My toughest food battles start here at home. I share a house (a quasi-duplex) with a half sister nearly 10 years my junior. We seldom share meals, other than an occasional holiday meal I prepare, and I know she heats and eats lots of junk food rather than cook for herself.
She and I had a long conversation about food last night, and I discovered she really IS a true product of American advertising. It's amazing what she believes to be healthy. She believes margarine is healthier than butter, and that GMO canola oil is better than any other oil. Nothing I said had any impact, even with connections to proven research.
I suspect she is typical of many Americans, and that's really sad. Deaf Ears.
If I cannot convince my own sister about nutritionally better foods, how could I possibly hope to influence anyone else to at least LOOK and consider the newer research... research that's peer-reviewed and NOT paid for by BigAg?
The funny thing is that my sis knows my background in engineering and then home-building, and she will take my advice on anything in that field without question.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that this has less to do with your background and more to do with the fact that there is no advertising determining her opinion. To see the power of TV media advertising, one need only look at the support for Prop 37 in California in the one month before the vote. With the Yes side being outspent 5:1 and Monsanto alone spending 88% of what the entire Yes side spent, is it any surprise that Californian's got the best choice that money could buy?
Point well taken, Mike! The thought about lack of advertising in the home building and repair arena did cross my mind, briefly.
DeleteThe whole Prop 37 defeat still stuns me. I was hoping people were smart enough to see through the advertising propaganda.
I have much the same problem here. DH is a junk food junkie. But in this case, it has to do with the volume of sugar in the food. It's truly addicting, and he's genetically drawn to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that he's drawn to it because of TV, as we've not had one in 30 yrs. And it's not that he doesn't know, and understand how bad the food is. He's seen what it did to me, and how well I've done since not eating it any more.
But addiction's denial is a wonderful thing, and he still eats tons of the crap. Not much I can do, beyond what I am doing. But it is really sad...
Pam, getting off coca-cola, and then ginger ale, was tough for me. I finally had to just quit cold turkey. I pretty much have to stay away from all sweets anymore or I end up being addicted to sugars again.
DeleteWhen you consider how many years most of us have been subjected to advertising, it is no wonder that we are 'brain washed.' No wonder, but very disturbing all the same. Especially when it comes to elections and referendums.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just advertising that brain-washes us. Even current medical/food research has to be read with one eye on who paid for it, as that skews the output.
DeleteIf it makes you feel better, I take the time to at least read the links you post and consider how my opinions might need to be shifted based on new information. I really appreciate what you're doing with this blog and I wish that more people would take the time to read and to talk about their own experiences in other places. Most of what you post here is informative to me because we live in nearly the same type of place. I can't speak for other readers in that regard. Please don't get too discouraged. There are a lot of people who take what you say very seriously.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the uplift. I DO know there are many who agree with my stance and take the time to read the links. I just get frustrated at times when I cannot convince anyone in my own family to consider even small changes.
Delete"Even current medical/food research has to be read with one eye on who paid for it, as that skews the output."
ReplyDeleteThat's what's most frustrating to me. My parents - and I believe their generation - were raised to believe that the doctor knew better than them and that if the Dr. said it we should do it.
When I got to adulthood a church pastor, strangly enough, introduced us the the book, "Confessions of a Medical Heretic". That was about 30 years ago!!! I read it and learned to question everything and to THINK FOR MYSELF.
My parent's generation raised a generation who raised another generation to believe that they were "presumptuous" if they thought for themselves in these matters...they SHAMED that kind of thing - and their children continue to do the same.
I am convinced that the LOVE of money (not money, not wealth)really is at the root of so much of this stuff. Not our health, not our wellbeing.
Anyway...your sister is part of a long line of folks that just believe they couldn't possibly know better - or take responsibility for themselves - in the light of the "superior education" the "experts" have...
Leah's MOM
Thanks, Sue. It's nice to see several folks chiming to post agreement with what I have come to believe.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was thinking outside the box when I started reading Adele Davis about 1975, but truthfully it has only been in the last several years that I have really learned to scrutinize and question everything.
Reading the fine print has become important, whether on a food label, or a medical research paper.
Of course, she is related to you, and, if she believed you, she would have to change. Denial is easier.
ReplyDelete