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Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

nytimes.com

71–80 of 88 posts

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fruit juice is pretty bad on the calories regardless of added sugar or not. I mean, the sugar doesn't help, and has other bad effects (teeth, most notably). But the issue with fruit juice is just how much fruit you need to make it. One glass of apple juice is 3-4 apples. An apple is 60-80 calories. That makes that glass about 300 calories, which is ridiculous. It's a bit less bad with orange juice, although like lemo…

Where have you seen a glass of apple juice with 300 kcal? In my (European) experience it's barely a hundred or so. Is this some American version that consists of vaguely apple-flavored sugar or something? I'm actually slightly envious because I'm a tad underweight (and with a very low body fat percentage) and find gaining weight difficult.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is 110 calories per 8 oz serving. But most people in America would drink a glass more like twice that size.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#72
post #32
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure where you're seeing the $3 avocados. Even in SV, it's like $1 per unless things have changed in the last several weeks.

NYC, and untill recently every whole foods store

Most stores I've seen in Manhattan have them between $2.50 - $3.00 lately. However the fruit vendors on the street have them at $1.50. Usually 2 for $3.00.

But you probably want to use them that day which I see as a feature.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#73

As an American who lived in Brazil for 8 years, honestly I'm not sure this is any worse than traditional food. A typical Brazilian lunch is a piece of meat with beans, sides of rice, french fries, and fried flour (farofa) -- that's right, 3 carbs of empty calories (2 fried) and no real vegetables -- all washed down with mostly-added-sugar "fruit juice concentrate" (cashew apple is really common). Bar snacks are 100%…

You are spot on. There's even a local fast food chain "Giraffa's" that serves that - slow cooked food, then microwaved/heated in shop premises and sold as fastfood.

The typical average Brazilian lunch is loaded with overcooked dishes - read: wasted nutrients, dripping with vegetable oil and sugar (fructose and others), occasionally covered with a couple of lettuce leaves and freshly sliced tomatoes.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#74
post #58

As an American who lived in Brazil for 8 years, honestly I'm not sure this is any worse than traditional food. A typical Brazilian lunch is a piece of meat with beans, sides of rice, french fries, and fried flour (farofa) -- that's right, 3 carbs of empty calories (2 fried) and no real vegetables -- all washed down with mostly-added-sugar "fruit juice concentrate" (cashew apple is really common). Bar snacks are 100%…

I thought beans is good nutrition wise?

They are, but the way their are (over)cooked may lead to loss of great chunk of nutrients.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#75
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>The same argument is used in the US to thwart limitations on sugary beverage purchases and other junk food with SNAP Those living under the poverty line don't like being hit with condescending statements coming from those who are supposedly trying to help them, either. Conservatives/Republicans at least call the poor lazy. Liberals/Democrats who want to restrict sugar/luxury items from EBT/SNAP often make ridiculou…

Isn't SNAP is already restricted from tons of other things?

It is, but..."Soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, and ice cream are food items and are therefore eligible items"

Most of what's not allowed is non-food items (soap, beer, tobacco) or already prepared/hot items .

https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

There is another program that provides food for pregnant women and new mothers called WIC. That program is more restrictive...it has a short list of what you can get versus a longer list of what you can't. https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/wic-food-packages-regulatory-re...

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#76
post #58

As an American who lived in Brazil for 8 years, honestly I'm not sure this is any worse than traditional food. A typical Brazilian lunch is a piece of meat with beans, sides of rice, french fries, and fried flour (farofa) -- that's right, 3 carbs of empty calories (2 fried) and no real vegetables -- all washed down with mostly-added-sugar "fruit juice concentrate" (cashew apple is really common). Bar snacks are 100%…

I thought beans is good nutrition wise?

They may be loaded with lard or bacon fat. Not sure if that's the case in Brazil.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#77
post #45

So, Brazil is not a Western country? I guess the entire Europe is The East now. Also, why wouldn't they? It's a big market. Everyone loves fast food even though you'll never see anyone admit it.

I'm sure you know this, but "Western country" doesn't strictly refer to a geographical location. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#78
post #2

I don't doubt that this is all true, but he diet pre-Nestle was hardly superb, Brigadeiro, flan, lots of meat, croquettes, tons of bread... you could do plenty of harm with those traditional foods. What the were not however, was heavily and aggressively marketed, ultra-cheap, and essentially never spoil.

The traditional meal of beans, rice, meat and veggies, is much better than a lot of countries. Even the "junk" foods you mention are still considerably better than empty corporate garbage like cheetos and soda pop.

I think you'd be surprised on the snack front, but soda is addictive poison, that's true enough. The issue with the traditional diet is that it only worked when food was somewhat scarce. Even without the influx of 1st World crap accelerating the obesity/diabetes issue, those problems would remain.

I'm not denying the role of Coke, Nestle, McDonalds, etc in amplifying an existing problem into a full blown catastrophe however.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where have you seen a glass of apple juice with 300 kcal? In my (European) experience it's barely a hundred or so. Is this some American version that consists of vaguely apple-flavored sugar or something? I'm actually slightly envious because I'm a tad underweight (and with a very low body fat percentage) and find gaining weight difficult.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is 110 calories per 8 oz serving. But most people in America would drink a glass more like twice that size.

I guess it's mostly just a difference in volume then. Google tells me 8 oz translates to about 230 ml, that's pretty much the average glass of juice around here.

Re: Western fast food companies are aggressively expanding in Brazil

#80
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of anyone drinking 900 calories of fruit juice! Is this an American thing?

Just so we're clear: that's 3 glasses, right. Have you really never drunk 3 glasses of fruit juice ?

According to Wikipedia [1], it's more like 8 glasses (2,5 dl/ 1 cup per glass) of orange juice. That's 2 liters. The apple/grape juice carton I have handy gives a very similiar number. What kind of juice (or portion size) are you thinking of?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_juice

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