This show will be a Peter Jenning's reporting about what we don't know about the food industry. It will air on ABC at 9/8 central.

Actually, it's on now..7 central.

Potatofree,
I thought I had heard 7 when I heard the commercial, but I looked it up on their website to make sure and it said 8.... I was mad I missed it. Was it any good? What did they talk about?

Overall, as a focus on the food industry, it was a good program. I was at a friend's house and they were laughing at me talking back to the TV..."Kraft is trying to make their foods healthier? Oh, yeah? When are you going to take the transfats out of your Oreos???"
I'm glad they pointed out how much of our food supply has been "cornified" as they termed it...it either has corn or a corn byproduct in it (such as high fructose corn syrup) and that they also hammered on how much sugar we are eating as a society. I was also glad to see them make a case for limiting or at least changing the marketing tactics aimed at children, particularly very young children.
I was disappointed in the "these foods are high in fat and calorie dense" argument as it relates to obesity. That aspect of it, they still don't seem to get.

LisaN-- but did you catch the parts about how they told of how the fat-free foods that are being hyped as healthier alternatives are pumped full of HFCS, and are making people fatter? FINALLY, someone mentions that!

It scared me to hear the statistics on type II diabetes showing up in such young kids. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea...

I guess we know which network won't be getting anything under the tree from the food industry this year...

I'm sorry I missed it, since the previews seemed to be making some good points.

Here's the link to ABC News website. It should pop up right at the correct article for the program from last night (which I missed!).

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/...y_031208-1.html

shortstuff

Did anyone see the Peter Jennings show last night on the American food industry?
I was pretty horrified seeing what I knew put into words and shown on network TV. Maybe this will be the first step to a healthier nation. I know it's hard to imagine the goverment and super farms backing off but the more we see of programs like this the more aware everyone will be.
What do you think?

I enjoyed the show.

I laughed at the fact that they feed corn to animals to fatten them up, but yet no one seems to notice that we're getting fat for the same reason.

I loved the part where they stated just how much exercise is needed to burn off 1 soda, etc. I am SO SICK of hearing that we don't exercise enough!

I was shocked at the part of the report dealing with advertising to kids. I never knew there had been a (short-lived) push to stop or limit advertising to kids!

I thought it was a good article. It really didn't get into the fat arguement, seemed to more focus on the corn and soybeans.

To be honest, that didn't surprise me a whole lot. There's too much at stake to allow something like that to go unchallenged by the food industry.
What did get my ire up a bit is how the advertising excecutive could sit there and say, "Sure, we advertise to kids, but parents need to take responsibility for their children's nutrition. It's not our fault if all that advertising causes kids to badger their parents for our products." No argument with that, but dude...if parents should be taking responsibility for their children's nutrition, why are you marketing directly to the kids? Market to the parents! Of course, many parents have (at least I HOPE) more sense than to allow their kids to live on a steady diet of junk food are are a bit more immune to the marketing ploys than children, so of course they go after the kids. Then again...maybe not.
Of course, my DH pointed out one simple solution to that one: Turn off the TV.

Unfortunately, that's only part of the problem. There's advertising everywhere! Magazines for kids, radio, movies.....you name it, there's advertizing! Including the schools!

I liked the dark haired woman....I think she was a nutrionist....she's got a head on her shoulders! I laughed when she mentioned her kids badgering her....and giving in. With my two it was soda. I rarely drink it, but would buy it on occasion for the kids.

I was lucky that I could usually do shopping when they weren't around, so it was easier. I remember when stores up our way (MA) started having one or two checkouts that were "candy free". They didn't have the candy, cookies, etc....but they did have toys, stickers, etc....and usually toothbruses.

That's true enough, but by far the majority of advertising of food products that kids are exposed to comes through television. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not advocating for a TV-free household, but with the statistics they cited with kids seeing, on average, 10,000 TV commercials (if I remember correctly) for food products every year I found myself wondering how much TV those kids were watching. I think I remember reading somewhere that the average child watches something like 3-4 hours of TV per day. Reducing the number of hours that your kids spend in front of the TV set can only be beneficial on a whole range of levels, all the way from increased activity to more time spent actually reading a book or spending time together as a family (we have a family game night once a week) while reducing the number of commercials that they are being bombarded with at the same time.
I've also fallen prey to the "Please can I have some sugar-bomb cereal? Please? Please? Pleeeeaassseee??? But I worked out a compromise with my 2 girls on that. They get to pick one box or bag of cereal each month and when it's gone, it's gone. No more until the next month. Same thing with other treats like candy and ice cream. I don't always say no, but I try to keep stuff like that limited to once a week.

I guess I am kinda lucky. The girls rarely ask for anything at the store. I buy the foods I eat with a few extras for them( mac and cheese for those nights when we have fish or something like that), and if they don't like my choices, they aren't very hungry.

On the TV thing, the girls know commercials backwards and forwards. It's the music. They memorize the songs and sing them to themselves all day long. They don't just get hooked of food or toy commercials either. They like cleaning commercials, car commercials( What is the point in the SpongBob piece for that one van? Like I am going to let a five year old take part in my auto purchase decisions!), etc. Now if we could just get them to put mathmatics( more than just School House Rock) to a catchy tune, we'd be set!

Our kids do not get alot of time to sit in front of the TV, but we do at least offer TIVO so they get to watch a half hour of show rather than 20 show and 10 minutes commercials. Also get to avoid the "brainwashing" this way. I don't necessarily want to turn this into a TIVO commercial, but it is nice as a parent having shows you allow your kids to watch "on tap" rather than relying on channels providing something useful at times your kids have available to watch TV.

I haven't heard it with math yet, but my girls have come home with several ditties about science topics. It's a known fact that if you can put something to music, it makes it much easier to memorize and remember. Advertisers are simply cashing in on that and now at least some schools are as well.