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So the stores are meeting their customer's demands and marketing more and more prepared foods? What's the big deal about that? If they refused to sell that stuff because it's unhealthy, they'd soon be out of business because that's what people want.
With today's hectic lifestyles and both parents working full time, too many people simply don't have the time to cook meals from fresh foods anymore. Yeah, it might not be the best thing for them to eat, but with work and after school activities for the kids, who can spend an hour or two in the kitchen every afternoon?
Anyone else noticed that more and more shelf space in grocery stores is being dedicated to high profit prepared food, at the expense of basic, raw food materials for cooking. Even Trader Joe's, which I like, has replaced many of their basic food items with higher profit "prepared" foods and many of them are just silly (mashed potatoes and garlic or cheese, for example) how simple is that to make from scratch? All the big retailers are doing it. The low profit basic items are on the very bottom shelves in the grocery stores, such as Kroger, Busch, etc. Never buy what you see at eye level on the shelves. Those are the highest profit items.
I agree. I've noticed it for a long time and not just with high end garbage. For instance, hamburger helper. It's actually quicker to cook this from scratch. It's cheaper, too. Plus all the raw ingredients are cheaper because you have a ton of leftover noodles to use for another dish.
I believe the way we eat has changed more in the past 15 years than it has anywhere in the past 150. Food has become a giant machine, a big factory.
Corn and soybean based. High yeild, low cost. Monoculture aided by advanced pesticides, genetic engineering and non-organic fertilizer. Concentrated feed lots, HFCS, packaging and marketing. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts enhanced with up to 20% solution for enhanced flavor. Cheap and easy.
I was just discussing with some folks that it is becoming harder to find a butcher that will sell a quarter cow. Stores don't need butchers anymore. It all comes in cryovac bags from the processor. Hello e. coli outbreaks that are impossible to trace!
I reject it where I can. I cook. I belong to a chicken CSA. I shop at farmer's markets. I like to start with whole ingredients when possible, but I don't kid myself either, there's no escape and probably no going back. Resistance is futile.
The best defense you have is to learn to cook. I know you're busy, but it's all a matter of priorities - and I'll think you'll find that your health should always be really high on that list. There's economic benefit too, obviously.
I thought I'd been learning to cook from much more-basic ingredients. Then I started trying to avoid yeast, gluten, soy, milk, and a few other things (IgG -- I know it's inexact -- but I feel like sh*t all the time and I've got to start somewhere, and regular docs don't give a d*mn. Worth a try).
Soy in EVERYthing. Yeast extract in everything. Whoa. Everything. Even my soups that I thought were pretty good - the broths have some weird stuff in them. Margarine? Yikes.
I really had no idea just how pervasive soy, sweeteners, weird flavors (autolyzed yeast extract, MSG, etc) are. I wish it was easier to just enjoy eating an apple. But I don't, and that's messed up. I want potato chips. I want prepared tomato sauces. I crave the processed crap that melts on the tongue and tingles.
We're a two-income family and I've spent a lot of time trying to get better at cooking, but now with this round of reading every-single-label, it's overwhelming. I don't know ANYTHING.
Then they should make an informed choice. I don't need or want the government telling me what to eat or what to buy.
Sometimes people are allowed to make bad decisions and suffer the consequences. that's their problem, and their choice.
Thing is, people aren't informed and the big companies like it that way.
There is a reason the director of Food Inc. isn't very well liked by Big Agra.
Then they should make an informed choice. I don't need or want the government telling me what to eat or what to buy.
Sometimes people are allowed to make bad decisions and suffer the consequences. that's their problem, and their choice.
This is a good discussion. I don't want the government telling me what to eat or buy either. However, many people are not informed/educated about the crap that's added to processed food, including sugar in many many processed products. There is little education in the schools, for example, on healthful eating and healthy choices. Look at public school lunches across the country. High fat and high sugar. Would kids eat healthy food at lunch? I'm not sure kids understand the consequences of eating a high fat and high sugar diet at school and elsewhere, but continuing to feed them pizza and fries (and sugar-laden cereal in the morning) on a daily basis is not a recipe for a healthy childhood.
