I know people in Vermont who have raised these freaks.
They were free range and were fed an organic diet of table scrapes and whatever bugs they could find in the yard.
If you did not kill them after a they matured they got so big that they could not walk. They grew at over twice the rate of the other egg laying hens these folks had.

This was the first and last time they bought these beasts.

I think the ones that come from Mexico are not seedless but they only seem to around before the California growers harvest what we have now.

Seems like a seedless watermelon doesn’t have any seeds in it.

Our stop and shop sells watermelons with seeds.

So, the seeds that our melons have aren’t capable of growing a watermelon and that makes them seedless? I’ve never heard of that. I thought seedless hybrids were in fact seedless. Our watermelons have seeds in them and I’ve never bought one without.

That aside, I can buy organic milk from local producers in Stop and Shop as well as chickens that have not been raised in factories. Stop and shop isn’t perfect and we do our shopping in many places including farm stands for what we don’t pull out of our own garden.

The short of it is that while I agree that agribusiness is a problem, one doesn’t have to take the stand of professional victim, one can work around them and buy food from local sources in many places in the US.

Is it possible that aliens (looking for a non-intelligent food source) invented corn syrup and have tricked us into fattening up? Hogs before the slaughter? I wonder if the Rapture might really be a ruse to transport Human Hogs to Martian tables.

I read David Kessler’s book in early May and was outraged. I put the book down and decided that I would be damned if I would get diabetes or colon cancer so someone else could make a buck. I cut processed foods out of my diet and switched to mainly organic and local whole foods. After the first few days where I had to white-knuckle it to stay away from the processed foods, I’ve had absolutely no cravings for processed foods. I’ve lost 22 pounds, and I feel so much better. When I see processed foods, I almost cringe. In my mind, that is not food. On the contrary, I get excited about visiting the various farm stands in my neck of the woods and picking out my beautiful, fresh vegetables. Yes, eating healthy is more expensive than eating processed foods, but as my brother always says, you either pay for it now, or you in health care costs later on when you’re sick with diabetes or heart disease or cancer.

I could be wrong, your big box could very well be selling seeded watermelons, but I doubt it as this how the food industry works.

I buy decent food from the main street market I never said you could not.

If you think what your seeing in the big box store is not there because of agribusiness please think again.

All the beef is produced on feed lots.
The pork is produced on huge hog farms. Chickens in factories. It is an unsustainable model that will collapse.

I’ve never seen a watermelon without seeds and I shop at Stop and Shop among other places.

One can shop at mainstream markets and buy decent food.

While I agree, Pollan, Kessler and others are raising the right kind of red flags, Kessler failed to spend enough time on personal responsibility in this interview. Us against “the machine” doesn’t help people get motivated to learn how to shop and cook, more like organize and sue.

If your kids are old enough get them into the kitchen and whatever you do don’t make this a chore, it’s fun to cook.

I did this with my daughter and she now loves cooking and also has learned to bake. She makes a mean apple pie
She is in college now and has her first apartment which now gives her the chance to cook and save money. The college meal plan was absurdly expensive. I also bought her a house warming gift of a good set of stainless steel pots and pans and she also got a good chefs knife.

The earlier that children develop good kitchen habits the better. Getting the family involved can’t hurt.

I listened to this show, and while I was not impressed with Dr. Kessler’s approach to the subject he made some very valid and sadly true points.

We are a nation that has a huge obesity problem.
The question is why? Dr. Kessler offered up a pretty valid reason that I agree with.

There use to be a time when Corn Flakes did not have HFCS in it, Now every cereal out there except Shredded Wheat has this stuff added to it.

Ketchup, which Ronald Reagen deemed a vegetable, has HFCS in it as does a lot of mustard. Why?

It is amazing when one starts to read the ingredients on packaged food how corn syrup is now in EVERYTHING.

The other thing corn is in is our meat supply.
Cows are not meant to eat corn. They can’t digest it so it causes infections in there stomach’s which is why they are fed huge amounts of antibiotics.

The real issue here is the whole way our country raises food from strawberries to chickens. It’s an unsustainable model designed for quick profits with no regard to sustainability.

There was a time when we had milk delivered from local farms. I am old enough to remember the milk box on our front stoop. I also remember that in my town we had the distinction of having one of the last small dairy farms. I use to go and buy their milk which had the fat on the top from time to time. Not good for you, but boy did that milk taste great.

Now most of the milk comes from huge dairy factories.
Most of us eat cheese that comes from California, not Wisconsin which produces absurd amounts of our processed cheese and all those absurdly huge strawberries that taste like flavored water.

Try finding a watermelon with seeds in it. You can’t.
The ones with seeds taste better.

Anyone commenting on it’s up to us is not understanding the scope of how the entire food chain of this country has been turned into an assembly line with the bottom line as the motive and not good food. This model was developed by the fast food industry, McDonald’s to exact. They needed cheap meat, and so the feed lot was born. It’s inhumane how these cows are raised and it’s an unsustainable model. We are the only country as far as I know who uses this method to raise beef in the world.

One solution, spend more on good food from local sources and eat less. For those who say this is ridiculous, and that poor people can’t afford to do this I say that everyone can. For the price of a night out at McDonald’s for a family of 4 one can make a good home cooked meal of beans and rice and vegetables. You can say this is boring, but with the right spices and so on this can taste great. Why beans and rice? Brown rice and beans make protein, add collard greens and you have a very good meal. I eat this meal once or twice a week and it cost about $4.00 for two, depending on how much the greens cost. I also now grow my own Kale and Collard greens. These are very easy to grow and will grow well past the first frost, very hardy plants. I had a two kale plants survive the winter and they are thriving.

Anyone know?

While there are some people who respond to sugar and fat as if it is a drug, in my experience as a psychotherapist who specializes in compulsive and emotional eating and has authored a book on the subject (”Conscious Eating, Conscious Living; A Practical Guide to Making Peace with Food & Your Body”), I have found that most overeaters can learn to be satisfied with smaller amounts of their favorite foods when they:
a) do not let themselves get too hungry
b) don’t let themselves get too tired
c) eat consciously i.e. slowing down, paying attention to and experiencing the full satisfaction of the food
d) know that they can have it again whenever they really desire the treat (so this isn’t their last chance to eat it)
e) nourish themselves in ways other than food – like rest, loving connections, being in nature, and doing things that bring meaning into their lives – so they are less likely to need excess food to satisfy and fulfill them.

Behavioral change is enormously difficult. He’s right that it doesn’t have primarily to do with lack of responsibility. It requires that you sensitize yourself to cues, interrupt the behavior you want to change early enough, and find another desirable (to you) behavior to substitute for it. And you have to do this for a very long time, and tolerate (and persist despite) failures. (Think smoking, alcohol use, etc…) And supportive group can be vital.

Not understanding this doesn’t just make people think of themselves (and others, obviously) as weak or “bad,” it undermines motivation for a very difficult task. And it doesn’t seem to help anybody to overcome overeating. The reward for most impulse eating is immediate, but the rewards for change are distant and hypothetical.

It’s important to also acknowledge another point made by Kessler: modern industrial/fast/snack foods often disguise, directly and indirectly, their harmful ingredients. Even the well-disciplined can be derailed by that.

Treating anyone with habit disorders can be frustrating and tedious. And physicians aren’t generally expecting or prepared for this kind of treatment approach. Nevertheless, a doctor can give the first push, and the book Motivational Interviewing is a good guide to doing it.