I’m watching both of these shows in their entirety and I don’t know why they’ve historically gotten so much backlash. One reviewer called TBL “a dumpster fire of a TV show” and others seem to think M6L is downright abusive. However, I can’t find anything particularly bad in either.
Although it’s true that in TBL the contestants are losing an egregious amount of weight each week, it’s likely (actually almost certain) that most of this is water weight and it would have been more dangerous to instead not lose the weight. The intense exercise scenes seem pretty typical for anybody who’s serious about athletics. Finally, the famous “damaged metabolism” study that shut down TBL turned out to be debunked due to “damaged metabolism” being a boring, normal adaptation under high physical activity.
And although there are tons of bare naked shower scenes in M6L, everyone knew that going in and they agreed anyway. Some also complain how the stars don’t receive enough support for things like therapy and other cost centers. I would say that would actually have been a great thing to add, but it would be impractical at scale and have a high chance of bankrupting the production with how much healthcare costs, resulting in a net loss of benefit for those who need the surgery.
So, what’s your viewpoint here?
I see this a lot, but unless you’re talking about free range organic stuff, bulk commodity foods like rice and black beans are among the cheapest yet most filling. What’s the reason they’re not more common in these situations?
Believe it or not, they aren’t always available. Seriously. Well, not available and in good state.
If you go to some places, usually “bad” areas in cities and very rural small towns (or just rural without any town at all), you end up tempting relying on single source for food. It might be something as relatively useful as a proper bodega, but it can be a gas station instead. Even if the place does stock those staples, they will sit there until they get sold, or get so far past the “sell by” or “best by” date that the owner finally throws them away. So you can go in looking for that stuff, and then it’s so damn old that it doesn’t cook right.
Even out here in the mountains, where you can usually have a small garden, you run into serious issues obtaining other staples to make a complete food source, much less make food be more than just fuel, which can be soul crushing and lead to disordered eating on its own when people do run into a chance to splurge.
Food deserts are a thing, and they drive malnutrition as well as obesity.
That level of scarcity is way more common than people think for those living under the poverty line. And even that assumes that the individuals can cook. You’ve got the disabled that may not be able to, you’ve got people that don’t how how. Even when that isn’t in play, you can run into shitty apartments/rentals that make it difficult to cook no matter what. Places where a stove can be out of order for months without being fixed or replaced, and likely replaced with something that doesn’t work right.
Beyond that, why the fuck is the assumption that the people have been given any kind of nutrition education to know what they can buy that’s healthy? Why is it assumed that living on beans and rice is a good state of being?
It’s real easy for those of us that have had the privilege of good nutritional education to assume all kinds of things, but that doesn’t make the assumptions correct
Btw, that got ranty at the end, it wasn’t directed at you, it’s the situation that’s the infuriating thing.
One reason is the more you’re forced to work, the less energy, and, more importantly, time you have for preparing healthy meals. Therefore you’re more likely to go with preprocessed, prepackaged meals or straight fast food which will make you fat fast.
I’ve got a relatively cushy job and cook my own, relatively healthy meals but even I find myself going for that store-bought pizza when I have a particularly busy week.
Moreover, unhealthy, preprocessed meals are basically drugs in terms of the dopamine hit, so you’re more likely to go for them if your life sucks and you’re sad about it.
Add to that the lack of education on healthy eating, which I’d bet is easier to come by when you’re at least middle class and bam, you’re a fat poor person.
They’re bland and people want to enjoy life - rice and beans is good enough to support life (but stingy in some nutrients) but people want to enjoy food.
They’re quite tasty actually with a bit of spices and seasonings
I think some of us experience food drastically differently. I would die inside if I worked a sixty hour week and came home to the same food every night - food is an important luxury for me (and I’m not even talking about high end Michelin star food). I think it’s extremely depressing to imagine a life where I put my nose to the grindstone and just exist until it ends. Rice and beans can form a good basis for stretching a good cuisine - but if that’s the only way you can afford to be healthy most people aren’t going to go for it.
That’s very true but “bland” means it’s lacking in flavor, not that it’s repetitive.
Personally I really enjoy good food too, but beans and rice are fine as far as flavor. And there’s plenty of other meals based on basic staples that can add variety.