That’s a good rule of thumb, but potatoes are higher than pasta, so it’s not universal.
I think Poly is right that typical US processed food is worse than similar European processed food.
And I had heard the thing about baby food having sugar in it too but when Mini Me was a baby I discovered that, other than yogurt, there was basically no added sugar in any baby food.
I will say that a lot of baby food has applesauce in it … apples are naturally sweet of course. But not like HFCS or cane sugar or anything.
The biology component is interesting. One thought/question - are the cheap readily available foods the same ones that trigger the brain to overeat in preparation for the winter? Sugary fruits come to mind.
Walking is a biological counterbalance that was disrupted by cars. It is normal for humans to talk to get somewhere, and for thousands of years people lived a short walk from their societies. For me, a 2-3 mile walk seems like it is enough to maintain a certain weight. This feels about right for a daily trip to do something 2000 years ago.
If our brains are wired to consume 10-15% more calories than we need being sedentary in todays society, the outcome is not too surprising. There is an easy fix - walk 30 minutes a day.
I don’t think anyone wants to be obese, so there should be a lot of enthusiasm for policies that would support helping people get healthier. Both those suffering the health consequences along with their loved ones. From a political perspective, it seems like a a huge opportunity. Wins everywhere. Lower medicare costs and wait times for doctors, lower disease, higher life expectancy, presumably happier citizens. But it is a sensitive topic, and political minefield. But to get there, we need to first recognize this has been a complete policy failure for decades. I think that might be easier to navigate starting with education.
It’s even worse than that. It is worse than our less fortunate neighbors to the South:
Fun fact: you can buy Mexican Coke at Costco. It is, of course, more expensive than the HFCS stuff.
The other thing NYC has going for it is the cost of real estate. I can easily store a year’s worth of food at my house. Most of it won’t be fresh, but I could easily go today and buy one year’s worth of food and find places to keep it and not buy groceries for the next year. That’s unaffordable in Manhattan… the homes are way too small.
It forces more regular trips to the markets.
Shopping in small batches is surely healthier.
Can’t speak for other brands, but half a Kirkland frozen cheese pizza is 590 calories.
People are obviously uncomfortable with policies that explicitly take away the things they desire.
Not only does a nanny goverment feel patronizing, how dare you treat me like a small child!! but also you give me back my doughnuts or I’m gonna scream!!!
We did it with cigarettes. We tried it with booze and narcotics… but obviously those are seen as more insidious. Maybe one day we will get so pissed at being fat we will push junk food out too.
- yes. we love pills. Thank phrma.
- I don’t buy it. Junk food sells itself. Health foods, exercise programs, and diets are heavily advertised. People really wamt to lose weight, so they seek out answers, and then eat doughnuts anyway.
- Can’t change ‘profitability’. You can tax junk food and subsidize diet food, so that the prices are different. That will affect some poor people’s purchases but also piss them off.
- I’ve often thought it would be interesting if we could just vote to “fine” various corporations and products and other shit we just “don’t like”. Lots of issues there though.
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I was looking at what seems to be the most popular brand at the local Walmart. I’d guess the Costco pizzas would be a higher end, bigger pizza.
You don’t believe marketing works? Maybe you’re just hangry have a Snickers.
I am pretty much over debating the calorie count in a frozen pizza. It’s still junk food and missing the point regardless if it has 400 calories or 1200 calories in a half.
We can’t take things away. I also don’t think we can make junk food more expensive. Maybe we can make healthy food cheaper through subsidies and if that gains some traction in promoting better lifestyles we can reduce the subsidies on junk food (ie corn subsidies).
I’ve never seen a little-debbie ad in my life, but managed to live on that shit as a child. Likewise, when we visit a cornerstore, my kid zeroes in on a 70carb glazed jumbo honeybun like it’s a death magnet.
IMO, junk food advertises to compete with other junk food, but not with normal human food.
Again, look around the store. Doughnuts, ice creams, candy bars, cigarettes, cookies, brownies, sodas, scratch off tickets, booze… Are some of these items heavily advertised? Yes. But most just sell themselves.
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An important point to note is that Mars et al has the interest and means to advertise its products. But who is going to pay for fresh broccoli ads?
I think marketing makes a difference when you’re debating between Snickers and Reese’s Cups. I don’t know how much it affects the Snickers vs salad decision.
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Yes, if someone has had candy then they know what candy is and there is a certain amount of sales that can be relied on just from the human animal demand for sweet. Where the candy is sold, what the packaging looks like, the color and shape of the candy all are marketing. Sell candy like cigarettes how much less candy would be sold? That’s my point.
Note: I am not advocating this just illustrating there are means to shape the food environment for people by regulating marketing that would reduce obesity.
Pizza is all over the map… it can be very healthy or very unhealthy depending on how it’s made. I don’t think it’s right to categorically demonize all pizza as “junk food”.
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A lot of junk food has no packaging (all fresh pastries) or has clear plastic packaging (brownies, cookies, bars, hostess, pies).
Maybe outlaw food coloring? But chocolate is still chocolate colored… Maybe if we required the packaging to be intentionally obfuscating? But I’m pretty doubtful that would work either. Maybe keeping it behind the counter would do something. Make it so you have to ask for it, like cigarettes.
But the thing about cigarettes is that they are so alien. While junk food is tempting if you’ve ever had any dessert at all.