Fast food has an enormous amount of power in our economy and it politically inoculates itself by having far right hate speech bloggers post attacks on their health campaigns.
So you’d be surprised to find out that the Government’s spinelessness towards the fast food industry extends as far as actually investing into the fast food industry…
More than $240 million of taxpayers’ money is invested in fast-food brands and soft drink giants.
Obesity campaigners say they’re appalled at the investments by bodies such as the Super Fund and ACC and are calling for junk food investments to be banned.
…so Government agencies with lots of power are making money from people getting fatter? It’s just so counter productive and short sighted.
We have the exact same problem with the private prison at Wiri. The ACC owns 30% of that prison, so it’s making money on incarceration.
Why are we allowing these state agencies to profit from misery and in turn influences social policy that is negative for the people, but financially beneficial to them?
And the big winners in the fast food industry … Monsanto and Big Pharma. And the big winners in the incarceration numbers … Big Pharma with its vaccinations – can’t let our inmates die of tuberculosis or Hepatitis B.
(Let’s not forget in getting the profits to the winners the brown paper bags under the table and, if appropriate, the blackmail and/or death threats. It’s a sick world but then we’re NZ Inc with a CEO, Chairman and Board of Directors and Shareholders. No mention in company documents about people.)
All said 100% as the corporate world is consolidating their position as supply food giants to eventually control our very lives with the life sustaining food supply so even our lives will be under their control as if we would be as like ants they assume we are.
This NEW WORLD ORDER is built on the control of all life sustaining commodities such as ; food,fuel, water and shelter.
The end result is to cut global population by one third firstly.
“We will have a world government whether you like it or not. The only question is whether that government will be achieved by conquest or consent.” (February 17, 1950, as he testified before the US Senate).
Zionist Banker, Paul Warburg:
http://www.illuminatiworld.org/
And it seems Government now wants to stomp on well-known and long-used Maori and European traditional and natural healing foods:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1604/S00427/legal-challenge-to-the-natural-health-products-bill.htm
Big win for Big Pharma.
What is wrong with us? Are we so asleep that we don’t realize WWlll is being waged against us by stealth and a few dishonest and/or cowardly politicians.
At least people are beginning to wake up to this chain of money flowing back to the corporations, at the expense of the people.
It’s called Disaster Capitalism: profit from the misery of the masses.
It’s been around for a long time, and we must expect to see a lot more of it as ‘the system’ shakes itself to pieces and in doing so seeks out every remaining opportunity to exploit the poor, the poorly-educated and the poorly-informed.
I don’t think junk food is all bad. (Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! does a great show on junk food myths).
The issue I have is the government is investing in consumption of grains and dangerous hydrogenated oils. By DEFINITION by investing they contribute financially for extensive marketing of these foods, whist simultaneously spending millions promoting “healthy” eating.
Both of course are flawed. High quality fat, no grain, no sugar and no fruit is best for everyone.
“Both of course are flawed. High quality fat, no grain, no sugar and no fruit is best for everyone.”
“No fruit”!! Don’t you dare be saying that to my kids!! I’d rather they eat an apple than a packet of lollies!
There is so much false information about health and food. Reductionism where small aspects of research findings are applied across the board, leading to utter nonsense being reported to the public, usually to support a commercial activity for profit, not health.
Research has to be held to account, peer reviewed by independent agencies without commercial connections, and based on sound models. Our best brains are penalised currently if they speak out about corporate bastardisation of health reporting.
Fads and fancies are dime a dozen and can spread like wildfire without any checking and cross checking being done by the message carriers.
Whole foods plant based appears to be the sound basis for a planned lifestyle along with regular exercise and variety, but excluding all that processed junk, commercial products, supplements along with ecocides added hormones and most imported crap.
The largest block of health research over 30 – 40 years involving hundreds of millions, point clearly to a simple way forward but commercial concerns defy common sense with marketing, advertising and distribution of diet fare that accompanies dire statistics consequent of a western diet.
As US based killer corporates expand into Asia plying their toxic marketing and product, we see Asian health statistics change to follow Western patterns. Fonterra joins the clan distributing “goods” that accompany worsening health outcomes.
John Key is a shill for this murderous mob and he is rewarded well.
