for everyone. What we need is a lot of education starting at a young age. Once people stop buying crummy food fast food and chemical laden pre-packaged stuff will disappear.
I sometimes have to make a separate meal for my kid, but he has a lot of food allergies. If we have a meat/side/veg meal he can usually eat everything but the side, and he has fruit instead. But if we have more of an all-in-one meal, he can’t eat it, so I end up making him something completely different.
And I don’t know where you guys shop where you can buy all produce and it’s cheaper than the other stuff. Most of my shopping bill goes to fresh meat and produce, which we probably get more of because of the allergies. My kid gets fresh fruit and veg at every meal. And it is not cheap. And he’s fairly diverse in what he will eat, but he doesn’t eat beets and fennel. Lol. It’s actually taken forever to get him to eat cheap stuff like rice and potatoes.
So this! Plus there are so many more local farmers markets popping up now as well . You can load up on tons of cheap, healthy, produce. How is soda cheaper than water? Shes spot on about kids and soda. Its disgusting that parents think its ok to pour soda in a childs sippy cup.
I’m not too familiar with the food desert concept but I would think they make up a relatively small percentage of the US. I tend to believe most people who eat like crap don’t know any better. Schools almost never focus on nutrition and if the parents aren’t educated how do the kids learn? I think lots could be done but the crap makers; ie Nabisco, Sysco, MonSanto ect. aren’t going to let that happen any time soon.
How can soda be cheaper than water? Easy. The main ingredient in cola is corn syrup. Corn is unnaturally cheap in the US because our federal government subsidizes corn production to an insane degree. When the government pumps its money into the production, the company can then sell the product for a super-low price, and then the products the corn are in are unnaturally cheap too. That’s why. The market has an artificial price control on it. You might be amazed, but that’s the truth in the USA.
THIS! Well said. I agree with SnarkySnarkers comment 100%. I don’t make a lot of money, and I eat very healthily. I buy fruit, veggies, lentils, organic and hormone-free meat and I save money. Why? Because I don’t buy sodas, crackers, cookies nor any prepackaged junk. I eat gluten, sugar, process free foods and I look great and weight gain is not a problem. If people really went back to the basics, they’d realize they save a lot of money and look and feel great. Obesity wouldn’t exist if we followed this simple rule.
Ps. There are no Whole Foods markets in my area and I manage to find everything I need to sustain my lifestyle choices.
Sam, soda is absolutely NOT cheaper than water. Come on now. You can buy a gallon of water for around .75 Even cheaper if you bring your own gallon and use one of the water filter machines at the store.
Right, But take a population like Detroit, NYC, Chicago: do you even have a whole foods in an urban area?? Shoot Sometimes a Supermarket plain and simple is a hard find….. Farmers Market. maybe once a month in a suburban area …at best you get a crappy bodega with an absurd Mark Up on anything not out of a can.. Same places will have a Mickey D’s in every corner though… Food Inc. was great at explaining this as far as being poor/low income, working crazy jobs and knowing it was easier to get the kids and everyone a Happy Meal than Toil in the kitchen when you have other expenses to deal with and whatnot
Stop being over here and making sense to the twig-troll. She was better than you before she was better than you. She could eat what she wanted. Now that she can’t, you’re lazy! GOOD DAY, I said GOOD DAY!
Whoa totally OT but QQ your current hair sitch is *insert Missy Elliot voice here* baaaaangin. Hootie hoo! Love it. 😍
It doesn’t have to be a Whole Foods, that’ s just where i happened to work. I grew up with very little money in an urban area and we have a fruit/veggie/ fish store called Apple Tree that is very inexpensive and my mom was able to purchase a lot of food on little money. We always ate a lot of veggies and fruits and fish dishes ( mostly whole fried fish cause I’m from El Salvador,lol) . There wasn’t a whole foods in sight back then, lol. She was a single mom with three children. My point was that veggies and fruits were the cheapest if that was what was mostly purchased. I know that people can’t only eat that but from what i saw on a regular basis working at a supermarket the bill was always lower when fruits and veggies were the main component.
MIMIF Did you catch your LIFE on my hair?? Im only here to serve the People…serve and then serve some more!!
(Im also dead cause me and all my friends call em Whole Paychecks too!! And my sister had to stop doing full groceries there for her family once she saw the whole she was getting into!)
@rahrahrooey, it wasn’t directed at you, I apologize for making you feel bad. But obesity rates are a lot more complicated, especially for the poor, where there are other issues such as depression, and access to quality stores.
The twig-troll utilizing this platform of discussion was disingenuous.
I live in Detroit and we have quite a few fresh fruit and vegetable markets that are affordable, but you are right about there being a McDonald’s on every corner.
@Kiddo sorry I responded to you up thread somehow. I’m new to posting on this site. 🙂
@rahrahrooey, You owe me no apology.
@QQ, I also love your comments, you are a joy to read. But with this one I have to disagree. I grew up in NYC, left when I was 29, and found healthy produce every single day. My dad, an immigrant, was the cook and he taught me how to cook inexpensive and wholesome food. He hated canned and frozen food, he said it was old. I make beans and lentils from scratch, eat mostly chicken and fish, use honey instead of sugar and seldom buy canned foods and processed foods. Eating well is a daily habit. Buying what’s in season keeps cost down, and as someone up thread wrote, try to buy what’s on sale and plan your meals accordingly. Going to the store with a meal already planned means you have to buy those ingredients, whether they are cheap or not. Tomatoes on sale can turn into a healthy tomato basil soup or spaghetti sauce that can be stored for future use. Beans, are amazing. Black beans are a basis for Cuban cuisine and red beans can be used in dirty rice or a great chili recipe. Lentils are a wonderfood, they can be the basis of an Indian inspired meal, or a split pea stew. I lived in the poorest part of NYC and could find all these ingredients. Obesity is a disease, treat your body right and it will reward you with a long healthy life.
@Kiddo, DYING!
Yes, we cut our groceries bill in half when we started to buy fresh and in season products only. But it does take a lot more time and effort to cook now. I need a lot more pans to cook now, the cleaning takes longer, the cooking itself takes longer.
I like everything in this thread.
Pro Tip: Invest in a pressure cooker or a slow cooker or one of those that does both! It will give you life. I gave my pressure cooker away when I moved a few months ago and I’m still so mad!
Yes! A slow cooker is a life saver for those who don’t enjoy cooking and it’s great for budget friendly meals.
Reese- I agree! I need to replace mine.
I shop at Whole Foods for the meats, actually. I live in a major city where quality groceries are extremely expensive. Even so-so groceries can be very expensive. Luckily, I have access to CSAs and places like Stiles, that sell fruits and veggies for really cheap.
But for the quality meats, Whole Foods (at least in my city) has the BEST sales for them and I frequently buy things like Bell and Evans whole chickens (3 meals, easy) for $7 or less and veal patties for $1.50 each. You just have to know which days to go.
It really depends on where you live, I would guess. I’m in London, and I found out when I was completely broke that it was indeed cheaper to cook my own meals from scratch rather than buy ready made/junk food. I can’t affort to buy organic for sure, but vegetables, chicken bought on the last day before expiry date, big bags of basic rice, pasta etc are completely affordable.
This. I used to think the same until I became very poor. I stopped buying crap and went to the ‘reduced items’ sections in big supermarkets for vegetables and fruit, only taking the loose items. Nothing canned or in pots.
I also went to the outdoor markets and if you go around closing time, they hand out food almost for free. I could have veg for a whole month on less than 20 pounds because I blanched them and froze them only eating 2 small meals a day but combined with my carbs such as brown rice, legumes and beans for my protein (in the Asian part of town, it’s super cheap and in bulk – meat and fish is too expensive), it kept me energized to go to my shitty job. And surprise surprise, I lost weight like crazy yet I wasn’t ill or tired at all. If you’re smart about it, buying healthy food should be cheaper than buying junkfood.
