Eating habits across Europe - newspaper article

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idontknow
Posts: 814
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:43 pm
Location: UK

Eating habits across Europe - newspaper article

Post by idontknow » Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:52 am

I thought this was an interesting newspaper article about how we are eating less 'real food'. Interesting also that the percentages in some European countries are so much lower.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... SApp_Other
53 years old
Average weight loss:
May 18 - 2.45lbs

oolala53
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Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:39 pm

The convenience/fast food/snack food scientists have known how to design food to compete with the "real" stuff for a long time, way before this article I'm adding from 2013. Kessler wrote about the effects of salt, sugar, and fat (before the book of a similar title a few years ago) in 2009 and that was a report on what had been used for years to 'push" food. And most of the executives are proud of getting more and more market share. They would probably have no qualms if people ate no fresh food at all.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/food-crav ... -1.1395225

And if you want an even greater reading load, here's one I've posted before, but still fascinates me.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11 ... t#section2

Carson Chow, a mathematician who studied the obesity trend, reported in 2012 that the major reason for the increase in processed foods was the sheer amount of food that is produced by industrial farms and ranches and that this led to the increases in consumption. (Modern work life contributed, too, though he didn't examine that. But the basics are pretty much in the No S book from 2008. Reinhard saw it all, figured out a workable solution, and moved on! He didn't make a big deal about food choices but he sounded pretty wise on what he did. Dark bread in the morning. Default oatmeal- doubt it was instant- midday. Home cooked meal at night. It takes most of the rest of us longer. Actually, most of the affected ones never will. If a person is overweight now, the odds are she'll die overweight.

We overdo a lot more manufactured stuff than food. Modern production and marketing are taking advantage of nearly every survival mechanism/fear humans have. We revere people can appeal to and sell to the masses. Our economies depend on it now, but it isn't as if everything was hunky dorey in the subsistence world of the past, either .

I won't be here to see how this all plays out. I'm just glad I found No S and later got influenced by sources that helped me eat even less processed food.

Nothing like a little doom and gloom on a Tuesday.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Larkspur
Posts: 438
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:30 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Post by Larkspur » Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:45 pm

Well, if dying overweight were the worst thing that could happen to you, it would be gloomy. Personally I would rather that than death at 25 or 40 from, say, spinal tuberculosis, untreated syphilis, breast cancer, coronary artery disease or any of the other lovely things that could kill you back when we had real food but no antibiotics or other treatments! Not forgetting that real food was sometimes unexpectedly contaminated with things like Tb bacillus or White Snakeroot.

As you mention, the change in food supply is not all good, but if we are looking for a glorious past where everyone had a safe, healthy, dependable food supply, we'll have to be pretty selective where and how we look.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Thu Feb 08, 2018 5:35 am

I agree about the past and the food supply. It was NOT rosy for much of the population and isn't now, either.

I really I misspoke because I meant that people will die because of the complications brought on by overeating and yet have so much trouble making the changes.. Honestly I think that would bother me more than contracting something I had little control over. I am not one to think at all that obesity is a disease. If that were true, all heavy people would be afflicted, and it's really only a fraction. But they can often make a big difference in their recovery.

But also know that many people seem to yearn to lose and grapple so much with the food environment. A lot of them suffer from self-esteem issues over it, in a way that they don't when struck by serious health issues. I've seen so many over the years on Spark in a lot of pain over it. I actually don't think it's necessary at all to be thin for any reason. I do think a diet or serious change in eating may be necessary for illness but that's a different issue altogether, IMHO.

It sounds like you may have been offended and for that, I apologize.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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