Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy?

BLS:

Being one of the 'lard-ass' Americans on this site, I'll throw in my two cents: my impression is that American society is fat primarily because the meat suppliers taint their products with growth hormones, antibiotics, and the like. Also, obesity rates began to spike at roughly the same time that soft drink companies introduced high-fructose corn syrup to their products (cheaper than sugar). Fast foot, sedentary lifestyles, and bad eating habits all contribute, of course - but when when chemicals and other artificial ingredients are introduced in the food supply, it makes sense that they could very well affect the humans who ingest them.

cableThreads: 7 Posts: 64 Joined: Mar 10, 09	Sep 16, 09, 14:24 / #
My BF of 9 months often cooks for me when I go round to his place, but everything seems to be fried, covered in mayonnaise and just generally high in fat! Also rather limited to pork and chicken - predominantly meat or protein based, but with little vegetables. Is this the norm? I often have to feign that I am not hungry, simply through fear of becoming the size of a house!! :-)

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Sep 16, 09, 14:34 / #
you didn't read around the forums, did you?

krysiaThreads: 26 Posts: 3,604 Joined: Aug 10, 06	Sep 16, 09, 14:56 / #
He sounds like a bad cook. I wouldn't eat anything he makes either...:(

aphrodisiacThreads: 22 Posts: 3,998 Joined: Apr 15, 09	Sep 16, 09, 16:10 / #
cable: Also rather limited to pork and chicken - predominantly meat or protein based, but with little vegetables. Is this the norm? I often have to feign that I am not hungry, simply through fear of becoming the size of a house!! :-) sounds about right but I would think that he cooks for you out of love, so the best solution is to take turns in cooking if you don't want to gain too much;).

szczeciniakThreads: 5 Posts: 119 Joined: Sep 8, 09	Sep 16, 09, 16:13 / #
no its just you:-) it is not diet!!! food in poland is mmmoooa kieubasy , szaslik , capusta i golombki , ciastka and beer is my problem.

dnzThreads: 25 Posts: 804 Joined: Dec 2, 07	Sep 16, 09, 16:51 / #
All Polish food is vile, Yes everything is fried and covered in mayonaise and raw cabbage,I would say that about 90% of the food here is actually inedible by western standards. Can't beat a good old sunday roast with yorkshire puds.

beckskiThreads: 19 Posts: 2,148 Joined: May 15, 07 MEMBER	Sep 16, 09, 16:56 / #
cable: but everything seems to be fried For example, pierogi meals swimming in butter. A sincere thanks PF, for putting up with me FIVE terrific years, muah!

aphrodisiacThreads: 22 Posts: 3,998 Joined: Apr 15, 09	Sep 16, 09, 17:36 / #
hmmm, since Polish food is fattening how would anyone explain the fact that Polish people are not overweight the way some people in the Western countries are;)??? beckski: For example, pierogi meals swimming in butter. I use sour cream only:)

dnzThreads: 25 Posts: 804 Joined: Dec 2, 07	Sep 16, 09, 17:46 / #
aphrodisiac: hmmm, since Polish food is fattening how would anyone explain the fact that Polish people are not overweight the way some people in the Western countries are;)??? Because polish people eat beetroot, cabbage and those disgusting pickle things which act a a laxative. Another factor could be that as nearly all of the food in practically inedible polish people simply don't eat much.

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Sep 16, 09, 17:48 / #
dnz: and those disgusting pickle things which act a a laxative. dude.. the pickles don't go up that end. :D :D

space_rebelThreads: 2 Posts: 40 Joined: Sep 6, 09	Edited by: space_rebel Sep 16, 09, 22:18 / #
I don't agree that Polish food is fattening by default. It just depends on how one cooks. Change the pork for beef. Use olive oil instead of butter. Use a little mayonnaise and for the rest yoghurt. Et voila, your cholesterol will be ok and as well you won't become the size of a house. Yesterday I made a very simple but tasteful barszcz. Just make some bouillon (with or without meat), add chopped beets and white cabbage, some sieved tomatoes, a little raspberry vinegar and ground pepper. And you're done. Not fat and with vegetables. With some sour cream it's even better, but more fat as well. :P

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Sep 16, 09, 22:21 / #
Some of the food typifies some of the spirit here, bland and listless. However, I think that Poles eat a lot of veggies. I usually have broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage and loads of other veggies. I often see Poles snapping up some good deals at veggie stalls. There is a fair amount of salt and fried stuff here, tho. Bigos has a lot of salt and it can be fried up. There is too much meat around. I think that the Poles will take top spot from the Scots for the highest incidence of coronary heart disease. We imposed the smoking ban in pubs 3.5 years ago and that's where many formerly smoked. Look for changes.

polkamaniacThreads: 1 Posts: 514 Joined: Aug 2, 09	Sep 17, 09, 00:27 / #
UNhealthy--You call cabbage rolls and pierogies unhealthy !!!!By the way,I have my pierogies with sour cream.Love em to death.You must eat the same diet day in and day out.Breaded pork cutlets and veal chops are the best.So is Bigos and kapuszniak.I could go on and on.I can live only on Polish food and forget about hamburgs and Pizza!!!!!

