Let's talk about food!

[myrkari]

One thing I noticed crop up in the recent health discussion (and also in a few other threads previously) was food - additives, GM, the supply chain and what's happening to it, food labelling, available choices, cost, preferences, planning for your view of the future re: food, and so on.

I'd be interested in getting a discussion going on that particular topic and all the related cloud of food-ish stuff. I think it's something we can talk about a whole bunch, I think we're all going to have plenty to say (as many of us raise or grow our own to some extent, for what I'm sure are various reasons) and also I'd definitely be interested in learning more about what you guys think about the state of "food in general" in your countries, given that the US and Canada are probably really different than England but also probably have a lot of the same problems.

I'll start with a couple of statements that might get a discussion started:

• I raise meat rabbits because it means I can, for at least a good portion of my meat intake, know that the animal I'm eating had a good life, a humane end, and an appropriate diet. I also know as little as possible of the animal is wasted. I don't like the idea of animal cruelty in any form, nor do I like waste.
  
• I also try to buy things (like fruits and vegetables, other meats etc.) when they are on sale, or when they are on reduced price because they are past their best or near to their expiry date and use them up or preserve them, to enable me to get good quality food within my budget.
  
• I kind of suck at gardening, but I really wish I was better at growing my own produce. I also struggle with energy levels so I think to be honest even if I did have a real garden I wouldn't be able to tend it properly.
  
• I'm pretty concerned about the number of additives that are in everything these days, so I really try my best to cook meals from scratch and avoid convenience foods... But I still struggle with that. I have a desk job, and my meals there are almost always packet soups and flavoured nut mixes and granola-type bars, none of which class as very natural! I must get better at batch cooking and freezing portions for work and such... But packet soup is sooo easy!

 

[akane]

I have a disorder that causes problems digesting sugars so they are an every day concern in the US. I might seem a little obsessed with sugar even though I don't actually eat that many dessert items but it is a huge part of my life, partially because we don't just sweeten desserts here, and I've read how it is affecting people that don't even have sugar digesting problems. As I mentioned in the other thread there is a higher importation tax on sugar and some things using sugar. 5 years ago I had to buy imported sports drink mix from Japan and desserts from other countries. Amazon.com is actually a good place to find these things already imported and cost effective. Sometimes we find an excuse to drive to chicago just for authentic international foods without common US additives or substitutes and Japanese pastries.

The expense of sugar encourages the use of corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup which we can make lots of in the US. The body does not respond to these substances the same as glucose or dextrose and increasing the glucose versus fructose ratio will improve digestion. The body somewhat relies on glucose to determine fullness. If it only gets fructose, fake sweeteners, etc... it often does not report hunger and lack of hunger accurately causing people to be more likely to overeat. The reason deserts from other countries seem so rich and filling on such small portions is the use of better sweeteners and other ingredients that cause more of a response from the body. You also get a much more complicated flavor out of chocolate and any food if you use something other than high fructose corn syrup which just gives a heavy sweet taste that is simple and not satisfying.

Some companies have started using plain glucose here. I think to avoid the cost of cane sugar and maybe reduce the amount of sugar that has to be added without using fructose. A soda that used to be high fructose corn syrup went to glucose so I can now drink it. Yay more flavors. Trying to find soda without fructose is a nightmare and sometimes I find there is nothing I can drink at restaurants because of all fructose containing sodas and lemonades from powder are often sweetened with fructose. Trying to find juice without fructose or apple juice which is high in fructose is also a nightmare. Every now and then I even run into things like certain brands of bread that have a hidden sugar additive I can't digest. What I wouldn't give for a nearby bakery of fresh breads and sweet bread pastries that have flavor instead of feeling like I'm drinking a bottle of cheap pancake syrup.

 

[Zass]

The US food supply as an absolute nightmare to me.
Bacterial contamination from industrialized farming practices, the countermeasures, spraying food with ammonia, or irradiating.
GMO everything, no labeling.
High fructose, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors and colors (petroleum derived) and some rather nasty preservatives that have been known to be carcinogens for 50+ years, but are still in the food supply.
One could go on...but it's more than I want to even think about. That stuff hasn't been "food" to me in years.