Self reliance is pretty simple but no attempt to foster self reliance and locally grown healthy foods and goods is seen from this corporate fostering govt. A world wide wasteful and destructive chain of food distribution defies common sense, all for corporate profit and paid for with human lives.
The investor state knows no bounds for havoc.
Call it ethics if you like but ACC is no substitute for a tax funded health system. This corporate nest egg awaiting privatisation by design, is not a servant of NZ people, it fights them.
The people do have power but are very vulnerable to a plethora of spin and lies carefully supplied to defeat cohesion and common good.
Crush the bankers who are at the heart of the deception for private profit at public expense. The culture needs changing.
The latest thrust is irrigation using public money and govt resources to set up private proxy water ownership. The privatisation bit are left out of public discussion at all stages yet it is the most fundamental concern for our future control of our assets.
Bloody hell, the hypocrisy of this government holds no bounds !!!!
And..why on earth is the government, through NZ Superfund investments, profiteering from the oppression of Palestinians?
3 examples I can think of immediately: Israel Chemicals (maker of white phosphorus), G4S of UK (operators of checkpoints and prisons) and Caterpillar Inc of USA (maker of IDF D-9 Bulldozer-tanks for house demolitions and urban warfare)
“More than $240 million of taxpayers’ money is invested in fast-food brands and soft drink giants”.
I know we never agree on anything but this seriously is just plain wrong. Well done for highlighting this issue.
What a load of hubbub over strawberry milkshake! Nothing to see here, move on,. It ‘d be good exercise for you all. Left foot forward.
People have the choice to eat what they want. We don’t want the police to be handing out food infringement notices. Stop being a Nanny State!
It must be difficult for you to ‘see more’ when you walk around with your eyes closed and your brain turned off or deadened.
People in industrial societies are conditioned, sometimes from birth, to be dependent on industrially-generated and industrially-processed ‘food’ which in many cases is not actually food at all in the true sense of the word, but is simply a concoction of highly-processed chemicals that have drastic effects on metabolism, including that within the brain.
The inability to think clearly that comes from ingesting a diet consisting mainly of non-nutritional chemicals is reinforced via the media, which continuously promotes consumption of non-nutritional chemicals, further deadening the brains of the recipients.
The general health of people in industrial societies has never been worse than it is now -the epidemic of obesity and associated conditions has been well documented- and the trend towards ever-lower health levels will continue as people eat less natural foods and become less active in a self-reinforcing spiral of degeneration.
Corporations now seek to profit from every aspect of life from birth to death, and for many people living in industrial societies are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, largely because the government acts as a covert agent for corporations.
This is exactly right. The food industry knows that carbohydrates generally (not just straight sugar) are addictive. They have also known for some 30 years that “food pyramid” is a total sham.
https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2012/02/the-real-source-of-carb-addiction/
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/you-dont-need-to-do-one-iota-of-exercise-to-lose-weight-says-scientific-study-10197434.html
http://www.whale.to/a/light.html
David, I understand that your profile and comments are a mocking satire of ACT and neo-lib individualism, and in that respect you raise an interesting point.
Referencing “Nanny State” is a catch-all derogatory term – much like “PC” (“political correctness”). It has no real definition and means different things to different people. It’s a put-down in lieu of rational analysis.
What the rweal question is how much responsibility the “State” has toward it’s citizens.
But that pressupposes that “the State” and Citizens are divorced entities. They are not. The “State” is (theoretically) a manifestation of the will of citizens acting collectively.
Which even hard-core Libertarians recognise when they advocate for the State’s role for Policing and the military.
So if the State (ie, us Citizens) have a duty to act collectively via the State, to enforce laws (via police) and defend our national interests (via the military) , for our mutual protection, then that role for mutual protection must extend to other threats against the State and it’s Citizens.
Being poisoned by bad food is as much a threat as being poisoned by other means (environmental or deliberate attack). Only the time scale varies.
So yes, “Nanny” State has a purpose to defends our borders; uphold our laws; and other roles which ensure our safety and well-being.
Well said Frank, the alternative to a “Nanny state” would be North Korea.
I’m happy with a Nanny state.
Well said Frank, the alternative to a “Nanny state” would be North Korea.
I’m happy with a Nanny state.
