"The Pilgrims" on PBS

Last night we watched "The Pilgrims" on PBS.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pilgrims/

That is the 2nd time that the programs in the PBS program called "American Experience" socked my little mind a good one.  The other American Experience was "American Oz", which jolted me into realizing that The Wizard of Oz has been an important force in American experience for more than a century.  

I had read "The Pilgrims" by Sam Fitzgerald but the video showed new aspects and went deeper.  I have to be in awe of a group of English Protestants with very strong religious ideas moving to Holland and then sailing across the Atlantic to the Virginia colony to practice religion and religious ceremonies as they thought God wanted.  They landed at the north edge of the area England claimed, at a latitude and in a wind and weather place they had no experience with.  

They had political problems and social divisiveness among themselves.  Very limited books, no central heating, no roads, no cars, no tv, no electricity, no aspirin.  At first, they got along with the local Indians pretty well but eventually they didn't.  You can imagine the local natives' reaction to these outlandish "Martian" out of nowhere landing and living near them.

I am rather ignorant of English history but I gather that Henry the VIIi founded the Church of England while working to get an official annulment of his marriage so that he could have a different woman as his wife.

Was Henry the 8th a good king?

Yes, Henry VIII was brutal, selfish, and at times, very unpleasant. But despite this, it's hard to deny that King Henry VIII was a very accomplished leader. He achieved a great many things during his reign as King of England between years 1509 and 1547. ... – King Henry VIII established the Church of England.

You may realize that Henry VIII had six wives in all.  Of course, King David has 8 or more, not including concubines.  Concubines?

"(in polygamous societies) a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives."  I guess Henry figured he wasn't in a polygamous society and had multiple wives successively.  That is not necessarily the same thing as having them successfully.

The Pilgrims program mentions ideas and practices of religious belief and duties but nothing much about Henry or the separation of the church of England from the Roman Church.  But very specific and passionately held ideas of what right religious practice was and wasn't were enough to propel a small band from England to Holland and then across the Atlantic to a wilderness.  Experts in the video emphasize that some Americans have held the landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620 to be a pivotal moment in our history but that many other important events happened, too.

Explaining and describing one's life

A young woman who recently finished her doctorate emphasizes how much it has helped her to write morning pages as described by the author/artist Julia Cameron.  I work with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point learning in retirement organization, LIFE.  In that work, I have seen what joy and clarity comes to a person who takes the time to construct a talk that explains a subject or activity of personal importance.  The Wisconsin Public Television programs include "Wisconsin Life", hosted by Angela Fitzgerald.  The program features activities, businesses and experiences available in parts of Wisconsin.  

All of these things, morning pages and talks and video programs, offer a chance to describe and explain things that matter.  All of these things relate to writing regularly about what matters personally. Most people focus on the public presentation aspect of giving a talk or a demonstration.  Even writing, if it is presented in a publication or a web site, often seems more about offering words to others.  It does matter if something is written and kept totally private as opposed to be presented in a more public or open forum.  But an often overlooked and under-credited aspect of writing or talking is what it does to and for the writer or speaker.  

Much as with a poem, creating written or spoken words requires the creator to find expression that satisfies, that does the job of expressing to others what the writer/speaker feels.  So, in the long run, writing or speaking causes the creator to search the mind, the emotions and the memories and then to match words to the thoughts, feelings and memories.  Once that is done, even a little bit, self-knowledge and self-respect improve.  The world feels more liveable, more comfortable.  That's why writing a blog or making statements on web pages or giving a talk or mounting a video on YouTube can be very fulfilling.

Ebook gifts

It's quite surprising to me what a big deal giving ebooks as gifts has become for me.  I am a fan of Amazon and a steady user of Kindle e-readers.  There are several features that I like very much, the first one being the speed and convenience of getting an ebook wherever I am and whenever I want.  To give an ebook as a gift, I only need a person's email address.  I like ebooks very much and I like using them so I have given an ebook as a gift many times, 812 times at last count.  

I don't usually ask a friend whether he or she wants an ebook or has ever used an electronic book or hates the idea or hates Amazon.  I just send it.  Well, first the notice that the recipient has been given an ebook but must approve of the reception to get it comes from Amazon, not me.  Second, it probably seems like a scam.  Third, what the hell is it?  Fourth, do I want it?  Most people have umpteen books waiting to be read and even the idea of receiving a paper book that wasn't asked for is quite questionable.  Many people assume that getting and using an Amazon ebook will require some specialized software and some learning.  To some extent that is true but it is very easy.

Not long ago, I made one of the most useful phone calls to customer service I ever made.  The operator directed me to a listing on the Amazon site I didn't know about.  It shows a list of all the ebooks I have sent people that have been accepted and a separate list of all the books I have offered that have still not ever been accepted.  When I open the list of "unredeemed" gifts, I have some buttons that will send another notice to the original email address to remind the recipient of the gift waiting.  I can also change the address to a different email address.  I sent the first gift in 2010 and since then, some friends have died.

