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May 18, 2013
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Would You Like Sugar and Fat With That?Posted on Mar 22, 2012
By Jane Black (Page 2) The truth is, not everyone who eats fast food is like Vanessa, the Bronx student who sent McMillan on her yearlong quest for answers. Over the last half-century, we have created a food culture in this country that glorifies cheap prices and convenience. (McMillan of all people should know that. It’s what her grandmother told her growing up.) Over time, that emphasis has trained many American palates to appreciate the sugary, salty taste of processed food. Even if workers were paid a fair wage and the produce at Walmart were pristine, there’s no guarantee that more people would buy it. McMillan does try to connect the dots by stepping back and putting her on-the-ground reporting in historical and economic context. She traces the rise of supermarkets and demonstrates how Walmart came to dominate not only food retail but distribution, too. She argues that, in certain neighborhoods, that can lead to higher, not lower, prices. She explains how and why restaurants now gobble 41 percent of the average family’s food budget, up from just 15 percent in 1940. These passages provide an excellent introduction to the complicated and contentious debate about how to reform America’s food system. But without acknowledging culture, they too cannot satisfactorily explain the “American way of eating.”
The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table
By Tracie McMillan
Scribner, 336 pages
What McMillan does succeed in showing us is that the choices that Americans make each day about what to eat have far more to do with larger failures in American society than the way our food is produced and distributed. To thrive, workers need a bigger share of corporate profits. Families need health care and subsidized child care. Otherwise, shopping for and preparing a proper meal will always be a luxury. “So far as I can tell, changing what’s on our plates simply isn’t feasible without changing far more,” she writes in her final pages. “Wages, health care, work hours and kitchen literacy are just as critical to changing our diets as the agriculture we practice or the places at which we shop.” But by the time she reaches that conclusion, her adventure is over. All she can do is close with a wish list of progressive social policies and a call to make eating well easy. Which, as she has proved, is much easier said than done. Jane Black, a former Washington Post staff writer, is working on a book about a West Virginia town that is trying to create a healthier local food culture. © 2012, Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group New and Improved CommentsIf you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy. |
By heterochromatic, March 29, 2012 at 1:39 pm Link to this comment
RAE—- you’re pretty much an ignorant person spreading nonsense.
Report thisBy RAE, March 29, 2012 at 8:47 am Link to this comment
I hope everyone reads and understands Andrea (March 23 1:05pm). She is dead on with her observations and conclusions.
For reasons that would confound Solomon, the food and drug “establishment” simply will NOT provide the general public with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth regarding their products.
“Beliefs” about foods and drugs are as entrenched as religious dogma and about as difficult to change. Just take a look at the miles of shelving full of utter CRAP in your food stores all shouting “LOW FAT!!!!” as if that meant one damned thing. (Well, it does mean one thing - almost a certainty that the SUGAR and SALT will be sky high.)
FAT DOES NOT CAUSE OBESITY.
“Dietary fat is NOT a major determinant of body fat and plays virtually NO ROLE IN OBESITY.” Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University’s School of Public Health.
If YOU are one of those who cannot or will not accept this truth, then YOU are part of the problem.
It’s not WHAT you eat that makes you fat… it’s what your body DOES with what you eat that is the determining factor. It takes study and an awareness of YOUR system to get a handle on the highly complex nature of how our bodies deal with food. There’s a LOT for most people to learn.
For example, are you aware that our bodies do NOT need CARBOHYDRATE - ANY carbohydrate - to survive quite well, thank you? It’s true. We need protein and we need fat (fatty acids) but whatever carbs our bodies require can be manufactured by the body from protein and fat.
So why does the American Dietetic Association still recommend that “the lion’s share of our calories come from the one macronutrient (carbohydrate) we can survive quite well without?” (Living Low Carb - Jonny Bowden, PhD)
Especially since it’s carbs - sugars and starches - those addictive, great tasting drugs that cause insulin to skyrocket, hunger cravings to become irresistable, and FAT FAT FAT people waddling everywhere you look.
Please read and learn and use your heads people, or continue to die like flies until you do get the message.
Report thisBy bluejeanne, March 26, 2012 at 8:34 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Heterochro—
Thanks for the suggestion. Sure, I’m familiar with Safflower and Sunflower oils. Also Sesame, Walnut, Grapeseed. Unfortunately Soybean and Corn oils are most likely derived from GMO crops.
Yet Olive oil has become quite a story in itself as described by Tom Mueller in his book
Extra Virginity Olive Oil: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil
http://www.Extravirginity.com
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 25, 2012 at 8:18 pm Link to this comment
blue——there is no controversy over the superiority of olive oil to other oils of
fats that tend to solidify at room temperature.
if you’ve a problem with olive, try safflower or sunflower oil
Report thisBy bluejeanne, March 25, 2012 at 2:25 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The garlic fields of Salinas Valley ? Take a look at the tiny mesh bags of garlic that are being imported from China and are available in the produce section of most groceries now. If the farm laborers aren’t being paid anywhere near a fair wage in California what could the Chinese farmers be possibly being paid ? Mexican farm laborers competing with Chinese farm workers! What unconscienable corporations are pitting agricultural laborers against each other ?
