store food is killing us

[arkansaspiper]

dose any one kmow what they are really eating when they buy food? i bet you have several ingredients you cant say or pronounce. i have decided to give up all store bought food. dose any one look at wgat they eat.

 

[user 2031]

We're all terminal, no one is getting out of here alive. I don't fret much anymore. It is my desire not to buy any food that has a label (ie. prepared, boxed foods, cereals, mixes, etc), but in reality, life often gets in the way. Life is just too busy and complicated (and expensive!) for most of us to do what we would like to. So, I compromise. I often buy convenience over conviction. Sometimes, when we've both been going all day we buy fast food instead of coming home and making a meal. I know it's not the healthiest we could do, but "it is, what it is."

One thing that gives me hope is that there is a lot of information out there, and I believe a lot of it is just hype. My Grand dad was overweight, smoked a pipe, ate bacon or sausage with his eggs every morning, put gravy on everything, loved snack cakes, and he still lived to 90 and was healthy until the end. My Grandmother on my Dad's side was never overweight, but she smoked cigarettes, ate a lot of fast food and box mixes, etc. and she lived on her own until she was 90. It was only after she fell that she had to be moved into a personal care facility. She lived there another 5 years.

On the other hand, I've also known a lot of people that appeared to be healthy, that have passed at such young ages. Seems to be "luck of the draw" to me... maybe not, I don't know. Anyway, if you can avoid the junk in the stores, more power to you. You'll definitely be better for it. But I just don't see any major changes in my life at this point.

 

[user 2031]

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[Lonecoyote]

Try and eat allot of fresh vegetables and fruits, well cleaned. Limit what canned products you consume and READ the ingredients. Stay away from meats and other foods that have sulfites/sulphites added as a preservative. Also remember just because a food states it's " ORGANIC " that does not necessarily mean it's the best you can eat.



KEEP ON EATING HEALTHY

 

[huffelpuff]

Lots of really bad stuff in the food chain buddy. Best of luck staying out of the processed foods it.can be really hard. We try and it is hard. There are things you will miss but you're much better off making it for yourself.

Jim

 

[Fazby]

My wife an I have gone largely organic. That is out the window of course when eating out, but that is rare.

Just the other day I looked a little packet of what was labeled soy sauce - no soy mentioned. Not inspiring. Just caramel, salt, water and MSG.

 

[Ozark Wizard]

So much for going out to eat! :lol: :lol!:

 

[Zeno Marx]

I really don't care for when people go all absolutist. It's often theory in a vacuum and not realistic, nor productive. Nevertheless, I have to go all absolutist for a moment here. Fresh is most probably the best to go. Eating store-bought food is a gamble these days, and the best gamble is still fresh vegetables, fruits, etc. The problem is: is that a hell of a lot of our fresh foods are imported. Most, if not all, of these other countries don't have nearly the laws and oversight with chemicals. From waxes to make our food shiny to gases to store and then ripen to pesticides to grow. I don't know about you, but when I eat broccoli from Brazil, I always cringe a bit and wonder how many toxins I'm ingesting. etc etc etc.

As for organic, our FDA has been so gutted and low-ball funded that I think we have like 2% (if not less) of the inspectors necessary to keep all the food industries in true check. Aren't there like 10-30 meat inspectors now? And they give the slaughterhouses warning before they show up. There's no inherent element of morality and ethics in capitalism. I don't believe for a moment we're protected out of good will. So what we have is this false sense of security because "they would never do that to people." Ummm...60 Minutes is in its 50th season doing stories about how companies lie to save a half cent. I'd still side on the organic label if I was faced with the choice, but in reality, "organic" means just about nothing at this point.

and yes, I absolutely put my fresh foods through a thorough washing process. One long soak and at least one rinsing. I do my best to wash as much junk off them as possible. But I'm still wondering and concerned. It's the best we can do, though. Next to growing my own foods, which I simply am not going to do.

ps- I've wanted to ask if anyone has a recommendation for an inexpensive stainless steel espresso maker for this same reason. I don't trust Chinese aluminum. they could be putting any number of different metals and weird stuff into their metals. I'll trust their low-grade stainless steel over their aluminum. I could be totally wrong in that, but that's my intuition. There are espresso makers made in Italy, but I'll bet those are being made in China and re-labeled after being boxed or whatever loophole is found in their laws.

 

[arkansaspiper]

this is why i quit buying from all fast food, stores or anything prossesed. i grow my own wheat make my own flour make my own bread and grow all veggies for the year. i have my own bees for honey and have been playing with growing cain for sugar syrup a.d am wprking on 100 prcent self sufficient on tobacco. raise my own hogs, sheep and cattle for meat and kill them and smoke and prosses yhem my self. and plan to be off the electic grid with water power solor and wind in the next years to come on my peace of land that 100 percent self seffecent. rely on no one cuz they dont care bout you.

 

[Zeno Marx]

The food industry is right up there with the oil and fossil fuel industry. Or the prison industrial complex. Scumbags of the highest order. Pennies and stock values over life and quality of life.

This is unrelated, but a pet peeve of mine goes something like this: Log Cabin syrup. 150oz bottle with a giant sticker on it stating "50% more than our 100oz bottle!" Hoodwinking into making people think they're getting more or a better deal. "Hey, it's legal, man."

