NYT article: Weight Loss Drugs vs. Ultra-Processed Food

!!!   Agreed!

Not to mention that whether we take the meds or not, or have health issues or not, we are all paying for them in the form of increased premiums, especially as more and more people need healthcare or medications.

jeremysgirl , thank you for access to the article. 

I’d like to weigh in with some personal observations after reading both the article and this thread. I acknowledge that these observations are not without bias. 

It’s an understatement to say that Feeding America on the national and personal level is a VERY complex matter. A number of years ago, I watched a series on the History Channel called “The Food That Built America”. Many of the big brand name packaged food producers we are even familiar with now (Kelloggs, Nabisco, Kraft Foods, Heinz, Post, Swanson’s, etc.) were born around the turn of the century and beyond in an altruistic attempt to feed America. I don’t think we should forget that modern day refrigeration advances, frozen food processes, safe canning practices and packaging that kept bakery items fresh and shelf stable all contributed wider food distribution. Food choices were no longer limited to a small geographic location, but could remain fresh and safe for populations far away from the original production. With that advancement, came food additives, good and bad.  Restaurants and fast food came in demand as America’s highways expanded across the country, more women entered the workforce, and our lifestyles became more complex and the need for access to quick meals became a necessity. I can’t help but believe that some of the responsibility for food manufacturers and restaurants, turning into evil geniuses that addicted us, does lie with the American public as well. Did they pray on us? Yes. But the public opened that door by demanding quick, accessible, affordable, and above all tasty food at their fingertips. Processed food does have a tendency to be heavy on salt, grease and sugar. And we Americans love it and demand it. We may not understand the underlying physiological reason why, but we love it. And we keep eating it. Until the demand subsides, it’s always going to be there. Can the government turn it around and make all these options healthier? It remains to be seen.

As an aside, I live in one of the fattest cities in America. One of the most popular topics that is asked by the media is “What restaurants would you like to see come to our city?  It’s always fast food chains that top nationwide “worst fast food for you” lists. How do we combat a national health crisis when people don’t even pretend to want to eat healthier?  (Rhetorical question.). It’s a conundrum.  


Thank you for attending my TED talk today. 

I never really considered that I had a food addiction but now I'm definitely seeing it. My brain was always thinking of my next meal or snack and eating gave me pleasure. Definitely a dopamine hit. Now that I'm not craving food anymore, it's really changed my perspective on what I eat.

This has been a very insightful thread.

I honestly think it's genetic. I've had food noise for as long as I can remember - from childhood. And I grew up in a home with much less highly processed food and sugar than most of my peers had. 

Being without the noise now is weird. I hadn't realized how much of my day was spent thinking about food, researching recipes, or cooking food. It's like a need a new hobby to fill all that time!

ETA: it may also be a combination of genetics and environment. I think many of us who started on diet culture early and spent adolescence and young adulthood trying to lose weight and constantly feeling hungry became obsessed with food as a result.

Probably not the book you're thinking of, but Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a good look into what it takes for a modern family to eat entirely whole foods and local. It's ... a lot of work. Our society is no longer in any way set up to make that realistic for any but the most privileged families.

I went through a phase of reading tons of farm to table type memoirs and this was the one that stuck with me. I hope you enjoy it!

There are other promotion boards for some fruits and vegetables. There is a Blueberry one, a Mango one, a Avacado one.

I am mostly familiar with the Corn Growers, Soybean Growers and Beef Producers and their checkoffs. They take a certain amount of money from us for each bushel sold or animal sold - it comes right off our payment from the elevator. The beef checkoff comes right off our payment from the packer.
I can get that money back, and I do. I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and send it in to the corresponding checkoff organization - and eventually they send me some money back. Pain in the butt for sure, but I want my money back from them. I feel like they are a bloated organization that doesn't always spend the monies they collect in an efficient way.

This is 100% me. It's so hard to explain how bad it affects your entire waking day/life. My eating life has completely changed and I love it. 

I read that too and loved it! I was able to do that for the most part, when I was into more clean eating, when we lived in PA and had plenty of local options thanks to hobbyist farmers and green grocers that sold local, local beef, milk, eggs, etc.

My mom didn't like it because at certain times of the year you don't have the option of fresh produce (unless you can get winter veg in your area) and fruits. I told her that was the point, you eat whatever's available and you can and dehydrate the rest.

But yes, a lot of work. I wasn't working at that time. And eating like this isn't a good option for a lot of people who can't make it to a farmers market, don't have a green grocer, can't grow their own, etc etc etc.

The book really stuck with me though.

TL,DR: it's like PCOS and my daughter has it too.

First of all there are so many great posts on this thread that I got tired of hitting the thumbs up button.  But I want to jump on this comment, because it is pure fact. Big food manufacturers want us fat and addicted to crap. The more crap you eat, the more your brain tells you to eat more of it.  I personally think the GLP-1 drugs are life-changing for so many people. If it was as easy to say just stop eating crap, then everyone in this country would thin. Big food is constantly working to make money on us and put us in an early grave.

The fact that politicians allow toxic things in our food for campaign funds is infuriating. Then they have nerve to vote against better healthcare in this country. It will get worse in the next 4 years. Not only will ultra processed food keep going, but fresh food will continue to make us sick. How many food recalls have we seen from things like meat and vegetables. Trump rolled back some of the protections in place while he was president. I expect him to do more of that.