So another factor is the hours spent working/commuting. Working and commuting hours per person is significantly higher. Decent food is affordable, but it takes longer to prepare, and time has come at a much higher premium in the last 50 years since working hours have increased, proportion of people in the work force has increased (two earning households is a much greater proportion of the work force) and commuting time has increased.

So it's more costly to buy decent food, and more time consuming, and our money and time has gotten significantly less over the years as earnings haven't kept pace with productivity and time.

And yes, our lifestyles have gotten more sedentary as we have switched from a laboring country to a service and information based country.



I think all of those factors explain our increase in weight and loss of health better than "people are lazier". People don't fundamentally change over a few generations IMO. It's much more to do with circumstance.

Body positivity movement was hijacked by fat acceptance.

my grandfathers still had 6 workdays a week and ate well

but they also had a wife preparing the food, so fair enough, more people in the workforce contributed to the problem

however lack of time still is a poor excuse, my chicken/fish, rice, vegetable dinners take like 10 minutes and there are modern dishwashers who can do most of the cleaning

it has never been easier to get something delivered as well for an acceptable price

if you dont have the time to prepare or buy a decent meal there is something seriously wrong with your life

just grill veggies and season them the way you would a steak with some olive oil. easy win and healthy eating

We've already been over money being a limiting factor, so using delivery as a solution doesn't really work.

Not having time is the reality for a lot of people, especially low earners in dual-income households, or single parents.

You seem to be trying to isolate single factors and say "that one factor isn't an excuse" which is true in isolation, but you have to look at all the factors compiling at once. An... intersection... of the factors.



Bonus points if you can grow it yourself. Just picked my first Jalapenos and my bell peppers will be ripe in a week or two.

home grown peppers (well all veggies and fruit imo) always have way more flavor. spicy peppers also quite a bit more heat

some argue its impossible to do this in urban or suburban areas, but i grew veggies starting in my first 1 bedroom apartment after college on the balcony. started in individual pots and moved them into some larger rectangular pots if they really grew large. just cant grow a whole garden duh, but a few plants and herbs are doable

I live in a suburb technically. Very much still city. It's very doable. Ill never buy herbs again with how easy And so much better it is to grow them

Sprouts, cauliflower, or kale grilled in oil and spices are 👌🏻

With home grown rosemary

yeah thats how my first apartment was. urban suburb. and yeah herbs are the biggest scam buying them in the store. you may use half before it goes bad lmao

i plant green onion bulbs next to my herbs to ward off the insects which eat them (in particular basil). stalks grow and you can reuse them indefinitely. sadly i like the bulbs too but i can justify that expense ($0.99 for a pack) because i can tear through it


i get why kids dont like veggies but adults really have no excuse outside of cost. spices are widely available, one can buy the knockoff store brands to save money. hell just do salt, pepper, and a little added seasoning (ie: lemon pepper, adobo seasoning, granulated onion/garlic whatever) with a little oil and most things taste 5x better

This post was edited by excellence on Jul 15 2021 04:30pm