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Red Flags You Are Reading Bad Advice
Jan. 2nd, 2024 01:57 pmhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/01/02/ultra-processed-foods-identification/
I like WaPo. I really do. I just hate New Years Resolution Lose Weight / Eat Healthier clickbait, and I have low self control so I am gonna Lay Waste to this garbage.
I’m going to start at the end, with the quote from Marion Nestle, who I often think I like, altho I’m starting to really revisit that.
“If you choose to buy ultra-processed foods, avoid “family size” and choose single serving items. Large packages are designed to make you overeat, said Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and the author of “Soda Politics.” “If you can’t stop eating from big packages, don’t buy them,” she added.”
The reason everyone buys the “family size” is because it is cheaper. So this advice is basically, spend more money, with a little side helping of Probably Worse for the Environment, too. Nestle is focused on self-control / portion perception and package sizing, which was a Go To for Brian Wansink and his coterie. But we all know not to believe anything that Brian Wansink told us, because _he had to fake the science to get an outcome we all were pre-disposed to believe_. So the Nestle advice has multiple forms of bad advice:
Advice that is even worse for the planet than what someone is already doing
Advice that is gratuitously more expensive than what the person was already spending.
Advice based on an idea that is extremely plausible, but which a very well-known and popular scientist had to repeatedly fake science in order to support — so, very bad scientific advice.
What might be better advice to someone who chooses to buy ultra-processed foods? Maybe, “Eat slowly and savor what you have bought, and stop when you feel you feel like it is not enjoyable any more.”
How hard is that really?
Next paragraph back:
“Most ultra-processed foods are found in the middle aisles of a grocery store. Shop the perimeter where stores stock fresh, whole foods, said Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, a professor at Northeastern University and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School who studies ultra-processed foods. “Most of the foods that are fresh are good for you,” he said.”
The perimeter of the grocery store is populated by a lot of food that is labor intensive to prepare, is more expensive per calorie, and requires significant culinary skills in order to prepare. I think we can all see that those are problematic assumptions, but I would also like to point out that identifying a person in a family unit to develop that expertise and support that person in deploying that expertise on behalf of the rest of the family unit also strongly reinforces some real negative human interactions. Some of those interactions are obviously patriarchal. The rest of those interactions are just more subtle patriarchal.
Kinds of bad advice here:
Probably worse for the planet, because waste of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, eggs, etc. Is legendary, and shelf stable stuff doesn’t go bad quickly and is very often consumed in its entirety eventually, unless someone comes in and makes the person throw it all away in a fit of Eat Healthy that will last for about two weeks, six tops.
Gratuitously more expensive.
Probably patriarchal, definitely exploitative and/or an opportunity to blame people for being too poor in money, time and/or training to “properly” “prepare” “food”.
What might have been good advice here?
If you like to snack on fruit, try to buy it in season, when it tastes best and costs the least.
There are often partially prepared vegetables that you can either snack on, or incorporate into a quick and tasty meal — not just “baby carrots” but various vegetable mixes and salads as well. Buy only what you are sure you will use in a few days, and supplement with items from the freezer section if you have space in your freezer, or canned/tetra pak options if you do not.
Next paragraph back!
“Processed foods include items such as canned vegetables, bacon, cheeses, smoked fish, canned tuna and freshly made breads. Most processed foods are things you can make in your own kitchen. They typically contain two or three ingredients, but they’re still recognizable as versions of things found in nature. Some examples would be a jar of unsweetened apple sauce, tofu, hummus, tomato sauce, and frozen fruits and vegetables.”
This is not advice; it’s just risible. First, Ashley Gearhardt, an expert in the space of ultra-high processed foods and food addiction, explicitly categorized all white bread made at home as ultra-high processed food in an episode of “Speaking of Psychology” podcast. So, these “okay” processed foods are “not okay” if you ask other experts in this area. Even if you made them at home. You can tell that there is genuine disagreement, because scientists back-calculated processed food consumption based on the Nurses Health data categorized homemade pie (contents unspecified) as the “best” category, but it almost certainly contained all the stuff that gets things marked the worst category. At the same time, olive oil — about as unprocessed an item as you are ever going to find — gets dumped into the vegetable oil category, which is definitely not the best category.
Nothing here makes sense, and also, I would like to meet the person who could make in their own kitchen all of smoked fish, canned tuna, freshly made bread, canned vegetables, bacon, cheeses, and tofu. I mean, that is a _lot_ of skill and quite a lot of equipment as well. I’m not saying that paragraph suggests that any one person _could_. I just want to meet that person, because the language summons that level of culinary capability in my mind and it made me laugh, but _an actual person_ who could do all that would inspire awe. The laughter is because that person does not exist.
What other description might have been better here?
