making the most of the coming recession

There was a very interesting topic posted here a few days ago ... regarding creative ideas how to get our nutrition needs met with less of a budget .  

Maybe I'm a bit of a Polyanna , but I think every setback presents an opportunity ... if it only is recognized and acted upon.   

During WW2  when rationing and " deprivation " from such " essential " food items as butter ,meat  etc ... was at its highest ( ie these things were LIMITED  but still available in small quantities ) statistically the population of Great Britain and the US  was at its healthiest and longest -lived ( provide you weren't actively serving in the war as a soldier  of course ) .  

Families  established  grew  and appreciated Victory gardens and even kept backyard flocks of laying hens in order  to  have a source of precious fresh eggs .  Of course everyone  walked a lot more due to the gas shortages .  Finally , women became  an appreciated and essential and respected part of the workforce  rather than a population essentially  controlled through financial starvation and blatantly sexist inheritance laws and hugely disproportionate sexist relative payscales and hiring  and promoting policies . 

I shudder at the health implications of WLS recipients now  feeling the need to eat bacon .. or other forms of fatty meat several times a day .  The residual cancer-causing pesticides !   The horrific results on the skeletal system and the burden on the organs of eating so much concentrated protein and fat and animal fat-contained pesticide residues ... 

I personally have never doubted the documented links between  high meat based protein consumption , pancreatic and kidney failure , osteoporosis and tooth and hair loss ... early aging ,  alzenheimers disease and even MS , rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia and other sources of chronic pain.  

To me ... a largely plant-based eater,  the links between these diseases and meat  are OBVIOUS because  I literally FEEL so different after I eat fatty meat .    

I hope the  cuts in our disposable incomes will mean more  families eating rice and beans based proteins ... more home grown and locally grown  vegetables and fruits on our plates  rather than old , vitamin and enzyme -poor trucked in ones ... .  I HOPE   families will see NOT helping a teenager get a car ( and an extra twenty pounds on their hips and accelerated  aging  )  as a necessity ... but rather agitating for more and better public transportation ....and efficient ways of  heating lighting and cooling our homes .  

What do YOU think  the coming changes will mean to the average American family ?  How can we help make these changes POSITIVE opportunities  rather than grumbling about deprivation ?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I shudder at the health implications of WLS recipients now  feeling the need to eat bacon .. or other forms of fatty meat several times a day .  The residual cancer-causing pesticides !   The horrific results on the skeletal system and the burden on the organs of eating so much concentrated protein and fat and animal fat-contained pesticide residues ... 

To me ... a largely plant-based eater,  the links between these diseases and meat  are OBVIOUS because  I literally FEEL so different after I eat fatty meat .  

Okay, but you are NOT a DS'er who malabsorbs FAT...80% of the fat we eat goes right out of us. In fact, if we do not eat fat, most of us have severe constipation. My cholesterol on a regular diet stayed above 240 unless I took a cholesterol lowering medication. On the DS diet of very low carb, my cholesterol is NOW 179 without any help at all.

Also, do you know that the most outspoken opponent of GM foods has recanted?

I apologize for having spent several years ripping up GM crops,” Lynas told his receptive audience on Thursday. “I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonizing an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment. As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to a healthy and nutritious diet of their choosing, I could not have chosen a more counter-productive path. I now regret it completely.”

I hope the  cuts in our disposable incomes will mean more  families eating rice and beans based proteins ... more home grown and locally grown  vegetables and fruits on our plates  rather than old , vitamin and enzyme -poor trucked in ones

Plants are incomplete proteins and are also carbs which most of us have to limit to keep weight off.

While what you advocate would work for some, it will NOT work for all...leave our bacon out of this!

 

lol I agree leave my bacon out of it!! I'm not even a DSer. For 3 of my first 5 months bacon was my one "go to" that always went down well, without it I'm not sure I would have overcome my chips addiction (I cook till crispy and it substituted salty crunch), and I surely wouldn't have gotten all my protein in without drinking more shakes. I rarely eat it now but it was def a mainstay!

Not to mention that with my doctor's plan I couldn't have veggies for the first 2 mo. or fruit until mo. 4. He still limits our intake on both in maintenance and it's working well here.

Beans give me gas and diarrhea. Even pre-DS they gave me awful cramps due to my IBS . I started following Atkins pre-DS due to the IBS. Without animal based protein I'm not sure how long I'd last as this will ultimately kill a DSer and that's no exageration. BTW I can't do protein powder due to IBS. This is a case of live and let live.

I don't know what it would do to the average American family but I know what it'll do to me. We will not be fixing up our old beater car and insuring it. It'll sit in the driveway as it has been since the day after my surgery. I'll continue to use the train and buses, friends, family, and my cabby. It adds up to what we would pay in insurance anyway so we're not dumping gas and repair expenses into the bottomless hole of a car.

I picked up a used freezer and enjoy some home cooking. I have some things that I just talked with the hubby about selling cheap on Amazon (ship it to them and let them ship it out) to get a little fun money. We have some house remodeling to finish but we're trying to do it cheaply by learning on YouTube how to do some things ourselves. 

I'm preparing to grow an indoor garden (maybe I can post a picture of it in about one month) and I am going to grow a VERTICAL garden (yippee - what fun!) this summer.

I already order groceries (and meds) from Safeway and get them home delivered, usually at no expense. It has caused me to become very organized with my grocery shopping and ultimately has reduced that amount I spend (maybe my surgery helped also). I used to stop by the grocery store 3-4 times per week but now I order only twice a month.

I do like beans and root veg's very much and tolerate starch better than most RNY patients. My nutritionist is helping me with some non-meat alternatives as I had a rough time with meat from 2.5 months out to just 2 weeks ago! And I mean nauseating, ready to puke, if I just LOOKED at meat! LOL! I really don't want to eat much meat as I'm a wannabe vegetarian. I will have to be careful to get the protein but I think in the end I'll eat fish but little chicken and beef (mostly for flavoring broths and stews).

What I learned is that there are distinct needs for each type of WLS and then there are unique issues among us.

Syringa, as long as you get protein, not eating meat will work for someone other than a DS'er...we simply can NOT get enough protein in any other way. In fact there are DS surgeons out there who will not do a DS on a vegetarian. But the RNY and the VSG (as well as the lapband) do not have the long term malabsorbtion of the DS.

I hope you find alternatives that you are comfortable with in your quest. 

 

I'm going through a phase where I'm tolerating beef for 3-4 weeks now; a particular type of beef right now is pot roast.  I look forward to eating it. I know it will likely pass and then I'll go Yuk again but I'll have back up protein by other means. The NUT wants me to not push any kind of meat to the point that I'm getting repulsed by it or it might set in as a long lasting dislike. The reason we're using such caution is because I've had a history of nausea at the dinner table as a child. Whatever food in my mouth at the time when stressful things happened at the dinner table I wouldn't want to eat it again, sometimes for years. The good news is I'm dealing with it now and developing alternative plans.

Come to the dark side we have bacon. Sorry, couldn't resist. lol 

I wish I could say I follow the nutritional guidelines of the 1940s, which said eat a little bit from every food group every day.  These days I eat something from every food group but I'm definitely heavy on the dairy protein and little or no grains most days.      

 

Huh! Give me meat and keep your plants. Bacon is beautiful! Applewood bacon, maple bacon, thick slice or thin its all good.

Also, back in the day, people ate meat, taters and a veggie and were not fat. They ate serving sizes with barely any treats if any and not too many people were fat.