Show Outline with Links
CrossPolitic Clashes with Merritt
The Lord is my shepherd…and He sure knows this sheep needs it…
Junk Food is Cheap Because its Ingredients are cheap
If the Trailer is any indication, this ought to be a great documentary …
Sick (Twitter) Burn
Poor Thing…
Not Helpful
While I object to US corn subsidies, the truth is that food that is considered healthy is often more expensive. And a lot of what is considered healthy and unhealthy is largely arbitrary.
I also think that costing food per calorie is disingenuous. Calorie dense foods are usually considered unhealthy. Low calorie foods healthy. So to compare price per calorie and then complain about how dear healthy foods are (per calorie) is just prejudicing your claim. Celery will never be cheap per calorie. And water will always be infinitely more expensive no matter how cheap it is.
Right-on, cost per calorie is really a bad metric. However even using that metric if we compare twinkies to bulk (retail) rice or beans the twinkies will look expensive. Bulk rice or beans run around 2-4,000 callories/dollar, twinkies are around 500 calories/dollar at best.
And you could live on nothing but bulk beans for months if required… twinkies not so much.
Food is good for you. That has to be starting point for any discussion of nutrition. In a survival situation, all the food labeled unhealthy would be revealed as valuable. If you find yourself lost in the woods, you’ll be much better off with some water and a backpack full of twinkies than you would be with only water. You’re probably better off with the twinkies than if you replace them with celery or broccoli for that matter, whether measured by calorie, volume or weight. To say “twinkies are unhealthy” is more misleading than accurate. It assumes that you have… Read more »
All good points. Calorie dense foods are great in some situations and we are definitely made to enjoy them and seek them out. We just live in an environment where relative wealth, an efficient supply chain, and very talented food scientists make calorie dense foods accessible and relatively cheap. The snack food industry is really good at making foods that are extremely addictive, not through any nefarious intent but simply by responding to market forces. For instance, obesiety researchers had trouble getting rats to over eat. They tried every combination of fat and sugar and could never get them to… Read more »
Fascinating.
I do wonder though, what does “every combination of fat and sugar” mean if it doesn’t include “junk food, chips and soda, and confectionery goods?”
Nathan,
It means just feeding them combinations of fats (oil, butter, tallow etc.) Sugar (HFC, white sugar, molasses), with some amount of fiber and crude protein. They werent mixing them into delicious (or not so delicious, but somehow compulsion inducing) comestibles. The use of MSG, spices, malliard reactions through heating and browing, all of tha stuff effects the way we (and rats) encounter food.
I doubt people would become obese if you gave them all they could eat of white sugar, butter, bran flakes, and chicken breasts. But with the lineup of Hostess, Little Debbie, Coca-Cola, and Frito-Lays many will.