What in US food supply causes weight gain and inflammation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dextrose, emulsifiers, sugar added to everything, modified cellulose gum and a ton of other food additives. Your food is poison - European here. Also eating non-stop, snack culture, and huge portions.

"Ubiquitous food additive alters human microbiota and intestinal environment"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211130130223.htm

"Common food additive promotes colon cancer in mice"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161107110639.htm

"Common food additive found to affect gut microbiota. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles E171 may impact human health"
Experts call for better regulation of a common additive in foods and medicine, as research reveals it can impact the gut microbiota and contribute to inflammation in the colon, which could trigger diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190513123017.htm

OP here. Thanks for these links. Really interesting.

OP again. Sorry I posted before I finished. One interesting possibility coming out of those links: in the US I chew sugar free gum periodically. Not frequently, but I never do it when I travel. I’m going to cut that out. It’s mostly just chewing plastic anyhow, which I’ve known, but figured as I didn’t do it regularly it was not that big a deal. But I never have gum when I travel.

I hope you report back to us. While there are obviously many factors involved, obesity rates seem to have shot up as sugar free and low fat, chemically laden food and beverages proliferated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

OP here. I don’t eat that in the US. As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, in the US I mostly eat home cooked food. I buy ingredients from Whole Foods and our local farmers market. I eat more in restaurants in Europe than I do when I am in the US.

Do you really thing anything you buy at Whole Foods is better than what is in any other grocery store here? Dumb. What makes you think anything from the local farmer's market it better? Read a little about who those people are at your local market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bread and pasta in the US make me feel very gross and bloated. Bread in Europe and the Middle East do not. I know it’s the flour not the baking process because I bake my own bread. Something is wrong with our flour.

I don't know if it's the flour but what the heck is datum? Why add this weird stuff to bread that we don't really know what it is. I'm also fed up with milk powder or whey being added to things where it doesn't belong. I'm surprised by the number of bread products with milk added. Every Pepperidge Farm item has milk. There is milk in a lot of luncheon meats. There are so many strange, unnecessary things in our food here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glyphosate (roundup) is everywhere and in everything and it causes inflammation and kills off the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Europe has stronger protections and they also have more farmers trying to do things the traditional ways rather than dumping toxic chemicals on everything.

Would you believe that here in the states, farmers dump roundup all over the finished crops just so they don’t need to wait a week for them to dry??? Not even for any weed killing reason. It’s insane that we put up with this.

That’s disgusting. Why is this allowed?

Because Republicans and Corporate Democrats don't want the Big GubMint to make any Socialist Job-Killing Regulations, that's why!

The EU and US have different standards to approve chemicals. In the EU, companies must prove something is safe but in the US company have to show it isn’t harmful. Those are radically different.

[Anonymous]

Probably you evacuate your intestines more often in Europe. It happens to me: when I feel relaxed, I go to adult twice per day and lose 4 pounds easily.

[Anonymous]

I agree with all the criticism of the processed garbage and use of Roundup --- I just find it really hard to believe that your gut flora and things like that would re-set after only a couple weeks in Europe.
I also doesn't seem to explain OP -- who says that she eats mostly organic stuff so Roundup and HFCS and similar additives would not seem to be a real issue.

The flour thing is interesting, but seems to me to be less likely to cause an issue for people that aren't gluten intolerant. Is there anyplace one can buy European style flour? I might try it as an experiment for a few months just to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

OP here. I don’t eat that in the US. As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, in the US I mostly eat home cooked food. I buy ingredients from Whole Foods and our local farmers market. I eat more in restaurants in Europe than I do when I am in the US.

Do you really thing anything you buy at Whole Foods is better than what is in any other grocery store here? Dumb. What makes you think anything from the local farmer's market it better? Read a little about who those people are at your local market.

The point is that it’s not highly processed food, moron.

[Anonymous]

I'll add this...I was talking to a scientist friend this weekend, and he said that the dairy cows in the US are almost all one or two breeds, and there is something particular about the milk from those breeds that a significant number of people can't tolerate. He said that the milk from certain of the "heritage" breeds of cows has less of it, or doesn't have it. I wish I could remember more. Here's an article that *might* be what he was talking about:
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/wellness/sensitive-to-dairy-a2-milk-may-help/

[Anonymous]

OP here. I looked through my food log and these are the big differences I can spot.

