Why do you eat this junk?
By Pcunix
I have a confession to make. I judge other people harshly.
Not out loud. No, I do it in my own thoughts and I do it at the supermarket. Yes, it's true: I'm a food fascist. A silent fascist, true. But I do judge.
I see someone pushing a shopping cart laden with soft drinks, sugary cereals, cupcakes, chips and the like and I think..
No, I can't say what I think. Let's just say that it is not complimentary. I'm thinking about intelligence, cluelessness and more. My mind flickers between competing emotions: disgust, wonder, pity..
The worst of it is when there are young children in tow. It's bad enough that they are being fed unhealthy food, but knowing that they are learning bad habits that may last a lifetime is just as upsetting.
M-mm good!
I know you think it tastes good.
I'm using "you" in a rhetorical sense. If you, the real you, happens to be an enlightened person, please ignore that. As the unenlightened will also be ignoring everything I say, that won't leave anyone actually paying attention, which frees me to say whatever I want. Cool beans!
Where was I? Oh, yes: you think junk food tastes good. I realize that. Your brain has been trained to think that. Years of eating food with extraordinary amounts of salt and sweetenings and fat has destroyed your ability to know what food should taste like. You can't be blamed: you literally don't know any better.
It's spreadable!
Let's take a brand of peanut butter from my childhood. It's a well known brand; I won't mention its name here, but I will tell you that a small jar contains 14 servings and that its label says that each serving contains 3 grams of sugar. That's almost 15 packets of sugar in that one jar.
By the way, all natural peanut butter shows 1 gram per serving - which comes from the peanuts, not from added sugar.
When I was a young boy, I thought that brand name peanut butter was good stuff. It tasted good to me. After decades of avoiding sugary foods wherever and whenever possible, my opinion has changed. I tried a little bit of my boyhood favorite recently and almost gagged: that stuff is vile! It tastes like it has something dead in it. It is literally disgusting!
That's how you have been trained. You've been trained to eat disgusting food and think that it tastes good. You think sugar-butter is good food.
Sody pop
I'm sure I'll get someone defending soft drinks in the comments. Let me save you some time: milk contains hormones and fruit drinks can damage teeth with acid. I know that. Even our tap water is laced with untold chemicals that aren't even tested for at water treatment plants. That's all true.
But soft drinks are just crap. Utter and complete crap.
The amount of sugar added to soft drinks varies by brands, but it's typically about as much as is in that whole jar of that peanut butter - 40 grams, plus or minus. That's 15 sugar packets, give or take. You (that rhetorical you, remember?) think that's good for you?
Oh, I forgot. You probably drink diet cola. No sugar. The sugar has been replaced by something that tastes like sugar. It's not just your tongue that is being fooled, you know: the cells in your body, honed by billions of years of evolution to make use of sugars, are now drawing in something that isn't quite. The substitute is chemically different, but that's OK: your cells will figure out how to use it without messing up too often. You hope.
I also worry about well meaning attempts to lessen sugar usage. If the sugar is replaced by chemicals, I think we are just asking for more problems. What we need to do is just stop this sweet tooth mentality, not substitute things that may be dangerous in other ways.
Fried dead stuff
I do still love the smell of a sizzling steak. I can't help it - it's a lifetime of conditioning. I don't generally eat it anymore and if I do, it gives me a headache a few hours later. It does taste good, though, I'll give it that.
We eat chicken. That doesn't taste all that good, but we are carnivores and vegetarianism is too much trouble. We eat salmon, too and eggs.. always trying for "all natural" with everything even though we know there really is no such thing because of what's in the water and the air.
Before you jump to the comments, let me say it for you: we know we are not getting "healthy" food. At best, we are hoping for "healthier" and that isn't always a clear choice. I don't know that steak is a bad food. If it isn't hormone laden, if you don't burn it to a crisp, maybe it's fine. The primary reason we don't eat it is because it is expensive and it gives me a headache.
Something has to kill you
This really is my favorite quote of all time. I cannot express the admiration I have for people who have realized this basic truth.
Indeed, something will kill all of us. Obviously, therefore, we should eat junk and be happy. Hormones in milk might give us cancer, unknown chemicals in our water supply might do worse. Eat, drink and be merry, because something has to kill you!
It's brilliant. When I see you in the supermarket pushing your overflowing cart of junk, I think of that. Something has to kill you. Look at what you chose.
Comments
But is that from the meat per se, burning it or the added hormones?
Doesn't matter to me, but it could to others.
thought to be from the fat and iron in the meat. processed meats with nitrites are even worse.
and about salmon, eat wild, not farmed salmon to avoid mercury and PCBs.
Oh, yes, processed meats. Lovely stuff!
Unfortunately, the wild salmon is swimming in our pollution too..
