Bad foods to eat

Saw this article on some bad foods to eat, and thought I would share:

http://healthyliving.msn.com/nutrition/ ... at-and-why

I also hate to say it, but a lot of those foods are on my eating list. Oh, maybe not every day, but I do eat some of them sometimes. How about you?

Me too, some of this food is on my lists but I don't worry too much : in fact, it's impossible not to eat some of it but you must not eat them too regularly and VARY : that is "very simple" !

Silver, if you eat some of the foods on this list sometimes, I wouldn't worry even a second. The media and marketers love to make nutrition sound so easy, when it is ridiculously nuanced and complicated. It is astounding how often I see marketers and the media act as if the secret to health is as simple as always avoiding a given food or foods, when it just simply is not that easy, especially since deprivation often just creates craving. I love the one about artificial sweeteners in particular, where it throws out the word 'chemicals' so lightly as if chemicals are something to fear in and of itself. Everything is a chemical. Ever hear the term 'dihydrogen monoxide'? Well, it's the 'chemical' name of water and you can find videos on youtube of people being convinced to sign a petition to ban it when its called by its chemical name, instead of its common name. Calling artificial sweeteners 'chemicals' says nothing of value about artificial sweeteners themselves or the actual risks (if any - again, this is also complex and requires some knowledge of the science of toxicology to understand) associated with them, except just throwing out a negative-sounding word to poison the well. When an article, especially about food, just throws out the term 'chemicals,' your hogwash radar should probably start going off and the article probably merits a closer skeptical examination. Sugar is a chemical. Sodium is a chemical. Vitamin C is a chemical. Omega-3 fatty acids are chemicals. I could go on, but I won't. Marketing and the way information is presented is everything.

Take articles like this cautiously, not at face value - there's a good chance they are distorting something and oversimplifying things. And when it comes to nutrition and 'bad' foods to eat, take just about any news article with roughly a barrel's worth of salt. Basically any article that is titled '(Insert number here) foods to never eat' or something to that effect is taking a complex issue and way oversimplifying it, and probably needlessly scaring people in the process. Having a cinnabun or restaurant burger once in a while won't kill you or totally ruin your health. They really aren't saying anything that most people didn't already know - I think we knew that packaged cakes and pizza weren't the best foods out there, but that does not in anyway merit total avoidance. Just try to eat a decent mix of food, don't overdo massively processed foods, salt, refined sugars and fat, get some fruit, vegetables and whole grains in there and you'll probably be decently healthy. But having something 'bad' for you every once in a while isn't going to hurt most people. The application of a little common sense goes a long way.

As someone going into a field quite closely related to public health, these sorts of oversimplifying scare-tactic articles do a lot more harm than they do good, in my opinion.

I have been a pescatarian for two years now, so I only eat fish, eggs, milk, and cheese. I cut out all other forms of meat. No reason in particular. I just realized one day that I don't eat meat all that much, so one day I decided to make it official. However, sushi is my favorite food, and I could never give it up, so I gave myself fish and now I'm a pescatarian.

I agree with Wolf Bird on this. Most foods are okay for you in moderation. These journalists are just looking for things to write about and trying to get hits on their articles.

I don't eat artificial sweetners, but that's due to a personal bad experience I had with Splenda. My stomach does NOT like that stuff.

Wow! The only things on that list I do not eat are Artificial sweeteners and Margin! The list started bad with sausage and then went straight to bacon. I knew I was doomed!

jessie wrote:

The list started bad with sausage and then went straight to bacon. I knew I was doomed!

I LOLed

You know, one of the classes that I'm wrapping up tonight was basically all about risk assessment, perception and communication. The professor is a risk consultant, but also a former journalist! He admitted to us on day one that now, he now kicks himself over some of the stuff he wrote as a journalist because it was wrong and he did not do his due diligence in terms of research. He too easily accepted things at face value instead of taking the extra time to examine just a little more closely to tease out the wheat from the chaff. As a result, he wrote pieces that were not entirely truthful. Sure, writing things that are scary and alarming sure drove traffic, but from an informational standpoint, were distortions are best.

I get that sort of vibe from this article. There are certainly grains of truth throughout and the general gist of the article is true that these foods aren't the best things to be putting in yourself. But the way it is framed is an extreme distortion of truth, and the article very casually throws out a lot of words like chemicals and cancer without putting any risks in decent context. We spent a good class worth of time talking about how the way information is framed affects how a reader/viewer/listener will perceive it.

Thanks, Wolf Bird for your insightfulness here as always. Yeah, I try to take most articles like this not too very seriously, but still there is that little nagging doubt sometimes. I really think most foods are okay for some people to eat if eaten in moderation and if you are not allergic to the foods or they make you sick or something like that.

VistaBlade, I have never heard of a pescatarian. What exactly does that mean?

Jessie, I had the same feeling when I first read this article.

JESSIE : LOL ! We are all bound to be doomed one day ! Moderation is the key to all : one of this food from time to time and all is gonna be okay ! *Yes I'm also full of questions about a pascatarian ! I know about vegetarians but here...

This is what a Pescetarian is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pescetarianism

Basically I don't eat the flesh of animals, but I eat fish, seafood, dairy products, and eggs. So I don't eat beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, veal, pork, or anything else like that.

I'm not a hippie or anything, I'm just not crazy about the stuff, and I could care less if other people choose to eat it.