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My biggest surprise in visiting Europe

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Vamp

Member
What I disliked about Turkey was that coffee was either "Turkish coffee", or instant coffee. Like I never saw normal filter coffee ever. Same thing in Israel. Either Turkish coffee, a minuscule espresso or cappuccino cup, or instant coffee. WTF?

Ok since when is filtered coffee normal coffee? That shit is disgusting. Turkish coffee, espresso, macchiato and nes cafe are the best.
 
Heh I'm going to get the wrath of Gaf for saying this but in Paris I was eating at a restaurant and both servers went outside for a cigarette at the same time, completely ignoring every table in the restaurant for 10 minutes.....and I couldn't not tip them because there was no tipping :D
 

GCX

Member
You guys need to visit northern Europe and learn the magic of rye bread. Much much better and healthier than white bread.
 

poodaddy

Member
Enough exercise reduces or negates the damage that bread does to you, but that doesn't change the fact that bread inherently is unhealthy and makes you fat.

Bread = sugar. It's literally the same thing wrapped in a different package.

Wheat is a complex carb. You are right for the most part, but our body utilizes whole grains as complex carbs, which essentially is just a longer digesting form of a carbohydrate. Complex carbohydrates are also more easily offset by fibrous foods, and they tend to be more filling than simple fast digesting carbs. They also store as fat much slower than fast digesting carbs, meaning the body has more time to utilize the carbs for glycogen dependent activities, such as moderate intensity movement for periods of movement greater than 10 seconds but less than 45 seconds. In other words these types of foods can greatly enhance athletic capacity or moderately intense movement, and they're very beneficial for anyone utilizing the middle, or glycolytic, energy pathway.

Source: I'm certified in fitness nutrition and strength and conditioning/performance enhancement and am currently working towards my degree in exercise science.

Now if you're speaking of white bread? ......yeah that stuffs pointless, it shouldn't be consumed by anyone ever; it's basically pure fructose.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Oh don't get me started on that shit. Carbonated water is evil incarnate.

I'll always remember going to the Berlin Zoo in early August with my boyfriend, it was a hot sunny day, 30 degrees celsius and we did a lot of walking, and finally went to the rest area to grab snacks and drinks. We bought a bottle of water each, and I bought a bottle of apple juice in addition to that to get some sugary taste and some vitamins too.

I start sipping my juice and my boyfriend opens his bottle. "Psssht!", the bottle said. My boyfriend frowned. "What do you mean, "psssht"?", he asked the bottle. And thus we learned that the tiny "mit kohlensäure" label in small font meant "carbonated" and we needed to specifically get bottles that said "ohne Kohlensäure". :( I was really glad I had bought that additional apple juice, lol.

I seriously don't understand how people drink that shit. It's... ugh. The worst.

I used to think that too but its probably how your brain associates fizziness with soda and how the sparkling water is essentially tasteless. Once you decouple that sugary notion and just drink the sparkling water as water with a bit of fizz, its actually pretty cool. Adds another dimension to it I think.
 

theWB27

Member
The whole bread makes you fat belief of America is a myth perpetuated by ignorance in the realm of nutrition. American obesity is due in larger part to how lazy Americans are rather than consumption of carbohydrates. I say this as an American, we're probably the laziest nation in the world, as well as the most likely to eat deep fried and preservative ridden foods. Other nations eat bread because they move more, and carbs are fine if you're keeping active. We're meant to move, we're literally made for it, but for some reason Americans hate moving. This is why other nations are healthier than us, not because of their food culture, but their active culture.

This was a fun thread until I read this. The lazy American shtick is bs. We're one of, if not the most, overworked countries out there. Yea...we eat like shit, but allot of that has to do with work/home lifestyle rather than us just being lazy.

As many Europeans have pointed out in this very thread...their lifestyles aren't centered around work and they have more time to do "other" things. It doesn't really make them less lazy.

Sometimes I go into work at 4 30am...get off at 3pm with two ten minute breaks and a half hour lunch in between. Afterwards I go home and be a father, fit in whatever errands I need or try to have a social life before I have to be in bed by eight-ten o'clock just to get a decent night of sleep just to get up and do the whole thing again...5 times a week. Sometimes a Saturday if I volunteer.

