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Eat Your Heart Out: Why the food business is bad for the planet and your health
Why is it...
That almost all the processed foods we eat contain the same handful of ingredients?That these handful of ingredients are produced by only a handful of multi-nationals?
That some cereals contain more salt per serving than a packet of crisps?That served with milk, sugar and raisins, some cardboard packets have been said to be more nutritious than the cereal they contain?
That there are half the number of dairy farms in the UK than there were 10 years ago?That over the same period the turnover of the top 20 global dairy corporations has increased by 60%?
That over 60% of all processed foods in Britain contain soya?That the UK government's Committee on the Toxicity of Food judged that eating soya could have hormone-disrupting effects?
That in 1970, a hundred grams of an average chicken contained less than 9 grams of fat, but today it contains nearly 23 grams of fat?That the amount of protein in that chicken has fallen by more than 30%?
That children aged 4-14 in the UK get 16-17% of their daily calories from processed sugars?That the World Health Organisation's recommended limit is 10%?
That industrialised farming uses 50 times more energy than traditional farming?That livestock farming creates greater carbon emissions than all of global transport put together?That some salmon farmers dye their fish?That sugar could be as bad for you as tobacco?That you might have been better off eating butter rather than margarine all along?That industrial processing removes much of the nutritional value of the food it produces?That by changing our diets we could reduce cancers by a third?That corporations are shaping our bodies, our minds and the future of the planet?
Eat Your Heat Out explains how big business took control of what we eat – and why so few of us even noticed. Crossing the globe in search of agribusiness's darkest secrets, Felicity Lawrence uncovers some startling facts and stomach-churning figures. Essential reading for anyone who cares about their health and our planet.
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 26, 2008
22 people are currently reading
430 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 9, 2018
Es un libro pesado en dos sentidos: tiene partes en las que explica puntos muy tecnicos sobre la quimica relacionada con nuestros cuerpos, y es muy desalentador (pensaba escribir depresivo pero suena demaciado fuerte).
Quien decide lo que comemos es un reporte periodístico sobre el sistema alimenticio de nuestros tiempos y nos intenta caer en cuenta lo fragil que es, lo dañino para la economía, los granjeros y nosotros los consumidores. Lo que me impacto del libro es encontrar a lo largo de el 4 empresas que son las que manejan esta industria en su totalidad. Y nisiquiera hemos oido hablar de ellas. Estas empresas son las que de verdad se benefician vendiendonos productos que han sido removidos de sus valores nutricionales iniciales para que ellos los vuelvan a inteoducir y poder cobrarnos mas. Esta obra te va a hacer reflexionar sobre la comida que compras en el supermercado, entrar a uno no volvera a ser lo mismo luego de leer esto.
Recomiendo este libro a todas las personas que quieran saber mas sobre la alimentacion en el primer mundo y como es este negocio.
Quien decide lo que comemos es un reporte periodístico sobre el sistema alimenticio de nuestros tiempos y nos intenta caer en cuenta lo fragil que es, lo dañino para la economía, los granjeros y nosotros los consumidores. Lo que me impacto del libro es encontrar a lo largo de el 4 empresas que son las que manejan esta industria en su totalidad. Y nisiquiera hemos oido hablar de ellas. Estas empresas son las que de verdad se benefician vendiendonos productos que han sido removidos de sus valores nutricionales iniciales para que ellos los vuelvan a inteoducir y poder cobrarnos mas. Esta obra te va a hacer reflexionar sobre la comida que compras en el supermercado, entrar a uno no volvera a ser lo mismo luego de leer esto.
Recomiendo este libro a todas las personas que quieran saber mas sobre la alimentacion en el primer mundo y como es este negocio.
November 23, 2014
Monkeys eating their own testicles. The merits of omega-3s. Foods to avoid. The ineffectual food system controlled by supermarkets and the demand for cheaper food. The exploitation of developing nations. Antiquated legisalation and subsidies. Felicity Lawrence covers them all in Eat Your Heart Out, expanding on her previous work Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate.
