Posted in CrossFit , Health , Lindsey and Web Smith , Paleo Diet , Taco Bell , Whole Foods
Everywhere we turn, we see the consequences of effective multi-million dollar advertising (Click Here). No consequences have been more severe than those propagated by the American food industry and the American Dietetic Association. People are wondering why they can't make progress. They wonder why calorie counting doesn't work. Are Splenda, Truvia, Estevia and agave nectar bad alternatives? Is fat-free bad? Is "low-carb" the way to go? Is high fructose corn syrup in everything? Can I eat bars for protein sources? Is juice a good substitute for fruits and vegetables?
When did it become so difficult to discern real food from fake food? With documentaries like Food, Inc., Killer at Large
The Beginning of the Fad Diet
The history of the diet industry can be traced to the creator of point counting, Weight Watchers, as early as 1963. (pictured to the right: Weight Watcher's equation) Ironically, the health magnate and fast food producer's headquarters is still located on Madison Avenue, the quintessential marketing and branding capital of America. After decades of microwaved meals branded with terms like "healthy", "lean", "whole grain", "nutritious", and "low fat", the processed food diet has become the norm. Fast food companies began implementing one or two changes to existing cheap, food products and then branding them as healthy lifestyle choices.Over the past four decades, health care costs have sky-rocketed. There is an obvious correlation with the increasing numbers of processed foods introduced to the American consumer. Our population depends, more than ever, on expensive prescription fixes. We depend less on the purchase of actual, grass fed, organically grown, minimally-processed, real food. The fixation on calorie counting and low-fat meals have altered the measure of our health and the definition thereof. According to the World Health Association, the definition has literally changed. (See: first paragraph) Consuming powders, pills, chicken ranch wraps, Baked Lays and diet soft drinks have become healthy staples in the 21st century. Your co-workers brag about having lost 70 pounds on Weight Watchers and then they go about swallowing beta-blockers for their hypertension, Lipitor for their cholesterol, Prozac for their stress and depression, Vyvanse for focus in the office, and Ambien for a good night's rest. Without education, the American health care system is failing us.
Biochemical Implications of Crappy Food
Taco Bell's latest marketing archetype is the Drive Thru Diet. This diet furthers the trend of harmful fad diets where consumers jettison quality, whole foods and balanced diets for industrially-grown, manufactured and refined carbohydrate-dense meals. I focused on three interdependent measures of food quality and selection that affect overall homeostasis: glycemic load, macronutrient balance and the omega-3/omega-6 ratio.
Taco Bell hopes to attract people who shun food quality for discounted quantity. Taco Bell's advertisements are aimed at over weight, cash-strapped Americans with health care coverage. These are our friends and our families. This may even speak to you. At best, this ad campaign relies upon the gullibility of consumers. At worst, they believe that their target market is unintelligent. The Drive Thru Diet's message removes the burden from Taco Bell and implies that the success of the diet is solely their personal responsibility:
I lost 54 pounds [over two years] by reducing my daily calories and replacing my usual fast food with Taco Bell's Drive Thru Diet. Now, these results aren't typical but for me, they were fantastic! (Christine Daugherty)
To satisfy my curiosity, I made a recent run for the border. My intention was to observe, for myself, the sincerity of Taco Bell's multimillion dollar "outreach" to Americans. Were they really trying to help people by providing better meal options? I left the restaurant with an (employee recommended) Fresco Burrito Supreme combination that totaled an estimated 1160 calories with the Yum Brand's default choice of soft drink, a forty ounce Pepsi. While an 1160 calorie meal isn't unheard of for an active/athletic person that adheres to the principles of Paleolithic Nutrition, the macro-nutrient break down of the meal was alarming. The meal amassed 238 grams (26 blocks) of carbohydrates, 32 grams (4.5 blocks) of protein and 16 grams (10 blocks) of fat. The small print on their website revealed that the National Labeling and Education Agency (NLEA) allows for a 20% variation in advertised caloric and macro nutrient content. Are people really cutting as many calories as they'd like to think?
