• @jittery3291@lemmy.world
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    1110 months ago

    Has it improved health or reduced obesity, though? That’s kind of the interesting thing, here. What has happened to overall calorie consumption?

  • @sandbox@lemmy.world
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    510 months ago

    Everything about public health policy sucks. The best way to improve nutrition and health is by making eating healthy affordable and easy. It’s too hard and expensive for working people to prepare healthy meals for a family also working 40+ hours a week.

    So many myths and pseudoscience around health, wellness, etc. Basically everything that is talked about is based on really shaky science at best, and outright lies and nonsense at worst. Way too much emphasis is put on weight loss, dieting, waist circumference and so on. Dieting is hugely unhealthy, weight cycling (losing and regaining weight) has worse health implications than just remaining at your original weight, and for most people the weight they are is fine, the health risks around weight are hugely overstated. The BMI is a worthless metric without any scientific basis. Almost everything that people say about sugar is wrong - it’s not physiologically addictive, it doesn’t cause hyperactivity and it’s not poisonous, and it doesn’t cause type 2 diabetes - the causes of type 2 diabetes are generally not well understood.

    The most important thing is having a varied diet with some fruit and vegetables and getting some regular activity - something that you enjoy! Doesn’t have to be major or whatever, if it’s just going for a walk or paintball or whatever, that’s great!

    Fad diets are hugely unhealthy, in general, and should be avoided.

    • @AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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      810 months ago

      Time to plan, shop for food, and cook. Time is the only thing separating the healthy and unhealthy. It’s a travesty.

    • VeganPizza69 Ⓥ
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      10 months ago

      Healthy food doesn’t get advertising or status symbolism. When’s the last time you saw an ad for cabbage, carrots, or dry lentils?

      The affordability is less of a problem than you think.

      • @sandbox@lemmy.world
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        510 months ago

        If healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, pulses, etc. were subsidised instead of animal products then they’d essentially be free. Affordability is a huge problem, at least here in the UK. Thousands of people use food banks because they’re struggling with the cost of living. vegan btw

        • VeganPizza69 Ⓥ
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          10 months ago

          Grains and beans being subsidized would be great, but it would probably make them negative in price. You’d get paid to get them from a store.

          People who think that “vegan diet” or “plant based diet” means “you eat mostly fruits and veggies” are simply and dangerously wrong.

      • @sandbox@lemmy.world
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        -110 months ago

        That measures an effect, not an outcome. Is the goal to improve health, or to sell less sugary drinks? All of the evidence we have around using low-calorie sweeteners is that it does not displace the consumption of other dietary sugars, because there is a compensatory effect.

        I invite you to point out what part of my advice you consider to be “shitty”, and back up your case with evidence - because I actually know what I’m talking about.

  • @havocpants@lemm.ee
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    -710 months ago

    Yep, and all our pop now tastes like ass with the vile sweeteners so fewer people drink it.

    • @threeganzi@sh.itjust.works
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      210 months ago

      A lot of people don’t seem to mind it, but to me it really tastes terrible. Even if I got it for free I wouldn’t drink it.

    • @Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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      210 months ago

      Drink water.

      The choice between sugar and aspartame is the choice between diabetes and cancer.

      Just give it up. Pop ain’t worth it.

      • @whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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        1010 months ago

        Fuck this, people should be able to drink soda if they want to. We’re on a dying planet, this just penalizes poor people and takes away their choices. Let people have a moment of pleasure. You can drink soda and drink water.

        • @ElegantBiscuit@lemm.ee
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          310 months ago

          They can. They just need to pay a little more. We’re talking 25 pence per liter at most compared to no sugar tax. Higher sugar intake is correlated with obesity which means more health problems which is more expense for the NHS. It’s like a train ticket or gas taxes or taxes in general, some percentage of usage that causes the problem needs to pay for the thing that deals with the consequences or expenses that solve it.

          It’s the companies who have decided that they would rather sell shit soda, and consumers who are probably unwilling to pay anything except the cheapest price possible - wealth inequality and poverty problems aside because that’s a different social policy that should not be addressed through a sugar tax.

        • Flying Squid
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          110 months ago

          Telling someone they should give up something that’s bad for them is not stopping them from doing it.

          The person you replied to is not stopping anyone from drinking soda and, as long as you have an extra 25p, no one is stopping anyone in Britain from drinking a litre of the most sugary of sodas.

          • @havocpants@lemm.ee
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            010 months ago

            no one is stopping anyone in Britain from drinking a litre of the most sugary of sodas.

            The soft drink companies stopped us. With the exception of Coke, after the sugar tax came in, all the manufacturers replaced most of the sugar in their products with sweeteners on the presumption that consumers would not pay more for sugar. So the choice was taken away from us - you can’t buy the sugary versions any more!

        • VeganPizza69 Ⓥ
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          -510 months ago

          You can drink soda and drink water.

          No, you can’t. You’re not an open pipe.

  • @IcyToes@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    And increased amount of aspartame and asulfate k, that can have an even worse effect on blood sugar than sugar can. Industry still making a killing.

    Remind me when they tried to cut CO2 by pushing folk to diesel…

    But yeah, only Coca-Cola is really drinkable now as most moved to artificial sweeteners which IMHO taste like chemicals.

    • VeganPizza69 Ⓥ
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      210 months ago

      There are lots of Americans online who believe that artificial sweeteners are great and technology can fix anything, such as replacing the evil of sugar with something else and keeping the nice consumer product.

      Most people don’t even understand blood sugar levels and are afraid of a line going up. It’s pointless to talk to them, they don’t want to change and will reject anything that actually means change.