Is it fair to blame junk food companies for people being overweight?

[Pogo]

Easy, laziness. Our society is glued to TV's etc. My coworker is overweight and joined a gym. I think she might have been once in 2 months. Maybe. I'm not even sure if she went the first time or if that was just to pay for the membership. I work out at my house every day for an hour. I used to weigh 206 lbs and got down to 139 just to see what I could do. I am back up to about 170 now but I bulked up a little. I watch what I eat.

There is no arguing that the food has changed as scientific methods to enchance food has progressed.. Processed foods created specifically to create habit and or addiction are much more prevalent. People are less educated about the methods and the food companies know this. Ultimately you have to get educated but lets not pretend the food companies are not specifically trying to get people addicted to their product.

Then there's the matter of the proportion of time put into it. We consumers get thirty seconds to read and interpret an ingredients label, on our own. Junk food companies have labs dedicated 24/7 to finding the next high fructose corn syrup, the next aspartame, the next cottonseed oil, and at the same time advertising agencies dedicated 24/7 to pushing the results. And pushing it in ways that are a lot more subtle than direct advertising.

 

[Esmeralda]

That Is commendable!! I know people who have struggled with losing weight and none regretted going through the hassle of changing habits. You seem to have a handle on things and getting started is always the hardest part.

For anyone else who wants to make a change, follow this diet:

Eat every three hours. Pick two different fruits each day. Anything except bananas. Pick a few different vegetables each day. No carrots. Choose different lean meats- chicken, ham, turkey or fish. Meat must weigh 4- 5 ounces. Unlimited vegetables. Seasoning okay, but no sauces. No sugar, pasta or bread for first month. No fruit juice since you are eating only fresh fruits. You can have coffee or tea, but no cream or sugar. No milk. No alcohol. No soda, not even diet.

Example of meals for one day:

1st meal. 1 peach, 4-5 oz. of lean ham
2nd meal. 4-5 oz. of turkey, unlimited tomatoes
3rd meal. 1 orange, 4-5 oz. of chicken
4th meal. 4-5 oz. of fish, unlimited cucumbers

If you are awake for a 5th meal, choose another vegetable and 4-5 oz. of meat or fish.

Drink lots of water. Only eat what is on above menu.

After the first month, you can add a few things. You can have two hard boiled eggs in the morning instead of meat. You can make a wrap sandwich with the meat and lettuce or spinach.

This diet, if adhered to, will change your metabolism and you will lose fat and keep it off. Best part is you won't be hungry and the diet is healthy.

I'm serious, I know quite a few people who have done this diet and they wish they would have done it sooner. If anyone here wants to slim down, I dare you to try this.

Carrots?? What's the issue with carrots?

I agree about the fruit, and I did much of this in shedding 65 lbs since last winter. The main first thing I did was to give up on wheat. That accounted for half the weight loss all by itself, and I knew it would from having done it before. But I'm not strict about it, will slip some occasional pasta and cereal. I don't hold back on eggs at all and I really don't skimp if it's a protein meal. I can pig out and still lose weight as long as it's not a meal of carbs. Besides wheat the other thing I had to change was eating too late at night and then going to sleep before it had a chance to burn. Those two things were the main strategy.

Carrots are too sweet naturally. Same with bananas.

Each person is different and it's a matter of sticking to a diet. On the diet I posted, people get encouraged right away because it actually works and they don't have to starve or live on rice cakes. It seems like people are more apt to stick to a diet if they can see results fairly soon and some get to the point where they are obsessed with losing weight. My hubby once just cut the sugar from his coffee and lost weight. It's easier with guys. Anyway, good for you for finding something that works and sticking to it. I hope it inspires others to give it a shot.

Oh, and since the companies apparently get credit or blame for the results of the food you eat, be sure to send thank you cards to whatever companies sell the fruits and veggies you eat. After all, they would get the blame if their food made you fat, right?

I see a lot of commercials for those healthy vegetables and fruits. Since one poster here believes that the companies all brainwash you with marketing tricks, why don't more people get suckered into buying more peas and green beans with all those Green Giant and Del Monte commercials? Hmmm, I am beginning to think that individuals ultimately make their own choices and marketing just doesn't always work.

