The Food Industry and Obesity

Jack Lalanne used to say 60 years ago and up until he died at age 96.
IF MAN MAKES IT, DON'T EAT IT
And that is the ideal I strive toward while making allowances for treats and just living life.
I eat that way 70% of the time.
Good Enough :bigsmile:

THIS!!!

"If man makes it, don't eat it." That means no protein powder, omega-3 supplements, multi-vitamins, bottled oils, seasoning blends, hot sauces, teas, coffees... there are a lot of great man-made foods.

Jack's other mantra was "If it tastes good, don't eat it." And he didn't! I wouldn't want to live to 96 under his conditions. 3 hours a day in the gym, eating nothing but egg whites, fish and produce, no sugar since 1929. He wasn't really that good of a role model.

'Processing' can correlate to 'nutritionally less dense' but it's not always so. I process the hell out of green smoothies in my blender. It removes/adds nothing.

I just read in a book that the world population exploded after the discovery/invention of ammonium nitrate as a fertilizer. It's something man makes, right? Without it, we'd be scrounging for potatoes and suffering famines. Well, we wouldn't be here because the population would never have exploded. Hunger would've stopped it. Not all industrial food production is bad.

All fair points but I think you took LaLane's quote out of context. Technically all food is man made (or at least man-touched). I don't think anyone is suggesting we should all go out and pull our own food out of the ground (although some folks could make the point this is the healthiest way to go) - But are you suggesting there is no difference between a Twinkie and an apple with regard to one's health??? I would challenge that.

I don't think processing in this context has anything to do with nutritional density. "Processed food" to me means the difference between eating an apple and eating apple flavored "natural" cereal. Two totally different animals...

If you have reached your macro and micronutrient goals, and have the available calories left over, then no, there is no difference between a Twinkie and an apple for a snack, from a health standpoint. The problems come in when people don't meet their nutrition goals, not because they decided to have a sweet snack. "Healthy" and "unhealthy" are all about total context.

I swear, you'd think this was a religious forum the way everyone tries to push their agenda and beliefs onto other people. Seriously, just replace a few words here and there, and you have the same zealotry as on any christian, atheist, muslim, etc... forum.

Is whole food better? I don't know, and can't tell you. It seems like both sides of the debate go out of their ways to cloud up the facts, because they're trying to get one over on the other guy.

Sadly, unless the world population is drastically reduced... and I mean drastically... factory farming is here to stay. There just aren't enough mom and pop farmers to support the amount of people that are already here.

In closing... (I learned that in the persuasive writing unit of English in high school :bigsmile: ) why don't we just quit arguing about it? No one is going to convince the other person that is dead set in their beliefs that their way is better.

At this point, I almost think you guys are deliberately trolling, because you want to argue.

If people feel that commercially produced, processed food is fine and healthy - then I say have at it, gorge yourself on Soda, Hot Pockets, pink slime burgers and Ring Dings... I know that I have eliminated 85 percent of this stuff from my diet and the results are non debatable to me - my weight is down lower than it ever has been, my strength and fitness are the highest they have ever been, I am mentally sharper and more focused - I have more energy.

Because it's definitely an all or nothing situation. You're either a clean eater or you're stuffing yourself with junk.

The olive oil I cooked my eggs in this morning, processed. The piece of toast, processed. The butter on that toast, processed. The salad dressing, cheddar cheese and greek yogurt I had with lunch, processed. And call me crazy, but I like not having to churn my own butter and squeeze out my own olive oil. Just because something is processed does not make it a nutritional nightmare.

Not sure I follow - I don't think anyone suggested that all processed food is evil (although granted some people feel that way) - But I think comparing Olive Oil made by the likes of a small brand like the Cento food company to GMO modified Franken-foods like those grown from big Agra seeds is comparing apples and oranges.

I don't want to churn my own butter either, but I would rather (at least try to) buy it from a small local dairy producer who does not load it up with preservatives and garbage while supporting my local business community. How is this unrealistic, "radical" or anti American? Why would you rather support a multinational, commercial agra, business who wants to produce the cheapest, lowest quality food in the fastest way possible (including using controversial genetic science) with no regard to its effects on the health of you are your family and has no concern about American family farms or the communities that surround them.

I don't really get the debate - it seems like a no-brainer to me. I am really surprised that so many people claiming to be health conscious on this site are so blindly trusting of the government and the food industry. What have either of these done to earn your blind trust with regard to the food you put in your body?

I couldn't agree with you more. I was once of the mindset that food only came from the grocery store. I was totally disconnected with my food and where it came from. Then a light switched or something because I realized the importance of having access to fresh local foods. I now get my dairy and eggs from a local dairy. It's like straight out of the 20's with glass bottles lol and my veggies from the farmers market and my meat from the local farmers as well. I have changed my whole Outlook on food and health and my body thanks me for it. That's for sure. I too don't understand why there is debate. Whether or not gmo organic or quality food matters to you, why wouldn't you support your local farmers? And I was on the other side for a long time. Now I see i will never go back.

