Fat, Sick, Nearly Dead ... No Way!
Toxic Big Food corporations rip off our money and make us sick requiring prescription medications ... enriching BigPharma ... see how this works?
I’m always interested in anything about health … so I’ve been watching Discovery Channel stories of people who are considering or who’ve done bariatric surgery. Food addiction is real and if you haven’t heard by now, many of the foods in the center aisles of the grocery store contain ingredients that are addictive. Our present economy and so many aspects of our culture are addictive. To make matters even worse, our culture even shames people about things that are beyond their direct control, making it even harder to seek help or make changes.
Processed Foods are Addictive For Profit
Processed foods—unbeknownst to the majority of us—have ingredients that encourage people to eat more, crave them, and even encourage us to dislike regular, non-processed foods.
If it
comes in a box
is frozen
has a long ingredient list
has lots of advertising
has a colorful "designed package"
costs more than plain food by the pound
Chances are, it’s addictive. There may well be people out there incredibly addicted to broccoli or celery, but I haven’t heard of them. Flaming Hot Cheetos? A different story. And it’s no accident.
I’m not smart … but I am lucky
How did I find it relatively easy to give up processed foods? (I have). Part of this is about “Eat Like Nana,” my grandmother who lived to be 98 in great physical health, very active (we’ll talk about Alzheimer’s another time … still not 100% sure what causes that). I’m very lucky that my grandmother was both ahead, and behind, of her time nutritionally. Even though I begged my friends for their squishy white bread PB & J sandwiches, Cheetos, and duplex creme cookies in school, I was being well-served by the whole wheat, plain peanut butter and celery stick lunches I had. It’s a little easier for me to say “no” to processed foods than those who ate more of these yummy foods growing up.
Would you give your little kid morphine?
So there’s been nothing but ads for this childhood favorite on any of my streaming channels and YouTube:
A lot of people write vague stuff about cost, “poor people can’t afford to eat properly.” Kraft’s constant ads show that parents will get peace and tranquility if they just feed this product to their children who will be instantly happy. The message is so toxic.
This particular product (and hundreds that are similar) is a poor nutritional choice. I don’t care how cheap it is—it’s not good to eat it or feed it to children frequently, even if they “love it.” It’s carby and fake cheesy. This type of dried, processed “cheese” product is packed with addictive proteinlike substances. Some of them are even morphine-like (casomorphins). A child’s mind is not up to these substances. They “love” the taste. The product subtly addicts them to want this food as opposed to green beans, lettuce, carrots, celery, broccoli, apples, chicken, whole oats, plain rice … I could go on.
Kraft Mac & Cheese is only cheap if …
Plus, is Kraft Mac & Cheese really all that cheap or affordable? We’ll price this thing per pound. It costs a dollar for less than half a pound of dried pasta and “powdered” cheeselike processed substances. So let’s say right here our basic ingredients for a pound of Kraft Maccy, not the less-than-half-a-pound box, are $2.20 a pound. You also have to add milk and butter or margarine so I’ll add another .25 cents - we are right now up to $2.45 a pound for this “affordable” product. If you buy the .50 cent store brand, it’s still $1.50 a pound.
These leg quarters are from our local farmer’s market, this week: .59 cents a pound.
So this is about price v. nutrition v. health — who is the winner? Keep in mind that kids and adults “love” Kraft Maccy because the powder is engineered in a lab from leftover cheese products to addict you and make you a heavy repeat buyer. This food isn’t just accidental “oh wow, this orange powder tastes good,” it is more engineered than OxyContin to addict you so you keep buying it and eating it.
Chicken Leg Quarter (skin removed):
Cost: .25 (at the farm market on sale)
Calories: 375
Protein: 20 grams
Fat: 15 grams - 9 grams unsaturated
Carbs: 0 grams
Sugars: 0 grams
Kraft Mac & Cheese (1 serving)
Cost: .75
Calories: 350
Protein: 11 grams
Fat: 11 grams - 7 grams unsaturated
Carbs: 50 grams
Sugars: 13 grams
Clearly, the chicken leg quarter is nutritionally superior and it costs less (yes I know, bought on sale). It is easier to prepare, too, and if you're smart about your recipes, grill it, or bake it in a foil-lined dish, taste will be better and cleanup easier, too.
So, what is going on here? It’s the same with food and nutrition as everything else. These packaged foods aren’t really more affordable per serving than basic protein, vegetables, and fruit. They cost more per serving than nearly any basic fruit or vegetable in season, and even than many protein options. This comparison I did between a basic protein (chicken leg quarters) and a prepared, factory-made food runs true across the board. Sure, organic chicken costs more than $.59 a pound—but if you shop on sale you can get it in the $3.00 a pound range and it is a lot better for you than Kraft Mac & Cheese at $2.25 a pound. By the way if you order the Kraft Mac & Cheese from Instacart, it costs twice as much and for sure you can get decent plain protein for less than $4.50 a pound.