It is eye-opening what a review of my life these lists are.  They show who I was being friendly with and what I was reading at the time. Electronic books take up no space, have no weight and never need dusting.  Amazon has a very good selection and good prices.

Her birthday

She is one of the finest sisters in the world.  She was born a few years after I was born.  My mother was in the passenger seat and told me to go in the house and sit back on the sofa.  Then I could hold her.  She was the first infant I ever held.  I still remember the whole thing.  

I remember that she was outside the safety gate on the front porch.  Why?  I don't know.  She wanted to get in.  Why?  I don't know.  What I do know that is while attempting to open the dumb gate, put there to protect an innocent little kid, she fell off the top step and broke her right arm.  Thus, I wound up being the only one of four in the family that was right-handed.

I remember being in the neighbor kid's front yard when he pulled a cherry from behind him and squirted its juice in my eye.  I yelled.  My little sister launched herself like a rocket and took the kid down, pummeling him all the while.  His mommy rushed out and pulled her off, scolding her for picking on someone bigger than her.  

She is the only person to throw a sheath knife and hit me in the back with it.  She didn't realize I had gone up to the target tree to extract my own knife and she was practicing standing with her back to the target and turning quickly and throwing.  Her knife landed flat against my back.  

In high school, she came limping down the stairs.  Wow!  What happened?  She had gone out for cheerleading and jumped and jumped and jumped.  Now, she was all stiff. 

She has grown up to be a successful mother and worker and grandmother and hospital volunteer.  The best sister I ever had!!

Learning and experiencing

I suggested a book by Brian D. Meeks for the other men in my book club to read.  "Underwood, Scotch and Wry" is the story of a tenured full professor of English who does little and reflects badly on the college.  The administration would like him to retire and trying to move him toward retirement, gives him a new class, one on social media and blogging.  They assign him 7 teaching assistants but he knows nothing of computers, the (ugh!) internet, much less Facebook, Twitter and such.  The idea is that he will dislike the teaching enough to retire.  The story is well put together.

Meanwhile, Sandra Oh is being shown on Netflix in a series about professors of English.  It's called "The Chair" and might create sympathy for the departmental chairwomen and chairmen who try to handle the business of that group.  

I had read the Meeks book before but it has been a while.  So, I am reading through it again.  I am surprised at how good it is.  The quality may be a symptom of my age.  When teaching college, I had some undergrad classes of juniors and seniors and some graduate classes of experienced teachers.  There is a big difference between students preparing to teach along with all the other post-college steps of locating, dating and marrying and the older adults who have been teaching a while and are generally much more settled and experienced.

I imagine that anyone getting older, especially in people-oriented jobs like teaching, politics, law, etc. becomes more aware of the difference between serious and basic issues of life, and much doesn't matter all that much.  It sensitizes one to the many sorts of frivolity and surface themes and fads that American life creates and promotes, especially during youth.

Headline bait

I see that if I want to have people rush to read what I post, I need to work on my headlines and titles.  I just write my blog to be aware of what I am doing, what I have recently done, what I have been thinking and experiencing.  Since Google makes it easy to create a blog and post to the whole blooming world, why not ?  I have quite a few friends and relatives that stay in touch with us through the blog or because of it.  Most material about blogging assumes I want more readers and that I want to "convert" my readers into paying consumers of my stuff.  

Much of what I see on the internet and in print is aimed at getting more readers and at exciting those that do read Fear, Fun and Filoz.  Here are the last five titles I used:

1. The meditation industry and self-reliance

2. Vibes

3. First condolences on my death

4. Guest blog by L. Kirby

5. Anti-vaccination

I see that I might be more in accord with today's internet practice if I tried for a little more color, more excitement, more of a shock.

No. 1 above might be titled "Meditate or die!"  I realize the truth is that we could meditate or not but regardless, we will die.  But if I want more color, more force, maybe I can excite more.

"Vibes" is about being in love, being bewitched, have the experience of a tune you can't stop replaying in your head except it is not a tune but a member of the opposite sex that is deviling.  More direct wording might be "Can't stop thinking of her".  Headlines can be a little bit untruthful so maybe I should call it "Persistent salacious thoughts" or "Sinning in my head."

No. 3 might be more exciting as "Sorry I'm not dead."  You know the Mark Twain remark "rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated".  Or, jubilantly, "Old man is still alive!!!"

L. Kirby knows all sorts of dirt so I might re-title No. 4, "Longtime associate tells the TRUTH".  I bet crowds would rush to see what that is about.

If I want to try to be inflammatory, I might call No. 5 "Don't be stupid".

I do try to notice if the headline is provocative and I do try to notice if the article tells what the headline indicated was in the writing.

