What its like in one of the unhealthiest counties in one of the unhealthiest states

[Trek420]

When I realize the woman in the stall next to me is on the phone, I have the most incredible urge to make extremely loud whoopee cushion noises...

Go ahead!

[skhill]

No, that's just the way those people ate.

I swear, they didn't drink water.

So their carts had liquid candy-- that doesn't mean they don't drink water too. Water comes out of a tap, not a supermarket...

I live in the city Men's Health magazine ranked as the most sedentary in the US. Sometimes it seems like the official local breakfast is a Mountain Dew or Ale8-1 and sausage biscuit, followed by a cigarette. So I do know what you mean.

[Kathi]

Even here in one of the healthiest states in the country, where hydration with water is extremely important, especially in the winter at high elevations, I've seen 5-8 year olds drinking oversized servings of pop (soda), and drinking no water. Then the parents get concerned because the kids don't feel well. Duh, all that sugar filling the kids up, no real food and dehydration due to lack of water, what do they expect?

Generally these people are tourists but I suspect they are locals too.

When skier friends come to visit they will pay $2-$3 for bottled water at the ski areas or buy cases of it at the grocery store. All the ski areas provide "free" water that comes directly from the mt peaks, most likely purer than any bottled water and the same can be said for tap water.

[Eden]

....... I mean really, in the women's locker room at the Y where it's plainly posted, "No Cell Phones"?

I'm betting that is because most phones now include a *camera*..... more than because it's just rude to be yakking away in that environment....

[shootingstar]

Having spent my high school years in Alabama where ketchup was considered a vegetable in the school lunches -- I'm not even making that up -- I can tell you that the thinking there is that soda is mostly water, so it counts as water, and if it's sweetened with Splenda instead of sugar, it's considered the healthy choice.

Booze: ditto -- mostly water.

Cigarettes: from tobacco leaves...it's a vegetable, too. Besides, they look so darn cool.

Jeez. Nutritonal food illiteracy is amazing.

I met a 70 yr. old woman 15 yrs. ago who rarely ate any veggies her whole life, even though she had a heart problem. She was raised in a rural area on Cape Breton Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. I remember her friend, my partner's mother who was around 82 at that time: she was politely disgusted with her younger friend's diet but knew it was pointless to convince her to eat her veggies.

[Trek420]

I'm betting that is because most phones now include a *camera*..... more than because it's just rude to be yakking away in that environment....

Probably, same as the signs in the gym.

But it's not just the sounds and the flushing but the thought about the sanitation and safety. I assume you wash your hands after but do you wash your iPhone? Probably not

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8775660.htm

[OakLeaf]

Well according to that article, the phone is already dirtier than anything in the bathroom, so maybe the phone is actually cleaner afterward.

It would be a neater trick than I can do, to wipe with the hand that's holding the phone, anyway. I've already lost one phone down a portajohn (no, NOT while I was talking on it or trying to wipe ).

[Trek420]

Jeez. Nutritonal food illiteracy is amazing.

Yep, it sure is Personally I'm not sure if it's illiteracy (never learned to read) or dementia (once upon a time we all knew what to eat. We just forgot under the deluge of fast food ads)

But back to customers: You know those systems where you're resetting a password it gives you a couple choices of security questions: What was your high school mascot, who was your childhood heroine, if you were stranded on an island what book would you need and .... what is your favorite restaurant?

If I had $20 for everyone whose answer to that last one is MacDonalds I would be retired on an island right now. "Wrong! MacD's is NOT a restaurant, it's barely food. I'm locking you out of your account, that's just plain wrong."

[KnottedYet]

I loooooooove McDonald's fries and hashbrowns. You gonna lock me out of the house?

[Trek420]

No way!

[Velocivixen]

I've lived in Oregon (Willamette Valley) my whole life and now live near Portland. If you've ever watched the show Portlandia (IFC), there's a skit where these very down to earth patrons are in a restaurant and they are asking about the chicken on the menu. They're asking where the chicken was raised, how old it was, it's environment....finally the waitress excuses herself and returns with the chicken's lifetime dossier! The couple still can't decide, so they leave the restaurant and take a trip to the farm where the chicken(local of course, and hormone/antibiotic free of course - organic) was raised (like a commune). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that many here are into local sustainability, growing your own, community gardens, farmer's markets, vegan/vegetarian options, etc. Of course not everyone eats like that, but it's a stereotype that I sort of like.

[Trek420]

Before the Portlandia chicken (I love that episode), before Rocky the Range chicken, Petaluma was the egg capital of the world. I grew up on a farm there:

http://www.archive.org/details/Petaluma1932

[zoom-zoom]

When I realize the woman in the stall next to me is on the phone, I have the most incredible urge to make extremely loud whoopee cushion noises...

This. And there have been several times when I've heard a person in the next stall, thought they were talking to me, and answered. I know that *I* shouldn't have been the one embarrassed in this situation, but I was.

[Biciclista]

This. And there have been several times when I've heard a person in the next stall, thought they were talking to me, and answered. I know that *I* shouldn't have been the one embarrassed in this situation, but I was.

me too. and food illiteracy? I see it in our own family. The great grandparents know how to eat. The grandparents were a little lazy... so the parents didn't learn. The kids? I can't stand to have these children to our house because they won't eat fruit, vegetables, they didn't even like my mac and cheese because it didn't come out of a box... I could go ON and ON and On. and now THESE kids are reaching puberty...

[Eden]

I was reading a study somewhere that in contrast to common wisdom, it's probably best to expose your baby to lots of flavors (and ones that aren't bland) early..... they found babies who get exposed to bitter within a certain time in end up not disliking bitter foods as adults - and a lot of those bitter foods are the ones that have some of the best nutrients.

and hey - I found it - http://www.greenpeoplenews.com/en/20...healthy-foods/