Your package labels all say, “not a good source of…,” and then proceed with a huge list of things. Then, it lists vitamins and minerals, and gives you 2% of your daily value. 3 meals per day and you get 6% of your daily iron content.
Also… Your fruits and vegetables have 1/4 the nutritional value they did when your grandparents were alive. AND your soil nutrient levels are at an all-time-low.
Your vegetables couldn’t even get the nutrients they needed if you wanted them to.
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/five-reasons-why-soil-health-declining-worldwide
The nutritional value of top soil is declining worldwide. And it generally likes to stay homogenous. So, if your neighbor isn’t taking care of his soil, yours is losing nutrients too.
Also, plant some trees. They take nutrients from the surrounding areas and bring them into your land. There’s an entire fungal network that grows underground, and stretches between the roots of trees. It carries nutrients from one tree to another. Meaning, what your neighbor does affects you.
If he’s growing acres upon acres of industrial food, your own nutrients are depleted.
Where does this information come from:
“Fruits and vegetables have 1/4 the nutritional value they once had”
“Vegetables couldn’t get the nutrients they need”
“6% of daily iron content”
“Fungal network connecting tree roots to transport nutrients”
Literally none of these claims is supported by the link you posted. And none of this has to do with the package labels or posted nutrition information. This is sensationalism at best.
hahahahaha you think we have the fucking luxury of looking.
no, I buy the absolute cheapest food available to me because it is what I can afford. I take the food that the food pantry gives me because it is what they can give. If I can meet my daily caloric intake needs for the day, I call that a win. I typically do not get to.
Yes, and what is the average person expected to do about broad systemic issues in food production, ecological depletion, and environmental contamination? Not doomerism, but a legitimate question. There are so many things collapsing all around the average American, and the endless questions of “Why aren’t you doing anything about this?” really don’t gain anyone anything except feeling defeated. A lot of people are more concerned about being able to afford enough food in the first place without then stressing about the fact that the food they can afford isn’t the quality it should be. But asking why people aren’t combating decades upon decades of systemic issues that are the fault of corporate greed, political impotency, and flat out maliciousness is shifting the overall blame onto the average person, whether that’s the intent of this post or not. It’s akin to asking someone, “Hey, have you noticed the giant festering boil on your face that’s been there for ages?” Of course we have, but good luck having the time, energy, and money to get proper treatment for it when you’re getting crushed in the giant, rusting trash compactor you live in.
Many systemic issues are spun in the media and shifted to be a problem in consumer behavior. Liberalism can’t cope as an ideology with problems in any other way, even if voluntary atomize action it’s not a solution at all.
And this is why cancer is at an all time high and will increase. We are eating poison.
Roadkill doesn’t come with a nutrition label
RFK Jr., US Secretary of Health and Human Services (probably a real thing he said)
Joke aside, US gets a ton of produce food from around the world so if we’re having a problem due to quality of soil the food is grown in, other countries are too. The question is frame oddly.
Please post this kind of thing to a YSK community next time.
To answer your rhetorical question, no. Virtually nobody in the US has the slightest inkling of where their food comes from, what’s in it, or what should be in it. Nor do they have any specific strategy for choosing meals that have half a chance of resulting in any particular health outcome.
Almost nobody here knows how to decipher a nutrition label. I would be shocked if 10% of Americans could explain the concept of dietary fiber. We have massive systemic hurdles to overcome in this arena, I have no hope whatsoever that soil health will enter the public consciousness without some type of massive societal upheaval
I’m in a city and people are “protein maxing” and “fiber maxing” so yes people know about fiber. Unfortunately the micronutrients are missing because instead of eating stuff like beans and whole grains that have good amounts of both, the are eating highly processed foods without other nutrients because they have lower calories, and lower carbs, and lower everything else.
“protein maxing” and “fiber maxing”
Typically people who use this terminology incorrectly believe that eating well means switching to protein themed junk food
instead of eating stuff like beans and whole grains that have good amounts of both, the are eating highly processed foods without other nutrients
Exactly
yes people know about fiber
No they absolutely do not. It’s an established fact that 95% of Americans do not hit their recommended fiber goals. Every study pretty much zeroes into that same number give or take.
I’m looking at a random one from February of this year (IFIC spotlight survey) that says in addition to 95% not hitting the goal, 83% of Americans literally do not even glance at nutrition labels for fiber at all.
From the same survery, one in four Americans believe meat is the best source of fiber, with fewer than half believing the best source is fruits and vegetables. Which is pretty amazing, considering literally all meat contains literally zero fiber.
One of their key takeaways is that knowledge is a significant barrier right now
To answer your rhetorical question, no. Virtually nobody in the US has the slightest inkling of where their food comes from, what’s in it, or what should be in it. Nor do they have any specific strategy for choosing meals that have half a chance of resulting in any particular health outcome.
– again and despite people like upton sinclair giving us temporary moments of clarity.
Fuck no. This place is hell. I don’t want to know what I’m eating.
When I am paying attention to my diet I look at the macros - protein, fats, and carbs - I look at the calories, and sometimes I’ll check the sodium. Beyond that, good luck body.
Stop the American bashing, what does it help? Try to replace the word ‘Americans’ in your post with any other nationality or group and see where that leads you. Germans, have you actually? Iranians, have you actually? Gays, have you actually? Blacks, have you actually? Fat people, have you actually? OP, have you actually?
Obviously, I’ve actually…
