Have you seen FED UP - the documentary?
MimiRob77
Posts: 21 Member
I recently watched FED UP and although I knew about the general subjects it covers : food industry, sugar, fast food in school cafetera... I was still quite surprise by some of the facts it points out :
- From 1977 to 2000 it's estimated Americans have doubled their intake of sugar.
- Despite fitness club memberships more than doubling across the U.S. between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled.
- 80% of the 600,000 food products sold in the U.S. contain sugar.
- Children have more exposure to foods containing sugar, fat and sodium through advertising, including online, and in their school cafeterias than ever before.
- As the relationship between the high-sugar diet and poor health has emerged, entrenched sugar industry interests with almost unlimited financial lobbying resources have beaten back attempts by parents, schools, states, and in Congress to provide a healthier diet for children.
- Daily sugar allowance are not on labels.
Well, it certainly made me more aware of my sugar consumption in everyday products.
- From 1977 to 2000 it's estimated Americans have doubled their intake of sugar.
- Despite fitness club memberships more than doubling across the U.S. between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled.
- 80% of the 600,000 food products sold in the U.S. contain sugar.
- Children have more exposure to foods containing sugar, fat and sodium through advertising, including online, and in their school cafeterias than ever before.
- As the relationship between the high-sugar diet and poor health has emerged, entrenched sugar industry interests with almost unlimited financial lobbying resources have beaten back attempts by parents, schools, states, and in Congress to provide a healthier diet for children.
- Daily sugar allowance are not on labels.
Well, it certainly made me more aware of my sugar consumption in everyday products.
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Replies
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I recently watched this as well and was taken aback by a lot of the information they shared. I'm off soft drinks as a result - but I wasn't into them a whole lot beforehand anyway. Sugar all together I'm trying to stay away from.
Certainly was eye opening.0 -
It always shocks me how sugar gets a free pass. Our school is not allowed to have flavored milks unless they are 0% fat, as if that makes them healthy. Compare the sugar content of the milk to a can of coke.
Coke: 26g of sugar per 8oz (5.5 tsp of sugar)
My School's Strawberry Milk: 22g of sugar per 8oz (4.5 tsp of sugar)
It should also be pointed out that 8oz of Coke has fewer calories (90-100) than the strawberry milk (130). It does have some protein, though (8g) and a couple extra "non-sugar" carbs (2g) So, it's not all bad.
It really doesn't matter which one the kids decide to drink with their lunch, they're equally bad.
Edit: If you look at the ingredient lists for the milk and a can of coke, the second ingredient in both is HFCS.0 -
Yes, it's what got me in the right frame of mind to start eating healthy. Down to only 1/2 diet coke a day in the morning (not a coffee drinker)0
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Good documentary. There's even added sugar in bagged carrots and things like that. Gotta buy the full organic kind for my kid. So sad.0
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....
- Despite fitness club memberships more than doubling across the U.S. between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled.
...
Haven't seen it but did they actually get into activity levels? Fitness club memberships are useless metrics as the quitters subsidize the active users. I know activity levels are down and calorie intakes are up which is well documented.
As to the sugar, it baffles me to how otherwise intelligent people are taken aback when that prepared boxed meal that tastes slightly better than cardboard isn't exactly healthy whole food.0 -
Try tea instead of cola. If you are not into plain tea consider Jasmine or varieties with freeze-dried fruit in them (commonly peaches or apples).
The only processed foods I've eaten lately have been Trader Joe's salad dressings and frozen entrees, so I'm no longer getting much added sugar outside those categories.
add: and a potato chip binge this past weekend, but that's just potatoes, sunflower oil, and salt.0 -
As to the sugar, it baffles me to how otherwise intelligent people are taken aback when that prepared boxed meal that tastes slightly better than cardboard isn't exactly healthy whole food.
whenever someone in my office makes one of those lean cuisine-type meals, the whole building smells of MSG. it's got to be the only thing making them edible.
i know they're low in calories and convenient, but i'd much rather make my own chicken and turkey lettuce wraps. they fill me up a lot better than one of those things do.0 -
Likely. With HFCS in a lot of stuff now, I can believe this.I recently watched FED UP and although I knew about the general subjects it covers : food industry, sugar, fast food in school cafetera... I was still quite surprise by some of the facts it points out :
- From 1977 to 2000 it's estimated Americans have doubled their intake of sugar.
This is deceptive because are they looking at the US overall (people who don't gym) or is this a stat directly related to gym members? I would say that it's not the gym members (regulars) who are part of the obesity issue.- Despite fitness club memberships more than doubling across the U.S. between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled.
