3 ms·

When the US government is in charge of feeding people healthy foods, they came up with the now defunct "Food Pyramid" and school lunch, which featured classic g

by icxa 7y ago

When the US government is in charge of feeding people healthy foods, they came up with the now defunct "Food Pyramid" and school lunch, which featured classic gems like "government cheese", "square pizza" and my favorite, mystery meat "salisbury steak"

ryanmercer 7y ago
Woah woah woah, I miss rectangle pizza and 'country fried steak' (maybe decomposing cardboard and ground shoe leather?). It may not have been food but it tasted good.
- icxa 7y ago
  Of course it tasted good! Those food additive and chemical plants in NJ can do wonders to stale, ammonia-washed meats to trick our brains into thinking what we are eating tastes good! I still indulge in some fast food pink goop chicken nuggets from time to time. With enough sugar-filled "barbecue" sauce, anything can taste good!
maroonblazer 7y ago
But weren't they simply following the lead of the most widely accepted science at the time? As science has learned more the government recommendations have evolved as well, albeit perhaps not as rapidly or comprehensively as they could.
- Conjoiner 7y ago
  Surprisingly no, they were not following science.
- mellavora 7y ago
  tr "most widely accepted" "paid for by corporate lobbyists"
- ncmncm 7y ago
  The "food pyramid" you saw plastered all over your school cafeteria was concocted and distributed by the Dairy Council, a powerful marketing organization that has succeeded in establishing taxing authority over dairies in many states. If you wonder who's paying for "eat more cheese" billboards, they are paid out of that tax. It is more of an advertising cartel than anything dairies want. As you might expect, it is the billboard owners and poster printers who benefit most from the expenditures. The American Cancer Society, similarly, is mainly a printer of junk mail.
fifnir 7y ago
When the free market is in charge the results aren't much better, why not have another go at the government approach and learn from our mistakes?
- icxa 7y ago
  The free market is responsible for the biggest large-scale change in sustainable farming and organic produce, meats, and dairy we have seen so far, why not double down on that and accelerate the progress made? If you would have told me 10 years ago that organic produce, meats, and dairy would be commonplace in a Walmart grocery store, I would have laughed, but here we are. Conversely it is only through large government subsidies of corn and soy that we have all these cheap, non-nutritious soy and corn byproduct snacks that fill 80-90% of grocery store isles, of which the free market, driven by consumer demand for something different, has now started to penetrate even the snack isles. For example, pea snacks are all the rage now, and I see way more pea snacks, pea crisps, etc than ever before at my local chain store.
  - fifnir 7y ago
    You know that "organic" is pretty much a bullshit marketing term right? > large government subsidies of corn and soy That's not exactly what leftists fight for when they fight for government money. Gut those, gut those hard I don't care. Is the government behind the sugar lobby too? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-in... Is the government now bringing all the unhealthy things from the West to developing countries? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/16/health/brazil-obesity-nestle.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/16/health/brazil... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4092629 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4092629 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8161771 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8161771 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1363897/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1363897/ Or is it the free market looking for a new source of dollar at the expense of people's health ?

by icxa 7y ago

ryanmercer 7y ago

Woah woah woah, I miss rectangle pizza and 'country fried steak' (maybe decomposing cardboard and ground shoe leather?). It may not have been food but it tasted good.

icxa 7y ago
Of course it tasted good! Those food additive and chemical plants in NJ can do wonders to stale, ammonia-washed meats to trick our brains into thinking what we are eating tastes good! I still indulge in some fast food pink goop chicken nuggets from time to time. With enough sugar-filled "barbecue" sauce, anything can taste good!

maroonblazer 7y ago

But weren't they simply following the lead of the most widely accepted science at the time? As science has learned more the government recommendations have evolved as well, albeit perhaps not as rapidly or comprehensively as they could.

Conjoiner 7y ago
Surprisingly no, they were not following science.
mellavora 7y ago
tr "most widely accepted" "paid for by corporate lobbyists"
ncmncm 7y ago
The "food pyramid" you saw plastered all over your school cafeteria was concocted and distributed by the Dairy Council, a powerful marketing organization that has succeeded in establishing taxing authority over dairies in many states. If you wonder who's paying for "eat more cheese" billboards, they are paid out of that tax. It is more of an advertising cartel than anything dairies want. As you might expect, it is the billboard owners and poster printers who benefit most from the expenditures. The American Cancer Society, similarly, is mainly a printer of junk mail.

fifnir 7y ago

When the free market is in charge the results aren't much better, why not have another go at the government approach and learn from our mistakes?

icxa 7y ago
The free market is responsible for the biggest large-scale change in sustainable farming and organic produce, meats, and dairy we have seen so far, why not double down on that and accelerate the progress made? If you would have told me 10 years ago that organic produce, meats, and dairy would be commonplace in a Walmart grocery store, I would have laughed, but here we are. Conversely it is only through large government subsidies of corn and soy that we have all these cheap, non-nutritious soy and corn byproduct snacks that fill 80-90% of grocery store isles, of which the free market, driven by consumer demand for something different, has now started to penetrate even the snack isles. For example, pea snacks are all the rage now, and I see way more pea snacks, pea crisps, etc than ever before at my local chain store.
- fifnir 7y ago
  You know that "organic" is pretty much a bullshit marketing term right? > large government subsidies of corn and soy That's not exactly what leftists fight for when they fight for government money. Gut those, gut those hard I don't care. Is the government behind the sugar lobby too? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-in... Is the government now bringing all the unhealthy things from the West to developing countries? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/16/health/brazil-obesity-nestle.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/16/health/brazil... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4092629 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4092629 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8161771 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8161771 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1363897/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1363897/ Or is it the free market looking for a new source of dollar at the expense of people's health ?