Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Tea with Tina podcast. Today's episode, as many have been and some of my best have been, is an impromptu one, Quite literally. It just spawned in my brain a matter of like three minutes ago. So I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and as my ADHD brain kicked in and I just drifted away and on my Facebook feed there was a question in a women's fitness group and it was like why do you think we struggle with nutrition? Why do people overcomplicate nutrition? And I don't know why. But this answer just kind of came to my head instantly and it clicked and I typed it out and I thought it was really good. So I wanted to share with you. I actually shared it in the messenger chat of my food freedom four-day experience because I thought it was that good. I'll probably share it some other places too. So let me share it with you.
Speaker 1:
So can I share why I think nutrition is so difficult for many? There are two big reasons that I want to talk about. So number one is I think cultural influence and social norms play a role. So there's technically actually three. So cultural influence and social norms. So by cultural influence, this depends on your background, what is accepted, depending if you are Spanish, depending on your heritage Caribbean, Indian, when they fast, Chinese, there's just even American. There's different cultures. Italian's a big one. They love their pasta, so they really struggle to limit their carbs and it's because of the style that they eat and they eat bigger portions. And there's just different values around food. Food can mean family, food can mean community. The types of foods that we eat aren't always aligned with a nutritious, balanced meal, but there are ways to make those cultural meals a little bit better. For instance, if you have a bowl of pasta yes, it's carby Can we switch to protein pasta? Can we switch to chickpea pasta? Can we add a protein source to that pasta? Can we throw in some veggies or eat it with a side salad, you know? So there are ways to transform what you're eating, but I want you to think about your culture, if that plays a role into how you eat, because that is something that influences our nutrition and it's not always tied to eating healthy, right? So that's one. Then is the social norms. So social norms a big one in America, I would say is that the social norm is junk food? It is. You know, you get beers.
Speaker 1:
We're known for big portions. We're known for greasy, salty, sugary food a burger, hot dogs, you know, like the big heavy stuff, pizza, greasy, and it's just. It's kind of ingrained in our brains. We don't even realize it.
Speaker 1:
The marketing towards this, like Oreos, like whenever you see coupons and deals and ads, what are they for? They're for brand names. You see Coca-Cola, you see Oreos, you see cookies, chips, potato chips. There's always better deals on the junk food. They're always showing people laughing at parties eating chips and greasy burgers. And when you're hung over, go for this. When you're sad, eat ice cream. There's never healthy food in there. Anytime healthy food is shown up, it's like sad, you know. Oh well, I'm overweight and I have to lose weight, so I got to eat this plain boring looking salad you know it looks sad with some leaves and like maybe a tomato slice on it Right, oh my God, For my Spongebob listeners, there is even a Spongebob episode right where Pearl.
Speaker 1:
She wanted to make a trendy restaurant. Ok, so if you don't watch Spongebob, I'm sorry, or you've never have watched Spongebob, I'm sorry, but she wanted to make a trendy restaurant and the Krusty Krab serves Krabby Patties or hamburgers and Pearl made salads and it was funny because the the salads, like I said, were two pieces of lettuce and a tomato slice and they kind of made a joke out of it and they're like what is this? This isn't real food, this is just lettuce with a tomato slice. And it's just. Every time healthy food is shown, it's always with a negative connotation. This is disgusting, this tastes bad, this is horrible. I don't want to eat this.
Speaker 1:
And it's like you wonder why, subconsciously, we stray away from healthy foods. Because when you see that and you hear that all the time, you're just automatically like gonna think, like, oh, junk food will make me feel happy. Because you see all these ads it's similar to in the 90s and 1000s and it's still kind of like that. But you see, like the magazine model covers, they're so skinny and they're happy and it's like you're only going to be happy if you're skinny and you're thin and you know they would take these unflattering photos of celebrities with cellulite and stuff and slap them on the covers and it's like, Ooh, this is bad if you look like this. So it's the same thing with food, same thing that in some brands it gets better, Like poppies a good one, they're healthy soda.
Speaker 1:
I think they're doing a really good job marketing it in a positive light and trying to make healthy food fun and bringing it in for everybody, um, to be interested, but I honestly don't see a lot. I want you to think about food and think if you can even think of a relatively healthy, balanced food that is shown in a positive light. Probably not a lot, If any. So those are the two big ones. I would also want to dive into that a little bit deeper and say that if healthy food was marketed properly, more people would probably eat it. And if you don't believe me, I want you to listen to my example. This happens all the time. So and I'm guilty of it, I'm totally a victim of this. We could say it with music and we could say it with the example. I'm gonna say so.
