Huh, isn't that just weird?
It seems like Time magazine suddenly, with (probably) no outside influence whatsoever, completely changed their tune on health and wellness, particularly about processed food.
Here's a story of theirs from last year:
A growing number of recent studies have raised health concerns about a certain type of food that most Americans eat: ultra-processed foods. One such study, published in November 2022 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, concluded that these foods likely contributed to about 10% of deaths among people 30 to 69 years old in Brazil in 2019. Other studies — including one published in Neurology in July 2022 finding that a 10% increase in ultra-processed food consumption raises the risk of dementia — have linked the food category to severe health outcomes.
Now, in 2024, days after health-nut RFK Jr. endorsed Donald Trump, here's what they think now 👇
Weird timing, huh?
Why is processed food good for you now, according to the story?
Well, because of racism!
[Jessica] Wilson, who specializes in working with clients from marginalized groups, was irked. She felt that van Tulleken's experiment was over-sensationalized and that the news coverage of it shamed people who regularly eat processed foods...
"Marginalized groups" eat processed foods, so saying they aren't good for you is racist now, science be darned!
So she did her own experiment. Like van Tulleken, Wilson for a month got 80% of her daily calories from highly processed foods, not much more than the average American. She swapped her morning eggs for soy chorizo and replaced her thrown-together lunches — sometimes as simple as beans with avocado and hot sauce — with Trader Joe's ready-to-eat tamales. She snacked on cashew-milk yogurt with jam. For dinner she'd have one of her beloved Costco pupusas, or maybe chicken sausage with veggies and Tater-Tots. She wasn't subsisting on Fritos, but these were also decidedly not whole foods.
A weird thing happened. Wilson found that she had more energy and less anxiety. She didn't need as much coffee to get through the day and felt more motivated. She felt better eating an ultra-processed diet than she had before, a change she attributes to taking in more calories by eating full meals, instead of haphazard combinations of whole-food ingredients.
Yeah, eating "Costco papusas" (tortillas) and expensive organic tamales from Trader Joe's isn't the same as living off Twinkies, Donuts, and Doritos. It's not what most people think of when they think "ultra-processed."
This is literally her grocery cart:
Could it be true that not all ultra-processed foods deserve their bad reputation?
Just because something goes through a factory doesn't mean it is unhealthy. What's unhealthy are additives used as preservatives, flavor enhancers, for color, or to save money on higher-quality items. Surely these people know that, but judging by the rest of the article, maybe they don't.
I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but a one-month anecdotal "study" with a sample size of 1 from a dietician who has the money to shop at Costco and Trader Joe's appearing the week after the most health-focused presidential candidate endorsed Trump seems ... odd.
I was never one of these "seed oils are literally from Satan" people ... but if the media is doing this now just to spite Trump and make RFKJ seem like a kook, well, count me in!
RFKJ himself responded:
Here is the entirety of the quoted tweet as well, because it's something to consider:
I'm just saying, the corporate media counter-signaling healthy living because they want to sabotage Trump is such a predictable move.
And the sheeple always fall right in line lest they be branded right-wing!
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
