Foods that manipulate you

Stanley

Recycles dryer sheets
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Jan 24, 2013
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I believe we all have suspected this for a while, but here is an article that shows how the food industry changes the food we eat to manipulate us into eating more of what they want us to eat. The comments on the 'bliss point' of sugar are interesting to say the least. So is how salt is used to preserve food as well as cover up the 'processed' taste. And let's not forget the mouth feel of fat!

Salt Sugar Fat: Q&A With Author Michael Moss | TIME.com

How The Food Industry Manipulates Taste Buds With 'Salt Sugar Fat' : The Salt : NPR
 
....the food industry changes the food we eat to manipulate us into eating more of what they want us to eat.

tumblr_m65o0nL8KR1rxy9bjo1_400.gif

Eat me.... Drink me.... Smoke me....” —Firesign Theater,
How Can You Be In Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All

Tyro
 
I heard this interview and decided to borrow the book from the library. There is a waiting list so It may be a few months before I get it, but am expecting it to be an interesting read.
 
The best guide to buying groceries is "Rich Food Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS)" by Jayson & Mira Calton.

From the promotional copy:

Do you get confused while poring over labels at the grocery store, trying to determine the healthiest options? What makes one box of cereal better for you than another, and how are we supposed to decipher the extensive lists of mysterious ingredients on every package, and then determine whether they are safe or toxic to your family's health? With nearly 40,000 items populating the average supermarket today, the Rich Food Poor Food - Grocery Purchasing System (GPS), is a unique guide that steers the consumer through the grocery store aisles, directing them to health enhancing Rich Food options while avoiding health detracting Poor Food ones.

Rich Food, Poor Food is unique in the grocery store guide arena in that rather than rating a particular food using calories, sodium, or fat as the main criteria, it identifies the products that contain wholesome, micronutrient-rich ingredients that health-conscious shoppers are looking for, like wild caught fish, grass-fed beef, raw/organic cheese, organic meats, pastured eggs and dairy, organic produce and sprouted grains, nuts and seeds, while avoiding over 150 common unwanted Poor Food ingredients such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, refined flour, GMOs, MSG, artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners, pesticides, nitrites/ nitrates, gluten, and chemical preservatives like BHA and BHT.

So while other food swapping grocery guides may give the green light to eating Kellogg's Fruit Loops with Sprinkles, Oscar Mayer Turkey Bologna and Hostess Twinkies based on their lower calories, sodium, and/or fat levels, you won't find these heavily processed, food-like products identified as Rich Food choices in Rich Food, Poor Food. That doesn't mean this guide to micronutrient-sufficient living leads readers to a boring culinary lifestyle. Quite the contrary! The Caltons offer Rich Food choices in every aisle of the store including desserts, snacks, sauces, hot dogs, and other fun foods!

This indispensable grocery store guide raises the bar on food quality as it takes readers on an aisle-by-aisle tour, teaching them how to identify potentially problematic ingredients, while sharing tips on how to lock in a food's nutritional value during preservation and preparation, save money, and make homemade versions of favorite grocery store staples. Regardless of age, dietary preference or current health, Rich Food, Poor Food turns the grocery store and farmer's market into a micronutrient pharmacy--filling the shopping cart with a natural prescription for better health and longevity.
 
It's easier when you just stay away from all those inside aisles. Nothing healthy there. Every weekend we load up on fresh produce, swing around to pick up a little lean meat, then some eggs and we are done. With the exception of my Kashi trail mix bars I don't eat things that come pre-packaged or have a list of ingredients consisting of more than a few natural items.
 
I am about to have a seizure looking at this graphic

tumblr_m65o0nL8KR1rxy9bjo1_400.gif


Eat me.... Drink me.... Smoke me....” —Firesign Theater,
How Can You Be In Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All

Tyro
 
I believe we all have suspected this for a while, but here is an article that shows how the food industry changes the food we eat to manipulate us into eating more of what they want us to eat. The comments on the 'bliss point' of sugar are interesting to say the least. So is how salt is used to preserve food as well as cover up the 'processed' taste. And let's not forget the mouth feel of fat!

Salt Sugar Fat: Q&A With Author Michael Moss | TIME.com

How The Food Industry Manipulates Taste Buds With 'Salt Sugar Fat' : The Salt : NPR
Well, duh! I mean it has always been obvious to me that those big bags of cheetos, potato chips, whatever, that fill whole aisles of stores, concocted by companies such as FL, etc., have been carefully engineered to maximize munching. Sodas abound. Don't even get me started on sugary cereals marketed to kids - how can parents feed them that stuff? And just look at the overwhelming number of fast food restaurants. Fortunately for us, we don't like any of that stuff.

