Homer Simpson, (c) Fox Media
Sometimes, it doesn’t take a killer cardio workout or too much sodium to get one’s blood pressure elevated. For example, righteous indignation and feelings of betrayal by the food industry (and, even more specifically, the food service industry) have my aggro rather high this week.
Rafe: /cast CAPSLOCK
Ed.: You can’t do that here.
Rafe: “KHAAAAAAAN!”
Ed.: /facepalm
It seems that there’s a fairly comprehensive strategy guide out there, written and implemented by the food manufacturing and serving industries, to turn us into loot pinatas and put us on farm. I wish I were exaggerating and engaging in a bit more hyperbole on this point. Certainly, there’s plenty of incentive to do so — the more we eat, the more we spend on food, and that’s good for producers’ and restaurants’ bottom lines. The fact that it’s not so great for our bottoms, or our waistline, is our problem.
So, what can we do about it? Well, as we’ve all heard, knowing is half the battle.
- Restaurant food, as Mike pointed out, is notorious for being anything but stingy with the sugar, fat, and salt. There’s actual science to back this up; the so-called “bliss point,” where these bad-for-you components synergize (Oh dear. I’ve turned into a… a… corp-speak person! AUGH!). This proportion causes an almost drug-like reaction in the brain, causing cravings and an inability to stop OM NOM NOM-ming.
Fortunately, a lot of places have started to offer healthy (or at least relatively healthy) options, so you can steer clear when you eat out. Or aim for a restaurant where healthy stuff is their entire raison d’ etre.
- The food itself, in addition to being engineered to be addictive and compulsively delicious (“hyperpalatable”), is also pumped up with marinades (in the case of many meat entrees) salt water and other additives to make it look better, taste better (see also: “bliss point”), and be physically easier to eat. Softer, juicier foods just go down with that much less chewing, which means you can eat more before your satiety reflex kicks in. Boneless chicken nuggets are less work to eat than wings are, for instance. Peel ‘n’ eat shrimp and crab legs are very nearly a thing of the past, and even luxury food, like lobster, shows up pre-cracked with increasing frequency.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I want to have fun dismembering and devouring the occasional meal with primal gusto every once in a while. I don’t care if it takes five times as long and actually burns a few calories.
“Wednesday, play with your food.” — Morticia Addams
- Gaming the ingredients comes in a couple of, er, flavors. On the one hand, manufacturers are incorporating chemicals to enhance (or create, or mimic) flavors and such ephemera as “mouth feel,” as well as prolong shelf life (which, to a certain extent, is perfectly reasonable, and means we’ll turn into much more attractive, longer-lasting zombies, since we’ll also, theoretically, be infused with preservatives by the time we kick off). On the other hand, because the government here in the US dictates that ingredients be ranked in order of how much they contribute to the composition of the foodstuff, manufacturers will divide and conquer — different kinds of sugar will be listed individually, so that they appear lower down the hierarchy.
For a lot more depth and detail, this subject is covered by the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. David Kessler, in a book that was just published.
Related posts:
Yeah, something I hear he points out in that book is the restaurant philosophy of “when in doubt, add bacon and cheese.”
As a moderately unabashed bacon lover (dude, I got a bar of BACON CHOCOLATE for my birthday), I can’t say I find a heck of a lot wrong with this, taste-wise (nutritionally, that’s another matter). I even wondered at the notion that bacon is less expensive, ounce for ounce, than the substrate upon which it’s foisted.
Wow, I’ve got to check out that book, although I’ll probably have the same aggro problem as you had. This kind of stuff gets under my skin- especially the deal with manipulating the order of ingredients! That is just evil.