Fed-up Documentary!!!

[Colleen27]

I don't understand all the animosity here. It would be interesting to see a discussion about the movie. Some people would agree with it and others would choose to disagree. I also don't see the problem with the word toxic. Yes it is overused, incorrectly. But we do that with many words. It's an exaggeration. I would imagine that most people understand the true definition of toxic and don't believe that sugar fits that definition.
I personally believe that added sugar to so many products is very harmful. I do believe that most food manufacturers know exactly what they are doing when they add it. I don't believe the goal is to eliminate sugar, but rather to educate consumers. I also don't think most people realize how recent this problem is. For a good deal of the past the average consumer could not afford to buy tons of processed foods. Even if we go to my childhood, and I am 50, sugar was a treat, for special occasions. We had birthday cakes and sometimes pastries on Sundays after church. On a hot summer night we had ice cream. But pasta sauce was home made with either no sugar or a pinch. Apple sauce was home made also. Dinner rarely came from a box and restaurant meals were for celebrations. And we were not atypical. In my grandmother's time it was even more limited. Depression era folks were careful with money and during WWII sugar was rationed. If you watched an episode of Little House in the Prairie you would know how expensive sugar was.

My problem is that extremism and half-truths obscure meaningful discussion, so rather than fostering an intelligent conversation on the issue screaming "TOXIC POISON SUGAR" simply allows those who are comfortable with or actively support the current status quo to frame themselves as the only reasonable voice in the room.

Yes, we have an issue with the use of sugar in this country. It isn't even as simple as processed vs homemade. We never used homemade ketchup, only rarely made spaghetti sauce from scratch, and my single mom certainly didn't have time to bake bread. But comparing labels over the years shows a big difference in the make-up of those products. And that doesn't even touch on the use of HFCS in things we don't even think of as sweet - oven-ready chicken nuggets, hot dogs/brats, etc. Why does meat need added sugar?!? But the way to change that is to change shopping habits and talk to people about why, not by presenting alarmist claims and junk science that decimates one's credibility and by extension damages the cause as a whole.

 

[HappyTogether]

Why does meat need added sugar?!? But the way to change that is to change shopping habits and talk to people about why,

It is kind of hard when 80% of the processed foods in America contain the toxic poison that is sugar.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/88015/what-happens-to-your-brain-on-sugar-explained-by-science

Then we have the soda problem:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-ha...ar-affects-brain-heart-lungs-and-teeth-271193

When 1/3 of the country will suffer from diabetes by 2050, I am concerned now as it will be my child having to be saddled with the health care of these people. When this is the first generation of children not expected to outlive their parents, it does deserve people to be shouting the alarm of the toxic and poisonous effects of sugar.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I do wish that people would distinguish between real sugar and HFCS before making blanket statements.

 

[EMode]

It is kind of hard when 80% of the processed foods in America contain the toxic poison that is sugar.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/88015/what-happens-to-your-brain-on-sugar-explained-by-science

Then we have the soda problem:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-ha...ar-affects-brain-heart-lungs-and-teeth-271193

When 1/3 of the country will suffer from diabetes by 2050, I am concerned now as it will be my child having to be saddled with the health care of these people. When this is the first generation of children not expected to outlive their parents, it does deserve people to be shouting the alarm of the toxic and poisonous effects of sugar.

Yes we know 80% of PROCESSED food has added sugar in it, and you are right its hard if you are buying mostly processed food. However, one could buy non processed food and make their own versions of those processed food choices. But, that takes work and alot of effort and people want easy. Buying processed junk is easy and like Colleen said you need to change people's shopping habits. Her post is spot on.

And as far as the bolded, do you hold the parents of those kids responsible for the crap they let their kids eat, or is that the big bad evil food companies fault too. I don't recall thugs from Hostess and Pepsi holding a gun to my head forcing me to feed my kids twinkies and coke for afternoon snack.

 

[deedeetoo]

Yes we know 80% of PROCESSED food has added sugar in it, and you are right its hard if you are buying mostly processed food. However, one could buy non processed food and make their own versions of those processed food choices. But, that takes work and alot of effort and people want easy. Buying processed junk is easy and like Colleen said you need to change people's shopping habits. Her post is spot on.

Its not so much that people want easy and not to put a lot of effort into food preparation. Many do not have the time, or would rather do other things with their time. I work full time and have two kids who are very active in sports and other activities. I don't have time to make bread, apple sauce and spaghetti sauce from scratch. I barely have time to do the laundry and my house is generally a disaster. Now I could make my kids quit their sports but that seems to be counter productive if the goal is being healthy.

