Comment by eropple | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eropple | Hacker News Reader

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Ingredients change; how often are you checking and updating what you know? Availability changes; what brand is #2 and #3 on your list? Or the time in your day you have to prepare food may suddenly shrink; do you then have the time and spare cognitive cycles to make a good decision under stress? (You probably don't. Not, like, you specifically, but in aggregate.) We make it difficult on purpose to eat healthily in the West because eating less healthily is more profitable.

I eat pretty healthy, though I also like cheeseburgers so I'm not thin. But I make a very healthy income and have the time, and the resources, and the education to actually have the time and executive function to have an opinion about ingredients in food. It is difficult for me to know these things, let alone to in all cases exert the self-control to act on them--and I make north of five times the median personal income of the United States with which to do it.

I mean, let's think for a second. Blame an Amazon picker or a Wal-Mart cashier or blame the corporate entity with a marketing department designed to overwhelm your attention and to induce the specific action they test and refine for?

Gosh. I wonder.

>Ingredients change; how often are you checking and updating what you know? Availability changes; what brand is #2 and #3 on your list?

Are the nutrition content for staples (eg. milk, bread, eggs, apples) likely going to change any time soon? As for the processed foods, they might change from time to time, but I doubt they undergo drastic changes that the nutrition profile is entirely different. On the off chance that it does happen, you'll likely notice it on your tongue, and can update your brain accordingly. If you do any sort of research, you'll probably start to notice such processed foods aren't healthy, so you shouldn't be buying them in the first place.

>Or the time in your day you have to prepare food may suddenly shrink; do you then have the time and spare cognitive cycles to make a good decision under stress? (You probably don't. Not, like, you specifically, but in aggregate.)

>[...]

>It is difficult for me to know these things, let alone to in all cases exert the self-control to act on them

People aren't getting diabetes because they accidentally ate mcdonalds one time. It's from bad diet over a long period of time. For that reason your objection doesn't really make sense.

Yeah, and bad diet happens in no small part because of chronic societal stress. It is overwhelming and constant grind on the psyche that makes people reach for the easiest option available because their brains are overtaxed out of the executive function necessary to do the "right thing". So you are correct, it's not one cheeseburger. It's the society that makes the cheeseburger the simplest, easiest, remarkably-cheap solution that fires the right neurons to give people a respite from the sad pressure cooker that is your average late capitalist life.

Perhaps those of us who benefit inordinately from the output of the perpetually stretched class can show some grace in life and not second-guess the folks picking and delivering our consumer goods.

> but I doubt they undergo drastic changes that the nutrition profile is entirely different.

It probably is gradually done, but I recommend looking at the amount of sugar each brand of bread has next time you're at a supermarket. Or milk, lemonade. Or other common groceries. It really is crazy to see just how much of -everything- has added sugar. Including products that are branded as "healthy". AFAIK Naked juice is a great example of this.

As a remote worker with a great schedule, I have the time to do such research. But not everyone is in that situation, particularly if they have a job and have kids, etc. Brands can essentially lie through their teeth and get away with labeling as the regulation can be quite loose.

Many people "know" processed food isn't healthy, but to what extent it's bad for them, maybe not. And it comes down to time and cost. Also, some people don't really grow up knowing what "healthy" food is like.

> It's from bad diet over a long period of time.

It doesn't help that healthy foods are more expensive than food that's absolutely terrible for you.

I think Mexico's new laws around food labeling is the way to go, but time will tell if that's actually effective or not.

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