August 2008 - Marketing Strategies Make You Eat More

I am thankful for the opportunity to stand on the soapbox in this space and speak about one of my favorite things in life: FOOD. What follows is a compendium of statements for readers to mull over -- indeed, "chew on" for awhile to comprehend why we eat what we eat.

Once an understanding is in place, food and product choices become much simpler. No matter who you are, we all have one thing in common: Everyone eats.

Supermarkets have one purpose: to sell food and make a profit, and as large a profit as possible.

The foods that sell best and bring in the most profits are not necessarily the ones that are best for your health, and the conflict between health and business goals is at the root of public confusion about food choices.

The basic principles of good diets are so simple that (Marion Nestle) ... summarize(s) them in just ten words: eat less, move more, eats lots of fruits and vegetables. For additional clarification, a five-word modifier helps: go easy on the junk food.

What industry or group benefits from public confusion about nutrition and health? Here the list is long and includes the food, restaurant, fast-food, diet, health club, drug, and health-care industries, among others.

What industry or professional organization might benefit if you ate more healthfully? How about organic food producers?

Today, nearly half the typical family's food budget goes for foods prepared and eaten outside the home, where businesses with motives having nothing to do with health are in control of content and amounts.

Believe it or not, marketing strategies by food companies help them sell more food and encourage you to eat more, part of the plague of obesity now on the home front. The following strategies encourage you to eat more food and calories, whether or not you need them:

* Convenience: if a food is easier to take with you and eat, you will eat more.

* Ubiquity: the more places food is available, the more food you will eat.

* Proximity: if a food is close at hand, you will eat more of it than if it is harder to get to.

* Frequency: the more times a day you eat, the more food you will eat.

* Variety: the more foods that are available, the more you will eat (the "buffet syndrome").

* Larger portion: the more food in front of you, the more you will eat (like that half-bushel size bucket of popcorn at the movies?).

* Low prices: the cheaper the food, the more you will eat (everyone knows someone who buys a dozen cans/sacks/boxes of something only because it's "on sale" [the "on sale syndrome?"].

These points are detailed in, and the above information excerpted from, Marion Nestle's absolutely indispensable book, WHAT TO EAT. Want to know more? Log on and become a registered user at the companion website, www.whattoeatbook.com. 

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