Living healthy bad for emotional health

What?

That can't be right.  Isn't it true that regular exercise, healthy eating, and regular healthy sleep will infuse you with a healthy vigour?

Isn't it true that as fitness increases and weight decreases you feel more confident in your health and experience an overall increase in happiness and self esteem?

Yes, those things are true.  Here's what else is true, it's another one of those elephants in the room..

Many people face social rejection, every day, for making healthy choices.

It's an interesting irony.  We're inundated with stories in the media about how we're harming ourselves with poor eating habits and lack of exercise.  We see success stories of how people turned their lives around, reducing their cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and increased their fitness by living healthy.

We're inspired to do better, but when people start practicing what is preached, many face ridicule and rejection from others, even from friends and family.  People bear the burden of extra stress and humiliation for making healthy choices.  How healthy is that?  Shamed for trying to be healthy.  Now that's a real shame.

To be clear, there are positive stories where a family member decides to eat healthier and in so doing influences others in the family to start eating healthy as well.  Everybody wins there.

A client of mine recently told me about experiencing some stress about how this years family Christmas dinner was going to pan out.  They're making an honest effort to eat less and felt that the typical Xmas day pig out was going to be stressful for them.

They called a family meeting to talk about it.  Turns out the rest of the family was very supportive and revealed that they also wanted to eat less and reduce the amount of junk food consumed on Christmas day; they wanted the family time, minus the overeating.

That's positive.  I like hearing stories like that one.

Come on, eat like us. Join the party!

Eating this? Get lost loser!

I also hear people telling me that since they started eating healthy, that they've found most restaurants, with their high salt, high fat, high calorie meals, have extremely limited menu choices for healthy eating.

To overcome this the healthy eater needs to order off-menu.  That's when the eyes start rolling.  That's when the comments start, "why not treat yourself?  Just eat it the way it is.  It's not going to kill you."

The thing is, eating 100% more food than you need isn't a treat, it's a trap.  Many of those who get this and are trying to escape the daily cycle of overeating begetting more overeating, are faced with peer pressure to keep overeating, and face social rejection if they don't overeat.

I've had many people tell me about how stressed they feel when they go out for food with others or are invited to dinner in someones home.  The explain how they're singled out.  They become the laughing stock as low-ball jokes about them eating less are flung at them while the whole crowd has a laugh at their expense, which is typically followed up by them being told they should suck it up.

Eating healthy is like smoking; it's not socially acceptable in many occasions.

When you're eating a chicken salad and others are eating hot-dogs, it's not uncommon for the hot-dog eaters to wave their hot-dogs around saying, "Mmmmm.. you don't know what you're missing!  Sure you don't want one?  How's that rabbit food you're eating?"

Really?  How about not saying anything?  How about respecting others?  Or maybe simply say something positive, "hey that looks tasty".

I've seen so many people stop their efforts to eat healthy because the peer pressure was too much.  It's like you have to be a closet healthy eater.. don't tell anyone you eat low sodium nutrient dense food, shield yourself from the public humiliation.

That's not good.  Many folks are making an honest attempt to reverse poor health or risk of poor health, and many are trying hard to conquer eating disorders or occasional disordered eating where food is used to deal with stress.  For those trying to overcome these challenges (more than 70% of the population overeats daily), it's overwhelming to also deal with the ridicule for trying to do the right thing, so they stop trying, and their health remains at risk.

For many people being ridiculed for eating healthy isn't pleasant.  Why would it be?

When is ridicule and rejection a positive thing?

Humiliation and ridicule is an unfortunate human behavior.  It's something we have to learn to cope with, but does that mean that such behavior is justified?  I don't think so.  It happens, but when it comes from your family and friends, it carries more emotional impact.  Words can, and often do, hurt.

You would think that making healthy choices would be celebrated and supported, and often it is, but much of the time it isn't.

I think it's weird, and also unconscionable, to put all that effort into slagging someone for eating healthy or exercising.  I think those who do so have their own issues that they don't understand, and are definitely challenged when it comes to common courtesy and respect for others.

