The Main ‘Vegetables’ Americans Eat Are Pizza and French Fries

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/05/22/most-veggies-arent-healthy-as-you-think?cmpid=tpfood-eml-2014-05-24-vegetables

New USDA research finds we’re mostly fooling ourselves that we're eating our vegetables.


(Photo: Henrique Bagulho/Getty Images)


May 22, 2014 By Jason Best

Jason Best is a regular contributor to TakePart who has worked for Gourmet and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
full bio @ link


The way your’e meeting your daily quotient of vegetables is probably a lot less healthy than you think, according to a potentially surprising finding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The non-newsworthy headline is that Americans aren’t eating enough vegetables in the first place—an anemic one and a half cups on average per day versus the two to three cups recommended by federal nutrition guidelines.

Duh. Like the fact that we watch too much TV, don’t exercise, and eat too much junk food, our collective aversion to eating our veggies has become a stock item on the litany of explanations for why, when we venture out in public and are surrounded by our lumbering compatriots, it all too often feels like we’re walking onto a cattle feedlot. We’ve heard this one before.

To make matters worse, a lot of the vegetables we are consuming when we deign to eat them aren’t that good for us—or they’re being served up in ways that would make any self-respecting nutritionist shudder.

FULL story at link.

[Leme]

1. I would eat pizza 4-5 times a week

and I probably can.. just would be too boring because I eat frozen pizzas. I make great homemade ones.. I just don't have the energy to make the dough and prepare toppings and buy ingredients.
-
I have to buy, make my meals. I would happily have the vegetables etc , have them a lot more... if they were easier overall to get, prepare, pay for.
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I wished I lived next to a good pizza place, a coffee shop, a health food store, a fresh produce store,... and I could afford those places.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. I make my own pizza using pita bread for crust

I usually put avocado on the bottom, then cover that with chopped Welsh onion, maybe some chopped pitted olives and canned or fresh mushrooms, pour some homemade pizza sauce over that, and shred some cheese on top of that. Then I stick it in a toaster oven for about 6 minutes, let it cool inside the toaster oven for about one minute, then heat again for one minute to get the crust crispy. It is delicious, and nutritious and cheap to boot.

[Leme]

10. I woiuld make pizza like stuff also

I would take a loaf of Italian bread cut length wise.
-
put the pizza sauces cheeses etc. on top, The broil or bake and broil.. using foil as needed. Might just foil the bread part some. Depended on moisture/ heating I wanted.

[jberryhill]

30. Try naan

Making a Naan bruschetta sounds a lot better than pizza anyway.

[Leme]

35. similar time or longer than making pizza, my point was ease of prep

1.In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2.Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3.During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4.At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

for me these days, this is too much time standing at stove

[jberryhill]

36. Ummm....

1. Go to Indian grocery

2. Buy naan

3. Take it home and put stuff on it

4. Put in oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until cheese bubbles.

[FrodosPet]

38. I live in an area with a huge Indian population

Somebody in the Troy / Rochester MI area must surely carry it. If anyone can recommend a particular store, I would appreciate it!

One of the benefits of living in S.E. Michigan - almost every ethnicity has a substantial community here. Lots of authentic groceries and restaurants to choose from.

[jberryhill]

39. Oh absolutely

[Leme]

43. ?

I consider going to the store a part of total time.

and running out for things is not as easy for some as others.

nice thing when one can easily do it.

[jberryhill]

44. If one is in an urban area

Last edited Tue May 27, 2014, 11:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Then finding an Indian grocery on the way from or to anywhere else is not hard.

I had not understood the problem to be solved within a specific set of geographic boundary conditions.

But that's my recipe for naan pizza.

But clearly you are getting sugar, milk, salt, flour and eggs from somewhere. They have those things at Indian groceries too, so its not as if it's an extra trip.

You'll also get good prices on large bags of basmati rice!

[csziggy]

8. Frozen vegetables are cheap and fast to prepare

My husband likes eating a lot of vegetables - salad and vegetables every day and he doesn't like mushy canned vegetables. It was a struggle for me to make the time to do the prep work for fresh vegetables, plus I ended up with a lot of waste and used a lot of water cleaning and preparing them. So I've gone to frozen and bagged vegetables and we eat a lot more of them with much less waste and much less time invested.