Excuse me if I don't consider myself, or the millions of others who do this, lazy. I'd loathe my nutritionist if they approached my diet from your viewpoint.
 

milanbaros

Member?
This was a fun thread until I read this. The lazy American shtick is bs. We're one of, if not the most, overworked countries out there. Yea...we eat like shit, but allot of that has to do with work/home lifestyle rather than us just being lazy.

As many Europeans have pointed out in this very thread...their lifestyles aren't centered around work and they have more time to do "other" things. It doesn't really make them less lazy.

Sometimes I go into work at 4 30am...get off at 3pm with two ten minute breaks and a half hour lunch in between. Afterwards I go home and be a father, fit in whatever errands I need or try to have a social life before I have to be in bed by eight-ten o'clock just to get a decent night of sleep just to get up and do the whole thing again...5 times a week. Sometimes a Saturday if I volunteer.

Excuse me if I don't consider myself, or the millions of others who do this, lazy. I'd loathe my nutritionist if they approached my diet from your viewpoint.

Wow, you're a goddam machine. I salute you sir.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Ok since when is filtered coffee normal coffee? That shit is disgusting. Turkish coffee, espresso, macchiato and nes cafe are the best.
This makes no goddamn sense. Never heard of macchiato, but super strong coffee with the grounds in it is nasty and Nescafé is possibly worse, absolutely disgusting.

Give me Tim Hortons or Van Houtte any day over this crap.

I used to think that too but its probably how your brain associates fizziness with soda and how the sparkling water is essentially tasteless. Once you decouple that sugary notion and just drink the sparkling water as water with a bit of fizz, its actually pretty cool. Adds another dimension to it I think.
Grumpy-Cat-NO-1.jpg
 

Rad-

Member
Our food places certainly could be more diverse. However many Europeans eat well and diverse at home. You can't really judge our diet culture based on what food is sold outside. We rarely eat out.

And water costs money in restaurants to bring money from tourists. We can drink water all we want at home. Nobody goes to a restaurant here and orders a water.

I do agree with our salad prices. They are way too fucking high in pretty much every food place.
 
maybe it's the fact that euro meat isn't a roided hormone cocktail.
if you think it won't harm your body in some way when constantly bombard it with hormones you are naive.

but I think the reason no2 is "walking" (as you mentioned). We don't use the car for every 200m trip nor do we have scooters to make obese people even more fat.

No1 is without a doubt the unbelievable amount of super crappy cheapo fast food you have available 24/365 over there. I mean, the USA has like ten times more low-quality fast food chains than any other country in the world.
look at that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fast_food_restaurant_chains#United_States, then you know why you have so many fat folks.

the water thing is a 2 edged sword though. We (at least here in austria) have some of the best tap water in the entire world and I gladly pay a price for it.
US water (especially the heavily chlorined and floured ones) isn't even remotly comparable to (good) euro tap water. it's a completely different league.
 

Metroxed

Member
Whaaaaat
You mean like soda or beer right? Not water or coffee?

Eh.. all of them. Beverages like soda, beer or water are usually brought in small bottles, unless you specific ask for tap water, and you have to pay for every one of them. A waiter coming by and refilling your coffee is something I've only seen in American films. Here you ask for a cup of coffee and if you want more you have to order it again, they will bring you another cup, and you'll have to pay for all the cups you've asked.[/QUOTE]

This was a fun thread until I read this. The lazy American shtick is bs. We're one of, if not the most, overworked countries out there. Yea...we eat like shit, but allot of that has to do with work/home lifestyle rather than us just being lazy.

As many Europeans have pointed out in this very thread...their lifestyles aren't centered around work and they have more time to do "other" things. It doesn't really make them less lazy.

Sometimes I go into work at 4 30am...get off at 3pm with two ten minute breaks and a half hour lunch in between. Afterwards I go home and be a father, fit in whatever errands I need or try to have a social life before I have to be in bed by eight-ten o'clock just to get a decent night of sleep just to get up and do the whole thing again...5 times a week. Sometimes a Saturday if I volunteer.

