America's Unhealthy Food Culture

[yellowwoodII]

Have you noticed the prevalence of two kinds of television advertising? Unhealthy foods and pharmaceuticals.
The government subsidizes some of this unhealthy food, including sugar.
Eleven percent of us have diabetes.
It doesn't have to be this way.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. So true!

[highplainsdem]

2. Noticed it and have commented on it here, along with the commercials

for pet foods emphasizing the importance of healthy foods for them.

[mucifer]

3. Whole food plant based diet with taking Vitamin B 12 is a great although work intense way

to battle diabetes and heart disease.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nutd20173

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-right-plant-based-diet-for-you

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466941/

[hunter]

11. It's not any more "work intense" once you learn it, just different.

Most traditional U.S.A. cooking starts with, "Okay, what kind of meat have I got?" Then you build a meal around that.

When I was growing up that was usually fish or cheap ground beef. Pasta or potatoes usually followed.

These days I don't use meat in my daily cooking. My wife is a vegetarian, mostly for health reasons. I'm trying to reduce the size of my environmental footprint.

It helps that we live in a place where a wide variety of fruits and vegetables are easily available and affordable.

In the last year or two I've been influenced by Indian cooking. Years ago I started out with the so-called Mediterranean diet.

I'm not militant about my diet, I'll cook whatever family and friends expect at larger family gatherings. It still surprises me that I've become the designated cook in our family whenever my brother or my wife's sister are not present. They love to cook. I don't have the passion for cooking they do but I can usually throw together a healthy meal with whatever is on hand.

[highplainsdem]

13. I prefer a modified paleo diet myself - I do include dairy and

potatoes and a very limited amount of grains.

https://mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/paleo-diet/art-20111182

[Quakerfriend]

4. Yes, makes me sick-

I really notice when I travel to other parts of the world just how terrible our food is!

[phylny]

9. The food in Italy tasted fantastic when we were there.

A friend of mine from Colombia told me her sister is in Utah and can’t believe how the chicken is “tasteless” and how she had to add a ton of spices to make it palatable.

[yellowwoodII]

5. food pantries

What triggered my post is my reaction to a list of foods for food pantries. On the list--crackers, mac and cheese, white pasta. These are not good foods.
Of course, the pharmaceutical companies encourage this. They get to sell more pllls!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. .

These are not good foods.

They're not bad foods, either. They're just foods.

[yellowwoodII]

15. Choice

Last edited Mon Sep 5, 2022, 12:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Everything one eats is a choice. Every
bite either contributes to nourishment or not. Especially for people who already not healthy.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. okay but like "good" and "bad" have nothing to do with it

[BuddhaGirl]

19. If they make up the majority of one's diet

Then yeah, they're bad. In moderation, not so much.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. At what percentage of a diet do crackers and pasta turn "bad," and what does "bad" mean here?

[BuddhaGirl]

22. Bad unhealthy

n/t

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. Unhealthy how?

[highplainsdem]

24. They're basically starch. They're what I've often seen called "empty calories"

since their nutritional content compared to calories is so low. Maybe not quite as bad as just eating spoons of sugar, but definitely not as healthy as getting those calories from vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, and healthy fats.

And most Americans do NOT need lots of extra calories with no real nutritional value. For most of us, that's the last thing we need.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

25. A serving of enriched pasta is a good source of folic acid, thiamin and niacin, and has more protein

than a chicken egg. How are those "empty calories"?

[highplainsdem]

26. Incomplete protein, especially compared to eggs, which are particularly good protein. And

supplementing with just a few of the B vitamins still leaves that starch inferior to whole grains and other foods with more of the B vitamins and other nutrients.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

28. Wait so is incomplete "bad"? That would make whole grain also bad.

People keep throwing around "bad" and "good," as if food qua food has a moral standing.

[highplainsdem]

30. Grain is a poor source of protein compared to meat, fish and dairy. As for good and bad foods,

the words are obviously meant in terms of nutritional value, NOT "moral standing."

Where did you ever get the idea that anyone in this thread was talking about the "moral standing" of food?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

36. .

Where did you ever get the idea that anyone in this thread was talking about the "moral standing" of food?

When people started using words and phrases like

makes me sick
terrible
pro-gluttony
make my stomach turn
un/healthy
grosses me out
not good foods
downright scary
nightmare scenario
disgusting
glorification of meat

to describe the choices others might make to keep body and soul together.

People absolutely cannot help labeling their own and others' food choices, and orthorexia is just as much a part of the American food culture as anything anyone is decrying in this thread. Throw in a little fatphobia around the edges and we're good to go.

[highplainsdem]

38. IMO none of those are as judgmental as suggesting that if you say something's a bad

food, that supposedly equates with talking about "moral standing."