Overall it isn't worth succumbing to the trash-talk of others, even though it may feel like that's the easiest way to make to it stop.  If you're finding yourself in this position, it may be time to reflect on who your real friends are, as well as staying true to what's best for you and your health.  Your health is worth defending, and worth making lifestyle changes for.

Junk food - healthy food cost/ tax comparison

A quick follow up on my piece on the Ontario Medical Association trumpeting their bold and supposedly new recommendations on curbing obesity by reducing tax on healthy food and increasing tax on unhealthy food.

I went to a grocery store, bought some junk food and some healthy food, and compared the receipts..

WTF?  Something must be wrong with the receipt printer..  The damn thing shows NO TAX on the healthy food.  This can't be.  The Ontario Medical Association is having a hay-day in the media talking about their egalitarian concept to save Canada's overweight population by reducing tax on healthy food.

I didn't pay any tax on this healthy food.  How does a tax get less than zero?  I did pay tax on the junk food though, and the junk food was a buck more when compared to a similar number of servings of healthy food.  yes you read that right.. the junk food cost more than the healthy food.

Do the doctors at OMA ever go shopping for food?

Did they actually check what foods are currently taxed and which are not before winding up their boisterous media blitz?

No?  Whoops, minor oversight there.

As usual I do the heavy lifting and uncover the uncomfortable truth that nobody else does.

Actually I did a simple Google search; food tax Canada, and, looked at my grocery receipt.

This is not difficult to figure out, but, as usual, political hyperbole and media sensationalism distract people from the reality right in front of our faces.  More entertaining to pay attention to the dancing bear than look at actual facts.

This link will show you all the foods that are and are not taxed in Ontario. All the provinces have near identical lists for provincial taxes, as does the country as a whole for GST and HST.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gm/4-3/4-3-e.html

I really want Canadians to eat less and change their social norms so that healthy eating is embraced instead of scoffed at.  I wouldn't mind seeing some of our tax dollars being put to good use with useful initiatives to help reduce and prevent the ever growing number of Canadians that are overeating their way to obesity and the ensuing health problems that hurt them.

I'm not going to hold my breath..

Back to reality..

Some research suggests that 10% tax on junk food can reduce purchases of junk food.

Of course, I have a serious problem with this research as most healthy food has long been cheaper, or at least competitively priced with junk food, yet most of our population choose junk food over healthy food much of the time.

Take a look at the receipts I've posted here.  The 1 L of pop was $1.34 and the 1 L of skim milk 1.49.  That's an insignificant difference.  The pop was on sale so I payed $1.00 for it plus 12 cents tax. Still an insignificant difference.

What would the price look like with another 15% tax (30% total tax).. a doubling of the current tax?

Instead of paying $4.75 for a bag of chips and a pop I would have had to pay $5.49, 74 cents more.

I don't eat junk food (I gave away my junk food to an all too eager taker) so I don't care how much it costs.  But for those who love their chips and pop I think most will find a way to pay an extra 10% or 15% over what they're paying now.

People overeat because they enjoy it, not because healthy choices are more expensive. "I'm going back for seconds on triple cheese pizza because broccoli is expensive."  Nope, doesn't happen. You go back for seconds because it tastes so damn good you want more.  That's the way that works.  Good research shows that overeating fatty, sugary, salty food alters appetite regulation causing increased hunger and decreased satiety.  The more you eat, the more your appetite regulation adapts to eating more.

And because of how our brain organizes memories of rewarding experiences, when we're hungry again we're likely to remember that we like pizza, so that is what we seek.  These foods stimulate an above  normal excitation of reward centres in the brain.  That's why we perceive them as tasting extra good compared to a great tasting apple.  Apple tastes great, but doesn't put reward perception into overdrive.

This is one of the strongest drivers of seeking out these foods.  People are not strongly compelled to buy junk food because it's cheaper.  People seek it out because of altered appetite and reward seeking regulation, a side effect of consuming these foods.  Not to mention the fact that socially, junk food is more respected than healthy food.

This isn't about changes taxes, it's about changing behavior, and moving away from perceiving junk food as better than healthy food.

The whole add new tax to junk food thing is BS, top to bottom anyway, since it's already taxed.

