This is a Must Watch TedMed Talk.
I urge every parent, grandparent, educator, teacher, principal – in fact anyone who has influence over the food our children are eating, to watch this TedMed Talk by Laura Schmidt. It’s called Why We Can’t Stop Eating Unhealthy Foods. In this TedMed talk, Laura shares in simple terms about how science is so intricately entwined with our food production.
Laura is a lead investigator on SugarScience at Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and she’s also a Professor at UCSF School of Medicine.
Why am I saying this is a Must Watch?
I call my education program for children and parents The Mad Food Science Program™ because I know most processed foods start in a laboratory. I really want people to understand this. But even I was gobsmacked by the level of science (could also read this as manipulation) being used in todays food production.
It’s like the intelligence of science is being used against us.
Food corporations have really gone mad with food science!
After I finished watching this, I was so angered. Then I realised I could do something about it – I could share it with you, then perhaps you could share it too.
13.5 Minutes That Opens Eyes
Yes, this talk does go for about 13.5 minutes, but what’s 13.5 minutes when it comes to the health of our children, or even our own health. Some people spend 5 minutes waiting in a queue for their morning coffee, and the average person spends 40 minutes scrolling Facebook each day. 13.5 minutes is not long.
This talk may give you the strength to really start being a stand for your children’s health (and your own) or to really continue being a stand for your children’s health, even if your friends and family think you’re a bit nuts.
If you haven’t already watched That Sugar Film, please watch this too. It’s an informative and fun movie, suitable for all age levels* which really gets the message across about how much sugar we’re eating and what it can do to your health. (*there is a swear word in it, but it’s not bad and if you don’t make a fuss about it, it will probably go unnoticed. There’s also graphic footage of rotten teeth but it’s important to the message).
If You Don’t have the 13.5 Minutes
Let me summarise for you what Laura has to say. In my words it’s this:
Food corporations are using science designed originally to help us, to now work against us. They are intentionally making foods which are scientifically designed to get us addicted. For our current generation of children, this addiction is leading many of them to a life of chronic illness.
But, here are just a few quotes and other points I jotted down from what Laura had to say:
- “At no time in human history has our species been bombarded with stuff designed to get us hooked.”
- “Food Corporations hire scientists to engineer the most irresistible habit forming foods.”
- Food is “scientifically engineered to be habit forming.”
- Food Corporates are using the same technology being used to break addiction to actually design foods to create foods to cause addiction.
- Something is very wrong with our food supply. It’s making some of us very sick!
Laura also says it is not obesity in children that keeps her awake at night, it is adult illnesses which are now affecting our children such as type 2 diabetes, and its the spate of whole new childhood diseases coming out of no-where.
She also said this:
“Global warming of human health” – Laura Schmidt
This last quote really resonated with me. Even if you’re unsure if global warming from a climate perspective is really happening or not, we all know what it means. It’s not good, and if action is not taken, the results can be catastrophic for the world.
The great news is this. It is not too late for us to start making changes to stop this global warming of human health. If we all take steps to be a stand for our own children’s health, then we can make a dent in this problem. If we all take steps to stand together and let food producers know in no uncertain terms that we are no longer going to be addicted to their products (ie. stop buying them), then we can categorically put a stop to this global warming of human health.
I invite you to be part of the solution for our children’s generation. Be that stand. Help transform children’s health in Australia. Are you with me?