Not Another Diet — Principle 6

Skip The Packaged Foods And Added Sugars For Good

I’m not a big believer in conspiracy theories, but making us fat sure seems to be the goal of manufactured foods.

Food companies have invested heavily in designing products that use sugar to bypass our natural appetite control mechanisms, and in packaging and promoting these products to break down what remains of our defences, including through the use of subliminal scents.

They employ an army of food scientists and psychologists to trick us into eating more than we need, while their advertisers use the latest findings in neuroscience to overcome our resistance.

Perhaps conspiracy is a little hyperbolic, but not by much.

They hire biddable scientists and think-tanks to confuse us about the causes of obesity. Above all, just as the tobacco companies did with smoking, they promote the idea that weight is a question of “personal responsibility”. After spending billions on overriding our willpower, they blame us for failing to exercise it.

If it’s the aim of capitalism to get consumers to spend more and more often, then it’s become the aim of food companies to get you to eat more, and more often. They do this by creating formulas that tap directly into your primal brain and make the food…