A Rant about... Wheatabix

[sparkindarkness]

Most people think Wheatabix to be pretty non-objectionable – they’re crisp biscuits of wheat that you cover in milk then eat as a breakfast cereal. They are healthy, have lots of fibre and lack salt, sugar, fat and all the other demonic evils of the breakfast table.




But they are also agents of deception that try to sway the masses with their insidious evil! Why? Because they taste of bird’s nests marinated in sawdust. So what does your diet freak do when he or she (let’s face it, she) gets them home? Covers them in sugar in the vague hope that they may illicit even a minor response from a solitary taste bud – all the while they gleefully tell themselves it’s a healthy breakfast. Same with rivetas – crisp crackers that taste of… well, nothing. A lashing of cream cheese later and oooh look, healthy snack.

But you can’t blame Wheatabix for the stupidity of their consumers, I hear you cry (well, yes, you can, I can blame anyone for ANYTHING) but the crafty advertisers (cue demonic music) have realised that their cereal tastes like straw coated in carpet fluff so have started a campaign – the Wheatabix Week. Eat Wheatabix every day for a week trying out new toppings (has there ever been a product that has sold itself on the stance that it tastes so bad you have to disguise the flavour?) including HONEY AND ALMONDS! That’s right, enjoy your healthy breakfast slathered in honey.

It’s all part of the incredible amount of deception there is around ‘healthy’ eating because we’re all obsessed with losing weight – the fat want to be healthy, the chubby want to be slim, the slim want to be thinner and the thin want to be skeletal and the very thin want to be Callista Flockheart and Callista Flockheart wants to become one of the Undead. There’s gold in them thar diets! So advertisers are doing anything to convince us all that their product is healthy in so many ways.

We have the fancy science (because we’re all impressed by science stuff). This stuff as polypeptide good stuff! Flora has Polyunsaturates! Mums, are you worried about your kids getting enough Omega 3? And the consumers chant this as they plaster margarine on their bread. Do you even know what a polyunsaturated is (in a vague way I understand it means the fat molecule has double carbon bonds as opposed to lots of C-H bonds)? Do you know WHY it’s good? I don’t! But they’ve gone and let a multi-syllabic science word overcome their natural common sense that BUTTER IS FATTENING. And Omega 3? Worry about it?! Of all the many many many things that mother’s worry about I expect Omega 3 is not only last on the list but probably doesn’t even appear on the list. What is it? Oils found in oily fish? Even the scientists are divided and unsure as to its benefits!

Then we move on from the science to something which takes even less effort – after all, the advertisers (cue demonic music) have to throw a boffin a few pennies to get genuine science mumbo jumbo, but it costs nothing to plaster the word ‘light’ or ‘diet’ on the packaging. And people fall for it, women gleefully chew into their diet Sveltesse and Keloggs bars which are smothered in chocolate – it’s CHOCOLATE in no way, shape or form can it be anything LESS than fattening. That’s the whole POINT of chocolate! It’s what it DOES. It’s karma for fat people because you can look at all the skinny people and laugh “aha, that poor cow isn’t getting any chocolate!” Reduced fat? Well, yes, have you checked the SUGAR content? Ahaha, stealth calories! It’s the easiest trick in the book, take a high SUGAR product, reduce it by 0.2g of FAT then call it LIGHT and watch everyone chew away chanting “it’s healthy, it’s healthy” and pay an extra 10p for the privilege! Who needs pyramid scehemes? And ‘light’. Light? What it shines? It weighs less? It’s lighter than WHAT per se? “Oooh, it’s Flora LIGHT!” *slather another inch onto bread* “that means it’s healthy” NO It means it’s marginally less UNHEALTHY than butter. But the advertisers (cue demonic music) are onto a good thing here – slap the word diet on it and people will even convince themselves a can of coke is healthy.

And that leads us nicely to the next category that the advertisers (cue demonic music) have truly cleaned up on. HEALTH FOOD. Oh this is pay dirt! You get to combine everything – you have your vague science (friendly bacteria, anyone?) you get top plaster your packaging with lots of buzz words (healthy, light) and wrap it in fresh green wrappers and what do you get? Dasani! Bottled tap water for £1! (Shame about the Benzene). Benecol and Flora pro-active (HOW much are you paying for a tiny pot of yoghurt?) yoghurt drinks. People are paying 50% more for MILK with Omega 3 in it! And treble that for anything with soya in its name - you don't even KNOW why soya's supposed to be healthy, but damn it, you're told it is and those damn vegans are hiding something. Olive Oil! People spend a fortune on extra virgin olive oil, pour lashings of it everywhere, exclaiming how healthy it is all the while ignoring that it’s STILL COOKING FAT! You don’t even have to try and pretend for flavour any more, you can almost sell it as medicine.

