Did you have a chance to see the movie Fed Up? The Registered Dietitians at the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit saw the movie and would like to share with you our thoughts!
For the most part, the film does a good job of presenting the intricacies of the United States food system and unhealthiness of the current industry-driven food environment. We highlight US, because Canada does not necessarily have the same agricultural subsidies, political influence, government-funded lunch program, etc. That isn’t to say that everything here is perfect either.
Correct messages from the film
- Society/industry has had a history of blaming an individual’s weight struggles on a lack of willpower. Current science/research points to the enormous influence our food environment has to eat processed foods generally high in sugar, salt, fat and low in nutrients and how difficult that makes it to eat well, even when our intentions are good.
- Weight loss is not all about calories in/calories out. Not all calories are equivalent.
- Exercise is very important, but it can’t balance out the effects of an unhealthy diet
- ‘Food industries are interested in selling more food’ ~ Marion Nestle – a great point to keep in mind
- Eating healthy is not more expensive, as industry would like us to believe
- Cooking at home with real food is a way to eat healthy
- The focus on improving diets/health should not be limited to those that are overweight/obese. Many thin people are also making themselves sick with poor food choices, without the outward symptom of overweight/obesity.
Considerations:
- Sugar is not the only ingredient of concern; it is just the focus of this documentary. Sugar is used to highlight an overarching discussion of the industry-influenced normalization of processed food in our daily lives. Processed foods are generally high in salt, sugar and fat. When we focus on eating whole foods rather than foods that come from a package, diets are typically higher in healthy nutrients and lower in nutrients that should be limited.
- Eliminating all sugar will not necessarily make a healthy diet.
- The relationship between diet and health is more comprehensive and complex
Are you looking for ways to improve your health and wellness? Chatham-Kent Public Health challenges you to focus on the following ways to improve your health!
- Aim for 8 servings of fruits and vegetables every day! Start by looking at your meals, do you fill half your plate with vegetables?
- Eat together with family and friends and limit distractions. Enjoy meals together! Turn off the phones and TV and enjoy the conversation!
- Cook from whole foods rather than boxes and packages. As a result of busy schedules we often default to boxed foods. While some foods that are in packages and boxes are useful on busy nights, they shouldn’t replace cooking meals and lunches from fresh ingredients. It is nice to recognize and be able to pronounce all the ingredients that go into your meals.
- How many sugary liquids do you consume? Are you drinking them daily or multiple times a day? Perhaps now is the time to kick the habit! To find out how many teaspoons of sugar you are drinking look for sugar on the nutrition information facts table. Take that amount of sugar i.e. 12 grams and divide it by 4- that gives you the number of teaspoons of sugar in that drink or food. Some drinks are as high as 17 teaspoons of sugar…yikes!
- Choose water more often! Look for the Blue W logo across Chatham-Kent for locations that you can fill up your water bottle for FREE!
- Want hands on tips, join one of our registered dietitians on a supermarket tour to learn more about how to make healthier choices. Dates can be found under events on the CK Food Policy Council website at letstalkfood-ck.com
And to leave you with a final thought from the movie ““Junk is still junky even if its less junky”.