NONE of the comments you refer to equate with orthorexia, as defined by Webmd.com:

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/what-is-orthorexia

And btw, choices people make "to keep body and soul together" would be something more serious than defending foods that aren't nutritious. At least they should be.

And I haven't seen any "fatphobia" here. But if you're attacking any concern about Americans' increasing levels of weight problems, at least in part due to unhealthy diets, then good luck finding a medical website that doesn't find that a valid concern. Especially given the increase in diabetes and other health problems related to poor diet and being overweight.

[JCMach1]

40. Balance in everything...that includes starches/carbs

[highplainsdem]

43. "Balance" can be defined very differently. And again, refined starches aren't the healthiest

carbs.

Carbs in nature come with lots of fiber and phytonutrients not found in refined carbs, whether those refined carbs are sugar or starch.

I accept that people often eat unhealthy foods. I eat them sometimes, too. But I won't pretend that unhealthy foods are healthy, or that they should be a normal part of a diet. Just as I won't pretend that alcohol is as healthy as water.

We have a pathetic level of preventable disease in this country. Around the world, actually, but possibly highest in the US. And a lot of it is due to the typical American diet.

[JCMach1]

45. The hidden sugars, salts and processing are the main culprits

[BuddhaGirl]

46. +1

n/t

[MagickMuffin]

6. Have you ever been to an all you can eat restaurant?

I have only once and will never go into one again.

I found it downright scary. Watching people return again and again to load up there plates. These people are not healthy to say the least.

[SheltieLover]

7. I've read that one-third on Medicare have diabetes

Yet, no food store has quality products for diabetics for reasonable prices.

You can buy diet soda, of course, but aspartame is said to cause lots of problems, including with blood sugar.

And another 30% of people are dxd with diabetes or pre-diabetes post-covid. Even kids.

This is a nightmare scenario.

And qpukes fight tooth & nail to keep insulin prices ridiculously high.

As always, follow the money...

[sanatanadharma]

8. America's unhealthy food culture has spread around the world

In the USA one can find, in cities and towns around, restaurants offering (some variation of) national cuisines of other countries.
Chinese and Mexican certainly and possibly so many others; Indian, Thai, German, Italian, Ethiopian, Japanese, Russian, Georgian, French, even English tea rooms.

But, around the world, in London, Mexico City, Beijing, Paris, Bonn, Rome, Tokyo, Tbilisi, and (at one time) even Moscow, for American cuisine one goes to McDonald's.

[JCMach1]

41. That foreign food gets highly Americanized here... Doused in sugars and fats

It's no more, or less healthier than anything else we got going on...

[multigraincracker]

10. The Multigrain solution to diet...

Eat to live, don't live to eat.

[JCMach1]

42. These days I do a lot of sourdough savory pancakes

For breakfast when I want bread and also a lot of oatmeal.
https://www.webmd.com/diet/sourdough-bread-good-for-you#:~:text=According%20to%20some%20studies%2C%20sourdough,than%20other%20forms%20of%20bread.
Oatmeal, for me is a magic bullet in terms of cholesterol, and BP for me. I am really sensitive to all cardiac stuff after having long Covid.

I do my own sourdough starter, so it's straight out of fermentation.

We also use it for out own pizza dough and make homemade.pizzas which can be very healthy if done right.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. That advertizing has been in place for decades.

One nice thing about not owning a TV and not watching broadcast TV is that I never see those ads.

With restaurants shutting down in 2020, other than for take-out, I started cooking a whole lot more. My food costs have actually gone down significantly.

[DFW]

21. We seldom go out, and buy most of our food at the farmers market in town.

It sets up three times a week, including a bakery that bakes its bread in a huge mobile oven. The few fish stands have arrangements with wholesalers that get their fish from boats that arrive in either Hamburg or Bremerhaven a little after midnight, clean their catch during the night, and truck it down here to the Rheinland in time for the market to open at 7:30. It is not an easy life for those involved in the chain, and it isn't the cheapest food to be had. But it is the freshest, and the extra cost, for those that can afford it, goes to sustain a way of life that has been going on, in one form or another, for the last thousand years or so here. We are fortunate enough to be able to pay the price, and gladly do so in order to sustain these people and the area's way of life. The tradition of the town market here has survived religious oppression, a few dozen wars, destructive bombings, Nazi rule, allied occupation, and post-war bureaucratic oppression. We will do what we can to make sure the next generation is able to enjoy it as well. It is one aspect of life here that should never die out--not because it is a tradition, but also because the food is the best and healthiest that can be had.

[highplainsdem]

31. The healthiest way to eat. And you've mentioned your wife is a great cook, too, which also

helps. Food preparation can make so much of a difference in the nutritional value of food.

[gulliver]

16. Great points

Yes, it does seem like advertising is doing its best to push "inventory" into our bodies and minds. We also consume food and pharmaceuticals out of mere habit.

