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A comment on Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? (2007). Parent comment

Re:Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? (2007) by iammyIP on Monday May 26, 2014 @05:48PM (#7801809)
about processed foods: what is that? does processing begin with soil treatment? with how we cultivate plants? treat animals? isnt that also part of the process? i think we could design great processes for even greater processed foods, but our current food processing processes suck, since they are optimised for fast profit and nothing else. so i agree to better avoid it. even genetic technology could be used for great benefit, but its currently used mostly for short term cash and farmer enslavement. in general food production and processing need to be a lot more localised and be freed of any market pressure, like tap water is.
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Re:Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? (2007) by sliverstorm on Monday May 26, 2014 @06:18PM (#7801914)
The problem with processed foods is allegedly high energy density combined with low satiety. So generally anything that involves a refining process. In other words it isn't about processed foods but refined foods.

Sugar, extracts, refined flour, that sort of thing.

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Re:Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? (2007) by mathattack on Monday May 26, 2014 @09:44PM (#7802455)
Also a lot of bad stuff can be put in when food is refined.

Just take Mashed Potatoes. Should be simple - just potatoes. Ingredients of Betty Crocker Potato Buds "Potatoes, Mono And Diglycerides (To Improve Texture), Freshness Protected By Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bisulfite And Citric Acid. Dried."

Another example, Edy's Slow Churned Light French Silk Ice cream has "Non-Fat Milk, Sugar, Cream, Chocolaty Chips (Sugar, Coconut Oil, Cocoa Processed With Alkali [Dutched Cocoa], Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Cocoa, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Natural Flavor), Corn Syrup, Cocoa Processed With Alkali (Dutched Cocoa), Whey Protein, Molasses, Buttermilk Powder, Soy Protein, Acacia Gum, Nonfat Dry Milk, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Carob Bean Gum, Natural Flavor, Salt, Natural Flavors (Including Malt Extract), Xantham Gum, Caramel Color." Who knows what all those are?

Where possible I make my own food from scratch. (Within reason - I don't milk my own cows, or spend hours making custom bread or pasta)

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Re:Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? (2007) by sliverstorm on Monday May 26, 2014 @11:17PM (#7802687)
"I can't pronounce these ingredients" doesn't mean they are bad for you. "Cocoa Processed With Alkali" is, as the list notes, a technical name for "Dutched Chocolate". Carrageenan is from seaweed. Guar gum is a ground bean. And so forth.
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Re:Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? (2007) by mathattack on Tuesday May 27, 2014 @12:32AM (#7802869)
Sure. In any given case, they may or may not be bad for you. But in accepting processed foods over home grown, you are taking on faith that the provider shares your values. (Would they add more sugar and salt than you would to improve taste? Would they put in additives you wouldn't, and hide them under funny names?)

I'm not an off-the-reservation eat everything raw person, but I am skeptical that most managers would make food less addictive to make it healthier. There are exceptions, but this is one of the negative aspects of a market economy.

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