Frozen vegetables can be microwaved quickly and cooked to whatever level of crispness you like. They tend to be cheap, sometimes cheaper than fresh because they can be processed close to the place they're grown and do not have to be transported at the peak of ripeness. I still tend to watch the sales - the new little "steam in the bag" versions are for sale at the local stores regularly 10 bags for $10. Those are 10-12 ounces (usually 4 servings, so a quarter a serving), so are more per serving than the larger 16-48 ounce discount bags I can get when I bulk buy. The big bags are not as handy, but I can pour out as big an amount as I want to prepare and keep the rest frozen.

As for the salads my husband loves, we now buy bagged salads. They do cost more than buying lettuce and other salad greens separately, but there is no waste and the time savings are tremendous. Again, I watch for sales and buy as much as we can use before the salads go bad - they keep a pretty long time if kept sealed.

[Leme]

12. for me, canned often are now better...and cheaper

I think most are about same price as frozen...peas, corn, diced/stewed tomato ..sauce/ paste
-
I buy a fresh head of cauliflower, broccoli, head of cabbage is the price is right. I only shop about every 2 weeks.
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but easier to just get 12 spinach, 12 sauerkraut, 12 beets in cans.
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I get peppers and freeze extra, when price is right.
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but for pizza, I just don't feel like making the dough so much.. and cutting all the toppings. if I make it deep dish though, a lot easier. a lot easier

[csziggy]

15. I was brought up on canned vegetables

But my husband likes what my Mom calls "Yankee" vegetables - cooked until just done, still crisp.

And I agree - canned is easier to store and needs no electricity to stay good.

I keep wanting to try the pre-made pizza dough they sell at the deli counter in the local grocery. But I am terrible at shaping pizza crust so for me frozen is easier. Some time I will get a couple of the things of dough (or get my husband to pick them up on the way home). pre-chopped vegetables (they sell little pack of tomato, bell pepper, onion), bottled sauces, some sausage and ground beef for my husband, a can of anchovies for me and a pack of mixed Italian cheese split between the two pizzas, and we'd be good.

But by the time I do all that planning, I can make the dough at home, cut up and mix enough vegetables for us both and cook them and the meats for my husband, and do it all myself. It's nice being retired!

Actually since it's easier when DiGiorno pizza is on sale, we get one Supreme deep dish for him and a four cheese thin crust for me. As the oven and our pizza stones are heating up, I put the anchovies on my pizza and get his in the oven first (deep dish takes longer). I've been doing that the last couple of years in between carpal tunnel surgeries. It's hard to get back in the habit of real from scratch cooking when you haven't been able to cut stuff safely for years.

[Leme]

21. sometimes

a different result/quality is ok
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sometimes one won't even try
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some foods I no longer make in any fashion because I know the result will be ok at best.
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some it doesn't matter

[NickB79]

19. We make homemade pizza with loads of veggies

We start with store-bought whole-wheat dough and pizza sauce because it's convenient. Next we add zucchini, spinach, kale, peppers and onions lightly sauteed in olive oil, mushrooms, and then diced, grilled chicken breast. Cover it all in shredded cheese, and bake it up!

Delicious.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. Brussel sprouts are easily obtainable...

so are carrot, green beans, etc. They are easy to prepare- just boil them or eat them raw.

[elleng]

2. No sh*t, Sherlock.

The ketchup is a vegetable controversy refers to proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) regulations, early in the presidency of Ronald Reagan, that intended to provide more flexibility in meal planning to local school lunch administrators coping with National School Lunch Plan subsidy cuts enacted by the Omnibus Regulation Acts of 1980 and 1981.[1][2] The regulations allowed administrators the opportunity to credit items not explicitly listed that met nutritional requirements. While ketchup was not mentioned in the original regulations, pickle relish was used as an example of an item that could count as a vegetable.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup_as_a_vegetable

[onehandle]

3. Clearly we're not Americans. We treat french fries like dessert.

An occasional treat.

We eat half, throw the rest away.

Pizza? No bed of cheap pasty 'mozzarella.' Extra veggies, olive oil with garlic, plus a little ricotta.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. People like you are the reason 40% of the food produced in the USA goes to waste.

Throwing out half of anything? Quintessentially American.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/27/283071610/u-s-lets-141-trillion-calories-of-food-go-to-waste-each-year

[onehandle]

24. Giant portions of the cheapest fattiest foods are my fault?

Nope. It's food marketing.