My daughter had her first soda about a month ago, the mom who introduced her was horrified I'd never done so before that playdate. Apparently we should take advantage of our 'Good' American food and feed our kids junk...Then we can take advantage of the (not so good) healthcare system...
Good thoughts...
Everything is better with hot sauce.
Oh, that reminds me of a funny story.
Our youngest had a best friend in grade school. She loved to go to that friends house to drink the "forbidden' soda (it wasn't forbidden, we just never had any in the house). Her friend liked to come to our house because we had 'good food' :)
Awesome hub. As some of the comments point out, even when you try to eat healthy, it's hard because of things like mercury and PCBs in the fish, pesticides on the veggies, etc. But the really sad thing is it's cheaper to eat junk than healthy food. Fruit costs more than Fruit Loops. Organic is not affordable for a lot of people. I eat pretty well, buy organic and local, and grow a lot of my own food. But no matter how bad it may be, I'm not giving up my bacon!
I do not agree with the idea that it's wise to not eat red meat. I don't follow after the "Paleo diet" directly...but I realized that for the most part, that was just already my chosen diet.
I mostly eat meat. I eat a high fat diet. I'll be eating more fish soon, as bass spawning season is just around the corner. What a blast it is to catch fish, talk about genetic programming! Dude, we're all hard wired to enjoy fishing, and the thrill of that runs so much deeper than....stupid Monsanto corn syrup.
I don't want to say that I've always been smarter than most (who am I kidding?), but I've never been one for deserts. I used to hurt people's feelings by not wanting any of their pie or cake as a kid.
I really didn't know how bad the American diet was until I started talking to people who'd lived in Europe and have also spent a lot of time here.
Oh we're all going to die, alright, but fear of cancer is ....a very bad reason to avoid red meat. It's an absolute and indisputable fact of the human organism that in the course of time the accumulated errors of protein synthesis leads to cancer - given enough time, nothing in the human body will grow but cancer.
I'm hearing more and more that most problems any given person's health is due to grains, or breads. A high carb diet is more of a problem than a high fat diet.
Not that I much care.....I can truly eat anything I want without fear of much other than mood problems.
Yes, as I said, I just don't eat it because it makes me feel crappy. I'm really unsure about any health dangers.
I have to admit I do this too. We are what we eat!
@allpuckett - Do which? Judge or eat junk?
Fun spin on healthy food eating dilemmas!
Nice candid Hub.
Best just try to do the best we can...with what we can afford and what's out there, trying to avoid the obviously bad things as much as possible.
It's easier if you live in the country, or in Italy, as I do, where the tradition of healthy food is the habit. (sorry everyone if this makes you jealous...it's my choice to live where life is healthier!! I had a bad cancer, so it was a no-brainer to live 'better', healthier in every way, in a place where living was healthier and cost less.)
Back on my alcohol hub, a young lady is telling ust hat booze has vitamins :)
LOL!
Tony - I can show you where she might have gotten that idea - and btw, nice work with the drunk fingers!
http://www.franklycollectible.com/images/ng%20feb%
Basically, it's a pretty old National Geographic article with an OUTSTANDING ( aren't they all?) article about alcohol consumption across different cultures, and throughout history.
But then again I might be giving someone credit for reading something that they'd never read.
Its very facinating to know about the health damages by these yummy looking food. Everyone should be very careful with the diet.
It is so difficult to folow a healthy diet!! I do enjoy looking in supermarket troleys to see what people are buying and inwardly tutting when a trolly is full of junk. Like all families we do have some junk food- but everything in moderation
@wst - I'm sure there have been others, too. My bad typing was from my iPad mixed with haste to get to bed :)
@iguidenetwork and Just History : Yes, it is hard. And yes, we eat some "junk" too - but not carts full of it and not often.
Yep, Eat right, exercise, die anyway. But at least you will feel better overall.
Being raised in Texas, I learned to eat bad foods from day one. It is really hard to change. I'm much more comfortable with a package of cookies than a bag of celery. How to break life long habits is key? Got any suggestions?
@Austinstar - what does being raised in Texas have to do with eating poorly?
Yes, indeed. Is it Twinkieville?
But how to do it? Like anything else, just do it. You'll hate it at first, of course, but over time you learn better.
@Wesman - Everything in Texas is fried, battered, buttered, barbqued, refried and gravied - even the veggies.
Have you never been to Texas?
I have been trying to change my diet for 10 years now. I had to learn how to eat 'naked' food.
I've always lived in Texas!
You know, I think it was either 2009 or 2010 - but a nationwide study of ethnic groups in the USA determined that Mexican Americans lived longer and healthier lives than any other group.
Now, I'm certain that there are LOTS of different factors involved in that - but I think that diet has surely got to be a major part of it all.
