This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 50, Breakfast Success in the U.S., How to Stay Healthy.
Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
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Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Hey.
Americans eat a ton of fatty and sugary foods.
If you are living in the US or doing business here, how can you make sure you stay healthy?
Today, get our top tips to eat well in American culture.
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Hey, Michelle, how you feeling today?
Feeling healthy?
Feeling good?
I'm feeling healthy.
I'm feeling good.
How are you?
Lindsay, you know, if you're living in the US, you're visiting the US you're going to find that we do have a lot of healthy eating options if you look for them, but there's a lot of unhealthy food going on in the US.
What do you think, Michelle?
Yeah, there's certainly a lot of unhealthy food.
And the problem is that the unhealthy food is the cheaper food.
And we could go into another episode.
We should actually, we should talk about the concept of a food desert someday.
Yes, that's what I was thinking.
Yeah, food deserts.
And there are places you know, for example in Manhattan and Harlem or Washington Heights, that are food deserts.
And that comes back to, you know, sociological issues, poverty and like very difficult situations that need to be solved.
Right, Michelle, where your only option is McDonald's.
But today we're talking about a little bit more broadly about just how to eat healthy.
You know, I was just in Nashville and actually just before that unfortunately, my dad was in the hospital.
He did end up having a triple bypass heart surgery.
And some of this is due to genetics, that we have something in our family, but some of it is due to diet.
Sadly,
And I came right from the ICU seeing my dad being under the knife and this incredibly, unfortunately common surgery to going straight to Nashville.
And when my dad came out of the hospital, the doctor gave him very very, very specific restrictions on how much salt, specifically how much salt he could have in each item, each food item.
No more than 200 milligrams of salt per food item that I bought at the grocery store for him.
And then I went to Nashville and it was a salt bomb.
The food was, I woke up and my face was swollen because I had too much salt.
Oh, my gosh.
So you could see what's happening in our country.
Right, Michelle?
I mean, what are your thoughts on that?
Well, can your dad like go to a restaurant anymore?
Or he really he has to like not really?
Not?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because you don't know.
Yeah, he's still that's the problem when you go to restaurants.
I mean, I obviously you guys.
If you're, if you're healthy, you know you feel like your general health situation is under control.
You should go to restaurants, you should enjoy life.
But yeah, at some point, he really can't, he has to lose some weight.
And he just needs to be really careful because they do throw a lot of salt in.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
There's so much health in everything.
Sometimes I can't believe it, because I do look at the nutrition labels for sodium as one of the things, because I know that that's a big health thing.
And it's sometimes scary when you see it and it's something where you wouldn't even realize.
It's terrifying.
It's terrifying.
Like, for example, before this whole thing happened, before I went to help my dad, I was buying feta cheese and I was having feta cheese every day on my salad.
And then I looked at the salt content and it's over that amount.
And so I stopped putting feta cheese in my salad.
Cheese is something that's sort of borderline healthy slash not healthy, but it was a little bit of a guilty pleasure.
Yeah, we don't quite know.
But I didn't think it was that bad. bad.
But then I saw the salt and I thought, so that's just for a very picky diet.
But let's talk about Michelle.
What are some things that Americans do eat, especially for breakfast?
Because I think that's the most important meal of the day.
Yeah.
I mean, well, things that are very popular, pancakes, waffles, people eat a lot of bacon and eggs.
Right, Lindsay?
What else?
Oatmeal muffins, English muffins, which is what you had today, which is really a good choice actually.
Thank you.
Low calorie, much better than a bagel, for example.
So bagels are the next thing.
Toast, coffee and juice, omelets, French toast, hash browns.
I'd say like, what Michelle?
Sorry.
Sausage too.
Sausage.
Yeah.
I'd say 20%, 15 and 20% of this list is actually healthy.
Yeah.
What do you think?
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, I feel like you know now, if you want to be healthy, like yeah, I mean, oatmeal is healthy
I think it's good to have a lot of fruit.
You know, putting avocados of course.
A good one, oh yeah, I eat a ton of avocado.
Avocado is something that in the last like 15 years it's become really popular in our country.
I feel like before, in the 90s, no one knew what an avocado was.
I know, I feel like I didn't.
I don't remember it being such a big deal then It's true.
And I actually nowadays I eat a lot of.
I'm eating a lot of more nuts like almonds and walnuts and things, because that gives you some really good vitamins and stuff.
But I mean.
So if we're visiting the US or, let's say, a lot of our listeners are working in the US, they're living here.
This is life every single day.
What are some tips, Michelle, of how we can stay healthy?
I think we have three or four things we could recommend, right?
Well, I think one is, you know, trying to avoid, you know, things like the drive-thru, like that fast food.
I mean, I'm guilty of it too.
It happens.
Sometimes it's the convenient thing, but...
I mean, like I think, trying to find, I mean this is it's hard to say because not everyone has the time
But if you can, you know, go into a restaurant or sit outside of a restaurant and order there.