I do not judge people who buy crap though as my eating habits were bad due to emotional issues and it DOES NOT change. As soon as I started making more money again, I went out and bought crap again although not as bad as I used to. Loads of people cope by eating junkfood. Loads of people just don’t know what’s healthy and what is isn’t. I see it as an addiction. It takes discipline to eat mainly healthy and I don’t blame poor people for not having it, being poor is the worst, it’s not a good coping mechanism but who are we to judge when we eat crap too? We’re allowed to have an excuse but poor people can’t?
Twiggy needs to shut the eff up tbh, she’s contradicting herself if she can’t fully let go of unhealthy food either. She just eats healthy because she wants to stay skinny not for her health. But then she pretends she’s all about healthy when talking about overweight people. Please, she just wants to stay model thin because this is valued in society.
That’s very interesting! I urge you to write the long version of the story and submit it to a website for publication. It would be an interesting comparison to this story:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4326233
If anyone didn’t know, I think the woman who wrote it got a lot of donations after !
I’m so glad you brought up the emotional/mental facets to this conversation! Studies have show that being poor wears you down mentally. “We’re not saying the poor are dumber,” said study researcher Sendhil Mullainathan, an economist at Harvard University. “It’s as if being poor is like pulling an all-nighter, every night,”
I’ve never been poor before, but I have had instances of extreme stress. Sometimes it takes all your will just to survive and make it another day.
Also, not everyone grew up with a strong cooking background. Learning a new skill, such as how to convert raw meat and vegetables into something that one would want to consume, takes an abundance of mental energy.
http://www.livescience.com/39297-poverty-saps-brains-cognitive-ability.html
I agree with you mostly, but I don’t get the vitriol against Twiggy. The tone of her comments suggests she was genuinely trying to be sympathetic and understanding, which I take to mean she would be open changing her opinion based on comments such as yours. Maybe I’m interpreting her tone too favorably, though.
The most favorable reading of her opinion would be something I agree with, which is that since poverty really does sap cognitive ability, there needs to be an abundance of informational nutritional resources properly distributed to impoverished communities. I don’t just mean a poster saying “you should eat this instead of that,” where “that” is something that’s more difficult or expensive to find than “this.” I mean resources that are really tailored to the community, so that an individual has to do as little thinking as possible (e.g., the information is presented to them, it’s based on what’s cheap and available, it comes with extremely simple recipes, etc.). True, this wouldn’t help for the emotional eaters, but at least it would attack one angle.
Also, she’s not being contradictory by continuing to eat foods that, if eaten in large quantities, would be unhealthy. The only constant in the ocean of dietary advice is to eat everything in moderation, according to their relative nutritional elements.
I agree. I am from a poor country whose economics depends on tourism AND agriculture. so one of the perks of living in Spain is fruit and veggies at cheapest price and the chance to buy goods straight from the farmer. I feel privileged to live in a place where eat healthy is affordable to everybody. This ,and our national healthcare system, is the reason why we have one of the longest life expectancy of the world.
People who live in other countries have to struggle to get fresh food because it is so expensive and this is terrible. Twiggy is right but she can sound as a bit obnoxious saying that it’s due to laziness because it is not.
People love to throw the lazy word around and yes many people can be lazy but there are also many people out there who would love to cook with all fresh ingredients but simply can’t afford it or have access to it. I currently live outside of Baltimore , MD and have never really seen poverty like this until now. There are areas in the city -the very low income areas , that have no grocery stores so people are forced to shop at a local dollar store for food if they dont have access to transportation to get to the stores outside of their areas. It blows my mind because I would have never imagined not having access to such a necessity . It’s easy to sit high up on the mountain and criticize from your “castle” to the peasants down below, but reality isn’t as simple as “oh they are just lazy ” So counter productive.
But I also think it’s counter-productive to say that people have no agency in their own lives. I’ve never seen a bodega without beans, for example. Beans are cheap and incredibly nutritious. But they do take time and attention to prepare. I’ve also shopped at dollar stores myself and there is always some nutritious stuff in there with all the junk food, at a minimum frozen or canned vegetables.
I think this drastically oversimplifies the issue. I work with the homeless/low income population and a lot of them are struggling with health issues. In the neighborhoods I’m assigned, there’s usually a corner store that people get their food from. Or fast food places. The nearest grocery stores is on the main strip downtown — most people have to take a bus because they have no other transportation. So, you’re taking the bus — $2 trip round fair. Also, because the government just killed the surplus in food stamp benefits, you’ve $189/month to feed your family, plus whatever money you make at your crappy job. If you even have a job. You do your shopping, get as much as you can afford for the month (but it usually won’t last that long), then carry all of your groceries back on the bus, walk all the way home… It’s a huge hassle. Taking the bus, having to carry groceries on public transportation… Imagine you just worked a 10 hour day and have a cranky 2 year old crying every step of the way. Not awesome. The corner store is soon much easier.
And not only are food prices high, but no one ever taught these people to shop, really. The culture of poverty is that your grab food when you find it at what you can afford. To change this, you can’t just say: Have agency! Eat better! You have to change the institutional issues that keep people eating poorly.
Exactly. I walked around the produce section last night, annoyed I couldn’t find the cantaloupe because they’d moved it, and then actually had a moment of “how dare I be annoyed when I’m surrounded by piles of fresh fruits and veggies, when others can’t afford it, have no access to it, or live in a country where a supermarket like this doesn’t exist.”
Money and access are HUGE contributors to obesity. And you also can’t discount depression, addiction, and a host of other issues that can contribute to it as well.
Long story short, she’s drastically oversimplifying a complex issue. And that is kind of lazy.
@lucy2: Well played.
I was glad to hear you mention “food deserts.” In many neighborhoods, the mini-mart is the closest grocery store people have. I appreciate Twiggy owning her “middle-age spread” but her solutions for keeping weight off are a bit, well…thin.
I live in one of the poorer parts of my city, and within a mile of me there is one small store and several fast food restaurants.
I work in an area which used to be a food desert (my University has sponsored a supermarket recently which is why I say it “used” to be one.)
However before the University sponsored (and secured) supermarket, some private supermarkets attempted to set up shop. They were vandalized regularly, had their shopping carts stolen, and had to deal with robbery.
Obviously this was not done by all the people in the neighborhood, most of whom are good, decent folks. But it is a reason for “food deserts” beyond just corporate greed.
What exactly are you implying?
I am saying that in many “food deserts” there exists a large criminal class who spoil it for the rest of the people.
Supermarkets are businesses. If doing business becomes too difficult, they will cease to do business. Hence a “food desert” is created. Urban crime ruins what could be good neighborhoods.
Seriously, there is mo way to transport groceries from the store without spoiling them? Is it an American thing? Because it is definitely not the case in my part of the world. And also junk food is more expensive here than homemade dinner prepared with vegetables, season fruit and proteins.
On public transportation that can be difficult. Not everyone can have a car.
I didn’t get that, either. When I was a university student I lived month to month on meagre part-time job earnings. I had no car, so I walked to the grocery store. I brought a bundle buggy with me to fill up with my groceries and then wheeled my groceries home. Nothing spoiled. I actually bought groceries and cooked at home to save money. I found the junk food route way more expensive.
I don’t get it either when it comes down to our part of the world, but having been to the US a couple of times now I can see how it is a completely different situation. In most places you have a lot of distance to travel and it’s hard to buy food for a couple of days in one go. Over here, I put my groceries in the basket on my bicycle and cycle a few miles home. It would be a lot harder to have to do that by public transport. And there’s such a difference in the way stores are located within a city. I live near a city that has huge supermarkets in the centre of the city with lots of fresh produce and a daily market with fresh produce in the absolute centre of the city. You don’t get that very often in the US.
See, I wish we had a daily produce market here. We do have a weekly one, but the selection is pretty poor, and prices really aren’t any better than the grocery store. This is in Florida, too.