Yes, there IS a fairly high percentage of diabetes in the Mexican American community - but all in all, I think it's relevant that virtually none of the Hispanics that I know here in Kaufman County Texas...ever much eat out at fast food places. They make their own meals, and eat TONS of meat, the veggies in Pico, etc, and TONS of either flour or corn tortillas.
Just my two cents.
The amount of exercise has a lot to do with it too..
Well they do say that beans are really GOOD for you and Texans eat lots of beans. Mexicans eat lots of beans. I lived in Mexico for a while and although they tend to overcook everything, It does seem like a healthier diet than chicken fried everything.
I'm still chuckling over the fried butter at the state fair!
Fried butter :) Sounds delicious.. not.
No idea how I could have posted a comment about Mexican American diet....and leave out BEANS!
Holy smoke, I need more coffee!
It's getting to where I'm a big bean fan myself, but I'm tired of ...Pintos, I'm liking Black beans and Great Northern Beans more myself.
Another thing to think about is Cilantro, or Coriander - that little plant does HUGE things towards detoxing the human body of metals such as mercury.
I've had people tell me that they think cilantro tastes like "soap." I've no idea what they're talking about. I love the stuff.
Also, I'm told the acids in chili peppers speed up the metabolism, and that the same acids cause the mouth to release ph buffers that harden the enamel of our teeth.
I still love pinto beans. My yankee husband always ate those red kidney beans and I really can't stand those. But just about every other bean is great.
Now every time my mom made beans, they included "fat back/salt pork" and bacon grease. Plus they were also served with bacon grease fried potatoes and onions. And let's not forget corn bread with bacon grease! We ate a ton of bacon grease in my house. Couldn't afford Crisco, I guess.
I'm with you on the "yuck factor" of those Kidney Beans.
Yeah, I never use any lard, I do cook with butter sometimes - but mostly Olive oil. Of course olive oil is a bit expensive....but I just absolutely LOVE cooking for myself.
When you figure out how much money you save by not eating out and choosing wisely at the grocery store - the cost of some over stocked olive oil turns out to be very minimal.
Yes, we buy a LOT of olive oil..
Hey PC, excellent!
As they say, "you are what you eat" and the American diet has become filled with toxic genetically engineered junk food.
The most tragic aspect of this is the kids. Children now are growing up with chemical laden foods and we do not know the long term effects.
No doubt, some of it will prove harmless but some may cause health problems later in life. Look how long it took to accept that tobacco is bad for us and imagine the issue of food. Monsanto rules our lives.
SO, you don't like "fried butter," how about a "fried Twinkie?" or "fried Coke" or "fried beer in a pastry pocket?"
The answer is to avoid all processed foods and start a garden. It is almost impossible to avoid GMO corn if you eat processed foods.
Ayup. Though we don't know what is in the soil we grow food in or the rain that waters it.
I'm back to comment on your comment which may have been a little funny to you but really it isn't to me; you mention that in a Hub a while ago 'booze has vitamins' as a sort of oblique opinion on living in Tuscany, that we all drink booze...not all of us 'booze' in Tuscany!...not all of us drink and in fact Italians hardly drink a drop even with meals.
Only tourists booze!
So please take the comment back. And I'll forgive you!
Thanks.
My biggest monthly bill is groceries. I can understand why people eat that junk because it is so much cheaper than the "good" foods.
Olive oil is outrageous, but canola oil has the same benefits and costs less.
Organic fruits and veggies are also much more expensive.
Then there is the hassle of cooking things yourself - it takes time and effort which many of us are not capable of. I have bad hands and have a terrible time of cutting and chopping. I would love to cook, but it's very difficult.
There has been progress in frozen meals now and several companies produce vegetarian and healthy frozen meals. Of course, they are more expensive.
I never understood why taking bad ingredients OUT of food (like sugar) costs MORE. Just don't put it in there! WTF?
@goodlady: it was someone who commented at my hub who insisted that liquors have vitamins.. not me.
@austinstar: they put it in because silly people like it..
Hey PC
Where do I get those liquors with vitamins? A nice healthy martini sounds pretty good right now. Gin is made with all those healthful herbs and fruits too. Wow! Health food!
I could use it to wash down my fried Twinkie.
Well, as ridiculous as it sounds, there are bottlers who add vitamins. Google "vitamin vodka", for one..
@goodlady: Oh, I see - you think I was associating drinking with Tuscany. That never entered my mind - it was the mention of choosing health food that caused me to think of that silly business about vitamins added to liquor.
Recent research on HFC : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/12051
Drinking soft drinks may make you stupid.. which might make you drink more soft drinks :)
cathylynn99 3 months ago
you are wise not to eat red meat. aside from links with heart disease, red meat's linked to colon and pancreatic cancers.