However, if you've read that then you'll find parts of Eat Your Heart Out repetitive by again describing our dependence on oil and fossil fuels, and noting the plight of farmers and processors at the hands of the supermarkets. But the author does eventually build on and update us on those issues, though perhaps Ms. Lawrence should've started her books off with 'Supermarkets are destroying food sustainability because... and are responsible for many other evils such as...' If you don't feel guilty about buying your groceries from them now, then you will once you've finished reading.
The System
Agricultural subsidies are benefiting large corporations (e.g. Tate & Lyle) and landowners and not the farmers who need them to survive, so we're seeing more and more farmers either selling up or going bankrupt, decreasing the number of competitors and sometimes creating monopolies leading supermarkets to search further afield for certain foods. For example, we'll soon have to import milk because dairymen are rapidly disappearing:
Developed countries are buying up land (for intensive farming) or plundering the seas of developing countries and are depleting and/or destroying their natural resources without taking responsibility by making an effort to minimize or repair the damage. Sometimes this action is in response to growing domestic legislation and increasing local labour costs.
Domestic labour costs are expensive so food processors get rid of British workers in favour of migrant workers both legal and otherwise:
Exploited migrant labour falls somewhere between servants and slaves as they're not paid a reliable or livable wage and are likely to suffer dangerous and deadly conditions.
Talking of slaves, Lawrence gives us a history lesson on the Atlantic slave trade as free labour for sugar production in the West Indies for British consumption by the rich. I suppose I'm a descendant of those slaves being that I'm half Bajan.
The Food
Are a majority of us omega-3 deficient?
Deprived monkeys self-harm. One tried to eat his own testicles . Experiments Lawrence describes are incredibly interesting, showing the substantial effects on physical and mental health. Diet changes in prison reflected a remarkable lowering of objectionable behaviour. Violence and depression decreased as levels of omega-3 increased. Today's diet is less varied and nutritious as it was fifty years ago and omega-3 is harder to come by other than in fish. Of course, other factors play a part but I think there's some merit to this theory.
FOODS TO AVOID:
Probiotics. They make you fat and aren't particularly healthy for you unless you have a digestive illness.
Acrylamide. A carcinogen present in starchy foods heated to high temps during processing, e.g. crisps, chips, and breakfast cereals.
Sugar in all its refined forms, including high fructose corn syrup, because it's addictive, fattening, causes diabetes, etc.
Baby formula, if possible. Eight months of exclusively bottle feeding results in 30,000 extra calories in the form of sugar, than consumed by breastfed babies. They're getting them hooked while they're young.
Commercial baby food. Sterilization caramelizes sugars in their fruit and veg.
'Low-fat' anything. Code for 'high in sugar'.
Aspartame, an artificial sweetener that has been found to be carcinogenic.
Endangered fish. Try to eat wild fish from the MSC sustainable list. Farmed seafood is rife with disease and heavy metals. Lawrence says the fish industry is committing suicide by willfully depleting wild fish stocks. She notes the red tape tying the hands of local fishermen (selling locally) illegally over-fishing to make ends meet as the bulk of quotas are allocated to the 'big fish' so to speak, forcing the little guys to either break the law or go out of business.
Margarine and its hydrogenated trans fat high cholesterol crap. Ironically, you're better off with butter than its substitutes which are less healthy.
Soya milk. Soya's oestrogens disrupt hormone balances (e.g. menstrual cycles) and damage the thyroid. Babies exclusively fed soya milk equates to them taking 5 birth control pills a day - which is unsafe. Not even children should be drinking it as they'll reach sexual maturity faster. For boys, oestrogen can negatively affect their fertility. It's possible it could be good for menopausal women and older men as it may help protect against heart disease, osteoporosis, and breast and prostate cancers.
Cereal. Most are high in sugar. Weetabix and porridge are best.
Standard milk. Organic grass-fed is healthier and more nutritious (68% more omega-3s) and the cows are treated better than this:
Consuming lots of low quality meat. Meat is an inefficient source of protein requiring a large amount of resources for small output, which due to intensive farming practices has been further devalued since the once lower fat white meat, like chicken, is now as fatty as red when the animals aren't free to exercise. Neither are they free to eat their natural diet and are instead fed grain, lowering the nutritional value of their meat, eggs and dairy. Also, cheap 'fresh' meat sometimes contains added sugar and water. I knew about the water, not the sugar.
