Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us (2013 original; edició 2013)

Let's just say I'm rethinking everything I've ever put into my body and want to figure out a way to radically change the way I eat and purchase food. I listened to this on audio so I definitely want to pick up the print version at some point to get more into the footnotes and bibliography. ( )

This book codifies what I knew as a child - processed food is cheaper per calorie than the fresh alternatives. And back then I halfway knew that the nutritional profile is worse than fresh food. What I had no clue about is that the processed food industry is stuck in a rut they can't get out of, that of making foods with three cheap and tasty ingredients - salt, sugar and fat. They each have attractive properties in addition to being cheap, make it hard to compete without them.

It was interesting reading his visits with the food processing companies and that he was able to access so much information about their activities, including their attempts to make healthier food (which, alas, usually sold poorly.)

There is a limit to our tolerance for sugar, but fat, whee, bring on more. We can just eat and eat it. They body will accept lots and lots of fat.

"And salt, barely more expensive than water, has miraculous powers to boost the appeal of processed food." (Page XX I X) Later on it the book, we learn how essential it is to the processed food industry to mask unpleasant tastes that are otherwise hard to get rid of. Salt could be reduce if they added spices, but spices are more expensive, and they can't/won't go there.

"Hunger is a poor driver of cravings. We rarely get in the situation where our bodies and brains are depleted of nutrients and are actually in need of replacement. Rather, he discovered, we are driven to eat by other forces in our lives. Some of these are emotional needs, while others reflected pillars of processed food: first and foremost taste, followed by aroma, appearance, and texture. (Page 39)

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It was not a easy read; one doesn't want to be told that the stuff that one likes to eat is not really as good as it's been advertised. There was a lot about advertising, and how the information has been manipulated to maximize profits, rather than public good. Intellectually, one should be able to legislate against things that are bad for us- that's what the laws on drug purity and against medical malpractice are about. Sadly, as with the AMA dictating that any form of medicine, like chiropractic or Orthomolecular therapy are quackery (just because they don't do them), every other type of practice has a real uphill battle to get accepted, even if it works. One of the issues Moss covered was whether advertising to kids should be legal because they aren't equipped to deal with it the way adults are. ARE adults capable of resisting advertising? I don't think so.
I'm also appalled by the way companies buy up other companies so that they can exert pressure on the stores by controlling their access to such a broad range of products. Where's Teddy Roosevelt and the Trust Busters I remember from my (admittedly poorly attended to) classes in 20th century civics? Why are these mega corporations allowed to exert so much control. Oh wait, because they have the best congressmen money can buy. No it's not direct bribes, it's just that if you want to do some good, you have to get elected, and to get elected, you have to finance your campaign, and to do that, you take corporate money.
I'm not quite sure how that translates to people then doing what they ask them to because I think congressmen and women are intelligent, determined and idealistic. I fear it's because the corporations may have the ability to destroy them, and may do it occasionally in order to keep the others in line. But I digress. It's good to think about why we eat what we eat, now that it's no longer, what's left from what we grew? ( )

Corporations are interesting things. In this book, I learned that Cigarette Giant Phillip Morris owned some Food Companies and even gave advertising advice and similar help. When it comes to corporations the only color that matters is that of money, pure and simple. Many of the issues plaguing the food industry are the fact that Salt, Sugar, and Fat have become so ingrained in what we eat that to remove it or change the formulation would totally ruin the food. Food Corporations have entire armies of scientists and researchers to make their food as palatable as possible. They even invented terms like Bliss Point to indicate the sweet spot where the food in question really wows you.

The book is fantastically easy to read and understand, but it is rather depressing that food lobbyists even have to exist. ( )

amazing book, it will change Your life. ( )