As a society, we are hooked on lots of things, but six of them are in the food and beverages category. Alphabetically, in my scheme, they are:
Alcohol
Chocolate
Coffee and tea
Energy drinks
Sugar
Ultra- or highly-processed food
Some folks might break this down further to include their particular addiction, and there is a whole lot of overlap between these categories. For example, sugar can be considered a highly-processed food. Caffeine is common to coffee, tea, and energy drinks.
This list is not meant to imply equivalency between the items. An addiction to alcohol is absolutely different from an addiction to chocolate. They coexist on this list because these addictions tap into the same biological pathways in our bodies and, from the socio-economic perspective, are in part products of commercial profit-making and in part products of our culture.
This section is a place where posts pertaining to addiction to foods and beverages are kept. Ultra-processed food is very often addictive by design, so the UPF focused articles are all here. I have also included my posts about psychoactive consumed substances, since the industries that purvey products like cannabis and THC-infused hemp are part of the food and alcohol domain or are first cousins.
Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
Breakfast in America: Froot Loops banned by preschoolers!
A bright ray of hope shone on the breakfast table while visiting friends this morning.
Why did Trump and Congress delay the ban on THC snacks that are sold to kids?
Candy and snacks made with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, are for sale to both adults and kids in America: not in cannabis dispensaries but places like convenience stores. These treats are not regulated. Seventh graders on their way to school can stop and pick up packages of THC edibles made to look like familiar name brand candies. Except these candies can get them high, dangerously high.
Why we still don’t have an ultra-processed food definition
The RFK, Jr. press conference two weeks ago was billed as a “celebration…of landmark actions…The event will highlight…Trump…accomplishments…and announce two major new food policy actions.”
Energy drinks + 30 foot cliffs and motorcycles
“It’s scientifically proven to function!” Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen scream repeatedly and absurdly about the energy drink to which their characters have become addicted in an episode of the series Platonic.
Coffee and the Ngäbe indigenous people in the mountains of Panama
The most special person I have met recently is Marilyn Monroe. That’s her name as she said it, and she didn’t explain why. She was pretty much the opposite in every way of the Marilyn Monroe of the silver screen.
Refining a highly-refined food definition
This post is in the “totally bonus” category. This short, summarized description of a proposed highly- and ultra-processed food definition is for scientists and policy makers familiar with this important issue as well as anyone with an interest. So if you missed the first version of this piece a couple of days ago, maybe because it was a lot longer, here is a chance to hear the essence of it. And s
A simple Highly- and Ultra-Processed Food definition
Please note that a small portion of the text of this podcast is taken from an Eating in America Note, published on EatingInAmerica.co this week.
Iran, vaccines, Cuba, now cannabis - what’s the plan, Mr. President?
Yes, I know it is Eating in America, not “Smoking in America”, but today’s news is important, and I had to cover it, given the conclusion this week of EiA’s four-part series on cannabis. Think of this as a little bonus, since I already wrote this post for the Notes social media-ish stream of Substack. (If you are not familiar with Notes, you can find
Ultraprocessed Cannabis: Potency, Policy, and Public Health in America
This week Eating in America has ventured out the kitchen door to the living room to explore something that might be on the coffee table of 44 million Americans in the last month. That is to say, cannabis.
Ultraprocessed Cannabis: Potency, Policy, and Public Health in America
Eating in America is typically about what’s on our plate: what we’re eating. However, in this series we’re examining something that is not on everybody’s plate but was consumed by 44 million Americans in the last month. Cannabis is very much “in the air” these days, so to speak, especially if you live in a state where it is decriminalized and the smell of cannabis is easily found on the streets.
Ultraprocessed Cannabis: Potency, Policy, and Public Health in America
Cannabis was legal in America well into the 20th century and medical cannabis products were manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and widely prescribed and used. Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that this was before modern medicine: before aspirin even.
Ultraprocessed Cannabis: Potency, Policy, and Public Health in America, a 4-part series
Why, what, and how we eat is all about our neurological reward circuits, the dopamine pathways that control so much of what we do. These are the channels tapped, to our detriment, by the designers of ultraprocessed food. They are also the paths that lead to pleasure when we drink, smoke a cigarette, or eat a weed gummy.
Dopamine, Dr. Pepper, Cuba, and how to love!
Today’s post and podcast are especially for Eating in America’s paid subscribers and supporters, who I thank deeply.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines in an ultraprocessed world
The new 2025 Dietary Guidelines are due out this month, according to RFK Jr.
The new California ultraprocessed school lunch law
RFK, Jr., the Make America Healthy Again would-be-goliath, campaigned against ultraprocessed (UPF) food, but that campaign has stalled out in the Trump administration. The new U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which are due this month according to Kennedy, were undercut by September’s
Coffee (and tea) stories
Editor’s note: Eating in America officially launches today, so we’re celebrating something most of us love – coffee! Or tea, of course, if you prefer. The voices of 11 Eating in America readers are heard in the audio/podcast version of today’s Eating in America, making it a very good day to try the audio version, if that is not your usual choice. Thank you for being a part of Eating in America as we officially launch!