BE AWARE:
✺ Male dairy calves are viewed as useless waste because they don't produce milk, there's little demand for veal and EU legislation and DEFRA policy allows them little recourse but to shoot them at birth. Why can't they be raised for beef? They're bred for high-producing dairy and give very little beef for the cost of resources to raise them - it doesn't make economic sense.
✺ Soya and its derivatives are in high demand for its uses in animal feed, ready meals, junk and fast food, but the price is the illegal clearing of the Amazon to grow it.
✺ Fruit's been engineered to be sweeter (e.g. red grapes 4% sweeter than in 1940s) sacrificing flavour and vitamins and minerals in the process. It may also be months old by the time it hits supermarket shelves - they've found a way to halt the ripening process.
✺ 75% of sugar is bought by industry rather than shoppers so it should be no surprise British teenage boys consume the equivalent of 1,000 colas or 11,800 sugar cubes per year.
The Future
Future prospects for the food industry are going to be shaped by the rising oil prices, climate change, China and India's rapid growth and changing diets, obesity and related illness, the 'short-termism' of governments, and the raised awareness among consumers changing the way we shop, resulting in more protests and campaigns for change. Yep, change is inevitable.
Lawrence really hammers home the dangers of the current system one day leaving us all starving to death if we don't change what and how we grow, rear and sell our food. Whatever happens, know we'll most likely have to pay more for it, and so we should. Remember, you get what you pay for. Hopefully, that will mean nutritious food free from chemicals produced by people paid a decent wage to treat animals with care.
However, if you've read that then you'll find parts of Eat Your Heart Out repetitive by again describing our dependence on oil and fossil fuels, and noting the plight of farmers and processors at the hands of the supermarkets. But the author does eventually build on and update us on those issues, though perhaps Ms. Lawrence should've started her books off with 'Supermarkets are destroying food sustainability because... and are responsible for many other evils such as...' If you don't feel guilty about buying your groceries from them now, then you will once you've finished reading.
The System
Agricultural subsidies are benefiting large corporations (e.g. Tate & Lyle) and landowners and not the farmers who need them to survive, so we're seeing more and more farmers either selling up or going bankrupt, decreasing the number of competitors and sometimes creating monopolies leading supermarkets to search further afield for certain foods. For example, we'll soon have to import milk because dairymen are rapidly disappearing:
'The irony for Colin Rank was that his cows were drinking water from a Cotswold spring that he could bottle and sell for 80p a litre, several times the price he could get for his milk. "We're giving it to cows and devaluing it by turning it into milk. Like all dairy farmers we could pack up tomorrow and do something better with our capital but we do it because we have an emotional investment in the land and the animals. And we know there's a market for our products if only the market worked."'
Developed countries are buying up land (for intensive farming) or plundering the seas of developing countries and are depleting and/or destroying their natural resources without taking responsibility by making an effort to minimize or repair the damage. Sometimes this action is in response to growing domestic legislation and increasing local labour costs.
Domestic labour costs are expensive so food processors get rid of British workers in favour of migrant workers both legal and otherwise:
'...cheap, dispensable labour had become structural to the economics of food manufacturing and processing. Companies didn't want to employ people directly, because to be the lowest cost producer you have to be able to turn off your labour at no cost whenever you want. You don't want to be saddled with expensive benefits such as pensions. And subcontracting chains enable you to hide how little you are paying.'
Exploited migrant labour falls somewhere between servants and slaves as they're not paid a reliable or livable wage and are likely to suffer dangerous and deadly conditions.
Talking of slaves, Lawrence gives us a history lesson on the Atlantic slave trade as free labour for sugar production in the West Indies for British consumption by the rich. I suppose I'm a descendant of those slaves being that I'm half Bajan.
The Food
Are a majority of us omega-3 deficient?
Deprived monkeys self-harm. One tried to eat his own testicles . Experiments Lawrence describes are incredibly interesting, showing the substantial effects on physical and mental health. Diet changes in prison reflected a remarkable lowering of objectionable behaviour. Violence and depression decreased as levels of omega-3 increased. Today's diet is less varied and nutritious as it was fifty years ago and omega-3 is harder to come by other than in fish. Of course, other factors play a part but I think there's some merit to this theory.
