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Many of today’s unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco
- skilled 3y agohttps://archive.ph/0ewmB https://archive.ph/0ewmB
- r0ckarong 3y agoThey did a lot more than just that: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-how-cigarettes-invented-everything-104634493/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236...
- thesaintlives 3y agoThat is quite impressive because they also had a hand in the creation of 'public relations' i.e mass marketing. A very powerful combination!
- an_aparallel 3y agoBernaise was credited with "public relations" i think he was just hired to market. Famously his "Torches of Freedom" - which got cigarettes in the hand of women.
- arcanemachiner 3y agoHe also helped to popularize "bacon and eggs for breakfast" and water fluoridation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations_campaigns_of_Edward_Bernays https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations_campaigns_o...
- an_aparallel 3y agoblows my mind how many campaigns he's been involved in. Popularizing the banana is another one...
- helpfulContrib 3y agoSee also: pharmaceuticals.
- codr7 3y agoBananas are super weird, basically everything about them. The origin of the fruit to begin with, and how vulnerable that makes the plants. The effort put into getting them into every store in every corner of the world. The money put into marketing. There are plenty of other kinds of fruit, there's nothing super special about bananas that I'm aware of from a nutrition or taste standpoint. Just weird.
- walthamstow 3y agoBernays. I tried him on a steak once and it wasn't very nice.
- an_aparallel 3y agowell played! I just realised my spelling.
- ttonkytonk 3y agoHave not read the article, but I think "Big Tobacco" is something of a scapegoat for a larger pattern, and basically they were just unlucky enough to produce one of the most harmful products (recognized as such once the health bills started coming due). (edit - I may add the product probably wouldn't be so harmful if people kept their consumption to under five cigarettes a day.)
- verisimi 3y agoYes, if you are going to look upwards, why wouldn't you look right to the top at banks and finance? Those who run banking are able to exercise some coordinating control over every industry. But if you look downwards, bad food and health are choices that people make. Many people want this stuff - individuals are getting what they want.
- 0dayz 3y agoNo one is saying we shouldn't look into shady nonsense from banks. However banks aren't directly responsible for encouraging you to consume diabetes can. heart attack crisps or cancer sticks Hence why we push more for regulation against these industries thar are directly responsible while leaving financial watch dogs to look into banks for now.
- verisimi 3y agohmm - pushing for more regulation means more government, you do realise... Do you think govt and corporations aren't working together? You are asking for more of that.
- 0dayz 3y agoDifference is that the government can be held accountable if its democratic, since then it's run by the people for the people.
- ttonkytonk 3y agoYes, because they're primed for it. People make the bad choices they're constantly encouraged to make.
- desert_rue 3y agoMy mom continues to buy heavily processed food. My dad periodically tries to nag her about eating healthier, but she takes that as a personal attack. She does eat veggies and fruit, but she also likes rice a roni (as do I- it tastes great, but I don’t buy it myself). If you want to eat healthfully on the go, it generally means that you have to bring food along and ideally cook it, too. It is hard to do.
- saiya-jin 3y agoIs this actually true? Here in Europe where I live or travel you can buy dozens of great fresh salads at every supermarket, they cost reasonably and most folks dont need much bigger lunch. The bigger issue I see is folks having weak will - why take that salad when next to it is well cooked sausage or pizza slice. When talking about it, few admit they lost the battle of will with themselves, most come up with some made up version of reality where its actually almost ok.
- ildon 3y agoI also live in Europe and also in my experience healthy salads are often an available choice. However, "salads" are often tricky, because the calorie count can go up very fast (eggs, cheese, side bread, crumbles, etc.), while thinking of eating "only a salad"
- nomorewords 3y agoEh, when you say a salad in Europe, there's a 90-95% chance that its only dressing is olive oil (and not much of it, just for the texture) and not heavy stuff like ranch or french dressing.
- Aerroon 3y agoA teaspoon of olive oil is 120 kcal. 3-4 teaspoons is the calorie content of a meal. That's the equivalent of a liter of soda.
- expertentipp 3y agoJust watch a kid watching YouTube Shorts and TikTok. They're immediately fed with Skittles, Oreo, Mentos, Lays, Coca-Cola, Pepsi marathon of product placement. It's good for your investment portfolios and retirement though.
- quickthrower2 3y agoAnd you'll need that portfolio yield to afford the insulin.
- expertentipp 3y agoWe don't feed kids with heroine, morphine, and laxatives anymore, so it's a progress I guess.
- quickthrower2 3y agoAt least lobotomies went away
- expertentipp 3y agoTBH we don't know yet how lunatic trance of watching 30 second videos affects the human brain in long term.