Speaker 1:
Look at fashion trends, right? If whoever the hottest celebrities are at the time wears the ugliest thing, you know what I'm talking about. Look up 2010s fashion, and that's all you need to know. Look up like the Disney girls on the runway, Like we were wearing tank tops over t-shirts, with scarves, mismatched colors, polos over long sleeves. It was hideous, but because Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana, was wearing it. I wanted to wear it too and, like you know, if Beyonce was coming out wearing like a sheet, I'm sure everybody would start wearing sheets.
Speaker 1:
Taylor Swift, if she wore like some ugly trend, people would want it, because Taylor Swift is doing it and you remember from football she was like eating chicken strips or something, and they made that meme out of it. Like, Taylor Swift eats chicken strips. So I'm going to be eating chicken strips Unhealthy food, by the way again. But I wonder if it was a healthy food. Well, I don't want to say chicken strips are unhealthy, but you know, it's deep fried chicken strips at a base or not, a baseball game, a football game. So they're probably not the healthiest. They're less nutrient, dense. But I'm wondering if she was eating something healthy, if we would have hopped on that trend, right? So it happens.
Speaker 1:
And same thing with music. Like, like, do you ever hear a song on the radio and it like sucks? And you're like I'm not vibing with this song, but they play it enough that you start to catch on? You're like I like this song, you're like jamming to it. I'm guilty of that, I'm guilty of the fashion, I'm guilty of the song. So, like, I don't mind that I'm being influenced. I just wish I was influenced with the right things.
Speaker 1:
Like, I made a joke the other day because on my newsfeed I got mushroom shaped chairs. Okay, they were super expensive but they looked gorgeous and I was like I love this targeted ad. I'm so glad I got this targeted ad and I actually put it on my Instagram story because it was so funny. But, like, imagine if we like got targeted ads of, like, how wonderful healthy food is and how wonderful these things are, we would buy more. But you know, I'm gonna tell you, okay, the reason that they don't do that is because they don't make money off of healthy food. Healthy food is usually not name brand, for the most part, the junk food, those are the big money makers. So if you ever wonder why something doesn't happen, it's usually money.
Speaker 1:
And then the third reason because I said there was technically three is the other big reason I think that we don't eat healthy is because of decision fatigue. So what do I mean by that? You know, we work a lot, we have a lot of decisions to make throughout the day, subconsciously and consciously, and the farther the day goes on, the less likely we are to be able to make a decision properly. We're just tired, okay, it's the end of the night. Like the last thing you want to do is make a decision. That's probably why you're snacking on potato chips.
Speaker 1:
But choosing healthy food is kind of like going in the toothpaste aisle Trying to figure out which brand is best. Have you ever had that happen? You're like I've got to look for a new toothpaste brand. You look at them. This one says that it's recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists. And you know. This one says that it's recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists. This one says you know it's. You know, get your teeth the whitest. This one says get your gums the cleanest and healthiest. And like it's funny because I read the ingredients on the back and they always like look the same and I'm like I really don't know. And besides brands, it's like the different types within the brands. It's like this one's healthy gums and whitening, this one's complete care. I'm like which one is the best? Like I don't know, and then I just get overwhelmed and I pick a random one and I think that happens. That happens a lot in the fitness space in general. I'm looking at anybody who scrolls tiktoks for hours in the fitness realm.
Speaker 1:
It gets confusing, but I think that happens with nutrition. Look at how many food options we have. We have hundreds. That's why you guys are paralyzed on what to make for dinner. You don't know. There's hundreds of options of what to make. So, yes, those are the reasons.
Speaker 1:
I think that we struggle with nutrition Now. Is this something that's going to flip overnight? No, but I think that we struggle with nutrition Now. Is this something that's going to flip overnight? No, but I think, being aware of it, I don't think it's going to change. It's not. They're still going to market junk food. Junk food is going to be king. But it's up to you to change your view around nutrition and it's up to you to make the choice to be better and be aware and just be a little bit smarter of how you plan things and choose. And that's just what you got to do In today's world. You just got to do it and that's what it is. It all starts with you. Change starts with you. All right, and that is my random chat of the day I hope you enjoyed. Until next time, guys, though make sure you're following the Tea with Tina podcast If you are not, because I'm always