FOODS TO AVOID:
Probiotics. They make you fat and aren't particularly healthy for you unless you have a digestive illness.
Acrylamide. A carcinogen present in starchy foods heated to high temps during processing, e.g. crisps, chips, and breakfast cereals.
Sugar in all its refined forms, including high fructose corn syrup, because it's addictive, fattening, causes diabetes, etc.
Baby formula, if possible. Eight months of exclusively bottle feeding results in 30,000 extra calories in the form of sugar, than consumed by breastfed babies. They're getting them hooked while they're young.
Commercial baby food. Sterilization caramelizes sugars in their fruit and veg.
'Low-fat' anything. Code for 'high in sugar'.
Aspartame, an artificial sweetener that has been found to be carcinogenic.
Endangered fish. Try to eat wild fish from the MSC sustainable list. Farmed seafood is rife with disease and heavy metals. Lawrence says the fish industry is committing suicide by willfully depleting wild fish stocks. She notes the red tape tying the hands of local fishermen (selling locally) illegally over-fishing to make ends meet as the bulk of quotas are allocated to the 'big fish' so to speak, forcing the little guys to either break the law or go out of business.
Margarine and its hydrogenated trans fat high cholesterol crap. Ironically, you're better off with butter than its substitutes which are less healthy.
Soya milk. Soya's oestrogens disrupt hormone balances (e.g. menstrual cycles) and damage the thyroid. Babies exclusively fed soya milk equates to them taking 5 birth control pills a day - which is unsafe. Not even children should be drinking it as they'll reach sexual maturity faster. For boys, oestrogen can negatively affect their fertility. It's possible it could be good for menopausal women and older men as it may help protect against heart disease, osteoporosis, and breast and prostate cancers.
Cereal. Most are high in sugar. Weetabix and porridge are best.
Standard milk. Organic grass-fed is healthier and more nutritious (68% more omega-3s) and the cows are treated better than this:
'[Cows] have been so overbred for high yields that their mammary glands' capacity to produce milk exceeds their ability to digest enough nutrients to keep up ... they are operating at the limits of their physiology ... half intensively kept cows go lame in any one year, and 20 per cent in a herd are likely to go lame at any one time. 'Why? Standing on concrete for long periods, too heavy udders prone to mastitis requiring antibiotics and possibly causing infertility, and not enough space to lie down in.
Consuming lots of low quality meat. Meat is an inefficient source of protein requiring a large amount of resources for small output, which due to intensive farming practices has been further devalued since the once lower fat white meat, like chicken, is now as fatty as red when the animals aren't free to exercise. Neither are they free to eat their natural diet and are instead fed grain, lowering the nutritional value of their meat, eggs and dairy. Also, cheap 'fresh' meat sometimes contains added sugar and water. I knew about the water, not the sugar.
BE AWARE:
✺ Male dairy calves are viewed as useless waste because they don't produce milk, there's little demand for veal and EU legislation and DEFRA policy allows them little recourse but to shoot them at birth. Why can't they be raised for beef? They're bred for high-producing dairy and give very little beef for the cost of resources to raise them - it doesn't make economic sense.
✺ Soya and its derivatives are in high demand for its uses in animal feed, ready meals, junk and fast food, but the price is the illegal clearing of the Amazon to grow it.
✺ Fruit's been engineered to be sweeter (e.g. red grapes 4% sweeter than in 1940s) sacrificing flavour and vitamins and minerals in the process. It may also be months old by the time it hits supermarket shelves - they've found a way to halt the ripening process.
✺ 75% of sugar is bought by industry rather than shoppers so it should be no surprise British teenage boys consume the equivalent of 1,000 colas or 11,800 sugar cubes per year.
The Future
Future prospects for the food industry are going to be shaped by the rising oil prices, climate change, China and India's rapid growth and changing diets, obesity and related illness, the 'short-termism' of governments, and the raised awareness among consumers changing the way we shop, resulting in more protests and campaigns for change. Yep, change is inevitable.
Lawrence really hammers home the dangers of the current system one day leaving us all starving to death if we don't change what and how we grow, rear and sell our food. Whatever happens, know we'll most likely have to pay more for it, and so we should. Remember, you get what you pay for. Hopefully, that will mean nutritious food free from chemicals produced by people paid a decent wage to treat animals with care.
