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Fascinating NYT Mag piece on junk food

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Steak Snabler, Mar 1, 2013.

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  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Lots of legwork involved, and it shows.

    The nut:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
     
    Steak Snabler, Mar 1, 2013
    #1
  2. Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!

    Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! Well-Known Member

    Sounds a lot like the tobacco industry.
     
    Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!, Mar 1, 2013
    #2
  3. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Yes, the author makes that comparison very early in the piece.
     
    Steak Snabler, Mar 1, 2013
    #3
  4. YGBFKM

    YGBFKM Guest

    You know what gets people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive? Life.

    Convenient and inexpensive are two of the fundamental values for the majority of Americans.
     
    YGBFKM, Mar 1, 2013
    #4
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Yep. I spent like two months eating a Rice Krispie Treat for breakfast every morning because I could stop at 7-11 every morning on the walk to the office. Finally, I took the 10 extra minutes and went into Target and walked out with a $15 toaster and a bag of bagels.

    In conjunction with this piece, there was a story yesterday on sugar, and how it causes diabetes even independently of obesity. I think that a lot of people thought that there was merely a correlation with sugar and diabetes because there is a correlation between sugar and obesity. But apparently sugar is actually the cause of diabetes, and they've got that pretty rock solid.
     
    Dick Whitman, Mar 1, 2013
    #5
  6. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Trouble is, these foods are neither convenient nor inexpensive when you factor in the social costs and the health crisis they've created.
     
    Azrael, Mar 1, 2013
    #6
  7. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Of course not.

    But we discount the future when we make decisions, particularly little decisions.
     
    Dick Whitman, Mar 1, 2013
    #7
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It's more than that. A lot of research shows that the same receptors in your brain that get you hooked on opiates, for example, get you hooked on certain foodlike-substances that they load foods up with -- basically stripping out the nutritional content and leaving behind quick glucose fixes. The "food science" industry is dedicated nowadays to getting you hooked on the processed foods. ... that are sold as convenient and inexpensive. What is sickening is how many of them actually put health claims on their labels, much of it government sanctioned.

    I reference Marion Nestle and Michael Pollan in a lot of posts on here. They are nutrionists / writers who have written a number of popular books that covers all of this extensively. 60 minutes did a piece last year, too, about food labs in which they work on "flavors" that they add to foods.

    If you read any of Nestle or Pollan's books, you realize quickly that this isn't rocket science. Humans have done very well for a gazillion years, without much thought, on what to eat. If you stay away from anything prepackaged or processed or prepared in a fast food place (what Pollan will call "food-like substances") and stick to the stuff your great grandparents would have recognized as food, those evil scientists can't get you. In "In Defense of Food," Pollan basically tells people how to eat in 7 words. "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

    Shop around the perimeter of the supermarket -- real food spoils, so they keep it closest to the loading areas and in the refrigerated sections. Stay away from the prepackaged or processed crap in the middle of the supermarket. That is where they are trying to hook you on shit that is really bad for you -- despite any claims on the label. Look at labels. If you recognize all the ingredients, can pronounce them all, and none of them are chemicals, you are ahead of the game. Better yet, though, stay away from labeled stuff and buy fresh ingredients and you don't have to worry about the mess they have made of supermarkets.
     
    The Big Ragu, Mar 1, 2013
    #8
  9. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Two or three years ago, I think I battled 21 and Ragu on this point. There was a study in which some teacher lost 80 pounds or some such nonsense by eating Twinkies and cookies. I questioned - it was more devil's advocacy than anything - whether it was the calories that mattered more than the substance.

    I take it back.
     
    Dick Whitman, Mar 1, 2013
    #9
  10. YGBFKM

    YGBFKM Guest

    Aside from the occasional pizza -- which you're gonna have to pry from my cold, dead hands -- I don't eat junk food. But I also don't have the time or money to eat like I would prefer. My guess is that makes me quite common.
     
    YGBFKM, Mar 1, 2013
    #10
  11. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    As Ragu has doubtless said before, it is in fact cheaper to cook and eat relatively healthy foods than to purchase processed foods. Why do you think the food industry loves selling the latter?
    My particular junk food addiction (we all have one) is salty snacks. But I've pretty much got it down to pretzels now. They are allegedly the least worst such snack, nutritionally speaking.
     
    Michael_ Gee, Mar 1, 2013
    #11
  12. YGBFKM

    YGBFKM Guest

    What does relatively healthy mean?
     
    YGBFKM, Mar 1, 2013
    #12
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