Several of the nation's largest food companies say they will take 1.5 trillion calories out of their products by 2015 in an effort to reduce childhood obesity.
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comFood makers to trim 1.5 trillion calories
Seeded on Mon May 17, 2010 3:55 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
— Filed under: health, diet-and-nutrition, lifestyle, industries, social-affairs, corporate-news, obesity, michelle-obama, consumer-products-and-services, philanthropy, products-and-services, diseases-and-conditions, agriculture-food-and-beverage-manufacturing, childhood-obesity, philanthropic-foundations, robert-wood
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Great ... soon instead of there being 2.5 "servings" in that small bag of chips, it will say 3.5.
Perhaps we should make our own food, instead of relying on 'food makers'.
Until you trim 1.5 trillion calories from demand it won't do any good. They will just find an alternate source of calories. Fat people crave food it's as simple as that.
Why 5 years?? Does it really take 5 years to cut out the crap from the food?? Are they going to do it slowwwwwly so that nobody notices or something?? Stupid....just cut the crap out!!! OH, but wait...if you make it healthier, then you'll have to raise the price....of course!!! Vicious cycle.
Nothing happens overnight with the government. The food companies have to get rid of the stock they have before they can make adjustments. It's just like with the additive MTBE in our gasoline that was eventually banned because it was found in the water. It took several years for it take affect. They still added it to the gas because there were barrels and barrels of the stuff. That's the government for ya.
Yep, they’ll provide smaller portions all right but what they won’t provide are smaller prices.
That happened to candy bars in the early 80s. They made smaller ones but raised the prices.
HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP - if they get rid of that and just return to simple cane sugar they will cut huge amounts of calories but why do natural when chemically created sweeteners are cheaper.
The government will have to eliminate the tariff on sugar so candy can be made with it first.
Hate to burst your bubble but refined carbohydrates are junk food no matter which form they are in.
When the numbers get that big the math gets tricky but I think I am correct in calculating that 1.5 trillion calories divided by 300,000,000 Americans equals 5,000 calories per person. That would be significant on a daily basis but meaningless on an annual basis; the time period for digesting (or not digesting) all those calories isn't specified in the article but I do think that it is relevant.
This just seems to me to be a wacky feel-good story that in reality means absolutely nothing. Am I missing something here?
They could make food healthier overnight by cutting down on salt and sugar. It's what people are used to. Try cutting most of the sugar out of your diet for a while and your perception of "sweet" will change, you'll be satisfied with less, and Twinkies and Ho-Ho's won't be as appetizing.
This is pure stupidity! We need to educate not eradicate. And, if food companies cut calories and portions sizes, people will just eat twice or three times as much because of the low calories and small portion sizes.
A little childhood exercise wouldn't hurt.
But hey, who are we to inject some common sense?
Just don't screw with my bacon!
If they can remove calories from it, it wasn't food to begin with. It was, as Michael Pollan calls it "a food-like substance". Natural whole foods can't have their calories reduced. Fruits vegtables, whole grains, beans, etc. have the same amount of calories no matter what. If we stop eating this fake food-like crap, we'd be better off.
If it has to have an ingredient list on the side of it's pretty little container, I'm not buying it!
Lower calories is a good thing BUT what man made garbage are they going to use to make it lower calorie? Like mentioned above me, if people just ate natural REAL food calories wouldn't be as big a deal. I highly doubt people would get fat eating 4000 calories of apples and carrots.
How about that fatties, instead of eating a bag of chips eat a serving of baby carrots (35 calories) and an apple (about 70).
Give me natural, earth made food, you fat asses can keep your modified garbage.
I will not have some nobody tell me what I can And can not eat. So go ahead and do what you will. I am here to tell you I make my own meals so go ahead.................................................
If God made it, eat it, if man messed around with it, stay away from it. Especially these days. Did you know that antibiotics also makes cows fat? So it is with people.
I think we need to subsidize produce. Until apples cost less than cookies, moms will continue to buy cookies. Watermelons were $7.99 yesterday at Safeway! You can buy 6 boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes for that price!
We are the most fertile nation on Earth! You can't tell me we can't produce inexpensive fruits and vegetables.
We have and we can again.
Tell pelosi to turn the water back on for the once *bread basket of the world* in California called the central valley.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539121,00.html
A few short years ago you got your produce from this valley. Yesterday, I paid 1.29 for a *bunch* (5) scallion onions wrapped in a label that read,
*product of Mexico*
Turn the water back on in California's central valley before it becomes a desert.
