Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who has time for all of this? When I saw the study, I thought through our family eating habits and I just don't even know where to start - my kids eat cereal or oatmeal or toast (store bought bread) for breakfast. Then for lunch, they take a sandwich - usually with storebought bread and either storebought jam or peanut butter or cheese. They also may take store bought popcorn, or a fruit roll up or a store bought cookie. Maybe store bought hummus and crackers for dipping. For dinner, we have store bought pasta sometimes - I will make my own sauce but I don't have time to do that all the time (and don't suggest making a huge batch - I have 4 kids to feed, I'd have to have an entire freezer to keep it in!)

And then they have ice cream or maybe make a store bought cake on the weekends and eat that for dessert. On the weekends, they eat fast food. And don't even get me started on snacks.

Literally every meal has some element of super processed foods in it. My kids seem healthy enough, play sports, get good grades. Can someone post their no-super processed foods meal plan?

This is the problem. You know we spend a lot of time mocking women in the 50s/60s for how everything they did was cooking and recipes but what this does not adequately capture is that prior to the invention of both the refrigerator and modern food processing/preservatives the reason many women stayed home was not JUST lack of opportunity in the professional world. It is because the job of getting meals on the table was a FULL TIME JOB. Getting food, storing food, preparing food, etc etc etc most of human history has revolved around the acquisition of and safe preparation of food. We really cannot even fathom what the daily food requirements of a housewife living in 1948 were. It is a world as different to us as a world without internet is to kids born today.

I see entirely that our overreliances on chemicals in food could be causing some unintended side effects. But reverting to a non processed food world will take creativity because our society will not (and honestly IMO SHOULD NOT) revert to a pre 1970s lifestyle where women HAVE to stay home in part to feed their family. The processed food revolution has perhaps made us sick and fat, its also given us freedom and dramatically reduced starvation. Pros and cons for every new frontier.

+100
And I’ll add that every time I hear a WHO or study lecturing on the need for breastfeeding to age 2+ or entirely shunning all processed foods it makes me wonder if “barefoot and pregnant” isn’t the ultimate goal…

Oh yes, a cast WHO consipiracy to keep women at home. You cannot possibly be serious.

All of this is possible. You just have to make compromises, and nobody says it has to land squarely on one parent or another if the focus is healthy eating for your children.

And, all in moderation anyways. Nobody is suggesting eliminating short cuts. Most are suggesting that you don't eat entirely foods that are only shelf stable garbage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone's missing the point listing their virtuous meals.

We need packaging to be better period. Someone stated it above. We need to hold food companies to account, ban some of their ingredients and processes (yes! Big government! Get out of women bodies and into fat bodies!) and encourage these companies to R&D and develop better foods. We can have good taste, health and cost effective. We just don't demand it and the food companies get rich, as someone said above.

There are plenty of food options, including packaged, without ingredients that are terrible. People just don’t pick them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who has time for all of this? When I saw the study, I thought through our family eating habits and I just don't even know where to start - my kids eat cereal or oatmeal or toast (store bought bread) for breakfast. Then for lunch, they take a sandwich - usually with storebought bread and either storebought jam or peanut butter or cheese. They also may take store bought popcorn, or a fruit roll up or a store bought cookie. Maybe store bought hummus and crackers for dipping. For dinner, we have store bought pasta sometimes - I will make my own sauce but I don't have time to do that all the time (and don't suggest making a huge batch - I have 4 kids to feed, I'd have to have an entire freezer to keep it in!)

And then they have ice cream or maybe make a store bought cake on the weekends and eat that for dessert. On the weekends, they eat fast food. And don't even get me started on snacks.

Literally every meal has some element of super processed foods in it. My kids seem healthy enough, play sports, get good grades. Can someone post their no-super processed foods meal plan?

This is the problem. You know we spend a lot of time mocking women in the 50s/60s for how everything they did was cooking and recipes but what this does not adequately capture is that prior to the invention of both the refrigerator and modern food processing/preservatives the reason many women stayed home was not JUST lack of opportunity in the professional world. It is because the job of getting meals on the table was a FULL TIME JOB. Getting food, storing food, preparing food, etc etc etc most of human history has revolved around the acquisition of and safe preparation of food. We really cannot even fathom what the daily food requirements of a housewife living in 1948 were. It is a world as different to us as a world without internet is to kids born today.

I see entirely that our overreliances on chemicals in food could be causing some unintended side effects. But reverting to a non processed food world will take creativity because our society will not (and honestly IMO SHOULD NOT) revert to a pre 1970s lifestyle where women HAVE to stay home in part to feed their family. The processed food revolution has perhaps made us sick and fat, its also given us freedom and dramatically reduced starvation. Pros and cons for every new frontier.

