Food Inflation is Sexy
With food prices growing in correlation to various commodities on the rise, American companies are reacting in turn by shrinking packages while keeping prices level. Surprisingly this has not created as great an uproar as I expected amongst the citizenry of the fattest nation on the planet.
We have reached the oversaturation point of politically correct lunacy, it is only natural to expect a hoard of blubber laden populists to scream bloody murder while claiming that their jelly roll and FUPA rights have been violated. Yet, I have hardly heard a peep about it. In fact, I think this could wind up being really good news. Considering how fat and nasty looking we have gotten as a nation a few ounces less in our Doritos and Dunkin Donuts bags could be the penultimate blessing of today’s troubled financial times. But how does this apply to those of us on The Street?
One of the top complaints of cubicle drones is that extra gut territory we acquire while punching the keyboard and staring at the screen. Perhaps no career is more hurtful to the physique and physical health than that of the investment banker. I can’t count how many stories I have heard on this board and in my private life of guys and girls getting that Bulge Bracket job they always dreamed of and soon afterwards bulging out of all of their clothes. Needless to say the combination of pressure spiking caffeine and sugar laced treats gracing the typical analyst’s diet are a greater factor than simply the sedentary lifestyle. That is why today I would like to make a list of junk we all consume on a daily basis in our cubes, on the subway and the cab ride home. The same way many of us have gone from black car to subway car, we may be able to exploit this packaging crisis to go from sloppy back to svelt.
So let’s have it boys and girls, your master list of Wall Street consumable crap…the junk that we could definitely benefit from consuming in smaller portions or eliminating completely. For my part, I will go ahead and confess that after many years of persuasion by the health conscious in my midst I have started eating Tofu and that it is surprisingly good. I have actually replaced my Snickers with dark chocolate dipped rice cakes, as well. Haven’t missed a beat either…any other dietary suggestions for trimming that incoming analyst gut? List them here…
A good tip I use to cut down on unnecessary snacking is to take a big (uncomfortably big) gulp of bottled water every time you feel tempted to eat some shite out of boredom, it puts you off eating for a minute or two and by the time your body has remembered, your brain has forgotten. Also, crystal meth works too.
During finals week here at NYU, I saw a message someone had printed and posted in all the study lounges that said, "We know it's finals week, kiddies--but be sure to get plenty of sleep and eat your veggies!" The advice went pretty much unheeded, probably because we all tell ourselves it's only for one week or so and then we can get back to normal.
I'll be the first to admit I've functioned during finals week on halal food, pork lo mein, and caffeine of various kinds. It's all crap; I know it is. But, sometimes you just get this urge to eat something that will fill you up and not leave you hungry--Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have been on this hysterical "Americans are all too fat" bandwagon since forever and shrink the portions accordingly. It doesn't cut the hunger at all, it's ridiculous and it really bugged me for a while. All that's caused me to do is eat two portions out of spite!
Kombucha. Get on it, you'll be amazed.
Samoan's point is also true. I read some scientific research article that pointed out how nearly 60% of the time you're hungry, it's actually thirst you're feeling, but your brain misreads it. Drink water when you get the first slight hunger pangs. The nutritional benefits of water consumption are actually surprising: - you put water, empty calories, into your body instead of fattening food calories - you flush toxins straight out of your system, burning more fat and preventing toxins that lipids form around and create fat from staying in your system - you improve your mental pattern (short-term memory spikes drastically upward, cognitive awareness processing improves) - you can (surprisingly) help mitigate joint pain, helpful since we all sit behind a desk for 12 hours+ - you can counteract oil and sweat production, so your face gets clearer: pores tighten up, inflammatory acne or stress pimples disappear, and you sweat less in the hotspots (armpits, crotch, back, feet).
For every 10 pounds of your body weight, you should be drinking 8 ounces of water a day. Most people drink about half or less of what they should. Try it for a month, you'll be surprised how you look and feel.
That can't be right, bro. I'd have to drink 21 glasses of water a day. I think I'd drown.
Are you trying to kill me? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
...I would have to drink 160 ounces a day. It isn't a flat multiplier; 60 ounces is the amount to aim form varied slightly by total body weight and exercise level.
Midas - don't overdo the tofu. High consumption of tofu has been linked (not conclusively) to Alzheimers and brain disease. Asian cultures consume soy in very small quantities - vegan hippy Americans looked to them and started this insane replacement of all normal foods with soy products. The health effects are still being realized.
With that said, without even going on a diet, there are so many basic things that one can cut out to be healthier.
- Soda. I really don't understand why the soda industry is still in business. Drinking soda is insanely irrational when you consider how much sugar you consume AS WELL as the opportunity cost of not drinking water, which is far more necessary to promote body functioning.
- Chips. It is not a rule that when you get a sandwich, you need to get chips with it. Completely empty carbs and sodium. If you are still hungry, get a side salad.
- Candy bars. I don't snack on any of this shit.
When I get the urge to snack, I go for dark chocolate and raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc - unsalted). These are actually good for you in moderation.
Also, if you're going to eat like crap come Seamless dinner time, at least eat a salad for lunch. That will go a long way as well.