That's an interesting point -- produce doesn't get advertised. And no, a can of Green Giant peas doesn't count, nor is that really advertised either. Fruit doesn't get advertised. At the most these real foods might be mentioned in the supermarket flyer, and even then only what their prices are.

Nobody advertises carrots; they advertise Hot Pockets. Nobody advertises celery; they advertise Otis Splukmeyer muffins complete with 32 grams of fat. Nobody markets pears or plums or grapefruit; what they market is McNuggets and chicken wings in sugar sauce and microwaveable plastic platters and the idea that you can save all that horribly creative time in the kitchen, because we'll it for you and give you a drive-through so you don't even have to leave your car and suffer the degradation of walking 40 feet into the store.

As I keep saying -- advertising exists only to convince us to buy crap we don't need. But to pretend this sort of deception isn't dishonest -- is just dishonest.

Only stupid people buy stuff they don't need because of an ad.

To pretend otherwise is what is dishonest.

That's the entire purpose of advertising -- to convince you to buy something you don't need. When it's something you do need --- you already know that.

Further, "what consumers buy" is only half the picture, so pretending it's the whole ball of wax is dishonest in itself; the other half being the supplier.

Example: You're on a long drive, say several hours. You get a bit hungry but don't have the time to stop for a meal. You also need gas, so at the gas station you scan the snack possibilities. Let me know what you see in that convenience store that isn't deep fried, corn syrup drowned, sugared, salted, saturated-fat-laden, hyperprocessed absolute bullshit food. Rotsa ruck.

Take nuts. That's what I do when I travel. Nuts fill me up and are good protein. Or a healthy trail mix. That and water keep me away from the junk food and expensive food in airports.
21 Healthier Trail Mix Recipes to Make Yourself

 

[Asclepias]

Carrots?? What's the issue with carrots?

I agree about the fruit, and I did much of this in shedding 65 lbs since last winter. The main first thing I did was to give up on wheat. That accounted for half the weight loss all by itself, and I knew it would from having done it before. But I'm not strict about it, will slip some occasional pasta and cereal. I don't hold back on eggs at all and I really don't skimp if it's a protein meal. I can pig out and still lose weight as long as it's not a meal of carbs. Besides wheat the other thing I had to change was eating too late at night and then going to sleep before it had a chance to burn. Those two things were the main strategy.

Carrots are too sweet naturally. Same with bananas.

Each person is different and it's a matter of sticking to a diet. On the diet I posted, people get encouraged right away because it actually works and they don't have to starve or live on rice cakes. It seems like people are more apt to stick to a diet if they can see results fairly soon and some get to the point where they are obsessed with losing weight. My hubby once just cut the sugar from his coffee and lost weight. It's easier with guys. Anyway, good for you for finding something that works and sticking to it. I hope it inspires others to give it a shot.

Oh, and since the companies apparently get credit or blame for the results of the food you eat, be sure to send thank you cards to whatever companies sell the fruits and veggies you eat. After all, they would get the blame if their food made you fat, right?

I see a lot of commercials for those healthy vegetables and fruits. Since one poster here believes that the companies all brainwash you with marketing tricks, why don't more people get suckered into buying more peas and green beans with all those Green Giant and Del Monte commercials? Hmmm, I am beginning to think that individuals ultimately make their own choices and marketing just doesn't always work.

That's an interesting point -- produce doesn't get advertised. And no, a can of Green Giant peas doesn't count, nor is that really advertised either. Fruit doesn't get advertised. At the most these real foods might be mentioned in the supermarket flyer, and even then only what their prices are.

Nobody advertises carrots; they advertise Hot Pockets. Nobody advertises celery; they advertise Otis Splukmeyer muffins complete with 32 grams of fat. Nobody markets pears or plums or grapefruit; what they market is McNuggets and chicken wings in sugar sauce and microwaveable plastic platters and the idea that you can save all that horribly creative time in the kitchen, because we'll it for you and give you a drive-through so you don't even have to leave your car and suffer the degradation of walking 40 feet into the store.

As I keep saying -- advertising exists only to convince us to buy crap we don't need. But to pretend this sort of deception isn't dishonest -- is just dishonest.