Im not sure what your point is; and in any case, people with metabolic disorders- and are fat because of it- are rare. The general trend in obesity epidemic correlates with cheaper calories, not more metabolic/endocrine issues and disorders.

And please, if you are the doctor you say you are training to be, stick with the non-ancedotal, fact, science based examples.

By the way, most obese or overweight people do not consider themselves so; that compounds the problem it seems. And it also warms their hearts to "know" being fat was not their fault after all!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/are-most-people-in-denial-about-their-weight/

There is NOT a "raging epidemic" of Type 2 Diabetes. 5% of the WORLD population have Type 2 Diabetes. 6% of the United States population has Type 2 Diabetes. The ridiculously inflated numbers stating two thirds of the country are diabetic are, quite frankly, false.

What? That response doesn't even make sense. Out of 310 million people in the US, 18 million have type 2 diabetes. That's 6% of the US population. It also happens to be 6.5% world's diabetes population. China and India both have much higher percentages of diabetes, so I don't even see how this argument can seriously be used, as other countries with equally processed foods have much lower rates of diabetes, and other countries with much lower rates of processed food have higher rates of diabetes.

The facts just don't live up to the fear mongering.

I swear, you'd think this was a religious forum the way everyone tries to push their agenda and beliefs onto other people. Seriously, just replace a few words here and there, and you have the same zealotry as on any christian, atheist, muslim, etc... forum.

Is whole food better? I don't know, and can't tell you. It seems like both sides of the debate go out of their ways to cloud up the facts, because they're trying to get one over on the other guy.

Sadly, unless the world population is drastically reduced... and I mean drastically... factory farming is here to stay. There just aren't enough mom and pop farmers to support the amount of people that are already here.

In closing... (I learned that in the persuasive writing unit of English in high school :bigsmile: ) why don't we just quit arguing about it? No one is going to convince the other person that is dead set in their beliefs that their way is better.

At this point, I almost think you guys are deliberately trolling, because you want to argue.

If people feel that commercially produced, processed food is fine and healthy - then I say have at it, gorge yourself on Soda, Hot Pockets, pink slime burgers and Ring Dings... I know that I have eliminated 85 percent of this stuff from my diet and the results are non debatable to me - my weight is down lower than it ever has been, my strength and fitness are the highest they have ever been, I am mentally sharper and more focused - I have more energy.

Because it's definitely an all or nothing situation. You're either a clean eater or you're stuffing yourself with junk.

The olive oil I cooked my eggs in this morning, processed. The piece of toast, processed. The butter on that toast, processed. The salad dressing, cheddar cheese and greek yogurt I had with lunch, processed. And call me crazy, but I like not having to churn my own butter and squeeze out my own olive oil. Just because something is processed does not make it a nutritional nightmare.

Not sure I follow - I don't think anyone suggested that all processed food is evil (although granted some people feel that way) - But I think comparing Olive Oil made by the likes of a small brand like the Cento food company to GMO modified Franken-foods like those grown from big Agra seeds is comparing apples and oranges.

I don't want to churn my own butter either, but I would rather (at least try to) buy it from a small local dairy producer who does not load it up with preservatives and garbage while supporting my local business community. How is this unrealistic, "radical" or anti American? Why would you rather support a multinational, commercial agra, business who wants to produce the cheapest, lowest quality food in the fastest way possible (including using controversial genetic science) with no regard to its effects on the health of you are your family and has no concern about American family farms or the communities that surround them.

I don't really get the debate - it seems like a no-brainer to me. I am really surprised that so many people claiming to be health conscious on this site are so blindly trusting of the government and the food industry. What have either of these done to earn your blind trust with regard to the food you put in your body?

I find it interesting that you mention Cento, and call them a small brand, when they are a multinational importer/distributer with about 6 or 7 separate brands. Much more comparable to big Agra than the family farm.

Cento is a large brand??? Really??? A family built company based in Deptford NJ (farming area) with 109 employees and 145 million in annual revenues is comparable to big Agra - really now????

http://www.manta.com/g/mmlg7xd/alfred-m-ciccotelli-sr

Hmmm.... By comparison here are the numbers for Monsanto and ConAgra (which I consider multinational giant Agra business (as would most business experts) and the main producers of most supermarket Franken-Foods

Monsanto - 26,100 employees, 11.8 Billion (That's with a in Sales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto)
ConAgra - 25,000 employees, 12.4 Billion (That's with a in Sales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra)

BTW - Cento is so small they do not even have a Wikipedia entry...

You were saying? Wait, wait I need to polish my tin foil hat :bigsmile:

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

^^this

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

^^^^ Perfect!

