20% Of Americans Don't Eat:

[Country Kids]

FRUIT!!!

That was a trivia question I heard today and found it very interesting. You think most people would eat fruit over vegetables.

Another interesting thing with this when I was talking to someone about this question. They knew 2 people right off the bat that didn't eat fruit because of how EXPENSIVE it is.

I find that so sad. There has to be a way of eating healthy without going broke, there really has to be and I think its time to start taking a stand on it and making it affordable for families.

[melilley]

I'm more of a veggie person myself!

[LK5kids]

Fruit lover here!

[SilverSabre25]

I have always found that incredible. It's NOT that expensive. Drop the Hot pockets and frozen fries and soda from the grocery trip and add in a bag of apples and one of oranges. There; fixed it. :confused:

I was made incredibly sad one day at the grocery store by a little boy begging his mom for a green apple ("I had it at school and it's my FAVORITE!") and first mom snapped that he wouldn't eat it then yelled that they couldn't buy apples because they were too expensive. I saw them later in the chip aisle with a 12 pack of soda and ice cream and chips...

[Country Kids]

My husband always, always comments how expensive produce is-especially fruit and most of the time I have to agree with him.

We were shopping one time and I had oranges on the list-$6.00 a bag and there weren't even 10 in the bag! Apples are around $5.00 for nice ones and grapes, well lets not even go there. Blueberrys/Rasberries OH MY GOODNESS-$5.00 for this teeny, teeny, tiny container! The thing that ticks me off-we have one of the biggest blueberry farms in our state 20 min. from my house and they are just as expensive there. My odd worked 2 summers there and it was not worth it. She made like $79 in a month of picking and would pick about 5 hours a day with the owners wife, who loved her but there was no money in it but they charge an arm and leg to buy them.

[MarinaVanessa]

I've heard a similar article that says something like that too. The sad thing is that (in the article that I read) it said that when those people that didn't eat much fruit were question as to why they didn't eat fruit the majority said that it was because of all the articles they read that said that fruit had sugar in it.

That makes me sad. I wish that these "articles" that warned people about potential dangers were more clear about what it means to be well-balanced and I wish more people would use common sense when it came to these types of articles.

For example today I read an article on AOL that was titled "8 Surprising Pregnancy Dangers". I'm pregnant so of course I read it and I was greatly disappointed at the things that they warned against. Here's what they warned against:

1. Hot Baths (No way, my body will tell me when too hot is too hot)
2. Drinking Fruit Juice (because of sugar, um ... just don't drink a gallon of it in one sitting duh)
3. Eating Leafy Vegetables (because they could have chemicals ...um, just wash them )
4. Changing Cat Litter (this one I agree with)
5. Using Electric Blankets (because they produce low levels of electromagnetic fields that "could" be harmful to a developing fetus ... yeah well I could walk out my door and "could" get hit by a bus but that doesn't mean that I'm going to stay inside all day AND I have a higher chance at getting hit by a bus than I do of hurting my fetus because of an electric blanket)
6. Laying on Your Back (because it causes discomfort like trouble breathing and backaches ... I'm going to tell my DH that cleaning causes shortness of breath and backaches and maybe I won;t have to do that either)
7. Painting the Nursery (Because of fumes ... yeah well I don't want to do this anyway, that's what my DH is for)
8. Using Certain Skin Care Products (because of certain chemicals found in some products ... oh you mean like the ones that say "Do not use if Pregnant")

I thought it was an utter waste of my time but here's the "article" just in case anyone is interested:
8 Surprising Pregnancy Dangers

If anyone does happen to read it check out comment #3 at the bottom of the article.

[Hunni Bee]

I have always found that incredible. It's NOT that expensive. Drop the Hot pockets and frozen fries and soda from the grocery trip and add in a bag of apples and one of oranges. There; fixed it. :confused:

I was made incredibly sad one day at the grocery store by a little boy begging his mom for a green apple ("I had it at school and it's my FAVORITE!") and first mom snapped that he wouldn't eat it then yelled that they couldn't buy apples because they were too expensive. I saw them later in the chip aisle with a 12 pack of soda and ice cream and chips...

I totally agree. I see people with cases of soda, hot dogs, hot pockets, pizza, chips...and Im thinking wtf??

I knew this woman who only bought those types of things and said it was so she didn't have to cook when she got home. Really...and she wondered why she had a 100 lb second grader.

[MarinaVanessa]

Aww man, they deleted all 3 of the comments on the "article" I was talking about (one of them was mine).