Excuse me if I don't consider myself, or the millions of others who do this, lazy. I'd loathe my nutritionist if they approached my diet from your viewpoint.

Yeah, but I think what they meant is not that you are in-the-couch-all-day lazy, but just not very active. Americans typically seem to be either sitting at home, sitting in their car or sitting in their office, hardly ever walking. Now some have even found a way to also being seated while shopping for groceries with those silly little electric cars you have.
 

Mik2121

Member
So the OP spends a few days in Europe, doesn't know where to go for food and assumes he can eat healthier in the US than in places like southern Europe with the Mediterranean diet?

This is interesting :)

Edit: After reading a few more comments from the OP I assume this is just a bait thread, never mind. Nobody could be as ignorant unless it was on purpose.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
A waiter coming by and refilling your coffee is something I've only seen in American films. Here you ask for a cup of coffee and if you want more you have to order it again, they will bring you another cup, and you'll have to pay for all the cups you've asked.
Craziness. Refills for tap water and coffee are always 100% free here (Canada).
 
In the UK they're not allowed to charge for tap water.

Plus - normal people who live in these places don't eat exclusively at restaurants. They go to supermarkets and do their shopping.

Your research means nothing :(
 

IceCold

Member
The whole bread makes you fat belief of America is a myth perpetuated by ignorance in the realm of nutrition. American obesity is due in larger part to how lazy Americans are rather than consumption of carbohydrates. I say this as an American, we're probably the laziest nation in the world, as well as the most likely to eat deep fried and preservative ridden foods. Other nations eat bread because they move more, and carbs are fine if you're keeping active. We're meant to move, we're literally made for it, but for some reason Americans hate moving. This is why other nations are healthier than us, not because of their food culture, but their active culture.

The obesity problem is recent. You think that within one generation most Americans became lazy? If so why?

The issue is more complex than that.
 
Oh don't get me started on that shit. Carbonated water is evil incarnate.

I'll always remember going to the Berlin Zoo in early August with my boyfriend, it was a hot sunny day, 30 degrees celsius and we did a lot of walking, and finally went to the rest area to grab snacks and drinks. We bought a bottle of water each, and I bought a bottle of apple juice in addition to that to get some sugary taste and some vitamins too.

I start sipping my juice and my boyfriend opens his bottle. "Psssht!", the bottle said. My boyfriend frowned. "What do you mean, "psssht"?", he asked the bottle. And thus we learned that the tiny "mit kohlensäure" label in small font meant "carbonated" and we needed to specifically get bottles that said "ohne Kohlensäure". :( I was really glad I had bought that additional apple juice, lol.

I seriously don't understand how people drink that shit. It's... ugh. The worst.

You basically pay for the sparkle.

The water you get from the tap here is so good (straight from the alps here in bavaria), that it's seen as kind of stupid to pay for non carbonated water.

So, if I want to drink non carbonated water, I just get it from the tap.
Almost everybody here thinks like that...
 

Chariot

Member
Apropos tap water. You can get it in real restaurants, in fast food shops not so much. Remember the death of Tugce where McDonalds refused to give them water without paying they needed to wash her wounds? That would've been a good time for free water and maybe a bit of help in general from McDonalds.
 

Belfast

Member
Oh don't get me started on that shit. Carbonated water is evil incarnate.

I'll always remember going to the Berlin Zoo in early August with my boyfriend, it was a hot sunny day, 30 degrees celsius and we did a lot of walking, and finally went to the rest area to grab snacks and drinks. We bought a bottle of water each, and I bought a bottle of apple juice in addition to that to get some sugary taste and some vitamins too.

I start sipping my juice and my boyfriend opens his bottle. "Psssht!", the bottle said. My boyfriend frowned. "What do you mean, "psssht"?", he asked the bottle. And thus we learned that the tiny "mit kohlensäure" label in small font meant "carbonated" and we needed to specifically get bottles that said "ohne Kohlensäure". :( I was really glad I had bought that additional apple juice, lol.

I seriously don't understand how people drink that shit. It's... ugh. The worst.

