• Binzy_Boi@supermeter.social
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    4 months ago

    I work on OpenFoodFacts, and the big issue is simply the amount of saturated fats and refined sugars there are in a lot of processed foods.

    Like, sure, people have to be held personally responsible to some extent, but it should also be on the government to properly regulate how foods are advertised. I really appreciate the Nutriscore system that’s being pushed for in Europe despite the flaws it has, and here in Canada they’ve been making some changes in how certain products are shown on shelves such as requiring labeling if they’re high in sugar or fats and changing the previous confusing labels for energy drinks with a more easy-to-read Supplemental Food Facts label.

    End of the day though, if something is still being labelled as being “healthy” when it really isn’t, that’s all it takes to fool the average consumer unfortunately. Stuff like Lucky Charms shouldn’t be advertised to kids as “part of a complete breakfast”, and it’s absurd that a lot of “healthier” alternatives to certain foods are being advertised that way despite only being barely any better than the original product, like turkey bacon or veggie straws.

    • Buffaloaf@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Like when Coke argued in court that no reasonable person would think Vitamin Water is actually good for you.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Yes, but I don’t remember if that was before or after Fox News successfully argued that no reasonable person would mistake them for a News Outlet

    • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      You can have something packed with sugars that says “NO FAT!” on the label, and otherwise intelligent people will think it’s healthy.

        • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          Full fat or no fat!

          Also, I enjoy a cold cereal once in a while but people need to stick with the classics.

          Also oatmeal > cereal

          • shuzuko@midwest.social
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            4 months ago

            Shitty cereal is my weakness, but even then you can fit it into an otherwise healthy diet as a treat every now and then. I just buy the tiny box once a month and only have a few bowls. Working on a box of fruity pebbles right now, lol.

            • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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              4 months ago

              My son has celiac. Fruity pebbles is one of the few he can safely have. I made the mistake of reading into the food coloring they use I guess there’s some unconfirmed links to ADD lol. FML we can’t win.

        • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          To be fair I can’t figure out what to have for breakfast. I have issues with low blood sugar recently so I’ve been having… Lucky Charms :/. I just need to cut calories elsewhere I guess

          • Test_Tickles@lemmynsfw.com
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            4 months ago

            The problem could be how fast you digest your food. As high as fat is in calories, it also digests much slower than sugar. So low fat might actually worse for you in a lot of cases.
            Eggs are great. Protein is also very slow to digest. Eggs are mostly protein and fat, and the fat is largely good fats. Eggs also take well to being mixed with other foods. Once you get sick of basic eggs, like fried eggs and scrambled eggs, then you can sprinkle a little bit of cheese on it and it’s a completely different flavor. Full fat cheese please, none of that 2% bullshit. Add some bread and you have an egg and cheese sandwich, toast and eggs, toad in the hole, or basic French toast.
            I have spent most of my life struggling with low blood sugar issues. It is not only difficult to live with, but it is impossible to find real advice on how to deal with it. Most doctors are arrogant pricks that tell you just to eat less. Sure, I’ll just go on a diet again and lose consciousness on the way home from work again, great fucking advice.

            If it is really negatively affecting your health, you might also look at semaglutide. It works by making you digest slower. That has been a game changer for me. Being able to eat like a normal person is freeing… I actually worked through lunch this weekend. Completely forgot to eat because I was doing something really interesting. If you don’t understand how big a deal that is, then you just need to work on eating better foods, you don’t need the semaglutide. If that sounds like a fantasy thing that You would never f****** dare, then it might be something to look into.

            • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Yeah I had a seizure in early January and the culprit seemed to be low blood sugar. When I came to, they took a blood glucose reading and it was 50. I suspect some medicines I was taking at the time were artificially reducing my blood sugar without me realizing it.

              So these days, I would never dare it yeah haha. Isn’t protein something I want to avoid though, since it doesn’t really add to my blood sugar and just makes me feel full? I’m not following I guess.

              • Test_Tickles@lemmynsfw.com
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                4 months ago

                There may be a lot of reasons that you should avoid protein, but as a general rule of dieting, protein is harder to digest than carbs, so it slows your digestion down, and it has less calories than fat. The idea is to dispense the calories as measured and slow as possible, while still having enough to feel energetic.

                  • Test_Tickles@lemmynsfw.com
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                    4 months ago

                    Sort of, but carbs are problematic.so its not cut and dried. Also, not all your calories have to come from carbs. For instance, Keto diets get rid of most, if not all, carbs from your diet. I suspect that a keto diet would probably be ideal for me considering how badly my body handles carbs, but I just don’t have the willpower, money, or time to do a keto diet.
                    I’m no dietitian or doctor, so I can’t actually give you advice on your diet directly. I get on here to rant because I’m sick of being sold bad information and bad foods just to increase corporate profits, and then having so called professionals treat me like it’s my fault that their continued bad advice makes everything worse for me.
                    The simple fact is that some people’s bodies are different, and some of us really need fat in our diets.
                    From what you have said, it really seems like you need to find a proper nutritionist. Not someone trying to sell you a specific diet, or supplement, but someone who can look through your medical history, and help you figure out something that will work for you.
                    I am willing to bet that unless you have allergies, or other medical issues that preclude them, that eggs will be one of the top things on their food recommendations.

            • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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              4 months ago

              Oats cooked in full fat non-homogenized milk, toss an egg or two in near the end and stir well. Top with ripe bananas or blueberries. Stir in some honey, but not the pasteurized shit and avoid spring variants.

              Edit: this (and variants) was my breakfast for a year at the age of 35 and I went from 90kg to 75. No lunch, only dinner around 6PM, only coffee in between. Admittedly I also biked 20-40km a day and did some dumbbell and calisthenics exercises.

          • SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Overnight oats with protein powder and fruit, Chia pudding with fruit and Greek yogurt, eggs and whole wheat toast with guacamole or avocado, protein pancakes with fruit and Greek yogurt,

            Something high in protein and with low glycemic index carbs.

            You want something that will digest over a long time and release sugars and nutrients into the blood steadily, not something high in refined highly available sugars which hit the bloodstream all at once and spike blood sugar, then when it’s all used up your blood sugar dips back down sharply.

            • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Mmmm. Scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with real fruit jam, and then fruit or Greek yogurt should be good too then right? Because that actually sounds delicious.

          • Sodis@feddit.de
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            4 months ago

            Oats and nuts maybe? They’re filling and will last you quite some time.

    • Kethal@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Lobbyists have even polluted the ingredient label on the back. Now they can list a brand name as an ingredient, then list the ingredients of that. This lets them disguise the most prevalent ingredients if they’re also part of the brand.

      Water, oil, sugar, xantham gum, Bob’s secret spice (enough sugar so that if the label were truthful, sugar would be the second ingredient instead of the third, cinnamon, nutmeg).

      • Mkengine@feddit.de
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        4 months ago

        I never used the ingredient list to determine sugar content, since there also is a table on the back with g sugar / 100 g product. Is that not printed on the products package where you live?