As far as people being allowed to make bad decisions and suffer the consequences, it may be their choice, but all of us are paying dearly for the obesity epidemic and all of its consequences, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, to name a few, which are in many cases the direct result of obesity and bad diets. Our skyrocketing health insurance premiums are paying in part for people who have made bad dietary decisions, as well as smoking. Maybe there should be lower insurance premiums for people who control their weight. People who don't smoke pay lower premiums in some states.
In my view, big corporations manipulate us far more than the gov't, with their deceptive food packaging, manipulative advertising, powerful lobbyists in Washington buying off the Congress and big agra subsidies. Who do you think opposed labeling meat products that included information about the country of origin, as one small example. Who do you think opposed the addition of trans fat information on food labels? Big agra companies and food producing/manufacturing organizations. These are just a couple small examples.
Anyone else noticed that more and more shelf space in grocery stores is being dedicated to high profit prepared food, at the expense of basic, raw food materials for cooking. Even Trader Joe's, which I like, has replaced many of their basic food items with higher profit "prepared" foods and many of them are just silly (mashed potatoes and garlic or cheese, for example) how simple is that to make from scratch? All the big retailers are doing it. The low profit basic items are on the very bottom shelves in the grocery stores, such as Kroger, Busch, etc. Never buy what you see at eye level on the shelves. Those are the highest profit items.
I have noticed this. I think it's because overall, less people are cooking froms scratch (and less people know how). It's supposed to be marketed to those who are "working long hours and don't have time to cook from scratch" but really, I think it just caters to the lazy and unwilling to learn how to really cook. Plus, these items are expensive and cost at least twice as much as simple food items. And it's filled with all kinds of processed crap and unnecessary fillers.
I have noticed this. I think it's because overall, less people are cooking froms scratch (and less people know how). It's supposed to be marketed to those who are "working long hours and don't have time to cook from scratch" but really, I think it just caters to the lazy and unwilling to learn how to really cook. Plus, these items are expensive and cost at least twice as much as simple food items. And it's filled with all kinds of processed crap and unnecessary fillers.
I once saw something in a magazine where they showed cooking from scratch vs buying the more prepared meals, it takes just 15 minutes more to cook from scratch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xz2y
This is a good discussion. I don't want the government telling me what to eat or buy either. However, many people are not informed/educated about the crap that's added to processed food, including sugar in many many processed products. There is little education in the schools, for example, on healthful eating and healthy choices. Look at public school lunches across the country. High fat and high sugar. Would kids eat healthy food at lunch? I'm not sure kids understand the consequences of eating a high fat and high sugar diet at school and elsewhere, but continuing to feed them pizza and fries (and sugar-laden cereal in the morning) on a daily basis is not a recipe for a healthy childhood.
As far as people being allowed to make bad decisions and suffer the consequences, it may be their choice, but all of us are paying dearly for the obesity epidemic and all of its consequences, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, to name a few, which are in many cases the direct result of obesity and bad diets. Our skyrocketing health insurance premiums are paying in part for people who have made bad dietary decisions, as well as smoking. Maybe there should be lower insurance premiums for people who control their weight. People who don't smoke pay lower premiums in some states.
In my view, big corporations manipulate us far more than the gov't, with their deceptive food packaging, manipulative advertising, powerful lobbyists in Washington buying off the Congress and big agra subsidies. Who do you think opposed labeling meat products that included information about the country of origin, as one small example. Who do you think opposed the addition of trans fat information on food labels? Big agra companies and food producing/manufacturing organizations. These are just a couple small examples.
In my K-12 years of school, I don't recall learning a lot about eating healthy.
I was fortunate enough to have a mom that taught me about healthy eating, believed in me exercising, and I check out a lot of books on the subject of healthy eating.
It wouldn't be SO bad if the schools were feeding the kids all this junk and allowed them an outlet to burn off the calories but I found out many elementary kids in the area only get 15 minutes for recess. If it's raining, too hot, or too cold....forget about them going outside to play.
I agree with having lower premiums for those who exercise and don't smoke.
Diabetes can be largely prevented, at least type II diabetes.
Great post all around.
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