I eat all of the non-starchy vegetables and protein.

[Major Nikon]

23. Europeans eat french fries with everything

Just sayin'

[1000words]

25. With mayonnaise!

So wrong ...

[daleanime]

4. Kick....

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. Not us! Our fridge is always overflowing with them

(real ones - kale, collards, beets, carrots, squash, peppers, asparagus)....made that big lifestyle change 3 years ago - 60 lbs lost later, no turning back....weekly trips to the farmers market is a must!

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Farmers market, yup, defininte

and I overcame my how do you prepare Kale? It is tasty, and we eat it. We love asparagus, peppers, a fresh tomato salad with nice tasty, Japanese cucumbers, some red onion... and a dressing of olive oil and vinegar, it is great.

The fridge is overflowing with them, and fruit. And my market has the most wonderful Thai food as well.

And when we have pizza, I use a gluten free crust, (making it is a real pain), make my own tomato sauce and it is overflowing with veggies.

[Omaha Steve]

13. Marta and I bought into an Organic Crop Improvement Association this year

Delivered every Wednesday to a location about a mile away that we drive by anyway. This is week four. Our granddaughter loved the salad when she was here two weeks ago.

http://www.iowanafarm.com/

Chart for deliveries: http://www.iowanafarm.com/Products.html

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. We are in the middle of our own lettuce and greens, aided by a relatively cool spring....

So we are eating salads just about every night. Tonight we sauteed a slew of mustard greens and chard with sesame oil, garlic, ginger, hot pepper flakes and used it as a bed for grilled shrimp....steamed asparagus. Such a great time of year! Tomorrow night...sugar snap peas!

[awoke_in_2003]

29. Every vegetable you mention

is yummy.

[1000words]

7. I never see the concept of proper food combinations addressed

Sure, eat your veggies, but don't think just because you have choked down a few broccoli florets with dinner you are eating well. Chances are the rest of that meal was meat and a carbohydrate, and undoubtedly undermined the effort.

Our stomachs digest foods at varying rates. Carbohydrates are easily digested and don't spend much time in the gut. Meat, however, requires a significant amount of time, and a lot of stomach acid to break down. Eat both together, and it becomes a problem. The stomach will immediately start breaking down the most difficult first (protein) and put everything else on stand-by. Problem is, the sugars in carbohydrates don't take very long to ferment which in turn will putrify the meat, making a giant acidic mess. Meanwhile, that healthy broccoli you ate ... it passes through pretty much undigested, providing little to no nutritional value.

Bottom line: avoid mixing carbohydrates and protein. If you are eating meat, make the rest of the meal vegetables. If you are eating pasta, potato, or rice, make the rest of the meal vegetables.

[flvegan]

9. What is to be expected from a country that has no nutritional training

at school, at home or even at med school? Some of the most ignorant sods I've known when it comes to nutrition are doctors.

Food is fuel. You learn which pump to go to with your car, yet botch your personal intake daily.

[LeftyMom]

16. An amazing number of people don't know how to prepare most vegetables.

People aren't going to eat well if they have no idea how to cook.

[GoCubsGo]

17. Meanwhile...

It used to be they couldn't give away kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Now, they're trendy, so they cost a small fortune. If we're not eating our veggies, who is driving up the market for these?

[Le Taz Hot]

18. One of the great things about belonging

to a CSA (community supported agriculture) AND having a garden -- we eat LOTS of veggies. But then again, we LOVE veggies.

[jmowreader]

22. And French fries aren't even a vegetable!

They're in the same class as rice and pasta.

[reformist2]

26. I try to eat one serving of vegetables a day. :)

But it has to be a real serving of something nutritious - french fries wouldn't count, obviously.

[Silent3]

27. I'm very thankful for the salad bar in the cafeteria where I work

I'd never be able to keep anywhere near as wide an array of vegetables at home without most of them rotting away before they got used.

I'm pretty good at making sure I get vegetables into many other meals too, but the salads I make at work 2-3 times a week are a great way to get a good veggie fix with a good variety of veggies.

To me, a proper salad is NOT a giant heap of lettuce with traces of one or two other veggies, drowned in salad dressing.