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Sep 17, 09, 00:40 / #
Pierogi can be unhealthy. In a popular milk bar here, you get 7 pierogów and they are dripping with fat. 250kcal per pierogi. Also, in Gazdówka, they are fried and there is about 350kcal in each, you get 6 pierogów. Bigos is hardly low carb either.

dnzThreads: 25 Posts: 804 Joined: Dec 2, 07	Sep 16, 09, 17:51 / #
Also the polish life expectancy is far lower than some 3rd world countries, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

polishcanuckThreads: 10 Posts: 583 Joined: Feb 11, 07	Sep 16, 09, 17:57 / #
cable: Is it just me, or is the Polish diet rather unhealthy? Yup, its way too high in saturated fats. Poles don't eat much in the way of fruits and veggies either. I heard heart disease is on the rise in poland. aphrodisiac: since Polish food is fattening how would anyone explain the fact that Polish people are not overweight the way some people in the Western countries are;)??? Well in the end it's all about how many calories people eat. If you don't want to gain weight, calories going in must = calories going out. I think poles generally eat less cals than americans for instance.

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 [Suspended]	Sep 17, 09, 00:49 / #
Seanus: In a popular milk bar here, you get 7 pierogów and they are dripping with fat. 250kcal per pierogi. You didn't ask them for the amount of calories in each one, did you? :D

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Sep 17, 09, 00:52 / #
That's McD's you're thinking of ;) I was estimating. WAAAAY above what I need. I barely get near 1000kcals per day. 800 is more than enough. I eat tuna and salads, sardines recently too. That keeps it at 800 tops.

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07	Sep 17, 09, 00:58 / #
If Polish food is so fattening...how come Polish people don,t look like Americans...? sorry , no offence meant to any lard assed Americans on the forum....!

sledzThreads: 29 Posts: 3,202 Joined: Sep 19, 06	Sep 17, 09, 01:00 / #
I see plenty of fat Babcia`s where I live

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Sep 17, 09, 01:01 / #
They eat in small doses and go to the gym a fair bit. Their metabolism must be better.

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07	Sep 17, 09, 01:04 / #
sledz: fat Babcia`s Well they are supposed to be more chunky...in order to barge their way to the front of ques....

PlasticPoleThreads: 10 Posts: 5,429 Joined: May 28, 09	Sep 17, 09, 01:06 / #
wildrover: If Polish food is so fattening...how come Polish people don,t look like Americans...? sorry , no offence meant to any lard assed Americans on the forum....! Because it's not as bad as American food. People still eat some whole grains and veggies with it and not too much beef. Pork is healthier than beef. Beef is the worst thing you can eat. Americans not only are omitting veggies when they eat hamburgers and greasy french fries, they are leaving them out when they cook meals at home. Every American needs a fresh salad a day with plenty of chopped spinach and Romain lettuce. Put some vinegar and olive oil on it, and a splash of lemon juice. Once you start having one a day, it'll be like eating junk food. You'll be so used to it, you won't want to go a day without one. Some countries around the world are following our bad example, like Japan. They should stick to sea food, it's much better than beef. Salmon filets are much better than hamburgers.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Sep 17, 09, 01:09 / #
Japan has some bad things like beef and tenpura. Sukiyaki/teriyaki and generally yakitori are high fat. Even noodles can be fried, like yakisoba. Poland has many healthy options but they are universal and not Polish. Anyway, sleep is healthy so I'm off. Gnite y'all

KrystalThreads: 7 Posts: 108 Joined: Sep 17, 09	Sep 17, 09, 01:15 / #
I think it is mayonnaise making you sick. I noticed when I make sandwiches and I get upset stomach. My favorite is Tuna Salad and Egg Salad during Lents. And lot of butter and margarine do make me upset stomach also. Even cookies, cakes and any thing sweets. And drinking liquors isn't good also.

rychlikThreads: 51 Posts: 446 Joined: Aug 6, 08	Sep 17, 09, 02:43 / #
I wouldn't go as far as to call the Polish diet unhealthy. I grew up with a lot of Polish soups and my mom makes a salad called "mizeria". Tomato and cucumber mixed with cream. Very good. I always tell westerners that pierogies for example aren't supposed to be fried. Bigos I would not call fattening either. Even Polish bread is more nutritious than that cheap white Italian s'hit. Funny enough people seem to agree that the Medit. diet is the best but the Medit. ppl are the most over weight (Italians, Greeks).

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Sep 17, 09, 02:53 / #
rychlik: I always tell westerners that pierogies for example aren't supposed to be fried. oops.. but they are.