Can't say I agree. Carbonated water is great. You get the cold fizzy feel of soda without the sugar/calories. Also strange you had apple juice because apfelschorle was one of my favorite things to drink while in Germany (carbonated water + apple juice). So damn refreshing. I've tried to make it at home and it's playing, but not quite the same somehow.
 

Alx

Member
.
Now if you're speaking of white bread? ......yeah that stuffs pointless, it shouldn't be consumed by anyone ever; it's basically pure fructose.

Bread is mostly starch/amylum, there isn't any fructose in there.
Amylum is better suited than fructose and glucose for feeding since it's converted more slowly into energy by the body and can be stored for later.
Dark bread is better than white bread indeed, but it's not because of sugar and carbohydrates, but additional components (fibers, vitamins,...).
 
Everything is carbonated in germany, it's crazy. I remember as a kid going from Lisbon to Munich (my family is portuguese but my stepfather's german) by car (in a lovely 2 week trip) my brother who wouldn't drink anything carbonated had to stock up before. Even some Calippos where carbonated! Crazyness
 

oti

Banned
You know what else is CRAZY about Europe? They mix Fanta and Cola together! Like animals!

Actually Mezzo Mix is the best and Americans are just jelly for finding out so late.
 

F!ReW!Re

Member
Bread are carbs, which is the same thing as sugar (super bad for you). Same for all grain food like rice and pasta.

It raises your blood sugar and makes you fat.

Beer, also bad for you and makes you fat, is often referred to as "liquid bread".
W
White bread is worse for you, but all breads are bad for you.

Bread or beer in moderation are "ok" but still not good for you.
T
Enough exercise reduces or negates the damage that bread does to you, but that doesn't change the fact that bread inherently is unhealthy and makes you fat.

Bread = sugar. It's literally the same thing wrapped in a different package.
F

AM I READING?

My whole country (The Netherlands) runs on bread (a generalization).
We (almost every day) eat bread for breakfast, bread for lunch and sometimes even for dinner. All combined with different spreads/toppings: cheese, jams, chocolate, meat, etc.
So according to you we all have massive intakes of sugar and should be super obese from eating bread??

(I'm talking about mostly brown/whole-grain/dark bread)
 

oti

Banned
W

T

F

AM I READING?

My whole country (The Netherlands) runs on bread (a generalization).
We (almost every day) eat bread for breakfast, bread for lunch and sometimes even for dinner. All combined with different spreads/toppings: cheese, jams, chocolate, meat, etc.
So according to you we all have massive intakes of sugar and should be super obese from eating bread??

(I'm talking about mostly brown/whole-grain/dark bread)

Google ketogenic diet.
You could also try it for like two weeks or a month. It's a fun challenge.
 

way more

Member
Uh I didn't really think about supermarkets in Paris, or look for them. But forgive me for my use of the word "tiny", everything Europeans shop at is nano-sized compared to what I shop at in Texas. My grocery store is like the size of Berlin train station.

Yeah, that was strange. It was like, "I guess I only have these four choices when it comes to toothpaste." I longed for the freedom to choose.

toothpaste-20110126-113508.png

The toothpaste aisle of a First World nation.
 

oti

Banned
Yeah, that was strange. It was like, "I guess I only have these four choices when it comes to toothpaste." I longed for the freedom to choose.

toothpaste-20110126-113508.png

The toothpaste aisle of a First World nation.

All of that space just for toothpaste?
Why.
 
I'm sure people from the US read much worse shit than this - often from people who never even visited the states.

My exactly thoughts. I'm shocked how offended EU-GAF is. Jesus we read more negative US comments in one day than in this entire thread. Talk about thin skin...
 

Chuckie

Member
People always celebrate beer as german national beverage, but it's actually coffee/muckefuck.You know, Germany is automobile nation too. The Autobahn isn't only for the dutchmen. Also no, I don't think there are many countries fatter than the USA, probably none in Europe.

As a Dutchy, this made me laugh out loud :D
 
Oh don't get me started on that shit. Carbonated water is evil incarnate.

I'll always remember going to the Berlin Zoo in early August with my boyfriend, it was a hot sunny day, 30 degrees celsius and we did a lot of walking, and finally went to the rest area to grab snacks and drinks. We bought a bottle of water each, and I bought a bottle of apple juice in addition to that to get some sugary taste and some vitamins too.