I think I am still most blown away by the number of fast food places in the US and they get tremendous traffic too! IMO the food is generally awful, so I am doubly amazed.

I guess my taste buds didn't get corrupted? (or at least I grew out of it)
 
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Well, duh!

+1

They make these foods taste soooo good by pumping them full of stuff that isn't generally great for you, and it has to have a stable shelf life (that includes maintaining taste, texture, and mouth feel), so preservatives are necessary. And they use focus groups and taste testers and market research to make these foods as appealing as possible to sell as many units as possible.

Nutritional content is usually a remote concern for mass market snack foods unless there is some popular rebellion against ingredients perceived to be bad. Trans fats, HFCS, sugar, fat more generally, carbs, non-organic, etc have been demonized in varying quantities throughout the last few decades.

(not directed at your Audrey, just a general comment) I wouldn't say fast food restaurants are any worse than other kinds of restaurants in terms of nutrition. Salt, fat, and sugar taste good, and most restaurants don't hold back because they are appealing to your taste buds not nutritional information. What I find amazing is when food can taste really good (or at least good) and be healthy at the same time. One excellent reason to improve your cooking is so you can have healthy food that tastes good too.
 
Please don't tell me that those free peanuts at the bar were just a ploy. :(
 
"Sugary". Refined sugar used to be the bad guy. Now it seems benign compared with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Time to buy stock in Stevia producers/processors? :angel:
 
I recently read a good book on a subject related to this:

Taste
What you are missing
The Passionate Eater's Guide to Why Good Food Tastes Good
By Barb Stuckey

I talks about the science of taste. She is a food developer but not in a bad way. Well written and entertaining.
 
Well, duh!
+2. So adults are responsible for their choices (and for their kids where applicable), good or bad, who woulda thunk it.

Too bad there's been no information whatsoever about salt, sugar, fat, simple vs complex carbs, overeating, moderation, drugs, alcohol, smoking, obesity, inactivity, processed foods, food subsidies, etc. until now... :cool:

If you read this (below) and it doesn't change your eating habits, who's to blame? And it's not new information.
Were you surprised by how many scientists and food company executives avoid their own products?
It was everything from a former top scientist at Kraft saying he used to maintain his weight by jogging, and then he blew out his knee and couldn’t exercise, his solution was to avoid sugar and all caloric drinks, including all the Kool-Aid and sugary drinks that Kraft makes. It ranged from him to the former top scientist at Frito Lay. I spent days at his house going over documents relating to his efforts at Frito Lay to push the company to cut back on salt. He served me plain, cooked oatmeal and raw asparagus for lunch. We toured his kitchen, and he did not have one single processed food product in his cupboards or refrigerator.

The scientists and executives were pretty honest about their roles in creating unhealthy food. Did you get the impression they felt guilty about their products?
One reason they don’t eat their own products, is that they know better. They know about the addictive properties of sugar, salt and fat. As insiders, they know too much. I think a lot of them have come to feel badly. But not blaming themselves necessarily, because the older ones invented a number of these products back in the days when dependency on them was much lower. In the 70s and the 80s for example, we were eating more home cooked meals from scratch and eating more mindfully. As society evolved and we became more dependent on these conveniences, these people came to see their work with real misgivings. The inventor of the Lunchables, Bob Drane, wishes mightily that the nutritional aspects of that product could’ve been made better. He is still hoping it will be made better. They came to have regrets about their work in the context of the health effects their products seem to have that go hand-in-hand with society’s increasing demand of their products.
 
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Well, duh!

+ n+1! I didn't want to be the first to say it, so thanks.

And in other news, car dealers will try to tempt you to buy a new car even though your old one is perfectly serviceable. Electronics stores will tempt you with the latest generation, even though the advantage to you may be marginal. etc.

Why should anyone be surprised that food merchants want you to buy more food?

Is "Buyer beware" on that list of 'Things I learned in Kindergarten'? Maybe that has to wait to 1st grade or something?

-ERD50
 
What amazes me, is that the snack companies have these massive giant expensive machines to mix and extrude these little snacky things. But the market for these snacks is so massive it justifies these super expensive, very modern, highly automated factories. Lots of jobs for industrial and mechanical engineers! My Dad used to suggest that I go tour the Frito-Lay plant near where he lives, but I told him that I really don't want to see the junk being made. He settles for the occasional trip to the area orchards to pick up tree-ripened peaches instead. :)
 
I think we should keep in mind that some of these manufactured goods are designed to trigger our body chemistry to make us want more of them. And let's not forget our children and how they are subject to these manipulations of their body chemistry. As adults we have some ability to resist, but our kids?
 
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