I raise meat rabbits because it means I can, for at least a good portion of my meat intake, know that the animal I'm eating had a good life, a humane end, and an appropriate diet. I also know as little as possible of the animal is wasted. I don't like the idea of animal cruelty in any form, nor do I like waste.

:yeahthat:

 

[FourRingCircus]

The US food supply as an absolute nightmare to me.
Bacterial contamination from industrialized farming practices, the countermeasures, spraying food with ammonia, or irradiating.
GMO everything, no labeling.
High fructose, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors and colors (petroleum derived) and some rather nasty preservatives that have been known to be carcinogens for 50+ years, but are still in the food supply.
One could go on...but it's more than I want to even think about. That stuff hasn't been "food" to me in years.

I raise meat rabbits because it means I can, for at least a good portion of my meat intake, know that the animal I'm eating had a good life, a humane end, and an appropriate diet. I also know as little as possible of the animal is wasted. I don't like the idea of animal cruelty in any form, nor do I like waste.

:yeahthat:

Yep... it's sad, and scary. I have some auto immune stuff going on and I know food is a trigger for me. I am going to be starting the Whole30 soon (transitioning now) and am curious to see how it goes. I have one with food allergies and she seems to have major issues with food coloring. Watching Food, Inc. was a real eye opener, but it's still amazing how many people don't see it as an issue. I talked to one lady that worked at a local market and I told her I liked buying my beef from there (when I ran out of the stuff from family) because I knew where it came from... she was a total animal lover (to an extreme), but commented that she bought hers from the store b/c she didn't want to have to know what it looked like while it was alive. I am sure she would be absolutely appalled that I am raising rabbits for meat.

I hope to one day have a nice, nearly year round garden set up, but for now, i pretty much suck at it . This stage in life is wearing me down, but I hope in a few years we can have a pretty nice homestead/farm going.

I am breaking the ties with processed food. I was actually doing really well to make almost everything from scratch... until my daughter was diagnosed with food allergies 3 years ago. I had to totally start over in the kitchen (milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame, tomatoes, bananas, chocolate)... I noticed one day I was buying way more prepackaged stuff than I had in years. I am hoping the Whole30 will help break my cravings... we'll see how it goes with the rest of the family. Her allergies opened my eyes to so many other things when it comes to our food system and the crap that it is. My ILs scoffed at first, not understanding how someone can be allergic to things they eat every.single.day, but she is. We almost killed her a couple of times before we figured out what was going on (fussy baby at a restaurant, here... have a cracker!). Thankfully she is outgrowing many of them and seems to be tolerating the foods we are introducing well, but I know we need to make a major overhaul for everyone.

DH and I were talking and I commented "So many people around the world eat to live every day - they don't have choices or options. They don't understand what a "favorite food" is because they eat what they can to stay alive. Why, then, is it "so hard" to give up food that could potentially kill us? We don't know what hard is."

 

[LPH_NY]

Ugh, yes, the commercial food industry in the industrialized world is sickening - both literally and figuratively.

I struggle daily with poor energy and IBS. I think I may actually have a leaky gut. 3.5 weeks ago I started an elimination diet and it is hard. By day 5 my cycle of diarrhoea and constipation, gas and bloating, started to diminish. But the caffeine withdrawals were a nightmare and I was getting so bored with my meal options. I stuck with it and started challenging foods around the 2.5 week mark. Now I can't handle garlic in my dinner. Now I can't have eggs (and I raise chickens and ducks!). Oats are out, too. I'm terrified to challenge milk, cheese, wheat, tomatoes, coffee and chocolate because now after feeling some relief for several days in a row, the stomach pains from "trigger" foods are unbearable. I wonder how I put up with it for so long. I'm starting to feel discouraged because out of the 8 foods I've challenged so far, only 2 or 3 are for sure okay for my digestive system now.

