Not enough TrainerRoad? 
8 Likes
That could be one reason but Americans and Brits, for example, were not overly fat in the 1950s and 1960s. They didn’t exercise more in the 1950s than they do now. Why do you think people are so much fatter now than they were 60 years ago?
When I was a kid (born in 1966) we only had one or two fat kids in my elementary school. I’m talking about in the whole school. Now 1/4 of the kids in my son’s class are fat - a few are obsese. Plus, half the kids have asthma, nut allergies, and other health issues. Kids 50 years ago didn’t have all these problems. What do you think explains this?
3 Likes
Let’s keep the insults to a minimum. If you don’t have anything to add, take your own advice and don’t post.
I added plenty. Go ahead and respond to what I posted and propose an alternate reason why obesity and diabetes is so rampant in the western world.
3 Likes
Sure it’s a change in food, but also the fact that Americans are far less active than before, especially kids who are glued to their phones and not activities, and parents who normalize it.
This honestly is generally the approach I take. Treat food with respect, try to eat well, stuff in a package is probably both less healthy and less tasty than something made at home by a competent person.
That said - man made, or not found in nature does not equal ‘bad.’ I love MSG. I have a big bottle of it in my pantry, and add it to chili, stews, etc. MSG got a bad rap based purely on pop culture rumors. Numerous studies have shown it is perfectly healthy. Gluten is another complaint I roll my eyes at. Some people have celiac disease. Some others are gluten intolerant. This is a miniscule slice of society. The balance of people that avoid it do so based on pop culture and guesswork. It’s ridiculous.
5 Likes
This is a biggie. In a society where food is overly abundant and disgustingly cheap (e.g. US) it loses almost all value, and it’s difficult to respect something you don’t value.
1 Like
A mix of ;
Less kids playing outside, it’s too dangerous, they could get hurt, here’s a tablet
Less physical education, too dangerous for my kid, and dodgeball encourages bullying
Less home cooked meals, both parents (if they’re still together) are usually tired after a long day at work, most stuff you get premade or in restaurants has an enormous amount of whether sugar or salt compared to what you’d put at home
Parents are also more in sedentary jobs, mentally exhausting, get home, too tired for physical play with kids
Nobody walks to place anymore and most suburbs aren’t conducive to that, so everybody gets in the car for a kilometer jaunt.
People value their sleep less, poor sleep and sleep deprivation leads to weight gain, and other horrible things
People are always connected with their phones /tablets/laptops so turn off the brain less so less relaxing, less being in the moment and letting go
…
I can keep going. So processed food isn’t the only problem in our society, but the fact that it’s made to last unnatural amounts of times, gets enhances by sodium or sugar quite often to enhance the taste… Probably means that it’s not the biodiversity that will help enhance your gut in a healthy manner.
5 Likes
ok, go eat 15g of Tylenol, just a hand full and report back. no prescription needed.
(hint: don’t. Makes me wonder why I even felt the need to add a hint on here)
1 Like
It’s mostly about the assumptions, not the facts, when you look at why anyone does anything.
To your question of why people are afraid, there are numerous examples of bad things going on in the food industry; mad cow disease, Nestle’s experimentation on African children, I’m sure there are hundreds more…more than enough to induce suspicion and fear.
An (almost) totally different question is what kinds of food are good for you to eat. Assumptions that all highly processed is bad, or all natural is good, are equally flawed assumptions.
3 Likes
+1
What high ground and what dismissal? The fact that I dismissed the “most food in grocery stores is poison” argument? Yes, I stand by that because it was simply a nonsense statement and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Statements like that are exactly what sound like they are based on fear, because other people have actually posted things that back up their opinions and I have to read them. I haven’t really been dismissive to anyone else
1 Like
Big picture here is that big corporations are not out for your best interest when it comes to pesticides and preservatives. Processed foods that are just sugary and loaded with carbs are are not an issue for many of us who are very active unless we over consume them. We can all prove you with a list of these chemicals, etc, but the list would be endless!!!
Just read labels and research anything that does not seem like it is natural. Here are a few: BHT(used as a preservative), silicone(used in cooking sprays), other anti foaming agents allowed in oils, soy lecitin(the process used to make this is nasty). Most of these are listed on the labels, but pesticide residues are not and then we can get into the whole conventional vs non conventional debate. I buy organic when I can. You only live once, so might as well try and reduce the risk of chemicals as much as possible. Most pesticides are known carcinogens, just because the FDA sets limits of the exposure does not mean that is it safe.
Here are a few articles:
Roundup is spayed pre-harvest to not only reduce weeds, but acts as a desiccant to kill and dry the product. This is why some wheat products have high levels of Roundup:
Even Fox new posted this:
There is more on the internet than what we can post on this thread.
1 Like
I heard about this crazy fool on IM talk called will who at rancid sandwiches at IM Vichy 
That really not the case unless you can evidence otherwise, I’ve used bakeries in France, Italy and Germany and very little is marked as organic. Traditional french baguettes won’t be made with organic flour.
Local bakeries also use plenty of additives to extend shelf life and maximise their profitability. If you want bread made with four or five ingredients its’ best to make it at home.
1 Like
How can you call my arguments nonsense when you made a blanket statement about grocery store items as poison? Seriously, come on lol
3 Likes
I’m curious what your argument in favor of processed foods as a preference to whole foods would be? Is it essentially that there is no difference so one should buy whatever is cheaper? Whichever one prefers the taste of?
The argument in favor of whole foods has been made over and over again (to hugely varying degrees of success and quality in my opinion) in this thread, but the response from you and others has been, broadly speaking, to poke holes in these arguments (sometimes deservedly so).
I posted my general diet and shopping habits above - what are yours? Why do you buy the things you buy and eat the things you eat?
3 Likes
No, local independent bakeries in the UK.
1 Like
To be clear I’ve not promoted processed foods over Whole Foods, that would be asinine. I’m just saying these fears, choices, whatever you want to call them, aren’t always based on logic. I remember a thing going around about some scary sounding ingredient in breakfast cereal which was also used in some questionable purpose, but a quick search revealed it was perfectly safe for food. That didn’t stop people from spreading the “there’s poison in your kids Breakfast” crap
I will have to post my food choices later when I have a bit more time, but I will.
I think this is why this thread has a bit of a feel of trolling, or something similar (my apologies, trolling is too harsh of a word but I can’t come up with the right one). There hasn’t really been a counter-argument or proposal, just general hole poking.
To be clear - I think you are correct in a lot of the hole poking - there is a decent amount of hand waving around quality of food, and many of the studies/arguments posted here don’t hold a ton of water - but I would like to see a counter proposal, or at least a laying out of principles being supported.
Said differently, If you aren’t advocating for processed foods over whole foods (or at least as equal to whole foods) then what is the goal of this thread?
1 Like