What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

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What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby vgpedlr » Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:54 am

As corollary to my "moderation" post and previous discussions about TV shows, what do they mean by "healthy?"

When a TV host or magazine declare a dish to be "healthy" how did they determine that? What does "healthy" mean to them?

Obviously, no one is using the criteria taught here, but they must have something in mind. I remember Rachael Ray used to declare anything she made low carb as healthy because the obvious carbs were removed.

My guess is if a dish has two veggies, one green, one another color, no red meat, drowned in olive oil, it can be labelled healthy.

Anybody think they know?
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby roundcoconut » Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:09 am

That's a wonderful question! In everyday conversation, people sometimes use the word "healthy" to mean "better for you than pizza".

And, in practical situations, if your baseline is "pizza", then the idea of eating carrots swimming in ranch dressing, is in fact an improvement, and will make you look and feel better than you did yesterday.

I forget who it is that says that the answer to whether something is healthy is come back with "Well, compared to what?" Because, when people say "Paleo is unhealthy", the nuance is always, "Well, compared to what?" Because if your new "paleo" regime, means that you cut out pizza and replace it with a bowl of beans and rice, then yeah, your new paleo diet probably IS a massive improvement. :)
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby bbq » Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:50 am

All tricks and no treats whatsoever, it's just a matter of gaming the consumers who don't really know any better. Anyone on TV could get away with the term "healthy" anyways and then food labeling won't get busted until FDA is done with this:

https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm520695.htm

FDA to Redefine “Healthy” Claim for Food Labeling
https://www.fda.gov/food/newsevents/constituentupdates/ucm520703.htm

Guidance for Industry: Use of the Term “Healthy” in the Labeling of Human Food Products
https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/ucm521690.htm

It's just a guidance for now and let's see what would FDA actually do.

Actually it's even easier to fool most people with numbers instead. 1% milk might sound pretty "healthy" but it's actually 22% fat by calories. And then 2% might seem to be not that bad as well but we're talking about 37.5% fat by calories:

Image

So whatever that's supposedly "healthy" these days would turn out to be hellish in disguise.

I don't really have time for watching TV anyways, though it's still fairly easy to understand what the deal is by skimming through some headlines:

'Health halo' foods not so healthy
http://www.foodprocessing.com.au/content/prepared-food/news/-health-halo-foods-not-so-healthy-94831099

Dairy-free ice cream taps into 'healthy' treat trend
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40529482

Is Halo Top Ice Cream Actually Healthy?
http://www.stack.com/a/is-halo-top-ice-cream-actually-healthy

This is how the food industry is tricking you into making unhealthy choices
http://globalnews.ca/news/3395678/this-is-how-the-food-industry-is-tricking-you-into-making-unhealthy-choices/

‘Healthy’ vegetable chips aren’t always healthy. Here’s why
http://globalnews.ca/news/3561868/healthy-vegetable-chips/

Brands use this psychological trick to make you think you're buying "healthy" foods
https://mic.com/articles/173866/brands-use-this-psychological-trick-to-make-you-think-you-re-buying-healthy-foods

Five marketing buzzwords that trick you into thinking foods are healthy
http://coach.nine.com.au/2016/11/24/12/17/health-halos

'GMO-Free' Is A Boon For Companies Chasing 'Health Halo' Profits
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/19/432774389/gmos-are-becoming-a-proxy-for-bigger-concerns-about-the-food-system
https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2015/08/20150819_me_gmos_are_becoming_a_proxy_for_bigger_concerns_about_the_food_system.mp3

When Food Is Expensive, We Assume It's Healthier, Too
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/12/when-food-is-expensive-we-assume-its-healthier-too.html

Is single-serve packaging also a health-halo?
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/R-D/Is-single-serve-packaging-also-a-health-halo

Borrowing rice’s ‘health halo’
http://www.thepacker.com/news/opinion/borrowing-rice%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98health-halo%E2%80%99

The health halo: how good PR is misleading shoppers
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/11/know-what-you-eat-health-halo
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby colonyofcells » Fri Jul 14, 2017 11:22 am

What is considered healthy probably depends on advertisements. I heard nutrition advice from doctors come mainly from tv ads.
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby f1jim » Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:07 pm

What it usually means to individuals is ....."the way I eat."
I still feel that way. Only these days I actually have some substance behind my feelings. 10 years ago? Not so much.
On TV it means whatever the advertiser is selling should be in your pantry, or in the case of fast food, what they are offering you for a meal right now.
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby Spiral » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:02 pm

f1jim wrote:What it usually means to individuals is ....."the way I eat."
I still feel that way. Only these days I actually have some substance behind my feelings. 10 years ago? Not so much.
On TV it means whatever the advertiser is selling should be in your pantry, or in the case of fast food, what they are offering you for a meal right now.
f1jim

Gosh. Now you've got me thinking back to when I thought liver, bacon and onions was health food. :shock:

Also, sometime during the late 1970s or early 1980s I was convinced by clever advertising that eating Yoplait yogurt would allow me to live to be 120. These days I'm not so sure. All that McDougall diet brainwashing, you know? :D
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby vgpedlr » Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:45 am

Or dessert. Everybody knows sugar is bad for you, so you don't see "healthy" tagged onto a dessert.

roundcoconut wrote:That's a wonderful question! In everyday conversation, people sometimes use the word "healthy" to mean "better for you than pizza".


I think this is it. We've set bar very low with fast food, so anything else must be healthy. Unfortunately, run the numbers and one sees that the "healthy" dishes aren't much different than fast food.
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby vgpedlr » Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:47 am

Spiral wrote:[
Gosh. Now you've got me thinking back to when I thought liver, bacon and onions was health food. :shock:

Well, the onions are healthy.

Switch to paleo, then it is healthy. Liver is "nutrient dense" and bacon is an obsession.
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby katgirl55 » Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:55 pm

I think in certain circles, "healthy" means "clean eating", which means including lean protein at each meal, healthy fats, and whole grains and fruits/vegetables rather than refined flour products or packaged foods. It might include dairy or not, or olive/coconut oil. Healthy fats are fatty fish, avocados, nuts/seeds. Eggs are usually okay to add. This is a pretty middle of the road plan and does not seem to offend- you would find this in Prevention and other magazines.
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Re: What Does "Healthy" Mean in Popular Media?

Postby roundcoconut » Thu Jul 20, 2017 12:35 pm

I hate to say it, but I think Michael Pollan's idea of "real" food (meaning, something your grandmother would recognize) has also taken hold in modern America.

Like, butter is not good for your weight or for your heart, but you can invent a fantasy in which people in the 1800s churned their own butter, and so -- in conclusion -- that crappy-ass stick of butter that you buy at Wegman's, which was harnessed from cows on massive antibiotics and hormones, with painfully infected udders -- is now equally "healthy".

Because people love a good story! (People don't necessarily love the truth, but boy do they love a good story.)

I do love the idea of naturally available quantities, as a possible antidote to what people believe healthy eating is. Like, maybe it is true that people two hundred years ago DID slaughter one of their animals and eat him, but did they do that every month? every week? every day? every meal?

Same would go for how many weeks of the year people squeezed oranges for their morning meal. Or how many weeks of the year people had access to pecans or peanuts or walnuts.

So the Michael Pollan notion, is a wonderful fantasy for those who want to believe in it (and is probably one commonly used definition in the vernacular of modern America), but probably won't steer anyone toward good outcomes. (We will all wind up looking like Paula Deen. For better or for worse!)
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