http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/shows/fed.up/

Apparently it was on last night as well. Should be worth watching.

Fed up? Find out more about 'America's Killer Diet'
Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in America -- Do you know why?

Could America's diet be structured in such a way that we're set up to fail?

Make sure to tune in Saturday and Sunday, September 22nd and 23rd at 8pm, 11pm and 2am to catch "Special Investigations Unit - Fed Up: America's Killer Diet."

In the meantime, get an exclusive look at the trailer on the Paging Dr. Gupta podcast.

I just viewed the clip. It is so exciting that so much media attention is going towards how unhealthy most people eat in America!

Whole foods, more vegetables and fruits, please!

Up with whole foods, down with processed!!!

I watched some of it last night. Very interesting. I'll be watching tonight.

It's true! The "typical American diet" kills WAY more people than any kind of terrorism does, yet the news coverage is so skewed to ignore one and inflate the other. I do think that the fact that fast food chains spend gazillions of dollars advertising on cable news has something to do with that fact -- kudos to CNN for giving a bit of airspace to a huge (and hugely underestimated) problem.

Wow, I hope I can watch this. I don't have cable, but I called my mom to see if I can invite myself over to her house to see this tonight.

I was able to watch it, and it was excellent. Much of it was "recycled" from other studies/articles/books I've read, but it was most interesting, especially about the lack of stores selling produce in some areas of Chicago!

Rant warning.
Phantastica, ALL disadvantaged neighborhoods are boycotted by grocery chains. They all abound in liquor stores, and stop-&-robs where milk is 50% more than what a supermarket charges, so is bread, and the only vegetable you can find is in a corn chip. Oops, corn is a grain, not a vegetable. So I guess that leaves NO vegetables. The first time I ever became aware of it was when I commuted on a bus that went through west Oakland, CA. I have since paid attention to the phenomenon. And poor people often have no car, and have you ever tried to carry 8 bags of groceries on a bus through a bad neighborhood? Not recommended.

Of course terrorism is bigger news than diet. Follow the money, always. Terrorism makes scads of it for all kinds of people. If we eat less, nobody makes more money. Agribusiness does not want us to make smarter choices. Neither do the junkfood megacorps. Or anybody who bulks up their products with nutritionally useless and possibly harmful, but dead cheap, ingredients. Ever notice that when something like sugar is left OUT, they charge more? Even though it's cheaper to make? Compare peanut butters some time. It's all about exploiting the discriminating consumer to get the last dollar.

I thought soy was always good for you, until I watched the CNN show. Salmon, here I come! Gotta balance out those Omega Sixes with Omega Threes. Or was it the other way around? That was the only really new-to-me piece of info. Fascinating program anyway. The urban gardeners may start a food revolution. I hope so!

Shoot! I posted this and STILL forgot to watch it. It looks like it will come on again this weekend. I hope I remember it, it sounds well worth watching.

I watched this and it was pretty informative. Definately worth a watch.

I think if you look at how insidiously soybean OILS (partially hydrogenated or not) are permeating every packaged food product it is very telling. The real problem occurs when people eat a diet high in processed, packaged foods and oils.

Soy itself is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids, as are ground flax seeds, walnuts, beans, olive oil and winter squash (all excellent, cholesterol-free options).

The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 should be about 2:1.

Check this link out for more information:

http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=75

DING DING DING DING DING!!! That's it exactly -- there's no money in people simply eating less. So true!

The disadvantaged part was the most striking to me too. ****, grocery shopping in a city is a pain if you middle or working class in general- not just in bad areas. Where I lived over the summer was a half mile away (which isn't far until you're carrying a few bags of groceries) from the nearest grocery store- and even that was teeny and often the produce seemed like it was several weeks past date. The only other option was to walk a half mile+ further and go to a Whole Foods or a similar community grocery store which both are much too expensive for a poor, interning for free college student. I was lucky- I had friends who lives nearby me but were even further from the grocery stores. When you have to walk that far with your groceries, you have to make choices about what you buy. Fruits and vegetables are bulky and easily smush and bruise. It's easier to buy a bunch of easy mac or canned foods.

At least there are options but veggies in cities are so incredibly expensive. The Whole Foods in my suburban community at home is MUCH MUCH cheaper. Even in areas where they are available, they are hard to afford. Cheap canned or boxed foods always stay cheap, no matter where you go. Even between rural-ish Georgia and Boston, Hamburger Helper and Easy Mac are the same price.

Even just watching that little clip and then reading further posts how some areas have no fresh produce...it's never made me realise before just how lucky I am here.

Every saturday morning just up the road is a Farmers Market with fresh fruit & veg, home made breads, jams, chutneys...things like olives and cheeses...all fresh made.

Open nearly every day are two other Fresh Food Markets solely devoted to fresh fruit and vegies...

All grocery stores (even the little itty bitty corner store) has fresh produce and usually of good to very good quality.

And all this in a capital city...not a rural area.

And still people choose the fast food over the fresh. *sad shrug* (not me though :P those images actually physically turned my stomach :P)

I loved the parts about the experimental research showing how we mindlessly eat!
* People eat more stale popcorn when the bag is big vs small
* People eat more chicken wings when their discards were cleaned up and they couldn't see how much they'd already consumed
* For officeworkers, compared to when candy was 6 feet away, when a candy dish was kept on their desks, they ate an average of 5 extra candies a day (for a total of 125 calories/day, which they figured came to something like 10 pounds a year!)

It really is true that just KNOWING what you're eating can help a lot!

And the other piece of info that was enlightening: If every person started eating the recommended 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day there wouldn't be enough to go around!!!

There would be, soon enough, if the land used to grow (plant) crops to feed animals went to feed humans directly instead.