To classify as a "high glycemic level index" (GLI), foods register above 60. The carbohydrate content of this Taco Bell meal amassed a combined GLI of 261 with little protein or fat to slow the acute spike in blood sugar. If Christine, Taco Bell's spokeswoman, ate this way for two years, she would have some serious insulin-sensitivity issues. If the GLI of this meal wasn't alarming enough, consider the food preparation. Eric Schlosser wrote in Fast Food Nation:
At Taco Bell restaurants the food is "assembled," not prepared. The guacamole isn't made by workers in the kitchen; it's made at a factory in Michoacán, Mexico, then frozen and shipped north. The chain's taco meat arrives frozen and precooked in vacuum sealed bags. The beans are dehydrated and look like brownish corn flakes. The cooking process is fairly simple. "Everything's add water," a Taco Bell employee told me. "Just add hot water."The meat used is industrially processed, the carbohydrates are extremely refined and vegetables are sparse. As such, these drive thru meals are void of significant minerals, antioxidants, or essential omega-3 fatty acids. All are vital to a disease-free, healthy and active lifestyle. The omega fatty acid imbalance (n-3 and n-6) of meals like these can spur inflammation. This condition can lead to many diseases of civilization (Tulane U.) that are plaguing America today: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, tooth decay, cancer and drug addiction.
A Solution
Each of these above measurements affect the way we look and the way that we feel. Taco Bell didn't focus on improving the standing of any of those diseases. There were no healthy drink options and no emphasis placed on: grass feed meat or poultry, refined carbohydrate subsititutes, better sources of vegetables or a selection of healthy fats.Each day, I work at an office where smart, hard-working, wonderful people suffer, needlessly, from diseases of civilization. I am the son of a 56 year old, wonderful mother who seldom has the vitality to play with our daughter. Diabetes runs rampant in my family. Nearly every adult in the Smith family takes some form of medication for blood pressure, cholesterol or insulin-resistance. Food choices are our personal responsibility, however, the average consumer knows little about the metabolic detriment of fast food that they consume, even if in moderation.
Billion dollar industries spend millions to promulgate their falsehoods on health, good food, magical pills and diet fads. Their methods are working and their quarterly reports are extremely profitable. People will only find the enlightened path when they hear a voice more meaningful and convincing than those million dollar ad campaigns that flood the airways, bill boards and magazines. I am confident that the sum of our impassioned voices, and the social networking tools at our behest, can be employed to challenge the influence of fast food's latest example of killer marketing.
The video of my recent visit to Taco Bell can be found on Page 2.
First off...good post, I enjoyed the video. So i remember a couple of weeks ago seeing this ad and just laughing with my friends. It seemed so ridiculous. I agree with your last paragraph, those with the knowledge should challenge the industry and share this knowledge for the betterment of the health of people.
I wonder how many people are employed by these giant fast food companies? I just ask this because at the end of your video you mention that you gave the food to someone that "needed" the food. I've discussed this with you before, the correlation between food quality and price. If all these fast food companies would close, and those people who work there were displaced, would we all be better or worse off?
Great post, Web. It's a shame that there is a R.D. supporting this scam. Educating the community is the key to changing public policy and creating a healthier environment for our families. Since 1982, the drive-thrus at fast food restaurants in San Luis Obispo, California have been banned. It's amazing what an educated community can accomplish when they come together against businesses that threaten thier health and well-being. Keep elevating our community to greatness.
Great Post Web - When I saw that commerical a few weeks ago, I cracked up laughing. Taco Bell was my job in high school and I knew everything was just add water... The sad thing is most American's will fall for it and then wonder why they aren't losing weight. After all the commerical does state something along these lines: Well I wanted to lose weight but don't want to cut out my fast food.... BOOO!!! there in itself is the first error!!!