Only stupid people buy stuff they don't need because of an ad.

To pretend otherwise is what is dishonest.

That's the entire purpose of advertising -- to convince you to buy something you don't need. When it's something you do need --- you already know that.

Further, "what consumers buy" is only half the picture, so pretending it's the whole ball of wax is dishonest in itself; the other half being the supplier.

Example: You're on a long drive, say several hours. You get a bit hungry but don't have the time to stop for a meal. You also need gas, so at the gas station you scan the snack possibilities. Let me know what you see in that convenience store that isn't deep fried, corn syrup drowned, sugared, salted, saturated-fat-laden, hyperprocessed absolute bullshit food. Rotsa ruck.

Take nuts. That's what I do when I travel. Nuts fill me up and are good protein. Or a healthy trail mix. That and water keep me away from the junk food and expensive food in airports.
21 Healthier Trail Mix Recipes to Make Yourself

I ran across a great way to retrain yourself. I read this book that covers the topic of self talk and I tried one of the methods to start drinking more water. I recorded myself saying "I love to drink water" and listened to it in the morning for 15 minutes and at night before I went to bed.. After two days I actually craved water when I woke up, at every meal, when I heard running water, and everytime someone mentioned water. I did the same thing with other bad habits. Works like a charm.

What to Say When you Talk To Yourself Shad Helmstetter 9780671708825 Amazon.com Books

 

[Esmeralda]

It is very obvious that the food available to the American consumer is very different than it was 30+ years ago. I remember when the first McDonald's came to our neighborhood. There were a few hamburger joints around before that, but along with Mcdonald's came a flood of fast food places, like KFC, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, etc. And the supermarkets also changed; instead of being mostly stocked with foods meant for cooking, they became half of that and the other half processed foods and junk foods. What's available has definitely changed. As Pogo noted, if you are traveling and want a snack, you are hard pressed to find anything healthy in a mini-mart along the way, and the only restaurants on the highway are basically hamburger and other fast food places.

We can think of it as capitalism and that those providing the foods are simply responding to market demands, but advertising is overwhelmingly in our faces day and night, 24/7, everywhere, insidiously, and it very definitely affects peoples' desire for fast food, processed food, and junk food. Also, I agree that these food producers add ingredients that have addictive qualities, such as sugar and salt. Or caffeine. Why does cola have caffeine?

People don't have to eat this food, but you almost have to be a scientist to avoid a lot of it. And you really have to make a special effort and go out of your way to avoid it. For example, if you are going to be on the road, the only way to avoid relying on junk food might be to prepare your own food ahead of time.

One problem is that women, even though they usually work full time, are the ones in the family who provide meals. When a woman is working all week, a full day, it's a lot to expect her to come home and cook a healthy meal from scratch, so a lot just order fast food or make something from pre-packed processed foods.

As far as exercise and laziness: our world today invites that too: television with hundreds of channels and remote controls didn't exist 30+ years ago, neither did the internet. Everyone has a car now; no one walks unless they make a point of it. In fact, nearly everything is so automatic, you don't get any exercise unless you make a point of it.

 

[airplanemechanic]

Before we had hamburgers. Now we have the quadrouple double triple bacon cheeseburger.

Yes, food has changed, but one thing that hasn't, nobody forces you to eat. Processed food, non processed, doesn't matter. It's still calories in / calories out.

 

[Asclepias]

Before we had hamburgers. Now we have the quadrouple double triple bacon cheeseburger.

Yes, food has changed, but one thing that hasn't, nobody forces you to eat. Processed food, non processed, doesn't matter. It's still calories in / calories out.

Yes your body forces you to eat. Thats one reason why starving yourself is not a good idea. It actually cause the body to retain/store more fat. Calories in/out is a simplistic assessment. Most people have to pay attention to find out the amount of calories. At that point it becomes a mental thing. Advertising controls what most people think about. What is the difference between a Pinto and 550 SL Mercedes? The answer is nothing. Both will get you where you need to go

 

[airplanemechanic]

Your body forces you to eat? Your body forces you to go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac? No, your MIND does. My body makes me buy as much healthy food as I can, with a splurge here and there, no harm done. When I go to BK and get a whopper I know I'm not eating healthy. I also don't eat much more than that that day because it's a lot of calories for one meal. I'll usually make myself have salad for a week after I splurge on a whopper. And I've lost 10 lbs in the last month doing this. And I'm never hungry. I'm never STUFFED either, but I'm never hungry.

