Dear American Consumers: Please Don’t Start Eating Healthfully. Sincerely, the Food Industry

[TalkingDog]

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/05/19/dear-american-consumers-please-dont-start-eating-healthfully-sincerely-the-food-industry/

We were dismayed when the IWG released its report in 2011. The guidelines said that foods advertised to children must provide “a meaningful contribution to a healthful diet.” For example, any food marketed to children must “contain at least 50% by weight one or more of the following: fruit; vegetable; whole grain; fat-free or low-fat milk or yogurt; fish; extra lean meat or poultry; eggs; nuts and seeds; or beans.”

This report was potentially devastating. These organizations, experts in nutrition, were officially outlining what constituted “a meaningful contribution to a healthful diet.” Thankfully, we have a ton of money and were able to use it to get the IWG to withdraw the guidelines.

In a public comment posted on the FTC website, our friends at General Mills pointed out that under the IWG guidelines, the most commonly consumed foods in the US would be considered unhealthy. Specifically, according to General Mills, “of the 100 most commonly consumed foods and beverages in America, 88 would fail the IWG’s proposed standards.” So you see? If you people start eating the way the nutrition experts at the CDC and USDA recommend that you eat, that would delegitimize almost 90 percent of the products we produce! Do you realize how much money that would cost us?

According to the General Mills letter, if everyone in the US started eating healthfully, it would cost us $503 billion per year! That might affect our ability to pay CEOs like General Mills’ Ken Powell annual compensations of more than $12 million.

[PDJane]

1. My offspring headed to Denver for a debate thing at one point;

They were welcomed and treated well. They took the kids on a tour of the countryside. Upon hitting a roadside produce stand, the kids convinced the driver to stop. They cleaned the guy out! There wasn't even a parsnip left! The owners of the three stalls they hit that day were more than pleased. They also bought free-range eggs at one stall; cooked them on a hot plate. In fact, the stall owners convinced the driver to bring them back a couple of times while they were there, since these kids obviously were happy to eat the stuff that the stalls had for sale; melons, veggies, squash, tomatoes, any fruit, peas and beans....one was amazed to see the kids splitting peas and eating them out of the shell, raw. When he asked where the kids came from and was told Canada, he stated "Man, these kids must eat less junk food than we do down here; I've never seen the like."

The kids informed me, when they returned, that if it hadn't been for the stalls and the hotel salad bar, they'd not have seen anything green for the entire trip.

The pop consumption is growing, but it's still a little less than down there, and a lot of the kids who know how much sugar is in the stuff have stopped drinking it on a regular basis.

Chips are a bit different here, too. We don't soak them in tallow first. *shrug* We're getting a bit worse at screening this stuff out, though. Current administration likes big ag a bit too much.

The problem here is, as there, the amount of money that these people bring to bear on the whole effort of selling stuff that isn't too great for you.

[progressoid]

2. General Mills' CEO only makes 12 million a year?

Loser.

[ZRT2209]

3. thank you for smoking!

[meow2u3]

4. We'll jack up the prices of healthful foods

so you can't afford them.

Sincerely,

The Food Industry.

[DetlefK]

5. A millennia-old diet:

Grains and beans. Throw in some vegetables and fruits for the vitamins and some dairy-products for the calcium.
That's it.
Perfectly healthy, vegetarian and no needs for industrial additives.

This diet was a common pattern in many ancient cultures, from Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome, through the whole Middle-East, all the way to India. (I think, South-America invented something similar with corn and beans.)

[zeemike]

6. Yep...and it is not that hard.

I have changed my diet to mostly grain and beans as it's base...and add veggies and or meat in some small amounts...it is so much cheaper, and I can make a pretty satisfying meal out of it in an hour or so from scratch.
The trick is to get over the need for instant gratification that the fast food industry has trained us to feel.