When I lived in California we had a fantastic weekly market that I could get most fruits and vegetables for the whole week for less than $20.
There are some areas of the United States that are extremely poor and underdeveloped compared to the more metropolitan coastlines, particularly in the Midwest and deep South where there place that have never fully recovered from the horror of Reconstruction. Fresh produce can be extremely expensive depending on its availability in your area (and in some very isolated areas, so bad it’s not even worth buying), whereas a dollar store can give you junkfood by the pound, stretching that dollar for all its worth. There are levels of poverty intense enough in America that families find themselves skipping meals to offset the cost. In those cases, it’s not about preferring soda to water – the choice to buy soda is fully intended to get the most calories for your dollar. There are certainly cases of obesity that aren’t due to issues of poverty and culture, but the levels that exist in the lower classes are definitely exacerbated by these issues.
I feel strongly that every single modeling picture I’ve seen her in, she looks very stoned.
I don’t know the food prizes in the US but in Germany vegetables and groceries like bread, rice, etc. are waaayyy cheaper than fast food. You simply get more for your money. You can cook a whole meal for 5 people and have left overs for less than if you buy preservative-filled stuff. I totally agree with her, but again, it may be different in other countries or regions. Also, I think it’s bs to say that because of public transportation you can’t buy fresh food- I mean, whether you live in a city or the country side, you pack your groceries in a bag and take the bus/train/whatever! What groceries would expire in that time? Unless you drive from New York to California for grocery shopping but again, who would do that? 😉
There’s only so much you can carry on public transit. And the distances aren’t always short. The bus schedules aren’t always reliable.
Of course you can’t buy food for a whole month when you are alone and use public transport. And I haven’t been in a city yet where bus schedules are always reliable, unfortunately.
Still, if you take one of those insulated bags even items that need to be refrigerated don’t spoil if you travel an hour or an hour and a half. However I have to admit that these days I hardly buy such items, I buy mostly fresh vegetables and fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and such. A lot of stuff like bread spreads, juices, almond milk, oil, etc. only needs to be refridgerated after you open them and not right away.
And in my country a lot of things are also available via amazon – you can buy beans, lentils, pasta, coconut oil, etc. like there’s no tomorrow and it even gets delivered to your house. Sometimes it’s cheaper than in stores too. So you mostly need to buy the fresh stuff and if you take a shopping trolley you can get a lot of apples and salad home. 😉
So, because it’s easy for you, it must be easy for everyone, right? Very considerate point of view, not at all narrow minded or judgmental.
I was just pointing out the fact that it may be not THAT difficult because in my experience it isn’t (I go by bus/subway since I don’t own a car) And as I was saying: I didn’t know that some people need to drive for hours to buy groceries. However not everyone lives under that circumstances and the problem with eating unhealthy exists not only in regions without good public transportation.
at the end of the day, people can make all the excuses they like for not eating healthily – it’s expensive, it’s too difficult, it’s whatever. but obesity is a worldwide problem that is present in every developed country, in all classes etc. and it is a problem that wasn’t there 30 or 40 years ago – when economies were not as developed as they are now, times were hard in some cases (depending on the country), there was less money around generally (again depending where). look at old photos – an overweight kid is a rarity. in fact everyone looked really skinny. we live in a world where we have cheap, sugar and salt-rich junk available at our finger tips whether we are poor or rich. we move less. fast and processed foods are addictive. people eat to relax and wind down from the stress of life. that’s the way it is.
Fresh, and especially organic, is quite expensive really. So we grab prepared. I think a solution to the obesity epidemic is to be proactive and begin with the obvious – We need to start insisting on getting rid of refined sugar and sugar derivatives in our “fast” food, for a start
I agree/disagree with her. Yes, food deserts exist and they can have a devestating impact on low-income people. She doesn’t account for that. HOWEVER, food deserts alone are insufficient to explain the tremendous rise in obesity, which is rising across all socio-economic groups.
Part of it is that Americans work more than ever, and fast food/convienance foods enable that. It’s hard to devote an hour to cooking when you work 60+ hours a week. In addition, cooking has never really recovered from the beating it took decades ago when it got labeled “domestic work” and became seen as less valuable. I actually know people (sadly, mostly women) who brag about using their ovens as a storage device, and that’s unnerving. And then you have the subsidies that our government creates that push the prices of the unhealthiest foods down to make them more attractive.
Is there a facet of personal responsibility? Yes, but to me it pales in comparison to all the stuff above.
Definitely this too! I only work a regular 40 hours + about 6 hour commute each week and definitely struggle to make healthy food everyday. You are tired when you get home and I don’t even have kids, its just me and my husband. Bless all you single moms out there!
God, I can’t imagine. I just make some sort of healthy stew in an hour for a week. And I roast my veg in 8min. No variety whatsoever but at least it’s nutritious. Real cooking is hard work. Like, I love cooking but ain’t nobody got time for that these days!
Yeah, this. I am a single working mom (don’t get child support–long, miserable story). I have an above-average job but it means longer hours than I’d like. On my typical day, I am up at around 5:45 and either do a quick workout at home (like, a video or weights) or pay bills/file and organize or a hundred other things that have to get done.
Then at 6:45 I wake my son up, get him ready for a full day of kindergarten plus aftercare. I usually also prep breakfast for him before he wakes up, so that he can have a healthy breakfast–oatmeal with nuts and fresh fruit, or scrambled eggs with cheese and turkey bacon and fruit etc. I pack his lunch the night before and work *very* hard to make sure it’s healthy. No desserts or sweets, ever. He has to have snack packed for aftercare as well. It’s hard to find options that are healthy, will keep all day, are minimally processed, and on my budget.
Then, I rush from work (am usually the earliest to leave which is always stressful, even though I work after he goes to bed at night from home to get everything done). It’s about a 25 minute drive in traffic to his school and then 25 minutes home. We get home around 6 pm. Most nights I do my best to get something quick but healthy and cheap on the table. Lentils are a go-to for me. If I am not too exhausted, sometimes I will cook double batches of brown rice on the weekends. I make a lot of frittate, it’s an easy way to get extra veggies in the mix. A lot of rice and beans and cheese with salads. Frozen veggies are cheap and I don’t have to worry about them spoiling, and I can make a dozen different sauces/seasonings for broccoli etc. Luckily my son isn’t picky, though partly that’s because I have been feeding him healthy foods and including him in what I make (and putting my foot down and not making him alternatives if he protests) from the get-go. He knows he *has* to take at least one “no thank you” bite of everything on his plate so he doesn’t even argue with me anymore.
I usually set him up at the table and he draws while I cook, and we catch up on our days. Or he will help me cook sometimes. I am desperate to get time with him most weekdays, so part of me just *hates* taking the time to cook and I partly wish I could do what his father does when he has him, which is pick up junk food/takeout. But I know that he needs and deserves healthy meals so I do my best to make the time count. It’s hard.
Then it’s bath, books, and bed for him, and another hour or two of work for me. Lather rinse repeat.
TLDR version:
I’m educated about nutrition, have a stable job with a car, and know how to cook well and enjoy it. But as a single, working mom, it takes pretty much all my extra energy to plan, shop for, and cook healthy meals. I am bone-weary pretty much all the time, every day. It isn’t even just the expense, it’s the prep/cook time. My very minimal extra time with my sweet kiddo is precious and I resent spending it cooking, even though I like cooking in itself.
Obesity is sometimes about being lazy, sure. But so often in the US it’s much, much more complicated.
Exactly. My mom works part time as a massage therapist. That means she works three days a week, and can largely make her own hours–she works whenever she wants. She’s generally back by 3, and if she makes a meal it takes HOURS. At least three or four. And the only thing that she ever uses that isn’t fresh is canned tomatoes for sauce, and premade gravy that she uses as a base. Other than that? Everything else is fresh or frozen. And that takes a ton of time. And for someone who’s relatively inexperienced (like me), it takes even longer. I made what should’ve been a relatively simple dinner–I was in the kitchen from four in the afternoon until ten thirty at night–that’s all the preparation, ate, and then did the dishes……and there are five people in the house.
