Paul Roberts' The End of Food: Agreement with No S goals

No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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Happy Cooker
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Paul Roberts' The End of Food: Agreement with No S goals

Post by Happy Cooker » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:27 pm

I've been reading Paul Roberts' The End of Food, a fact-filled and disturbing book about how Industrial-Age treatment of food production is changing the world and will likely end the way we eat now. His thesis dovetails with Mr. Engels' ideas remarkably. Here are a couple of quotes from the book.

". . . food has not only become dramatically cheaper in the last 30 years but vastly more accessible as well. Before the 1970s, most meals were prepared by a small minority of experts--mainly the housewives, cooks, and others who possessed the skills, tools, and time to prepare food*--a culinary tyranny that played a huge role in how much and how often we ate (and probably in our attitudes about eating, hunger, and satisfaction). Today, that tyranny has been vanquished by ubiquitous restaurants, snack machines, and delis, as well as convenience foods so cleverly packaged they can be made in minutes, by children, in a microwave."

[footnote]*So many of the traditional limits on consumption--eating three meals a day, for example, or the requirement of eating together as a family or group at set times--were dictated in large part by the cooks, whose main interest was in minimizing their workload and whose monopoly over cooking tools and cooking knowledge gave them much authority over what and how often people ate. In such a world, people didn't necessarily eat when they were hungry; they ate when food was prepared--a reality that must have influenced attitudes about eating and appetite. Earlier generations almost certainly felt hunger between meals, but chances are they'd been brought up to regard such feelings as routine, normal, expected--not a reason for panic or anxiety, nor a signal to head to the candy machine."

The author is in the midst of a discussion about how food production and consumption changed radically in the past century and the social consequences thereof, and of course the role of farm policy and marketing and capitalist theory in the changes. It's a fascinating read, and I just like the connections with this simple way of eating.

I've been following the No S system for a little over two months. I was instantly won over by the simplicity and sanity of it. I've always felt that being a little overweight was far preferable to eating ersatz food and diet drinks, so No S fits in well with my way of thinking. Early times were difficult, but it does get easier, as everyone says. I have lost only a few pounds--perhaps 2 or 3 (which is more than I've done using any plan over the past few years). I love the feeling of detachment from food and cravings. I experience them, but not giving in to them makes me feel stronger and in control. I am starting to experience longer periods of control on S days, so that I don't automatically launch into my old snacking habits on those days. If I keep this up, in a year I should be 15 pounds lighter, which would be a good weight for me. The peace of mind and extra room in my head may be the nicest part.

Since I love to cook, it's kind of hard at times, but I also know that I can make a really delicious sweet when I want one.

CrazyCatLady
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Post by CrazyCatLady » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:38 pm

Welcome, HappyCooker, and thanks for the interesting quotes from that book. I had never considered that before.

I like cooking more and more. The longer I No S, the more I realize that some of the "fast" foods I used to eat just really don't taste very good. I am using the crock pot more, and trying new recipes. And home made treats are so delicious!

wosnes
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Post by wosnes » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:28 am

CrazyCatLady wrote:
I like cooking more and more. The longer I No S, the more I realize that some of the "fast" foods I used to eat just really don't taste very good. I am using the crock pot more, and trying new recipes. And home made treats are so delicious!
Nearly all the convenience foods are gone from my pantry and my diet, as well as fast foods. More and more things just don't taste good. Now nearly everything is homemade or locally made.

Some things get eaten far less often -- and that's one reason people don't or didn't get fat eating them. When something is time-consuming or expensive to make, you eat it far less often. When you can buy it in a bag at the convenience store or the drive-through of the fast food place, you're likely to eat it more often. And then not only will you likely eat more of it more often, it won't be as good (health or taste-wise) as if it had been made at home.

The most recent thing I've made instead of buying is egg roll. I really like good egg roll, but more and more it's hard to find and buy them. The filling is cooked beyond being tasty. I found this recipe, tried it -- and the blogger is right. I'll probably never buy another egg roll.

http://dinnersforayear.blogspot.com/200 ... t-egg.html

I haven't looked at this one very closely yet, but it looks like it has potential:

http://blog.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/

That book sounds interesting. I'm going to have to take a look at it.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

blueskighs
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Post by blueskighs » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:45 pm

I love the feeling of detachment from food and cravings. I experience them, but not giving in to them makes me feel stronger and in control. I am starting to experience longer periods of control on S days, so that I don't automatically launch into my old snacking habits on those days. If I keep this up, in a year I should be 15 pounds lighter, which would be a good weight for me. The peace of mind and extra room in my head may be the nicest part.
Happy Cooker,

interesting thread, sounds like you are doing great on NO S and have gotten the gist of it very well, the peace and joy I have found with food on NO S is permeating the rest of my life,

Blueskighs
www.nosdiet.blogspot.com Where I blog daily about my No S journey

howfunisthat
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Re: Paul Roberts' The End of Food: Agreement with No S goals

Post by howfunisthat » Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:48 am

Happy Cooker wrote: I love the feeling of detachment from food and cravings.
I am apparently NOT getting enough sleep these days...I could have sworn this sentence read, "I love the feeling of detachment from food and crayons." I think I had to read it three times before I got it.