So as far as the grocery store is concerned, which is where most Canadians will be spending most of their food budget, healthy food already has no tax and is cheaper than junk food which is taxed.

What about restaurants and delicatessens?  Selfishly I would like to pay no tax on deli salads, where I and everyone else currently pays GST and PST on every menu item.

Because there is tax on healthy restaurant foods there exists the potential to mess with taxes here, but I'm still not completely sold on the idea that a fat tax or healthy = no-tax is going to be a reasonable primary strategy in the reversal of obesity in Canada.

The Ontario Medical Association seems to be aloof in placing at the top of their list of anti fat commandments a fat tax and reduced tax on healthy food for the obvious reasons I've already stated.

You know, why don't we just ignore the commandments from on high and start eating less.  We'll feel much better dropping a few pounds.

You're a kook if you're healthy

You hear about social pressure to be thin and negative prejudice towards those carrying extra weight.  It's true, but I'm going to talk about something that is also true, but never discussed.

You're an idiot, an out and out kook, a fool actually, if you do anything healthy.

If you do unhealthy things, you're cool, you're accepted, you're supported.

Of course this doesn't apply to everyone.  There are plenty of cases where healthy choices are a supported and a shared positive experience.

Quite often I'll have weight loss clients and athletes alike confess that one of their largest challenges in adopting a healthy lifestyle comes from their family and friends who admonish, tease, and even alienate them for making healthy choices.

It seems like for many living unhealthy or least making unhealthy choices very frequently is part of living life to its fullest.  Eating healthy or exercising interferes with time that could be better spent overeating or being inactive. If you make healthy choices, others may feel that you're losing it, or perhaps being a killjoy and interfering with how satisfied they feel when they make unhealthy choices.

When you're packing away your second serving of deliciousness you don't need some health freak cramping your style by eating broccoli.  "Idiot.  What kind of idiot eats broccoli?  I can't enjoy my meal anymore because I have to witness this fool eating little tree's."

People have told me that they're not welcome anymore at family dinners unless they eat what everyone else is eating, which happens to be high fat, high sugar, high sodium, high calorie food.  You know.. the stuff that kills you slow.  To top it off they're expected to fill their plates and go back for seconds or thirds.


If you don't go back for seconds something is wrong with you.  You're depriving your self, which is just silly.
Silly you for not overeating!  Don't you know any better?  Don't you know how to enjoy life?


I have men and woman who lose weight healthily be told by their friends and family that they look ill, gaunt, and too skinny, and that they need to eat more.  In reality they are more healthy and fit than ever; cholesterol has dropped, blood sugar levels are normal, blood pressure decreases, risk of disease is decreased, they're stronger, more flexible, more rested, and feel better than ever.


It may be that with 70% of men and 60% of woman in Canada being overweight that we're accustom to seeing our friends and family being overweight.  Overweight is normal, statistically. So when we see someone with 5-15% body fat we think they look weird compared to the more average 25 - 35% body fat.  This is a little strange because if we're watching sports and looking at athletic bodies, those athlete's bodies appearance is accepted, expected, perhaps even revered. But when our friends and family's body appearance starts shifting towards the athletic look, for some reason this is spoken of disparagingly.

It's interesting, if not perplexing to live with the contradiction of social pressure to lose weight and look lean as well as pressure to not lose weight, not be lean, and avoid being a kook.

People have told me they've been brought to tears when they're deluged with negative comments regarding their attempt to include healthy choices in their life.  Others while not brought to tears become very frustrated because it seems so counter productive to be the recipient of put-downs for being healthy but showered with accolades when engaging unhealthy practices.  They've told me they can't understand why wanting to improve their health get's them the cold shoulder, but being unhealthy is encouraged. Somethings not right with that.

Some have told me that their friends and family have expressed that they don't want to be pressured to part of, or be exposed to healthy lifestyle changes, and the message is; "keep it to yourself, weirdo!"

I'm then told that friends and family have no compunction when it comes to openly applying pressure to eat unhealthy or to be inactive. "Eat, eat! You don't eat enough! That working out stuff is stupid.  Why don't you do something enjoyable?" It does seem somewhat hypocritical to openly pressure people to eat unhealthy but then protest when someone else eats healthy because apparently the mere act of eating healthy is exactly like telling someone how to live and rubbing it in their face.  People feel torn between wanting feel good about being healthy and fit, and sacrificing their health to keep the peace with friends and family. 

