Food Cravings Engineered by Industry

No BS · Post by **No BS** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:09 pm

This is an absolutely brilliant article! Read it & better understand how you are being physiologically manipulated to be a compulsive overeater of junk food.

"How Big Food Keeps us Eating Through Science and Marketing"

"........."We're not talking about food actually being real anymore. It's synthetic, completely contrived and created, and there's so many problems about that because our bodies are tricked and when our bodies are tricked repeatedly dramatic things can happen, like weight gain" or endocrine disruption, diabetes and hypertension, he said................."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/201 ... ction.html

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:53 am

Looks like a companion piece to this.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:18 pm

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler did a pretty good job describing this in his book The End of Overeating published in 2010. I think he made a mistake at the end by telling people they should banish processed foods completely. Maybe they SHOULD, but most won't, and we know what the WTH effect does. But I started incorporating more fresh food and freggies even before No S. No S helped me cut the processed stuff way down. I think that's an inevitable shift for anyone who wants to eat less permanently-- and feel better, too.

leafy_greens · Post by **leafy_greens** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:38 pm

Several thoughts on this... I believe these articles are true to an extent, but i don't want to start blaming types of food or an industry for my own problems. You could lose weight by eating processed food. People have done it by eating small portions of McDonald's for every meal (the opposite of Supersize Me diet). It's searching for a bogeyman - an excuse for people to throw up their hands and not try to eat less. I believe many have the mindset of "Why bother when the whole country, industry, world is against me." Blaming food additives is no better than blaming carbs or some other food.

Obviously it would be great if the U.S. food industry was not so "junky," but until it changes we have to deal with what we've got. There is so much room for improvement in our society in general with attitudes towards meals. For example, from what I've read about the French, they eat "fattening" food regularly and don't seem consumed with this "filling yourself with fruits and vegetables" way of thinking.

I think many people believe that "If the food industry would stop making food with _________, I would naturally start craving only vegetables, never want fattening food, and be thin, but there's nothing I can do until they stop making food with _________."

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:03 pm

oolala53 wrote:I started incorporating more fresh food and freggies
even before No S. No S helped me cut the processed stuff way down.
I think that's an inevitable shift for anyone who wants to eat less permanently
-- and feel better, too.

This is information that is good to know in order to help make personal food choices.
For me...I've found that making any food forbidden tends to cause negative results,
and ... for me ... there is no food totally off limits.
However, When we choose an action, we also choose the consequences of that action.

I am free to eat anything, and I do...
but there are consequences attached to the different things that I choose to eat.
Such as: Getting fat, maintaining weight-loss, feeling tired, feeling sleepy, feeling sick, feeling energetic etc.

http://www.diethobby.com/blog.php?ax=v&nid=814

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:09 pm

It's true that it is still within our power to choose to eat less, but the point Kessler and others are making is that these foods are ENGINEERED to bypass the normal mechanism that humans have to limit intake. Thus a person may have to make more conscious choices to curtail the intake, and it may help to explain to some why they keep wanting to eat when there is no other good reason besides that it just tastes so good. Food used to stop tasting as delicious for most people once they'd eaten enough and the appestat got turned off. Some people have less sensitive ones in the first place, but these foods are meant to get even the average person to keep munching. It just makes sense to limit access, just as it makes sense to use the two-glass ceiling. Disinhibition is somewhat exacerbated by the substance.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:02 pm

The French don't consciously try to fill themselves with fruits and vegetables, but the traditional French diet includes a lot of fruits and vegetables as a matter of course (along with the cream sauces and wine and all).

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:19 am

And the French don't eat a lot of American-style processed foods, though technically, flour is processed and cheese is, too.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:42 am

oolala53 wrote:And the French don't eat a lot of American-style processed foods, though technically, flour is processed and cheese is, too.

So are cooked vegetables. Technically, anything not in it's natural state is "processed." But they don't eat a lot of manufactured foods and they don't allow all the additives that are allowed here in the US.

leafy_greens · Post by **leafy_greens** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:59 pm

oolala53 wrote:It's true that it is still within our power to choose to eat less, but the point Kessler and others are making is that these foods are ENGINEERED to bypass the normal mechanism that humans have to limit intake. Thus a person may have to make more conscious choices to curtail the intake, and it may help to explain to some why they keep wanting to eat when there is no other good reason besides that it just tastes so good. Food used to stop tasting as delicious for most people once they'd eaten enough and the appestat got turned off. Some people have less sensitive ones in the first place, but these foods are meant to get even the average person to keep munching. It just makes sense to limit access, just as it makes sense to use the two-glass ceiling. Disinhibition is somewhat exacerbated by the substance.

I definitely agree that there is this problem within the food industry. Of course that doesn't mean that we throw up our hands and not take a stand about what we eat for our own health. There is a line between complacency and activism.

AndreaRN9 · Post by **AndreaRN9** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:47 pm

I can only speak for myself but I've avoided processed engineered food for a long time, homecook all my meals, eat very healthfully, and I still have NO problem at all gaining weight.

It's quite possible to be a glutton even with nutritious healthful homecooked food. And gluttony, for me anyway, leads to fatness. That's what bothers me most about these articles. It's implied that if one eats "healthfully homemade" using only the best "unprocessed" ingredients then the urge to overeat will magically disappear and the person will magically be able to attain and maintain a normal weight. That's just straight up BS.

You can get fat eating unprocessed foods.

You can still have the urge to overeat while consuming a healthy unprocessed diet and gain weight.

leafy_greens · Post by **leafy_greens** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:49 pm

Andrea I agree, blaming certain types of foods is blaming the symptom rather than the disease. No S is hard because it's curing us of our food addiction disease. Other diets simply cut out food groups, yet the underlying problem still remains.

Sinnie · Post by **Sinnie** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:57 am

leafy greens you make such a valid point. My husband tells me the exact same thing. Stop assigning blame! It might make me feel better, but in truth it's all about me and my choices. Having said that, the manufactured food really is crap, and we need to stop buying it and send a message.

Sinnie · Post by **Sinnie** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:59 am

Wow, Andrea that is so well said. I concur completely.

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:52 pm

We are hardwired to eat regardless of what we are eating. (Mindless Eating, Brian Wasink)

We are hardwired to eat more when we eat processed foods. (Salt, Sugar Fat: How the food giants hooked us. Michael Moss, The End of OvereatingDavid Kessler)

Eating unprocessed foods doesn't make it easy to manage our eating, it only makes it easier.

AndreaRN9 · Post by **AndreaRN9** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:21 pm

Then the issue is "food reward" which is high in processed foods, but can also be high in good-for-you healthy homemade foods.

I can make a salad in my own kitchen with healthful wholesome ingredients that is so darn tasty and high in calories that it's no problem whatsoever to overeat it and gain weight.

Mind you, I'm not advocating for processed foods, what I'm saying is that processed foods aren't the only foods with high food-reward and high palatability. When we go around thinking they are, it becomes really easy to green light and overeat all sorts of healthy foods and then wonder why we can't lose weight.

Homemade Paleo pancakes and other goodies comes to mind.

leafy_greens · Post by **leafy_greens** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:17 pm

Andrea I get what you are saying. Processed foods are just easier, so when we are in one of those grazing moods, it's easiest to reach for processed instead of taking the time to prepare a salad (even if the salad tastes good too). The result of it being easier is that we probably eat more processed than unprocessed. The processed seems more evil because of the amount of it we eat, not because of its content. The trick is to avoid any kind of food when you are in a grazing mood, doesn't matter what it is.