It's not like I've been dining on garbage over the last few years, either. We stopped buying supermarket meat 1.5 years ago and will never look back. If something comes in a package, it has to be organic or Non-GMO Project verified, or it has to be something imported from an EU country with higher standards, etc. We made an exception with bread and cheese and I wonder if that's the biggest problem. Organic cheese is prohibitively expensive, and hard to find on top of being expensive. For the bread, we have chosen to buy only breads with the simple ingredients of wheat flour, malted barley, water, salt, yeast - the basic 5.

I'm getting stricter by the day about what my family is allowed to eat. I've been cooking 2-3 meals per day for the last year and a half, exceptions made for day trips out of the house (which we've been cracking down on recently by packing lunch.) My kids know what real food is, but it's hard telling them at a friend's house or family gathering that they can't eat the same junk their friends/cousins are eating. They are young and can't help but be drawn to the bright colored fruit snacks, the bakery cake with 2 inch frosting, the neon green yoghurt in a plastic sleeve (gross!), gummi worms, oreos - these are all things that I ate as a child and wish I had never known. The food corporations are malicious in their careful marketing to children and it disgusts me. (I was telling the hubs the other night that I am SO THANKFUL we don't have TV/commercials because it would be even harder to have to explain why they can't have everything advertised on TV that features happy kids.)

We raise chickens, ducks and rabbits for our consumption. We had 3 veggie beds last year and have doubled this year, but some things don't do well in my area and I've made plenty of mistakes, even with things that should grow well here in rainy NY. I like to make sauerkraut, fermented carrots, fermented radishes, and refrigerator pickles and pickled eggs. I forage for edible weeds and flowers, wild blueberries and strawberries. But if we had to survive solely on what we grow/raise and forage, we'd be doomed after a couple weeks.

I feel strongly that food security is going to be a major problem much sooner than some of us imagine. Most of our population is wholly out of touch with how food is produced and want nothing to do with providing that very basic need for themselves. The food industry is dangerous, and I don't think it's just a by-product of profit greed. I am willing to bet that some of it is intentional. A sick and dependent population is easier to dominate than a healthy one.

Food is one of the things I am MOST PASSIONATE about. I LOVE good food. I lived outside of the U.S. for over 9 years of my life and have tasted so much of what Europe has to offer. Coming back to the U.S. is a huge disappointment after eating abroad. I have also eaten bread peddled on the street in Afghanistan. It was far superior to commercial American bread loaves. My idea of good food nowadays is incredibly basic. I'm sure a decade ago I would have scoffed at the idea of eating beef and cabbage or crackers made with home-rendered lard.

 

[FourRingCircus]

Ugh, yes, the commercial food industry in the industrialized world is sickening - both literally and figuratively.

I struggle daily with poor energy and IBS. I think I may actually have a leaky gut. 3.5 weeks ago I started an elimination diet and it is hard. By day 5 my cycle of diarrhoea and constipation, gas and bloating, started to diminish. But the caffeine withdrawals were a nightmare and I was getting so bored with my meal options. I stuck with it and started challenging foods around the 2.5 week mark. Now I can't handle garlic in my dinner. Now I can't have eggs (and I raise chickens and ducks!). Oats are out, too. I'm terrified to challenge milk, cheese, wheat, tomatoes, coffee and chocolate because now after feeling some relief for several days in a row, the stomach pains from "trigger" foods are unbearable. I wonder how I put up with it for so long. I'm starting to feel discouraged because out of the 8 foods I've challenged so far, only 2 or 3 are for sure okay for my digestive system now.

........

Food is one of the things I am MOST PASSIONATE about. I LOVE good food. I lived outside of the U.S. for over 9 years of my life and have tasted so much of what Europe has to offer. Coming back to the U.S. is a huge disappointment after eating abroad. I have also eaten bread peddled on the street in Afghanistan. It was far superior to commercial American bread loaves. My idea of good food nowadays is incredibly basic. I'm sure a decade ago I would have scoffed at the idea of eating beef and cabbage or crackers made with home-rendered lard.

You should look into Whole30 - it's an elimination diet of sorts. I am hoping to see major relief from my fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, IBS, etc. once I get started on it (I am doing mostly Whole30, but haven't had a chance to stock up on some key items to make it fully work in our household).

