Last night, Dr. Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU, held court at New York’s Academy of Sciences. There were over 300 eager pairs of eyes and ears following her every word.As bad as things may seem right now in terms of processed foods being marketed as healthy foods, Marion Nestle remains positive.
Aggressively addressing issues of food nutrition and child obesity for decades, she can't help but notice that finally, people are paying attention. Nestle is encouraged by the burgeoning sustainable food movement and sees it as the path to "growing a [new] democracy!"
Nestle began her lecture with how we came to live in a "gorge yourself environment." Obesity took a noticeable uptick in the 80's and Nestle quickly dismissed the reason being women going back to work. Rather, she cited increased corn subsidies which in turn caused increased corn supply. Suddenly there were 4000 available calories per capita in the US as compared to 800 during the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time, corporations faced pressure to deliver higher returns. The overabundance of corn and calories made fast food cheaper, portions increased to be more competitive, and in case anyone didn't know this... larger portions caused and continue to cause people to eat more!
Favorite factoid of the night: A Big Gulp, available at most movie theaters is eight times the size of the once common 8oz cup of soda and is 800 calories!
To try to control the influx of processed foods glutting the market, the FDA required more strict labeling of ingredients in the early 90’s. In response, the food industry lobbied hard to be able to place their own health claims on packaging. The images above of cereal and juice are extreme examples of companies fighting back and responding to the growing trend of consumers looking for 'healthy' food. Apparently, eating Cocoa Krispies helps kids ward off swine flu!
True Greek Recipe: Paximadi Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers
True Greek Recipe: Paximadi Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Monterey Pitcher fr...
Coming to Terms with a Knockoff: Original vs. Reproduction Furniture Design
Monica & Austin's Charming Bungalow
I saw a commercial which heralded Trix cereal as a good healthy choice. Just saw the documentary Food Inc which does a really great job at bringing this issue to life. Buy local and eat real food!
Mark Bittman's book that came out a year or so ago talked about this, as has Michael Pollan.
This woman has a funny last name for someone talking about food quality/consumption! :)
@sweetpeacooks,
Marion Nestle has been working in the field of nutrition for many years, and is a well-respected expert and author on this topic. While I like both Pollan and Bittman, Nestle actually has more experience in the science of nutrition than either of them.
She is not a latecomer to this topic.
@heather77,
In other words, Nestle makes the very best?
Just wondering if you missed the joke sweetpeacooks was making. :)
Heather77, of course Marion Nestle has "more experience in the science of nutrition" than Pollan and Bittman - they are a journalist and a food writer/cook and she is a professor of nutrition! That doesn't mean that what they have to say is less informed or intelligent than her; on the contrary, the job of a journalist (in the instance of Pollan) is to collate what all different sorts of people have to say on the subject, not just fellow nutritional scientists, as an academic paper would.
And while she might know more about nutritional science, the topic at hand is food marketing, food politics, and even in a way, social history. So just because she is the more qualified in the 'hard science' kind of way of the 3 people named, doesn't necessarily mean she has the most 'valuable' ideas to contribute to this discussion. Just sayin'.
My response was to sweetpeacooks, who seemed to imply that Nestle offers no new information over and above what Pollan and Bittman have contributed already. My point was that Nestle has provided important information in these areas for many years before Pollan and Bittman.
I never said that Pollan and Bittman were less informed or intelligent. I actually said that I like them!
And yeah, I got the joke.
I am sorry but with the rise of genetically modified organisms getting into our food I don't think that mass produced food is the way to go. Buy locally and organically.
Get rid of the man made high fructose corn syrup and even agave which is made with mostly fructose. Look at localharvest.org to find local farmers and organic markets in your area.
Watch the movie Food Inc, like Olymom stated. It will revolutionize the way you see what you eat!