I start with a thin layer of lettuce and mixed greens and spinach, then add some cucumber, lots of shredded carrots, broccoli, green pepper (or red pepper when they have it), chick peas, black beans, kidney beans, black olive, a little sun-dried tomato or fresh tomato, then some non-veggie stuff, not in large quantity, like shredded cheese, croutons, and a sparing amount of salad dressing -- almost always bleu cheese these days, where only a dollop, less than a hundred calories worth, is needed to add a lot of flavor.

(It really grosses me out when I see how many other people soak their salads in dressing.)

Though of course they're technically vegetables, or at least vegetation, at least plant material, I don't think of potatoes, rice, corn, or any other highly starchy foods as "vegetables", not from the standpoint of servings of vegetables I should get in my diet.

One restaurant my wife and I go to typically once or twice a week also has a half-way decent salad bar -- not as good as the one at work, but still a good way to get my servings of veggies taken care of.

I also get at least a serving or two of fruit every day too -- apples, grapes, bananas, and oranges typically.

[fujiyama]

31. Same here...

There's the typical special, which is usually something fried and not super healthy. I might splurge on it once or twice out of the week.

But typically I prefer the salad bar. And I can customize it however I want. I particularly like chickpeas, beets, and sun flower seeds. Usually a light vinaigrette will do for dressing. Otherwise even cottage cheese is sometimes enough.

But the salad by weight is usually a dollar or two more than the special. It's frustrating how expensive veggies are while so many processed foods are dirt cheap.

[Silent3]

34. Fortunately this cafeteria often has a healthy special too...

...and at the grill I can get grilled chicken in a whole wheat wrap with lots of veggies anytime.

I worry about losing this job because a lot of my healthy habits are made a lot easier working here. The biggest thing is that it's a short commute -- only 6 miles from home -- so that I've got time for exercise without it being a tight squeeze to put the time in. There's also a gym in the same building that our company gives us free memberships to, and I can often take an exercise break in the afternoon during work hours.

I think I'm OK at least for a while, but the work I used to do is getting outsourced to India, and the transition to the newer projects hasn't really happened yet, at least not for the team I'm in.

If I end up having a long drive to work, no salad bar, and no gym, something is probably going to give, and there's a good chance it'll be my waistline.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. I used to love a local restaurant that this is exactly what they are

a salad bar.

But since developing a nasty gluten allergy, cross contamination is an issue. So... these days I make the salads at home. Yes, it is a pain...

I love them, especially when it is really hot in the spring- summer.If you are ever in San Diego, visit Souplantation. It is not quite the cheapest, but the variety of vegies and all that, and they just do not only have salads.

[valerief]

32. And ketchup. That's a Reagan vegetable. nt

[KurtNYC]

37. I think it is weird that these evangalists use the word "veggies"

It implies that they either have no idea what the names of the vegetables they eat are, or that they just don't crave any specific vegetable enough to call it by name. By contrast people who love beef almost always say the name of the cut -- rib-eye, sirloin, filet, ground round. They don't say something equally vague and cute like "critters."

The author of the linked story calls tomatoes a vegetable and they are of course a fruit.

He urges us to join a CSA but CSA have a terrible customer satisfaction problem. 85% of CSA customers also go to the farmers' market. On average Americans throw away half of all the vegetables they buy which means that raw vegetables are one of the most expensive foods you can buy.

He also applies his evangalistic tunnel-vision to how he thinks we should all eat vegetables -- cut and cook each one ourselves. Yet a locally produced soup like Minestrone, Pasta Fagoli or Muligetawny would avoid all the labor and turn short shelf life into longer lasting ready to eat foods.

The path forward is not the complex -- make healthier pizza using produce from sustainable agriculture. Offer more great tasting healthy choices and stop talking without credibility about nebulous "veggies."

[KG]

40. The Main ‘Vegetables’ Americans Eat Are Pizza and French Fries

like that's bad thing?

[TBF]

41. I do love pizza -

but have been buying fresh vegetables and roasting them. I think that is the hard part for folks. Unless they can afford decent produce from the grocery or have a nearby farm market it is just not as assessable/affordable as it should be. People can only buy what they can afford

[Arugula Latte]

42. Yet another piece of evidence that I shouldn't have been born in this country.

Would it have killed the luck of the draw to have plunked me down as a newborn babe in the South of France, for example?