My mom actually apologized to me tonight... I was raised with good food. My parents have cookbooks from a HUGE variety of cuisines around the world. They don't have set meals that they rotate. My dad was/is an amazing cook... they rarely ever served packaged anything while I was growing up. It was heavy with wheat and dairy though (helllooooo homemade bread and creme brulé! - however you spell that), and I think that's two of my biggest issues (I have had very little gluten over the last 3 years, and every time I eat it I regret it... even small bites).

It saddens me as well to see how far the majority of Americans are removed from their food sources. Those magic packages of meat that show up at the store? The burgers they hand you through the drive through window? They had a face at one time, but no one wants to believe it. The more I see and hear about our food industry, and with every recall I get more and more paranoid. It's like a scene from CSI where I can imagine the luminescent germs getting transferred from one thing to another, eventually ending up on my plate. I have OCD tendencies (have never been fully diagnosed though) and it's enough to make me crazy some days! I have to try to turn that thought process off to even function (same goes for shopping cart handles, door handles, etc.). And the fact that money has so much power is even scarier. I want a totally unbiased opinion on whether or not something is safe for me to eat... I don't want those studies funded by the ones who have their livelihoods to lose if their is negative feedback.

 

[Zass]

My issue was celiac disease. I'd lost the ability to digest almost everything along with most of my body weight, and was very close to a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa before it was figured out.

I'd begun to associate eating anything at all with crippling pain.

I'm almost glad now that the answer was so simple. No bread or wheat foods...ever again. But I CAN eat now, I have energy, and I can maintain my weight.

Dairy will never be OK, but it doesn't trigger autoimmune side effects, just gas which doesn't hurt as bad as it did two years ago, so I can hit up wegmans for European cheeses when I have nothing planned the next day.. :lol:

I couldn't eat corn or oats a few years ago, but I can now.

The practice of reading every label and researching every ingredient led me to the same conclusions you ladies have. Most of what is sold as food...isn't food.

 

[myrkari]

Lots of people in my family (dad's side) have fibromyalgia, and while I have a pretty bad back, a fair few joint issues, a lot of fatigue and some general won't-go-away pain, I'm thankful that it isn't as extreme as that for me. I've also been tested for celiac disease and been speculatively treated with some IBS medicine for my general angry-tummy type symptoms (antispasmodics etc) as I had a lot of gut pain that wouldn't go away for quite a long time. I still have a stash of that medicine, plus peppermint pills and fibre pills and other herbal-y things for when it flares up. I'm lucky, I think, that my body is just "kind of crappy" about a lot of things. I can't imagine how horrible it must be to have to live with something as severe and painful and restrictive (not to mention as permanent ) as fibro or MS or celiac or IBS or crohn's etc, or even just a severe allergy to another ubiquitous foodstuff like nuts or eggs or dairy.

I cut out wheat and other grain glutens entirely as part of that celiac testing period I went through, and I did feel better, but the tests they ran at the end of the restriction period were conclusive - no celiac. Still, feeling better was enough for me, so I stayed cut down drastically on the amount of grain based things I eat. I'll still occasionally make a ham sandwich or get a cookie, because cravings are tough things to beat especially when they're right in my face, and I don't exclude it from my diet entirely like a celiac would need to, so I'll not scrutinise labels down to the last gram and I can still choose things that have e.g. a breaded crumb, or a pastry top, or flour in the sauce... But I found that even just choosing less bread and less pasta helped me a lot.

Unfortunately my partner would probably choose bread and pasta as his two favourite meals if he had the choice, so I'm often tempted by them. Before I met him, I'd actually ended up excluding the majority of starchy carbohydrates from my diet entirely, in an attempt to help my stomach (and to support my main hobby of heavy weightlifting!) I ate a lot of protein, a lot of fats, a lot of green vegetables - but open my cupboards and you wouldn't find even a potato. He loved it at first - bacon and eggs, a chop and some spinach, rabbit stew and lentils, fish and broccoli, all things he was happy to share with me. But he whittled away at my willpower and now we're nowhere near as good as I used to be alone. Not to mention the difference in cost when it comes to feeding two people on that kind of diet.

