Here's a real question -- even if they're less nutritious individually, are we still able to get more nutrition than ever before?
The variety of fruits and vegetables I'm able to eat during the winter is frankly astounding. Heck, even the variety during the summer is a cornucopia compared to 30 years ago (the local supermarket certainly didn't carry kale or swiss chard back then).
If I'm more easily to get whole different sets of nutrients than before, is it a net win?
This is undeniably true, but I understand that the micro-nutrient density is now lower than before, so that to get a given amount of a micro-nutrient you need to eat more calories. It is speculated that this is one of the reasons behind the obesity epidemic of the Western World.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the obesity epidemic is not because folk are stuffing more kale down their gullets.
5+ years ago it was very noticeable to me, going from the UK to the US, that almost all shop bought food was bigger and sweeter. From breakfast cereal to drinks to bread.
I've also noticed that this trend is fairy pervasive here too. You have to go out of your way to find a burger that's not in a brioche bun, for example. I can't comment on whether we've caught up with the States as I now can't eat most breakfast cereals or drink most soft drinks (including mass market beers) because they're too sweet.
>>>I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the obesity epidemic is not because folk are stuffing more kale down their gullets.
Of course you are right. I did not meant this. I was referring that, in general, your brain will seek more food as the nutrient density is now lower than before. This applies to all the food you eat, not only veggie and fruits.
On top of this we have high-calorie, high-palatable, low micro-nutrient foods that make all this much worse.
I did not say that. If you eat your vegs and you do not get all the micro-nutrients you used to get 20 years ago, then you brain will drive you to eat more, not necessarily carrots.
The variety of fruits and vegetables I'm able to eat during the winter is frankly astounding. Heck, even the variety during the summer is a cornucopia compared to 30 years ago (the local supermarket certainly didn't carry kale or swiss chard back then).
If I'm more easily to get whole different sets of nutrients than before, is it a net win?