Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar • Hacker News Board

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#41

Post by dangus » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

will_brown wrote: post #8

All this money, time and effort in an attempt to market new low sugar cereals , these are the same company’s who: 1. Have been marketing their product as part of a balanced breakfast for decades, and 2. Continued increasing the amount of sugar while actively lobbying against any attempts to regulate marketing their sugary products to kids. Here is an idea...get rid of the sugary cereals and sugary milk entirely and f…

Of course, the cereals without added sugar have always existed - plain Cheerios, plain corn flakes, plain Rice Krispies, etc.

Sure, they’re processed grains, and you’re eating them with milk, but it’s still a massive improvement over downing some Cinnamon Toast Crunch with a Pop Tart on the side.

The marketing reality is a big problem. We can’t keep with the status quo of kid’s TV channels filled with ads for sugar. It’s no different than having TV ads for cigarettes touting their benefits to your lifestyle and enjoyment.

A lot of parents think these foods are fine because the commercial said so. The reality is that it’s really no more difficult for a busy parent to serve some oatmeal with fruit or something of that sort.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#42

Post by will_brown » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

otabdeveloper2 wrote: post #30

z_open wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want them to get a heart attack instead? Lots of cultures have good breakfast that don't rely on sugar or cholesterol. Look to the Mediterranean/Middle East/Central Asia/Far East.

I'm pretty sure that the idea that cholesterol causes heart attacks is fake news.

Correct dietary cholesterol is unrelated to high cholesterol in people. It’s a myth invented by...the sugar industry.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#43

Post by tracker1 » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:44 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #6

One thing I have been working on recently is cooking, especially from scratch and attempting to keep it healthy. One big thing I have noticed is that a lot of food (once cooked) has a very short shelf life (usually days), and if you have something with few ingredients, it requires quality ingredients. For prepackaged/premade foods, one would want food to stay good for longer than days once cooked/made, so it can be t…

When I've done meal prep, I usually have 1-2 meals that I leave in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer... The ones in the freezer are generally good for a month without freezer burn. I'd presume vacuum sealing would make them better for longer in the freezer. I'll usually pull out meals for the day after tomorrow each day.

After a few meal prep sessions there's usually a bit of variety this way... you have to do a lot the first week, but it gets easier.

These days I've been keeping keto macros and nearly carnivore... mostly meat, eggs, greens. I've cut dairy and nuts as both are easy to over do and I seem to have a very strong response to dairy in particular.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#44

Post by slothtrop » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:44 PM UTC

flareback wrote: post #19

will_brown wrote: post #8

All this money, time and effort in an attempt to market new low sugar cereals , these are the same company’s who: 1. Have been marketing their product as part of a balanced breakfast for decades, and 2. Continued increasing the amount of sugar while actively lobbying against any attempts to regulate marketing their sugary products to kids. Here is an idea...get rid of the sugary cereals and sugary milk entirely and f…

I love the idea of having bacon and eggs for breakfast in the morning. The reality is though that bacon and eggs take time and effort while pouring a bowl of cereal is quick and easy.

You can opt for overnight oats. Takes 2 seconds to prepare. I usually include chia, banana and blueberries, then add natural peanut butter in the morning.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#45

Post by kwhitefoot » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:46 PM UTC

flareback wrote: post #19

will_brown wrote: post #8

All this money, time and effort in an attempt to market new low sugar cereals , these are the same company’s who: 1. Have been marketing their product as part of a balanced breakfast for decades, and 2. Continued increasing the amount of sugar while actively lobbying against any attempts to regulate marketing their sugary products to kids. Here is an idea...get rid of the sugary cereals and sugary milk entirely and f…

I love the idea of having bacon and eggs for breakfast in the morning. The reality is though that bacon and eggs take time and effort while pouring a bowl of cereal is quick and easy.

Cooking two poached eggs takes 90 seconds in my microwave. Bacon can be cooked in quantity and eaten cold or warmed in the microwave.

So yes, the cereals are easier but the saving in time is really not more than about five minutes.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#46

Post by kannanvijayan » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:48 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #6

One thing I have been working on recently is cooking, especially from scratch and attempting to keep it healthy. One big thing I have noticed is that a lot of food (once cooked) has a very short shelf life (usually days), and if you have something with few ingredients, it requires quality ingredients. For prepackaged/premade foods, one would want food to stay good for longer than days once cooked/made, so it can be t…

Cooking techniques from tropical areas where food spoil quickly are useful here. It's one of the big reasons that spice is used in Indian cooking for example - historically not for flavour in particular but because food spoils extremely quickly (as in within a day or two) if not spiced.

If the palette suits you, it's something I'd suggest looking into. We prepare foods on the weekend (working parents) and they stay for about a week and a half in the fridge, and you can mix and match the different dishes over the week to break monotony.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#47

Post by arkh » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:50 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #21

taeric wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a reason a large part of "cooking" in the past involved preserving/canning. Pickled food seems to have largely been relegated to cucumbers nowadays. And jellies/jams are used in quantities that wouldn't have made sense in the past. Probably the same for many alcohols. Yes, it was the boiling of the water that made it safe, but I suspect the rest of the process helped it stay safer longer. (Would have to dive…

You bring a good point! So I wonder if there is a way to come back to that more with buying foods from a store. Buy things that are preserved without sugar or similar preservatives? That may help?

Buy a pig or ducks and make preserves from their meat and fat. Enjoy the food years later.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#48

Post by oblib » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:51 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #7

This is an overly dramatic way of saying that the average 10 year old has consumed 1.8 times the current sugar recommendation. Average 51-year-old has read 4 years' worth of books

If you look at the longer trend lines you find the "average 10 year old" is consuming over 30% more sugar that one 30 years ago.

That's significant.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#49

Post by gregmac » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:54 PM UTC

flareback wrote: post #19

will_brown wrote: post #8

All this money, time and effort in an attempt to market new low sugar cereals , these are the same company’s who: 1. Have been marketing their product as part of a balanced breakfast for decades, and 2. Continued increasing the amount of sugar while actively lobbying against any attempts to regulate marketing their sugary products to kids. Here is an idea...get rid of the sugary cereals and sugary milk entirely and f…

I love the idea of having bacon and eggs for breakfast in the morning. The reality is though that bacon and eggs take time and effort while pouring a bowl of cereal is quick and easy.

Costco has precooked bacon that's pretty decent. It definitely isn't as good as the normal uncooked bacon, but only takes a couple minutes to heat up (or under a minute in the microwave). It's great because I can throw it in the pan when my eggs are just about done, total time less than 10 minutes. Tastes way better than any cereal any day, not to mention not full of sugar/carbs.

Re: Average 10-year-old has eaten 18 years' worth of sugar

#50

Post by worldstarhiphop » Wed, Jan 02, 2019, 3:54 PM UTC

save_ferris wrote: post #9

jgoewert wrote: post #2

Unpopular opinion, but part of the problem is that stupid people are more likely to have kids, and especially many kids. Stupid people become stupid parents.

What an insane oversimplification. Look around, the tech industry is filled with incredibly smart people that don't take care of their bodies. Overcoming bad lifestyle habits is a challenge for many, especially those who inherited those habits as children. But we can absolutely do better than "fat == stupid".

I'd argue that if you lack the self awareness to see how unhealthy you are, impart your bad habits onto your kids, and raise them till adulthood as if nothing's wrong, you are very stupid. Whether you can implement some function on a computer every couple months for $150k and free food doesn't change that.