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It makes me sad that so many food manufacturers out there create crap for our bodies. They could be synergizing the world's healthiest superfoods. We all live

It makes me sad that so many food manufacturers out there create crap for our bodies. They could be synergizing the world's healthiest superfoods. We all live in the same capitalistic world, for better or worse.

ams6110 13y ago
Your blame is misplaced. If people didn't like to eat those foods, they would not buy them and the food would not be produced.
- smtddr 13y ago
  No, it's not misplaced at all. At least in America, Food makers & their exec buddies and all kinds of other social-economic factors make it difficult to choose otherwise. I've already had this debate before... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6604104 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6604104 Also, watch Food Inc. http://www.takepart.com/foodinc http://www.takepart.com/foodinc The excuse that "Well, nobody forced them. It was their choice." is an elaborate illusion that needs to be done away with. There have been a couple of articles this year about how being poor causes bad decisions, not necessarily vice-versa. I'm glad those articles are being written because it shows at least a few people are starting to realize how the system traps people and others can be convinced it was they're own fault. "Poor people, generally, make bad decisions—bad in the sense of their long-term physical, mental and financial welfare. But their bad decisions aren't the reason for their poverty. They're caused by it." @http://killermartinis.kinja.com/why-i-make-terrible-decisions-or-poverty-thoughts-1450123558/1469687530/@maxread http://killermartinis.kinja.com/why-i-make-terrible-decision... Growing up poor is bad for your brain @http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/growing-up-poor-is-bad-for-your-brain http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/growing-up-poor-is-bad-for-...
  - ams6110 13y ago
    I never said they were making good choices. But the fact remains if people didn't buy junk food, it wouldn't get produced. I have heard these arguments, and I don't disagree with them. I think that efforts would be better directed at educating poor people to make better decisions, than to act like a collective hovering mother and try to keep anything bad away from them. And we often end up being exactly wrong about what's good and bad anyway (see: the USDA food pyramid of the last two decades. It turns out we've had it basically upside-down). This is drifting way off topic of this thread so I won't say more here.
    - dooptroop 13y ago
      ".. rational consumers .."
- nwh 13y ago
  I don't believe this is fair. I walk into the supermarket and consciously attempt not to eat the first crap I come across, and it costs me vastly more than if I just went and bought a 10KB tub of mayo and ate it with a soup ladle.
  - jonhohle 13y ago
    Not only more money, but more time, and potentially more distance (which can be described in terms of time and/or money). For example, Whole Foods bought and closed a Wild Oats store in the same shopping complex as a Walmart. Less than a year after closure, that Walmart no longer carries organic produce. The closest store with an organic produce selection is 4 miles away. Whether or not you think organic food is better or worse is irrelevant - Walmart offered a product to compete with another store, and once that competition was gone, they dropped that selection from their store.

ams6110 13y ago

Your blame is misplaced. If people didn't like to eat those foods, they would not buy them and the food would not be produced.

smtddr 13y ago
No, it's not misplaced at all. At least in America, Food makers & their exec buddies and all kinds of other social-economic factors make it difficult to choose otherwise. I've already had this debate before... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6604104 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6604104 Also, watch Food Inc. http://www.takepart.com/foodinc http://www.takepart.com/foodinc The excuse that "Well, nobody forced them. It was their choice." is an elaborate illusion that needs to be done away with. There have been a couple of articles this year about how being poor causes bad decisions, not necessarily vice-versa. I'm glad those articles are being written because it shows at least a few people are starting to realize how the system traps people and others can be convinced it was they're own fault. "Poor people, generally, make bad decisions—bad in the sense of their long-term physical, mental and financial welfare. But their bad decisions aren't the reason for their poverty. They're caused by it." @http://killermartinis.kinja.com/why-i-make-terrible-decisions-or-poverty-thoughts-1450123558/1469687530/@maxread http://killermartinis.kinja.com/why-i-make-terrible-decision... Growing up poor is bad for your brain @http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/growing-up-poor-is-bad-for-your-brain http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/growing-up-poor-is-bad-for-...
- ams6110 13y ago
  I never said they were making good choices. But the fact remains if people didn't buy junk food, it wouldn't get produced. I have heard these arguments, and I don't disagree with them. I think that efforts would be better directed at educating poor people to make better decisions, than to act like a collective hovering mother and try to keep anything bad away from them. And we often end up being exactly wrong about what's good and bad anyway (see: the USDA food pyramid of the last two decades. It turns out we've had it basically upside-down). This is drifting way off topic of this thread so I won't say more here.
  - dooptroop 13y ago
    ".. rational consumers .."
nwh 13y ago
I don't believe this is fair. I walk into the supermarket and consciously attempt not to eat the first crap I come across, and it costs me vastly more than if I just went and bought a 10KB tub of mayo and ate it with a soup ladle.
- jonhohle 13y ago
  Not only more money, but more time, and potentially more distance (which can be described in terms of time and/or money). For example, Whole Foods bought and closed a Wild Oats store in the same shopping complex as a Walmart. Less than a year after closure, that Walmart no longer carries organic produce. The closest store with an organic produce selection is 4 miles away. Whether or not you think organic food is better or worse is irrelevant - Walmart offered a product to compete with another store, and once that competition was gone, they dropped that selection from their store.