 

[arkansaspiper]

anything goes intodays world with corprate ads false labeling and advertising part of the reason i stopped useing syrus and now honey instead and any other product for that matter tho i am working on a system as we speek to make my own syrup from.the mapel trees.

 

[Cold Smoke]

Actually, store food is what's keeping me alive and healthy.

 

[arkansaspiper]

if thats what ypu choose to believe

 

[Cold Smoke]

if thats what ypu choose to believe

More fact than belief.
I'm alive. I'm healthy and store bought foods are a big part of my diet.

 

[arkansaspiper]

im just saying read labels we are designed to prosses real food. example anything with poly in it what is poly its plastic. thats just one thing. jelly beans or anything shiney they use shalack thr same thing as they use on wood.

 

[user 2031]

Three score years and ten... anything else is pure bonus. Don't sweat the small stuff and do all things in moderation. This is all just temporary and guys my age and older will tell you, it passes a lot faster than you could ever imagine.

 

[R. M. Perkins]

Yeah, I had two pieces of advice that I've been adhering to.

One: Eat food from the perimeter of the grocery store -- fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, bread -- and avoid the stuff in the center of the store -- all the processed foods, etc.

I hold to that, except that I do buy beans, oats, coffee, etc., and those things are usually found alongside the processed foods.

Two: Only eat foods that your Grandparents would have recognized.

Obviously, there aren't any guarantees, but I do like the idea of eating things I cooked myself, rather than things cooked up in a laboratory.

 

[Richard Burley]

Obesity is killing us, regardless of the source of fodder for the pie-hole--though I must say most of the wide boys I know seem addicted to pop and crispy things that comes in bags. I've never understood how they can willingly carry the weight around, like a sack of well-deserved penance. If it were me, I'd have it cut off, if no other way. I once saw Richard Simmons, the exercise guy, bring a five-pound hunk of suet to a talk show. It was big. Multiply that by twenty, say, and you're looking at a fair mass of what is ambulatory lard. (No offense to anyone I know here, and certainly not to those who are stylishly chubby. :lol: )

 

[Zeno Marx]

I worked in a poor neighborhood a few summers ago. No car or bicycle. The food sources available really surprised me. Convenience stores. Corner bodegas. Walgreens. This area had no quality food options. Zero. Even the canned foods were of unknown brands filled with more sugar and salt than even the common major brands. No fresh veggies in sight. The options were abysmal, and all I could ascertain was that everyone had to be obese in the area. And yes, they could hop on the bus for a 30-minute ride each way to shop at a real grocery store, but that is both impractical and unlikely. In very large part, their diet was dictated by their shopping options.

Then I thought of the kids. Not only are they presently living on junk, as with us all, these were how their diets were set for the rest of our lives. If I've learned one thing about food preferences, most people have their diets ingrained in their psyche at an early age. The foods of their childhood are going to be how they prefer their foods of their adulthood. There are obviously exceptions, but food association is incredibly strong. It sets your palate and usually for a lifetime. If you grow up eating salty foods, you're always going to prefer more salt in your food. etc. Not to mention the things like "that's how my mom made them. that's how I prefer to eat them." Just because mom or grandma made them this way doesn't mean it is a good diet option.

One of the many ways I'm concerned about my own diet is what the hell are they putting in my olive oil. I'm not going to spend $30 on a verified extra virgin olive oil. The reports are countless and believable that 99.5% of the olive oil in our stores isn't 100% olive oil. They're adding all kinds of junk to it to make it look like olive oil and taste like olive oil. What is it exactly that they're using to do that? At best, you know it is inferior in quality and healthiness to actual olive oil, and at worst, it could be harmful chemicals. They don't give a crap. That's why they're messing with it in the first place...because money trumps caring about people. Italian mafias don't give a hoot about a person in the USA.

 

[R. M. Perkins]

I worked in a poor neighborhood a few summers ago.  No car or bicycle.  The food sources available really surprised me.  Convenience stores.  Corner bodegas.  Walgreens.  This area had no quality food options.  Zero.  Even the canned foods were of unknown brands filled with more sugar and salt than even the common major brands.  No fresh veggies in sight.  The options were abysmal, and all I could ascertain was that everyone had to be obese in the area.  And yes, they could hop on the bus for a 30-minute ride each way to shop at a real grocery store, but that is both impractical and unlikely.  In very large part, their diet was dictated by their shopping options.

Then I thought of the kids.  Not only are they presently living on junk, as with us all, these were how their diets were set for the rest of our lives.  If I've learned one thing about food preferences, most people have their diets ingrained in their psyche at an early age.  The foods of their childhood are going to be how they prefer their foods of their adulthood.  There are obviously exceptions, but food association is incredibly strong.  It sets your palate and usually for a lifetime.  If you grow up eating salty foods, you're always going to prefer more salt in your food.  etc.  Not to mention the things like "that's how my mom made them.  that's how I prefer to eat them."  Just because mom or grandma made them this way doesn't mean it is a good diet option.

I hear you on that.

One thing that kills me is the fact that a twin-pack of Little Debbies works out to like 13-cents apiece, but a twin-pack of granola bars works out to 44-cents.

If that right there doesn't make you hot under the collar, I don't know what will.