A lot sold overseas is also the same. Why no obesity issues in countries that do the same?- 80% of the 600,000 food products sold in the U.S. contain sugar.
Again deceptive. Because of advanced electronics, EVERYONE is exposed to EVERY TYPE of advertising and exposure. It could be correlatively said that GAMING is responsible for massive weight gain.- Children have more exposure to foods containing sugar, fat and sodium through advertising, including online, and in their school cafeterias than ever before.
Diet responsibility isn't the food industries goal. That's where a parent steps in.- As the relationship between the high-sugar diet and poor health has emerged, entrenched sugar industry interests with almost unlimited financial lobbying resources have beaten back attempts by parents, schools, states, and in Congress to provide a healthier diet for children.
Sugar isn't nutrient dense that's why. With the exception of it being a carb, sugar carries no vitamin/mineral properties. There's no daily allowance on alcohol products either. Not that it matters because people aren't reading labels most of the time anyway. People just consume till they don't want to anymore.- Daily sugar allowance are not on labels.
That's good, but whether a product has sugar in it or not, people are overweight/obese because of overconsumption of total calories. Exceeding TDEE will result in weight gain whether there's added sugar or not.Well, it certainly made me more aware of my sugar consumption in everyday products.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
That's definitely enough evidence to indict sugar in front of a grand jury, too bad it didn't hold up to Ninerbuff's cross-examination.0
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Yes, I've seen it. It's sugar toxin propaganda with cherry picked facts. The only people it would actually influence are people who can't research things on their own.0
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Yes, it's what got me in the right frame of mind to start eating healthy. Down to only 1/2 diet coke a day in the morning (not a coffee drinker)
so wait....my coke zeros are unhealthy?0 -
Yes, it's what got me in the right frame of mind to start eating healthy. Down to only 1/2 diet coke a day in the morning (not a coffee drinker)
so wait....my coke zeros are unhealthy?
<--- Diet Coke is making me fat. That and the pop tarts and cereal I eat.0 -
I don't buy that the corporation has no culpability when they are willingly presenting and advertising food to consumers they know is addictive and not healthy. This idea that we are all so educated, intelligent and able to make good decisions on our food is just not realistic. Yes, we need to make good choices, but the food industry does everything in its power, including manipulating and funding studies that are pro-sugar and suppressing science that goes against it. The consumer is confused because the mega-corporations have done a marketing job so slick that the average person has no idea they are choosing bad when they pick most of these items off the shelf.
I hope more people stand up for the consumer!!0 -
Bingo.
Likely. With HFCS in a lot of stuff now, I can believe this.I recently watched FED UP and although I knew about the general subjects it covers : food industry, sugar, fast food in school cafetera... I was still quite surprise by some of the facts it points out :
- From 1977 to 2000 it's estimated Americans have doubled their intake of sugar.
This is deceptive because are they looking at the US overall (people who don't gym) or is this a stat directly related to gym members? I would say that it's not the gym members (regulars) who are part of the obesity issue.- Despite fitness club memberships more than doubling across the U.S. between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled.
A lot sold overseas is also the same. Why no obesity issues in countries that do the same?- 80% of the 600,000 food products sold in the U.S. contain sugar.
Again deceptive. Because of advanced electronics, EVERYONE is exposed to EVERY TYPE of advertising and exposure. It could be correlatively said that GAMING is responsible for massive weight gain.- Children have more exposure to foods containing sugar, fat and sodium through advertising, including online, and in their school cafeterias than ever before.
Diet responsibility isn't the food industries goal. That's where a parent steps in.- As the relationship between the high-sugar diet and poor health has emerged, entrenched sugar industry interests with almost unlimited financial lobbying resources have beaten back attempts by parents, schools, states, and in Congress to provide a healthier diet for children.
Sugar isn't nutrient dense that's why. With the exception of it being a carb, sugar carries no vitamin/mineral properties. There's no daily allowance on alcohol products either. Not that it matters because people aren't reading labels most of the time anyway. People just consume till they don't want to anymore.- Daily sugar allowance are not on labels.
That's good, but whether a product has sugar in it or not, people are overweight/obese because of overconsumption of total calories. Exceeding TDEE will result in weight gain whether there's added sugar or not.Well, it certainly made me more aware of my sugar consumption in everyday products.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Yes, it's what got me in the right frame of mind to start eating healthy. Down to only 1/2 diet coke a day in the morning (not a coffee drinker)
so wait....my coke zeros are unhealthy?