- More raw fruit in the US
- More grilled meats in the US.
- More red meat in Europe although I don’t eat a lot overall because I don’t like it very much.
- More meats and fish with sauces in Europe
- More bread in Europe
- More crackers in the US (I will have a snack of hummus, cheese, and crackers sometimes, never eat crackers in Europe)
- More rice in the US
- More tofu in the US
- More pasta in Europe
- More raw veggies in the US (carrots, celery, bell peppers, salad greens)
- More cooked veggies in Europe.
- More eggs in the US
- More plain yogurt (sometimes with muesli) in Europe
- Cheese is about the same in both (I love cheese)

I’m wondering about gluten intolerance and may try a gluten free diet here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I looked through my food log and these are the big differences I can spot.

- More raw fruit in the US
- More grilled meats in the US.
- More red meat in Europe although I don’t eat a lot overall because I don’t like it very much.
- More meats and fish with sauces in Europe
- More bread in Europe
- More crackers in the US (I will have a snack of hummus, cheese, and crackers sometimes, never eat crackers in Europe)
- More rice in the US
- More tofu in the US
- More pasta in Europe
- More raw veggies in the US (carrots, celery, bell peppers, salad greens)
- More cooked veggies in Europe.
- More eggs in the US
- More plain yogurt (sometimes with muesli) in Europe
- Cheese is about the same in both (I love cheese)

I’m wondering about gluten intolerance and may try a gluten free diet here.

Doesn’t tofu have estrogen in it? Could that be causing a difference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bread and pasta in the US make me feel very gross and bloated. Bread in Europe and the Middle East do not. I know it’s the flour not the baking process because I bake my own bread. Something is wrong with our flour.

OP here. Interesting. I was just texting with a friend of mine who has celiac disease. She told me that she can eat bread in Europe even though she has celiac. But eating it here makes her very sick.

She thinks there is something wrong with US wheat and flour as well.

American wheat is a different strain than those grown in Europe, and it has higher gluten content. Still surprised that someone with celiac can eat European wheat, but I know a lot of people with gluten intolerances can eat wheat in Europe but not the US.

I do also think that the fructose syrup in everything can't be healthy.

There is some hypothesis that the glycosophate (Round Up) used in agriculture can damage gut flora, but this is somewhat controversial.

Watch the Dan Barber episode of "Chef's Table" he is obsessed with what is wrong with America's wheat, including the celiac issue. Here's a paper on it too: http://www.jeannihoul.com/files/116095726.pdf

[Anonymous]

It’s due to the use of corn syrup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

OP here. I don’t eat that in the US. As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, in the US I mostly eat home cooked food. I buy ingredients from Whole Foods and our local farmers market. I eat more in restaurants in Europe than I do when I am in the US.

Do you really thing anything you buy at Whole Foods is better than what is in any other grocery store here? Dumb. What makes you think anything from the local farmer's market it better? Read a little about who those people are at your local market.

The point is that it’s not highly processed food, moron.

That just isn't true. They sell a lot of processed food and fake good for you food. You are silly and not to be taken seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

While this may not be an issue for the OP, your sweeping generalization is off the mark. Compare the cost of a large jar of corn syrup laced apple sauce with say, 8 fresh apples, or better yet, 8 fresh organic apples from an actual farmer’s market. The price per serving is easily over twice as much for the apples. Now do that with meals for a family of four for a week. So, yeah, we do have plenty of good fresh food in the US — although I’d add that the EU standards are the ones that I’d prefer. It’s not true, though, that “No one in the US has to (eat)processed food”.
I could say more about quality, access, and preparation time, but prices alone are enough to make the point.

You don’t NEED a large jar of corn syrup apple sauce. If you can only afford one bag
of apples per week then buy that. Same with bananas, carrots, potatoes, etc. Buy what you can afford. Fill up on lentils, brown rice, oats, eggs, milk, plain yogurt. So many adorable foods out there. Maybe you don’t get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Better to fall short than supplement with garbage. Notice no one is starving to death in the US. People are eating themselves to death instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

OP here. I don’t eat that in the US. As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, in the US I mostly eat home cooked food. I buy ingredients from Whole Foods and our local farmers market. I eat more in restaurants in Europe than I do when I am in the US.

Do you really thing anything you buy at Whole Foods is better than what is in any other grocery store here? Dumb. What makes you think anything from the local farmer's market it better? Read a little about who those people are at your local market.

The point is that it’s not highly processed food, moron.

That just isn't true. They sell a lot of processed food and fake good for you food. You are silly and not to be taken seriously.

OP here.

I don’t know how many times I have to say this in this thread, but I do not eat a lot of highly processed/prepared foods in the US. I cook from scratch and tend to buy organic. The exceptions to that are tofu and crackers. But mostly my day to day meals are simple and not highly processed.