November 15, 2010
This book was scary.
I thought that I was quite clued up on local food/healthy food etc but apparently no I'm completely ignorant.
I had, for example, no idea that many studies suggest soya milk to mess with your hormones and produce more oestrogen. Nor did I realise that chicken now has so much fat it might not be any less fatty than red meat. I hate butter but nearly died when I read about how margerine is made.
I think the book is well written and informative and it will certainly make you question food choices not just for health reasons but also from environmental and socioeconomic reasons too (the chapter on the polish immigrant workers was very good). The journalistic style and personal anecdotes made it very easy to read.
I didnt give it the full 5 stars because at times it was so doom and gloomy (despite the optomistic chapter at the end) I actually had to put it down and walk away. I also think the Omnivores Dilemma (which I am currently reading) although not from a UK perspective is better.
I would utterly recommend this book to anyone, no need to be into nutrition, sustainability, agriculture, politics. If you've ever eaten anything this book will have something for you.
I thought that I was quite clued up on local food/healthy food etc but apparently no I'm completely ignorant.
I had, for example, no idea that many studies suggest soya milk to mess with your hormones and produce more oestrogen. Nor did I realise that chicken now has so much fat it might not be any less fatty than red meat. I hate butter but nearly died when I read about how margerine is made.
I think the book is well written and informative and it will certainly make you question food choices not just for health reasons but also from environmental and socioeconomic reasons too (the chapter on the polish immigrant workers was very good). The journalistic style and personal anecdotes made it very easy to read.
I didnt give it the full 5 stars because at times it was so doom and gloomy (despite the optomistic chapter at the end) I actually had to put it down and walk away. I also think the Omnivores Dilemma (which I am currently reading) although not from a UK perspective is better.
I would utterly recommend this book to anyone, no need to be into nutrition, sustainability, agriculture, politics. If you've ever eaten anything this book will have something for you.
October 5, 2023
I highly recommend this book strongly. There are many books out there that may inspire you to cut back on processed foods and return to your roots. This book is one.
You will learn about the damage done to our health, humanity, and the environment. You will also learn how a few corporations hold us captive.
The book is well-written and will shock you. She has dedicated separate chapters to each food type. By the time you finish the book, you may like to return to good, wholesome food.
You will learn about the damage done to our health, humanity, and the environment. You will also learn how a few corporations hold us captive.
The book is well-written and will shock you. She has dedicated separate chapters to each food type. By the time you finish the book, you may like to return to good, wholesome food.
January 22, 2026
Very eye opening and a LOT of information- which is god in a way but also a bit too overwhelming at points. Also some parts are just written in a way thats difficult to read, and considering the amount of information, that just made it boring at points. Defo will be rereading this bc I think i only took in about a third but is it a good book
September 29, 2020
Lays bare the horror story that is the simultaneous assault both on the environment and our own nutritional health by the over-commercialisation of food production.
April 1, 2021
An eye opener for sure! Highly recommended
Read
March 6, 2023Review from the March 2009 issue of the Socialist Standard:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blog...
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blog...
July 31, 2024
very depressing and slightly dry book about the food industry - but very important reading and will make you think differently every time you go the supermarket
January 23, 2016
Eat your Heart Out by Felicity Lawrence is a book for every one especially for people who are more on fast foods and supermarkets. ‘Know what you eat’ been my motto for a long time but never understood what some of the ingredients on the label, like added sugars, add flavours and sweeteners, etc. As Ms. Lawrence says in her book, the company has to be somewhere cheap and bulky.
The book isn’t all about what you are actually eating and what to eat, but it is also about issues people face around the world: the local farmers and fishermen facing question of survival (rich companies getting subsidies), slavery and forest destruction in Brazil (Soybean farming), purchasing power of supermarkets (small farmers out of business), pollution of farm land in Poland (production line cattle and pig farms), etc.
The book made my decisions to go for organic foods, forthright and indubitable. And I am looking forward towards my own land of organic farming.
