They acted like that shit was so important, but it was like super influenced by food lobbyists and misleading or whatever

Apparently in 2011 they changed it to "myplate" and I haven't heard anything about it since then

In Soviet north china the government lies about what a "healthy meal" is comprised of

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I don't think the big problem is that people doesn't know that vegetables are healthier than a bucket of fried chicken or that sugar will do nothing good for your health. The fact is that lots of people eat things knowing perfectly well how bad they are for them.

    Food is more than just fuel for the body-machine. Very few people determine their food intake by strict nutritional considerations. For nearly all of us food is part of complex social and psychological contexts, part of our identity.

    On top of that human biology is fine-tuned for survival in a near-starvation setting, not for health in a society with factory farming and cheap, abundant food. One should be cautious with biological determinism but I think it is fair to say that we all have a very deep-set desire to stuff ourselves with sweet and fatty foods.

    Most modern health information doesn't take all that into account. It is still operating on the very naive assumption that if people just know what's good for them, they will also do it. And while factual information about nutrition is important it is not enough. Just imagine the effort it took to reduce smoking to the level it is today. It has been well known for decades and decades that smoking is really bad for you and the message "don't smoke or it will kill you" is a lot simpler and scarier than "eat less of certain foods or you will have increased risk of disease". Yet it took several decades of information and strict legal measures to change cultural norms about smoking and get people to quit.

    • NaturalsNotInIt [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      A healthy lifestyle is not profitable, end of.

      Health means plenty of sleep (time you should be grinding or consuming something), plenty of vegetables and fruit (that shit comes right out of the ground, where's the Value Add :scared: ), and regular movement of some kind (more time you should be working, consuming media, or making a purchase!). And if you are healthy, you're dependence on the healthcare industry goes down, which hurts profits even more!

      • SoyViking [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Don't underestimate the creativity of capitalism. They will commodify health just as much as they do anything else. You want to live healthy? Here are some fancy exotic superfoods, supplements and vegan ersatz products! You want exercise? Here's an expensive gym membership, a personal trainer and a shitton of equipment you need to do it!

        • NaturalsNotInIt [any]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          And none of that crap is as "healthy" as just eating 500 grams of produce a day, not inhaling fried meat by the truckload, 8 hours of sleep, and going for a walk every night.