It impresses me how effectively the processed-food industry uses words to influence consumer preferences and purchasing behaviors.

Remember that the individual or entity who supplies the vocabulary sets the agenda. So you can set the agenda if you pick the words. The processed-stuff-industry’s agenda is not, however, the same as mine. My agenda has to do with wellness, while the purpose of marketing is to increase sales. Now, as long as you’re asking, I don’t have any objection to increased sales. What I object to is covert influences that increase sales at the expense of our health and well-being.  

Here is an example for you to chew on: If I want you to buy white yogurt, simply yogurt through and through, without any additives of any kind, I’m going to call it PURE yogurt. Would you prefer the PURE yogurt or its opposite, the ADULTERATED version?  I’ll take the PURE, thank you very much.

But if I want you to pick up the flavored yogurt, usually sweetened with the equivalent of 4-5 teaspoons of sugar as high-fructose corn syrup, I’ll call that white yogurt PLAIN. Corn syrup is cheap cheap cheap, a lot cheaper than yogurt itself, so that means you can expect to see a higher profit margin for the sweet version. Do you want the PLAIN yogurt or the FANCY? Ooooooh, I want the FANCY yogurt!  See what I mean?

Here’s another example: If I want to increase sales of flour that no longer has its germ and bran, I’ll call it REFINED, which means that it’s somehow better because the so-called “coarse impurities” (i.e., the germ and bran) have been removed. The alternative to REFINED flour would then be the cumbersome, hyphenated WHOLE-GRAIN product.  But if I actually want you to buy bread made from INTACT grain, which has not been STRIPPED of its germ and bran, well then yes, that grain has an INTACT matrix.  

Let’s see it for what it is, call it what it is, and choose terminology that supports values of our own choosing, namely the health and wellness of our friends, families, and communities. Don’t use words selected by marketers expressly to influence our purchasing patterns. 

One last thing: There’s a special name for the information found on packages of processed food items. It’s called advertising.

Follow Dr Sukol’s posts on Twitter @RoxanneSukolMD and on Facebook at Roxanne Breines Sukol and at Your Health is on Your Plate.

Science writer Rob Dunn’s article, The Hidden Truth About Calories, recently published in Scientific American, explains why two people could each gain different amounts of weight even though they eat the same diet.  It looks like our visible, apparent differences don’t even begin to scratch the surface.  For just one thing, it turns out that individuals of Russian descent have guts that are five feet longer, on average, than those whose grancestors (okay, I made that up —  I intend it to mean just a few generations ago) came from Italy. 

Dunn points out that our bodies weren’t designed to eat processed items that have already had much of the work of digestion completed before we eat them.  In nature, there is no such thing as plant-based carbohydrate without its fiber matrix.  Think about it: Vegetables, beans, fruits, and grains are the four classes of carbohydrate.  And if you pick them from a tree, or a garden, or a meadow, you find yourself holding a fiber-rich source of calories in your hand.

Dunn says that “Over the last thirty years the number of calories we eat has increased, but so has the number of those calories that come from highly processed foods. In this light, we would do well to eat fewer processed foods and more raw ones.”  Okay, I buy that.  He’s right, but not because of the calories.  He’s right mostly because of the nutrients.  

It’s not just the fiber that’s missing in stripped carbs.  It’s the nutrition.   He mentions this in passing (and in parentheses) with “Such foods, after all, tend to have more nutrients such as B vitamins, phytonutrients and minerals and so are good for reasons having nothing to do with counting calories.”  And therein lies the pearl.  

It’s not just that processed items are easier to digest and so provide more calories (and weight).  It’s that they are relatively bankrupt in nutrition, so our desire for Food (with a capital F!) is not satisfied.  Which keeps us hungry, all the time.

This is why we can easily scarf down several large bags of Doritos over the course of a ball game, or tip a full sleeve of thin mint cookies right down our gullets.  And yet we can’t finish all the lettuce at the bottom of a giant-sized chef salad, or feel good about draining even just a teacup filled to the top with first-press, extra-virgin olive oil.  Nutritious food is filling.

It’s not mainly about the calories, Rob Dunn.  It’s about the nutrition.

Lots of people are talking these days about lifestyle change. What is a healthy lifestyle? For me, it was yesterday. Literally. I need to preface this week’s post with a caveat: Not enough of my days are like yesterday. In general, I spend way too many hours seated at my desk with my face stuck to the computer screen. I spend too much time worrying about what’s next instead of appreciating what’s now. And although I follow my own advice carefully with regard to eating real food and avoiding most manufactured calories, I eat too many meals quickly, and with only myself for company.

But yesterday was a winner. Lifestyle-wise, it was a great day! Here’s what a great day looks like in my book. Very importantly, I went to bed at a reasonable hour the previous evening, so when I awoke just before 8 a.m., I was exceedingly well rested. I dressed, poked around in the refrigerator, identified some cold salmon (leftovers) and cucumber slices as likely candidates for breakfast, and enjoyed them with a cup of coffee as I stared out the window into my backyard at the oak, spruce, and chicken coop. All was quiet, and all looked well. This I followed with a long walk in the cool morning, planned to avoid being hit with the heat and humidity of the day.

I enjoyed reading, sang a little, and then met up with a group of friends for lunch. We had tilapia sprinkled with paprika, hummus with celery sticks, homemade tomato- vegetable soup steaming in the crock pot, a bee-yoo-ti-ful green salad with fresh peas, parsley, romaine, and other greens, and fresh grapes and cherries set out on the table for dessert. We laughed and told stories, we discussed a book we’d all read, and, very importantly, we took a long time to eat lunch.

I got home late in the afternoon, just in time for a short walk in the neighborhood with a friend. I’m not sure what I did after that, but I do know that I spent some time reading up on some knitting stitches I’d been wanting to learn.

I ended the day by cuddling up with Chief-cook-and-bottle-washer plus a large bowl of popcorn (fresh popped in olive oil, and sprinkled with turmeric) to watch Cinema Paradiso, a 1990 Oscar-winning movie, which I highly recommend even if you don’t care for foreign films. If you’ve never seen it, you’re really missing something.

Yesterday contained all the components of a healthy life:  physical activity, nourishing food, companionship, rest and relaxation.