No, it wasn't Mc Donald's or Hungry Jacks, or any of the other take-away junk food outlets who started it. Although, they are conveniently placed in locations where you have to make a distinctive detour to miss them, and are now dominating the scene. The ones that instigated it to make us fat and to eat more started long before computers were known and even before TV became an addiction in our living rooms. It all started when Movie Theatres were the in-thing in entertainment for the young and old; you may remember the bucket of popcorn that was part of the deal.
It started way back than at the movies with that "extra size" popcorn, and it didn't take long for others starting to copy and making similar offers. Using a clever marketing trick offering to the movie-goer an even bigger bucket of popcorn for the same price as a small one, or even for free. This was the time when revolutionising our eating habits began by offering bigger size buckets, bigger bottles, bigger cans of sodas and bigger food containers. As this type of food industries started to grow and change, including the take-away and fast foods with the golden arches, this influenced the way we eat now. Although this fat and obesity issue started in the US some 50 years ago, but when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold.
When the food industry started to change
The big changes came in the 70s under President Nixon when the American Secretary of Agriculture encouraged US farmers to produce more and faster, mainly huge quantities of corn, was the order than. The feeding of livestock also changed. Cattle were no longer fed natural green pasture; it changed to grain and corn with antibiotics and growth hormones to get quicker results. A big percentage of corn was made into high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is cheap to produce and it replaced the use of sugar. As this substitute for sugar "Corn Syrup" was born ever since this substance was heavily used in most food productions as well as in soft drinks and sodas. The growing food market availability of fast-food 24/7 has revolutionised our eating habits. We gradually changed with the concept of super-sizing to big eaters and by 1980 obesity has doubled and as well accompanied with many health issues. Fueling up ourselves with poor nutrition, and loading our fat tissues with environmental and oxidizing toxins that are in our foods is just to make more money and bigger profits. The damage of artificial cheap sweeteners is still underestimated and the consequences not fully understood or realised by most people. According to research the overuse of corn syrup-fructose can suppress the hormone Leptin that carries the message to the brain which tells us when to stop eating. Farfetched you think? Not really; Leptin also regulates metabolism and body weight which interacts with receptors in our brain. Leptin wasn't known twenty years ago but it could help assisting in competing obesity, metabolic disorders and other diseases. One way to correct Leptin resistance is through a natural, nutritious healthy whole food diet.
The food industries spend millions on lobbying!
To protect their own interests and profits to keep shareholders happy, they also know that changes are coming and lobbying is well on its way against unhealthy preservatives in our food. Changes will take time; it has taken the aunty tobacco lobbyists over a decade to have any impact. Similar changes been seen in the food industries in the next decade or so. However, to compare tobacco to the food most of us eat every day it can have worse health consequences than smoking. There is no question, heavy smoking and lack of exercise are certainly health hazards, but a far greater concern affecting our health more so is the food most of us indulge in. Considering this, smoking becomes a relatively minor factor when you compare it to the food that is on the market now. The major cause of health problems comes from 90 percent of processed food most people choose to eat. This type of subject needs every bit of help to bring such a serious issue into the mainstream. Of course, most government bureaucrats would rather stick their head in to sand than come up with a positive and common sense solution for the industries they suppose to regulate. At the end it is up to every one of us in making better choices. This is just another way to stop the damage through enough people being exposed to information like this to make changes. The evidence is clear that the cause of obesity starts when consuming too many calories which come with super-sized portions. The most important step to a healthier life is the change to a healthy diet.
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