<--- Diet Coke is making me fat. That and the pop tarts and cereal I eat.
speaking of pop tarts, i'd like to eat some off your abs.
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Please take off your tin foil hat.I don't buy that the corporation has no culpability when they are willingly presenting and advertising food to consumers they know is addictive and not healthy. This idea that we are all so educated, intelligent and able to make good decisions on our food is just not realistic. Yes, we need to make good choices, but the food industry does everything in its power, including manipulating and funding studies that are pro-sugar and suppressing science that goes against it. The consumer is confused because the mega-corporations have done a marketing job so slick that the average person has no idea they are choosing bad when they pick most of these items off the shelf.
I hope more people stand up for the consumer!!0 -
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Oh documentaries... when are people going to realize that they are just as biased as any other opinion peice and that they only show you half truths to appeal to your pathos?0
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Yes, it's what got me in the right frame of mind to start eating healthy. Down to only 1/2 diet coke a day in the morning (not a coffee drinker)
so wait....my coke zeros are unhealthy?
<--- Diet Coke is making me fat. That and the pop tarts and cereal I eat.
speaking of pop tarts, i'd like to eat some off your abs.
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Wait, you mean no OTHER corporation does that with advertising? Like the music industry, electronic games, NFL, television companies, etc.? Should we be censoring what their advertisements as well?I don't buy that the corporation has no culpability when they are willingly presenting and advertising food to consumers they know is addictive and not healthy. This idea that we are all so educated, intelligent and able to make good decisions on our food is just not realistic. Yes, we need to make good choices, but the food industry does everything in its power, including manipulating and funding studies that are pro-sugar and suppressing science that goes against it. The consumer is confused because the mega-corporations have done a marketing job so slick that the average person has no idea they are choosing bad when they pick most of these items off the shelf.
I hope more people stand up for the consumer!!
People have TOTAL control of how much they want to eat. People are over weight because they consume more calories than they need. Again, these same foods are available overseas, yet the weight issues aren't the same.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Wait, you mean no OTHER corporation does that with advertising? Like the music industry, electronic games, NFL, television companies, etc.? Should we be censoring what their advertisements as well?I don't buy that the corporation has no culpability when they are willingly presenting and advertising food to consumers they know is addictive and not healthy. This idea that we are all so educated, intelligent and able to make good decisions on our food is just not realistic. Yes, we need to make good choices, but the food industry does everything in its power, including manipulating and funding studies that are pro-sugar and suppressing science that goes against it. The consumer is confused because the mega-corporations have done a marketing job so slick that the average person has no idea they are choosing bad when they pick most of these items off the shelf.
I hope more people stand up for the consumer!!
People have TOTAL control of how much they want to eat. People are over weight because they consume more calories than they need. Again, these same foods are available overseas, yet the weight issues aren't the same.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
so much this.
this is business.
i'm not going to tell you what they care most about, but don't expect it to be you.
what people do with their products is up to them.
i dont need land o lakes to tell me not to eat a pound of butter a day.
your notion lacks personal accountability, and THAT is the root of the problem.0 -
For hundreds of years sugar was a luxury item...not a staple in the diet. Now the high sugar rates are being linked to a rise of diabetes and even Alzheimers.0
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I don't buy that the corporation has no culpability when they are willingly presenting and advertising food to consumers they know is addictive and not healthy.
It's not addictive, but as far as that goes, no one is in an uproar about companies that make and sell alcohol these days.
As for "not healthy" -- who decides? Lots of things that consumers want are unhealthy if consumed in excess quantities. Yet no one blames, say, TV manufacturers for people watching too much TV.This idea that we are all so educated, intelligent and able to make good decisions on our food is just not realistic.
Sure it's realistic. Do some people choose not to? Sure, but that's their responsibility. I, personally, would rather live in a world where I am free to make mistakes or engage in actions that some people apparently think are "unhealthy" (like eating some ice cream on occasion), then be told by the government (i.e., well-meaning people like you, who think we should hold corporations liable for selling ice cream, it seems) that I cannot make that choice.0 -
Diabetes isn't CAUSED by sugar if you didn't know. Diabetes is more genetic ALTHOUGH being overweight/obese directly affects risk of it. Even the ADA states that it's a link, but not the actual cause since increased weight can happen without consuming a lot of sugar.For hundreds of years sugar was a luxury item...not a staple in the diet. Now the high sugar rates are being linked to a rise of diabetes and even Alzheimers.