The book isn’t all about what you are actually eating and what to eat, but it is also about issues people face around the world: the local farmers and fishermen facing question of survival (rich companies getting subsidies), slavery and forest destruction in Brazil (Soybean farming), purchasing power of supermarkets (small farmers out of business), pollution of farm land in Poland (production line cattle and pig farms), etc.
The book made my decisions to go for organic foods, forthright and indubitable. And I am looking forward towards my own land of organic farming.
September 8, 2014
Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your PlateAnother interesting book that can really make you mad at how the food industry is run. The book is spit up into chapters on specific foods, but within these chapters is more than just information on that particular item of food. Through references to other chapters, and a reitterence of the driving factors of problems, as mentioned in her previous book also.
As might be expected, since the author has previously written a book on the same topic, more or less, it felt a little repetitive in places. This book, I feel, had a somewhat more global approach than the last.
It's also interesting to read about how the past has led to the food system we have today.
As might be expected, since the author has previously written a book on the same topic, more or less, it felt a little repetitive in places. This book, I feel, had a somewhat more global approach than the last.
It's also interesting to read about how the past has led to the food system we have today.
January 13, 2010
Very similar is tone to the Onivore's Dilemma but a little more concise and takes on the food industry by dividing it up into different foods but demonstrates the repeated links to companies selling cheap commodities based from subsidized surpluses that invade our food in surprising ways. Just like Onivore's Dilemma this book raises more questions and leaves the how to the reader. For those thinking the only way out is to stop eating read In defense of Food which in my opinion is an instruction manual for how to get away from the worst of what is happening to our so called food chain.
April 12, 2011
An excellent book but so depressing. Having read Michael Pollan's descriptions of the American food industry I was hoping this book, from a British perspective, would show things were better here. But no, it's just as bad. The chapter on pigs and the slavery of Eastern Europeans was particularly disturbing.
Hopefully, the more journalists such as Felicity Laurence and Michael Pollen highlight what is going on in food production, the more likely we are to see change.
Four stars rather than five as I occasionally found her writing style a little clunky and in need of commas.
Hopefully, the more journalists such as Felicity Laurence and Michael Pollen highlight what is going on in food production, the more likely we are to see change.
Four stars rather than five as I occasionally found her writing style a little clunky and in need of commas.
December 18, 2011
Quite hard work to chug through, not entirely due to the author but rather the subject itself which made for quite gloomy reading. Pick any food stuff, and it is apparently dominated by a handful of mega corporations which severe consequences for individuals and the environment. One gripe with the author was with the persistence of the argument that sugar alternatives are toxins despite the lack of any substantive evidence. Also she needs to get real on the issue of subsistence farming. Its never going to happen. Read chapter one at least, then never buy any Kellog's product ever again.
November 11, 2009
A well written and informative look at the politics behind food production, outlining the impact of economics on diet, nutrition, agribusiness, animal welfare, immigration and migrant labour, environmental devastation and the abuses of a system that subsidises and protects the rich while devastating developing countries in the name of 'free trade'.
April 8, 2016
An eye-opening book. Big food business impacts our lives in quite a devastating way. With profit as the only measure there are no holds on how the human imagination can manipulate activities. I have always been suspicious of processed foods and supermarkets - this book provides a justification for these doubts.
April 7, 2009
Interesting to read about and frustrating to know what little choice we have to make changes in all the shit that goes into our food.
April 12, 2009
interesting points on food supply chain
April 17, 2009
Fish all around the world is depleting?! Cows eat WHAT? Read it. See if it changes your food choices afterwards...
February 26, 2014
Good insight into how the world works with regards to food. Some parts are hard to read due to the amount of factual information.
May 17, 2011
There's no index! What kind of crazy laziness is this by the publisher? I expect better from penguin
December 18, 2015
What do I think? bueno, digamos que mi espacio de lectura lleva 22 papeles pegados con notas y el libro con par de notas más----
March 22, 2012
Another important book from this brilliant journalist. Makes for a depressing read, tho, even for those of us already aware of the issues.
December 6, 2013
Eye-opener.
January 7, 2015
I appreciate the English perspective, especially as it relates to World Wars I and II and American efforts to offer sustenance and welfare to European farmers and civilians.
March 27, 2013
I will never eat processed food again - especially now with horsegate scandal!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews