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The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

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Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#31

Post by spandrew »

God I really hate these "war on x food" articles. CARBS MUST DIE. SUGAR MUST DIE. FAT MUST DIE. Well no, most adult bodies are pretty good at dealing with most of those.

Bread is fine much like most other foods. If you eat 2500 calories a day of broccoli you will gain weight. From broccoli.

American portion sizes being out of control is a problem. If you want to lose weight you can by all means order a sandwich. But if it's a honker then save half for lunch tomorrow, too. Two delicious meals for the price of one, and no pressured anxiety around ordering something you love to eat.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#33

Post by tsimionescu »

rjh29 wrote: post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

> Carbs are terrible for diets, don't satiate you and most people eat too many.

I think most people's experience is precisely the opposite with regards too satiety - non-sugary carbs are the most important component for satiety. Bread, rice, potatoes - these are all commonly eaten to increase the feeling of fullness.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#34

Post by justinator »

PuppyTailWags wrote: post #22
chasebank wrote: post #16

This article references salt consumption multiple times. I thought that was a myth of the past. Salt consumption has almost zero to do with blood pressure. IIRC, it's primarily based on eating more calories than one burns. As always, eat less, move more. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-t...

I'm actually curious about this: if that's true, why do hospitals still do low-salt diets for critical heart disease patients?

Because if you are a critical heart patient, salt then can matter a lot.

Unfortunately a lot of people suffer from being per-diabetic, which really just means, "you have diabetes, we don't want to say that because: denial" and a lot of guidelines used for "healthy" people don't apply to you, because you're not healthy.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#35

Post by jhaenchen »

rjh29 wrote: post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

Simple carbs have low satiety and come with a glucose spike. Complex carbs are much better in this regard and are far more nutritious.

The next level past becoming aware of nutrition is becoming aware of meta nutrition, or the culture around nutrition. Do not fall in to the trap of demonizing nutrient after nutrient. It never ends.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#36

Post by zaltekk »

PuppyTailWags wrote: post #22
chasebank wrote: post #16

This article references salt consumption multiple times. I thought that was a myth of the past. Salt consumption has almost zero to do with blood pressure. IIRC, it's primarily based on eating more calories than one burns. As always, eat less, move more. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-t...

I'm actually curious about this: if that's true, why do hospitals still do low-salt diets for critical heart disease patients?

You could be sued for doing something that was potentially considered unsafe by some studies. Business wise it's better to just "play it safe" here with low sodium meals.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#37

Post by kevviiinn »

rjh29 wrote: post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

>carbs are terrible for diets

That's an incredibly broad statement and mostly untrue. Carbs are a pretty necessary part of a healthy diet, especially the more complex ones that take longer to break down (or just don't in the case of fiber)

If you're doing any sort of meaningful physical activity, carbs are super important for keeping you going at full bore while preventing brain fog

Based on my personal experience, the calories are coming from a lot of fats which also aren't necessarily a bad thing because you do need a certain amount for satiety and various biochemical processes. It's been shown that excess fats can be problematic

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#39

Post by rjh29 »

orev wrote: post #28
rjh29 wrote: post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

There’s a big misconception that wraps are somehow more healthy than bread. They’re more processed and have at least as many calories as bread does, despite often being presented as the healthier option.

Wow, you're right about tortilla wraps (173 cals per tortilla - close to two slices of white bread which is 186). What I mean was stuff like this (100 cals):

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/268319311

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#40

Post by Arrath »

avidphantasm wrote: post #12
jplona wrote: post #7

> Since a soggy PB&J is unappealing, Dr. Roberto says it’s pretty easy to rein in the amount of sweet jam. “There’s a built-in mechanism against overjellying,” she says. “It’s a really nice type of sandwich.” The trick is to put peanut butter on both pieces of bread so it can't absorb the jam. Then you can put as much as you like :-).

Hard disagree. Soggy PB&J is excellent. Soggy PB and honey is even better.

I used to make a bunch of PB&Js on Sunday, and take 2-3 with me for lunch every day. Later in the week they'd achieve this perfect ratio of jelly having soaked into the (toasted) bread. It was great.

Yes, working long hours in construction causes one to adopt some strange habits.

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