I have become ADDICTED to diet coke...
Does this count as healthy analyst food? haha. Ugh.. I really gotta stop the addictoin.....
Agreed on drinking water; as a close friend told me, "real men drink water." But yeah...21 glasses a day seems a little nuts.
I like to break up the coffee and water with juice, but no diet Coke for me. That stuff tastes nasty.
umm last i checked, contents of packaging are shrinking, and prices are going up....consumer is getting raped. i dunno maybe fat asses will lose weight as a result. probably not though, cause most of this shit food they buy is just as addictive(or more) as cigarettes. theyll probably end up fatter and broke.
I think a big part of the problem is how much everyone overeats.
I see guys all the time, ordering a 1500+ calorie meal off of seamless web, then wolfing it all down at their desk. And this is after a substantial lunch or breakfast. Throw in some boozing on the weekend, and you are going to be packing on pounds pretty quick.
I lost about 15 pounds this year largely from bringing food from home. Unfortunately that is a huge pain in the ass, both lugging it in, and even more so, actually cooking it- we have gotten into the habit of making a large meal on sunday night that will stay fairly well for a few days and then bringing it in.
Bringing healthy snacks was counter productive in my experience. I would just stress eat anything in my grasp- a bag of rice cakes that should have lasted two weeks would be gone in a few days. My personal best bet was to bring fresh whole wheat bread that I actually baked (ingredient list: flour, water, yeast), but I would get kind of weird looks for just sitting there and chewing on bread.
But I guess to get a bit back to the request of stuff you should never eat: Soda. Soda should really be a dessert type celebration drink. You really shouldn't be drinking it more than once maybe twice a month. And keeping water within my reach has been helpful as well. If you "snack" on that instead of chips from the vending machine, you kind of kill two birds with one stone. Also avoid any cart guy or any place that you walk out of and you feel like you are getting an arm workout just carrying it back upstairs. The nature of this business is that you are eating it pissed off, and you will eat more than you should. Just avoid "sides" altogether. If you really can't help going to Mickey D's, order just a burger, or just nuggets and skip the combo, along with its fry-filler and diabetes inducing drinks.
Doing these types of small lifestyle adjustments can make you lose weight without even really trying. Control your portions by ordering less food. Getting the Junior hamburger instead of the big mac has never left me feeling hungry.
.
These days it seems most 200 pound men should really weigh about 160. Maybe you misunderstood me, but I did not mean that is all you should eat in a day, I just meant that on the occasions that you would grab a double cheeseburger, go w/ the junior size. Get a salad on the side instead of fries if you must and some water and I assure you will not be hungry.
My point was to downsize everything you eat, and you won't even notice. Get the Filet Mignon at Del Frisco's instead of the porterhouse, do away with drinks that are empty calories and drink water or seltzer in place of soda, go from a grande latte that is practically hot ice cream to black coffee or something lighter, etc. Introduce the changes slowly and you won't even notice. The other part of my point is that it is way easier to make yourself do that at the point of ordering as opposed to just leaving stuff on your plate (at least for me). I came from a mom who always forced me to finish my plate due to the starving kids in Africa and the habit has stuck so that may work better for me than most. It helps that I am on the cheap side, so the reduced spending that comes with smaller portions is also helpful.
I am not sure if you are aware of this but nearly all the "junior" size stuff at most fast food places these days was the regular size at one point. McDonalds first billion meals sold were the little cheeseburgers with the small fry, which was just an order or fries. Marketing spurred on by the quest for revenue growth has made you look at those little hamburgers as too small to eat.
Just checked the PDF, I didn't include enough information and only wrote what I remembered from skimming the report.
It says (disregarding caloric expenditure) "under normal conditions, for every 10 pounds of your body weight, consume 8 ounces of water until 64 ounces has been reached. At that point, research indicates that any additional water consumption should be based on calculations of the fat-free mass and energy expenditure given the Cunningham equation."
Googling that, I got this: I'm in over my head. I'm gonna stick with my 1-gallon rule. http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=cunningham+equation&…
Also, don't ignore Kombucha!! It's phenomenal.
diet coke contains aspartamine - this is a poison.
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=12366.0
If you're telling yourself - but its allowed by my government. Slap yourself and rethink.
Soy is also rich in phyto estrogens, so it's gonna decrease your sperm count and make you grow titties.
Aspartame is only toxic to people with phenylketonuria (inability to metabolize phenylalanine) Also osteopathic medicine is not real medicine, this dude is not a toxicologist and he relies on his behavioral patients exhibiting more ADHD, but I would bet money that caffeine and sugar exacerbate ADHD way more than aspartame
Impedit dolorem pariatur illo sunt amet. Eveniet quis voluptatem rerum nemo minus. Qui est consequuntur distinctio id et architecto est.
Voluptatum ut enim aperiam aliquam excepturi et esse. Laborum deleniti voluptate dicta consequuntur ad. Aut delectus error voluptatem pariatur. Autem adipisci nihil et nihil maiores est. Eos voluptate laboriosam ratione porro dolorem. Omnis eveniet et ea harum possimus ad voluptatem.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...