The food system is set up to make ordinary people poorer, fatter, sicker, and …
I’m all about improving health and well-being across the board: physically, mentally, emotionally, financially. Poor people spend a lot larger percentage of their income on food than do the wealthy.
By this time, we should all be aware that toxic, addictive, poor-quality processed foods are sold primarily in poorer, urban neighborhoods and marketed to lower- to mid-income consumers. Some of these companies even advertise to specific communities, and yes, that includes “rainbow” Doritos and Spanish-language campaigns.
This is what rich people eat
I freely admit I can’t believe how insane our culture’s systems are. The U.S. food, marketing, and healthcare systems have resulted in the following terrible metrics:
42.4% of U.S. adults are obese
71% of U.S. adults are overweight
45% of U.S. adults have hypertension
30% of U.S. adults have metabolic syndrome
25% of U.S. adults have prediabetes
10% of U.S. adults have diabetes
About 45 million people in the U.S. go on a diet every year, and people spend an average of $33 billion on weight loss products.
For the bariatric surgery patients in the show I’ve been following, the situation is a lot more serious than people who are trying Keto, Paleo, or Vegan diets or starting a membership at a gym. These patients have life-threatening obesity and many are very close to losing their mobility completely. All of them began gaining weight as children, and I have yet to see one who ate simple foods prepared at home from basic ingredients. All ate fast food, prepared foods, and junk foods. Some of them openly discussed their food addiction, and every single one said they’d tried numerous diets, all of which failed to help them to be healthier and lose weight. One patient was in her early 30s, weighed over 700 pounds, had been diagnosed with endrometrial cancer which could only be treated with pills (due to her weight), and was taking 19 different medications, including three psych medications that she mentioned and showed to the camera. She ended up declining bariatric surgery because she feared she would not achieve the 30-day pre-surgery weight loss requested by her physician. She said “no” just because she couldn’t face the weigh-in — but more than that, this young woman in a life-threatening health crisis—had a little six-year old nephew who loved her and he could not even get her to eat a carrot off a tray of vegetables her family had prepared for her, much less celery, broccoli, green pepper. She was making faces like a six-year-old grimacing at spinach, while the real six-year-old was just fine with regular food.
That is how toxic and addictive prepared corporate food is. As my Nana used to say, “Don’t spoil your dinner” by eating chips or candy. For the millions of us who are glad to pick up a McDonald’s burger and won’t touch broccoli or carrots or sliced oranges … it’s “don’t spoil your life.”
And finally, many people overeat because their bodies are seeking nutrition that the “taste good” but low-nutrition processed foods lack. They might even eat all day long in search of a micronutrient they’d have if they’d eaten a single banana or apple.
“They” want you to have a long, fat, miserable, sick life
There is a vampirish quality to corporate food, BigPharma, BigHealth, and all the rest. Of course “they” don’t want to kill you quickly, the preference is for you to live the statistical lifespan and consume these products until you are replaced by your descendants. I would love to have Kraft food boxes branded with a looming vampire sucking a little kid’s blood and another one sucking out the parent’s money. Instead of these “get heavenly peace” commercials they force in our faces.
It is all for money
So, grocery stores run a pretty low profit margin, about 2-3%. It’s a tough business. Not so for Kraft (or other massive corporate food giants). They average 34% profit margins. This money goes to rich people so they can buy the best foods and stay thin and healthy.
What health choice will you make for yourself today?
I’m not going to tell you what to do, but banning boxed dinners, frozen meals, and prepared snacks would be a great start. Learn one new basic recipe, buy basic protein and vegetables, and make one more scratch meal at home this week. Sounds doable, and it will save you money and shrink your waistline too.
Thank you for including numbers. I'm so sick of articles that claim that eating healthy has to be expensive. I can buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $4. A 5 pound bag of carrots for $3. A package of chicken parts at $2 a pound. 5 heads of romaine lettuce for $4. Butter/oil/spices that last more than a month - another $10. That right there is a whole week's worth of food for ~$25, which someone could easily spend on a few fast food "meals." Other options like rice + curry or rice/beans/tortillas+ veggies are even cheaper. And I live in Los Angeles, not a place especially known for its low cost of living. I simply refuse to not eat real food. I buy food from the outer aisles of a grocery store, that's my huge secret.
Other people will say it's TIME. What else do I have to do with my time that is more important that I'm so busy I can't stick a pan of meat & vegetables in the oven and rinse a head of lettuce and chop it up? I spend ~30 minutes cooking dinner, and that's at a leisurely pace. It would take me at least that long to drive to a fast food place, wait in line, and come back home. If the average person is watching 4 hours of TV a day, surely they can spare half an hour to make themselves real food.
I suppose I was lucky that I was raised by poor Depression-Era parents who knew how to stretch a dollar - but this is not rocket science. I'm no chef. My meals are not exciting or hyperpalatable - just simple healthy food.
Live Well and Prosper.