[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Thats right. its not food, its a drug. The combination of fats, oils, sugars, salts, complex chemicals and preservatives stimulates the human brain the same as drugs, and in fact, the average american diet is no more than a veiled drug addiction. Their brain is as addicted to food as a meth addict loves speed. It is just as impulsive and out of control. It is reinforced misbehavior controlled by biochemistry. And whats worse, so-called restaurants/markets sell this shit on every corner, like drug dealers. They mass and subliminally advertise their products. They give special prices to and double-up/bait and switch tactics to up the users tolerance, they use television especially to brainwash our children to become impulsive consumers. Through marketing they brand us for food products which we have never even eaten before, but become loyal to the brand and go out and become good customers. And whats worse.. this shit kills more than anything and everything else combined..

discuss:

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

From Publishers Weekly
Conditioned hypereating is a biological challenge, not a character flaw, says Kessler, former FDA commissioner under presidents Bush and Clinton). Here Kessler (A Question of Intent) describes how, since the 1980s, the food industry, in collusion with the advertising industry, and lifestyle changes have short-circuited the body's self-regulating mechanisms, leaving many at the mercy of reward-driven eating. Through the evidence of research, personal stories (including candid accounts of his own struggles) and examinations of specific foods produced by giant food corporations and restaurant chains, Kessler explains how the desire to eat—as distinct from eating itself—is stimulated in the brain by an almost infinite variety of diabolical combinations of salt, fat and sugar. Although not everyone succumbs, more people of all ages are being set up for a lifetime of food obsession due to the ever-present availability of foods laden with salt, fat and sugar. A gentle though urgent plea for reform, Kessler's book provides a simple food rehab program to fight back against the industry's relentless quest for profits while an entire country of people gain weight and get sick. According to Kessler, persistence is all that is needed to make the perceptual shifts and find new sources of rewards to regain control. (May)
Copyright ©

 

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[phoenix]

absolutely.

Though, it's not just an american thing.. But I'm sure it's far worse there.

[static-harmony]

Everything has a pesticide man.

[gualbert]

American food tastes good.
Potatoes, tomatoes, corn, turkeys...yum.

[phoenix]

I think he's talking more about corn syrup and the assortment of different 'words' used to describe the inclusion of salt/sugar/fats over and over in foods where it is really unecessary.. mostly to just increase profit margins.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

no everyone only eats at mcdonalds, suchfriends.

plenty of americans know how to buy REAL food, as well as grow it.

i think you enjoy hating america. i mean, it is pretty cool standing up for something like bitching about america all the time.

people in other countries dont eat mcdonalds because it only exists in america. people in other countries dont eat dog or mudpies. ya know, its never been documented that in third world countries women often feed their children mudpies...and that ANYTHING containing fats or oils is a luxury.

i dont think its the food being served....i think the issue is the idiots that dont know what they are eating.

and china...they DONT have a rising problem w/ obesity there.

and lotsa europeans ONLY have bad teeth because of brushing habits.

It isn't just about McDonalds sway though. It's about virtually every processed food stuff you can imagine. Whether it be biscuits or noodles or pasta. If you don't make it yourself at home from scratch, chances are many of the ingredients the item started off with, are long since replaced with 'substitutes'.

its not america man, its the fucking WORLD. i still think america kicks ass compared to most of it.

ok.

I don't hate america, so I dont want to turn this into a patriotic vs 'rest of the world' kind of debate. But yeh. erm. right now, america isn't doing so great.

[phoenix]

...

I dont even know where to begin with that. I'm happy to agree to disagree for the sake of not taking over the thread/.

[phoenix]

wow. just wow.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

i dont think its the food being served....i think the issue is the idiots that dont know what they are eating.

and china...they DONT have a rising problem w/ obesity there.

and lotsa europeans ONLY have bad teeth because of brushing habits.


its not america man, its the fucking WORLD. i still think america kicks ass compared to most of it.

I am not talking about mcdonalds and fast food, I am talking about 90% of the shit at the so-called grocery store, and I am talking about the big business of marketing and brainwashing which influences Americans to eat excessive combinations of imitation food.

It is both the ignorance of the consumers, and the business of the suppliers..

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

the world is fucked. not just america. and as far as i can tell...we're still doing far better than most other places.

The irony, in Somalia and Ethiopia which you mentioned people die in large numbers of malnutrition from not eating enough.

In America people die in unimaginable numbers, equally from malnutrition but in the polar opposite direction, from eating way TOO MUCH food.

