AIBU to think this is a daft way to eat "healthily"?

[workwoes123]

I live in France. Like many French workplaces, mine has a cantine offering a freshly-cooked, 3/4 course, lunch which is absolutely standard here. Examples of the menu on offer:

Small plate of salad starter: carrot / beetroot / green beans in vinaigrette, mixed bean salad, boiled eggs, rice salad, green salad, tomato salad etc.

Main course of protein plus veg and carbs: beef casserole, grains and courgette gratin: roast chicken leg, potatoes, green beans; fish in lemon sauce, rice, spinach etc.

Dairy: small portion of cheese, or a yoghurt

Dessert: fruit puree, fromage blanc with rasberry coulis; small piece of cake; fruit salad.

The food quality is not quite restaurant standard, but it's healthy, cheap (€4,50 for 4 courses) and mostly cooked on site from actual ingredients. All courses are optional, no one's forced to eat anything.

At a social event with some US colleagues one of them said he's really struggling with the food at the cantine as 'he doesn't know what's in it'. Instead he goes out at lunchtime and buys a processed meal / salad / packaged sandwiches because they have a barcode on them: he can apparently scan this using his phone and it tells him the fat /sugar / calorie content of what he's eating. He claims that this is 'healthier' than eating actual food at the cantine.

It seems mad to me to actively increase the amount of processed food at the expense of fresh ingredients, and claim this is 'healthier'? I can just about see the point of this when comparing one processed food with another - but dismissing freshly-cooked food because it doesn't come with a barcode? Seems crazy to me!

I can't imagine what you say about Indian colleagues who have masala or sambhar for lunch.

I'd say "wow that smells fantastic! What's in it? Can I try some?"

For everyone saying this is none of my business, you are absolutely correct. But is there a rule on AIBU that we only post on issues that we are directly involved in? Aren't half the posts on here commenting on things that other people have said / done that are nothing to do with the poster?

I can't imagine what you say about Indian colleagues who have masala or sambhar for lunch

Probably the same thing if there was an Indian chef cooking masala and they bought a ready meal masala.

@doublemonkey

That's quite sad actually.

People know very little about real food it seems.

The difference between losing weight and not is only a couple hundred calories, so miscalculating one meal due to guessing it can throw away all your other healthy eating that day when tracking calories.

So the French, for example, are generally slimmer than the Brits/US but you don't see many Tom Hardy or Jason Momoa types in France. There are a lot more effeminate looking men on mopeds like in Italy.

Your €4,50 lunch doesn't include 250ml of wine? Amateurs!

Seriously though, whilst I'm horrified that someone would do this, I'm not really surprised. Far too many people in the UK or US genuinely have no idea about food. If you've never known anything but processed stuff in packets - and there are plenty of those - then calorie and nutrition information from the same packet is a fairly natural extension.

I grew up in the Far East and almost never touched processed food as a child. I can look at a pile of ingredients and a choice of cooking methods and instinctively know whether or not it will be a healthy meal, a filling one, one likely to constipate me (or otherwise) and I'm right 99% of the time. If you don't have that luxury, I guess packets is one way of having some sort of control.

How much is the cantine meal, OP?
I imagine it's still more expensive than bringing your own.

What your colleague feels happiest doing is up to them.

oops, sorry, mine was daft question. I found the answer towards end of OP.

4.50 euros is like £4? How many calories does one get for that £4? It does sound relatively cheap, but depends how many calories one gets for the money. OP's description could mean anywhere between 400 & 1200 kcal for the £4.

I grew up in the Far East and almost never touched processed food as a child. I can look at a pile of ingredients and a choice of cooking methods and instinctively know whether or not it will be a healthy meal, a filling one, one likely to constipate me (or otherwise) and I'm right 99% of the time. If you don't have that luxury, I guess packets is one way of having some sort of control.

But again, it's not about 'healthy', it's usually about tracking macros so you have enough protein to build muscle. These type of people usually eat very well at home - fixed amounts of spinach, boiled eggs, etc.

Asians may eat healthily but again their diet isn't very conducive to bodybuilding. I don't remember seeing a single meathead in Singapore or Thailand tbh.

Men usually track macros for bodybuilding not general nutrition.

I worked at the UN for a couple of years a few decades ago and still remember the canteen fondly. As far as I'm aware, from old friends, that canteen is still serving wonderful food, especially those lovely green salads.

Very glad to hear it! Also thought Geneva was a lovely city, especially the old part.

