I need to vent a little.

[Dougalling]

Hello.

I need to vent a little. I'm asking myself a lot of questions that I can't answer. I'm not asking for answers either, I just need to vent out.

Ok, so here goes.

Everyone knows that candy is total junk, that there is no nutrition in candy, that it is bad for health.
So why in the world would someone give a baby candy? Why in the world do most babies get sugar laden cake on their 1st birthday? Why do people who have kids also do not learn anything about nutrition? Why do a lot of people read diet books yet won't read a book about nutrition nor about eating healthy? Why is nutrition not taught in schools? Why is it so hard to have people listen or read about Whole Foods Plant Based? Why is it that grandmas want to bake sugar cookies and sugar cakes with their grandkids when they know this food is not healthy? Why don't grandmas bake healthy foods with their grandkids? Why don't baby doctors tell parents they should not give junk food to babies?

[Drew_ab]

I agree. Yup. I certainly do. Nothing like poisoning a population and taking away their quality of life.

[shell-belle]

Yes I think those are all great questions and I want to know the answers too!

[Spiral]

I think that in the eyes of most people, the benefits of eating healthy aren't substantial and real.

In other words, people don't feel the connection between healthy eating and health, as hard as that seems.

If you eat an unhealthy diet, you might feel a little guilty about it, but you won't make any connection between your unhealthy diet and the fact that you have to go to doctor to check and see how you are managing your hypertension, diabetes and elevated serum cholesterol.

If you are eating a healthy diet, one that consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and starch vegetables and one that is low in sodium and fat/saturated fat, you are doing it to prove that you can gracefully endure suffering and avoid pleasure, but you won't enjoy any health benefits from your way of eating.

That's the attitude that many people have. All this stuff about this food giving you cancer or that food giving you heart disease, it's all nonsense. Eat more cake. Eat more ice cream. Happy birthday.

I know. It's unhealthy. It's based on misunderstandings about nutrition. But there it is.

[openmind]

Hello.

I need to vent a little. I'm asking myself a lot of questions that I can't answer. I'm not asking for answers either, I just need to vent out.

Ok, so here goes.

Everyone knows that candy is total junk, that there is no nutrition in candy, that it is bad for health.
So why in the world would someone give a baby candy? Why in the world do most babies get sugar laden cake on their 1st birthday? Why do people who have kids also do not learn anything about nutrition? Why do a lot of people read diet books yet won't read a book about nutrition nor about eating healthy? Why is nutrition not taught in schools? Why is it so hard to have people listen or read about Whole Foods Plant Based? Why is it that grandmas want to bake sugar cookies and sugar cakes with their grandkids when they know this food is not healthy? Why don't grandmas bake healthy foods with their grandkids? Why don't baby doctors tell parents they should not give junk food to babies?

I have this argument all the time with my family and friends all the time. They think it's too extreme to give a child fresh kiwi or organic strawberries as a treat instead of sugar (and fat) laden sweets. It's very hard to raise a child on a whole foods plant based diet when friends, family, the school system, the daycare, and the church are all handing out sweets on a daily basis.

[EvanG]

I know you were just venting, but I think it comes down to 'How to magnetize a baby.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRFpLdv6LYk

Barnard talks about this in some of his talks.

So, by giving a child sugar, you make the baby like you. The parents 'can't help it,' and indulge themselves.

[vgpedlr]

In addition to all the other great answers, people are social critters who look for reinforcement and guidance to those around them. As long as people feel like they're doing as well as, or maybe a little better than, the people they see, then they think everything is OK. In this society, with the health outcomes we have, that is setting the bar very low.

[healthyvegan]

its the same reason why some people give their pets too many treats and you have all these fat dogs and cats with disease. They think they are creating enjoyment for the animal, but really its just long term pain.

We are attracted to the dense calories in sugar. I don't have a problem giving a kid or myself a vegan gummy bear or vegan jelly bean small packet on special occasions or as a reward, aka treat. Sugar as a condiment is ok, sugar as a food is not. A cake or cookie sweetened with applesauce or sugar is still sugar, as long as its just a treat and not a meal its fine in my book. People that eat sugar as food know who they are

[Sage Green]

Why don't you ask Dr. McDougall? There is a recipe for chocolate cake with white sugar in it in The Starch Solution.

[Skip]

Why is it so hard to have people listen or read about Whole Foods Plant Based?

The forces of the market place and our own instinctive reactions to food make WFPB a tough sell. We have been indoctrinated from childhood of the so called benefits from consuming meat and dairy products. How many people would reject the financial empire of owning the Baskin Robbins ice cream company because they thought ice cream was not healthy for the population? John Robbins did. I don't think I would (as the greed for money might outweigh the need to promote health for the common good of all).

Take a group of people (of any age) at a social gathering and offer to them ice cream or cookies versus some fresh fruit or vegetables. The instinct to eat higher caloric density foods kicks in and most people choose the ice cream and cookies.

Corporations understand the demand for these higher caloric density foods like ice cream and cookies so by supply and demand forces, they produce and sell these foods. The same goes for animal based foods and processed foods.

In our military-industrial-pharaceutical-medical complex, the profit is in unhealthy foods (and wars, but that is a whole other topic).
Eating a WFPB diet becomes counter intuitive until you realize the benefits of changing to it. That change for many is not very easy but once it is made, the goes on

[figlover]

Habits are hard to break, socially acceptable norms are just THAT, to the detriment of greater truth and awareness. Pick your subject, it's not only about food. All stimulation habits are disease producing in EXCESS. Which is what make the continuation seductive. 'Just this once won't hurt', and 'if it feel good what's the problem?'..... hard to argue macro concerns against the micro behaviors.

[patty]

We are conditioned from the time we are in the womb, how our mother adapted to survive in her environment. I remember watching one of Jeff Novick's Oil to Nuts.. dvds and being amazed eating WP supplies enough fat and oil. 95% of our day is run on habits. 95% of hospitals visits are from lifestyle issues. Our fascination with unrequited love from the feedback loop from the food industry to the hospital industry is becoming more apparent. The most important component of the feedback loop is Me, the Ultimate addiction. We all seek pleasure and avoid pain. That is why they say it is better to die today, then tomorrow. Justified anger kills just as unjustified. Choose your situations (before or after) where you don't eat over them or let them eat over you. As Dr. McDougall says, "It's the Food." We are maturing as the world gets more transparent and it is going to take total anarchy:) because we are a conditioned species of a old paradigm that is no longer working. As Dr. Campbell shares in "Whole" it has to be from the bottom up.

Aloha, patty