Whenever adults try to a rational conversation about health, food politics, and the “obesity crisis,” the pack of disingenuous whiners isn’t far behind.
Subsidies and the rise of cheap, bad food; “Personal responsibility!” they cry.
Trans fats, salt, and high levels of sugar; “Personal responsibility!”
Food deserts, long commutes, erosion of family time, lack of sleep and about a billion other things that have been linked to rising unhealthiness in our population? “Personal responsibility!”
Of course, that is complete and utter bull but, uh… (Put in your own phrase about how people are idiots, but you know, with a nicer tone.)
I came across two very good example however on why the average person is just simply not equipped to navigate the food minefield that is out there.
The first comes from a series carried on the Toronto Star website call The Dish. The concept is simple; readers ask about the nutritional information on some of their favourite restaurant and take-out foods and the details of the calorie, fat and salt content are published in the column.
This week they tested a spelt scone from a local bakery. The scone was advertised to contain 220 calories. What it actually possessed was 620 calories, about 180% more calories than was actually advertised. How is someone supposed to defend against that?
Wait, I can already hear it. You shouldn’t eat out, you should bring your food from home, you’re obviously just lazy, blah, blah, blah. Pour on the ridiculous and unattainable standards. Almost everyone is going to come to the point where they forgot, they ran out of time, they’re on the road, or other shit just got in the way. Some of us live ridiculously busy lives, or with complications that you would care not to think about. Some of us just want to take the time to relax and enjoy ourselves. Guess what? Everyone deserves the right to know what they’re eating and to certainly not be mislead about how much they are consuming.
Which brings me to point two. This week Campbell’s, of Campbell Soup Company fame announced that they would be added more salt to their soups to increase flagging sales.
This is of course, after a long hard campaign of telling people how good they are for reducing the sodium in their products. Who wants to bet we aren’t going to the see the ads describing how they have cranked the salt content?
How are consumers supposed to make good and healthy choices when the companies keep changing the goalposts? Now, not only do I have to check the label the first time I buy something, I have to check the label every time I purchase that product because who knows what the nutritional information is going to be this week. I’m betting there will be a point where both the higher sodium and lower sodium versions will be on the same shelf at the same time and the poor consumer will have to check every can that makes it into their cart.
The average person just doesn’t have time for that kind of crap. I already make my poor partner cry with my obsessive label checking; it certainly is going to happen with a mom who just wants to get in and out of the grocery store with her sanity intact while towing two tots along.
Voicing these concerns will have you admonished for ever daring to buy a product that comes in a package. Any one who dares to not bake their own bread from scratch, press their own tofu or culture their own yogurt from the fresh milk provided by their own holstein in their own backyard, obviously does not care about their or their family’s health.
No, the public does not need to be bashed over the head with the fact that potato chips are not a health food, but consumers still deserve some support in being able to quickly identify what is actually healthy on store shelves.