I've heard it said that friends and family can feel that get-togethers can't be enjoyed unless everyone is overeating.  They feel that healthy eating jeopardizes the social experience and no enjoyment can be had. Could it be that this perception is somehow mistaken?  Food is such a great catalyst for human socializing.  Great food set's the tone for great times had by all.  Enter healthy food and it's like the music is cut off.

Many feel very strongly that eating healthy kills social gatherings.  Too bad, because it's really about the people.  At least I thought it was.  I've been to great get-togethers with great tasting healthy food served, which made it all the better because not only do you enjoy the food and company, but you don't feel bloated or lethargic afterwards.  So maybe it's all about perception..

To justify their health oppressing behavior, those oppressed have told me they've been told that being healthy is overblown anyway, that is actually stupid to lose weight, exercise, or make healthy eating choices.  It's just a dumb fad, it's annoying, only freaks do it, get a real life, and on and on.

Really?

Yes.  Really.  This really does happen and if you're a recipient of this you know it all too well.

I don't really know how to overcome this.  What I've seen happen in successful situations is family and friends either got over it and became accepting and supporting, or they eventually started to adopt the same healthy habits and started feeling better themselves.

I'm not sure who is expressing an intelligent decision making process better, the person downing a bag of potato chips and a few beers in utter bliss, or the person enjoying the flavor bliss of a blueberry - banana fruit smoothie after an exhilarating workout.  Arguments can be made for both for sure, and some may make room for both.  Whatever the case, when it comes to friends and family, maybe being supporting of healthy changes is better than being negative.

Healthy Food Cheaper: Potato chips 1134% more $$ than potatoes

I originally wrote this after a radio interview with Karen Black of CJOB on this subject, back in 2012.  Not much has changed since then. . .

Karen read off some price comparisons that I did a couple years ago showing how potato chips cost about 450% more than yams, when compared by cost per kilogram.

Karen made an interesting point.. we automatically assume that the potato chips are cheaper, and when we see the actual price comparison it seems unbelievable.  The potato chips have to cost more than a raw potato because of all the processing involved.  Think about it; up to the point of getting the potato out of the ground and ready to ship potatoes and potato chips cost about the same.

The potato chips have many extra processing steps, each adding cost. From washing, peeling, cooking, and adding salt and other ingredients, adding the packaging, and the cost of advertising, the final potato chip product would have to cost more than the simple unprocessed raw potato.

Potato chips are actually pretty expensive, around $4.00 to $6.00 per kilogram, or were, according to a cost check I did in 2010.  Here's an add for potato chips in a recent flyer.. a great 3 for $8.00 sale..

Potato chips 810g for $8.00 is $9.87/ kg.

To be generous I'm assuming a person is buying the best deal; 3 of the 270g bags.

Looks like the price went up over the past 2 years. On my last grocery shop I bought a 5 lb bag of potatoes..

Potatoes 5 lb $1.97 (87 cents / kg) 

Potato chips are $9.87/kg where potatoes are $0.87/ kg, a dimension bending 1134% more expensive for the potato chips.

It's been said that people have to buy potato chips because junk food is cheaper than healthy food.. I am actually infuriated by this bogus claim.

Here are more direct cost comparisons.  See for yourself, most healthy choices are considerably cheaper than processed "junk food"..

Mini chocolate cupcakes $11.64/ kg

Pre-cut bagged broccoli $5.48/ kg.  No excuses here, it's already cut..

Apple pie $6.33/ kg.  

Hey wait a minute, this pie isn't cut.  You know, I'm pretty busy.. I don't have the time to spend time cutting up pie..

Look inside your head.. If you're an apple pie lover, how do you feel when cutting into an apple pie, compared to chopping broccoli?  I'll bet most will feel pretty motivated to cut the pie.  Nobody will be contemplating how busy they are.  When I've asked the average person why they don't feel as excited about cutting into a grapefruit or dicing veggies compared to pie or some other fat-bomb, most have looked at me like I have two heads.

