Food engineering has grown to the point where food is treated as “products”. Taste, feel and looks are highly engineered to optimize our sensations.
Looks: Marketing of food products use wildly unrelated items (glue to mimic cheese, shoe polish to mimic seared meat) to make the food look appetizing. This sets up for completely unrealistic standards.
Taste: Sugar has been pushed in our diet under different names (dextrose, fructose, corn syrup). Salt has been optimized to excite our senses. But the proportion is carefully controlled to ensure we never feel overwhelmed or saturated with a particular taste.
Feel: Food companies hire the best engineers to optimize surface characteristics to ensure their ‘products’ has great sound, great texture and so on. Pringles famously worked on double curvature for specific mechanics.
These food companies have created ‘products’ that are extremely far from nature. They are engineered heavily to maximize profits at the cost of consumers health.
What can you do:
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Read labels: Most countries have food regulatory bodies that require companies to publish their nutrition info. Check the “daily value” information. Check the “serving size”. DO NOT TRUST WHAT IS PRINTED ON THE FRONT. The real info is always in the back in a boring black and white table.
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Spread awareness: Companies are betting on the fact that you are too tired, too occupied or too ignorant to care about all this. I understand you may have bigger problems. But always remember that you may have 1000 worries but when you have a health issue you only have 1 worry.
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Reach out: If you struggle with food addiction and over consumption don’t struggle alone. This battle cannot be won alone. You are fighting against an army. Join local support groups. Help yourselves to gather allies. If you know know someone who is struggling, reach out and help. Any food that you make at home ( no matter what you make) cannot possibly be as unhealthy as ultra processed crap.
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Make the Bread, Buy the Butter
Damn, I miss making bread. Just seeing the title makes me want to restart my sourdough culture
What stopped you?
Bad body lol.
Between arthritis, a deteriorating back, and the extra clean-up and work involved in maintaining bread making (be it sourdough or with commercial yeast), it was just too many spoons.
I keep hoping my household will settle down enough that I have the inner and physical resources to get back to it though! There’s so much peace in the process.
I have an idea! I know it won’t be quite the same as what you were doing before, but there is a way to make this easier.
What I do is use an automatic bread machine with a nonstick bucket. Instead of sourdough, I make multigrain bread. I just measure and add in the ingredients, turn it on, add the seeds when prompted, then take it out when it’s done. Currently I’m making whole grain bread and experimenting with various ratios of oat/dark rye flour, flax meal, and chia seeds.
Cleaning isn’t too hard, since the bucket is nonstick. I spray some dawn powerwash, wait about a minute, then fill the bucket with hot water, and let it soak overnight. When I clan it the next day, it comes right off. I usually wash the measuring cups/spoons about that time too.
It doesn’t use a ton of energy, and is manageable with both carpal tunnel syndrome, and ADHD/depression. Plus it’s very nourishing, and gives a small boost in overall energy.