If you have any food sensitivities or intolerances, or you are buying food for people with food sensitivities and intolerances, longer ingredient lists are a chore to get through. Also, we should give thanks every day that we live in an age of plentiful food that is unlikely to kill us through adulteration or contamination, thanks to food regulation and modern food processing. If you can find a processed food or whatever that you can eat without feeling ill, and especially if it is easier for you than making it yourself, please take your time to truly enjoy that food and express your gratitude that we live in an amazing time.
Skipping a bit back:
“ Yogurt should have just two ingredients: Milk and cultures (i.e. probiotics).”
Basically, you’re not allowed to have the highest fat Fage, then? I mean, it has cream in it. Also, why doesn’t it count as processing to use “skimmed” milk? Please do not respond to this. I’m obviously snarking. I don’t care what kind of yogurt you buy and eat. Buying Fage in the two lower fat options is clearly a flex; mixing in your own fruit is going to open up a discussion with the other person doing this flex about whether you should be eating that fruit that was flown in from elsewhere on the planet because it is out of season. Or that it traveled more than 100 miles to get to you, so you shouldn’t be eating it for that reason. Or because Fage is sold in plastic containers, so you shouldn’t be eating it for that reason. You’ll find yourself talking to someone spooning yogurt out of a mason jar that they made themselves _and that’s fine that they made their own yogurt_, as long as they don’t drop the mason jar and leave glass shards everywhere.
OK, I’m going to stop now. The rest of the article is an entirely unsupported set of recommendations that amount to don’t eat anything. If you comply with them, someone _will_ come up to you and add some more things that amount to, or that either. You can _endlessly_ tell people not to eat things _because we live in a culture of wild abundance_. People who try to “eat healthier” at the beginning of the year are attempting to recreate an environment of scarcity within the larger environment of abundance in hopes that this will result in them getting thin. Or whatever.
What is better advice?
If you are driving through a rural area in the green time of the year, and you see some place selling fresh eggs or peaches or green beans or squash, and you have a flash of loving a particular egg dish, or peaches with the fuzz still on them, or green bean casserole or squash pie, please pull over and get that good stuff and bring those memories to life again.
If you are hungry, you should eat something.
If you can, you should establish a routine to ensure you eat at regular intervals, because if you don’t, it’s hard to emotionally regulate and if you have substance abuse problems, it’s harder to manage them.
If you can share your food with someone else, without being pushy about it, offer. It can bring joy and community back to a polarized and anxious world.
And try to get a good night’s sleep. I’d suggest you eat your vegetables, but after reading that WaPo article, I can’t. I just can’t. Please take good care.
I like WaPo. I really do. I just hate New Years Resolution Lose Weight / Eat Healthier clickbait, and I have low self control so I am gonna Lay Waste to this garbage.
I’m going to start at the end, with the quote from Marion Nestle, who I often think I like, altho I’m starting to really revisit that.
“If you choose to buy ultra-processed foods, avoid “family size” and choose single serving items. Large packages are designed to make you overeat, said Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and the author of “Soda Politics.” “If you can’t stop eating from big packages, don’t buy them,” she added.”
The reason everyone buys the “family size” is because it is cheaper. So this advice is basically, spend more money, with a little side helping of Probably Worse for the Environment, too. Nestle is focused on self-control / portion perception and package sizing, which was a Go To for Brian Wansink and his coterie. But we all know not to believe anything that Brian Wansink told us, because _he had to fake the science to get an outcome we all were pre-disposed to believe_. So the Nestle advice has multiple forms of bad advice:
Advice that is even worse for the planet than what someone is already doing
Advice that is gratuitously more expensive than what the person was already spending.
Advice based on an idea that is extremely plausible, but which a very well-known and popular scientist had to repeatedly fake science in order to support — so, very bad scientific advice.
What might be better advice to someone who chooses to buy ultra-processed foods? Maybe, “Eat slowly and savor what you have bought, and stop when you feel you feel like it is not enjoyable any more.”
How hard is that really?
Next paragraph back:
“Most ultra-processed foods are found in the middle aisles of a grocery store. Shop the perimeter where stores stock fresh, whole foods, said Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, a professor at Northeastern University and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School who studies ultra-processed foods. “Most of the foods that are fresh are good for you,” he said.”
The perimeter of the grocery store is populated by a lot of food that is labor intensive to prepare, is more expensive per calorie, and requires significant culinary skills in order to prepare. I think we can all see that those are problematic assumptions, but I would also like to point out that identifying a person in a family unit to develop that expertise and support that person in deploying that expertise on behalf of the rest of the family unit also strongly reinforces some real negative human interactions. Some of those interactions are obviously patriarchal. The rest of those interactions are just more subtle patriarchal.
Kinds of bad advice here:
Probably worse for the planet, because waste of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, eggs, etc. Is legendary, and shelf stable stuff doesn’t go bad quickly and is very often consumed in its entirety eventually, unless someone comes in and makes the person throw it all away in a fit of Eat Healthy that will last for about two weeks, six tops.