It simply doesn't occur to us that great tasting healthy food deserves the feeling of anticipated gratification.  We spend our lives practicing making the emotional connection to feeling rewarded by crap food and so this becomes our default.  We don't contemplate this reward at all, we're trained to automatically compute the reward.  At the same time we adopt traditional myths and negative associations with fruits and veggies as being second class citizens and instantly categorize them with our well-practice prejudice, automatically scoffing at the idea that one would actually look forward to or enjoy them to any great extent.

Grapefruit $0.97 each (444 grams) $2.18/ kg  

Half this grapefruit is considered one serving.

The whole candy bar below is one serving.  Costing out per serving, the candy bar is 19X more expensive.  Whaaaat?  That's 1900% more costly.  

It is significantly cheaper to hand out grapefruit servings to kids (or anyone) than it is to hand out candy bars.

Ain't that like getting hit in the head with a frying pan?  Wake-up call for sure.  

Long ago I had an epiphany.. (I may have had another since then, epiphanies can be fickle). I was struck so profoundly by my personal insight I likened it to being hit in the head with a frying pan, so obvious, enlightening, and unavoidable a conclusion it was.

Not one of those lightweight cheap aluminium pans, but a full-on cast iron job that grandma used on the log-fired stove.

For a few years I had "frying pan day" in my calendar to remind me of the occasion and how sometimes we need to escape our myopic prejudices and get real.  I seem to have forgotten what that epiphany was.. I'm sure it was a really important personal breakthrough.. but I did remember the frying pan crack in the head analogy for teaching us the wrongs of our ways. 

Anyhoo, waking up to the reality that most of us fool ourselves every day when it comes to how and why we make our food and exercise (or lack of) choices qualifies for a "frying pan day" in my books.

A recent study suggests women who eat lot's of citrus fruits like grapefruit may reduce their risk of stroke by 19%.  Any guess as to what happens to your body when you eat lot's of candy bars?  How "convenient" is a stroke?

I love fresh, cool, juicy grapefruit. Keep it in the fridge for sure.  I enjoy this more than I enjoy dark chocolate.  No way you say?  How does grapefruit compete with the intense chocolately goodness of premium dark chocolate?  I really do enjoy the flavour, the juiciness is an extra, plus when I eat grapefruit I'm thinking of how nutritious it is.  Nutrient density is a huge benefit and something worth feeling gratified for.  This is an important step to teach ourselves when learning how to eat healthy.. making the health benefit association connection click in our heads and give us a sense of reward.

When I eat dark chocolate I know it tastes great, but at the same time I'm thinking that I have to temper how much I eat because the chocolate bar is a total calorie bomb that makes it really easy to import useless fat calories into my fat cells.  Overall the chocolate bar isn't as rewarding as the healthy fruit because it falls short on delivering essential nutrients that our bodies need.  Sure, dark chocolate does deliver a good dose of antioxidants, but no more than fruits and veggies, and not without the downside of extra calories negating any benefit of antioxidants with only a modest serving.

Candy bar $20.79/ kg 

That's the same price as premium wild sockeye salmon.

At point of purchase this doesn't seem like it's expensive, but add up all the servings and compare by weight and by serving, this candy bar is the same price as wild salmon, a great source of healthy and essential omega 3 fats.  One look at the price of salmon and most people balk.  But what if you put a 52g piece of salmon next to this 52g piece of candy bar and put the same price on them?

Funny, we make excuses to buy candy bars because they are cheap, and avoid wild salmon because it's expensive.  They are the same price.

Broccoli bunch $1.27 each (603g) $2.10/ kg  

One of the  most nutrient dense veggies you can get with plenty of research touting health benefits. Most people think broccoli is one of the most expensive veggies, and view junk food as considerably cheaper.  The opposite is clearly true.

Broccoli is at least half the price as most junk food.

Premium dark chocolate bar $3.49 (100g) $34.90/ kg 

Suspiciously, it appears someone has eaten half this item.  Ok it was me.

I do this for you, my loyal reader.  I'm testing this product on your behalf and can tell you it tastes really good, is VERY expensive, and has to be kept to a minimum otherwise the extra calories pack on the pounds relentlessly.

