Are the food and weight-loss industry a reality show?
“I prefer organic food over the non-organic ones”, said a 42-year old shopper with a flash of pride on her face. In the meantime, at some other place on Planet Earth, fat-free cookies and ready-to-drink items stole the show. We need to understand that both scenarios are not wrong, except for the fact that we want to achieve a healthy lifestyle via shortcuts.
Quite sarcastic, right!
Good that you made the right interpretation. We have almost drowned in the ocean of disillusioned marketing by the food and weight-loss industry.
The weight-loss industry, or better addressed as the food industry, is a deadly trap that greets a large population every minute with garlands made of low-carb, vegan, low-fat, and paleo beads. Why are we falling prey to their marketing fantasies? Is it so alluring? Of course, it is. The convincing power of the ad industry converting ‘unhealthy’ health drinks into ‘healthy’ health drinks for kids and tagging unhealthy biscuits as healthy ‘sugar-free' stuff is praiseworthy. The truth is that we are being overfed with too many glorious ads so much so that we get carried away by their mis-selling propositions.
Now the question arises, do we know the real definition of ‘healthy’? Or are we re-defining it based on the hype of marketing tantrums?
Most of us (not all, because some have already been victimized) agree with the fact that we have been hugging and loving local, seasonal, and traditional food since childhood as they have immense health benefits. What has suddenly happened to our level of intelligence that we befriended with processed food and drinks at the cost of our childhood love? No more do we consider food as a blessing but a bundle of carbs, fats, and proteins. As a result, we started surrendering our own food wisdom to the food and weight-loss industry, bestowed upon us by our ancestors. Saying ‘no’ to natural sources of fat like ghee, groundnut oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, and mustard oil and ‘yes’ to processed peanut butter and olive oil is not a wise decision.
The food culture was not propagated by some scientists but passed from generation to generation with an unbroken loop of commitment. Food that is a direct outcome of the climate and our way of life is the right choice, not the propaganda of the weight-loss industry. The names of local, seasonal and traditional food may not sound as fashionable (or call them sexy) as the ‘Avocado and Feta Salad’ or ‘Vegan Green Glow’, for example. So we are all ok with the fact that the food industry is making money at the cost of our health.
“Choosing foods based on calories is like deciding how to talk to people based on their salary”, says Rujuta Diwekar in her book, Eating in the Age of Dieting. For us, unfortunately (fortunately for the weight loss propagation industry) our food tradition is not well-documented and adorned with heavy marketing jargon, unlike the meticulously preached ad campaigns.
Mind our own health and not the health business
Many of us have got admitted to the ‘avoid carbs at all costs’ school of dieting, essentially as a tool for weight loss (not fat loss) rewarding the weight-loss industry with its biggest achievement, ‘low carb-high protein’ diet. The global weight loss products and services market size should grow from $255bn in 2021 to $377.3 by 2026 (ResearchAndMarkets, 2021).
The biggest culprit is not carbs but the rural-urban shift in population, which comes with minimal physical work, sitting on couches for more than 30 mins, deployment of additional resources to do household stuff, and a shift in diet patterns. In most Indian kitchens, gender equality is not a reality yet. With both the partners engaged in #WFH (come on, we all know this by now), none of us are inclined towards that area wherein investing some time will keep us healthy. Instead, we are absolutely fine with diverting our additional income towards purchasing readymade food that comes with poor nutrients, often tagged as ‘healthy’, rather than cooking healthy at home free of cost.
(Ultra-processed food is an emerging type of food concept in the world and is created through a series of industrial techniques. It is designed to be more addictive and hyper-palatable than processed foods in variants like instant noodles, soft drinks, and baby foods. Not only that their consumption is already peaking in developed countries like the US and Australia, but also expanding in middle-income countries.) — The Conversation, 2021
As per the current scenario, it seems that the growth in diabetics and obesity is directly proportional to the growth in the profits of the weight-loss industry. Prior to reaching the fag end, let us contemplate on few vital questions -
- Are we seeking the right information from the wrong sources?
- Are we making the right interpretation of data?
- Are the claims made by the food and beverage industry, authentic and reliable?
- Is the weight-loss industry making money at the cost of making us fat?
Think. Think. Think.
The process of gradual engulfment of our food wisdom by some external forces (in this case, the food and weight-loss services industry) in the disguise of ‘healthy’ food and beverage is not a matter to be proud of.
Take-home points-
- Let us stay adhered to our traditional food culture with which we have grown up as losing weight is not important, metabolic health is the key.
- Eat right. Invest some time in the kitchen to keep yourselves and your family, healthy.
- Enjoy home-cooked food, considering food as a blessing and not a bundle of carbs, proteins and fats.
- Make sure that the food industry (weight-loss propaganda) does not make profits at the cost of keeping us unhealthy.
- Listen to your stomach and not taste buds.
That’s all folks!