And you know what’s so depressing about all of this? Anyone with half an ounce of sense can see through all this. These are people who wouldn’t accept that they’ve won the Reader’s Digest prize if the pope himself handed them the money in crisp 20s, all authenticated by the head of the Bank of England – but they’ll believe that chocolate is healthy because it has the word ‘light’ written on the wrapper? People SO want to believe it that they’re deceiving themselves *sigh*



And that is why I hate Wheatabix.

Comments

[being-here.livejournal.com]

Good grief!

This is a really great argument, and one I agree with.

I think if people learned to actually enjoy food and didn't let themselves be dictated to by advertising then the world would be a better place. But then I believe that the food you eat and the way you eat it is the biggest political action you make in your day to day life.

(on the other hand, wheetabix and warm milk tastes like childhood to me, especially with a tiny bit of honey.. not with yogurt though. That's just wrong)

[meridae.livejournal.com]

Mum's have already worried about their kids getting enough Omega 3 - they just didn't know that's the name of what they were worrying about - and that's why generations of children have been forced to take cod liver oil, and why I'm taking salmon oil capsules.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

You aren't allowed to be the voice of reason. This is a rant :)

But that's another thing - dietary supplements. Some people are educated and informed and know that they're body/diet has some deficiencies so they need to top it up (for example, we know the oil's good for arthritis - good old wives' talk folk knowledge).

And others have seen the damn adverts and decided they NEED to pay £3.50 for a box of multivitamins regardless of their normal diet or how easy changing their diet sensibly would work far better.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It's sad really, these people KNOW how to eat healthily, if they will trust their instincts. They know that butter is bad and chocolate unhealthy. They know to use moderation. But people don't have teh time/energy/inclination to sort it out now so rely on these adverts to do it for them - and they're deceptive. SO not only are they not eating healthily but they're NOT eating what they want and they're not enjoying it and they're still stressing over it.

Because I know what I'm eating, I will eat lard and full fat butter and real sugar and real cream - because I can balance it and besides I WANT to eat it. You're right in that the world seems to be telling us how to eat now.


I've never been a cereal person, not even as a child :)

[(Anonymous)]

I agree.

If you eat a varied diet and don't have any particular health issues, you don't need supplements. At most, take a multivitamin.

Of course, that begs the 'what is a varied diet' question. My own rule of thumb is 'use every part of the plant'.

Eat some roots (carrots, potatos, yams, etc)
Some seeds (grains, nuts, legumes)
Some stems (celery, asparagus, etc)
Some leaves (pretty obvious)
Some flowers (cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus tips..)
Some fruits (fruit, tomatos, etc)
Some fungi (YUM!)

With animal-based food again a range is good. Some diary/eggs, some meat. Some land meats, some sea meats. Some muscle, some offal. Some vertebrate, some invertebrate. However you want to categorise it, just maintain a variety.

And if you can think of a category you don't use, due to allergies, ethics, or just plain distaste, find out what it provides and ensure that the rest of your diet balances it.


... and I'm preaching to the choir, I know.

[meridae.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I have to admit that the only reason I'm taking the fish oil capsules is because a consultant nephrologist told me too - it's good for cardiovascular health as well as joints, which will contribute to healthy kidneys and decrease the increased risk that I, as an extremely badly behaved diabetic, has of heart disease and heart attacks and all that good stuffs. Improves cholesterol too I think.

[elrohana.livejournal.com]

Food is good. I love it.

Which is why Sunday's dinner consisted of locally reared beef steak, locally grown new potatoes steamed with a splodge of unsalted butter added on the plate, fresh locally grown steamed carrots, and strawberries with cream for afters. Yum

Last night's was cheese omelette, and tonight is homemade veggie curry.

I love food, even the bad stuff. I adore chocolate and red wine. Despite this I am a healthy weight for my height even though I carry a lot of muscle mass. I just don't overdo it. And I do eat Weetabix. I actually like it, and I don't have sugar or honey on it. I struggle a bit with Shredded Wheat though!

Frankly, people don't need advertisements to deceive them, they deceive themselves without any help. I include those people in my 'stupid people' category.

[being-here.livejournal.com]

We don't trust our bodies and our instincts to know what's best for us - in fact there seems to be a process of learning to distrust ourselves. So you want to buy the face cream, mask your smell, hide who you are.

You'd think from ads that we should be enjoying things - but we don't and we aren't encouraged to, because to enjoy something properly you have to savour it, take your time with it and if you do that then you tend not to consume on automatic pilot, past the point of satiation. These aren't things that the advertising industry want to encourage. It's much easier to demonise things (like butter, cream, whatever) and then push substitutes that can be consumed in bulk.

I'd prefer to enjoy more of the real things in life, even if I have less of them.

[tinimaus.livejournal.com]

Erm, you do have to be careful not to fall into the trap of "all fat bad". You do need a minimum of fat in your diet (at least about 70g a day). A lot of your hormones are metabolized from fatty acids, and omega-3 fatty acids are one of the building blocks of brain tissue. Also, eating fat is not what makes you fat. That is a common misconception. Your body makes its own fat that gets stored in your fat cells via the liver, and that only happens if you put out insulin, and insulin only gets put out if you eat too many carbohydrates (especially refined ones) or don't oppose them with protein and/or healthy fat. You can make yourself fantastically overweight with a low-fat, high-carb, calorie reduced diet because you completely bugger up your metabolism.


