Nice that there is now a focus on this with this article from RTL News On the harmful effects of too many ultra-processed foods.
Why eat ultra-processed food?
As a Food Technology Engineer, I can say that we have created an ultra-processed food supply that has contributed immensely to many people being overweight, sick and having all kinds of inflammation-related complaints.
This is not necessarily the fault of processing an sich, as you can also use this to actually make products healthier. Unfortunately, in recent decades greed of most average food companies it won the healthy mission and mostly used edits that actually make us unhealthier.
However, the question is whether companies in a free market can do anything against this independently now. If a competitor is stouter than you, their turnover may go up while you yourself go out of business.
Producer benefits
Processed food often has a lower cost, you can apply for patents and patents on it to keep the competitor out, and if you make the right combo of sugar, fat, salt and sensory components, there will be all kinds of happiness substances are released making people buy and consume your product en masse.
The emo-eater and bourgondian
Because of this property of temporarily increasing happiness substances, people turn to processed snacks to temporarily increase their sense of well-being with these symptom-fighters. This can be from negative feelings the well-known emo eating, but positive feelings can also be enhanced if you are a Burgundian.
The eat-through factor
Also, an ingenious combination of appearance, smell, mouthfeel and taste makes you keep eating longer than you intended. The high continue-eating factor and property that releases happiness chemicals are largely behind our obesity epidemic.
The disadvantages for humans
Poor sugar regulation of people who become overweight and the resulting fluctuating blood sugar only exacerbates this problem. After all, in a blood sugar dip, you do not so easily reach for a salad, but rather choose processed sugary, fatty and salty products anyway.
If you lived in the wild you would have mostly good satiating food and would have virtually no nutrition available that would release happiness substances. Getting much overweight would then be virtually impossible.
Politics as a saving grace?
Unfortunately, we live in an unnaturally experimental setting these days and the dominant way of food processing is something we need to do something about. This article once again identifies politics as a potential saving grace. This is not something I personally believe in anymore, as politics again has all kinds of interests in the existing money streams. In fact, the sustainability activism prevalent in politics together with the associated subsidies will push the food industry even more in the direction of ultra-processed unhealthy food.
So encouragement from politics is likely to be at best a bit of positive fiddling at the margins or even a negative effect. Money ultimately determines everything turns out, so the solution is to create new cash flows with healthy food.
Consumers can direct themselves
I personally believe most strongly that consumers themselves can be the basis for this by buying more minimally processed healthy products, even if they are sometimes a bit more expensive. So for this, we need to be highly motivated and disciplined to fight temptation and deception from our obesogenic environment and supermarket. Increased demand for healthy products will increase supply.
My own example
As a food technologist and health coach, my mission is both to increase demand for healthy products and to contribute to less experimental healthier alternatives in the supermarket. I increase demand through my books. I increase the supply of healthy food through YAM sourdough, the new Ralph and Jane products and helping existing healthy labels and brands. In addition, I have a course on supermarket food developed where you, as an interested consumer but especially as a coach, learn how to help unconscious people eat healthier (and positively change the supermarket).
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1 Response(s), post a comment too!
Agreed Ralph.👍😃 In my opinion, healthy food also requires "fair" food. And that challenges people and many companies every day to make more conscious choices and be more responsible ourselves, provided we love our LIFE and health.
Why choose unhealthy when we know our health is more important than lots of money 😉
Yet the temptation is for processed foods high in sugars and trans fats, and a lot of money is made on these very foods. After all, every pound goes through the mouth. 😂
However, the long-term consequence is that our health deteriorates, both mentally and physically, and diseases lurk up to heart failure and cancer.
Do we really want that ? 😇 🤷🏻♀️
And that question .... calls for more reflection and also to take a moment to consider how important our health and "honest" food is in the choices we make. And of course exercise and relaxation in balance is also important.
And we can only do that together and with each other for a better, fair and healthier world ... our own environment is and always respect our nature and Mother Earth. And never at the expense of the much money we have to earn from unhealthy and processed products that harm our health.
🙏💚🙏
Healthy greeting,
Antoinette H. 💫