The country is fat, that is not a secret. Studies wallpaper the last decade, linking obesity and poverty, obesity and depression, obesity and genetics; OH - and get this - more people are dying every year from heart disease then CANCER. Obesity is bad. It's a terrible thing. I'm sick of hearing it, reading it, and seeing it. But what irks me the most - I don't see it as a problem of willpower or choice as much as trickery, a genius marketing scheme concocted to create a salt/sugar/preservative addicted society who have lost the ability to comprehend the components of actual nutrition.
Yes, there are people who know that what they are eating on a daily basis is not good. There will always be. I'm angry for the innocent consumer trying their best and still unknowingly consuming crap.
So, why aren't there riots? If we learned that Doritos cause Cancer- what would happen?
Even "healthy" foods - you know, the newly redesigned packages that look like they were recycled, usually green and brown and "organically designed" ? Less shine, more matte? They are coated in vernacular chosen to make you believe what you are eating is healthy. Wordplay, designed to sneak around the truth and tip your conscience towards "good for me."
I come across this constantly. It makes my blood boil.
Gah, I guess knowledge is power.
Here is an article from the dailygreen.com - pretty interesting.
1. Made with whole grains
"What you don't realize is that unbleached wheat flour is the main ingredient; whole wheat flour is the third on the list, "indicating that the product contains relatively little," according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "
2. Ingredients (!)
Bill Cosby's got it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K5YBNQq-Qo
3. Serving Size
Okay, this is not anything new - CHECK SERVING SIZES! Manufacturers use it to cut EVERYTHING in their product - sugar, fat, caffeine, sodium - in half. Bastards.
4. Omega 3
So, Omega-3 fatty acids, fertilizers for cell growth and regeneration, are healthy, "but that doesn't mean every product emblazoned with the word is a healthy source of it. The FDA allows certain foods that are rich in two of the Omega-3 fatty acids to advertise that they can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, but only if they're also low in saturated fats or other risk factors." However, an item with even the tiniest amount of Omega-3's, like nuts and some eggs, can have "CONTAINS OMEGA-3'S" all over it's packaging. But without the words "reduce coronary heart disease," they are probably useless.
5. 0 Trans Fat
Trans Fats were all over the media a few years ago, they are BAD - raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. Marketers took advantage - they replaced Trans Fats with the Saturated kind. Less bad, but still bad.
6. Free Range Eggs
I was a vegetarian for close to five years, not because I don't agree with the food chain, but because animal farming is disgusting, unhealthy, inhumane, and a million other karma killing verbs. Your chicken strips, most likely, lived in a tiny dirty cage-box their whole life. GET THIS - EVEN IF THEY ARE ALLOWED 3 MINUTES OF EXERCISE A DAY, A CHICKEN'S EGGS CAN BE LABELED FREE RANGE. wtf.
(free range label decoder) 7. Fiber
Fiber is in everything these days - but natural fiber, the kind found in apple skin and whole grains and other whole foods- is not the same as the powdered kind advertised in every step on the food pyramid- & it is not always as great. Big surprise - you're being lied to. So don't depend on fiber-infused yogurt to reap the benefits. Eat a banana.
8. Tastes Like Medicine
Bottom line: If a food is being advertised as a cure, it probably isn't. Be skeptical. Veerrrrrry skeptical.
9. Made With Real Fruit
If it looks like candy, it probably is. Real fruit usually means it contains fruit concentrate - which the government's dietary guidelines consider sugar.
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