One of the more common explanations for bad diet is being “too busy to eat right.” On the face of it this may seem plausible. There are a multitude of things that we are each too busy to do. It seems logical that there are more things that we don’t have time for than we do have time for because there are an infinite number of things to do, but we can only experience a finite number of them.
But because eating is not optional, the important question is not how much time it takes to eat right but whether it takes longer to eat right than to eat wrong. We thought an experiment was in order.
We sent two teams out at lunchtime. Team A, the “too busy to eat right” team, headed for Dairy Queen and Team B, the “not too busy to eat right” team, went to the local grocery store, Nob Hill Foods.
We instructed our “too busy to eat right” team, Team A, to order a meal that was not “right,” simply because the “too busy to eat right team” doesn’t “eat right” by definition. We are of the opinion that even the worst eatery can be made better by better choices, but that is the stuff of another article.
Team B was instructed to select for nutrition and convenience.
Again, our chief concern was about time to serving because we’re testing the claim that eating poorly is quicker than eating properly. But, we couldn’t help wonder, what are the cost differences and how profound can the nutritional choices be?
The fast-food team, Team A, the one that was too busy to eat right, got their food in 17 minutes and 45 seconds from leaving the gym to food in hand.
The grocery-store team, Team B, the one with the extra time to eat right, got their food in 14 minutes and 23 seconds, beating the busy guys by 3 minutes and 22 seconds.
“Good Food”
“Bad Food”
The fast food—Dairy Queen—was a double cheeseburger, large fries and a chocolate shake. The cost was $6.12.
The grocery store food—Nob Hill Foods—was 6 ounces of turkey breast from the deli counter, two Fuji apples and 1 ounce of roasted cashews. The cost was $5.39, edging out the Dairy Queen by 73 cents.
Taster’s Choice
This article, by BSI’s co-founder, was originally published in The CrossFit Journal. While Greg Glassman no longer owns CrossFit Inc., his writings and ideas revolutionized the world of fitness, and are reproduced here.
Coach Glassman named his training methodology ‘CrossFit,’ which became a trademarked term owned by CrossFit Inc. In order to preserve his writings in their original form, references to ‘CrossFit’ remain in this article.
Greg Glassman founded CrossFit, a fitness revolution. Under Glassman’s leadership there were around 4 million CrossFitters, 300,000 CrossFit coaches and 15,000 physical locations, known as affiliates, where his prescribed methodology: constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity, were practiced daily. CrossFit became known as the solution to the world’s greatest problem, chronic illness.
In 2002, he became the first person in exercise physiology to apply a scientific definition to the word fitness. As the son of an aerospace engineer, Glassman learned the principles of science at a young age. Through observations, experimentation, testing, and retesting, Glassman created a program that brought unprecedented results to his clients. He shared his methodology with the world through The CrossFit Journal and in-person seminars. Harvard Business School proclaimed that CrossFit was the world’s fastest growing business.
The business, which challenged conventional business models and financially upset the health and wellness industry, brought plenty of negative attention to Glassman and CrossFit. The company’s low carbohydrate nutrition prescription threatened the sugar industry and led to a series of lawsuits after a peer-reviewed journal falsified data claiming Glassman’s methodology caused injuries. A federal judge called it the biggest case of scientific misconduct and fraud she’d seen in all her years on the bench. After this experience Glassman developed a deep interest in the corruption of modern science for private interests. He launched CrossFit Health which mobilized 20,000 doctors who knew from their experiences with CrossFit that Glassman’s methodology prevented and cured chronic diseases. Glassman networked the doctors, exposed them to researchers in a variety of fields and encouraged them to work together and further support efforts to expose the problems in medicine and work together on preventative measures.
In 2020, Greg sold CrossFit and focused his attention on the broader issues in modern science. He’d learned from his experience in fitness that areas of study without definitions, without ways of measuring and replicating results are ripe for corruption and manipulation.
The Broken Science Initiative, aims to expose and equip anyone interested with the tools to protect themself from the ills of modern medicine and broken science at-large.
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I love this experiment. When you look at the national averages for food in my country (Canada data easily accessible through the Statistics Canada website), you can easily see that the price per pound of healthy food is on par, or cheaper, than fast food.
I have personally experienced great success, especially during my job while traveling through airports, in visiting grocery stores instead of restaurants. Whether it be Friday night before circling to the hotel, or Sunday night if I am driving during dinner time, the grocery store will always provide healthy and affordable options that fill you up. I always go for deli turkey (blackened), cheese slices, nuts (dry roasted macadamia from the cooking/baking section), and some berries for dessert.
If someone is forced to find themselves in a situation where fast food is truly the only option, then getting rid of the bun, fries, and soft drink will keep the macronutrient proportions to a level of fat and protein high enough to keep insulin levels down. This is a heavily underutilized strategy to combat unhealthy eating habits in the country. One that I believe even RFK Jr. doesn’t speak to enough!
Off the carbs, off the couch!