A lot of people are unable to use common sense when it comes to food. Is it oily? Then there's probably oil in it. Is it creamy? It probably contains cream / mayo or similar. However, you generally need much less of foods like that to fill you up than the highly processed 'low calorie' ready meals that you can buy. And you're much less likely to need to snack shortly after so less likely to reach for a 'low calorie' biscuit or bar, packed with weird sweetners to con your body into thinking you're full.

He sounds tech - dependant and profoundly food-ignorant.

A bit depressing isn’t it.

Question for those of you who can eyeball nutrition.

How can you eat the following every day without tracking:

120g protein
308g carbs
36g fats

And on non-lifting days

120g protein
58 carbs
77 fats

When being strict about macros, sometimes having one slightly less healthy meal out of three is the lesser evil than messing up your intake for the whole day.

He just means he can't log it onto his calorie app accurately. Which is true. Doesn't mean it's worse for him just that it breaks his calorie counting.

I have written many emails to hospital management re the two hospitals I have spent considerable time in during the last two years. (In Aus) Both private hospitals, claiming to have “restaurant-standard” cuisine. Food was so highly processed, there was nothing resembling fresh food at all. Powdered eggs, powdered potatoes, reconstituted veggies, stewed fruit in thick, sugary syrup, fluorescent jelly, instant coffee, concentrated juice, etc. Virtually no nutrients at all. Then of course, those of us with restricted diets due to food allergies were screwed if we didn’t fit their very restrictive programs. (I have coeliac disease and needed a low-fiber diet as well. It didn’t suit their kitchens at all.)

Is your company hiring @workwoes123?
It sounds gorgeous.

Our canteen does jacket potatoes and sandwiches.

If he's going out to buy packaged meals and sandwiches I very much doubt that he's doing the sort of body building that requires the level of control that some people are suggesting.

None of your business.

@KayKayWat

Question for those of you who can eyeball nutrition.

How can you eat the following every day without tracking:

120g protein
308g carbs
36g fats

And on non-lifting days

120g protein
58 carbs
77 fats

If I were in a position where I could eat anything (ie, I didn't have to avoid gluten and dairy for medical reasons), I'd do things like eating the chicken, eggs or fish that the OP's canteen are providing, along with the yoghurt or cheese. For the lower carb days, I'd have a portion of rice to leave me with a small amount for fruit to go with the yoghurt, for the higher ones, more over the day. For fat, I might miss out the cheese on lower days and possibly have avocado in preference to peanut butter, depending upon how the other macros are going.

It's not that hard when you aren't a professional athlete/bodybuilder/competitor; the only difficulty I experience is in having to avoid gluten and dairy.

Question for those of you who can eyeball nutrition.

How can you eat the following every day without tracking:

120g protein
308g carbs
36g fats

And on non-lifting days

120g protein
58 carbs
77 fats

If I were in a position where I could eat anything (ie, I didn't have to avoid gluten and dairy for medical reasons), I'd do things like eating the chicken, eggs or fish that the OP's canteen are providing, along with the yoghurt or cheese. For the lower carb days, I'd have a portion of rice to leave me with a small amount for fruit to go with the yoghurt, for the higher ones, more over the day. For fat, I might miss out the cheese on lower days and possibly have avocado in preference to peanut butter, depending upon how the other macros are going.

It's not that hard when you aren't a professional athlete/bodybuilder/competitor; the only difficulty I experience is in having to avoid gluten and dairy.

No offence, but your approach will not allow you to accurately account for every single gram of protein etc, which is what even hobbyist bodybuilders do nowadays.

My question was a somewhat facetious one because you can't track calories to the gram by eyeballing. It's never going to br absolutely 100% but I reckon I'm tracking my nutrition to within 50 cals at most.

I do strength training so am less strict but those men who are trying to get to

No offence taken.

But I am consistently losing fat this way and have been doing so for ten months with no noticeable discomfort and consistently improved bloods, 5k time, VO2 max (roughly, I don't have the money for a professional test), assorted PBs in weights, etc, so I can't be doing too bad at the eyeballing.

If somebody wants to get to 10% body fat, that's not a casual hobby anymore.

Derailing somewhat. I filmed a group of English kids visiting French kids over a week. A lot of them were suspicious of what they might find to eat. They couldn't believe the lunches at (a perfectly humdrum) the French school. There was no choice (apart from those who had allergies) for the 4 courses but it was eg salade mixte to start, roast chicken with potatoes boulangere followed by green beans, and a plum mousse. As others have said, there was no snacking.

Another one wondering why so many hospitals have leased space to unhealthy outlets.

That food sounds amazing is all I have to say.

Oh your post brought back fab memories of my time working in France. How amazing are their cantines? A lovely, freshly cooked meal every lunchtime. And btw, your colleague's not the brightest button is he?