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Why is the American diet so deadly?

newyorker.com

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Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#3
A useful analogy is the Coca plant. Chewing its leaves will give a mild stimulant and is relatively benign. But if you extract and concentrate the active ingratiate it becomes highly addictive. This is pretty much what we have done with our food.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#8
post #3

A useful analogy is the Coca plant. Chewing its leaves will give a mild stimulant and is relatively benign. But if you extract and concentrate the active ingratiate it becomes highly addictive. This is pretty much what we have done with our food.

Even worse, our food has been specifically engineered to be as addictive as possible without increasing manufacturing costs.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#9

    > Why Is the American Diet So Deadly? 
Too much sugar. Too carb heavy.

Not enough fiber (fruits, veg).

Fats demonized for a long spell.

No time for preparing whole foods in daily lives.

No easy access to cheap, prepared whole foods.

Edit: car-focused culture and zoning laws/planning that result in more sedentary day-to-day lifestyle that magnifies the effect of the poor diet.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#10
post #4

hope this doesn't hijacked by "WhAt Is EvEN UltRAPorCESSED FooD" crowd.

You mean, the people who point out that putting a loaf of bread in a plastic bag moves it (under certain rules) into the ultraprocessed category?

How dare they raise issues you don't like!

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