+1 Bert!
Well I for one have no problem with the super fund and acc putting money into it so long as the gain is going back to the people.
For the record I know that this is the tired neo liberal argument but….if people were sensible about what they ate then there wouldn’t be such an issue.
In saying that, high performance sports stars shouldn’t be parading around with Mc D’s or any other garbage they never eat on TV.
It is indeed a sad situation to see soo much sugar in diets. But part of that is the amount of processing that the average tin of beans etc has now. A quick look on the back of any packet and there will be a string of adjectives that will be new.
A simplistic solution to a burgeoning health/wealth issue could be the mantra – ‘Every dollar is a vote’.
I consistently vote no to large multinational fast food joints by not spending my dollar with any of them. Imagine if every member of the public followed suit and immediately stopped spending their hard won wages/salary at all of the multinational food establishments.
How many sellers of crap corporate food would still be operating within a year? Where would all those dollars go?
Go on, try it, make a conscious effort to not eat rubbish any longer, walk a little further, find a local provider of healthy nutritional food and give them your vote. It’s not surprising how good it feels directly helping locals in business, the satisfying taste lasts long after the food is gone.
It’s simple…isn’t it?
Every dollar is a vote.
Unfortunately, Beetrootboy, it is a simplistic solution.
Junk food is laden with salt/fats/sugar (in varying combination) – three ingredients that are sought out by our bodies. In natural circumstances, we had limited access to those ingredients. But the food industry has been able to increase the content and make them addictive.
Sugar has been likened to cocaine in terms of addictiveness;
ref: https://authoritynutrition.com/how-sugar-makes-you-addicted/
As a diabetic myself (diagnosed two years ago) I’ve had to have a radical change in my diet. It has not been easy. In fact, though I have largely succeeded to forego ‘Burger King’ (my favourite junk food) and sugary foods, I still occassionally fail to resist temptation for sweet things. The urge to consume sugar-products can be over-whelming.
Interestingly, resisting Burger King is made easier by the pricing-out factor, as the product has become more and more expensive (compared to, say, fish and chips). So pricing does work as a deterrent.
The only reason I’ve had a modicum of success is the fear of diabetes-related conditions such as blindness and stroke. The fear of those two conditions is a strong motivator for me, personally, because of my abiding love of reading and writing.
But like I said, sometimes the impulse to consume something containing sugar can be over-whelming. Especially when bakeries are so ubiquitous, including in every supermarket.
It would be like have a heroin dealer on every street corner offering cheap hits for addicts.
Telling me to just say no to sugar/fats/salt is like telling an alcoholic or drug addict to “just give up”. It’s not “simple” by any means.
By the way, I’m one of the lucky ones when it comes to Type 2 Diabetes. I had people close to me urging me to get medical attention when symptoms first presented. My will-power (aka, sheer bloody-minded stubborness and fear of consequences) has been fairly useful to me. And I’m lucky in that my diabetes caused me to lose weight rather than gain. The gods were truly on my side.
I doubt others share the same fortune as I have.
Just to mention that there was an interview on the subjects of star ratings for food on National Radio’s Nine-to-noon this morning (Thursday) if anyone is interested.
Mike The Left, we heard it as well. The dietician woman left us none-the-wiser, I’m afraid. Her comments were so unspecific that they were useless as practical suggestions. I think Kathryn Ryan was sounding exasperated as well.
I agree, Frank. I’m diabetic (type2) as well. Anyone who things it’s easy to just walk past sugary food products doesn’t understand the truly awfully addictive nature of sugar.
I’ve gone from sugar in my tea and coffee to using stevia. But there are so many tempting chocolates, cakes, ice creams, and other baked goods that are hard to resist. Unlike you, I can’t, no matter how much will power I try to exert.
On top of which are the processed foods high in sugar, fats, and salt. Tomato sauce is half sugar, FFS!!
I guess I could grow my own food. But that’s damned hard when my “back yard” is non-existent.
A key thing to keep in mind is that ALL carbohydrates are indistinguishable from sugar as far as your metabolism is concerned. Two slices of bread is effectively identical to sticking SIX spoon fulls of straight sugar into your pie hole (you can trivially prove this with a glucometer – just because they aren’t sweet doesn’t mean they aren’t sugar!). Your Type 2 diabetes can likely be COMPLETELY resolved (and even reversed) if you take ALL carbohydrates out of your diet (this includes ALL pasta, bread, wheat products, potatoes, rice etc). The only way to do this is to stop buying them because carbohydrates are highly addictive.