The meditation industry and self-reliance

Every now and then, I write about meditation because it has been shown to be valuable and rather easy.  As Karen Maezen Miller explains, it just involves sitting and looking at a wall.  I say it is rather easy because it is easy to explain and easy to do but not easy to do again and again, just like biking or walking or weight lifting.  It can be questioned.  When we are sitting and looking at a wall, we can naturally start to wonder:

• Why am I doing this?

• How long do I have to sit here?

• Am I doing this correctly?

• Is doing this nutty?  Healthy?

The main reason many present day Americans sit and look at a wall is to develop mindfulness.  That is the habit of noticing, of being aware of what one is thinking about.  That may not sound like much but developing better and deeper self awareness increases sympathy for oneself and improves respect for the self's feelings, reactions and choices. Better self awareness creates a more integrated, unified self.

You may feel that you want some coaching or some companionship, maybe some feeling of camaraderie and fellowship while meditating.  Having a loved one meditate in the same room might help.  Books about the practice are quite available and getting more so all the time.  It isn't difficult or tricky but sometimes people want help or guidance.  If you just take a kitchen timer or use Google to search for "timer" or "timer 5 minutes", you can sit still and look at a wall until you hear the timer go off. 

That's it.  That's all there is to it.  It is so simple, so basic, it is easy to feel that you need help, criticism, evaluation, a magazine, a membership, something to listen to.   But, you don't need anything.  Just five minutes.  I say give yourself five minutes and see what you think.  Do it again tomorrow.  Do it again the next day.  You are not "better" or "superior" if you meditate for a longer time.  The Google Chinese-American engineer, Chade-Meng Tan, taught a course on doing this to Google employees.  He also has two books about the practice: Search Inside Yourself and Joy on Demand.  He says you just need a mind to meditate and you just need one conscious, deliberate breath.

Vibes

I like the story that Rumi, the 13th century poet, born in Afghanistan, tells about being haunted, mesmerized, bewitched by distracting thoughts of a certain woman.  He says that eventually he was so burdened by those thoughts that he went to her stall in the marketplace to beg her to stop pestering him.  

If he had the experience I think he had, asking her to avoid pestering him would not help.  You know what can happen in cases like that.  Seeing her, looking at her speak, watching her reaction to his plea probably inflamed him all the more.  Even wearing traditional female covering of those times and that place, her voice, her posture and way of gesturing and moving, her skin and eyes - all that femininity still reached out and hypnotized all over again.  

Whether it is a man charmed by a woman or a woman charmed by a man, nature, biology, chemistry - those forces create such a net that the poor stricken creature gets all bound up, captured even.  This sort of charm can befall a victim without the delightful charmer having any idea of its occurrence.  The special hypnotic fog/scent/vibe/ultrasound can make its way into a heart and soul without being intentionally launched nor welcomed in.  

Sometimes, it is said or implied that a thigh or a bicep is responsible and that if we didn't see certain things, we would be immune and better protected against entrapment.  But nature and procreation drives have so many tools and so many avenues into the heart, that it is difficult to get real protection. It does seem that aging can produce a little better armour, a little better antidote.  Maybe a person gets used to being stung and learns to ignore the problem a little more efficiently. 

First condolences on my death

Lynn received her first condolences for the loss of her husband today.  A man we know from our college days runs a weekly newsletter.  Lynn and I have separate email accounts but some married couples use just one address for any email to either or both of them.  She wrote to that editor and asked to get a separate copy directly to her own email account.  This man is familiar with the format "Mr. and Mrs. X" for the name of a contact and he had entered the email address for me in that way.

When he got her request that a copy of his newsletter be sent to her own account, he assumed I had died.  I haven't yet.  We had no idea that he assumed there was only one of us left.   We called to request separate copies with no idea that he had deduced my death.  We called after getting a message expressing condolences.  We didn't understand what sort of condolences we were receiving and wanted to know.  

When you are dealing with elderly people, there is indeed a higher chance that somebody has died.  It is not that unexpected.  Today was our first experience of receiving sympathy for the loss of one of us.  I have heard of instances of people being the subject of a funeral but not actually being dead.  Cases like that of attending one's own funeral in a live state are probably quite rare these days because of embalming or cremation.

Not long ago, I was leaving a restaurant and a young woman at a nearby table exclaimed, "Dr. Kirby!  I thought you were dead!"  I admit that sometimes I don't look so good, but we don't need condolences just yet.

Guest blog by L. Kirby

Lynn writes: Wednesday I did laundry and packed. And then on Thursday we went to Door County, where we had rented 3 adjacent units, sort of townhouses or small condos, and shared one with Beth and Dave, and the other two were for our two granddaughters and their families. Door County is that little thumb (peninsula) of Wisconsin that separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. We just got home about two hours ago.

Our stay in Door County included several events we all were part of, some smaller group events, and some things that people did on their own. Whole group things included 

• breakfast at Al Johnson's, a Swedish restaurant where they have goats on the roof of the building. I didn't remember how thin Swedish pancakes are. The goats themselves don't seem to notice all the hundreds of people staring at them and taking their pictures.