Honestly, I disagree with this assessment a lot. Yes, I get that Twiggy’s probably cut down the unhealthy stuff cos of her slowing metabolism but that being said:
Obesity is a tragedy. I don’t care how people slice it and dice it. I’m currently about 40 lbs heavier than I should be (even after having lost 16 lbs over the last 2 months) and I’m working on cutting down the rest of that weight in the next 6 months through vigorous exercise and being super conscious of what I eat. I just wanted to preface with that because I feel like lots of people are extremely skeptical of otherwise “skinny” or not overweight people making the claim that obesity is a tragedy and I just wanted to say, that as someone going through dropping weight- i definitely agree with this statement.
Honestly, some of you may not realize how many people are on so many different medications and treatments just because their weight is out of control. Just 2 days ago, I was speaking to a person who just got his insurance to pay for a gastric sleeve procedure because he’s at 45%+ body fat percentage…and he concedes it’s all been his own doing. he’s on cholesterol pills but continues to have red meat and soda with lunch/dinner. It’s really appalling. I don’t think surgery’s a quick fix but maybe losing a lot of weight may motivate people like him to exercise more because it’s not as intense on their joints or tendons. His parting words? “My doctor told me if I get this surgery and drop all this weight, it’d reduce about 3/4 of the medications I’m on for asthma, BP, cholesterol etc.”
We honestly have to acknowledge that at some point obesity is a disease and just perpetuates more harm and conditions in otherwise healthy people. I don’t think someone is clueless or privileged for thinking that; she may not understand the logistics of cooking/eating healthier is in some poverty-ridden areas of the country. I see it everyday; I live and go to school near Newark in NJ. I see people go day in and day out just eating high-preservative/high-calorie foods and a soda with…almost every meal. There is just no conscientious education about healthier eating and making good choices for cooking meals at home, etc.
I think it’s an important conversation worth having. Yes, it’s expensive and it’ inconvenient to cook fresh or buy fresh food and make it at home–but our health is the single most important investment we can arguably make and enough people don’t consider their health in those terms. If there was more demand for fresh food rather than crappy unhealthy items, it’d drive down the cost of produce and fresh food but we need community-wide initiatives and conscious decision making to choose and know what the right items are for consumption. I’d rather people continue this conversation than not talk about it because people need to realize that nothing is gonna be more valuable than their health in the LR.
You are assuming this is a legit free market, and it is not. The US government pumps giant sums of money into subsidizing foods – mostly corn and soy, and the meat and dairy industries as well. That financial manipulation screws with the market. I don’t blame people for choosing cheap foods, because people have other needs and saving money is a big deal. But this blaming of people is ridiculous when the market has been artificially manipulated to incentive making bad choices. You talk about priorities, but how do you explain that to people who have to choice between healthy food and rent in a decent place, or paying school fees or anything else? Do some people have the means to make better choices and just don’t? Sure. But most people are balancing multiple needs. Health is nice to talk about, but when you have more immediate needs or goals, talking about health isn’t that impressive.
I think if we want to have a meaningful conversation, we stop putting this on individuals and start pointing fingers at the groups that actually cause the mess in the first place.
Go Sam!
And f*ck agricultural subsidies.
+2
You do realize that investing in health is just as important if NOT more important than school fees or rent, right? Like I understand the importance of those things but isn’t it also true that good health is something you can’t place a $$ amount?
also, let’s not just make these points about people who are obviously struggling a lot more financially and therefore these choices are difficult for them to make because it’s hard to choose between fresh produce and a good neighborhood to live in. i get that. but let’s also not pretend that poor choices are only being made by the poor and middle/upper middle class are making all the responsible choices. it’s simply not the case.
you said- ” Do some people have the means to make better choices and just don’t? Sure.” It’s not “some”- it’s actually a fair amount of the population. people who have disposable income to take their kids to the movies, bowling alleys, skating rinks, disneyworld, six flags etc. are also the ones who are letting their kids consume soda and crappy food year-around. you’re misrepresenting lack of wealth with an actual inability to make conscious choices for food. while that maybe true, it doesn’t extend to cover all those who have the money to make better decisions but don’t because of laziness or sheer ignorance.
Almondey: I think you’re basically whining about other people without knowing much about them. Do you personally question every single person who you see with a child at the movies? Here’s a stunning development: Poor people want to do that stuff for their kids too. Low and middle-income people want to do that same stuff with their kids that the upper classes do. And also, you failed to address other points – namely, how do you think some of those people afford those trips out? They work far more than 40+ hours a week. My family does well my virtue of the fact that I’m a lawyer who has more days than I’d like to admit when I bust my butt at work and come home, frankly, tired and yes, I have no desire to whip up a lovely organic health-food approved meal, and nor does my husband (who’s financial sector job ensures he has plenty of long days too). Could we work less? Maybe – but we’d lose the ability to provide a lot for our kid. Frankly, working that much ensures that my kid can get the organic rice cereal and non-GMO treats she likes. It also ensures that she can attend a decent school, since we live in area with pretty poor public education, it ensures she has decent healthcare through an expensive insurance plan too, but hey, who’s counting that? Perhaps you’d suggest that working less would render the need for that insurance moot, since by eating so much better, we could eliminate the need for it altogether!
You come off as nothing more than a garden variety concern troll who sees only individual behaviors when we should be addressesing systematic issues. You think only the poor should get an excuse to eat less than well, when in fact you fail to grasp that many in the middle class have to fight mightly just to stay out of poverty, and maybe that fight leaves them slightly too drained to give a rat’s ass about what they eat. Perhaps you need to take your privileged self out to meet some people who don’t live quite as well as you seem to do.
ETA: I went back and re-read your comment and frankly, you come off as the most privileged person I’ve heard in a long time. “Health is just as important as rent?” You’ve never been facing an eviction, have you? I can’t imagine you’d say that otherwise. Do you really believe that a person staring down eviction – and potential homelessness – gives two f*cks about the calories or sugar content in the soda in the fridge? Here’s a hint: probably not, because frankly, they have bigger problems right now. Do you think the young adult trying to scrape tuiton together so they can stay in school and maybe get a small shot at bettering their station in life really cares about their cholesterol? No, because maybe the schooling, which might afford them the only chance they will ever get to avoid or escape poverty, seems slightly more important at that moment.
Sam- I think I’m in love.
@Sam- I’m so glad that you’ve figured out my level of privilege and exactly what kind of person I am by the 2 comments i’ve posted regarding the obesity epidemic we face! totally unnecessary to get so personal and it actually made me laugh because if you knew anything about me, i’d be far from privileged.
I’m an immigrant from a 3rd world country and when i moved here with my family, my parents were middle class (if that) and made a few sacrifices to ensure that we ate pretty healthy. You can honestly mischaracterize and misrepresent all the points I’m making and hurl accusations all you want, but nowhere in any of your explanation do I see any justification for why lower-income, middle class, or upper-middle class families should continue to consume items like soda, doritos, cheetos, etc. (i.e. pure junk food with zero redeeming qualities) and expose children to it as well. Responsible choices don’t just have to do with “not having the time to cook up a meal every day” but also has to do with cutting back on soda, chips, etc. How can you even argue that?
OH, also, lastly, I would never suggest insurance should be done away with because eating healthy solves all ailments. As a person who’s got a congenital heart defect and can do physically nothing about it until I get a surgery to fix it, it absolutely KILLS me to see people piss away their health because they don’t prioritize it as much as they do rent, neighborhood, etc. I would give literally anything to not have to face the daunting prospect of repeated surgeries on my heart but I have no choice because it’s out of my control. Consequently, it kills me to see children face childhood obesity or people load up and stock up medications for easily preventable ailments (high cholesterol/BP) if only they modified their diet and physical activity slightly (cutting out high sugar/high sodium items + walking and moving every day in some form). So honestly, I call BS on the fact that health is not as important as rent. I’ve literally and figuratively put my money where my mouth is when making choices that are an investment towards better health. You can go ahead and think that I’m concern-trolling but it’s a ludicrous assertion that people shouldn’t be more aware and taught to avoid things like soda, chips, donuts etc.