I'm with you on the Weetabix, though.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

True, but very few people are going to achieve a fatless diet. These days it's almost impossible :)

But that's the thing again, people are pandered to by adverts - lots of low fat and I'll be ok etc!

Argh but don't get me started on the Atkins cult of low-carbers. Gods, I've seen Jehovas' Witnesses with less fervour!

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Yep. I don't eat health food but I do eat healthily. I also get lots of exercise (the gym is a necessary evil)

You like weetabix? *shudder*. Shredded Wheat? I Have NEVER understood Shredded Wheat. Why don't people just eat the box it comes in?

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

A doctor advised it, that's OK :)

I just hate parents who give their kids ready meal burgers and chips then hand them a multivitamin and think that'll be OK.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

A varied diet is the way to go. If nothing else because it's tasty.

When my dad was growing up he knew what they were having every day of the week. Friday was X nigh, Monday was Y night - every night, of every week.

Gods that sounds like hell

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

We let teleivsion/media do our thinking for us. And shops. Like how many people go in a McDonalds and order everything large? At home they wouldn't cook that much to eat. They would realise it's too much, but in the fast food cafe - it's supersize time.

Everything is fast and loud and about quantity, it seems. That's why I DO like the Marks & Spencers adverts. They don't say "vast amounts" but they do make food look better than sex

[ladydyani.livejournal.com]

I can't decide if I need to figure out a new diet, or if I should just say "Screw it!" and enjoy being fat. Is a roast beef sandwich and a banana ok for lunch?

Even worse than all of the things pointed out in your rant? My eight year old daughter is now looking at packages in the grocery store. She wants to buy "light" items.

[being-here.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you, even if it depresses me.

I like the M&S ads, and the Sainsbury's ones that talk about not 'sleep shopping'. Anything that tries to get people to take pleasure in life. *sigh*

It's probably best if I don't get onto the whole 'where food comes from' rant, isn't it?

[tinimaus.livejournal.com]

Well, even a low-fat diet with less than the amount you need for your metabolism is bad for you, but yeah. Personally, I think people should worry a lot more about unnatural fats like hydrogenated fat.
Atkins? *shudders*
I personally have to follow a carb-controlled diet for health reasons (I've got PCOS, if that means anything to you), but all that means is not eating any refined stuff and not overindulging. I would die of boredom if all I could eat was protein and low-carb veg.

Would you believe that I've actually met a Jehova's witness with a sense of humour about his religion? He got the BNP knocking at his door, so he let them in, sat them down with a cup of tea, and they were getting all excited about a potential convert new party member when said to them "Have you ever thought about letting Jesus into your life?"

He said he'd never seen people make their apologies that quickly. They practically ran out of his house.

I do think this guy is a bit of an exception.

[being-here.livejournal.com]

My whole bloomin' IT firm is JW except me, the graphic designer and one other chap. It's a bit mad, but they do have senses of humour.

[sapphybelle.livejournal.com]

Teehee, this rant made me giggle repeatedly. It's all so true :-D

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Food comes from the same places it's come from for thousands of years. Animals and plants.

::shrugs:: But then, I was a farmer's kid for a while. "OMG you're eating a chicken a poor helpless cuddly chicken!!!" Ah, no...chickens in my experience are mean and stupid, slaughtered quickly, and messy to clean but worth the effort in my opinion.

I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat plastic.

[being-here.livejournal.com]

'Food comes from the same places it's come from for thousands of years. Animals and plants.'

Ah yes, but now those animals and plants routinely come from the other side of the world. Food tastes better if it hasn't travelled all round the world for fun. Food also tastes better if it's in season, not forced out of season because supermarkets have removed our connection from the land and our food supply. That was what I meant.

(Also: chickens are evil. It's them or me. And they taste *good*)

[girl-working.livejournal.com]

I love your writing, Spark. :)

So true.

I'll just eat what I like, drink water (er squash) mainly... I /have/ cut out a lot of coke/caffine... And be happy as me...

Anyway, last I heard men prefered girls with an arse and that don't look like they'll snap from a hug... :P Or that's what my fiance thinks... :)

[elrohana.livejournal.com]

I am wondering that myself. My Beloved likes the stuff, and it does have less salt than weetabix, but I think I may have to give up on it as a lost cause. Yuk. As you say, cardboard would be tastier.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

That's right, but it's amazing how divorced from that city dwellers can be. I have a friend who won't eat meat unless it's diced - so she can pretend it didn't come off an animal. And it's amazing how squeamish people can be.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I like those adverts - they make food what it SHOULD be - a CELEBRATION of life, not merely a necessity of it.


Where food comes from? Well there's the squeamish folk who pretend it arrives prepacked and the completely unaware folk who don't care if it's factory farmed or organic