Gratuitously more expensive.
Probably patriarchal, definitely exploitative and/or an opportunity to blame people for being too poor in money, time and/or training to “properly” “prepare” “food”.
What might have been good advice here?
If you like to snack on fruit, try to buy it in season, when it tastes best and costs the least.
There are often partially prepared vegetables that you can either snack on, or incorporate into a quick and tasty meal — not just “baby carrots” but various vegetable mixes and salads as well. Buy only what you are sure you will use in a few days, and supplement with items from the freezer section if you have space in your freezer, or canned/tetra pak options if you do not.
Next paragraph back!
“Processed foods include items such as canned vegetables, bacon, cheeses, smoked fish, canned tuna and freshly made breads. Most processed foods are things you can make in your own kitchen. They typically contain two or three ingredients, but they’re still recognizable as versions of things found in nature. Some examples would be a jar of unsweetened apple sauce, tofu, hummus, tomato sauce, and frozen fruits and vegetables.”
This is not advice; it’s just risible. First, Ashley Gearhardt, an expert in the space of ultra-high processed foods and food addiction, explicitly categorized all white bread made at home as ultra-high processed food in an episode of “Speaking of Psychology” podcast. So, these “okay” processed foods are “not okay” if you ask other experts in this area. Even if you made them at home. You can tell that there is genuine disagreement, because scientists back-calculated processed food consumption based on the Nurses Health data categorized homemade pie (contents unspecified) as the “best” category, but it almost certainly contained all the stuff that gets things marked the worst category. At the same time, olive oil — about as unprocessed an item as you are ever going to find — gets dumped into the vegetable oil category, which is definitely not the best category.
Nothing here makes sense, and also, I would like to meet the person who could make in their own kitchen all of smoked fish, canned tuna, freshly made bread, canned vegetables, bacon, cheeses, and tofu. I mean, that is a _lot_ of skill and quite a lot of equipment as well. I’m not saying that paragraph suggests that any one person _could_. I just want to meet that person, because the language summons that level of culinary capability in my mind and it made me laugh, but _an actual person_ who could do all that would inspire awe. The laughter is because that person does not exist.
What other description might have been better here?
If you have any food sensitivities or intolerances, or you are buying food for people with food sensitivities and intolerances, longer ingredient lists are a chore to get through. Also, we should give thanks every day that we live in an age of plentiful food that is unlikely to kill us through adulteration or contamination, thanks to food regulation and modern food processing. If you can find a processed food or whatever that you can eat without feeling ill, and especially if it is easier for you than making it yourself, please take your time to truly enjoy that food and express your gratitude that we live in an amazing time.
Skipping a bit back:
“ Yogurt should have just two ingredients: Milk and cultures (i.e. probiotics).”
Basically, you’re not allowed to have the highest fat Fage, then? I mean, it has cream in it. Also, why doesn’t it count as processing to use “skimmed” milk? Please do not respond to this. I’m obviously snarking. I don’t care what kind of yogurt you buy and eat. Buying Fage in the two lower fat options is clearly a flex; mixing in your own fruit is going to open up a discussion with the other person doing this flex about whether you should be eating that fruit that was flown in from elsewhere on the planet because it is out of season. Or that it traveled more than 100 miles to get to you, so you shouldn’t be eating it for that reason. Or because Fage is sold in plastic containers, so you shouldn’t be eating it for that reason. You’ll find yourself talking to someone spooning yogurt out of a mason jar that they made themselves _and that’s fine that they made their own yogurt_, as long as they don’t drop the mason jar and leave glass shards everywhere.
OK, I’m going to stop now. The rest of the article is an entirely unsupported set of recommendations that amount to don’t eat anything. If you comply with them, someone _will_ come up to you and add some more things that amount to, or that either. You can _endlessly_ tell people not to eat things _because we live in a culture of wild abundance_. People who try to “eat healthier” at the beginning of the year are attempting to recreate an environment of scarcity within the larger environment of abundance in hopes that this will result in them getting thin. Or whatever.
What is better advice?
If you are driving through a rural area in the green time of the year, and you see some place selling fresh eggs or peaches or green beans or squash, and you have a flash of loving a particular egg dish, or peaches with the fuzz still on them, or green bean casserole or squash pie, please pull over and get that good stuff and bring those memories to life again.
If you are hungry, you should eat something.
If you can, you should establish a routine to ensure you eat at regular intervals, because if you don’t, it’s hard to emotionally regulate and if you have substance abuse problems, it’s harder to manage them.
If you can share your food with someone else, without being pushy about it, offer. It can bring joy and community back to a polarized and anxious world.
And try to get a good night’s sleep. I’d suggest you eat your vegetables, but after reading that WaPo article, I can’t. I just can’t. Please take good care.