• a drive through Peninsula State Park, with a few stops at various points of interest. One was the nature center, where they have a display of various types of (manmade) animal poop. The guide mixed them up and asked Libby to match them with the right animals. Of course, we all had a hand in it and got it right. The guide gave Libby a certificate certifying her as an expert in scatology. We stopped at a very old lighthouse and enjoyed the scenery while some of our group had a tour. The ride culminated in a climb to the top of their newly finished Eagle Tower (https://doorcountypulse.com/finally-eagle-tower-is-back/), something that took several years to complete.

• walking the trail between Cave Point County Park and Whitefish Dunes State Park. That trail is hard to walk because the ground has a huge number of tree roots and rocks and some fallen trees, all arranged to trip a person who is intent on the beautiful scenery. The wind was up, so the waves were really rough, with spray that could be felt even on top of the cliffs we were walking along. It was truly beautiful and exhilarating, and although everyone was wowed by it, it was hard on me: my fear of heights made me so scared by their bravery near the edges that I couldn't watch them.  And farther one we waded in the water on the beach, having climbed stairs over the dunes.

• a pizza dinner at a place that has excellent pizza, but is so popular you have to wait forever to be seated and to shout to be heard over all the other voices. We walked there; walking back after dark was tiring--it's all uphill, and it was hot, but we all made it.

• our last group event:  a fish boil. If you've never been to a Door County fish boil, you should go at least once. Pelletier's fish boil has 12 other things on the menu if you don't like fish. More than half our group took advantage of that, too.  

The young families went off and did a lot of other things together. Beth and I went shopping together a couple of times. A smaller group of us had a wonderful time in the pool one afternoon. We had a quiet, delicious dinner with Beth and Dave. 

There are so many things to do in Door County, I think you could probably keep yourselves busy for several weeks. Not all of them are for people as old as we are (such as zip lining), but excluding those things, there is a lot to keep you occupied. 

Bill and I have been there many times (more than 20?), and every time we go, there is something new available. In a way that is kind of a shame. The east side of the peninsula, known as the quiet side, is starting to get more built up and not so quiet anymore. But there are what seem to be hundreds of art galleries, and I would probably enjoy going to all of them. Not this time, though--I only made it to two. We were too busy trying to keep up with the younger parts of the family. Getting there this time, some people Bill and I met in a coffee shop told us about a different road to take to get to Fish Creek (the town we stayed in), and it was new to us, as well as a beautiful and relaxing drive. 

I bought myself a new leather purse and ordered a set of custom made moccasins to use as slippers. I think/hope both of these purchases might last me the rest of my life. 

On our ride home, we saw two eagles:  one immature landing beside the road, and one standing on the edge of a lake drinking water. 

And so, on to the next week. I know it will not be as exciting, but after being away, it is always fun to get home to your own house and routines.

Anti-vaccination

It may just be my generation of people born where I was, but until I read and heard about strenuous objection to Covid vaccination, I had not heard of anti-vaxxers of any kind. Growing up, I got vaccinations against smallpox, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough.  I missed many days of kindergarten because of childhood diseases.  I had mumps, measles, chicken pox and scarlet fever.  Decades later, I got a vaccine against polio, a disease I feared all the years of growing up.  At age 60, I got a vaccine against shingles.  

Of all the diseases I have named, I think the most serious one I developed was scarlet fever.  

The first vaccine was developed against smallpox. Google says that worldwide about 300 million people have died of smallpox since 1900.  The first smallpox vaccination was given in 1796 after Edward Jenner noticed that when milkmaids developed cowpox, they didn't get smallpox.  Smallpox is sometimes cited as a serious disease that has been successfully obliterated in populations.  I think some scientific samples have been kept.  

I figured that such an odd thing as having a physician or nurse inject something into the body was not completely accepted in the 1700's.  From what I have seen, there are always those who shy away, refuse or see evil or ill will with the idea.  Take a look:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=anti+small+pox+vaccine&va=b&t=hc&ia=web

Is this for real?

I just want to draw a small amount of attention to Mackenzie Scott.  She is the woman who was married to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. There are some people who are fans of Amazon and I am one of them.  I read that Bezos and Scott divorced, and that she got half of his money.  Bezos is on and off one of the richest men in the world.  Maybe you have read that Bill Gates and his wife also divorced recently.  The Pocket reading service offered an article about Mackenzie Scott and what she is doing with some of her money.

You may know that a billion is one thousand millions.  Many older people immediately use the word "million" for a handy large number.  I used to teach 5th grade arithmetic and one of our tasks was to grasp the size of a million and other large numbers.  I made a folder of sheets of paper with dots all over them.  The whole set had a million dots.  Once in a while a student would sit at a desk and slowly turn page after page of dots to experience a million.  Mackenzie Scott has a personal wealth of 55 billion dollars.