I will share one other thing for the sake of discussion - I have ADHD, diagnosed as an adult not as a child in fact, in part because my parents were very good at keeping me on track in school and because I'm good at tests. I am medicated for it and I do feel that the medication helps me a lot... Not as much as I'd like, but a statistically significant amount, certainly. I personally also strongly believe that ADHD is a real disorder and can be proven by scans of brain activity and isn't just a case of "kids being kids" and acting up... buuuut I also agree that it was probably heavily over-diagnosed and over-prescribed for, back when it was new and still today. In my case I was 29 when I finally went to my doctor in tears and told her that I didn't understand why everything was so difficult and that I was terrified I was going to lose my job (again ) and lose my home and my partner, because I couldn't seem to act like all the other adults and what did they know that I didn't... So I don't think "it's just undisciplined kids being let run riot" applies there Anyway!

What does anyone think about the relative prevalence of ADHD in kids these days, in the context of our high sugar, high additive diet? I expect there are several happy healthy kids who get a bit too much coca-cola or sugary cereal with blue food colouring at breakfast before school every day and then can't concentrate and want to burn off all their energy by jumping up and down... And I definitely think that could contribute to some over-diagnosis/mis-diagnosis of the disorder. But I'm genuinely interested in the idea that maybe there's something we eat now that's causing it - really causing the abnormal brain activity pattern, not just causing similar symptoms. Is it actually a relatively new disorder, caused by something modern like the food we eat? Or did the disease always exist, but we only really noticed it now because of our changing lifestyle?

I know it's a bit of a tangent from 'food', but I think if anything did cause it, then food (or rather, not-foods in the food, or heavily processed/refined food, or too much of one food, etc) is the likely culprit.

 

[FourRingCircus]

I will share one other thing for the sake of discussion - I have ADHD, diagnosed as an adult not as a child in fact, in part because my parents were very good at keeping me on track in school and because I'm good at tests. I am medicated for it and I do feel that the medication helps me a lot... Not as much as I'd like, but a statistically significant amount, certainly. I personally also strongly believe that ADHD is a real disorder and can be proven by scans of brain activity and isn't just a case of "kids being kids" and acting up... buuuut I also agree that it was probably heavily over-diagnosed and over-prescribed for, back when it was new and still today. In my case I was 29 when I finally went to my doctor in tears and told her that I didn't understand why everything was so difficult and that I was terrified I was going to lose my job (again ) and lose my home and my partner, because I couldn't seem to act like all the other adults and what did they know that I didn't... So I don't think "it's just undisciplined kids being let run riot" applies there Anyway!

What does anyone think about the relative prevalence of ADHD in kids these days, in the context of our high sugar, high additive diet? I expect there are several happy healthy kids who get a bit too much coca-cola or sugary cereal with blue food colouring at breakfast before school every day and then can't concentrate and want to burn off all their energy by jumping up and down... And I definitely think that could contribute to some over-diagnosis/mis-diagnosis of the disorder. But I'm genuinely interested in the idea that maybe there's something we eat now that's causing it - really causing the abnormal brain activity pattern, not just causing similar symptoms. Is it actually a relatively new disorder, caused by something modern like the food we eat? Or did the disease always exist, but we only really noticed it now because of our changing lifestyle?

I know it's a bit of a tangent from 'food', but I think if anything did cause it, then food (or rather, not-foods in the food, or heavily processed/refined food, or too much of one food, etc) is the likely culprit.

I had a late diagnosis of ADD as well (senior in HS). Mine was triggered by a mystery illness in 8th grade that they think attacked my nervous system (brain in particular). I was never the same after it... it's like I never got better. Suspicions are Mono.Epstein Barr, but we will never know for sure (my mono test was negative, but they said we could have missed it. I tested positive for it a year later). I hate it because I remember life before it and how different it was. I actually was jus ttalking to a newer friend and come to find out she is the same way! Same symptoms, same mystery illness... it was nice to commiserate with someone who truly understood. I went from an easy straight A student to struggling to make Cs, although I always tested really well for some reason. Food plays a role though. I have found that dairy is a major inflammatory food for me. It's hard because it tastes so good! I grew up drinking a LOT of milk - close to a gallon every 2 days myself... I have had to cut it out a few times while my little ones were nursing and noticed a huge difference. I always end up adding it back in because the temptation is so strong. I don't realize just how bad it gets until I cut it back out again - like now. Yesterday was my first almost dairy free day in a while and I woke up and could actually walk to the bathroom, not hobble. I can make a fist, fully and without pain. Even my wedding ring will come off.