And as far as olive oil being superior to other oils there is a huge controversy re: the origin of olive oil. In the book Extra Virginity Olive Oil the author discusses the scam relating to the processing of olive oil pressed in countries such as Turkey and Tunisia but labelled as extra virgin olive oil originating from Italy.
The global exporting and importing of food is very unregulated and another reason for ever-increasing food costs and inequities in food distribution.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 24, 2012 at 8:38 pm Link to this comment
and the meat of today is a wee bit leaner than the stuff consumed by the
Report thisancestors….
By Anarcissie, March 24, 2012 at 8:28 pm Link to this comment
The red meat eaten today is not the kind of red meat that was eaten by our ancestors, which sadly lacked food coloring, antibiotics, growth hormones, and other interesting chemicals, and which largely ran through the woods and across the fields, instead of being raised in pens on a diet of ground-up cows, plastic beads, cellulose by-products, and shit.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 24, 2012 at 6:07 pm Link to this comment
Maani——ut’s not the beef and pork of itself that’s bad it’s the fat content.
Report thisand no one has ever revoked the warning that butter isn’t healthy.
By Maani, March 24, 2012 at 5:46 pm Link to this comment
EmileZ:
Yes, advertising is a big part. So, of course, is the lobbying by the various food industries (meat, sugar, etc.). See Super Size Me, Food Nation, etc.
Another aspect is that people may simply be confused (and thus become apathetic) when the government changes its mind. For example, butter was “bad” - until it wasn’t. Eggs were “bad” - until they weren’t. Sugar was “bad” - until is wasn’t. Salt was “bad” - until it wasn’t. Etc., etc.
Ultimately, in all the cases above, is was (obviously) about moderation (in conjunction, of course, with one’s family and medical history, and how much exercise one gets).
The current “red meat” scare is of a piece with this. Personally, I think it is poppycock. Why? Three main reasons:
-Human have been eating red meat since the dawn of time - yet lifespans have INCREASED over the millenia and centuries. Yes, other factors are involved (better food safety, medical and health care, etc.). But until these two studies, not a single study (out of hundreds, possibly thousands) showed any correlation between eating red meat and shortened lifespans.
-Humans’ teeth were created for omnivorous eating: we have incisors (recessed only one step) for “tearing” and molars (flatter than most mammals) for chewing.
-Our stomachs naturally create the enzyme that breaks down red meat. This is DNA-related; i.e., “built in.” If we were not meant to eat red meat, we would not have carried that enzyme through tens of thousands of years.
I predict that the red meat “scare,” too, will eventually be “tempered” by more reasonable calls for “moderation.”
Of course, if you are a conspiracy theorist, you might see this entire “red meat” scare as a way to get the 99% to eat chicken and pork, while the 1% keep all the (perfectly safe) red meat for themselves…
Peace.
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 6:52 pm Link to this comment
Not funny Surfboy.
Report thisBy Andrea, March 23, 2012 at 2:05 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I just don’t believe that eating healthy food is too expensive and that’s why
Report thisAmericans eat junk. I don’t make much money but I manage to make simple
vegetable, meat/fish dishes and even on the days when I don’t cook I try to find
something that’s not bad for me.
I think the reasons for eating badly are this:
1. Convenience: When you work long hours at minimum wage, you’re fucking
tired and the last thing you want to do is buy fresh produce and cook from
scratch.
2. Lack of Education: People are not aware of the shit that is in the processed
food they buy, and they don’t know which food does what to their bodies.
Education about the value of food, nutrition and health has to start early. We
are also completely disconnected from the food we eat, the earth itself.
3. Addiction: Junk food and unhealthy foods are addictive! Sugar, fat, and
additives make anything taste good and bring comfort to the body on the short
term. Healthy food will not taste good to someone who is used to eat junk and
processed stuff! Training the palate to appreciate natural ingredients has to
start early to avoid the constant cravings.
By heterochromatic, March 23, 2012 at 12:37 pm Link to this comment
I’m kinda afraid to ask what you watched Herman doing in those videos.
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 12:27 pm Link to this comment
@ heterochromatic
Never tried speedballs, more of a coffe man myself, but I did used to deep fry donuts and it wasn’t the same, though I am quite sure they are bad for you.
Come back when you have not only watched Herman Cain’s training videos (which are actually quite peppy and silly), but when you have worked the “cut table” for at least a few months. True story.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 23, 2012 at 10:50 am Link to this comment
——You could probably smoke before you did speedballs——
don’t you find that you want to smoke much more AFTER your speedball?
