Brazilian diet

[LittleGreyCat]

From http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001252

Minimally processed food staples include rice, a variety of beans, and the root cassava (manioc). These staples form the basis of everyday main meals, and are made delicious and attractive by various methods of preparation and cooking, and by the addition of oils, seeds, leaves, herbs, and spices, some of which are rich in nutrients.

Picked this up from the Telegraph thread which seems to be wavering a bit towards an online punchup :shock:

Now it happens that my son is in Brazil at the moment (part of a six month stay for research towards his PhD) and although he would agree with the first bit, he isn't going a bundle on the "delicious and attractive".

O.K. so his taste buds have been educated in Europe but he finds the diet bland and boring and it doesn't suit his (slightly delicate) stomach.He has had an ongoing problem (for many years) with acid reflux and generally has to take medication for this. But I digress.

This ties in with "The Men Who Made Us Fat" who point the finger at the global food industry for formulating foods where you have to eat larger and larger portions to feel full/satiated.

The summary:

Traditional long-established food systems and dietary patterns are being displaced in Brazil and in other countries in the South (Africa, Asia, and Latin America) by ultra-processed products made by transnational food corporations (“Big Food” and “Big Snack”).
This displacement increases the incidence of obesity and of major chronic diseases and affects public health and public goods by undermining culture, meals, the family, community life, local economies, and national identity.
The penetration of transnational companies into Brazil has been rapid, but the tradition of shared and family meals remains strong and is likely to provide protection to national and regional food systems.
The Brazilian government, under pressure from civil society organizations, has introduced legislation to protect and improve its traditional food system; by contrast, the governments of many industrialized countries have partly ceded their prime duty to protect public health to transnational companies.
The experience of countries in the South that still retain traditional food systems provides a rational basis for policies that protect public health.

All very relevant to what has happened in Europ and the USA over the last few decades.

And tellingly

The ongoing globalization, privatization, and deregulation of food systems and supplies may have relatively little impact on public health in high-income countries whose dietary patterns are already fully industrialized. But the displacement of traditional food systems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (“the South”) by the fatty, sugary, or salty “long-life” ultra-processed products marketed by transnational food and drink corporations, which has been increasing rapidly since the 1980s, has the potential to undermine public health by increasing the incidence of chronic diseases and obesity.

In other words we have already been screwed over completely by the mega-food companies and there is little growth potential here anymore.
In fact there are some signs of a growing backlash against these food companies - MacDonalds have been doing massive rebranding and repositioning over the last few years, for example.

So global food companies have saturated the European/USA markets and need to expand elsewhere to ensure continuing profit growth and shareholder satisfaction.

Some countries are looking with alarm at what has happened over here and are considering trying to prevent the same happening to them.

Which should make us think more about what has already been done to us, and should we be legislating against it.

Selling food is a business.
To increase profits, more food has to be sold each year per head of population.
This implies that each person is required to eat more each year to maintain profitability of the food companies.
It always amazes me these days when I go into a supermarket how few of the product aisles now contain anything I would seriously consider eating. Vast acerages of 'stuff' which I can't/won't eat anymore.

Philosophies (including many religions) which promote periodic fasting may have more to them than at first meets the eye.
Fasting was a normal way of life in our hunter/gatherer past.
Fasting could also be considered as strike action against the mega food corporations.
A little more consumer resistance might be a very good thing.
A boycott of the multinationals could also be a very good thing.
Wholefoods locally produced - there have been plenty of initiatives but the marketing budgets of Meagcorp are overwhelmingly larger that any local interest group.

I can't really get my head round the concept that food rationing could be a lifesaving initiative but there do seem to be indications that this could be so.
Running out of steam here but there ,must be figures somewhere covering the number of people in the UK, the amount (calorific value) they should be eating on a healthy diet, and the amount we consume each year.
I would expect the two figures to be markedly different.

Cheers

LGC

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I agree it's a very sad situation. There is little we can do for the overseas markets to stop the pentration of the big foodies but at least in the UK we can each do our bit. Overall it won't, sadly, have much effect but we can at least try. Yes, I look around our supermarkets and despair at the % of junk. I now pretty well refuse to buy anything made from white refined flour, for example. but I note that wholemeal flour foods are disappearing. I now look at all the supermarkets and buy the better foods from each; I refuse to just shop at one for convenience. There is a lot of good food knowledge on the forum and if we use that knowledge when we shop we can slowly influence what is sold. My daughter works for one of the online grocery chains and I've said to her there is an opportunity for differentiation by stocking the healthy foods no one else stocks and marketing that fact. I'm not talking about trendy organic food which I've no time for but genuinely healthy foods for diabetics and the overweight. Perhaps we should pool our lists of food we seek or have found that are better if not perefct.