How different are people from rats?

I grew up in a “lean body” country.

I grew up in a country where obesity was never seen and being overweight was rare. 

It was also a country, where by today’s American standards, everyone was poor. We had access only to food staples, with which our mothers cooked from scratch.

Most families were eager to grow their own food. Instead of growing grass in their yards, and throwing their money on insecticides, chemical fertilizers, gas/electricity for the mowers, maintenance of the mowers, and water for the grass, the families that had a bit of land utilized every square inch to grow fruit, vegetable and herbs. Flowers were abundant too.

The described body-weight utopia was not self-imposed, but imposed by the economy. How I know this? I know it, because as soon as the stores in this “lean body” country were flooded with junk food, and the personal finances allowed for increased spending, the waist circumferences grew.
 
This brings the question, how different are people from rats? 

Why cannot we control ourselves around food? 

Why cannot we rationalize what is good and what is bad for us, and take the right decisions?

Is it lack of knowledge? To a certain extent, yes. Knowledge about what constitutes real food should be taught in elementary school and the education should continue till college. The education should encompass everything relevant to diet and nutrition: from reading nutrition labels to cooking ten basic recipes, and recognizing the 50+ names of sugar added to almost all processed food items.
 
How habits are formed and how these could be changed should be another subject taught in school.
 
More than half of all Americans have at least one chronic disease (e.g., asthma, cirrhosis, diabetes, heart disease, hepatitis, high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS, lung cancer, pancreatitis and stroke), mental illness or problem with drugs or alcohol.  Most of the health problems can be traced to lousy eating habits.

Considering that most of the rampant chronic diseases are preventable, the question is, can we challenge ourselves to face the problems and solve them? Circumstances, brain power, and habits are probably the major players in solving the problems. Sometimes we have little or no control over our life circumstances. But can we build our will and change our habits?
 
Speaking of habits and will, the video on a favorite YouTube channel, What I’ve learned, WHY Habits form & HOW to build them, would be useful for those who want to change.
For those of you who still have a problem with food cravings, I propose three unusual ways of dealing with them:
 

#1 Pretend that you are broke
 
Pretend that you do not have money during the workweek (i.e., no cash, no access to credit/debit cards). Shop in the supermarket for food only once, preferably on a weekend, after you have already eaten well. Imagine that you have no money to buy anything but food staples in the supermarket: a few cans of beans, pasta, bread, flour, fruit and veggies (any produce on sale). Check some of my soup recipes before shopping, and buy the ingredients for these recipes. Soups stretch as meals for the entire week and they are not only good for your waistline, but also merciful on your budget. When in the store, remember that you are “financially broke”, and you cannot buy anything frivolous, anything that is not essential for your survival next week (e.g., drinks, sweets, dessert, any processed foods). During the workweek, do not stop by any place where you could buy food (e.g., places where you buy coffee, or even your workplace cafeteria). Bring your own snacks and lunches.


 
#2 Pretend that you are on a reality show
 
Pretend that you participate in a reality show built upon the concept of Hunger Games, and no, you are not a pampered citizen of the Capitol. Turn the weeks into a competition for survival on as little food money as possible. I guarantee you that cooking soups would be again the best bet for you. One whole chicken cooked in a soup can be stretched for the entire week. See the recipe included at the end of this post. You may even set up a “competition” with friends and families on who accomplishes to live on the lowest, but healthy, food budget.




 
#3 Pretend that you are abroad, and you do not have access to any junk food
 
I am not sure that places like these exist, but let us assume that you have landed in a far-far-away land and there is not even a trace of the ultra-processed junk food made in the U.S.A. You will have to survive by buying staples and trying to create edible meals. In fact, now that I think about it, there are many places around the world, where one has to resort to staples since the imported junk food is too expensive. After all, it does cost money to eat unhealthy when living abroad! 




So, how different are people from rats? 

We are VERY different, if we decide to utilize our IMAGINATION!
 
Disclaimer:  
I have no idea whether any of these approaches would work since I have never tried them. I have been quite destitute in my past, so I did not need my imagination to tell me that I was poor and could not afford many things. Being poor for most of my life did not bother me. However, if you need to do something dramatically different from your daily routine, why not try the unexpected and a bit silly approaches such as role-play, competition, and a bit of a self-challenge? 
 
Chicken soup

This is a great recipe for the winter – it soothes, it nurtures and warms up. I serve it as a main dish accompanied by a toast or pita chips and cheese. The recipe is a low budget recipe, as it feeds an army (approximately 20 portions). Therefore, the two to three hours of cooking time are well worth it.

You will need: one whole chicken, one diced large onion or two smaller ones, 4 - 5 cubed medium size potatoes, 20 whole baby carrots (or 8 - 10 big carrots cut in chunks), 4 - 5 stalks of diced celery, 3/4 cup of rice, a bunch of parsley (chopped), 2 Tbsp. of dry peppermint (optional), 2 Tbsp. of dry winter savory (optional), salt to taste, paprika, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. If you do not have any of the spices, at least add salt to taste and improvise with what you have.



Preparation

Wash the chicken, remove everything from the body cavity and wash the inside. Cut and discard the fats on both sides of where the body cavity is open (usually, there are flaps of yellow fat there). Place the chicken in a large pot and add cold water sufficient to cover the chicken. I use a pot with a volume of at least four times the chicken volume. Bring to boil. Watch the surface carefully, because once the water is about to boil, foam forms and you need to remove it with a spoon. Once the foam is removed, add the chopped onion, carrots, and celery. If needed, add more water to cover all vegetables, but make sure there is enough space in the pot to add the potatoes later. Bring to boil. Once the soup is boiling again, add 4-5 medium size chopped potatoes and bring the soup to moderate boil for 50 minutes or until the chicken is ready to be deboned. Take out the chicken from the pot. This step could be tricky; you will need a good grip of the chicken with large spoons or spatulas. Place the chicken on a dish to cool for five minutes. While deboning, add ½ cup rice to the soup, and keep it at low heat. I throw the skin and the bones, chop the meat into small bites, and scoop it back into the pot. Continue boiling until the rice is ready (approximately 15-20 minutes). Add salt and hot pepper flakes to taste. Turn off the heat and add parsley, winter savory, and peppermint. This recipe yields approximately 20 portions, so plan to freeze and have ready-to-eat dinners on winter workdays.