If this story wasn't so funny it would be sad! what a boom to the food industry! High food costs is why Americans are overweight to day. Did anyone ever mention that to eat healthier is costly?
Problem...once a kid, or anyone gets that addiction to sugar and craving more, it's then a life long problem. I was raised on just terrible junk foods (in the 70's) and was a chubby kid. Although I maintain the proper weight and build its very difficult, psychologically to avoid processed and junks foods....Few can deny that many of these foods are tasy. Anyone, in shape or fat, knows how hard it is to avoid our endless choices of processed foods.
These foods are designed by food chemists and even neurologists are employed to build foods that make you want more. There is a book called "The Overeating of America" by Kessler who goes into the complex science of making foods that make you crave more.
Also...nobody wants to spend more in tax dollars to feed kids decent school meals. When I was a high school teacher 10 years ago, lunches were chips, Skittles, candy, sodas, corn dogs, etc. I never saw a salad, or veggies, or chicken breast.
We invest billions in defense and war, but want to spend nothing on the health of the nations people. The people ARE the nation, I think we have it all backwards.
What a joke. When one sits on the couch watching American Idol and eats an entire bag of chips washed down with a six pack cola the fact that they only got 4,000 calories vs 5,000 calories in *thier snack* is a joke.
It isn't the food that makes these people fat. It's the TV and lack of exercise that makes people fat.
Let's not forget the 2,000 calorie fried onions as appitizers in restraunts, or cup of sugar per serving cereal for breakfast.
Turn off the TV, PC, PS and XBox. Go for a walk every evening like they did in the 1950's and what you eat won't matter that much.
Kids hardly go outside and play anymore, streets are not safe! You may get snatched, shot at or whatever. It's hard being a child today. So a child sits in the house on the computer and exercising going back and forth to the fridge. Mom who has to work and is tired brings home the food..KFC< Burger King and Mcdonalds...Kids raised up on this diet resent eating anything but. And I agree, the food is designed today to keep a person fat. It is addictive.
The food industry did not make your kids fat. YOU DID!!! The kebler elves didn't drive your 5 year old to the golden arches for a happy meal before 3 hours of playing video games. Be the parent and take charge!!! My kid loves her veggies and fruits and at 4 years old has NEVER eaten at a fast food place or had white bread. That's because I took charge and parented her.
It's easy to blame society for your problems, but it's hard to look in the mirror and see the truth. When a kids see the parents eating cheese stakes with some cheese fries and a large coke, what are they supposed to think. If parents would invest a little more time and energy in the families whole diet, then maybe we could get this under control. Stop making up reasons why your kids are fat and unhealthy and start chamging the way your family eats and moves. Bike, hike, walk for God's sake. Trust me, if your kid is fat, you probably are too.
Yes I agree, the food could be healthier, but until people get together and stop buying the crap, they'll keep making it.
How are you going to avoid buying Campbell's soup or Green Giant vegetables? And those are some of the better brands; cheaper ones are even worse. There's no choice for consumers trying to avoid sugar-added foods, not with major brands.
Eeewww, I never buy either of those. Veggies come from the produce department, soup does as well (it comes unassembled, you have to make it at home in a big pot).
LOL, what a joke: the Nanny State making the private sector a Nanny Puppet but, with this regime, what else can be expected.
This story appears to be more of the conservative's wetdream of industry "self regulation" rather than "nanny state coercion."
They'll just add more sugar.
That's been their approach so far.
call it "Lite! Lo Fat!" when the sugar boosted calories are actually HIGHER.
What a novel concept. Cut down on the gargantuan servings at the restaurants! About nine times out of ten, my husband and I come home from a restaurant meal with a container holding enough food for another meal - sometimes for both of us! Avoiding obesity is largely (pardon the pun) a matter of discipline. Make sensible choices - whether you're cooking at home or eating out, then don't eat more than is reasonable. Oh wait! If they cut down on portions at the restaurants, I suppose that'll mean we'll have fewer leftovers! Oh well, life is hard.
I don't think that will do any good...
I read an article earlier that obesity may be associated with poverty-that sounds more promising. Afterall, it is the processed and packaged food with empty calories that are bad for you-but they are also the cheapest.
If they really want to make an impact they should raise prices on processed products and lower the prices of everything that is basic to the food pyramid. I would suggest some sort of subsidy to help the poor afford healthy foods-but-this country is already going broke, we don't need another expense. Besides, I think this would work better because it would make those target foods unattainable to the people that are at most risk and it wouldn't cost us a thing.
The reason those processed foods are so cheap is the direct result of subsidies paid to corn refineries.