She is wisely assisting charities and foundations by giving them a large donation.  She hasn't made an overly big deal about her donations.  When I ask my friends if they recognize the name Mackenzie Scott, they often do not.  https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-mackenzie-scott-donations/

The linked article is fun to read and to think about.  It says that a number of times, a notice of a very large donation has been dismissed as a scam or simply unrecognized for what it was, for a month.  The former Mrs. Bill Gates and the former Mrs. Bezos have collaborated some in deciding on donations.  As a former professor of education myself, I note that Mackenzie Scott recently remarried, and she married a high school science teacher.

How about this one?

I like looking over the New Books shelf in a library.  Between emails and references in books and articles to other books, I constantly find things of interest, often on a subject or idea that I didn't know I was interested in. It is surprising to me how much my interest drives me to look through sources for reading.  

When my greatgrandson was little, he wanted to see the box for a video since he had found that the images gave him a feeling for what the video was about and whether he would enjoy watching it.  The same sort of thing applies to book covers.  The people who create the covers do a good job of interesting me or turning me off with their art.  I wonder if cover artists read the books they make covers for.  

Every now and then, I come across an article that I think is especially good.  When I do, I often think of including a link to it in this blog.  Joe Pinsker's article on time management from the Atlantic is a recent example.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/08/oliver-burkeman-advice-time-productivity/619723/

I have a picture of writers all over trying to make a living and using the many different publication possibilities on the internet to get their material out.  I do almost all of my browsing using Firefox and it is connected to the free feature "Pocket" that suggests articles I might want to look at whenever I start to create a new tab.  

The article linked above does a good job reminding me that "of the making of books there is no end" (Ecclesiastes 12:12, written thousands of years ago) and extending the idea to the fact that I am going to die without having read all the books of interest.  I realize that Amazon, Kobo, Pocket and other prompters push titles at me without my filtering them but I suspect that artificial intelligence is trying to gauge my mind and tastes.  That's ok since I don't know what is going to engage me, what is going to pay off, and what isn't.  

I try to be conscious of how much I enjoy and benefit from books, articles and tv but not too conscious.  I am guessing that about half of everything I start doesn't feel all that fun or valuable or helpful until I finish it.  Sometimes, I read or watch because of Lynn's interests and then find I am glad to have paid attention. Like many sides of life, I guess it is best not to get too uptight, to stay loose, and give myself variety and new experiences.

---------------------------------------------------------

I read my posts to Lynn before posting them.  I read this to Lynn and she reminded me that her ideas and tastes are especially helpful and valuable.  According to her, without her help, I would overdo reading and miss out on living.

Unconscious

I have written about how much I benefited from reading "Incognito" and 'Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain".  Both books are written by experts in brain science and they emphasize that thinking is a somewhat minor activity for humans.  Our brains are the body headquarters and keep all sorts of processes running all the time.  Our bodies are very complex and we can't consciously keep track of everything that our brains accomplish.  

When I have wanted an example of something that is habitual and active but not especially conscious, I have mentioned a trash can.  For whatever reason, when I move a trash can to some other location, I retain a tendency to toss a wad of scrap paper where the can used to be instead noting where it is presently before the toss.

Lynn and I have two cars, a Honda CRV and a Honda Fit.  A CRV is a full-sized vehicle and the Honda Fit is small.  That means that it is possible to get both cars in our garage.  I have been parking my car on the east side of the garage and Lynn has put hers on the west side.  The cars are designed so that the driver's seat is near a wall for mine and near the centerline of the garage for hers.  She has to squeeze between the cars but I have room.  Recently, we switched sides and we have been doing better giving each other adequate room.

What is surprising to me is the number of times, I have simply gone to her car and started to get in just because it is sitting where I have habitually gone to get in my car.  I open our kitchen door and walk to the "old" side of the garage.  Lynn's car is tan and mine is silver.  Her car is big and mine is small.  But my old brain doesn't turn to conscious mode until the car I am trying to get into, won't open.  Then, I look seriously at the vehicle and see that I am at the wrong one.  

I carry a fob in my pocket for my car but it won't allow her door to open for me.  The other day, a friend needed a ride.  I have given him a ride before and he knows which car is mine.  When I tried to get in the driver's seat, he had to point out that I was trying to get in Lynn's car instead of mine.  See Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit", also. 

Fwd: Latest from Food Politics: Weekend reading: A call to the UN Food Systems Summit: Ultra-processed foods

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bill Kirby <olderkirby@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 12:55 PM
Subject: Fwd: Latest from Food Politics: Weekend reading: A call to the UN Food Systems Summit: Ultra-processed foods
To:

What we eat matters.  Marion Nestle, a professor of food and nutrition at NYU, writes about food.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Marion Nestle <feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 9:39 AM
Subject: Latest from Food Politics: Weekend reading: A call to the UN Food Systems Summit: Ultra-processed foods

I am a co-author on a paper published recently by BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e006885.  The need to reshape global food processing: a call to the United Nations Food Systems Summit.  Authors: Carlos Augusto Monteiro, Mark Lawrence, Christopher Millett, ...