+100
And I’ll add that every time I hear a WHO or study lecturing on the need for breastfeeding to age 2+ or entirely shunning all processed foods it makes me wonder if “barefoot and pregnant” isn’t the ultimate goal…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone's missing the point listing their virtuous meals.

We need packaging to be better period. Someone stated it above. We need to hold food companies to account, ban some of their ingredients and processes (yes! Big government! Get out of women bodies and into fat bodies!) and encourage these companies to R&D and develop better foods. We can have good taste, health and cost effective. We just don't demand it and the food companies get rich, as someone said above.

There are plenty of food options, including packaged, without ingredients that are terrible. People just don’t pick them.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone's missing the point listing their virtuous meals.

We need packaging to be better period. Someone stated it above. We need to hold food companies to account, ban some of their ingredients and processes (yes! Big government! Get out of women bodies and into fat bodies!) and encourage these companies to R&D and develop better foods. We can have good taste, health and cost effective. We just don't demand it and the food companies get rich, as someone said above.

Anonymous wrote:What should my kids be packing for lunch? They usually have some fresh fruit and veggies but also pasta.

Anonymous wrote:
The MORE they process
the SICKER we get
the RICHER they get.

Funny how works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who has time for all of this? When I saw the study, I thought through our family eating habits and I just don't even know where to start - my kids eat cereal or oatmeal or toast (store bought bread) for breakfast. Then for lunch, they take a sandwich - usually with storebought bread and either storebought jam or peanut butter or cheese. They also may take store bought popcorn, or a fruit roll up or a store bought cookie. Maybe store bought hummus and crackers for dipping. For dinner, we have store bought pasta sometimes - I will make my own sauce but I don't have time to do that all the time (and don't suggest making a huge batch - I have 4 kids to feed, I'd have to have an entire freezer to keep it in!)

And then they have ice cream or maybe make a store bought cake on the weekends and eat that for dessert. On the weekends, they eat fast food. And don't even get me started on snacks.

Literally every meal has some element of super processed foods in it. My kids seem healthy enough, play sports, get good grades. Can someone post their no-super processed foods meal plan?

This is the problem. You know we spend a lot of time mocking women in the 50s/60s for how everything they did was cooking and recipes but what this does not adequately capture is that prior to the invention of both the refrigerator and modern food processing/preservatives the reason many women stayed home was not JUST lack of opportunity in the professional world. It is because the job of getting meals on the table was a FULL TIME JOB. Getting food, storing food, preparing food, etc etc etc most of human history has revolved around the acquisition of and safe preparation of food. We really cannot even fathom what the daily food requirements of a housewife living in 1948 were. It is a world as different to us as a world without internet is to kids born today.

I see entirely that our overreliances on chemicals in food could be causing some unintended side effects. But reverting to a non processed food world will take creativity because our society will not (and honestly IMO SHOULD NOT) revert to a pre 1970s lifestyle where women HAVE to stay home in part to feed their family. The processed food revolution has perhaps made us sick and fat, its also given us freedom and dramatically reduced starvation. Pros and cons for every new frontier.

+100
And I’ll add that every time I hear a WHO or study lecturing on the need for breastfeeding to age 2+ or entirely shunning all processed foods it makes me wonder if “barefoot and pregnant” isn’t the ultimate goal…

Anonymous wrote:If you read the study they divide food into 4 categories:

1) unprocessed (e.g. fruit, vegetables, milk, meat)

2) processed ingredients (e.g. grains, sugar, vegetable oil)

3) processed foods (canned fruit or vegetables, fresh baked bread, cheese)

4) ultra processed food (snacks, store bought bread, breakfast cereal, soda, processed meat, ready to eat meals)

The correlation they found was with the last category, although I don’t know if they looked at other correlations.

It was interesting to me, because for my family, bread and breakfast cereal are relatively easy changes I can make for my teens. Usually if my kids eat them it’s at home because they are easy and fast and not because they love them so if I make some other carb that’s easy and fast, or buy or make fresh bread, they won’t care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, it seems like you need to plan on grocery shopping almost every day. I wish American supermarkets would make smaller packages of things. For example, smaller loaves of fresh bread. I can’t see starting to bake bread. And we can’t eat a giant loaf in a few days. Or I guess maybe we can just give up bread?

Just freeze it and toast as needed. My mom did that in the 80s and I do it now.