Why don't more people eat this way?

[roundcoconut]

Just as an FYI...

The term [toxic food environment] was coined by Kelly Brownell over 2 decades ago, first appearing in a NY Times interview by Jane Brody.

The concept of a toxic food environment has been around for 20 years, but so many people make money off of a toxic food environment, that instead, we only really talk about people making "poor food choices". It is pretty much criminal!

I read somewhere recently about trying to infuse restaurants, servers and cooks with a sense of responsibility for the health and well-being of the people we serve. Restaurants are a HUGE part of this criminal level of negligence! We love to blame "physicians" -- i put this in quotes now because I think most MDs don't deserve such a professional title -- but restaurant workers really out there on the front lines dosing Americans with hypercaloric and overprocessed crap.

It is particular horrible to look at how the kids menu of any restaurant is usually a nutritionally compromised version of the adult menu. So, the adult menu might offer quinoa-based salads; or sandwiches that include lettuce, tomato, onion, sprouts and cucumbers in addition to some type of meat filling; but the kids menu is often a white-bread burger with nothing but ketchup on it; or velveeta-style mac-n-cheese with some french fries on the side; or grilled cheese with nothing but white bread and american cheese. Our level of negligence toward kids is through the roof. Can't kids get a damn banana?!?

The toxic food environments faced by kids in public schools seems similarly engineered for type 2 diabetes. I shudder to think about a whole classroom of kids getting served cupcakes anytime one of them has a birthday. Just "cupcakes for everyone!" because no one in education has that sense of responsibility toward kids' health outcomes either.

I wonder when courageous individuals will start taking responsibility for the toxic food environment that we condone and allow to exist. We all just seem to kinda accept it, because it seems so overwhelming and beyond change.

JeffN -- THAT would make sense as the focus for the contest that was seeking ideas. Like, how do you turn around a culture where we each of us abdicates responsibility for our disease-o-genic food environments? The rules of the contest you posted about a month or two ago, specifically said it should address a problem that no one thinks has a solution, or a problem that no one is really bothering to find a solution to.

Quite a rant, but y'know -- I just get GOING sometimes!

[JeffN]

I wonder when courageous individuals will start taking responsibility for the toxic food environment that we condone and allow to exist. We all just seem to kinda accept it, because it seems so overwhelming and beyond change.

JeffN -- THAT would make sense as the focus for the contest that was seeking ideas. Like, how do you turn around a culture where we each of us abdicates responsibility for our disease-o-genic food environments? The rules of the contest you posted about a month or two ago, specifically said it should address a problem that no one thinks has a solution, or a problem that no one is really bothering to find a solution to.

Quite a rant, but y'know -- I just get GOING sometimes!

That was most of the point of my discussion with them.

We will see where it goes

In Health
Jeff

[Spiral]

Just as an FYI...

The term [toxic food environment] was coined by Kelly Brownell over 2 decades ago, first appearing in a NY Times interview by Jane Brody.

The concept of a toxic food environment has been around for 20 years, but so many people make money off of a toxic food environment, that instead, we only really talk about people making "poor food choices". It is pretty much criminal!

I read somewhere recently about trying to infuse restaurants, servers and cooks with a sense of responsibility for the health and well-being of the people we serve. Restaurants are a HUGE part of this criminal level of negligence!

If you are starting a restaurant, you know that many (if not most) restaurants fail within a few years of opening. So, there is an intense desire to develop a restaurant business plan that maximizes the chances of success. This means that you need lots of customers and lots of REPEAT customers.

I remember back in the day when I was a SAD eater and also a recreational eater, meaning that eating lots of high calorie dense food was one of my main hobbies. I wasn't interested in photography. I wasn't interested in gardening. I had not yet tried long distance running. When I looked forward to a weekend, I looked forward to eating out at a restaurant.

And the restaurants that served large portions of rich food were the ones that attracted me the most. Those were the places where I spent my paychecks. I was born and raised in California. I remember I use to occasionally go to a restaurant in California called The Claim Jumper. The Claim Jumper boasted a 26 ounce prime rib and it came with a large order of fried zucchini too, along with a trip to the salad bar, which had lots of fatty greasy options.

Those kinds of places always seemed to require a long wait during the dinner hour. The Claim Jumper didn't seem to hurt for business.

Now, if you were opening a restaurant, you might be willing to risk seeing your restaurant go broke before you slathered your menu with items like 26 ounce prime rib, a huge serving of chicken or unlimited shrimp. But people who have that kind of mentality tend to get weeded out. If your restaurant has to close up and you ended up broke after a year or two, despite working 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week during that time, you might not take another crack at opening a restaurant.

Meanwhile The Cheesecake Factory serves meals twice the size of your head and prospers. I read that they only open up a new restaurant location when they have enough cash to open it. They don't borrow money to open up a new restaurant. In any case, the restaurants you see are the survivors, the restaurants that attracted people and convinced them to come back, again and again.

My guess is that if you punch up a menu of steamed rice and vegetables and other healthy McDougall-ish items, people will wander over to Texas Roadhouse or Chili's and pig out there.

I think what we are doing is very unusual. We live in the same toxic food environment that others live in. But in our homes and kitchens, we create a non-toxic food environment. When we venture outside of our homes, we come prepared with foods that can prevent us from getting too hungry to the point where we would break down and eat the wrong foods.