Dairy is kind of crazy if you think about it. People are so grossed out about human babies nursing past a certain age, but here we are, as a whole, drinking the milk of another animal intended for their babies! An animal that is designed to grow big, FAST. Is there any wonder it wreaks havoc on our bodies? Human milk is specifically designed to give babies everything they need to survive and grow. Cows milk is the same way, but for a cow. Our bodies are not designed for it!

 

[Zass]

People are so grossed out about human babies nursing past a certain age, but here we are, as a whole, drinking the milk of another animal intended for their babies!

One wonders just whom that opinion benefits. Certainly not the massive US dairy industry. :roll:

I actually do wonder just how many "opinions" shared by the masses are carefully nurtured by corporate interests. Not through targeted advertising, but more subtly, through opinions expressed by popular media characters.

 

[LPH_NY]

I will share one other thing for the sake of discussion - I have ADHD, diagnosed as an adult not as a child in fact, in part because my parents were very good at keeping me on track in school and because I'm good at tests. I am medicated for it and I do feel that the medication helps me a lot... Not as much as I'd like, but a statistically significant amount, certainly. I personally also strongly believe that ADHD is a real disorder and can be proven by scans of brain activity and isn't just a case of "kids being kids" and acting up... buuuut I also agree that it was probably heavily over-diagnosed and over-prescribed for, back when it was new and still today. In my case I was 29 when I finally went to my doctor in tears and told her that I didn't understand why everything was so difficult and that I was terrified I was going to lose my job (again ) and lose my home and my partner, because I couldn't seem to act like all the other adults and what did they know that I didn't... So I don't think "it's just undisciplined kids being let run riot" applies there Anyway!

What does anyone think about the relative prevalence of ADHD in kids these days, in the context of our high sugar, high additive diet? I expect there are several happy healthy kids who get a bit too much coca-cola or sugary cereal with blue food colouring at breakfast before school every day and then can't concentrate and want to burn off all their energy by jumping up and down... And I definitely think that could contribute to some over-diagnosis/mis-diagnosis of the disorder. But I'm genuinely interested in the idea that maybe there's something we eat now that's causing it - really causing the abnormal brain activity pattern, not just causing similar symptoms. Is it actually a relatively new disorder, caused by something modern like the food we eat? Or did the disease always exist, but we only really noticed it now because of our changing lifestyle?

I know it's a bit of a tangent from 'food', but I think if anything did cause it, then food (or rather, not-foods in the food, or heavily processed/refined food, or too much of one food, etc) is the likely culprit.

I suspect that the "different than average" brain patterns/chemistry that are becoming prevalent, like the rising incidence of cancers and inflammatory diseases, are linked to the increased use of chemical additives (many not tested for long enough to actually be proven harmless), unnatural food dyes, and the rising burden of the pesticides/herbicides used on our food crops (especially cereal grains). All of those things ARE damaging. And the more of those unnatural things we consume, the more vulnerable we are to diseases and altered biochemistry. The hormones in our dairy and meat supply are not JUST affecting the animals that are being treated with them. WE consume them and our bodies must digest and absorb the components of those animals, which were chemically altered. Even when we are able to eat only organic crops, it's hard to escape the agricultural run-off that gets into the water table. Unless you live really far from agriculture and outside of the city, where water is chemically treated and basically recycled, you can't get away from the way pesticides/herbicides have infiltrated our food and water supply. Sugar free sweeteners? Hydrogenated vegetable oils derived from GMO canola?