Jack Lalanne used to say 60 years ago and up until he died at age 96.
IF MAN MAKES IT, DON'T EAT IT

And George Burns smoked cigars and drank martinis until he died at the age of 100.

Just saying.

Thank you for the great article. I agree with how bad MSG, aspurtame, high fructose corn syrup are bad for you. If I eat anything with MSG in it I know about it because 30mins to an hour later I have to run to the bathroom. My body has to purge itself of the disgusting garbage that MSG is. I have to watch everything I eat. I never eat fast food or restaurants that have buffet style meals. I am not dissing Golden Coral. I have eaten there resently, I just stayed away from those foods that contained the garbage. They do have an outstanding salad bar. Anyways, one time I was eating at Golden Coral a few years ago with a freind. I ate a few pieces of steak and within 10mins my heart rate increased, I started sweating like crazy and I had to run to the bathroom. After that, I came back feeling great made another plate and 10mins later I was back in the bathroom. I should have learned the first time. I will not do that again. I pass on most of these additives and I will not eat any food that was prepared with MSG. MSG is a nasty product that is not needed in good healthy organic foods. Preserved foods forget it I will not eat them. There is a lot of truth to be told about this article. One thing is that you need to know what you are eating. If the label has more than 4 ingredients then you need to question the food. Thank you for posting. Good luck to all on your weight loss!!

Thank you for the great article. I agree with how bad MSG, aspurtame, high fructose corn syrup are bad for you. If I eat anything with MSG in it I know about it because 30mins to an hour later I have to run to the bathroom. My body has to purge itself of the disgusting garbage that MSG is. I have to watch everything I eat. I never eat fast food or restaurants that have buffet style meals. I am not dissing Golden Coral. I have eaten there resently, I just stayed away from those foods that contained the garbage. They do have an outstanding salad bar. Anyways, one time I was eating at Golden Coral a few years ago with a freind. I ate a few pieces of steak and within 10mins my heart rate increased, I started sweating like crazy and I had to run to the bathroom. After that, I came back feeling great made another plate and 10mins later I was back in the bathroom. I should have learned the first time. I will not do that again. I pass on most of these additives and I will not eat any food that was prepared with MSG. MSG is a nasty product that is not needed in good healthy organic foods. Preserved foods forget it I will not eat them. There is a lot of truth to be told about this article. One thing is that you need to know what you are eating. If the label has more than 4 ingredients then you need to question the food. Thank you for posting. Good luck to all on your weight loss!!

What happens when you eat parmesan or roquefort cheese? What about ripe tomatoes or shiitake mushrooms?

What about beef? Pork? Chicken? Fish? Nori?

HFCS is NOT different metabolically in the body. It's split into sucrose and fructose, just like any other polysaccharide that contains glucose and fructose, and processed just like any other sugar. There are thousands of different molecular combinations of sugar out there, HFCS is certainly not unique. The human body has specific enzymes specifically for digesting these different combinations.

but HFCS raises blood sugar levels more than other forms of sugar. Our body doesn't think it is the same

As for MSG, it's naturally occurring in just about every natural food on the planet. It's in meat, mushrooms, asparagus, nori, kelp, fish, etc. Hell, glutamate is an amino acid MADE BYTHE HUMAN BODY. Yes, it's obviously poison. :huh:

Naturally occurring MSG =/= Added MSG. And no asian food doesn't require MSG, it is added when people are trying to cheap out from using the right ingredients. It is like HFCS.

Source? Most peer reviewed research seems to completely disagree with you.

The "artificial" MSG tends to cause reactions to people with sensitivities, while the regular, "natural" MSG sources don't.
Here's is some anecdotal evidence. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.features3
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.features3

I have several friends with MSG sensitivities. One is Japanese. Her favorite foods are cheese and mushrooms. These (and the other natural sources) cause no problems for her, and she eats them constantly. Added MSG causes a reaction for her with in minutes. Seems fishy to me.

Of course it may not be the MSG that's the problem, but the manufacturing process or some additives. I'll keep blaming that MSG powder.

Frankly, if I want unami, I'd rather just add it with soy sauce, miso, seaweed, meat or tomatoes. There is no need to use the powder, plenty of normal stuff adds the savory/tasty notes.

Anecdotal evidence is meaningless.

They've done countless studies where "sensitive" people had reactions to MSG added in food. Of course, the people that were having the reactions were part of the group that DIDN'T eat any MSG. Scientists have mostly decided that it's psychosomatic more than anything. There are some people who are allergic, but that's extremely rare, and they tend to react to natural forms, also.

Of course, someone being allergic to something doesn't make it bad, unless you think peanuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, sesame, soy, and dairy are bad. Those are the top 8 food allergies, after all.

^^^ Food Company Troll