I start sipping my juice and my boyfriend opens his bottle. "Psssht!", the bottle said. My boyfriend frowned. "What do you mean, "psssht"?", he asked the bottle. And thus we learned that the tiny "mit kohlensäure" label in small font meant "carbonated" and we needed to specifically get bottles that said "ohne Kohlensäure". :( I was really glad I had bought that additional apple juice, lol.

I seriously don't understand how people drink that shit. It's... ugh. The worst.
Vile stuff. It tastes like someone popped a soluble cocodomol tablet in the water, only it lacks the medicinal properties. Makes me gag.

As for the op, natives of countries probably aren't eating the stuff your eating when visiting on a regular basis. As someone from the UK, I put on a whole fucking stone in weight when visiting the US.
 
Okay everyone. See, Americans cook, too.

But the options available to us when we wanna go out to eat are overwhelming compared to Europe. It's hard to adjust to, along with your finicky restaurant hours. Like when in Europe people go out clubbing till like 4 am but after you leave drunk there's almost nowhere to fucking eat!!!!! And many convenience stores are closed. It's a drunk persons worst nightmare.
As an American who lives in the UK and has lived in Germany, this is factually untrue. The döner spot especially has got your back. Now I want a döner.
 

poodaddy

Member
This was a fun thread until I read this. The lazy American shtick is bs. We're one of, if not the most, overworked countries out there. Yea...we eat like shit, but allot of that has to do with work/home lifestyle rather than us just being lazy.

As many Europeans have pointed out in this very thread...their lifestyles aren't centered around work and they have more time to do "other" things. It doesn't really make them less lazy.

Sometimes I go into work at 4 30am...get off at 3pm with two ten minute breaks and a half hour lunch in between. Afterwards I go home and be a father, fit in whatever errands I need or try to have a social life before I have to be in bed by eight-ten o'clock just to get a decent night of sleep just to get up and do the whole thing again...5 times a week. Sometimes a Saturday if I volunteer.

Excuse me if I don't consider myself, or the millions of others who do this, lazy. I'd loathe my nutritionist if they approached my diet from your viewpoint.

No reason to take it personally. I'm a father as well, and as I said I'm an American. I'm also an Army veteran who's spent the last five years working as a bookkeeper before I decided to pursue a career in fitness. During that time I woke up every workday, which always included weekends, at 330 am to be at work at 445; I generally got off every day around 230 to 400 depending on how the numbers balanced, so I'm aware of balancing long work days with fatherhood. I also had three surgeries on my right foot while in the army, two stomach surgeries that made life terrible for a while, a recent rotator cuff repair, and all the while my wife's been working erratic hours as a leasing agent. I was wheel chair bound for a month, on crutches for 6 months, and on a cane for 3 years. Guess what I never stopped doing? Training and eating healthy to the best of my abilities. Now of course I couldn't always lift, but if I couldn't lift then that just meant I walked more. There's never an excuse to let ones health fall by the wayside, no matter how overworked they are. And I agree with you that Americans are overworked, we are not a lazy people in a professional sense at all. In fact I think we might be neck and neck with Japan for best work ethic in the world overall. But we are a lazy people when it comes to fitness. There's a reason that the rest of the world stereotypes Americans as fat and stupid. It's because they've seen that stereotype perpetuated time and again. I know it's hard to find the time to train man, and I know that being a dad is always the number one priority. That's the reason why I don't give up on fitness, because I always want to be able to run through parks with her and be that fun dad that she wants me to be. I'm sorry if you took offense to my comment, that wasn't my attention. I'm just too vocal sometimes and it comes off as lacking empathy. I apologize for speaking so candidly brother, I just get really passionate when it comes to health and fitness :) That's probably because I used to be obese around ten years ago but I lost 120 pounds to join the army and I've been helping others to lose fat and gain strength and speed since. I just want everyone in the world to be healthy, and American culture too often sits on the unhealthy side of the fence. I simply want that to change, that's all. But it's a complicated issue that can't be solved my men with intelligence as meager as mine. That's why I'm in school for it man. I need to learn more.
 
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