My guess is that this will always be necessary. It would be great if society changed towards our way of thinking, if fast food restaurants served no-oil bean burritos and low fat, low sodium veggie burgers on a low-sodium whole grain bun and French fries containing no oil and no added salt with low sodium and low sugar ketchup. But it's a negative feedback loop.

Unhealthy eating finances unhealthy restaurants. Unhealthy restaurants enable and stimulate unhealthy eating.

I don't know if we, as a society, will ever break out of this negative feedback loop. Sure, occasionally there will be an individual who will discover this way of eating. Occasionally someone will adopt a healthier way of eating even if it isn't as healthy as the McDougall diet. But I see most everyone else going with the flow.

[ctv]

People are "herd" animals and it is very hard to go against the norm. No one wants to stand out. And on this diet you stand out big time! We are overwhelmed by media telling us what the "norm" is. This amount of brainwashing was unknown in our grandparent's time...they ate more simply, didn't go out much, etc. We think we are entitled to the "good life" which includes everything the media tells us we should have which is fancy restaurants, eating out constantly with friends, rich meals fit for royalty, etc. No one wants to eat like a peasant or like a primitive tribal person...that goes totally against the norm. The media has perpetuated the myth of equating the "good life" to a long successful life. But if people would open their eyes they'd see that the myth itself was deteriorating in the 60's...all those early deaths from smoking and drinking...not to mention early aging. But the quest for the "good life" trumps (ha-ha...had to put that in) standing out and following a different path.

Personally I think that many of us do this diet because we had chronic medical issues coupled with a burning desire to find some way to improve our health naturally. This gave us the fortitude to try something radically different...a diet that defies mainstream norms. This diet takes extra energy that most people want to avoid. We're a culture that advocates taking the easy way (convenience, short-term goals, etc.). This is radically different than our ancestors way. Corporations do not want free-thinking individuals in good health who might question their motives.

I suffered from rosacea and food sensitivities. Not once did a doctor or dermatologist or naturopath or any other health provider or medical article that I read say that consumption of oils could lead to disease...in fact it was the opposite! I once had a doctor tell me to consume more fats because it would help my skin but this only resulted in massive inflammation. I was actively trying to figure out how to eat to ease my symptoms rather than take drugs. I slowly over the years became more vegan in my eating and but still consumed lots of oils. Finally one day after exhausting all other possibilities I realized that the only thing I hadn't tried eliminating was oils. But this was scary to do this because it was so different than what the media said was healthy which was to consume more oils!

Finally after much deliberation I stopped consuming oils and was amazed at the results --- the rosacea went away and my food sensitivities became less and less. I found one of Dr McDougall's original cookbooks and then I found this website about 2 years ago. However this journey has taken me my whole adult life of actively searching and trying various diets. And I am a very literate person.

No one I know follows this diet except for a woman I met a month ago. However I have to say that age 65 I am healthier than anyone else I know!!! I look at least 10 years younger, all my vitals are normal, no aches or pains, walk marathons, and I have more energy than my daughter. I am at a perfect weight. However everyone thinks I am a just a health nut...but I have dealt with that label for years

This is what I find amazing --- here I am in excellent health and all around me are friends and family who are overweight and suffering from arthritis and other inflammatory diseases but not one of them believes diet will help. Nor are they willing to stand out...even when the proof of this diet stands right in front of them.

What is this? It's like a blindness of massive proportions.

[arugula]

This is what I find amazing --- here I am in excellent health and all around me are friends and family who are overweight and suffering from arthritis and other inflammatory diseases but not one of them believes diet will help. Nor are they willing to stand out...even when the proof of this diet stands right in front of them.

What is this? It's like a blindness of massive proportions.

i get that, too.

i don't think it's a willful blindness. i think that most people are genuinely incapable of adhering to a restrictive eating pattern that eliminates rich fatty foods when they are constantly surrounded by cheap, easy access, all of their friends/family are constantly consuming rich fatty foods, and so on. also they are threatened by those who abstain from such foods.

but i do think that there are enough of us around to set an example, to get people wondering, to see the truth. there is nothing magical about it. eat right, live better in so many ways.

i was devastated when my now obese, formerly gorgeous/skinny friend let me know how she really felt about my dietary choices and lifestyle.

i recall reading the journal of one poster whose wife was constantly belittling his efforts. i could not for the life of me understand why he was still married to her. i would have been long gone, myself.

i think it will always be this way for most. the few who can break free are truly few. the fewer who have supportive partners are especially fortunate. i do it by myself and i'd have a very hard time staying with somebody who did not share my point of view.

[petero]

People are "herd" animals and it is very hard to go against the norm.

Despite remarks about sheeple and sheep-dogs, wolf packs or whatever, and the fiction of the nation-state, I think we're supposed to be tribal like chimpanzees. There's a lot more feces slinging going on. Anyway I realize you weren't being literal.

More importantly, somebody mentioned sorbet. I had forgotten it exists. Now I have plans for tomorrow night.

[hazelrah]

More importantly, somebody mentioned sorbet. I had forgotten it exists. Now I have plans for tomorrow night.

Yonanas on sale at Costco for under $40. Change plans and drop the sugar per serving to something manageable. I was getting into sorbets a bit too much with the recent push by Talenti around here. Yonanas and some frozen berries are a little more work for a healthier sense of satisfaction.

Mark

[petero]

Yonanas and some frozen berries are a little more work for a healthier sense of satisfaction.

That looks great. Especially since I couldn't find sorbet at the big(er) local grocery store that's open late--there was Minute Maid "frozen lemonade" and So Good dairy-free deserts.