- Aerroon 3y ago>laxatives Basically all sugar substitutes are laxatives in sufficient quantities. And these aren't necessarily extreme quantities either! Magnesium can also be laxatives and that's a rather common supplement people take.
- RetroTechie 3y agoCaring parents would feed their kids healthy stuff almost exclusively. And make 'm go out & buy the unhealthy stuff like candy, cookies, sugary soft drinks, chips etc themselves. Using their own pocket money. Bottom line: both parents & their kids are lazy (or don't care) in various ways.
- 6stringmerc 3y agoYeah? You can still drink diabetes in a can or choose your liter size from Coca Cola or Pepsi or Faygo within 15 feet of a building entrance in Texas. No sin taxes either. But yeah, just tobacco companies and their…spin offs? Many of todays unhealthy foods are actually the fault of generic laziness and over work under paid conditions in the US. But sure, tell me more about how the Washington Post did a great job publishing Bezos’s dick pics in the name of…well, clickbait gonna clickbait
- quickthrower2 3y agoAnecdata: Coke is not hyperpalatable, but Oreos are. IMO.
- dackerlunghack 3y ago[dead]
- lwhi 3y agoFlavour is a byword for 'driver for compulsive behaviour' here. Pretty dark stuff.
- dackerlunghack 3y ago[dead]
- femto 3y agoThe article is basis a precis of the book refereed to at the end of the article: "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" by Michael Moss [1]. It's well worth reading. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Sugar_Fat:_How_the_Food_Giants_Hooked_Us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Sugar_Fat:_How_the_Food_G...
- spaintech 3y agoComparing Europe and the US on food choices is probably not the best choice, nutritional choices vary quite a bit in Europe. I live in Spain, and I guess I’m spoiled as I get freshly made “menu” at most local restaurants for a about 15-20$ a day… two plates, drink and espresso for desert. You get to choose the meal, usually about 5 plates for first and second, usually divided into veggies / salads / carbs and followed by a protein second. The fact we walk to the restaurant 15+ mins , eat in about 30 mins, and having light breakfast and dinners helps balance our nutrition. We consumed little if any processed food, with the exception of the sausages, jamón, and salamis which we get at our local butcher, made the night before or the weekend. Since jamón is cured in salt, so no added sugar… again, we might consume this once a week, or less. Southern Europe is very similar in this regards. Our meats, we choose freshly butchered 24h, or some specific pieces might require some aging, but it’s all clearly agreed and ordered days in advanced. The drawback is, you need to plan your meals, food last little, so we usually buy what will be consumed that evening, or afternoon.
- rwmj 3y agoNot that this contradicts your very good point at all, but aren't jamons hung for a few months at least?
- spirit557 3y agoLots of comments on how processed foods are bad here. They are bad but it is also the frequency of eating/snacking itself. It is not healthy to constantly stimulate your insulin multiple times a day with high protein/carb foods whether processed or retained in nature's package. That goes for whole foods and processed foods, except processed foods are just a lot worse. Constantly elevated insulin is not how we evolved for millions of years. Insulin resistance can precede T2D by years and years before there is a flag raised by elevated hba1c. You should be able to eat 2 or 1 nutritionally dense whole foods meal(s) per day not crave snacks constantly. Eat until you naturally feel full and do not want to eat anymore. I quit all processed foods and 1 or 2 meals in a 4-6 hour window is normal, I've never felt better. Snack cravings are addictive cravings, not real hunger. Snack cravings can also indicate you are overresponding with insulin and crashing your blood sugar after the spike from snacking. So processed foods are bad but it's how you deliver them to your body constantly is where the damage gets done IMO.
- Noumenon72 3y agoI can confirm that a policy of only eating full meals has kept me thin and healthy into middle age even when those meals frequently include a full package of Oreos or bag of Doritos. You might overeat, but that just means your body won't tell you it's hungry again until you actually are, because you only eat when you're hungry enough for a full whole foods meal.
- spirit557 3y agoFrom what I understand fats and proteins in your digestion cause a number of signaling hormones like leptin and probably others to make you feel full. Carbs do not stimulate any of that signaling afaik. A pure carb snack would stimulate zero leptin, for example.
- gruez 3y ago>Carbs do not stimulate any of that signaling afaik. A pure carb snack would stimulate zero leptin, for example. Source? That seems doubtful, given how much of the developing world lives on carb heavy diets.
- nogbit 3y agoYour plate should be full of food from the outside edges of the grocery store. If it’s primarily full of food from the isles then you are eating wrong. There are exceptions (rice, oats etc) that are in the isles.