Reddit reviews Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

What helped me get there was the realization that I was an addict. I was standing in line at the gas station behind two guys and a girl, each getting their cigarettes. The whole time i was silently condemning them in my head "Dont they know they are addicts, that they are killing themselves, that they are throwing their money away." etc..

It became my turn the pay and i sat my chocolate donuts and soda on the counter and paid my $4 and change and remembered that I had just said that morning that i was going to start calorie counting again, that i was going to just skip breakfast because i wasn't even that hungry. That i had specifically reminded myself to not stop by the convenience store. Yet there I was anyway getting my fix, just like the three smokers in front of me had been.

Read Salt Sugar Fat, its not a coincidence that I was an addict, the food I was gorging on was specifically and meaningfully designed to be addictive.:

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Sugar-Fat-Giants-Hooked-ebook/dp/B00985E3UG

That knowledge gave me the fuel to fight my cravings, because fuck them. Righteous indignation became my shield and got me through those first couple of really hard weeks and unto the path to a healthier lifestyle.

I'd like to point out something, that you may not have considered.

Not everyone is predisposed to be addicted to anything. In 2002, I was hospitalized for 2 weeks or so, hooked up to a Dilaudid (synthetic morphine) pump. I was on a fairly high dosage, for at least 12 days of that. During the last 2 days, I was offered assistance in "coming off" the medication. At the time, I didn't understand why I would need it, and refused it. They unhooked the pump, set me up with a plain IV drip. For the next few days, there was a nurse, aide or doctor in my room every hour, "just checking" on me.

I found out later, dilaudid has a fairly high addiction rate, and people generally are addicted within a few days, especially at a higher dosage. They were offering me assistance because the odds were that I was going to be addicted, and would be going through withdrawl. I didn't. I was given a lower dose prescription for it as well. I think I took 3, total, over the 2 years that I was dealing with the injury.

Does this mean that the data is wrong, that dilaudid is not addictive? Or that all the people that are addicted to it are "weaker" than I am because they can't just stop taking it?

Or is a more reasonable assumption that I was a bit of an anomaly, that, for whatever reason, I did not become addicted to it because of something in my genetic makeup that just made me resist it?

I'm also not saying that it's an excuse. Just as someone can choose to "get clean" from narcotics, tobacco or alcohol, if they are addicted to sugar (or caffeine or whatever else) they, and they alone, choose to stay addicted or seek help.

Also, I recommend the book "Salt Sugar Fat" by Michael Moss. It's about how and why prepackaged foods have so much of those 3 ingredients, and why they're fighting the FDA to keep adding so much to the food supply.

TL;DR: Just because some people aren't addicted, doesn't mean all people aren't. Even if it is addictive it's still not an excuse to stay fat.

>Many people manage to eat the western diet and still look great. For me the problem lies with the mindset of being a mindless eater.

But the fact remains that this was never an issue for humanity until the last couple of decades. Obesity was barely a thing for millennia and now we have to create new obesity categories every few years or so as people get larger and larger. In other parts of the world, it only becomes an issue when a Western diet is introduced (source 1, source 2 deals more with immunity and western diets, but I think is still relevant).

While it's easy to say that it's just the fault of people, I think it's more complicated than that. It's just strange to me that something that is relatively simple (CICO) is so hard for so many people. Not just for so many people, but for so many people that are incredibly successful at so many other aspects of their lives. The types of mindless eating that you reference only can happen with junk food.

Again, I'm not saying that people aren't capable of being healthy with a western diet or that people can't lose weight, but this type of obesity only seems possible when you have a western diet. Food companies specifically create foods that hit the "bliss point" and bypass our brain's natural mechanisms for regulating intake (source, this book is awesome). Now, I wouldn't be willing to give up french fries, but I think that acknowledging that weight is harder given this type of food is critical to being able to be successful at losing weight.

Read Salt, sugar, fat by Michel moss. It's on audible.

Here's link if you want to read reviews.

it's about how companies hook us on food. There's something called the 'bliss point' It's the perfect ratios of salt sugar and fat. So much more.

I'd add Salt Sugar Fat, which doesn't pull its punches when it comes to exposing the political and marketing power that the food industry has. Also, I recommend the excellent Marion Nestle's (the last name is ironic, yes) blog Food Politics as well...

It may be http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00985E3UG?btkr=1 I don't remember talk about McDonalds specifically in regards to this, but just to any "junk food" in general.

Read Sugar, Salt, Fat and you'll understand why.

> As opposed to the use of force by the communist? Is it okay your book that communists murder millions

I know of no one who advocates for the democratic workers control of the economy to murder anyone.



>There is no elimination of poverty, and if it it were it would be because all people would be at an equal level of poverty.

Do you even know what poverty is? Do you even know what suffering is?

>When you remove the incentive to improve by equalizing all people, you take away the incentive for mankind to improve. Marxism is a sort of "mandate of mediocrity".


Capitalism takes away all incentives except one maladaptive one: personal profit. This desire for greed and selfishness lets the capitalist to forget what an economy is for: to produce and distribute goods and services to the consumer, so they can solve their needs, and then desires. The capitalist will do anything to get you to buy their crap. Read this book. You might get an idea.


As opposed to socialists: the workers are the consumers, these worker/consumers decide what is produced, why would we choose to sicken each other? Externalities - the state is required to mitigate these in capitalism - don't exist in socialism, there are no third parties.


No, what motivates people to improve is autonomy, mastery, and purpose. And there is no better economy than an economy of peers to allow for us to achieve these motives. Certainly your boss tells you what to do, you have to pay through the nose to achieve any mastery, and purpose - well, enriching the capitalist is not my choice.

Now, the socialist gets to choose what s/he wants do - there are no bosses, no monetary barriers to education. And what better purpose is there to create an unoppressive society with no poverty, for everyone.


If that doesn't motivate you, I say the capitalist has killed your individuality.

>you take away the incentive for mankind to improve.

No scientist, engineer, geek is motivated by material crap. Empty people who work mostly in the finance industry can only live with themselves by measuring their self esteem by wealth. Is that you?


>And your answer about your life was disingenuous.

Because you have abdicated your humanity, you cannot even comprehend those who care about anyone they aren't related to. I'm not even sure you care about your family either - you don't even know what that means.

I am so sorry, I pity you so much that you have eliminated your empathy and compassion. That only children can care about others.


>The common theme I see with Marxists is a huge disconnect in understanding about how people work, how social hierarchies work,

You have no clue, not one single infinitesimal clue how healthy people work, how healthy social interactions work.

You have given up being human.


>what results actually better the most people.

Machines. You are a machine. You only care about maximizing production - to no end. You are too selfish and inhumane to cooperate with anyone. You have 0 qualms about who you hurt.

Grow up. Please.

> The whole thing rustles my jimmies.

Do you want to raise your blood pressure?

Go pick up a copy of Salt, Sugar, Fat; How the Food Giants Hooked Us.

It talks about how the food industry basically owns the FDA, and despite research, uses it's lobbying power to twist words and intentions so the consumer is fed misinformation.

Then there's the story about Lunchables. Holy shit. I'm lucky that I read when I travel by plane, because if I was reading at home, I might have gotten in my car and driven to the grocery store and set fire to all the Lunchables.

After reading this book, my jimmies were so rustled.

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"I took a sip of something poison, but I'll hold on tight"