As for Alzeihemer's, there are SO MANY other things besides sugar that it's linked to.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Its not realistic. Sugar is added to everything to make it taste better, so that you will buy it. Why to they do all the taste tests? For example, do you expect you french fries to be coated in sugar? ..probably not...but if you buy them from McDonalds or the store..they are. It make them brown up and look better. I don't know about you , but if I was making fries at home I wouldn't be coating them in sugar first. So how is the consumer supposed to know other than to avoid all processed foods?0
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It always shocks me how sugar gets a free pass. Our school is not allowed to have flavored milks unless they are 0% fat, as if that makes them healthy. Compare the sugar content of the milk to a can of coke.
Coke: 26g of sugar per 8oz (5.5 tsp of sugar)
My School's Strawberry Milk: 22g of sugar per 8oz (4.5 tsp of sugar)
Schools can have dumb policies. Plenty still allow soda, I believe, or the sale of "energy drinks" that are basically soda, so it's not surprising that somehow they've failed to cotton on to the fact that the strawberry milk isn't unlike soda, despite having some more nutrients. I wouldn't say that means sugar gets a "free pass." If it did, your particular school wouldn't allow the soda either. This says more to me about people not being particularly good at thinking things through sometimes.It should also be pointed out that 8oz of Coke has fewer calories (90-100) than the strawberry milk (130). It does have some protein, though (8g) and a couple extra "non-sugar" carbs (2g) So, it's not all bad.
The same amount of skim milk (which from your post I'm assuming is the main ingredient here besides sugar and flavoring) has about 90 calories and 12 grams of sugar. I don't know what your "strawberry milk" is, but there's some Nesquick beverage that seems similar in the database. It has only 104 calories for 8 oz, plus 8 g protein and 16 g sugar. If that's it, there's only 4 more grams of sugar than in milk otherwise. Just for the record (since the sugar hysteria is such that this often seems to get lost), a substantial portion of the sugar in any milk (including all of it in normal whole, 2%, OR skim milk) is lactose.
Also, since the argument about changes over time was made, I remember both Nesquick and chocolate milk from my childhood (I'm 44), so it's not like that's a brand new thing. Soda was much less common back then, at least as a drink that parents permitted their children to have in unlimited quantities, based of course on my anecdotal experience. Is that because CocaCola has changed? Or is it because something about parenting or cultural norms have? I think the latter.0 -
Sure it's realistic. Do some people choose not to? Sure, but that's their responsibility. I, personally, would rather live in a world where I am free to make mistakes or engage in actions that some people apparently think are "unhealthy" (like eating some ice cream on occasion), then be told by the government (i.e., well-meaning people like you, who think we should hold corporations liable for selling ice cream, it seems) that I cannot make that choice.
I do not agree with banning or governments or anybody telling us what we can or cannot eat - however I do beleive in informing the customer so they can make informed choices.
Thus detailed labelling on all food/drink products showing the sugar, calorie(or kiliojoule) sodium etc per 100ml/ 100g. The alcohol content per 100ml on alcoholic products.
as companies usually wont do this voluntarlly I am in favour of compulsory labelling - like we have here in Australia, in fact.
I also agree that total calorie consumption is what causes obesity - however for many people increased sugar consumption is a major factor in their over consumption of calories.
Simply cutting high sugar foods, like drinking soda or added sugar to several coffees per day and eating cakes etc - goes a long way to cutting calorie intake for many people.
Increased sugar consumption may not be directly the problem - but it isnt an isolated unconnected occurence either0 -
IN...to see where this is at when I get to work in the morning.
Edit: They call everything a documentary now-a-days, don't they?0 -
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Diabetes isn't CAUSED by sugar if you didn't know. Diabetes is more genetic ALTHOUGH being overweight/obese directly affects risk of it. Even the ADA states that it's a link, but not the actual cause since increased weight can happen without consuming a lot of sugar.For hundreds of years sugar was a luxury item...not a staple in the diet. Now the high sugar rates are being linked to a rise of diabetes and even Alzheimers.
As for Alzeihemer's, there are SO MANY other things besides sugar that it's linked to.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I never said sugar CAUSES diabetes. Exactly what causes Diabetes is uncertain, although it's believed that genetic susceptibility and ENVIRONMENTAL factors play a role in the development. Diabetes is an inability to control you blood glucose levels... glucose = blood sugar... hmmmmm diets high in sugar? Hmmm0
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