We’re in a new age of obesity. How did it happen? You’d be surprised

[HOBIE]

If you go to the Supermarket. etc everything seems to have a HIGH sugar or carb rating ?

 

[Martin Canty]

If you go to the Supermarket. etc everything seems to have a HIGH sugar or carb rating ?

Not the isles I frequent.....🙂

We ate very differently in the 70's, pretty much everything (in our house) was made from scratch daily & while we didn't have the variety of produce as we do today, fresh veg was a staple with every meal. As kids we allowed ourselves an occasional treat (finances depending), cookies were rationed & we had to ask Mum for permission to raid the cookie jar. There may be soda's in the house but usually only at Christmas. Eating out was uncommon but pretty much never at fast food restaurants. Take out was either Fish & Chips or Chinese.

 

[Eddy Edson]

A classic from 2013: "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food"


https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html

The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on the part of the food manufacturers. What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive.

 

[Northerner]

The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on the part of the food manufacturers. What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive.

 

[SadhbhFiadh]

A classic from 2013: "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food"


https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html

The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on the part of the food manufacturers. What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive.

Hence the backlash of the minority, such as the NYTimes article from 2007: Unhappy Meals in which the advice at the top stated: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. I think you or someone brought that up before. Have we gone full cycle now??

 

[Eddy Edson]

From what I can gather, the "eat real food, not too much, mostly plants" line is majority and mainstream amongst nutritionists & has been for quite a while.

The food companies have a lot of political clout. Eg: for the latest, 2015 update to the US dietary guidelines, the scientific advisory panel gave essentially this advice (obviously in far more detail), as it had been advocating for many years. Many of the panel criticised the final guidelines as having been watered down by lobbying from the food industry, particularly the meat & dairy parts of it.

 

[HOBIE]

Not the isles I frequent.....🙂

We ate very differently in the 70's, pretty much everything (in our house) was made from scratch daily & while we didn't have the variety of produce as we do today, fresh veg was a staple with every meal. As kids we allowed ourselves an occasional treat (finances depending), cookies were rationed & we had to ask Mum for permission to raid the cookie jar. There may be soda's in the house but usually only at Christmas. Eating out was uncommon but pretty much never at fast food restaurants. Take out was either Fish & Chips or Chinese.

Is that not the problem Martin ? I went to the USA in the 80s & they where selling 4ft sandwiches & there bags of crisps where like our family bags.