Yes, raw veggies, meat and such ARE cheaper. HOWEVER, they also require time to shop for, cook, and then to clean up.
I always make the effort to prepare a fresh, well-balanced dinner for my family — but I am a middle class suburbanite with a car, and a big refrigerator, and a dishwasher, and nearby, well-stocked grocery stores, and a 9-5 work schedule, and a spouse, etc. etc. Lots of people do not have these “luxuries”.
Twiggy herself says she used to eat like crap until she reached 40 — why? Because it was EASIER!! Hey, its also EASIER for people who work damn hard for a living, and aren’t blessed with skinny genes.
A M E N ! ! ! ! !
How is she wrong?
People are eating crap and are obese.
The point is people would rather spend $20 at McDonald’s then cooking the same meal for the same price.
Fruit, bread, pasta, rice, veggies, etc are not expensive. Someone turning to chips, hot dogs, pop, and cookies is not doing it to save cash.
thank you! totally agree with this. people are attacking her because she didn’t make those choices until later in life. fine. okay. but that doesn’t mean her point is wrong altogether.
Pasta and rice are not great for you, either. But everything in moderation.
No, they are likely to do it because it’s easier and faster than making meals at home. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have time to cook for my family. But between work and the commute and exhaustion at the end of the day, it’s a lot easier to order a pizza or throw something frozen in the oven.
(And yes I know I could do all my food prep on the weekend and have healthier stuff ready. But with a toddler at home, I simply don’t have the energy or the willpower to do it.)
Gah, I can’t get behind someone named Twiggy fat-shaming people.
I understand that, I also had days when I was so tired I wasn’t even sure I can eat the meal I prepare, because I might nod off during eating. And that’s when convenience food really does come in handy, however we still have a bit of choice what frozen thing we shove in the oven. I found that whole-grain pasta and (a lot of) frozen veggies take about 10 min. to prepare, are not that expensive and a lot healthier than pizza or lasagna. Or for breakfast just throw a bit of fruit, oatmeal and (vegetable) milk into a blender and take it with you.
“The point is people would rather spend $20 at McDonald’s than cooking the same meal for the same price.”
This, this, this.
“Fruit, bread, pasta, rice, veggies, etc are not expensive.” Yes, they are. If you think they aren’t, I envy your obviously privileged life. Pasta and rice are cheap, yes, but they are also calorie-stuffed. I never consume preprocessed food, fast food, junk food, or soda. I spend my money on seasonal, fresh produce and other healthy food items, and I am going broke doing it.
It is interesting how people get bent out of shape when being overweight or obese but the same people have no problem telling skinny people to eat a burger or sandwich. The lack of empathy whichever spectrum you are on is what I can’t understand.
People have issues with weight, it is not every skinny person that is trying to starve herself and it is not every overweight person that lacks discipline and can’t control what they eat. Women it is time we stopped doing this to ourselves.
This!
Skinny people aren’t discriminated against ,but overweight people are. That’s the difference.
How do you know they are not discriminated against? So if they are not discriminated you want to shame them, how does that benefit an overweight person if not perpetuating the weight war.
This is the truth. I had a disease that caused weight gain (they do exist). The difference in treatment between when I weighed 250 and 125 is stunning. I am still getting used to it 10 years later. Skinny – I’m a human being worthy of consideration and respect. Fat – I’m nothing, a thing to be ridiculed.
I’m very thin and I find the “eat a burger” sh*t annoying and insulting, but it’s simply not the same level of brutal contempt that most people show towards the obese.
SHAUNA – glad somebody finally brought this up! I got fat after my doctor had me on heavy duty steroids for a medical condition for 10 years. It knocked out every system in my body and all he had to say was “go to Weight Watchers.” I eat no processed food, few carbs, yada yada yada, but Cushing’s Syndrome nearly killed me and turned me into an object to be villified by any one at any time. When you’re fat you cease to be regarded as a human being. Instead it’s open season on the hippo.
Every obese person has a story. It may be poverty, sexual abuse, medical problems, you name it. Then there’s the issue of individual metabolism and genetics. Then add the economics of corn syrup in everything, and the other shit that passes for food (has anyone eaten HOSPITAL food lately?) and you begin to see how complex obesity really is.
Twiggy is basically clueless talking about pudding. Some of us have major health issues and we are not sitting in our rooms scarfing down Snickers bars.
This +100000000
Yes skinny people are discriminated against.
The lack of sympathy to each other from other women is unbelievable. The judgement over the size and looks is so wrong. And it is the women who are doing it. In every Brosnan thread there would be somebody who’d say “but she’s FAT”, she MUST do something about it, it’s DISGUSTING”- and it would always be a woman who says this. Who thinks this about herself too.
I agree. Enough. Only the most ignorant don’t know yet that people have predisposition to a certain weight. And in most cases people are way HEALTHIER when they eat with pleasure and without dissecting their food to carbs, gluten and stuff and have their individual weight that is healthy for them. And exercise for pleasure. And don’t exercise if it’s unpleasurable. And stop spending so much time obsessing about the size of your ar**e.
In Ukraine, Irak, Syria children are being killed every day – and excess weight is a tragedy, right. Tragedy, no less. What an idiot. It is quite understandable, she’s no great thinker: I mean, she could eat without putting on weight and got famous for it (an amazing talent). That’s all she has achieved in her whole life, remain skinny. So how is her opinion to any topic apart from modelling relevant? Why? No experience, no theoretical knowledge, nothing there. Only the size. And what is actually tragic, is that for many women it is enough to be looking up to her, like some kind of superior, and listening to her ignorant banalities and believing them worthy of a serious discussion.
I am surprised by most comments though. I am not that familiar with the American culture, but it seems like cooking is something many view as a revolutionary way of life. Which is totally weird to me. I mean, things get spoiled If you take them home by bus?? What’s that all about?
Another issue that gets overlooked a good bit is portion size, and how in America that has been totally and I fear permanently put out of wack. All the articles of school kids complaining about portion size in their school lunches- it’s like, guess what? That’s what you are supposed to be eating- that IS a correct portion size. And for so many children in US, school is where they are fed breakfast and lunch, so hopefully, this can start being corrected.
Portion size is an excellent point.
And since you bring up school lunches, where as you said many kids get the majority of their meals (and learn their eating habits) it’s like pulling teeth when anyone tries to make school food healthier, especially if it turns political. You would think that would be something everyone could agree on, but nope.
She’s not wrong, face the facts. There is no medical condition on this planet that makes 60+ lbs of fat appear from nowhere and for no reason. There are conditions that make it difficult to lose weight but not impossible. And for the vast majority of obese people, there’s nothing wrong with them. Furthermore, blaming the price of food for one’s obesity is ludicrous. If all you can afford is a burger from MacDonald’s have ONE, not ten.
Some people buy ready meals because they can’t be a***d to cook then complain when they are broke and fat.
Some of those same people send their kids to school with packets of crisps and a fizzy drink because they can’t be bothered to do a couple of slices of toast and a cup of tea in a morning.
I not trying to be judgemental but is is fact.
“I try not to be judgmental but I enjoy judging fat and poor people based on personal prejudice so very much that I can’t resist.”
LOL
Nothing of the sort. What I have said unfortunately happens to be true in some cases. Not all poor people are fat and not all fat people are poor, and I never said they were. But it is a fact that some people can’t be bothered to cook healthily, then wonder why they aren’t healthy. Is all.