Great Read - going to share with everyone I know
Mel
@Nugget: Thank you for the kind words, Mike! I understand your sentiment but I entirely disagree. For there to be a paradigm shift, there has to be movement. I know that you are well aware that the way our food is grown and raised has changed over the past 40 years. I think that it is imperative that we shift away from the fast food economy of thinking. Fast food has hindered the quality of our food, it has become the standard of cheap labor, it has perpetuated sickness and disease. And how much of it is on the consumer? That is the question. Do you think that the typical person knows that they are eating genetically modified, chemically altered, poisonous food?
As for your macroeconomic worry, I believe that once the fast food industry loses their foothold, more people will focus on supporting local food. This will lead to job growth, much like the shift from fossil fuels to wind industry has, over the past few years. Change is painful sometimes but if we keep this up, health care costs are going to be insane.
@Kris Montoya: The commercial offended me. Absolutely. I tried to hide my frustration as best I could. I believe that when we are in a position to affect even one person, we should do the best we can. There is a correlation with the consumption of foods like these and the sickly state of our community. Wouldn't in be cool if everyone saw it this way?
@Belinda Smith As always, thank you!
@Mel I am glad that you were as ticked off as I was. You certainly pin-pointed the problem. I am wondering if they will remove it form commercial circulation. What stinks is that they are covered from a liability standpoint. People still believe in "low fat" diets and I think that we need to get the word out that the benefits of healthy fats far outweigh the negatives of a higher caloric meal.
It's ridiculous how many people will give in to all the lies and propaganda the fast food industries will put out three just because they want a fast easy way to lose weight instead of actually putting a little work into researching and finding a more benifitial way to lose weight
I'm all for it Wes...I want everyone to eat better food. I want the government to start endorsing better food. I really did laugh the first time i saw the commercial. I get really frustrated with stuff that comes from the government...and people take it to heart just because the Government recommends this or that.
Check out my sister's blog www.beckygarza.com she has some good stuff on there
Have you seen the new 'I can't believe it's not butter' commercial? Classic. "Turn the tub around, talkin' 'bout nutrition?" Unbelievable.
@anonymous Thanks for your opinion. It is absolutely on point. It is always interesting that people search for "what" to do instead of "why" to do it. Until people seek out the "why's", we are going to make little progress as an out-of shape country.
@Miguel I knew that you agreed with me! For the government to take interest in better food, the demand has to cease. To be perfectly blunt, for demand to decrease, jobs have to go with it.
@Shane and "drill sargeant" Karen I am going to check that out for sure! I watch 3 hours of CNBC discussions on McDonald's marketing. Really bad.
I totally agree! I first thought the commercial was a joke and you are right if we can help one person that is a start. The government should not only take more interest in better food but make it better for the average american to understand what actually better food is, it is not "low fat" or "reduced fat" it is raw and natural organic food. Have you noticed in the grocery stores, we talked about this in my nutrition classes. They are set up for people to choose bad foods all of the enriched foods full of refined sugars and extreme amounts of fat and sodium are located in the middle part of the stores they consume 90% of the store, all of the foods we as americans should consume are on the outsides. The government sets up the stores this way on purpose it is no wonder why so many people have diseases related to poor diets. I can not wait for the day when we do have jobs that are away from fast food and are for local grown foods. I enjoyed the post and video Katie Surgi
@Katie Surgi,
I don't know how much direct-involvement that stores have with the U.S. government but special interest groups certainly play a role in what is stocked in them. Just yesterday, I saw in someone's possession, the following: Low fat ranch, low fat thousand island and low fat blue cheese. How did people begin believing that consuming concoctions of food science were going to help them live longer???
I believe that Michael Pollan has it entirely correct. We vote at the cash register. People have been persuaded by the most advanced of marketing tactics to dismiss what they know and adopt what is easy. I am still perplexed that Chic-Fila has a health-food reputation just because they serve industrially processed, grill-stamped chicken. That is just one of many examples.
I am working on a post that will help people in Dallas, Austin and Houston find places to dine that will serve them what we were meant to eat...real food.
Excellent. I've queued up those DVDs in my Netflix account. Can't wait to view them. You guys are the best!