FWIW, eating processed foods does not automatically make you fat. We eat a lot of it. I'm sure many here would cringe if they saw what we had in our house. Yet none of us are overweight or have health issues.

 

[EMode]

Its not so much that people want easy and not to put a lot of effort into food preparation. Many do not have the time, or would rather do other things with their time. I work full time and have two kids who are very active in sports and other activities. I don't have time to make bread, apple sauce and spaghetti sauce from scratch. I barely have time to do the laundry and my house is generally a disaster. Now I could make my kids quit their sports but that seems to be counter productive if the goal is being healthy.

FWIW, eating processed foods does not automatically make you fat. We eat a lot of it. I'm sure many here would cringe if they saw what we had in our house. Yet none of us are overweight or have health issues.

You are the very definition of wanting it easy, and I don't blame you at all. I'm a SAHM and I want it easy too, there are plenty of processed foods in my pantry. My point is that its not Kraft's fault I choose to feed my family that stuff, its mine.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

It is kind of hard when 80% of the processed foods in America contain the toxic poison that is sugar.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/88015/what-happens-to-your-brain-on-sugar-explained-by-science

Then we have the soda problem:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-ha...ar-affects-brain-heart-lungs-and-teeth-271193

When 1/3 of the country will suffer from diabetes by 2050, I am concerned now as it will be my child having to be saddled with the health care of these people. When this is the first generation of children not expected to outlive their parents, it does deserve people to be shouting the alarm of the toxic and poisonous effects of sugar.

I am sorry, by I cannot keep watching you use the word toxic over and over without asking: Do you really know how to clinically define toxicity? If so, what is the ld50 for sugar, because I have never seen one reported? I really think you don't understand the definition of toxic and are bandying about a hot button word to get a response here.

Clinically toxic substances have lethal doses and are acutely harmful. While I agree that added sugar is not good for us, it doesn't meet the criteria to be labeled toxic or as a poison. It simply doesn't effect that body the same way as real poisons or toxins. That doesn't mean it doesn't have long term adverse effects, but I don't think you are helping your case here by consistently using blatantly incorrect terminology to get a rise out of people. I you REALLY want to discuss this or change anyone's mind about it, I would suggest sound facts about the adverse effects of excess sugar in the body and well written, peer reviewed studies on this subject rather than slanted documentaries and "toxic poison" references. Yes, I have seen the documentary you are referencing and it IS slanted.

 

[JanaDee]

It is kind of hard when 80% of the processed foods in America contain the toxic poison that is sugar.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/88015/what-happens-to-your-brain-on-sugar-explained-by-science

Then we have the soda problem:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-ha...ar-affects-brain-heart-lungs-and-teeth-271193

When 1/3 of the country will suffer from diabetes by 2050, I am concerned now as it will be my child having to be saddled with the health care of these people. When this is the first generation of children not expected to outlive their parents, it does deserve people to be shouting the alarm of the toxic and poisonous effects of sugar.

Sugar is neither toxic, nor poison and your continued use of those terms are making you sound like someone that can't have an intelligent discussion based on facts, not junk science.

 

[HappyTogether]

We have known about the toxic effects of sugar as it poisons the body since 2006.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/86/4/899

 

[HappyTogether]

Its not so much that people want easy and not to put a lot of effort into food preparation. Many do not have the time, or would rather do other things with their time. I work full time and have two kids who are very active in sports and other activities. I don't have time to make bread, apple sauce and spaghetti sauce from scratch.

Frankly it is cheaper to eat processed food with toxic sugar added by the food companies to make you and your family addicted.

They are manipulating our food the same way big tobacco was with nicotene in cigarettes to poison our bodies and make us buy more junk.

It is expensive to eat fresh and healthy.

 

[okeydokey]

This thread is so funny. The OP has done the exact opposite of what they set out to do.

 

[deedeetoo]

Frankly it is cheaper to eat processed food with toxic sugar added by the food companies to make you and your family addicted.

They are manipulating our food the same way big tobacco was with nicotene in cigarettes to poison our bodies and make us buy more junk.

It is expensive to eat fresh and healthy.

Do you read before you type? There was nothing in my post about choosing processed food because it was cheaper. My family is not addicted and we are not being poisoned.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Frankly it is cheaper to eat processed food with toxic sugar added by the food companies to make you and your family addicted.

They are manipulating our food the same way big tobacco was with nicotene in cigarettes to poison our bodies and make us buy more junk.

It is expensive to eat fresh and healthy.