Organic pre-washed salad $17.50/ kg.

You may say, "ah ha! Gotcha Cris! this is really expensive."

Two points.. 

It's cheaper than a candy bar.

Plus, isn't your health worth something?  The nutrient density of this salad is significantly higher than any of the junk food choices here.

If your excuse is convenience.. it takes too long to chop up veggies.. someone has done it for you here and you pay for that, plus a premium for the organic cache.  Even with those extras's, the candy bar is still more expensive.

Make that 3 points.  What do you think will happen to your waist line and risk of cardiovascular disease by eating this salad compared to adding junk food deserts and snacks?

Nanaimo bars $8.17/ kg.  

Even on sale this easy to eat fat bomb is considerably more expensive than almost any fruit or vegetable. 

Healthy energy bar $23.08/ kg.  

You pay a premium price for energy bars with organic ingredients, especially those marketed at the health conscious outdoorsy sports person.

This is still cheaper than dark chocolate and about 11% more costly than a typical candy bar.  Compared to a typical candy bar many energy bars are more nutrient dense and have less saturated fat, but read the label, some have just as much fat and sugar.

Cereal-fruit bar $10.10/ kg 

While less than half the price of the premium energy bar as well as the common candy bar, this appears to be a better deal, and hey it says it's "made with real fruit".  If you're looking for a fruit fix, you're better off buying fruit, which is significantly cheaper.  

An orange, banana, or apple will cost about 35 to 45 cents and retain more nutrient density than a processed fruit bar, as well as having no added sugar or other ingredients. Surprisingly fruit is made with 100% real fruit, and nothing else.

Grapes.  Expensive right?  For sure. This is the fruit of Roman emperors.

Grapes are a premium fruit.  Better to buy an inexpensive fruit bar instead right?

Red Seedless grapes $2.84/ kg -- about 72% less costly than the fruit bar.

These "costly" grapes are also cheaper than candy bars, with candy bars costing over 700% more.

Those cheap candy bars displayed at point of purchase for the quick impulse buy cost 700% more than red seedless grapes?  Yes, it's an irrefutable fact.

That rattles the cage of most. "Can't be true!".  I've seen the twisted facial expressions.. people simply can't believe it. Most are convinced there's some kind of catch, some kind of fancy tricky math meant to fudge the numbers.  Nope.

It's a fact, most healthy food is significantly cheaper than fast food/ junk food.  I used to believe the common urban myth that junk food is cheaper than healthy food. Indeed, how many times have we heard on the news that junk food is cheaper than healthy food making healthy food inaccessible to many?  When I did a simple price comparison myself it was easy to bust the myth.

Part of the satisfaction of eating healthy is realizing that eating to feel stuffed is a misnomer that feels great to be liberated from.  Instead of feeling ungratified from a salad not filling us up, we learn to realize, "hey wait a minute.. I had it all wrong, eating to the point of being stuffed was harming me, not helping me.. eating less is very satisfying because I know I'm not causing myself harm by overeating."

Once you get into the groove of not gaining weight, feeling great, and feeling satisfied by eating the right amount instead of always overeating, you feel liberated.  You feel good.  You're not trapped anymore.

One step to take is overcoming the myriad of well established myths about healthy living.

These myths are so well ingrained they are treated as emphatic facts and the truth of healthy living is treated as an impossible lie.

We are literally in the dark ages societally when it comes to understanding healthy living.

The flat-earthers are the standard and those making healthy choices are heretics and scatter-brains.. scolded publicly for spreading their sorcery and blaspheme about how healthy living is cheaper and more gratifying than unhealthy living.

The dark ages didn't help anyone.  Let's lift ourselves out of this self imposed state of arrested development. 

Overall healthy food is cheaper on the pocket book, and less costly in terms of health and well being.

Complaining about being out of energy and run down?  Go on the cheap and start eating healthy.  Within a couple weeks you'll feel the difference.  You'll feel more energetic and lose weight.

Hmmm.  Eating crap food makes you feel like crap and is so calorie dense we gain excess fat eating it, and it costs far more than healthy eating.

What's the point in eating all that junk food?