When my husband and I were getting ready to make a cross country move and the majority of our cooking things were packed up and then we were driving for days we obviously could not eat or cook at home. Thus we ate fast food for weeks. It was an awful experience for me. I was raised by a granola crunchy health food nut so eating healthy for me is a normal thing. For instance I had never eaten potato skins, ever until I met my husband and he introduced me (even so I can only eat one). I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy fast food or junk food once in a while, I just prefer eating healthy. When I had limited food choices while we were moving I actually started to feel ill after a while. At first it was kind of fun, like a novelty but then as the weeks dragged on I was wishing to have the time to just sit and eat a salad. I don’t ever bag on how other people eat because that’s their choice. I think to each their own. My question is this…why is Twiggy blaming the U.S. for fast food in Britain? From what I understand Fish and Chips and take away Curry are pretty popular and are considered fast food there and those are most certainly British fare? Is there an invasion of American restaurants? I’m really, genuinely curious to hear from our UK friends.
UK friend here! 🙂
Well, it’s true that the ‘trend’ of fast food, leading to obesity, originated in the US, and is now spreading everywhere. There are many McDonalds, Burger Kings etc in London nowadays.
There are also many fish and chips and take away Indian food around. The new thing, for those is mainly portion size. The Brits (and the continental Europeans) used to eat much smaller portions. The portions are still smaller than in the US though – which I’ve visited, so I can compare the two. Seriously, eating in restaurants in New York, I was always served a plate that could feed 3 people. I think that’s a huge part of the problem.
Honestly i’m greedy and i love all !
Wow. some severe over-reaction to what were a few perfectly reasonable comments from Twiggy. She’s not lecturing anyone or telling anyone what to do, just offering her opinion on what accounts for the rise in obesity and her thoughts on ways to improve things. Nothing startling or new, just plain facts. #baffled
Twiggy’s version is way oversimplified. The obesity epidemic has many causes, certainly including lifestyle and genetics. If the fix were simple, few would be obese.
Of course it is way oversimplified, but she was just expressing a few thoughts on it in an interview, not delivering a lecture. Hence my bafflement.
There are some people affected by illnesses sure but the large majority of overweight people overeat. It is that simple. I am including myself in that. I’ve been trying to lose weight and by simply adding up the calories I would normally eat I saw I was overeating unknowingly. I imagine many people would be horrified how many calories are in normal food they eat. Even a simple salad can become worse than hot chips by adding olive oil. By cutting the calories I eat (no exercise) I’ve seen the weight falling off.
A normal meal at a fast food place is easily your whole day worth of calories. Eat it if you want and don’t eat again that day! Eat a carrot and drink loads of water if you must. (Am not advocating this type of unhealthy eating but if you must eat bad food, just do it sensibly).
I cook fresh for my boyfriend and myself a few times a week- generally fresh seafood from the market or lean meat and always lots of fresh veggies. It’s not much of a money saver compared to eating out for us. The advantage, however, is knowing the ingredients and controlling portions. People who aren’t cooking at home or being conscious of what they eat when they go out have two things going against them: fatty ingredients and double or triple portions; resulting in fatty, double and triple sized people.
Twiggy is right for two reasons:
1. She is not blaming people, is blaming the alimentary industry for making the garbage easier than unprocessed foods.
2. Although is easier to eat garbage it does give you health issues, sooner or later. So in the end its often more expensive on medical bills.
I’m a vegan. I try to be open minded and I try really hard not to be a preachy obnoxious vegan and I’m not super strict as I still occasionally consume dairy products (especially cheese). But even as a vegan since turning 30 I’ve been putting on weight. I’ve cut back on sugar and make sire I’m eating proper portions. I’m about 150 lbs and 5’6.5″ and I know it’s in my genes for my weight to begin creeping up there. For some people, especially women, they will become overweight no matter what as they get older and have babies. But how they handle that weight gain is up to them. I actually think I look better because I got a little extra cleavage and curves.
Twiggy has a valid point in that it’s too easy to go to fast food. I remember my pre-vegan undergrad days 6+ years ago getting lunches and dinners Monday-Friday at A&W and Tim Horton’s which isn’t the worst fast food you can eat but still. Plus living on a starving college student budget in Toronto it was cheap. So when you have all of these fast food restaurants within 1 block of each other, you’re busy at your job, school, whatever. I get it and I won’t shame anyone who does that because it’s too easy to feel too exhausted to make something fresh. I still struggle and have a ton of frozen vegan meals in the freezer at work, school and at home. Twiggy is an entrepeneur and a famous model of course she has the time to cook but so many people don’t and our society as a whole must change to encourage healthy habits in people. Shaming individuals who exhibit unhealthy behaviours or shaming a group of people who are overweight isn’t going to help matters.
Yesterday I bought a 5lb bag of organic carrots for $6.00. The 1lb bag of conventional carrots is usually $1.00. I bought a large onion for less than $1.00. I bought three large oranges for $2.00. I also bought a box of chicken broth for $3.00. I already had butter in the fridge but it was probably $4.00 for the box of 4 sticks.
I made a huge pot of carrot orange soup. Here is the cost breakdown.
2lbs carrots $2.40
1 large onion $1.00
3 oranges $2.00
Chicken broth $3.00
1/2 stick butter $.50
Total $9.00
I bought the large pot at a thrift store for $5.00 a few years ago. I used a hand held emersion blender that cost $10 and I use it all of the time. I also used a sharp chefs knife that I have owned for a billion years and a cheap wooden spoon. I bought the $10 zester over 10 years ago. All of the tools I used can be found at a thrift store on the cheap. I made enough soup for me and my husband to have carrot orange soup for three nights. That is $1.50 per serving.
I saved the leftover orange zest for a future recipe and I’ll use the rest of the carrots for another meal. Since my budget allows for it, I made some mini quiches with some leftover veggies and bacon. I made the quiche dough in about 5 minutes and the filling was some milk and three eggs with the leftover bacon and veggies. I was able to make the equivalent of a 10 inch quiche for about $4.00. Over three nights that is $0.67 a serving.
I’m not saying all of this to brag. It’s taken me a long time to learn how to cook and budget properly. It takes some effort and education, but it is possible. We don’t buy much if anything packaged anymore and we spend a lot less at the grocery store. I always buy what is on sale and make the meals from that. I know that I am lucky to live near a good grocery store and have a car to drive there. However, my life wasn’t always like this and I managed to make miracles from bodega food as well because I had a good food education.
Twiggy is an idiot. You do not magically lose weight because you start eating 5000 calories of healthy food instead of 5000 calories of crap. You might be healthier, but you’re still going to be fat. Also, cooking fresh food at home does not magically make it healthy. Breaded deep-fried chicken is high in calories no matter where it’s made.
People who work all week and don’t want to have to also spend hours shopping for and preparing food do not need a guilt trip from the likes of Twiggy and her delusional dieting advice.
This is always such a sensitive subject to people. Geez, yes healthy food can be expensive, but if you want to be thin and healthy, you can be. Many people that are obese, are not poor, and can afford healthy food. They just eat too much crap. Period.
Even if you are poor, pasta, bread etc. won’t make you fat. Eating too much of it will.
It seems to be mainly people that struggle with their weight that take offence to these articles. I am not judging, I am a former fat girl myself. I just finally figured how to eat less, and move more. I lost 70 pounds, and kept it off for 4 years so far. The reality is, I was eating too much. I still eat the same foods, I just cut my portions down and exercise.
People need to be accountable for their bodies, and stop making excuses as to why they have a weight problem.
Menstrual cramps are a psychological problem. Autism is caused by a cold and distant mother. The hydrogenated fat in margarine is so much better for you than butter. Saccharine is so much better for you than sugar. Anyone else remember these? They were state of the medical arts most of my childhood and adolescence. All are false.
You are fat? You eat too many Big Macs. You drink too many sodas. You are lazy. Just obvious facts.
Or perhaps our medical and psychological understanding of obesity is incomplete or even partly wrong.