My beef is with the companies and businesses which mass market this garbage to us and our children. Pop tart and mcdonalds commercials on morning cartoons.. shinny packaging in the ailes.. its marketing 101, and they have us all hooked.

The book I mentioned above talks all about it, about the fact that Americans tend to over eat because of the poor quality of 'food' which is sold to them.

[pbradley]

All food stimulates the brain and/or body.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

far bigger issues than virtually anyone here in america could care to know.

often this is the case, yes. Often those who do know, struggle to do anything about it because those with the most power and money, convince the majority that everything is fine and america is doing great.

[phoenix]

suchfriends have you read any good articles on food crisis predictions in first world nations?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

better to die from eating garbage than nothing at all....

what im saying is, atleast here we have a choice. if one is genuinley concerned w/ what they are eating, 'least here they can (1) learn about it if they choose to, and (2) change their eating habbits.

Well yes and no. See the whole point of identifying the biochemical affects of poor food is to point out that for many many people, it is uncontrollable. They over eat and eat garbage not because of poor choices on their part, but because the way their brain and body react to the initial poor choice. I mean, yes, when somebody smokes crack for the first and second time you can blame themselves, but after the 100th time lets start pointing fingers equally at the producer and the dealer you know?

Lets not exonerate these bad guys simply because we ourselves are implicated in the guilt.

American so-called food companies produce this crap with unnecessarily excessive amounts of fats, sugars and chemicals, all of which are highly addictive.

Yes, as PDBRADLEY mentioned, all food causes biochemical responses, but the issue is which kinds of responses. Poor food becomes addictive in the way the brain and body process it, and the person then becomes unwillingly addicted, they develop cravings for terrible food that are so instinctive they can not be stopped. It is not always an issue of will power. That being said, I think that some blame should most definitely be pointed at the so-called food industry which sells all this crap to us, markets all this crap to us, and puts it on every block and in every kitchen in america. If the people have a dangerous weakness due to biochemistry to these kinds of foods, then these kinds of 'foods' should not be so hyped up, so mass marketed, so over-sold to us as american consumers.

In the orthodox church during fasting season we ask ourselves, "am I eating to live, or living to eat?" With the dangerous combinations of sugars fats and oils in most american food, the question is also, "Why am I craving this food, to eat to live, or to live to eat?"

.

and somalia has got bigger issues than just food. far bigger issues than virtually anyone here in america could imagine/care to know.

No, not when the casualty ratio is between 10 to 1 and 20 to 1. The leading causes of death in america are related to poor diet, and these diseases kill FAR MORE people a year then does a lack of food in ANY place of the world.

[pbradley]

It seems as though you are suggesting that the American diet is not simply an eating disorder in being a psychological addiction to high levels of fat, salt, and sugar but, instead, is a physical addiction to those.

Is there any scientific work to back this up? From what I know about addiction, I think there exists a lot of confusion as to the role of biology in addiction, even in drug use.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by pbradley

It seems as though you are suggesting that the American diet is not simply an eating disorder in being a psychological addiction to high levels of fat, salt, and sugar but, instead, is a physical addiction to those.

Is there any scientific work to back this up? From what I know about addiction, I think there exists a lot of confusion as to the role of biology in addiction, even in drug use.

 

I am saying it is like most drugs, a combo of both psychology and physiology. Essentially, it is psychology (marketing and consumerism) based and built upon physiology (the susceptibility of the mind and body to become 'addicted' to fats, sugars and salt) which create a kind of downward spiral, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[looking glass spectacle]

i had french fries for dinner.

we dug the potatoes before lunch and put them in the walk-in. had lunch, picked onions, ate melons, washed potatoes, drank homebrew, had a rotten melon tossing contest, cut and fried the potatoes.

time from the ground to my belly: 7 hours.

i wonder what kind of time mcdonald's can boast?

[pbradley]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

 

I am saying it is like most drugs, a combo of both psychology and physiology. Essentially, it is psychology (marketing and consumerism) based and built upon physiology (the susceptibility of the mind and body to become 'addicted' to fats, sugars and salt) which create a kind of downward spiral, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think it would be a lot more interesting if these foods were shown to increase dopamine in the brain.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by pbradley

I think it would be a lot more interesting if these foods were shown to increase dopamine in the brain.

levels of sugar and fat intake does affect our metabolism.. insulin.. and brain function.. serotonin and dopamine.