Up to this point, the conversation around ultra-processed food has been about visibility. Food systems became observable, processing became measurable, and behavior became predictable. But visibility alone doesn’t change systems. Discoverability does. In complex environments (like food), information only matters when it can be accessed, compared, and acted on consistently. Raw data doesn’t create accountability. […]
By the time systems reach a certain level of complexity, debates about intent, blame, or ideology stop being useful. What matters is stability. In complex environments, opacity is unstable. It creates asymmetries: some actors see the system clearly, others don’t. Decisions get optimized locally while consequences accumulate globally. Over time, that imbalance produces pressure – […]
At this point, it’s reasonable to ask whether all of this depends on how the UPF lawsuits turn out. It doesn’t. Regardless of legal outcomes, something fundamental has already changed… The food system is now observable. For decades, ultra-processed food operated in a low-resolution environment. Ingredients were disclosed, but behavior wasn’t. Scale existed, but insight […]
Wellness is Connected, Food is Not Everyone tracks something these days – steps, sleep, heart rate, glucose, macros – but food is still mostly captured as rough categories or generic calorie totals. Meanwhile, the foods themselves are getting more complex, with new additives, novel processing methods, and functional claims that are hard to verify from […]
For a long time, retailers occupied a comfortable position in the food system: We just sell what people buy. That claim made sense when visibility was limited. When all products looked roughly the same on paper, and when the effects of processing couldn’t be meaningfully compared, neutrality was a reasonable stance. That era has ended. […]
For years, the conversation around ultra-processed food stayed in a familiar place: Personal responsibility. If people got sick, it was framed as a matter of choice – what they ate, how much they exercised, how disciplined they were. That framing worked as long as food was treated as a collection of individual products making isolated […]
I’ve made Kraft Mac & Cheese for my kids. And… since we are being honest with one another, I’ve made it for myself when my wife and kids have left me home alone. Why? Because it’s delicious. It’s one of those foods that sneaks into your life through nostalgia and convenience. You grew up on […]
San Francisco UPF Lawsuit #9: “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) In the historic San Francisco lawsuit against Big Food, the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) designation is the ultimate battlefield. To the food giants, GRAS is a legal “shield.” To the City of San Francisco, it is a dangerous “loophole” that has allowed a chemical […]
San Francisco UPF Lawsuit #8: The Bliss Point The “Bliss Point” is not just a culinary term; it is a precise mathematical and psychophysical formula. It represents the moment the food industry shifted from being a provider of nourishment to an industry of engineered “craveability.” This is the point where food chemists discovered how to […]
The GRAS framework was built to evaluate isolated, time‑tested substances, not industrial systems made from dozens of interacting components. Source In the News Young Adults Face Prediabetes Risk from UPF Consumption A USC Study from the Keck School of Medicine links ultra-processed food intake to blood sugar dysregulation in youth. Researchers tracked 85 young adults […]