And, you know, I think that trying to avoid fast food as much as possible.
Yeah.
I mean, the good news is now things have become a lot more Well.
A couple months ago I drove from Colorado back to Boston.
That was a big mistake.
But if you try to eat anywhere in the Rust Belt, you can't find anything but McDonald's. mcdonald's kentucky fried chicken but in some parts like in colorado probably around new york city around boston you can find chains like um sweet greens places where you can actually get more of a fast casual where you can actually it's fast you just go in it takes a little longer than the mcdonald's drive-thru but like five minutes longer and you can get a salad Right, right, right, right, right.
Exactly.
There's a lot of that stuff now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, Lindsay, another thing is about beverages.
And I feel like I'm rolling my eyes at you right now.
Because we were just talking about this, how you drink your coffee black and I add some cream, and yeah, you know well, aren't you wonderful?
No, I'm just joking.
That's okay.
It's okay.
Don't worry, Michelle.
I have my temptations.
I have my temptations.
If you put chocolate and peanut butter ice cream in front of me, I'd probably eat a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's.
Okay.
Okay.
I feel better.
I feel better.
Yeah.
A lot of the drinks are very sugary.
Yes.
And you don't realize.
You know, I think a lot of times people don't count their beverages like in their, you know, health.
They think, oh, well, I'm drinking it.
So for some reason it doesn't count.
But there are so many things, especially at popular coffee shops.
You know where it's With tons of milk and sugar.
And so, you know, consider that too.
Well, and also just the fact that our sizes are so huge.
When I lived in Tokyo, I actually did sometimes go to Starbucks right in Shibuya.
There was a Starbucks in Shibuya.
And I would order a small coffee, like the smallest size, and it would be an eight ounce, and in the us we don't serve the eight ounce unless you ask for it.
You have to ask for the eight ounce.
If you say small, you'll get a 12 ounce.
So is that small?
Yeah, 12 ounces is small and yeah, unless they've changed it, i don't, i know, i don't i, i mostly just have coffee from home.
Yeah well, I mean, there's just no doubt that the sizes in the US are bigger than probably most countries in the world.
So that's a problem.
So you're not just like getting a lot getting sugar in your coffee, you're getting a lot more sugar in your coffee, right?
But you know, just do what you can do what you want.
We can always change our sense of taste.
When I first started drinking black coffee, I was disgusted, but now I like it.
So that can change too, right?
Oh, exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's the next one, Michelle?
Eat protein, eggs, yogurts and not, you know, watch your carbohydrates.
I mean, they're the simple and the complex.
I don't know.
There's this now I'm not a nutritionist, but try oatmeal.
That's another good one because that keeps you full.
So really thinking about adding some protein that will like kind of curb some of the hunger that would normally, you know, happen much sooner.
Exactly.
But be careful though, because even oatmeal, if you, if you eat like the packets, the little packets, they can be sugar pumps.
Yeah, sugar was just as bad as having cocoa puffs.
Yeah, it's true.
So be careful.
There's hidden sugar everywhere in the US.
So that's why it is good to be able to eat breakfast at home.
Make your own.
Just be really clear like how much sugar am I actually getting?
Even if this product is positioned as a healthy option, like granola.
Everyone thinks granola is healthy, but it's got a huge amount of sugar.
Yeah, I've noticed that actually.
And then another thing, this is an interesting one, take lunch for breakfast.
Lindsay, why is that a good idea?
I mean, it kind of makes sense if you go into a breakfast like a diner, let's say, and these diners are so fun.
They're so American.
They're so great.
But they can be really greasy.
You know, if you see on the menu, all you see is greasy sausage, bacon, waffles, syrup, sugar.
And then you look over, they may also serve lunch.
You see maybe sandwiches, maybe a salmon, smoked salmon or something, something a little better.
You might go for that instead of the greasy breakfast.
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I think that's an interesting, cool tip that I haven't thought of.
Yeah, or even a salad.
I mean, why not?
Why not have a salad for breakfast, right?
I mean, I suppose if you... But I love breakfast food.
I love a good waffle piled high with sugary food.
Ah!
So don't give up your pleasures, right, Michelle?
Exactly, exactly.
Don't go crazy, you know, but overall try and think healthy.
Yeah, I think when it comes to eating in the U.S., it's really about what you do every day.
It's not about what you do on the weekends.
Right.
It's not about what you do once a week, even twice a week.
It's about what you do every single day for every single meal.
So as long as you know what you're eating, how much sugar and fat you're consuming, you're going to be on the right track.
Awesome.
I love it.
This is, and I'm starving now, now that we talked about this.
Oh my gosh, have you not had breakfast yet?
I did, but this is just making me hungry.
So anyway, guys, thank you for listening.
Remember to hit follow wherever you're listening to the All Ears English podcast and we will see you on the next episode.
We'll be talking more about food vocabulary.
All right.
Fantastic.
Michelle, talk to you very soon.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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