My breakfast was ruined by the book I’m reading. Why? I hate being manipulated.
A little backstory:
We had just gotten married. We had a cell phone and a home phone. We used the cell phone for all our long-distance. So I get a call one afternoon from our phone company, telling me how they could save me money.
“Ms. Carr,” she said (that was the name the phone was still in), “our records show that you spend an average of $25 a month on long distance. With this new plan of 19.99 a month, we can give you unlimited long distance and save you money.”
I politely asked her to hold and I dug out my stash of bills. “Ma’am,” I said, “I have my bills for the last 6 months. Last month I spent $6 on long distance, $7 the previous month, $9 the month before that. My prior 3 months don’t even add up to what you are saying I spend a month. I would like to cancel my long distance service.”
She became flustered and explained again this new plan and how it was a good deal and how it could save me money.
“Ma’am,” I interrupted, “I would like to cancel my long distance. I cannot justify paying a company for a service when they cannot do an average. That is like, what, 4th grade math? I cannot continue to fund a company that does not understand elementary math. I would like to cancel my long distance.”
She continued to explain why I needed long distance, and I asked to speak to a supervisor.
By the time I hung up the phone, I had not only cancelled my long distance but our phone service all together. Because someone was trying to manipulate me – to take advantage of my lack of knowledge. And I let them know that I knew better.
I had a similar experience with Starbucks this morning.
I was reading The End of Overeating last night. Early in the book, Dr. Kessler writes about an experience he had with a high-level food executive. They dissected different items from restaurants we know – specifically the Cheesecake Factory – and how the foods are manipulated to make them more gluttonous. The foods are processed in the warehouses and in the restaurants to increase the pleasure they create. They start with fat, sugar, and salt and find as many ways to cram more fat, sugar, and salt into the foods. Resulting in a food product that is highly pleasing in taste, texture, and visual appeal. And that keeps us coming back for more.
I pull into Starbucks today and get my venti iced decaf latte. And I am suckered into the Cranberry Orange Scone. (Sorry I didn’t take this picture. I didn’t know I was going to have an epiphany.)
I took the first bite, and I remembered what I had read and tried to identify how this was built for me. Starting with the dough – the butter (fat) in the dough is what makes the fluffy air pockets. And then there is sugar in the dough too, I’m sure. And then there are the cranberries. I’ve never made anything with cranberries that sweet. I usually find cranberries to be tart. So I’m sure these cranberries have been soaked in/injected with/spun around with a ton of extra sugar. And then? The topping. The lovely, gooey, sweet, lemony glaze. Again, sugar and fat, I’m sure. And there has to be salt in there too somewhere.
So sugar on fat on sugar on sugar.
Knowing that someone sat in some boardroom or lab and actually thought about how to manipulate my food makes me angry. ANGRY. (Almost stealing my blog angry.)
I always knew I was being manipulated. Ever since reading Fast Food Nation and Fatland, I have tried to be very aware of how advertising tries to sway where I put my money. And even though I LOVE the Nannerpuss commercial, I have to google it to see what restaurant it is actually advertising.
But that my actual food is being manipulated in an effort to manipulate me? Oh no, big boy. You can keep your phone service cranberry orange scone (Starbucks) and your Oriental Chicken Salad (Cheesecake Factory) and your veggie pizza with the butter dipping sauce (Papa Johns) AND your Starbucks drink in a bottle.
I’m sticking to food that doesn’t try to play me: farmers market veggies. Lattes Nathan makes for me. Spaghetti sauce made from scratch. Home-grown. Home-cooked. Nice food. Food that wasn’t created to manipulate me.
Because now I am educated. I have to act like that. I can’t justify eating crap anymore.
And I’m not going try.
Nice! I just knew this book was going to ruin my Starbucks experience. Actually, I typically only order a nonfat latte. I used to enjoy their baked goods (and will still go for the lemon loaf if Evan’s around to split it with me), but I’ve since come to realize they really aren’t that good.
You hit on the trick which is to think critically about what you’re eating. And in an age where restaurants mislead (http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=364150) the consumer about the products they serve, we need to be extra cautious.
Great review. And now I know NEVER to mess with you using bad math. :)
If you’d like to be even further pissed off (I like to call it enlightened), read Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food.” This book revolutionized the way I look at my food, and I’ll lend you my copy if you’d like. Turns out, even a lot of our whole foods are made to deceive us. Genetically engineered apples, anyone? Twice as sweet, twice as big, twice as bug resistant, and half as many nutrients as apples from 60 years ago.
NICE dude! I’m proud of you (and adding that book to my Amazon wishlist!).
It makes me angry that we can’t trust the food we eat anymore. And unless WE are prepared to ask the questions and do the research, we’ll just blissfully go on being poisoned by the very food which is supposed to nourish us. Well done for making a stand!
you go girl! Yes, I went back to the 90′s for that one. This entry totally encompasses my feelings and gut feelings about the basic essential in life, FOOD. I read an interview a couple of weeks with the author your mentioned here and found it very very refreshing. Fat on fat on sugar or salt on fat. That is what we are conditioned by advertising and marketing executives.
They are using our emotions and basic endorphins to manipulate us into buying their food.
I never thought a pie or baked good was a bad thing and really don’t believe at a certain point in history it ever was. A simple, basic, innocent pie (baked good) from a hundred years ago made from fruit going bad has turned into a huge business that is making us all fat.
I saw a billboard recently for Hardees new beer battered dipped onion rings. All I needed to read was beer battered and I could not get those darn things out of my mind. I finally caved and got them and they were good for the like first two and then greasy and gross. 410 calories and many grams of fat later, what did I actually get for my money? This wasn’t a commercial, this was a billboard that I glanced at for two seconds. Crazy.
When it comes to food, knowledge is power. The more we become educated the better decisions we can make about what we eat, and hopefully add many years to our lives for it.
I also would like to note that the huugge food corp monsanto (known for their horrible milk productive and recent peanut butter debacle) would like for us all to stop buying organic foods and growing food at home because it threatens their billion dollar business. They are scheming to manipulate the American people once again by convincing us that organic, home grown food is not as safe as their food.
Letting out a sigh here. haha see you in two weeks!!
PS: will let you know about all of the cool local grocery stores here with food made in the county I live in!
PPS: please read Plenty next! :)
I read an interview a couple of weeks with the author your mentioned here and found it very very refreshing.
Translation: I read an interview a couple of weeks ago with the author you mention in your entry, I found it very very refreshing.
Oh “Plenty” is a great book! I read it earlier this year. (in regards to a previous comment).
Great post!
Good for you girl. It is utterly amazing how many times a day we are manipulated by others (people/companies/advertising) into doing things that aren’t good fo us. Amazing and disgusting how much work it takes to combat all of that.
Loved the one with the phone company. You did great!
I recently came across this manipulating thing in connection with MSG and I can understand that you got angry!It’s unbelievable what the food industry is doing just to get their money in. But the only way to beat them is not to join their little games. They can eat their food themselves once people stop buying it.
Great blog! Love it!
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You are so fantastic. I’m having so much fun reading your entire blog–and it might turn out to be one sitting. I have The End of Overeating on my nightstand and am equally incensed. I started growing some food too this year… just a few containers has changed my perspective considerably. It’s also given me exposure to food and patience–not something I’m accustomed to.