Please don’t start eating healthfully. Sincerely, the Food Industry

[jeffrey]

Dear Consumers: A disturbing trend has come to our attention. You, the people, are thinking more about health, and you’re starting to do something about it. This cannot continue.

Sure, there’s always been talk of health in America. We often encourage it. The thing is, we only want you to think about and talk about health in a certain way—equating health with how you look, instead of outcomes like quality of life and reduced disease risk. Your superficial understanding of health has a great influence over your purchasing decisions, and we’re ready for it, whether you choose to go low-calorie, low-fat, gluten-free or inevitably give up and accept the fact that you can’t resist our Little Debbie snacks, potato chips and ice cream novelties...

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

[disneysteve]

Very disturbing mainly because of how very true it is.

Today's hot trend is gluten-free. My supermarket is overrun with signs and shelves and whole aisles devoted to gluten-free foods. Foods that have never contained gluten are suddenly in new packaging touting that fact. Restaurants are putting gluten-free items on the menu. And all because about 1% of the population has celiac disease and can't properly digest gluten. Despite that tiny minority, about 30% of people polled say they are working to eliminate gluten from their diets - for absolutely no reason. It is mind-boggling.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

You know what? I do not even consider myself to be a super healthy eater, but I get so disgusted at the ingredients sometimes. For example, when I want to make a quick chili meal using already cooked canned beans. How many cans do I have to look at that don't include cornstarch and surgar or corn syrup? In beans? That is totally unnecessary and I don't want my chili sweet or pudding-like due to the cornstarch. Then if I go to buy some canned tomato product, I have to hunt down one without sugar added. That's what I get for buying a convenience food.

Oh, and what if it was not chili but quick bean burritos? There is sugar in most of the tortillas!

Personally, a bad thing for me is carrageenan which has been added to many foods at least since I was a child, but now it is in so many things. It makes my life miserable, so I have to avoid it. It's a thickener, gelatinizer, emulsifier and added to many things. I read the label on a canned luncheon meat and there it was! Added to meat, good grief.

Revenge and self provision: The pressure canner was purchased about a week ago, tomatoes were planted yesterday, beans will be planted as soon as it is hot, and so many of my other goodies will be grown in quantity and preserved this year.

I've been begging my DH for several years to do the backyard chicken thing. I do not want to do it myself, but keep hoping he will become enamored with the idea. He is reading Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma, so maybe that will help persuade him.

[NetSkyBlue]

Home-canned beans are GREAT! I never make chili starting from dried beans at the time I want to make chili. I just can beans once or twice a year, enough for 1 pint of beans per pot of chili that I plan on making. I didn't grow my own beans though, I bought dried beans and soaked, par-boiled and canned them. Apartment living = no garden

My last batch, I made after making an enchilada sauce from dehydrated Ancho chiles. I saved the water used to soak the dried chilis, cooked it down to a more concentrated form, combined it with some tomato juice, and used that as the liquid in my canning jars. Added a nice touch of flavor, and no waste!

I'm a firm believer in make your own convenience foods.

I also have a meat grinder that I use when roasts go on sale for < $3/lb. It's rare to find ground beef that cheap, and when you do, it's the 80% stuff that is probably full of "pink slime".

[disneysteve]

A sales rep brought breakfast into our office today - which I didn't touch - but I happened to look at the packages of "Old-Fashioned Syrup" for the pancakes. The ingredients started with corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water, natural and artificial flavors. Sorry but there is absolutely nothing "old-fashioned" about that. In our house, we serve genuine 100% Vermont maple syrup. We have friends whose son lives in VT. About twice a year when they go up to visit, we give them money to bring us back a quart of syrup fresh from the source right across the street from where he lives. The artificial processed crap that passes for pancake syrup is pathetic.