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…
If you have an instant pot, air fryer, and a microwave you can cook a healthy meal in 15 minutes. That's what I do when I got home from work most days: cook some rice in the instant pot, chop up some meat and cook it in the air fryer, and steam some vegetables in the microwave. Sure, it's not as fast as heating up a burrito or something, but it's not that much longer either and once you've done it a few times you can…
Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
231–240 of 345 posts
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
The popularity of Chipotle really says a lot to me. The steak bowls are a little more cost effective, but for the price of one chicken bowl, you seriously could make at least 4 chicken bowls if you simply went to the grocery store instead of Chipotle. The time to cook and prepare is quite similar to Chipotle as well, especially if you go to Chipotle instead of delivery. Rice, beans, salsa, lettuce, cheese, chicken. E…
That’s not remotely true at all. a) Walk into Chipotle, walk out. $10, 10 minutes. b) Prepare a list of ingredients. Go to the grocery store. Find and select those ingredients. Go home. Cook and prepare ingredients. Clean dishes and cookware. $7, 2 hours. Is your time worth so little that you’d spend hours to save $3?
Also, many people don't live 10 minutes walking from a Chipotle. If it was a 15-20 minute drive instead of a 10 minute walk, cooking becomes obvious.
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a good point (especially for anyone considering making store-bought honey a staple of their diet), and an interesting observation, but even so, they would still, at the extreme end of 50% larva, be getting something like overall 25% of their calories from a "rocket fuel" of simple sugar. So I remain convinced that the main problem with modern processed food is not the amount or makeup of the carbs, but more li…
2 hours average of "moderate to vigorous" physical activity is not a trivial amount. I've personally lost a lot of weight (~12kg) doing less than that amount of average exercise consistently, while eating a crap diet (I moved, and started commuting to work and school via bike). Anyway, at the end of the day calories in/calories out is a hard limit. Sure, they may be getting even 50% of their diet from "rocket fuel".…
No doubt calories in/calories out must ultimately be obeyed, and you could w/ strictly controlled feeding achieve any weight you want by titrating calories, but I think people often misinterpret this fact to mean that any two isocaloric diets will result in the same weight; that's untrue because the "out" side of the equation is not constant -- different foods have different effects on your metabolism.
(And also appetite, which from a pratical perspective, is also hugely important -- most people don't rigerously eat X calories, they eat until they don't feel like eating anymore.)
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
A friend of mine had a personal trainer that would make him send a photo of everything he ate. I thought that was a good idea.
That doesn't work. Doing that basically encourages people to lie to you, and poisons the relationship. Everyone trying to lose weight will cheat, and it is often the response to that cheating that determines your ability to continue. By making cheating shameful, you are basically guaranteeing failure (this is a corollary of the idea that places that don't have obesity shame fat people...naturally appealing to places…
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#235This statistic from the article is mind-boggling: > 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. Note that they aren't just referring to processed foods. They classify ultra-processed foods as a step beyond what we typically think of as processed foods: > Ultra-processed foods and beverages ca…
Food companies have led very good marketing campaigns for many years telling people that “cooking is SO difficult and SUCH A PAIN. Just buy our prepackaged food which is so much easier.” Unfortunately when so many people buy into it, it impacts those who don’t. Lately I’ve noticed that basic bags of frozen vegetables are being replaced with “ready to steam” bags that contain half as much quantity for the same price.
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
You missed the most significant issue outside of portion size changes, etc. Car dependency. The shift over the last 60-70 years to push everyone to drive more and more and walk, bike, etc less has had an absolutely massive impact on obesity and being unfit. Compare the obesity rates in any area in the US versus types of transport and you'll see a huge correlation when other factors are fixed. e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi…
I was walking to school with my older sister at age four. At age 6 I was doing a fairly long bus ride with her (and we walked down to the bus stop of course). The rest of my school life was mostly riding and walking to school. And this was completely unremarkable. What was remarkable were the kids who were dropped off at school; I viewed it as a somewhat eccentric practice.
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#237This statistic from the article is mind-boggling: > 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. Note that they aren't just referring to processed foods. They classify ultra-processed foods as a step beyond what we typically think of as processed foods: > Ultra-processed foods and beverages ca…
>I wish we put more emphasis on educating young people about basic cooking and nutrition. More difficult than it sounds. Most people want to eat healthier but when they research it they'll get fad diets and pseudoscience. Just look at Keto, paleo, whole 30, etc.
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you think this? I've never seen a satiety index that scores butter over white rice.
You can resolve this for yourself experimentally. Or just look at the math (pulled from google's nutrition facts): Eat two cups of cooked white rice, ~412 calories, 316 g. A day later with the same starting conditions, eat 316 g of butter, or ~2,265 calories. I bet you're going to feel way more full after eating the same "amount" of butter vs rice. As for 500 calories of rice vs 500 calories of butter, hopefully some…
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ultraprocessed is a counter marketing term from the meat and dairy lobby. It is authored in opposition to things like Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat. Nobody uses this term organically, look in Google Trends yourself. It is an obvious and conspicuous marker of a campaign, exactly equivalent to something like “drinkability,” an Anheuser Busch marketing term. This is a market that traditionally derives most of its pr…
>> Ultraprocessed is a counter marketing term from the meat and dairy lobby. This sentence risks framing industrially manufactured food products as equally nutritious to meat and dairy (and fruit and vegetables, beans and pulses, eggs and fish, etc. etc.).
Re: Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition
#240This statistic from the article is mind-boggling: > 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. Note that they aren't just referring to processed foods. They classify ultra-processed foods as a step beyond what we typically think of as processed foods: > Ultra-processed foods and beverages ca…
> For many people, the idea of cooking a meal has been elevated to a special occasion event, as a treat or a date night. This is partially due to the fact that boring, everyday meal recipes just aren't as flashy as a 15-ingredient, hour long recipe that results in a stunning picture for someone's blog or instagram. I think the root is that everyone's rents and other costs are way higher. Many folks are barely getting…
How is it that the economics works out so differently in, say, Eastern Europe where poor people's best choice is to buy staples in bulk and cook and can't afford packaged convenience food and eating out?
It's because American people's time is priced much higher and they earn much more overall.