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by Marion Nestle   August 13 2021 Weekend reading: A call to the UN Food Systems Summit: Ultra-processed foods I am a co-author on a paper published recently by BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e006885.  The need to reshape global food processing: a call to the United Nations Food Systems Summit.  Authors: Carlos Augusto Monteiro, Mark Lawrence, Christopher Millett, Marion Nestle, Barry M Popkin, Gyorgy Scrinis, Boyd Swinburn. Because this paper is open access, I reproduce its text below.  The link is to the pdf. Summary box In the modern, globalised food system, useful types of industrial food processing that preserve foods, enhance their sensory properties and make their culinary preparation easier and more diverse, have been and are being replaced by food ultra-processing. The main purpose of food ultra-processing is to increase profits by creating hyperpalatable and convenient food products that are grossly inferior imitations of minimally processed foods and freshly prepared dishes and meals. In the last decades, obesity, type 2 diabetes and related diseases have become global epidemics, leading the health systems of many countries to or beyond breaking point. Taken together, the totality of evidence summarised here shows beyond reasonable doubt that increased consumption of ultra-processed foods is a major contributor to the pandemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes and related diseases. The 2021 UN Food System has a unique opportunity to urge countries to implement policy interventions required to reduce ultra-processed food production, distribution and consumption, while simultaneously making fresh or minimally processed foods more available, accessible and affordable. Introduction The UN Food Systems Summit is taking place later this year at a crucial time. Food systems are manifestly failing to enhance human health, social equity or environmental protection. One symptom is the pandemic of obesity and related non-communicable diseases with their vast consequences. As we show here, one of the main drivers of this pandemic is the transformation in food processing. In the modern, globalised food system, useful types of food processing that preserve foods, enhance their sensory properties and make their culinary preparation easier and more diverse, have been and are being replaced by deleterious types of processing whose main purpose is to increase profits by creating hyperpalatable and convenient products that are grossly inferior imitations of minimally processed foods and freshly prepared dishes and meals. The Summit has a unique opportunity to confront this calamitous change, and to recommend effective policies and actions to UN agencies and member states. Processing and industry The key issue here is the nature, purpose and extent of food processing. It is not processing as such. General criticism of food processing is too unspecific to be helpful. Most foods are processed in some way, and culinary preparations of fresh foods are usually made using processed ingredients. Some types of food processing contribute to healthful diets, but others do the opposite.1 At one extreme are minimal processes which mostly preserve or enhance whole foods, such as drying grains, pulses and nuts, grinding grains into flour and pasta, chilling or freezing fruits and vegetables, pasteurising milk and fermenting milk into yoghurt. At the other extreme are industrial processes that convert food commodities such as wheat, soy, corn, oils and sugar, into chemically or physically transformed food substances, formulated with various classes of additives into generally cheap to make, long duration substitutes to minimally processed foods and freshly prepared dishes and meals. The result is brand-named sugary, fatty and/or salty food and drink products which typically contain little or no whole food, are designed to be ready-to-consume anytime, anywhere and are highly attractive to the senses or even quasi-addictive. These products, including sweet and flavoured drinks, sweet or savoury snacks, reconstituted meat products and shelf-stable or frozen ready meals and desserts, are identified as ultra-processed foods.2 Criticisms of the food industry as a whole are also a mistake. Most of the very many millions of food farming, growing, rearing, making, distributing, selling and catering businesses throughout the world, notably in Asia, Africa and Latin America, deal solely or largely in fresh and minimally processed foods. These businesses and the foods they produce need to be encouraged, defended and supported. By contrast, ultra-processed foods are mostly enabled, produced and sold by a small number of transnational corporations, some of whose turnovers exceed the revenues of many countries and make annual profits of US$ billions.3 These corporations use their power to formulate, mass manufacture, distribute and aggressively market their products worldwide.4 These corporations shape scientific findings by funding in-house and university-based research, so as to defend and promote ultra-processed foods.5 They also exercise political power by intensive lobbying, donations and sponsorships, and until now have dissuaded most governments from adequately regulating their products and practices.6 Time-series food sales data indicate the explosive growth in manufacturing and consumption of ultra-processed foods worldwide.7 National dietary surveys show that ultra-processed foods already make up 50% or more of total dietary energy intake8 in high-income countries, with even higher consumption among children and adolescents.9 In middle-income countries, they now represent between 15% and 30% of total energy intake8 but sales of ultra-processed foods are increasing fastest in these countries.10 The pandemic of obesity and related diseases and its link with ultra-processing According to WHO, worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled since the mid-1970s, and now over 650 million adults are obese, and 1.9 billion adults and over 370 million children and adolescents are overweight or obese (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight). No country has yet reversed these increases. Closely driven by the increase in obesity is a doubling of worldwide type 2 diabetes prevalence since 1980, now affecting about 420 million people (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes). Obesity, type 2 diabetes and related non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and