Honestly I am not even sure what to do with this post. Froofy whole foods?
As someone who shops at whole foods, it doesn't make it less froofy. It's expensive stuff. They have whole contests where families of 3-4 try very hard to spend only 125$ a week for meals. $130 is what I spent a month for a family of 4 with the occasional 2 kids that don't eat much at all. We have 9 people living on $450 a month right now. It just doesn't happen at whole foods. It's not possible. $125 a week for one person? You can eat whatever you want. A month? You'll struggle to eat rice, beans, vegetables, and the occasional sliver of meat at whole foods. People had to try VERY hard and order things like half a cabbage to make those budgets work.
I'm not dissing whole foods, I like them a lot despite their issues they've been called out on at times. They're certainly better than walmart. But that doesn't really mean they're practical for everyone. So, yeah, I consider them froofy. I consider Trader Joe's froofy too despite it being vastly cheaper. Sorry if you don't like it, it isn't meant to be insulting.. just a different class.
And yes plenty of adults and children like collard greens and kale. Kale is actually an extremely popular food nationally, and collard greens are a traditional food in the South. I hated meat as a child. HATED IT. I fed hamburger to the dog and thought chicken was full of red veiny worms. There's no established reason that children cannot eat green vegetables (I love broccoli) or why milk is suddenly a go to food for all, other than your Si cultural bias.
Oh don't get me started on kale and how cheap it used to be until it got popular and now it's super expensive. That's how food fashion goes. Something isn't so pricey, then it gets picked for being sexy, and the price goes up. I used to buy kale for 88 cents a bunch, and I know inflation has a liiiittle bit to do with it, but I'm nervous seeing whole foods post "collard greens are the new kale!" on their shopping bags because I still buy those and cook them.
Look, not everyone eats dark leafy greens. Especially when they're younger. I hated them. Kale and collard greens can cause GI upset, and they're bitter flavors raw to boot. I hated meat too... but I hated spinach, and kale, and anything that wasn't broccoli and green. And I was the most open of my family. My parents ate vegetables, two kinds, with every meal. But I'm sure the shape of broccoli and how much cheese was on it had 90% of my sway. More and more research is showing to offer kids new foods, but not to punish them if they don't eat them.. that trying new foods ought to stay positive. So, like most kids, I got nutrients from other sources until I turned 14, hit puberty, and said, "Omg is this what spinach tastes like?! Why did I think this was gross?!" It's pretty common. You want nutrients for your kids, and you balance getting them the best stuff with getting them what they need that day.
My mom would even laugh at this post and she lives in West Virginia, is lactose intolerant, is extremely health concious, and not rich. Sometimes I wonder if you play up the Texas thing or if you're really serious, because if you actually think GLOBALLY most people don't even consume milk. So by globally I presume you mean "middle America."
I meant on a community health level. A bigger more global approach. I'm clearly not an expert in non-american diets, I'm sticking with that for sure. But there's a reason WIC gives out milk.
Not rich isn't the same as poor either. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with your diet, your mom's diet, or whatever you guys are doing. I'm saying there's nothing wrong with people drinking milk either, even if you think it's not the number 1 best option.
Almonds are a good natural source of calcium. Drink almond milk, it's soy free, and it’s not more expensive than drinking the Lactaise stuff. You are just making excuses for the dairy industry and I guess that is not anywhere near as terrible as making excuses for the oil industry, because they're just farmers.
It is more expensive. Almond milk is a luxury thing. You're paying for fancy water.
It would literally take the entire jug of almond milk to equate to the same nutrition in a single ounce of actual almonds eaten by themselves without all that process of turning it into milk. Almonds are super healthy for you, and cheap too. Almond milk is not. And frequently the brands add things like vitamin/nutrient blends to the milk so that they can make those claims of "More protein than milk! More vitamins than milk!" Much of the argument is that milk has to be doctored up and enriched or fortified or whatever people complain about. Almond milk is no different. Sure you get it fresh, but like I said you pay for that freshness and it still won't have the same effects as plain old almonds. It's cheaper to buy milk, drink it, and buy almonds and eat those too than it is to drink a single cup of almond milk.
For the price, you're paying for something just as processed. I could buy a multivitamin and get more bang for my buck than almond milk nutrient wise.
I'm not invalidating almond milk, I use it sometimes--but taste is mostly why, not nutrient content at all. And usually only on clearance racks and manager specials because you literally get half the amount of milk for $1 more. When you're on a budget, dollars count all the way. Lactaid is about the same price per half gallon, sure, but it also has much of the nutrients retained from milk and isn't just a bunch of sexy water with a few almonds sprinkled in.
I like almond milk and I think it's a great item especially when hand made instead of bought at the store. Depending on what you need in your diet, there's nothing wrong with it at all. The industry drove the price up something ridiculous because it's sexy, but that's not almond milk's fault. It could theoretically be as cheap as regular milk for the same amount.
But for right now? In the current state of things? I'm saying that milk is much more cost effective, nutrient dense, and readily available. It may not be the number 1 coolest sexy thing out there ever, but it doesn't need to be for many people. It's understandable, and even acceptable dare I say it, that people use milk as a health promotion item in their diets.
You can keep arguing with me about how gross you find milk, or whatever, but I'm not disagreeing with you--there's nothing to disagree about. You like almond milk sooooo much. That's cool. I don't really, I prefer regular milk. If you're not cool with that, arguing with me about how much you dislike it and your mom is lactose intolerant isn't really going to change my mind. On top of that, most of America's health promotion agencies (like food stamps, and wic, and recent dietary guidelines) sort of agree too. So, yeah, on a community health and more global approach, I'm not alone in my thoughts that milk is fine. I'm sure you don't agree with half those programs and the way they're run.. but for someone that depended on those programs growing up, I was super lucky and happy to get what I got from them, and I'm definitely glad they allowed me to drink milk if my parents chose it for me instead of just saying, "collard greens are better, so no more milk for you." and allowed my parents and myself some autonomy over my decision making in my health.
we have seriously different philosophies on food and diet. And that's cool with me honestly. But you're arguing with someone who isn't really here to talk about milk in a thread that isn't really meant to discuss milk. and you're really derailing the thread.
My aim is to complain about foodies and hippies and their 'farmacy' mentalities and such. Because those guys believe it or not aren't perfect enlightened people we all should model after. They have valid good points, do good things, but they also do a lot of back peddling and regressing of aspects that I don't like. The point of the thread is to highlight those things. I understand food and weight and nutrition is a very charged subject for you... but if you don't want to help identify things that don't make sense from hippies, then please write like, literally, anywhere else about the stuff you hate. And I'd even be willing to discuss the topic further with you elsewhere, particularly after my exams this week, but for now I'd really like to get back on topic.