You can definitely buy groceries and then take a city bus for 30-45 minutes without things spoiling. People living in the city have grocery carts, get a clue. I do this all the time, or I ride my bike with a big bag on my back, usually 2 miles to get groceries. 2 miles in a city is like nothing on a bike or public transit. Food deserts suck, but it’s not like those people live IN AN ACTUAL DESERT.
Having read the post and accompanying comments, it’s quite clear that no one has taken into consideration the fact that she’s talking about Britain.
Her comments have been extrapolated for a worldwide audience which may apply in some cases, but not others.
1. It’s pretty easy to find fresh food and produce here.
2. It’s not more expensive. She’s definitely right about general laziness in grabbing pre-made food or even take out when cooking from scratch is easier and cheaper eg a pre-made salad of tri-color salad which is only a cup’s worth of food is approx £4.50, the individual ingredients, especially if you buy from a farmer’s market will come to £4.00 and you’ll have enough for a couple of meals.
3. We aren’t a car contry. Public transport is fantastic and cheap, plus every super market now has delivery service during the day no matter how rural you live and or taxi services that will run you home with all your heavy bags.
4. Twiggy isn’t clueless. She takes the tube, shops at M&S and lives fairly modestly for someone who is world famous. She’s not Kate Moss or Kate Moss wealthy.
5. I’m sure she’s making some good points about obesity vs health, but it’s jumping to the wrong conclusions when you don’t take into account that she’s talking to a UK media outlet, addressing UK audience.
6. BTW, our cheapest supermarkets eg Lidl and Aldi carry lots of fresh produce and they tend to be situated in the poorest areas.
7. Personally I blame the removal of cooking and nutrition from schools. Many people really don’t know how to cook and consequently assume that take outs or pre-made food is nutritious and or good value. I still remember the tragic single young mother on one of Jamie Oliver’s programmes who fed her family kebabs exclusively and couldn’t understand why they were both obese and unhealthy. She was spending more than £100 a week on their multiple daily kebab order. Several cookery lessons and afew months later, food bill was down and their general health had improved exponentially.
I only buy organic healthy food and I always cook everything from scratch. We never eat at McDonalds or pizza because neither me, the kids, or my husband likes it. I don’t have a drivers licence so I carry all my food home, along with a stroller, my kids, and two dogs. It never even entered my thoughts that you need a car to food shop. We do sometimes shop with the car during the weekends (my husband drives) but most of the fresh food I carry home.
However, we spend a lot of money on our food, but since we very rarely drink alkohol, eat out, smoke, buy gas for the car (we both take the bus to work) or a lot of other things that cost money, I think it’s just how we prioritize.
I have the “fat gene” so I know I have to eat healthy and exercise or I will gain weight in a second. I agree with Twiggy about what she says. Especially I feel sorry for the kids who are brought up on sodas and yunk food, they are getting such a bad start with their system clogging up at such a young age.
..the dogs? That means you are walking to the grocery store (I’ve never seen public transport that allows non-service dogs). That means you have a grocery store within walking distance. You also know how to cook meals that are tasty and others will like. You have time in your schedule to walk to a grocery store, walk back, cook, clean up. You have a husband that can watch the kids while you cook.
I agree that parents need to ensure children are fed healthfully. I just wanted to point out that you have a LOT of advantages that other people do not have.
I don’t live in the US and here you’re allowed to bring the dogs on the bus if you sit in the back. Every day after work I go home and pick up the dogs and walk to the bus station. I then go to the after school and daycare to pick up my kids, and after that we go food shopping (sometimes I do it before I pick the kids up). We then take the bus back and I cool so that we can eat when my husband is home. Sometimes I walk instead of taking the bus but it depends on the time.
Four days a week I take the bus to my yoga class after we have eaten, so then my husband cleans up and put the kids too sleep.
We are not rich at all it’ just a lifestyle we have chosen, and like I said, we spend a lot on organic food. (I earn way below the average person here in my country, and I have a special needs son, and his needs makes it hard for me to work more). When I look at other families there is a lot of things we don’t spend money on, like: eating out at McDonalds, wine, beer, softdrinks, having two cars, cookies, chips, and so on. My kids have tried McDonalds but I’m very lucky the didn’t like it. I spend a lot of time buying and making healthy food every day, that and exercise is just very important to me. I rather do yoga or cook then watch TV in the evenings. (Shit, now I feel all Goopy, but I just feel that it has a lot to do with your choices and how much time you put into it).
I feel I have to explain myself because of my healthy lifestyle: I have been pretty healthy most of my life (my parents gave us healthy food and I never even tasted a coke before I was then). But going organic and all that came after I got a kid with special needs. I started thinking was it because of me, because of my husband, too little oxygen while giving birth, unhealthy food… and the list goes on and on. I now know I will never have the answer but what I can do is from now and on give him the healthiest and best start that I’m capable of. That’s why we live out in the country where there is less pollution (my husband travel one hour back and forth by bus to get to work everyday and I only work half the day), and we eat basically only organic food even though it’s more expensive (my child is autistic and eats very few things so I can’t just buy what is seasonal and cheaper.
I few years ago we went to see my dad in the US. We went to Disneyland and we were appalled to see overweight people that were driving around on some kind of armchairs on wheels with a motor. There were whole families on those things, all from the grandparents to the kids, all too obese too walk around the park on their own legs. I feel so sorry for the kids for getting such unhealthy start, what kind of life are they going to have and how long before they get medical complications?
I also thought about how it was almost impossible to find anything but yunk food in the park or the area surrounding it, so I understand it can be hard to find good food in some places in the US. My dad lives in the east coast and there it seems to be more like Europe.
If you’re buying your groceries at Wholefoods, sure, fresh stuff is more expensive. But you can actually eat fresh, healthy food and end up saving a lot of money rather than buying processed crap. You just need to know how to shop. Jamie Oliver has a whole book and series on this. You don’t buy the fashionable healthy foods, you buy in season and you buy the cheaper, basic fruit and veg. You can make quick, healthy meals that cost very little.
Learning where to shop is also important. For instance you can often shop more cheaply at an Asian grocer. Try farmers markets towards the end if the day – you get all of the deals. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are still healthy. Canned beans are a great staple for your cupboard. Super healthy, delicious and cheap.
If you catch publish transport, get a nana trolley and some ice bricks. I sometimes go to markets an hour away by public transport and my trolley and ice bricks work a treat. For smaller shops a freezer back works well too.
On top of all of that, a small veggie patch (which can be grown in pots out a window I. Apartments) can change your life.
I think this is all eminently manageable, people just need to be taught how. Community workshops, teach kids this stuff at school, and so on and so forth.
so twiggy acknowledges that she’s one of those people who can eat huge amounts of food and still remain very thin,
BUT is unable to realize that the reverse–that people can diet and exercise rigorously without losing weight–can also be true.
People are not fat because they’re poor- that is ridiculous! And just an excuse. People gain weight either due to a medical condition ( very low percentages) or because they eat too many calories. People just want an excuse to continue with bad habits. If a person was that poor, they would not be heavy, because their calorie intake would be very little.
People are fat for two reasons: 1) they eat too much processed food and 2) they don’t exercise enough (or, in some cases, at all). It’s as simple as that….no blah blah about thyroids, big bones or food deserts. And in my lifetime, it has gotten much worse. Kids are getting fatter. Teenagers are getting fatter. Young girls have bigger boobs and are getting them and their periods earlier. I attribute that to processed food and the fact that kids spend all their time sitting on their duffs playing video games and tippy-tapping on their phones. And then there is the spread of suburbia…where we have to sit on our butts and drive everywhere because nothing is in walking or biking distance anymore. And while I am criticizing people for not exercising enough, I am loathe to criticize people for eating so much processed food. It’s hard not to when that constitutes the vast majority of what’s sold in grocery stores. And I’m not talking about fast food joints. Some of it is the fact that fresh food is so much more expensive than packaged processed food. Some of it is because people don’t have the time to cook from scratch. I get it. I do that too. We all do it. But honestly, it is the reason why we have so many health problems.
