介绍:
Xiaohua: So ever since the year 2003, a list of top 10 junk food allegedly released by the World Health Organization has been widely circulated and quoted by Chinese media.
The increasingly health conscious Chinese public has been told to stay away from such food as sausages, canned food and ice cream for the past 12 years.
Well…until recently, when the WHO clarified to inquiring reporters that the organization has never made such a list.
03年以来，一份名为“世卫组织公布的十大垃圾食品”的名单在国内广为流传。火腿、肥肉、罐头、冰淇淋等人们日常消费的食品均赫然在列。有记者近日向世卫组织求证，世卫组织明确辟谣，表示“其从未发布过垃圾食品的名单”。
So, still do you think that we should still give the list some credibility even if it is not be compelled by the WHO?
John: No, tuna is one of the most healthy fish that you can eat. It is high in protein, low in fat and how you are going to get it usually is going to be in cans. Yes, of course, there’re unhealthy versions, so for example, canned tunas packed in soybean oil, that is gonna be very fatty because of the oil. But if you get tuna packed in water, it’s actually going to again be very healthy. So by saying that canned food as a category is unhealthy was categorically false.
Heyang: Ok, well, I think maybe this is just...well...(John: What’s wrong with pickled food?) Because it’s preserved food.
John: But good pickled food is good for you. (Heyang: It isn’t fresh food…) Fresh food is better in general than pickled food, but we’ve eaten pickled food for thousands of years. How could it be that bad? I mean if there is a lot of salt, yes, of course, you should be careful because you’re going to get dehydrated. And eating too things basically processed and high in fats, salts and sugar are bad for you. But just because it’s pickled doesn’t mean that is automatically bad for you.
Xiaohua: Also it’s interesting because the way the WHO explained is that we do not define junk food, we do not endorse the term “junk food”, we think certain foods are better for you and should be taken more frequently, and certain foods should not be taken more frequently, but basically they don’t think that something should be categorized as junk food.
John: You know why they say that, right? It’s a very political statement because they don’t wanna piss off Coca-Cola and Pizzahut and Mcdonald’s and things like that. Seriously, that’s why they don’t have that designation, because these are very powerful corporations.
Heyang: But it’s very interesting that something turned out to be fabricated has been bought by Chinese consumers for more than ten years. I’ve seen this list before and I read it and thought that sounds like what WHO might say and... (John: No WHO, not the Who, the Who is a British rock band for the 60s or 70s) Yeah, they’re really cool, so WHO for those who don’t really know. So I think with... junk food maybe it is by its name sort of a casual title for a group of food that isn’t used in a scientific way.
John: But here is the thing, if you are eating something, you have to ask yourself “is it junk food?”. It’s probably is. I think that’s really what it comes down to: “is it pre-packaged?”, “is it highly processed” More than likely it’s not going to be very healthy, because food that is prepared using industrial process, because of that very process cannot be that healthy, because healthy food in general goes bad very, very easily. Again there are going to be exceptions-canned tuna is a great example-I love it, eat it all the time. But in general, if it’s highly processed, the more, the longer the food and ingredients have spent on the factory line, the more likely it is to be unhealthy.
Heyang: Well, the general definition for junk food is the food that is of little nutritional value and often high in fat, sugar, salt and calories. And when I think about it, a lot of Chinese food, Chinese cooking fall into this category, too. It’s really quite a broad kind of definition, I suppose.
John: But again, where are the calories coming from as well? Are the calories coming from sugars and fats with very little protein? That’s the thing. If you look at what is balance diet, a balance diet is about 40 percent carbon hydrates, 40 percent protein and 20 percent from fat. The way I try to design my own diet is about 50 percent protein, because protein is going to be your long-term source of energy. And it is actually used by the body and many other processes whereas carbohydrates and fats too easily, in a sedentary society, they are turned into fat on the body, which is unhealthy.
Xiaohua: Again you know it has to do what kind of food you are eating, and also has to do with preparation methods.
John:You can take it that healthiest freshest vegetables, Douse it in oil and bacon fat and it’s not going to be healthy anymore.
Xiaohua: Tempura, you know very tasty, not quite healthy.