What great comments from all of you. As I pondered this whole "diet" thing this morning I had similar thoughts. I realized that I'm not frantic about this...not stressed about this plan because I'm just learning to eat normally. I'm not in a hurry to lose these pounds because I can see myself eating this way for the rest of my life. On many of the miriad of other diets I've tried there was a sense of urgency to them...as if I had to get the weight off before I lost my momentum, knowing that I couldn't sustain any diet forever. But I'm beginning to absolutely believe that this will work for me. UGH...did I really SAY that? Did THAT come out of MY mouth? Hey...I'll say it again....I absolutely believe this way of eating will produce a healthy me....and me at a healthy weight. And I believe I will succeed. Wow...this is a banner day...

Thanks for all your comments...very encouraging...janie
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy...

Happy Cooker
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Paul Roberts' The End of Food

Post by Happy Cooker » Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:41 pm

CrazyCatLady wrote:Welcome, HappyCooker, and thanks for the interesting quotes from that book. I had never considered that before.

I like cooking more and more. The longer I No S, the more I realize that some of the "fast" foods I used to eat just really don't taste very good. I am using the crock pot more, and trying new recipes. And home made treats are so delicious!
I'm definitely getting pickier about what I put in my mouth. I must say, though, that it is possible to get fat on good homemade food if enough of it is sweet and you eat a lot between meals. I appreciate your honesty about actually gaining when you were on the NO S diet (that's how it looks on your list of weights). It's good to see that it's not necessarily a straight-line process, and it's inspiring to see that you've stayed with it regardless.

I reassure myself that it's going to take a while to lose this weight by reminding myself that it was habit that brought me to this flabby state, and it didn't happen all at once. I didn't wake up one morning 15 pounds heavier than I was yesterday, so it makes sense that losing the weight will take a while too. It makes it easier to forgive myself for the inevitable lapses, too, and just look at the long term.

Happy Cooker
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Re: Paul Roberts' The End of Food: Agreement with No S goals

Post by Happy Cooker » Wed Sep 10, 2008 1:10 pm

howfunisthat wrote:
Happy Cooker wrote: I love the feeling of detachment from food and cravings.
You wrote: I am apparently NOT getting enough sleep these days...I could have sworn this sentence read, "I love the feeling of detachment from food and crayons." I think I had to read it three times before I got it.

Yeah, I seem to be resisting crayons very well!

I've never participated in a forum/discussion before, but it's very helpful to have it. I do feel alone at times, and like other people on this forum, I don't tell anyone else I'm doing No S except my closest family. I'd rather they just noticed after a while that I look slimmer and beg for my secret. Right now I'm wearing a pair of jeans I haven't worn all summer and they're loose, which is gratifying.

I love the feeling of being able to eat whatever appeals to me at meals, rather than dissecting the fat content and blah, blah, blah. Constant denial is bad for my mood. The denial of snacks and sweets is easier to live with (having seconds is less of an issue for me), partly because it does have so much history on its side (see earlier quote from The End of Food) and partly because it's something of a political act. As Reinhard wrote, No company makes money by not selling you something (paraphrased). American companies have made billions of dollars off of us by promoting snack foods and the idea that we should splurge because we're worth it. We all have plenty of reasons to feel bad or stressed, and eating something sure seems to help.

Roberts (in the End of Food) correlates the rise in American obesity with the wide-scale increased availability of snack foods, which really started in the 1960s. Doritos were introduced in 1964. They took a while to catch on, but I'm sure the MSG helps them out-compete the other fat-soaked crispy things on the market. It's probably useful to follow the money here: Who profits from instituting bad habits in a huge number of people? Frito-Lay and its ilk. I'm sure those who follow stock values over the last four decades know about the profits generated by snack-food producers, and really, there's no end in sight.

Well, I'll get off my soapbox and back to work.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Sep 10, 2008 1:51 pm

I've cited this paper a number of times, but it's really pretty compelling:

http://home.uchicago.edu/~jmshapir/obesity.pdf

(this is where the 90%/122% of calorie increase from snaking stat comes from -- see page 101):

Cutler et al. agree that the technology/economics of food production seem the likeliest underlying explanation for why people snack/eat so much more these days (food so unprecendentedly cheap, convenient, easy to preserve).

I have to say, though, "Culinary tyranny" makes it sound not particularly appealing! Though I guess it's a useful reminder that there were negative aspects about the good old days. Better plentiful food that we figure out how to moderate voluntarily than not quite enough.

Reinhard

jessdr
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Post by jessdr » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:36 pm

reinhard wrote:I have to say, though, "Culinary tyranny" makes it sound not particularly appealing! Though I guess it's a useful reminder that there were negative aspects about the good old days. Better plentiful food that we figure out how to moderate voluntarily than not quite enough.
Michael Pollan refers to culinary tyranny a little more gently as "food culture" in "In Defense of Food". I thought that the loss of our traditional food culture was one of the most important points of the book, but that he completely glossed over the practical side. He convinces you that we need to rebuild our food culture, but gives very few (and very spotty) suggestions on how to do it. One of my first impressions of No-S was that it fills that gap perfectly.

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