This is a myth. It is EASIER to make the processed foods. It is actually quite cheap to eat healthy, you just have to actually take the time to buy and make the foods. Most would rather open a bag of Tyson chicken nuggets and throw that into the oven or heat up a Swansen's lasagna. You can feed your family healthy foods that cost much less per serving. You just have to be willing to put in more than 10 minutes to prepare the meal.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

Marge, we've been down this road before:

Homer buys a book on world records published by Duff at a library sale. After boring everyone with world record trivia, Homer decides to break a record himself. He gathers the whole town to build the world's tallest human pyramid. After Jimbo and Kearney move their hands just before the record is claimed, the pyramid collapses into a giant sphere that rolls through town, taking in Agnes Skinner, Hans Moleman, and a suicidal man about to jump from a ledge onto the street. The entire town rolls to a truck weighing station and the Duff record book officials say that Springfield is the world's fattest town, ahead of Milwaukee.

The townsfolk are happy to have made it in the record book, but Marge is worried that the whole town is overweight. She discovers that there is sugar in nearly everything Springfielders eat. After complaining to Garth Motherloving, head of the "Motherloving Sweets and Sugar Company" (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marge decides to sue the sugar industry with the help of Gil and Professor Frink. Judge Snyder sides with her and bans all sugar products in Springfield (angering Homer and most of the town).

The whole town goes cold turkey and begins to suffer from intense sugar withdrawal. Homer joins a secret group led by Garth Motherloving to smuggle sugar from the island of San Glucos. After arriving back in Springfield, and evading a police boat, Homer brings the sugar to the docks. Marge pleads Homer to dump the cargo. There Homer is presented with two choices: to obey Marge and press the button Drop Cargo or bring the sugar to Garth Motherloving by pressing the button Obey Bad Guy. After contemplating, Homer drops the cargo and all the sugar falls to the Springfield docks' water. All Springfielders, even those who seemed happier and healthier without sugar, jump into the harbor and drink the sugar water. Judge Snyder then declares the ban over and dives in with everyone else. Marge is upset and she thinks about giving up changing the world. However, Homer tells her that he loves her when she tries to make a world a better place.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

I am sorry, by I cannot keep watching you use the word toxic over and over without asking: Do you really know how to clinically define toxicity?

Were you looking for this:

 

[HappyTogether]

This is a myth.

Sorry but it is not a myth. Fresh foods, Organic foods are far more expensive than the cheap processed junk. Plain and simple. 'Nuff Said!

 

[mom2rtk]

'Nuff Said!

Well, that's *almost* as good as citing a credible source.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Were you looking for this:

That is actually EXACTLY what I was thinking of!

 

[barkley]

This is a myth. It is EASIER to make the processed foods. It is actually quite cheap to eat healthy, you just have to actually take the time to buy and make the foods. Most would rather open a bag of Tyson chicken nuggets and throw that into the oven or heat up a Swansen's lasagna. You can feed your family healthy foods that cost much less per serving. You just have to be willing to put in more than 10 minutes to prepare the meal.

it's funny that you mention frozen lasagna b/c that's what immediately came to mind when I read the post you quoted.

when I was employed/commuting 60+ hours per week my co-workers always knew that on Mondays when we talked about what we had done over the weekend that mine included cooking 'batches'. it might have been several lasagnas, trays of enchiladas, 'chicken nuggets', and not too infrequently a whole roast or turkey. they contended that between the time I spent doing the cooking and the ingredients there was no way I was getting off less expensively than purchasing a similar pre-packaged/prepared item.

I knew this wasn't the case and they finally accepted it when we did a side by side cost comparison. it was an eye opener for them, but it was for me as well-I certainly didn't realize that so many people had no clue of how easy it was to make homemade versions of the foods they/their families enjoyed. it was interesting how many chose to give companies like 'dream dinners' a go when they opened in that area a year or so later, and once they felt comfortable with the concept they were more likely to do it.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Sorry but it is not a myth. Fresh foods, Organic foods are far more expensive than the cheap processed junk. Plain and simple. 'Nuff Said!

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/17/usda-healthy-food-isnt-really-more-expensive/

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Ma...xpensive-Not-necessarily-say-USDA-researchers

http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/food-exercise-mythbuster.aspx

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9762466/Mythbusting-the-cost-of-healthy-eating

Fact is, it can be more expensive to eat the healthy stuff, if you aren't aware of how to do it right. Buy stuff that is in season. Buy frozen instead of fresh fruits and vegetables. The nutrients are still there and, in fact, are often higher. Put in a little effort and you can eat healthy for just as inexpensively or even less expensively than the unhealthy stuff.