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/why-a-low-carb-diet-should-be-the-first-approach-in-diabetes-treatment-2/
Not so.
Digestion is complex and different combinations of nutrients contained in various foods are not digested involving the same processes.
The rate of conversion of carbohydrates unto blood glucose os regulated by a complex mix of interaction of nutrients being digested at that time. The composition of gut bacteria present is also affected by overall diet as well as recent digestive activity.
There is a vast amount of information on this aspect of carbohydrate conversion, the regulating by products and the body’s use of the digested nutrients. The gut can be damaged by diet and the immune system responses compromised.
Diabetes is just one of many conditions arising coupled with a damaged immune response.
You need carbs but unrefined forms combined with a wide range of other nutrients as found in an unprocessed variety of fruit and veges should provide a healthy base for nutrition.
Contrary to NZ beef and lamb propaganda, you need little protein and a variety of plants can provide that easily.
Don’t become a statistic.
The problem is that people see sugar and salt in very simplistic terms. Sure, we can demonise obvious junk food, but the real junk lies in seemingly ok food. ALL processed, canned, packet foods contains sugar, chemicals, “salt”. The key to health lies in eating a balanced diet of fresh, unprocessed food, cooked from scratch. This is difficult for many people who don’t know how to or haven’t the situation to do it.
The odd fast food burger isn’t going to do anyone any harm. if you eat it every day you’re in trouble.
” The key to health lies in eating a balanced diet of fresh, unprocessed food, cooked from scratch. This is difficult for many people who don’t know how to or haven’t the situation to do it.”
Or simply haven’t got the time to do it, Rosie. It’s not the 1950s or 60s any more.
I brought up two kids on my own in the 80s and 90s while working and always cooked. Fast foods were, and still are, a very occasional treat.It’s a matter of getting organised.
The simplest solution to the junk food problem is to just wheel the trolley around the perimeter of the supermarket and stay away from the inner aisles. Easy really, with whole foods it doesn’t mean you have to slave away for hours after work cooking up the evening meal. There are heaps of recipes online working with whole foods – foods you recognise and are not processed into packets. Canned food is okay but watch out for the hidden sugars but food in cardboard packets and plastic bags (excluding bags of fruit or vegetables) are a no no as they are laden with salt and hidden sugar.
And don’t think for a moment life has to end without the processed junk – you will start to really recognise true taste in your food and you will work for longer on less as it takes longer to digest. Once the tummy recognises you are not going to browse all day on junk between meals you are then on the home stretch.
Another excellent reason is why be persuaded to give the manufacturers your hard earned cash just to ingest food that isn’t really food at all – its the biggest con of the modern age – eat what Granny put on the table – it can be done, this household manages it easily.
Don’t come to me and say “not everybody is smug and self satisfied as you to be able to do it” – we all can do it, just some are more prepared to pass their money over to money grubbing junk food manufacturers and I am not.
KFC four-legged chicken anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU69n6Vg_5w
Andrew, I thought you were suspended??
We need a sugar, fat, and salt tax. Then use the tax money to fund healthy meals in schools.
If punitive taxation worked to reduce cigarette smoking, it’ll sure as hell work for other unhealthy products that big businesses like to peddle.
On the subject of food, I used to be a big fan of the red tick grading system which is predominantly on cereals and cereal based snack foods.
However, I don’t even look at it now because I think it is flawed and gives a false sense of reassurance.
Some of the foods given the red tick are absolutely saturated with sugar and then I found out that companies have to pay (I don’t know how much) to be part of it, so that immediately excludes a good proportion of them.
If you are concerned about the amount of fat and/or sugar in the food products you buy the best way is to look at the /100mg or /100ml figures along side. Looking at the serving sizes figures doesn’t give good comparisons because serving sizes differ quite wildly with different manufacturers.
Indian state imposes ‘fat tax’ on burgers, pizza, other fast food
https://www.rt.com/news/350259-india-fat-tax-junk-food/
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