Pg. 365 "Processed food kills people (eventually). Processed food kills pocketbooks (eventually). Processed food kills budgets (eventually). Processed food kills the planet (eventually). It's a slow process, even glacial, but we know it's happening--or at least some of us do. Others of us keep doing it anyway because it's mindless, seemingly cheap, convenient, tasty, and most of all, addictive."
Pg. 368 "The industry blames the consumer for choosing processed food over Real Food. Based on the percentage of food consumed in the US (62 percent processed), they have a point. But why do people choose processed food? Because it tastes better? Reduced spoilage and depreciation? Cost? Cooking and cleanup time? Marketing? Or maybe it's just addictive? Big Food simultaneously exploits the two laws of marketing--give the public what it wants, and if you build it they will come."
Pg. 372 Seven Shopping Rules
1. Don't go shopping hungry.
2. Shop the edges of the supermarket. If you've gone into the aisles, you've gone off the rails.
3. If a product is on the endcap of the aisle, the company paid to have it placed there. Don't be a stooge.
4. Any food that has a logo you've heard of or any food with a Nutrition Facts label has been processed.
5. If a product lists a structure-function claim on the package, don't buy it. Example: any food that says "low-fat" or "no trans-fats" is poison because something else is in there instead.
6. If it doesn't say whole grain, it isn't. An even if it does say whole grain, it probably isn't. If the carbohydrate to fiber ratio is great than 10 to 1, don't buy it.
7. If any form of sugar is one of the first three ingredients, it's a dessert.
Pg. 373 Sugar is both the marker and the hook for processed food. Therefore, we need real efforts at food revision, not just lip service. Here are seven proposals that could be implemented immediately, if we had the political will to do it.
1. Nutrition education for the public should emphasize that there's no biological requirement for, or nutritional value of, added sugar.
2. The industry should be forced to label "added sugars" (because that's what they added) on food products in teaspoons rather than grams, which will make it easier to understand.
3. There should be a complete ban of companies associated with sugary products from sponsoring sporting events. Further, as Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohil have done, we should encourage other sporting role models and those within the entertainment industry to publicly dissociate themselves from endorsing sugary products, including product placement.
4. Like alcohol and tobacco, there should be a ban on loss leading (discounting products) in supermarkets of processed foods and drinks.
5. Soda taxes should be everywhere and should extend to sugary foods as well. The tax should be on the amount of sugar, not the volume of the soft drink.
6. There should be a complete ban of all sugary drink advertising (including fruit juice) on TV and internet demand services.
7. There should be a discontinuation of all governmental food subsidies, especially commodity crops such as sugar, which have been shown to contribute to health detriments. Subsidies distort the market and increase the costs of nonsubsidized crops, making them unaffordable for many. Either let the markets do their work or use differential subsidization to tax soda and subsidize water.
Once upon a time, you would walk down the street, see someone smoking, and think they were cool and hip. Today you see someone smoking and feel pity for them. I believe that ten years from now, you'll walk down the street, see someone drinking a Coca-Cola, and feel itty for them as well.
That cultural tectonic shift--you can feel it under your feet--that's how you change the world.
Pg. 368 "The industry blames the consumer for choosing processed food over Real Food. Based on the percentage of food consumed in the US (62 percent processed), they have a point. But why do people choose processed food? Because it tastes better? Reduced spoilage and depreciation? Cost? Cooking and cleanup time? Marketing? Or maybe it's just addictive? Big Food simultaneously exploits the two laws of marketing--give the public what it wants, and if you build it they will come."
Pg. 372 Seven Shopping Rules
1. Don't go shopping hungry.
2. Shop the edges of the supermarket. If you've gone into the aisles, you've gone off the rails.
3. If a product is on the endcap of the aisle, the company paid to have it placed there. Don't be a stooge.
4. Any food that has a logo you've heard of or any food with a Nutrition Facts label has been processed.
5. If a product lists a structure-function claim on the package, don't buy it. Example: any food that says "low-fat" or "no trans-fats" is poison because something else is in there instead.
6. If it doesn't say whole grain, it isn't. An even if it does say whole grain, it probably isn't. If the carbohydrate to fiber ratio is great than 10 to 1, don't buy it.
7. If any form of sugar is one of the first three ingredients, it's a dessert.
Pg. 373 Sugar is both the marker and the hook for processed food. Therefore, we need real efforts at food revision, not just lip service. Here are seven proposals that could be implemented immediately, if we had the political will to do it.
1. Nutrition education for the public should emphasize that there's no biological requirement for, or nutritional value of, added sugar.
2. The industry should be forced to label "added sugars" (because that's what they added) on food products in teaspoons rather than grams, which will make it easier to understand.
3. There should be a complete ban of companies associated with sugary products from sponsoring sporting events. Further, as Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohil have done, we should encourage other sporting role models and those within the entertainment industry to publicly dissociate themselves from endorsing sugary products, including product placement.
4. Like alcohol and tobacco, there should be a ban on loss leading (discounting products) in supermarkets of processed foods and drinks.
5. Soda taxes should be everywhere and should extend to sugary foods as well. The tax should be on the amount of sugar, not the volume of the soft drink.
6. There should be a complete ban of all sugary drink advertising (including fruit juice) on TV and internet demand services.
7. There should be a discontinuation of all governmental food subsidies, especially commodity crops such as sugar, which have been shown to contribute to health detriments. Subsidies distort the market and increase the costs of nonsubsidized crops, making them unaffordable for many. Either let the markets do their work or use differential subsidization to tax soda and subsidize water.
Once upon a time, you would walk down the street, see someone smoking, and think they were cool and hip. Today you see someone smoking and feel pity for them. I believe that ten years from now, you'll walk down the street, see someone drinking a Coca-Cola, and feel itty for them as well.
That cultural tectonic shift--you can feel it under your feet--that's how you change the world.