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Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

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Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#221

Post by bonoboTP »

bumby wrote: post #177
curryst wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The question is whether some foods are inherently addictive, at least for some people who are more predisposed to food addiction. In some sense, yes, because to get to extremely high weights, you need to consume extremely high amounts of food. Your stomach will grow, but I would imagine a person would struggle to eat enough carrots to weigh 500 pounds. Quick napkin math says some obese people eat 6700 calories a da…

> If we added a 10% tax to soft drinks, fries and pizza The argument against this is that it becomes a regressive tax scheme. Many in the lower income strata disproportionately eat these foods because they are convenient and relatively cheap. A 10% increase in the food budget of someone at or near poverty isn’t trivial. Talk to chefs at high-end restaurants and you’ll see how much fat is inherent in (or gets added to…

If poor people eat so much of it that they get fat, then at a higher price point they will only afford less of the same stuff and thus get less fat.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#222

Post by mike00632 »

program_whiz wrote: post #160
mike00632 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Breakfast: Cereal and milk. My favorite cereal is Trix. Lunch: Sandwich made of bread, bologna, cheese, mustard. Coca-cola or chocolate milk to drink. Dinner: TV dinner, perhaps a Lean Cuisine or Pizza rolls. Mountain Dew or Kool Aid to drink. This was a typical day of food for me as a child and through being a teenager.

I feel this 100%. This type of thing is totally pushed by the food industry, marketed directly to kids and tired / busy parents. Lets not pretend that people who aren't obese are somehow more enlightened or virtuous, this is clearly a matter of food production, marketing, and environment (otherwise there wouldn't have been a sharp rise in obesity right around the time all this came online). I feel your story because…

I almost wrote about how I think eating like that during my childhood broke something with my metabolism. Like, I can't process sugars like most people do and I'm more prone to gaining weight.

That said, my view of food is 100% different now. I do feel enlightened. I don't blame my parents. I think the state needs to get more involved with regulation. I have a ton of respect for Michelle Obama's push to make school lunches healthy.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#223

Post by [deleted] »

dolni wrote: post #187
SoSoRoCoCo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't believe no one has quoted Michael Pollan yet, but his 7 rules still ring true (see #4 for your question): 1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says. 2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or in…

There are some good rules of thumb here, but this: > 2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce. This just smacks of so much ignorance as to be disgraceful. Something isn't good for you just because there's a short word for it, or bad for you because it has a scientific name. And it's definitely not bad for you just because it has more than 5 ingredients. I remember hear…

[deleted]

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#224

Post by acuozzo »

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #178
acuozzo wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure some foods are inherently addictive, but I hesitate to put the blame on specific foods because I gained most of my weight from eating sushi rice… a pot at a time. My experience suggests to me that food addiction is primarily psychological in nature and is often the result of a history of "experience coupling" (examples to follow) and a genuine misunderstanding of what feeling "full" truly feels like. Most ob…

please note: sushi rice is not just plain white rice. Sushi rice often has sugar added to it, that's a big part of what makes it so addictive. And then, in the sushi itself, they often add oils, mayonaise (also made from oils), and sugary syrups on top too.

> Sushi rice often has sugar added to it

I know since it was homemade!

I'm glad I didn't become diabetic.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#225

Post by mike00632 »

hnick wrote: post #198
mike00632 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It was actually even worse than that on most days. The portions were bigger and I didn't include snacks and desserts. My whole family was overweight and most of us were obese (myself included). This is the majority of Americans. I'm sure that this style of eating is extremely common.

While that food doesn't look healthy I don't think it would be enough to become obese alone from a calorie perspective, unless portion sizes are massive (you said one sandwich but maybe it was multiple?). Especially with a teenage metabolism. Snacks, desserts, and sugar drinks in between meals are a huge contributor for a lot of people.

Have you ever microwaved a half gallon of ice cream and drank it?

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#226

Post by bonoboTP »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #166
01100011 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

45 here. Here's what I've noticed since the 80s: - More wealth and more choices now. - More eating out now. Meals are bigger, sweeter, richer, etc. - Less activity now. When I was a kid, video games were just getting started and most folks didn't own computers. TV & media was less engaging. Food addiction seems more... refined these days. There is a lot less fat shaming too, although I'm not suggesting we bring it ba…

I don't think its the food, I feel its several cultural shifts: - The tamping down of phy ed classes and general removal of exercise from elementary schools with more of an emphasis on learning. If you are not ok shape in middle school, it leads to learning issues. One problem begets the other - Shifts in parenting. When I grew up in the 1980's, our family ALWAYS ate dinner at home, together as a family. My mom got h…

Is there a lack of phys ed or too much soccer and hockey etc classes? Looks like a contradiction.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#227

Post by mike00632 »

sjg007 wrote: post #127
mike00632 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It was actually even worse than that on most days. The portions were bigger and I didn't include snacks and desserts. My whole family was overweight and most of us were obese (myself included). This is the majority of Americans. I'm sure that this style of eating is extremely common.

Portion creep is a thing.

"I might as well finish the whole sleeve of Oreos"

- A child after school watching Batman: The Animated Series somewhere in the Mid-West.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#228

Post by mike00632 »

tolbish wrote: post #105
silicon2401 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really what you ate like on a day to day basis? Not snarky or anything, just genuinely shocked and curious

They also probably had several processed snacks throughout the day like chips and oreos.

Yup.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#229

Post by bonoboTP »

ev1 wrote: post #87
jasode wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>, but in my experience most people prefer these foods because they think it's more convenient. [...] Everyone should learn how to cook some boring, staple meals using basic ingredients from the store. It's amazing how many people don't know how easy and cheap it can be to prepare simple crock pot or stir-fry meals that are healthy and delicious. I'm a strict health food eater but I have to be realistic and concede t…

Disappointingly, some people quite literally cannot cook - I don't have a stove. This is a lot more common[0] than one might think, and arguably hits the worst demographic for it - university students and fresh out of university students, where the only affordable place is $2-3k for barely a hundred square feet with a microwave and minifridge. There is a fair amount of places near tech companies where it's quite comm…

You can cook more things in a microwave than you'd imagine.

Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition

#230

Post by mike00632 »

mike00632 wrote: post #17
notdang wrote: post #13

The article states that : Ultra-processed products now account for nearly half of the average dietary intake of some high income countries, with consumption rising rapidly in most other countries. I've never lived for more than 1-2 months in any of these "high income countries". What does it mean to consume "ultra-processed" food? Can someone give an example how the daily dietary intake can be 50% processed foods? Wh…

Breakfast: Cereal and milk. My favorite cereal is Trix. Lunch: Sandwich made of bread, bologna, cheese, mustard. Coca-cola or chocolate milk to drink. Dinner: TV dinner, perhaps a Lean Cuisine or Pizza rolls. Mountain Dew or Kool Aid to drink. This was a typical day of food for me as a child and through being a teenager.

On a lighter note: can we talk about how 6 Pizza Rolls is not a serving!? Nobody eats ONLY 6 Pizza rolls.
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