[c-rational]

18. Agree. On the food issue, watch "What the Health" about our corporate food industry.

[BlackSkimmer]

27. Unhealthy foods have been advertised as long as I can remember.

Pharmaceuticals more recently.

I don't eat unhealthy foods, and the only meds I take at this stage in my life (early 60s) are aspirin and Benadryl.

IF someone is influenced by ads, I have to think they're probably a very weak person.

[highplainsdem]

32. If advertising didn't sway people, companies wouldn't spend money on it. And they

like to go after consumers who are as young as possible, to set patterns early.

It isn't just the advertising, either. It's availability of junk food compared to healthy foods.

We've all heard of "food deserts" - usually urban areas where it's almost impossible to find healthy, fresh food.

It can often be hard to find healthy foods at restaurants, too.

School lunches have become much less healthy.

And the food offered by most hospitals I've seen or heard about has declined in recent years, become much less healthy. I haven't been impressed by the foods offered by hospital cafeterias, either.

[BlackSkimmer]

35. Well, it's a damn shame that people don't think for themselves.

Eating healthy is really not that hard to do.

Perhaps children should learn to make healthy choices. My parents never even had soda in the house, no potato chips or that kind of thing. I never really even knew we were missing it.

I remember discovering Dorito chips around the 7th grade. And Bugles. I loved those things. I remember my mom telling me they were junk, and this was early 70s. I was extremely athletic and active, so not a big deal at the time, but my mom was crazy against that crap lol.

To this day, I never buy junk food, still don't care for soda or sugary treats. Lucky I guess, but I think my mom also set the tone for that early on.

[highplainsdem]

44. Good for your parents for keeping junk food out of the house when you were little!

That really does help. So many of the foods we'll later consider "comfort foods" are the ones we had when kids. And foods we get as treats when we're little often keep that "treat" designation in our minds.

Most people do try to think for themselves, but what they're exposed to and surrounded by is always an influence. Even if they see scientific articles on why healthy foods are healthier, if they're surrounded by people eating junk and even some of those people seem to be staying healthy, they're likely to disregard the warnings.

Look at how long it took to discourage smoking, even decades after there were warnings about how dangerous it was. And way too many people still smoke and vape, though it's seen much less in public now.

And yeah, nicotine is addictive. But so are appetite stimulants including sugar. We did not evolve to ignore an overabundance of food, and ads for food, that are designed to make us continually hungry.

I still buy junk food occasionally. And I've thrown out a lot of packages, partially eaten packages, over the years, especially chips and cookies that just seemed too appealing, especially if I was shopping when hungry. I've also been known to give baked goods I shouldn't have bought to neighbors, before I get home with them, if I can first spot a neighbor who can handle those extra calories. (This actually isn't the nicest thing to do, but if I haven't opened the box of pastries yet, it seems preferable to convincing myself to throw it in the trash as soon as I get home.) My favorite grocery store has a really good bakery that I have to walk through to get from the produce to the fish and meat. I don't always get through it without picking up some pastry or pie or cake I shouldn't. I just try to get rid of it, giving it to someone else, asap.

I do have willpower. I just can't always find it in the grocery store. I'd prefer that the junk food wasn't there at all.

[Sky Jewels]

29. One aspect that really bothers me about the food "culture" is the emphasis of many food shows

on The Food Network and the Cooking Channel, etc. They feature (usually white) males going to diners and cheap restaurants and fairs and eating disgusting food -- very meat-heavy meals, fried, huge portions -- or else unbelievably too-huge and too-rich and too-sweet desserts that are like a giant plate of diabetes. They make my stomach turn.

I hate the glorification of meat and sweets in this country and the denigration of vegetables.

[highplainsdem]

33. Meat, in the right amount and prepared correctly, is very healthy But the pro-gluttony

shows are disgusting. I agree with you there. The food challenges, where people see how much they can gorge themselves, are ridiculous.

[Sky Jewels]

34. Yes, I hate glorification of eating mountains of food. It's so harmful and warped.

I've been grossed out by meat since I was a kid. Now that I'm an adult, it grosses me out even more because I think of the cruelty, confinement and torture that the animals went through ... especially when they lived a tortured existence and died brutally so some very large American can stuff their face with what amounts to enough protein to sustain an entire family for few couple days in many parts of the world.

[BlackSkimmer]

37. So agree.

I rarely eat meat anyway, though I wouldn't call myself a vegetarian.

I hardly ever eat out any more and one reason is that I just can't believe the huge amount they serve a person. I couldn't possibly eat what is considered a "burger and fries" meal at most restaurants. I'd have to take it home, and then yuck.

So I just don't eat out. I hate to waste food.

[Vinca]

39. I haven't noticed the food ads nearly as much as the drug ads and the attorney ads

wanting to sue the drug companies for what they did to you.