some common cancers, have become pandemics. Pre-COVID-19, health systems in most countries did not have the capacity to effectively treat diet-influenced diseases. Now, many health systems are at or beyond breaking point struggling with COVID-19, the severity of which is significantly higher in people with obesity and related diseases. Evidence of the general healthfulness of dietary patterns based on fresh and minimally processed foods and culinary preparations, and their protection against all forms of malnutrition, 'is noteworthy for its breadth, depth, diversity of methods, and consistency of findings'.11 But only in the last decade, with the advent of the NOVA food classification system that distinguishes ultra-processed foods from minimally processed or processed foods,1 has the link between changes in types of food processing and the pandemic of obesity and related diseases been revealed. Evidence here includes: Three meta-analyses of findings from epidemiological studies, including large, long-duration, carefully conducted cohort studies, show dose-response associations between consumption of ultra-processed foods and obesity, abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemias, metabolic syndrome, depression, cardio and cerebrovascular diseases and all-cause mortality.12–14 Analysis of national dietary or food purchase surveys in middle-income or high-income countries shows that the higher the dietary share of ultra-processed foods, the higher the obesogenic dietary nutrient profiles. These are characterised by higher energy density, free sugars, unhealthy fats and sodium, and lower protein and dietary fibre.8 Epidemiological and experimental studies indicate that ultra-processed foods may increase risks for obesity and related diseases in other ways beyond their nutritional composition. These include structural and physical properties that blunt satiety signalling, organoleptic characteristics associated with higher energy intake rate, neo-formed substances and migrated packaging materials that are endocrine disruptors, additives that promote pro-inflammatory microbiome, and reduced thermic effect that decreases total energy expenditures.12–14 A randomised controlled cross-over trial shows that consuming a high ultra-processed diet causes a highly significant increase in ad libitum calorie intake and consequent weight gain. Over a 2-week period, 20 young adults following a diet with 83% of energy from ultra-processed foods consumed approximately 500 more kcal per day than when they followed a diet with no ultra-processed foods. Participants gained 0.9 kg at the end of the 2 weeks with the ultra-processed diet and lost 0.9 kg at the end of the non ultra-processed diet, mostly of body fat.15 A longitudinal ecological study of 80 countries from 2002 to 2016 shows a direct association between changes in annual per capita volume sales of ultra-processed foods and corresponding changes in population adult body mass index.16 Taken together, the totality of evidence summarised here shows beyond reasonable doubt that increased consumption of ultra-processed foods is a major contributor to the pandemic of obesity and related diseases. There is also mounting evidence of the harmful effects of the ultra-processed food industry on the planet, through its global demand for cheap ingredients that destroy forests and savannah, its displacement of sustainable farming, and its resource-intensive manufacturing and packaging.17 Policy responses To begin with, the UN Food Systems Summit should urge international and national health and food and nutrition authorities to review their dietary guidelines to emphasise preference for fresh or minimally processed foods and avoidance of ultra-processed foods, in line with guidelines developed, for example, by the WHO/Pan American Health Organization,18 and issued in several Latino-American countries, and now also in France, Belgium, and Israel. At the same time, national governments should be urged to use fiscal measures, marketing regulations, bold mandatory front-of-pack labelling schemes and food procurement policies, all designed to promote the production, accessibility and consumption of a rich variety of fresh or minimally processed foods, and to discourage the production, distribution and consumption of ultra-processed foods, as now done in several countries.19 Current food and nutrition policies are mostly intended to encourage food manufacturers to reformulate their products by reducing the use of salt, sugar or unhealthy fats. There is a role for strong regulations that effectively limit the levels of these components, but reformulation alone will not turn ultra-processed products into healthy foods,20 as in effect recently acknowledged in one internal document from one leading ultra-processed food corporation – "some of our categories and products will never be 'healthy' no matter how much we renovate" (https://www.ft.com/content/4c98d410-38b1-4be8-95b2-d029e054f492). Policies should instead stimulate the entire manufacturing industry to maintain, develop or improve processing methods that prolong the duration of whole foods, enhance their sensory properties and make their culinary preparation easier and more diverse. Ultra-processed foods should be replaced by processed foods with limited levels or absence of added salt, sugar or unhealthy fats or, preferably, by minimally processed foods.20 Conclusions Food systems are failing. This is most clearly shown by what are now the pandemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes, of which ultra-processed food is a main contributor. The UN Food Systems Summit should urge member states to implement multiple policy interventions to reduce ultra-processed food production, distribution and consumption, while simultaneously making fresh or minimally processed foods more available, accessible and affordable. Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article. Ethics statements Patient consent for publication Not required. Acknowledgments This paper expands a one-page submission made by the authors to the UN Food Systems Summit within Solution Cluster 2.2.1 (food environment). References ↵ Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Moubarac J-C, et al . The UN decade of nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing. Public Health Nutr 2018;21:5–17.doi:10.1017/S1368980017000234pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28322183 CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Levy RB, et al . Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutr 2019;22:936–41.doi:10.1017/S1368980018003762pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30744710 CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Monteiro CA, Cannon G . The Impact of Transnational "Big Food" Companies on the South: A View from Brazil. PLoS Med 2012;9:7. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001252 Google Scholar ↵ Wood B, Williams O, Nagarajan V, et al . Market strategies used by processed food manufacturers to increase and consolidate their power: a systematic review and document analysis. Global Health 2021;17:1–23.doi:10.1186/s12992-021-00667-7 Google Scholar ↵ Nestle M . Unsavory truth: how food companies skew the science of what we eat. New York: Basic Books, 2018. Google Scholar ↵ Mialon M, Gomes FdaS, da Silva Gomes F . Public health and the ultra-processed food and drink products industry: corporate political activity of major transnationals in Latin America and the Caribbean. Public Health Nutr 2019;22:1898–908.doi:10.1017/S1368980019000417pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30859929 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Baker P, Machado P, Santos T, et al . Ultra-processed foods and the nutrition transition: global, regional and national trends, food systems transformations and political economy drivers. Obes Rev 2020;21:e13126. doi:10.1111/obr.13126pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32761763 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Lawrence M . Ultra-processed foods, diet quality, and health using the NOVA classification system. Rome: FAO, 2019. http://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/CA5644EN/ Google Scholar ↵ Khandpur N, Neri DA, Monteiro C, et al . Ultra-processed food consumption among the paediatric population: an overview and call to action from the European childhood obesity group. Ann Nutr Metab 2020;76:109–13.doi:10.1159/000507840pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32344405 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Moodie R, Bennett E, Kwong EJL, et al . Ultra-Processed Profits: The Political Economy of Countering the Global Spread of Ultra-Processed Foods – A Synthesis Review on the Market and Political Practices of Transnational Food Corporations and Strategic Public Health Responses. Int J Health Policy Manag 2021. doi:doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2021.45. [Epub ahead of print: 24 May 2021].pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34124866 Google Scholar ↵ Katz DL, Meller S . Can we say what diet is best for health? Annu Rev Public Health 2014;35:83–103.doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182351pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24641555 CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Askari M, Heshmati J, Shahinfar H, et al . Ultra-processed food and the risk of overweight and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Int J Obes 2020;44:2080–91.doi:10.1038/s41366-020-00650-zpmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32796919 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Pagliai G, Dinu M, Madarena MP, et al . Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Nutr 2021; ;;125:308–18. 14.doi:10.1017/S0007114520002688pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32792031 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Lane MM, Davis JA, Beattie S, et al . Ultraprocessed food and chronic noncommunicable diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 43 observational studies.. Obes Rev 2021;22:e13146. doi:10.1111/obr.13146pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33167080 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Hall KD, Ayuketah A, Brychta R, et al . Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: an inpatient randomized controlled trial of AD libitum food intake. Cell Metab 2019;30:67–77.doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31105044 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Vandevijvere S, Jaacks LM, Monteiro CA, et al . Global trends in ultraprocessed food and drink product sales and their association with adult body mass index trajectories. Obes Rev 2019;20(Suppl 2):10–19.doi:10.1111/obr.12860pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31099480 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Seferidi P, Scrinis G, Huybrechts I, et al . The neglected environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods. Lancet Planet Health 2020;4:e437–8.doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30177-7pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33038314 CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Popkin BM, Barquera S, Corvalan C, et al . Towards unified and Impactful policies to reduce ultra-processed food consumption and promote healthier eating. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2021;9:462–70.doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00078-4pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33865500 PubMedGoogle Scholar ↵ Pan American Health Organization . Ultra-Processed food and drink products in Latin America: sales, sources, nutrient profiles, and policy implications. Washington, DC: PAHO, 2019. https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/51094 Google Scholar ↵ Scrinis G, Monteiro CA . Ultra-processed foods and the limits of product reformulation. Public Health Nutr 2018;21:247–52.doi:10.1017/S1368980017001392pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28703086 CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar   Footnotes Twitter @CMonteiro_USP Contributors All authors contributed to the ideas presented in the manuscript. CAM wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to redrafting and editing. Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. Competing interests None declared. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed. The post Weekend reading: A call to the UN Food Systems Summit: Ultra-processed foods appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle.   • Email to a friend • More from Food Politics Cocoa and chocolate in the food news Feed the Truth on Corporate Transparency (or the lack, thereof) Good COVID news: it's not transmitted by food or packaging This message was sent to Manage your subscription here. Marion Nestle, Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, NYU, 411 Lafayette, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10003-7035, United States

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