 

[Asclepias]

Your body forces you to eat? Your body forces you to go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac? No, your MIND does. My body makes me buy as much healthy food as I can, with a splurge here and there, no harm done. When I go to BK and get a whopper I know I'm not eating healthy. I also don't eat much more than that that day because it's a lot of calories for one meal. I'll usually make myself have salad for a week after I splurge on a whopper. And I've lost 10 lbs in the last month doing this. And I'm never hungry. I'm never STUFFED either, but I'm never hungry.

Thats correct. Your body forces you to eat. Try not eating and see what happens.Your body will shut down. Your body doesnt make you buy healthy food. Your mind does that. Your body could care less as long as it gets what is needed to keep your body functioning. All those things you are talking about are conscious decisions. The real trick is getting it to stay permanently in your subconscious. There is a reason most people gain their lost weight right back. They simply dont understand that there has to be an awareness of what you eat and that practice needs to become as subconscious a reaction as tying your shoes.

 

[hadit]

It is very obvious that the food available to the American consumer is very different than it was 30+ years ago. I remember when the first McDonald's came to our neighborhood. There were a few hamburger joints around before that, but along with Mcdonald's came a flood of fast food places, like KFC, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, etc. And the supermarkets also changed; instead of being mostly stocked with foods meant for cooking, they became half of that and the other half processed foods and junk foods. What's available has definitely changed. As Pogo noted, if you are traveling and want a snack, you are hard pressed to find anything healthy in a mini-mart along the way, and the only restaurants on the highway are basically hamburger and other fast food places.

We can think of it as capitalism and that those providing the foods are simply responding to market demands, but advertising is overwhelmingly in our faces day and night, 24/7, everywhere, insidiously, and it very definitely affects peoples' desire for fast food, processed food, and junk food. Also, I agree that these food producers add ingredients that have addictive qualities, such as sugar and salt. Or caffeine. Why does cola have caffeine?

People don't have to eat this food, but you almost have to be a scientist to avoid a lot of it. And you really have to make a special effort and go out of your way to avoid it. For example, if you are going to be on the road, the only way to avoid relying on junk food might be to prepare your own food ahead of time.

One problem is that women, even though they usually work full time, are the ones in the family who provide meals. When a woman is working all week, a full day, it's a lot to expect her to come home and cook a healthy meal from scratch, so a lot just order fast food or make something from pre-packed processed foods.

As far as exercise and laziness: our world today invites that too: television with hundreds of channels and remote controls didn't exist 30+ years ago, neither did the internet. Everyone has a car now; no one walks unless they make a point of it. In fact, nearly everything is so automatic, you don't get any exercise unless you make a point of it.

It's not just that, it's also fear. When I was young (say 12), all the kids played outside until they HAD to go inside, completely without adult supervision. We got lots of exercise because if we wanted to go anywhere, we walked, ran, or rode a bicycle. Then when we found our friends, we were literally running around, playing some active game or other. We went inside dirty and tired. Great times.

Today, the very idea of parents allowing their 12 year olds to be outside on their own is practically grounds for arrest.

 

[hadit]

Before we had hamburgers. Now we have the quadrouple double triple bacon cheeseburger.

Yes, food has changed, but one thing that hasn't, nobody forces you to eat. Processed food, non processed, doesn't matter. It's still calories in / calories out.

Yes your body forces you to eat. Thats one reason why starving yourself is not a good idea. It actually cause the body to retain/store more fat. Calories in/out is a simplistic assessment. Most people have to pay attention to find out the amount of calories. At that point it becomes a mental thing. Advertising controls what most people think about. What is the difference between a Pinto and 550 SL Mercedes? The answer is nothing. Both will get you where you need to go

Not necessarily. The Mercedes will last a lot longer if properly maintained. You could compare a Mercedes and a Honda, however.

