C’est un témoignage plein d’enseignements que nous livre cette américaine venue vivre en France, et qui retourne aux USA. Elle compare les deux approches et attitudes vis à vis du surpoids dans les media et au travers des produits disponibles en linéaires.

On pensait être envahis par les messages et actions de lutte contre l’obésité, … selon Chelsie Yount  l’obsession est bien plus présente aux Etats-Unis : elle se voit et se ressent partout, et tout le temps.

Et cette phrase qui décrit bien un des inconvénients majeurs de la cacophonie nutritionnelle : “Too much noise to hear it all“. Eh oui !

J’admets que sa vision de la nutrition en France me semble idéalisée et que nous sommes plus proches des pratiques américaines que ce qui est dit ici. Mais cela reste intéressant à lire. Je ne résiste pas à l’envie de retranscrire certains passages ci dessous, et pour lire son billet de bout en bout, cliquez ici !

” … on American soil, the persistence of weight-talk seemed aggressive.”

“Think of a high school band warming up: you notice a clarinet’s awkward squeak and a few foreboding notes emitted by a tuba, but the vast majority of what you hear is unavoidably ignored. Unfortunately, the nutritional cacophony is not preparing to sing in harmony of the truths of food and eating, but is composed of thousands of voices competing for our attention and dollars.”

“In the United States, health information publicized by the media and food industry has provoked the demonization of one nutrient after another. First saturated fats and cholesterol had to go, then salt became the monster behind high blood pressure. Next cholesterol got more complex with the establishment of “good” and “bad” varieties. Fat followed soon after when adjectives like mono, poly, and trans became critical in determining health consequences and product choices.”

“Nutritional information pushing products adds confusion to the cacophony…” ,

“USDA recommendations like “decrease consumption of meat” are reworded to become “increase consumption of lean meat” when the president of the National Cattlemen’s Association complained that, “decrease is a bad word, Senator.” ”

“In France, nutritional information is more likely to be communicated privately from doctor to patient than through the media. It would be rather bizarre if Le Monde printed a column of weight loss tips.”

“The quantity of nutritional information that bombards the American public puts the pressure on the individual to decide what advice to believe and follow. When I asked my doctor in France about weight loss, it was almost a calming experience.”

Source :  CalorieLab.com