Ben Greenfield

Let's say the average American family is eating out a lot and eating a lot of processed and packaged food at home.

And sometimes thinking that they are making healthy choices, right?

Like Trader Joe's, Costco, you know, in some cases, Whole Foods, etc.,

More agents in that food that have been added to it to make it hyperpalatable so that whoever's selling it to you is able to get repeat business, which I have nothing against.

Well, back to the blue zones, the reason that I think we see longevity correlated with a relative absence of processed and ultra-processed foods that are largely the type of foods that we eat out of packages and containers is because when that comprises the majority of your diet, you are by definition needing to consume more preservatives.

I'm a capitalist libertarian.

But at the same time, you should know many of these places that you shop, if you're buying out of packages, they're designed to be hedonistic, hyperpalatable foods.

and typically the food has less water content because when a food is packaged or processed there's a higher risk of mold and poor shelf life if there's a lot of water and hydration in that product

More agents in that food that have been added to it to make it hyperpalatable so that whoever's selling it to you is able to get repeat business, which I have nothing against.

So you wind up having food that's dehydrated, not as nutrient dense, and full of more preservatives and fillers than you would have if you were, say, shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store, right, where you see a lot of the produce, the fruit, the veg, the meat, the eggs, the dairy, the stuff that's a little less processed, or perhaps even growing some of your food at home or shopping at the farmer's market.

I'm a capitalist libertarian.

But at the same time, you should know many of these places that you shop, if you're buying out of packages, they're designed to be hedonistic, hyperpalatable foods.

And typically the food has less water content because when a food is packaged or processed, there's a higher risk of mold and poor shelf life if there's a lot of water and hydration in that product.

So you wind up having food that's

So when you walk into our home and you go into the pantry or the refrigerator, you don't find a lot of labels that you could scan with one of those fancy food scanner apps, right?

dehydrated, not as nutrient dense, and full of more preservatives and fillers than you would have if you were, say, shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store, right, where you see a lot of the produce, the fruit, the veg, the meat, the eggs, dairy, the stuff that's a little less processed, or perhaps even growing some of your food at home or shopping at the farmer's market.

There's a lot of glass mason jars with quinoa and amaranth and millet and beans and legumes.

And when you open the refrigerator, it's a lot of sprouts and fresh vegetables and fruits and foods that are for sure immediately recognizable, but also don't come out of packages.

So when you walk into our home and you go into the pantry or the refrigerator, you don't find a lot of labels that you could scan with one of those fancy food scanner apps, right?

So I think that