As an observation, I've seen the daily diet of some kids who's parents insist they feed them "healthy" foods. Some of the things they include? Prepackaged frozen blueberry toaster waffles (but they're whole grain! they insist that means wholesome and healthy) and then load them up with fake maple syrup made from corn syrup. Hi-C "fruit punch" and Disney themed "gummy fruits." (Neither of those contains very much fruit and BOTH contain an offensive amount of food coloring and HFCS! Goldfish crackers. Tater tots and ketchup. Hot dogs. Sliced individually wrapped Kraft Singles. Wonder bread. Canned fruit cocktail. Processed lunchmeats. Frozen pizza. A meal might look like this: Peanut butter (with added sugars) and jelly (mostly HFCS) on white bread (bleached wheat, GM canola and soy oils, HFCS) with a handful of Teddy Grahams (sugar), a serving of jello (also zero nutritional value with artificial flavors, sugar and dyes), canned vegetables (low nutritional content due to heat processing and preservatives) and 2% milk (hormones, hidden sugars to replace the healthy fats that were removed). The parents would insist it is a balanced meal, as would the school district. I could go on. These are *staples* of the American child's diet. If this is what passes as a "healthy" diet for children, then it's no wonder our kids can barely pay attention, have high rates of childhood obesity and diabetes and ever-increasing childhood cancer rates. The food industry has thrown billions of dollars into advertising to ensure parents are willing to *believe* that these things are healthy. I'm not going to say every packaged food is evil, but if 90% of a child's diet has added sugars and dyes and comes out of a package, then that child is not going to be at their healthiest.

The food industry has done a lot to confuse us over the years. Insisting that fats are killers. Eggs were horrible for cholesterol and vilified for years. A low fat diet is healthy (where the fats have been replaced by sugars or artificial sweeteners to make them more palatable and less guilt-inducing.) Grains should be a HUGE proportion of our daily intake. (really? from an evolutionary standpoint that seems pretty far off.) Infant formula was somehow touted as more nutritionally complete than breastmilk (nevermind that it is derived from soy, corn and cow milk components.) (Don't anyone get offended, I know not everyone CAN breastfeed, but I'm pointing out that the industry twisted our perception to make more money off those people they could convince to skip breastfeeding so they could get more money.)

On top of the food issue, is the issue of the dangerous chemicals that we use for cleaning our homes, chemicals and heavy metals in lotions, makeup, hair-dye, toothpaste, deodorant, feminine hygiene items, over the counter dietary supplements and dieting gimmicks. That stuff makes its way into our bodies, either by skin absorption, direct ingestion, or contaminating our water supply. The marketing on all of this stuff is powerful. They have made us believe that we are primitive and backwards if we reject this stuff.

 

[Zass]

Well said LPH_NY!! :clap2:

But, I also believe some of the atypical thinking patterns were always present, and simply not always treated like an illness.
I mean, there have GOT to be people who are not typical...because if everyone thought exactly the same, how would we have ever made progress??

I'm not saying the S.A.D. diet isn't a contributing factor to the prevalence of some....but that our schools and institutions are also making "diseases" out of anything and everything different.
Mostly, because it's just too easy to get extra funding for a "disease."

 

[LPH_NY]

But, I also believe some of the atypical thinking patterns were always present, and simply not always treated like an illness.
I mean, there have GOT to be people who are not typical...because if everyone thought exactly the same, how would we have ever made progress??

I fully agree with that. Before psychology became a legitimate field of medical study, there weren't a lot of people documenting about abnormal thought patterns or the link between mental health and physical health, etc. We really don't know what percentage of the population in previous centuries actually exhibited what is now considered "abnormal psychology."

But Big Pharma can make money from new drugs for every disease/disorder that has a name... so the more diseases/disorders, the bigger the profits. They want the maximum percentage of the population on drugs that treat symptoms instead of cures, so they've got to have a smorgasbord of illnesses to treat with dozens of drug options for each one! And even better if a large percentage of the drugs cause unpleasant side effects - because there are already drugs to treat those symptoms, too!

I'm not at all dismissing the severity of mental illnesses or difficult-to-diagnose physical ailments... I just wonder if we created the biggest problem by altering the food supply, and now we're just treating the symptoms in a seemingly endless cycle of drug prescriptions.