PS: they all had one complaint or another or argued against the article . ::

I still commented again ... I wonder how long it will take them to delete that one

EDIT:
::::::
It took them less than 2 minutes to remove my last comment that said
"Wow really? You had 3 comments and all of them had something negative to say about the article (mine included) so you remove them all? Nice. I think you should take the little "So what do you think? DO tell.." and add "but only if you like the article, otherwise don't bother because we'll just delete your comment anyway"

[DCBlessings27]

I can see your comment about them deleting comments. I really didn't find them very surprising.

[Hunni Bee]

Aww man, they deleted all 3 of the comments on the "article" I was talking about (one of them was mine).

PS: they all had one complaint or another or argued against the article . ::

I still commented again ... I wonder how long it will take them to delete that one

EDIT:
::::::
It took them less than 2 minutes to remove my last comment that said
"Wow really? You had 3 comments and all of them had something negative to say about the article (mine included) so you remove them all? Nice. I think you should take the little "So what do you think? DO tell.." and add "but only if you like the article, otherwise don't bother because we'll just delete your comment anyway"

I thought most of the stuff they said were random over- precautions. Hot baths make miscarriage "likely"?? They should have public service announcements all over about it, in that case. Sounded like junk to me.

[SilverSabre25]

The thing about fruit is that you have to watch for it to be in season and/or on sale. Bags of mandarin oranges in the winter are pretty cheap. Apples are cheap fall/winter and start to get more expensive toward spring. Buy grapes only when they're like $1.50 or less/lb (at least where I live), pick your own blueberries, pick your own strawberries, etc. Try a farmer's market for peaches. Don't buy melon in the winter; know how to tell if it's ripe and actually buy it IN SEASON.

Also, if it's on sale, that means it's plentiful which means it's in season. Don't buy pineapples at $5/ea. Wait until they're on sale for like $1 apeice. Or buy canned.

I buy canned peaches, pears, and pineapple as a rule because it's hard to get those fresh and GOOD.

[Hunni Bee]

The thing about fruit is that you have to watch for it to be in season and/or on sale. Bags of mandarin oranges in the winter are pretty cheap. Apples are cheap fall/winter and start to get more expensive toward spring. Buy grapes only when they're like $1.50 or less/lb (at least where I live), pick your own blueberries, pick your own strawberries, etc. Try a farmer's market for peaches. Don't buy melon in the winter; know how to tell if it's ripe and actually buy it IN SEASON.

Also, if it's on sale, that means it's plentiful which means it's in season. Don't buy pineapples at $5/ea. Wait until they're on sale for like $1 apeice. Or buy canned.

I buy canned peaches, pears, and pineapple as a rule because it's hard to get those fresh and GOOD.

That's the problem I have with my job. Almost 100% of thr food they serve comes out of a box, can or the freezer. All the veggies are canned, except the salad. All the fruit is canned, they may have one fresh fruit snack a week, and its always bananas. All the meat products are precooked....its gross. All the breakfast items - pancakes, waffles, even the eggs are frozen and heated up the microwave. This place charges upwards of $300 per kid per week - im sure they can serve better food. Its just not healthy at all.

They expect us to eat with the children...I rarely do because I dont eat canned fruit or veggies (very occasionally) or precooked meat and process cheese. And since I may end up bringing my child there for a while, this is an issue for me. Hopefully I'll be up and running in my own place before s/he goes to table food.

[Meyou]

The very biggest one that boggles my mind is when parents NEED to purchase packaged snacks and meals for babies and toddlers. Whenever I'm asked for ideas (since I seem to feed them with no problems) my first suggestion for an "on the go" snack is a banana.

They always look at me like this: :confused::confused::confused::confused:

It's healthy, it's cheap, it's easy to eat and it comes in its own biodegradable packaging. It's the perfect toddler snack but most people don't even think about it. I don't understand.......

[canadiancare]

I live where we don't have coupons the way you seem to in the US. We get 50 cents off or so but not the ones where you end up with pretty well free stuff. I see that extreme coupon show and the women are so proud of their hauls of complete crap for their families.

I understand that it is a challenge to feed a family on a budget. When I was first married we lived in a very expensive city with most of our money going to rent but if you are creative you can eat healthily and still make ends meet. It is about cutting out the extras not the staples.

My body was a lot younger then but it was also the fittest I have ever been. The more money we've had the larger my butt has gotten and it is all because of being able to afford stuff we don't need.

I have signed our family up for the Living Below the Line challenge this year. Each person tries to live on 1,75$ a day for 5 days just to gain some insight into how difficult it is.

[countrymom]

I'm not surprised. I've seen kids come thru here that have no idea what fruit or even veggies are. One kid couldn't even believe that apples are green.

Yes fruit and veggies are expensive, but so is junk food (3 dollars for a bag of chips or 8 dollars for a case of coke) but usually its convience overules cooking.

I just spent 10 dollars on a bag of fresh green beans because my own children are on some crazy green bean kick, but I know alot of parents would never pay that.