I’m not sure how true the period thing since I was by far the thinnest girl in my year and I got my period pretty young, at 10 almost 11. One of my chubby friends was 15, almost 16.
I want to add that the food industry is a beatch. There is so much money in processed/fast/coveniance foods.
Actually, the thyroid can have a lot to do with your weight. I eat well and exercise at least four times a week, but if my thyroid levels are off I almost immeadiately put on weight. I also get so tired that it’s a pain to work out or even wake up in the mornings.
Here’s what I think:
(but first I want to say I enjoyed a lot reading this thread, loved the comments, except that of the person that sounded over-privileged and kinda clueless).
1. Absolutely all people on this planet should afford buying quality food, and be able to save money, not to spend almost all their wages on food/rent/basic necessities. Affordable healthy, nutritious food should not be a privilege.
2. Access to grocery stores/markets/super-market – I have never been to the States, but reading that there are people who have to travel by public transportation for longer than 30 minutes to get to a grocery store etc, I find that shocking
3. Cooking healthy, nutritious food for a fair price is not a big deal, but it should be prioritized (I don’t want to sound patronizing). It does take a bit of an effort and time to learn about food, figuring out some good, easy-to-do recipes, and organizing yourself, but it is worth it, it saves time and money. There are so many resources, on youtube, blogs, tv-shows
4. My food expense, taking into account what I pay per week on food shopping (not treats/eating out), when I am on my own, is ridiculously low, about 10-15 euro. I must say though that I eat very little meat, I buy organic eggs (I can feel the difference in my body if I switch to ‘un-organic’), and I eat legumes, a lot of vegetables, yogurt and oatmeal. Even if I bought a whole chicken – that’s about 3 euro, I would not go over 15 euro. I am lucky though, I enjoy food and I love cooking. I’ve had exposure to so many different cuisines, I can cook almost anything. I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen on a daily basis, so I just figured out a system that works for me. I only do food shopping once a week, Saturday or Sunday, and I cook about three times a week. Nothing from a can unless it’s Thai curry paste, anchovies or tuna. And I have a pressure cooker, it cooks beans/chickpeas in no more than 20 minutes (I soak them in hot water for an hour before throwing them in the pc)
Considering she has probably had lots of money for a really long time, she has probably never had any problems buying healthy foods. She has probably never been on a tight budget and realized how much more “junk” food she can get for her money than healthy foods. That’s just the reality.
So unless she has ideas on how to fix that issue, maybe she should shut up.
Just because she’s a naturally slim person doesn’t mean that what Twiggy says has no truth. Sadly it IS far easier and cheaper to eat low-nutrient empty calorie junk. There is good quality pre-prepared food, but it’s expensive. I have a natural metabolism and build similar to Twiggy’s and even I gained weight when I was poor and too depressed to bother putting much effort into preparing food, so I can only imagine how big someone with “fat genes” might get.
There’s just a Lot of Judgment in what Twiggy says about fat people, and I see a lot of people here Defending those Judgmental comments, and being very Judgmental, themselves, about fat people. Then, they say: no, no, I’m Not being Judgmental, we just have to stop Victimizing those poor “tragic” (Twiggy’s word) fat people. Which is very Judgmental, itself. Ok, so we All make Judgments, but really: if all this Blaming and Shaming, Lecturing and Hectoring, all this: “just go out and buy good food and cook it and walk around the block every day” mentality actually Worked and actually had the effect of making fat people do Just That, well then! We Wouldn’t have so many of those “tragic” fat people, now Would we? All your hating on fat people doesn’t do Anything to help them be less fat! And Yes, it’s a form of Hatred to judge w/o really understanding that even Medical Science doesn’t understand how to help fat people not only lose weight but Keep. It. Off. Hell, people go and get gastric bypass operations! The “easy way out”!!!??? That is Major Surgery that Permanently changes the innards (except with gastric banding, which has its Own risks). And if all you Judgers were to actually Ask those fat people if they have dieted before and lost tons of weight, they would say Yes! And if you were to ask them: do you know what you should be eating, they would say Yes! But, somehow they cannot Do it, Cannot Lose weight and keep it off – yes, some can – but Most cannot – and all you folks can do is natter on about how bad they are (essentially, that IS what you are saying) because they don’t cook and shop and walk around the block like all you Saints. (Yes, the implication is that you Strong, Good People, you Noble People, can do what Fatty McFattWeakAss Can’t do). Enough! I’m Sick of this. I’m Sick of all the hate and so Little Understanding that fat people get. As far as I am concerned, Twiggy can Stuff it.
FIREBIRD I love your comment 😊
The best thing of living in a not so developed country, veggies and fruit are really cheap. Eating healthy here is cheaper than fast food. I didn’t read twiggy so privileged but i guess it’s just my context.
Well, they used to teach nutrition and cooking in high school (Home Ec, my mom taught it), but guess what’s been cut as an ‘unimportant’ class?
Our local grocery had Kraft Mac and Cheese for 50¢, Top Ramen for 10¢. Compare that to chicken breasts for $1.99 per pound (not even organic) and salad mix in a puny bag that could feed maybe two people for $1.99. That’s the economic side of a single mother trying to feed her children while working full time at minimum wage and chasing down deadbeat dad who hasn’t paid child support.
An order of McDonald’s large french fries in 1972 weighed 3.5 ounces. An order of large fries today weighs 6.3 ounces. Supersized fast food equals supersized not-so-fast people. That’s the culinary side of not being responsible about your eating choices.
Has been
I’m a nutritionist and I’m going to side with Twiggy here. Yes, you CAN spend a ton of money at the grocery store but you don’t have to. It really IS cheaper (and WAY healthier) to cook and prepare your own food—just use simple ingredients to keep within budget. Leave out the sugar, liquid oils and solid fats and you have a really good shot at maintaining a healthy weight. (It’s the added sugars, fats and oils that make wholefood carbs fattening. Not to mention cheese.)
Some healthy, inexpensive ingredients that most folks can find in their local market and/or Asian markets (notoriously affordable) include: dried beans and peas, onions, potatoes, carrots, leafy greens (collards, spinach, lettuce), winter squash, peppers, tofu, eggs, apples and bananas, peanut butter, almond milk, brown rice, whole grain bread, walnuts, curry powder, spices. With these you can make soups, salads, snacks, sandwiches, baked potatoes, steamed veggies, scrambled eggs, fritattas, etc. It’s not that complicated—people just forgot how to do it and the advertising for fast food is hypnotic.
In general, “Eat like your great-grandparents did” is a good rule of thumb…and if you don’t know, ask Grandma.
Okay, I live in Australia, but we, as a family of 3, only have take-away once a week – if that. It doesn’t take that long to make a simple meal. We all work full time and truly, I can whip up a nutritious dinner in about 1/2 an hour. Eg. Cook Steak (or substitute pork, fish, lamb – whatever meat you want) in a pan with a bit of spray olive oil and while that’s going, boil up some potatoes which take about 15 minutes to soften so you can make mashed potato. Then just cut up whatever vegies are on special or in season and put in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 5 minutes (or you can steam them in the microwave if you have a steamer). Half an hour and dinner is done. I can do a roast dinner in the same amount of time – it’s just preparation by putting the roast in the oven for 2 hours before hand. You don’t have to do anything, just put it in there and then in the last 40 minutes before it’s ready, chuck in some potatoes, sweet potato and pumpkin for roast veggies. Again, steam or boil some vegies and your done. It’s not hard people!! There is no excuse for laziness, no matter how many hours you work.
I understand how it works for some people, but I know plenty of people who have access to a grocery store and still just hit the drive through because they’re convinced it’s cheaper. I’ve tried showing them my shopping lists and meal plans, but they just think it can’t be that I can get the same amount of food for several meals for the same price they pay getting some burritos at Taco Bell.