NickidewbearThreads: 4 Posts: 88 Joined: Sep 17, 09	Edited by: Nickidewbear Sep 17, 09, 05:24 / #
You're going to hate me for saying this, but that's why Poland has the Jews to thank: because we helped you all add variety to your diet. ;) In all seriousness, I myself have understood the Polish diet to be pretty unhealthy. For example, I read about horse meat (See nytimes.com/1993/01/20/style/dining-well-when-dining-out-in-warsaw-yes -warsaw.html.) and Googled it to confirm it and find the article to which I was referencing. Meanwhile, my Jewish-Polish granddad eats a pretty unhealthy diet (including pierogis as a staple) and his unhealthy diet cost him 18 inches of his colon due to cancer. Meanwhile, my dad developed or exacerbated his pre-existing Chron's Disease. By the way, this taught me (besides the fact that Poland and so many other countries have the Jews to thank for introducing the concept of a kosher diet) that especially Jews were meant to eat as kosher as possible and lead by example in eating kosher, instead of follow the gentiles in their eating habits (which we even tried to do in Egypt, which did not work well for us, and yet we kvetched to Moses that we still would've rather had boiled lamb). By the way, my great-grandma Czarnecki was a Slovakian-American gentile Catholic; and as far as I know, my mom's a gentile. I also didn't know that I am Jewish until I began exploring the Jewish roots of my Christian faith and researching my family history (and, besides getting a completely different picture than was painted for me, finding out a whole lot of stuff besides that I am Jewish). So, I am not knocking on gentiles: I'm just a shout-out to the Jewish community; who, by the way, settled in Polin ("Here [you shall] dwell"), or Polan-Yah ("Here dwells Yah"), for a reason.

BLSThreads: 79 Posts: 171 Joined: Feb 14, 08	Sep 17, 09, 07:36 / #
Being one of the 'lard-ass' Americans on this site, I'll throw in my two cents: my impression is that American society is fat primarily because the meat suppliers taint their products with growth hormones, antibiotics, and the like. Also, obesity rates began to spike at roughly the same time that soft drink companies introduced high-fructose corn syrup to their products (cheaper than sugar). Fast foot, sedentary lifestyles, and bad eating habits all contribute, of course - but when when chemicals and other artificial ingredients are introduced in the food supply, it makes sense that they could very well affect the humans who ingest them. Since 2001, I have habitually walked 5-7 km a day while limiting fast food intake to maybe 1-2 times a month - however, I always struggled with my weight in the states. But after moving to Germany in 2005, I lost 12 kg in three months with essentially the same dietary approach and exercise regimen! And after a few years back in the states (when the extra weight returned), I dropped 8 kg within the first two months of moving to Poland. I think these numbers speak volumes. Forget semi-automatic weapons on the street, skyrocketing health insurance premiums, and neo-conservative talk shows - the biggest scourge on American soil could be the corporate takeover of the nation's food supply...

PlasticPoleThreads: 10 Posts: 5,429 Joined: May 28, 09	Edited by: PlasticPole Sep 17, 09, 07:47 / #
BLS: Being one of the 'lard-ass' Americans on this site, I'll throw in my two cents: my impression is that American society is fat primarily because the meat suppliers taint their products with growth hormones, antibiotics, and the like. Also, obesity rates began to spike at roughly the same time that soft drink companies introduced high-fructose corn syrup to their products (cheaper than sugar). Fast foot, sedentary lifestyles, and bad eating habits all contribute, of course - but when when chemicals and other artificial ingredients are introduced in the food supply, it makes sense that they could very well affect the humans who ingest them. Lol, you think artificial ingredients and hormones make people fat? I don't know for sure if they are completely harmless, but, what, exactly, is their connection with obesity? Another Americano wants to blame hormones and red dye number 3 for laziness and poor nutrition. In order to move you need nutritous foods. Nutritious foods are raw fruits and veggies and whole grains. If you are eating beef on buns made from refined flour you aren't getting many vitamins or fiber. What you are consuming is a bunch of junk that requires a lot from your body to process. Your body goes thru a lot to use it, but doesn't get much from it. This is what causes your lack of energy. When you have poor nutrition, you don't want to move as much so you sit around more. It can make you feel pretty lousy. You sit around feeling like crap. You don't want to do physical activity because you feel sluggish and lethargic. You start putting on the pounds. How you reverse it is you start eating leafy salads everyday, no red meat and substitute whole grains for anything you eat that's refined or overprocessed. Stop eating frozen dinners. They aren't that nutritious, either, and they have too much sodium. Drink 100 % fruit juice instead of soda and lots of water. Start paying attention to the nutritional content of what you consume. Take a multivitamin. You will feel like doing a lot more and when you do, you will lose weight and maintain the perfect body size for you. It's easy to blame it on dyes and hormones but they are just excuses for being obese.