That was quite interesting. There was a lot of soda! I am amazed at what people eat.

Does your hubby go the grocery store? Don't bring it home!! If it isn't there, they can't eat it. My husband is getting better. It was an eye opener when he did not get a preferred insurance rate because of his blood pressure & cholesterol. He also had Diverticulitis last year (sp?) which came mostly from not eating enough fiber. He is thin also but does not eat the fruits & veggies he should. When I met him he lived on Pepsi, pizza, soft pretzels and fast food. He is much better now but I still have to work on his mindset. It is hard getting them to change their habits.

I showed the pictures to my daughter, age 6. At first she kept commenting, "We don't eat that much!" But she keeps forgetting that we ate out twice this week - once with friends at TGI Fridays and again as a treat after religion class at Applebees. Is you count up those meals, especially the soda she likes, then we probably did eat that much. Just because we didn't buy it at the grocery store and drag it home doesn't mean we didn't eat it.

The pictures sort of make me want to keep track of everything we eat in a week then have our picture taken with a collection of the same food. It would be eye opening. Anyone else game? Even if we just made a list of what we really ate - not bought, ate - we would learn so much.

The most fascinating part of the seeing the pictures was being able to see the inside of people's homes and how they dressed. Oh and, I wish they listed the cost of the food as a ratio to income. I bet the people who spent the least on their food found that their food budget took up the majority of their income.

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And hydrogenated oils, of course. Those two factors more than any other thing we eat.

What an eye-opening article. We don't spend $342/week on food; if we did, either the house or the van would have to go...

I just read this for the first time. It is very disturbing! Thought some of you might find this interesting....... For six months my dh and I ate nothing but meat, fish, pouitry, (no pork), vegetables (including potatoes), brown rice, and eggs, and extra virgin olive oil. Nothing boxed or canned or prepared. No sugar, no flour, no dairy, no fast food, no chain restaurants. Grocery shopping was a cinch and less expensive, even ithough we purchased mostly organic. You can create lovely meals (including nice one-pot meals with the rice and meat and vegies and chicken broth) and even though it was not a diet, (just an experiment in healthy eating because we just weren't feeling up to par) I lost 60 lbs and my dh lost about 20 and we feel great. I intend to get started on it again. Got a little diverted at Christmas, but still dont eat anything prepared, boxed, canned, or with additives.

I just read this for the first time. It is very disturbing! Thought some of you might find this interesting....... For six months my dh and I ate nothing but meat, fish, pouitry, (no pork). We also ate vegetables (including potatoes), brown rice, and eggs, and extra virgin olive oil, and tea, coffee and good water. Nothing boxed or canned or prepared. No sugar (no fake stuff either), no flour, no dairy, no fast food, no chain restaurants. Grocery shopping was a cinch and less expensive, even though we purchased mostly organic. You can create lovely meals (including nice one-pot meals with the rice and meat and vegies and chicken broth) and even though it was not a diet, (just an experiment in healthy eating because we just weren't feeling up to par) I lost 60 lbs and my dh lost about 20 and we feel great. I intend to get started on it again. Got a little diverted at Christmas, but still dont eat anything prepared, boxed, canned, or with additives.

I got that in an email a few weeks ago. Amazing! Makes you thankful for what you have (and a litte ashamed at how much you spend).

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Jenifer
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Have a safe and blessed New Year!

I noticed that all but 3 of the families bought soda! Shows the power of Coke and Pepsi's marketing...

Very interesting! I see that the Germans spend the most on food. That doesn't surprise me. Looking at what they had in the picture, they spent around $50 alone on products from a local butcher. Then they went to another store where they probably bought organic fruits and vegetables for another $50. and then to another store where they bought more stuff...

And eventually to the beverage store where they loaded up on fizzy water (this is a cultural thing that I will NEVER understand. Germans prefer to buy bottled water despite having great tap water. and they think fizzy is better for you... whatever.), beer and soda.

Now I think their grocery bill is a little high at 300-odd Euros, but the current exchange rate is what makes it so painful. Consider it the equivalent of paying 300-odd US Dollars per week, as the currencies are relatively equal in terms of salary and purchasing power. The Italian conversion was also wrong or using a different exchange rate. At the current rate it would have been around 400 US Dollars per week - still very high!!

And those pictures sure made me feel good about the amount of fruits and vegetables we consume every week!

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