———
Report thispizza helll, try working a grill and a deep-fryer if you want to go home with a head
full of grease…. I did that for a year
By balkas, March 23, 2012 at 9:58 am Link to this comment
some days i do not eat meat or fish. i eat mostly well-boiled chicken. that reduces some fat. i seldom eat more
Report thisthan 300 calories of it; and i never salt my meats or fish.
i eat fish almost every day; usually salmon and in small amounts.
i eat green/dried beans/peas, basmati/brown rice, lentils, millet nearly all vegetables, yams, sweet potatoes.
i use only olive oil. instead of salt, i use nikkoman sauce. seldom eat anything sweet.
when i am at computer, i stand. however, since external beam radiation treatment on my prostate, i lately have to
sit down now and then, because i get so tired on my legs.
i still manage to remain on my legs anywhere from 7-11 hrs a day.
i am about 20 pounds overweight. seems, i am even losing some fat; perhaps pound or so every 3 mo’s.
===
btw, you want to know what my wife said to me??? she said, Bob, get a new ass!! yes, yes, my dear, i sure cld use a
nicer looking one, that’s for sure.
but the next day she sort of apologized by saying, Bob, you’re three quarters deaf! i didn’t say that—i said, Bob,
get off your ass! well, that second advice was even better that the first one.
By EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 9:35 am Link to this comment
@ heterochromatic
You could probably smoke before you did speedballs and live longer than you would on a diet of sloppy joes provided you were careful.
P.S. EmileZ does not encourage smoking, speedballs or sloppy joes, but if you had to choose one…. well, nevermind.
Report thisBy mrfreeze, March 23, 2012 at 9:06 am Link to this comment
Face it: For the last generation, Americans have been utterly and totally engulfed by an “anti-food culture” which is a life of eating “manufactured filth.” Of course, they have been taught to quote the corporate mantra: “I’m just too busy to cook.” The fact is, we have become a nation of filth-eaters and every time people spend their hard earned money in a fast-food-filth-factory or purchase 50% of the garbage in the grocery stores, they are pouring money into the coffers of corporations that don’t give a shit about their health, safety or welfare.
I worked my way through high school and college as a professional cook and I subsequently worked in some nice restaurants over the years so I know a little about good food. I also spend a good amount of time in Italy which (despite the onslaught of Americanized-filth-factory food habits) remains a place where people are far more discriminating about what they put in their mouths. The average Italian child has a palate far more refined and discriminating than American adults whose only purpose in eating is to load their maws with as large a portion of whatever shit they can pay the least amount of money for.
Is it any wonder that bookstores have “cooking” sections in which the shelves are groaning under the weight of millions of fancy books about all sorts of cuisine and yet, most Americans don’t cook from scratch. When push comes to shove it’s “off to the filth factory” to eat McGarbage…........
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 23, 2012 at 9:03 am Link to this comment
smoking kills you quicker, and more painfully , if you’re smoking tobacco .
you might do better using a vaporizer before munchieing your sloppy joes.
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 8:43 am Link to this comment
@ heterochromatic
Which is why I think smoking, bad as it is, pales in comparison to the crap we are encouraged to eat, starting from a very young age, often even before we purchase the shit.
As a teenager, I used to work at a pizza place and the grease would literally soak into your entire body.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 23, 2012 at 8:24 am Link to this comment
EZ——- It IS the advertising .......as well as that people never learn much in way of
Report thiswhat a healthy diet requires….and that people in the end don’t much care to
forego fatty, sweet and salty foods.
By EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 8:24 am Link to this comment
@ Anarcissie
If by now you see you mean ME…
All I see is a smart-ass rat.
All I learned in Home Economics was to prepare sloppy joes and such.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, March 23, 2012 at 7:05 am Link to this comment
People used to laugh at home economics classes. Now you see.
Report thisBy john morris, March 23, 2012 at 6:32 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
dear friends ,I thank you for the e-mails.In Britain, England,London,there is still “a make a meal” culture, although in our more expensive supermarket Waitrose the majority of food available is prepared meals,our famous “marks and spencers” stocks mostly prepared meals.Living in the center of London there are no longer fishmongers,butchers,fruiterers etc.just large,medium and small supermarkets.With the Olympic Games, places are catering now for tourists and of cource students who are slowly taking over the center of London,as there is the huge U.C.L University and the Westminster University which the students want to live nearby to as London is not a car city but depends on very expensive privatised underground train and bus companies.Many good wishes regards john Morris
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 5:03 am Link to this comment
Renaldo & The Loaf - Hambu Hodo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlj3IdPjOrU
(Hambu=hamburger, Hodo=Hotdog)
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 23, 2012 at 4:06 am Link to this comment
It is all the damn advertising and such. It is part of our culture.
It is difficult to break away from.
Also, in many neighborhoods it is difficult to find healthy food.
Report this