Words matter when describing food

[Jingthing]

We talk a lot about food on this weight control forum.

Quite often, more often than not, loaded words are ascribed to different kinds of foods. Not only on this forum, but pretty much everywhere.

For examples:

"Bad foods"

"Good foods"

"Healthy foods"

"Unhealthy foods"

"Fattening foods"

"Forbidden foods"

Perhaps these ways of labeling foods are not serving us well to inform, but instead to confuse.

I think I have been about half way there to where this article suggests. I have posted before that food types per se are not "good" or "bad" but rather all foods feed us and we need to eat; it's a matter of awareness and making SMART CHOICES as to what foods we choose and in what PORTIONS. But I have often said "health promoting foods" to describe thing like broccoli as opposed to things like fried shrimp.

This article proposes another model:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/no-food-is-healthy-not-even-kale/2016/01/15/4a5c2d24-ba52-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_healthy-209pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

No food is healthy. Not even kale.

I submit to you that our beloved kale salads are not “healthy.” And we are confusing ourselves by believing that they are. They are not healthy; they are nutritious. They may be delicious when prepared well, and the kale itself, while in the ground, may have been a healthy crop. But the kale on your plate is not healthy, and to describe it as such obscures what is most important about that kale salad: that it’s packed with nutrients your body needs. But this is not strictly about nomenclature. If all you ate was kale, you would become sick. Nomenclature rather shows us where to begin.

“ ‘Healthy’ is a bankrupt word,” Roxanne Sukol, preventive medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, medical director of its Wellness Enterprise and a nutrition autodidact (“They didn’t teach us anything about nutrition in medical school”), told me as we strolled the aisles of a grocery store. “Our food isn’t healthy. We are healthy. Our food is nutritious. I’m all about the words. Words are the key to giving people the tools they need to figure out what to eat. Everyone’s so confused.

...

If I may rephrase the doctor’s words: Our food is not healthy; we will be healthy if we eat nutritious food. Words matter. And those that we apply to food matter more than ever.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Jingthing

[lujanit]

Why do you persist in calling this forum 'weight control forum'? This is the 'I'm Too Fat Forum'

You lobbied for a name change and it was rejected. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/885261-subforum-name-change-proposal-weight-control-health-forum/

In your own words:

"If a MOD does see this thread again, as the OP can I ask that it be CLOSED?

Why?

Because we've already got an opinion that the name won't be changed and that changing it wouldn't help stop the abusive posts anyway.

So the purpose of this thread has been fulfilled.

Issue raised. Discussed. Rejected.

Time to move on! "

[NickJ]

Just make everybody where tight fitting clothes like the BIB and most would be ok...

[Jingthing]

Why do you persist in calling this forum 'weight control forum'? This is the 'I'm Too Fat Forum'

...

This thread isn't about the name of the forum. Please post on topic or don't post. Cheers.

[Jingthing]

Just make everybody where tight fitting clothes like the BIB and most would be ok...

Nothing to do with this topic.

[Jingthing]

Another thing related to the OP is that often people think things like "salads" are "healthy" when in actually they can be as problematical for weight control as a cheeseburger. Talking of course about what is actually IN these salads and ON these salads. So many people are fooling themselves. You've got to look deeper than general LABELS.

I suggest people read the entire linked article. Obviously, not allowed to paste the entire thing in here. There are other topics in there not mentioned in the OP such as food labeling with the word REFINED. Which might sound like a positive thing on the surface of it. But ...

Edited January 18, 2016 by Jingthing

[tominbkk]

It is true, there are no 'good' or 'bad' foods.....just like when people judge themselves that they are 'good' or 'bad' in what they eat. We emotionalize our response to food and our interaction with it. Much better to take a cognitive approach to what we consume and learn from our habits or 'mistakes'. No use moralizing or judging our foods. We just need to be clear of our goal, our diet plan, and whether or not we are following it. If we aren't, we have to be open to learning new habits or mindsets to reach where we want to go.

And I like the name "Weight Control Forum". I'm Too Fat is derogative.

Edited January 19, 2016 by tominbkk

[Jingthing]

If people do want to continue to discuss the question of the NAME of this subforum, this thread is still open, although the management has already given a decision that the name won't be changed:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/885261-subforum-name-change-proposal-weight-control-health-forum/

Edited January 19, 2016 by Jingthing

[Minnie the Minx]

Fat free, there's another one for you. ( describing foods )

[Jingthing]

Fat free, there's another one for you. ( describing foods )

Yeah, that's a classic one. Usually indicates it's pumped with sugar.

[Minnie the Minx]

Uhummm, yes, low salt, no added preservatives or colourings. There's a TV program I saw a few years back on how food labeling 'lies' to consumers, maybe you know it. What is made out as 'healthy' for people to buy actually isn't.

[MaeJoMTB]

Exercise more, and you can eat whatever you like.

PS Name change.

How about the 'I'm lazy, have no will power or self control' forum.

Because that is essentially why people are overweight.

Edited January 19, 2016 by MaeJoMTB

[robblok]

Fat free, there's another one for you. ( describing foods )

Yeah, that's a classic one. Usually indicates it's pumped with sugar.

Wise remark