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DailyDirt: Is Eating Healthy Foods Getting Easier?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Jul 25th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Modern food processing and distribution methods have created an ecosystem that can feed millions of people, but some folks argue that the resulting food isn't very healthy. Do people have to give up on food technology -- or should we just wait for food innovators to create food that is economical, healthy and sustainable? Here are just a few interesting food developments.

Over 15,000 restaurants around the US are trying to offer more healthy kids meals. But will parents really be able to sell their kids on healthy meals instead of happy meals? [url]
Human-based gelatin instead of animal-based gelatin could be commercially viable soon. There's always room for more human-based Jello... [url]
Vegan ice cream from Germany doesn't actually sound that healthy, but it doesn't have any animal or dairy products in it. And it comes in just four flavors: Vanilla-Cherry, Strawberry-Mousse, Walnut Dream and Choco-Flakes. [url]
To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: gelatin, healthy food, vegan

16 Comments

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Dave Miller (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:17pm

Soylent Jell-o is Purple!
We truly are living in the future.
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DMNTD, 25 Jul 2011 @ 5:37pm

opinion...
Just how healthy any alternative is, would be best left to the individual. A lot of dirty science out there. From light bulbs to food.
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Colonel Panic, 25 Jul 2011 @ 6:09pm

No, it's harder than ever, and won't change soon.
Incidentally, the greatest bane of any healthy diet is sugar... all this "low-fat," "low-carb" and "vegetarian" nonsense really doesn't belong in 21st century dietary plans, having been essentially debunked over a decade ago. Unfortunately, we still cling to it as a guideline, and the often cited "healthy" alternatives really aren't that healthy at all. In fact, I challenge you to find any food advertised as "a fat-free food!" which isn't straight up loaded with sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup. ("Low-fat" alternatives to popular foods usually have more sugar than the normal variety). Fat is an important part of the human diet, and fatty foods contain many essential nutrients that you don't find anywhere else, while providing triggers for an improved satiary response. Sugars on the other hand, which have been replacing fats and fiber in processed foods over the years... is the root cause of metabolic syndrome and many adverse health effects, while having no benefits.

Ultimately, no. Thanks to the prevalence of increasingly high sugar and low fiber in everyday foods, even staple foods, eating healthy is harder than ever. Furthermore with the amount of misinformation and archaic misconceptions of the public, combined with government subsidies on corn, it's not likely to change anytime soon.
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Pitabred (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 7:24pm

...sell the kids on healthy meals? We're supposed to be parents, not friends. We're the ones who buy the food. If they don't eat it, they can go hungry.
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bushman, 25 Jul 2011 @ 7:40pm

WTF
"...Should we just wait for food innovators to create food that is economical, healthy and sustainable?"

Um, WTF!?!?! We already have food that is economical, healthy and sustainable. They're called Whole Foods! Fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. They are natural, have evolved with us and being part of our diet for, how long, millions of years?

For gods sake, we shouldn't even need the term "food technology". We're not living on Mars, are we?
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Overcast (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 8:49pm

No, because in spite of how most of it's spun, it's almost all processed and screwed with ad infinum before we ever get to it.

It's just marketing spin. Like salads and their 'wonders' - but good luck trying to find a salad dressing without sugar in it, unless it's oil/vinegar types.

It's like the 'green' BS - everything is 'green' now - I even seen 'green' bug spray at the store - are they serious? 'Green' bug spray? LOL - I don't WANT bug spray to be friendly to the environment because chances are it's also friendly to the bugs.

And as it stands, food is sustainable - otherwise, I suspect we would have ran out long ago. It's been sustainable for at least 8500 years or more I suppose.
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- Colonel Panic, 26 Jul 2011 @ 5:08pm
  
  Re:
  Unfortunately food is not 'sustainable' without a lot of meddling, both chemical and genetic. To produce only natural grown foods to feed today's world population would be impossible. The fact that we can keep up can be largely attributed to yield-increasing bio-engineered plants, fertilizers, and pesticides. God forbid we ever run out of phosphorus.
  
  Shelf stability is the other side of the coin, and it is possible through extensive processing of foods after they're harvested. This involves removal of fiber, and addition of preservatives. So much fiber is discarded, in fact, that we've actually been modifying plants genetically now to produce less of it in step 1 as a part of their yield increase--less fiber, more starch and sugar.
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G Thompson (profile), 25 Jul 2011 @ 11:03pm

Human-based gelatin instead of animal-based gelatin could be commercially viable soon. There's always room for more human-based Jello...

mmmmmmm Soylent Green Jello
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2011 @ 4:22am

Not yet.
But with people shifting their focus to producing more of what they eat who knows in the future.

Some designs for the future.

http://www.tuvie.com/kitchen-nano-garden-serves-excellent-way-to-grow-your-own-vegetables /

http://www.tuvie.com/eva-indoor-farmer-green-alternative-to-the-traditional-compost-heap/

ht tp://www.tuvie.com/cn-urban-composter-recycles-your-wastes-into-compost/

http://www.tuvie.com/cap sulepot-your-mini-garden-in-a-capsule/

Next month is time to plant onions LoL
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Stella, 27 Sep 2011 @ 7:14pm

Development of food processing continuous to be beneficial to many consumers. However, a consumer should be keen enough to read the diet facts printed at the back of every food product.
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jaffa, 22 May 2012 @ 2:09am

Great.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2012 @ 9:06am

Parents often prefer to use full-featured duo/tandem strollers. Such strollers are narrower than the other tandem strollers and they are easier to maneuver in tight spaces. However, the maneuvering becomes more difficult as children become heavier. Also graco duoglider is known for its durability and sturdiness.
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Zion Elani, 8 Mar 2013 @ 11:34pm

The energy content of the food will be lost if the sugar content is not available in the food you have regularly... okay......

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=4285
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Roger, 8 Nov 2013 @ 6:57am

Great stuff.
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Jane, 9 Nov 2013 @ 2:59am

Full diets plans
This my site please visited...
DiyetEvim
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Yacon Syrup Reviews, 16 Jul 2014 @ 11:19pm

I think so
Restaurants are getting more options and making eating better much easier. It is fantastic!
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