 

[Esmeralda]

Your body forces you to eat? Your body forces you to go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac? No, your MIND does. My body makes me buy as much healthy food as I can, with a splurge here and there, no harm done. When I go to BK and get a whopper I know I'm not eating healthy. I also don't eat much more than that that day because it's a lot of calories for one meal. I'll usually make myself have salad for a week after I splurge on a whopper. And I've lost 10 lbs in the last month doing this. And I'm never hungry. I'm never STUFFED either, but I'm never hungry.

My point was that one has to make an effort, a pointed effort to be very careful about what one eats, in order to have a healthful diet. This is because of the type of food and options with which we are bombarded on a daily basis, based on what's easily available and advertising these foods. If you are eating at Burger King once a week, and then eating only salads for the rest of the week, and only eating that one meal a day when you eat at BK, that's not a healthful way of eating or losing weight. To be truly healthy, you need to have a reasonable calorie intake on a daily basis and a variety of foods--protein, carbs, fats, fruit, veggies and dairy--everyday, each in appropriate amounts. Eating only one meal a day is not healthful. Eating only one type of food, something very restrictive, for 6 days and then splurging on a high fat meal once a week: this is not a healthful plan. It may keep your weight down, but you aren't doing yourself any real favor in the long term.

 

[airplanemechanic]

Hadit is bang on right. When I was a kid, we stayed outside until we had to go inside. We would be arranging the football teams on the bus on the way home and team captain was the kid that had the least homework. As the evening went on, more and more kids would join in as they finished homework, chores, etc. I would eat anything I wanted and I stayed skinny because I was always active. I NEVER see kids outside anymore.

 

[ClosedCaption]

Before we had hamburgers. Now we have the quadrouple double triple bacon cheeseburger.

Yes, food has changed, but one thing that hasn't, nobody forces you to eat. Processed food, non processed, doesn't matter. It's still calories in / calories out.

Now we're making progress...at first it seems like you were denying this. Glad you came around

 

[ClosedCaption]

Before we had hamburgers. Now we have the quadrouple double triple bacon cheeseburger.

Yes, food has changed, but one thing that hasn't, nobody forces you to eat. Processed food, non processed, doesn't matter. It's still calories in / calories out.

Now we're making progress...at first it seems like you were denying this. Glad you came around

 

[airplanemechanic]

But what you are denying is that people aren't responsible for what they eat. It's still calories in calories out. Whether you eat 2000 calories of salad or of pizza, if you stay around that number you won't gain weight. If you don't, you will get fat. And it's nobody's fault but your own.

 

[airplanemechanic]

But what you are denying is that people aren't responsible for what they eat. It's still calories in calories out. Whether you eat 2000 calories of salad or of pizza, if you stay around that number you won't gain weight. If you don't, you will get fat. And it's nobody's fault but your own.

 

[ClosedCaption]

But what you are denying is that people aren't responsible for what they eat. It's still calories in calories out. Whether you eat 2000 calories of salad or of pizza, if you stay around that number you won't gain weight. If you don't, you will get fat. And it's nobody's fault but your own.

I never said that but like most debates what I say and what you hear are two different things.

You want to make this all about personal responsibility ONLY and pretend that food available, for cheap has nothing to do with it.

Everyone agrees its each persons responsibility...not sure why you keep punching that strawman. But to say everyone has gotten less responsible (which cannot be measured) and not that the worst foods are cheaper and readily available all over (which can be measured) is simply silly

 

[airplanemechanic]

But it doesn't matter, it's all an excuse. What do good excuses and bad excuses have in common? They are both excuses.

Just because bad food is cheap doesn't make people buy it. They still have to put it in the cart and then check out and then bring it home and put it in the pantry.

 

[airplanemechanic]

But it doesn't matter, it's all an excuse. What do good excuses and bad excuses have in common? They are both excuses.

Just because bad food is cheap doesn't make people buy it. They still have to put it in the cart and then check out and then bring it home and put it in the pantry.

 

[airplanemechanic]

But it doesn't matter, it's all an excuse. What do good excuses and bad excuses have in common? They are both excuses.

Just because bad food is cheap doesn't make people buy it. They still have to put it in the cart and then check out and then bring it home and put it in the pantry.