http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...superfoods.html

The only 'super'food I consume with any regularity is blueberries. I fell for the raspberry ketone thing thanks to Dr. Oz. He's just a paid talking head.

A friend of mine dumped like 160 bucks on the latest Dr oz twaddle. Every day she comes in telling us she lost more weight. I asked her what she's eating along with the pills. Lo and behold! She has eliminated virtually all carbohydrate and is eating only meats and non starchy vegetables. Whodathunk.

I should add, this is the same lady who chastised me when I described my WOE. She felt the way I eat was very unhealthy for me and was genuinely worried about my health. I honestly think she has no idea, she just doesn't realize, that what she is doing is essentially the same thing I am, except I didn't have to spend 160 dollars on pills that are undoubtedly little better than a placebo might be.

The first thing everybody needs to realize is that Television is a sales medium masquerading as an entertainment and information medium.

Everything on the TV is an advertisement. That includes not only the ads themselves but the dramas, comedies, news, doctor shows, sporting events and everything else. 100% - the whole deal - total. That definitely includes Dr. Oz. If the programming isn't subliminally coaxing you to buy something, it's overtly doing the same thing. Dr.Oz is an infomercial. The newscasts are infomercials (the reporters call themselves "presstitutes" and even the verbiage they use is controlled by the corporation), and the comedies and dramas are sneaky ads.

When that soap opera star, athlete, drama queen, macho guy grabs that drink or eats that snack with the label prominently exposed and then has that "this was a treat to die for" look on her/his face, you will want to share that look. When the good guys are driving huge black SUVs, the sales of black SUVs go through the roof. And so on.

The news sells you on the political opinion of the corporation and tells you what is good for them, and NOT what is good for you. They convince people to vote against their own best interests.

There is one best solution, but only the brave can do it. Turn it off, disconnect the cable and don't put up any antenna.

If you can't do that, realize that absolutely everything on the TV is either an overt or covert advertisement. Until you realize that, you will constantly be a sucker.

The term "SUPERFOOD" is a marketing term. There is no such thing. There are nutritious foods, there are harmful foods, and some a mix of both.

Bob

Someone once put what you're saying to me very neatly. When it comes to any sort of media, magazines, TV, even Facebook, most people have this idea that we, the general public, are the consumers of that media, the people who those who put out that media are selling to. We are not. We are the "product" that is being sold. Advertisers are the consumer. They buy our attention, and media sells our attention to them.

Great way to put it tragedian.

Google, Facebook, and others know more about you than the FBI, CIA, NSA and the rest of the government. And they sell that data to whoever wants to buy it.

But this is a food thread.

Do you want to eat healthy food? It's easy. If its either seen or advertised on TV, don't eat or drink it.

Bob

I have a friend who gets excited about every new "superfood" that comes down the pike. When she tells me about them I just smile and nod. She buys the whatever for a month or two, then she's onto something else.

She hasn't lost an ounce, but she feels like she's doing her health good without the pain of not eating what she wants.

I wish I had even a tenth of what she has spent on pills and juices and potions. I'd spend the money on something better, like a nice fatty steak.

Well said, love the part about the SUVs. I also notice people spending extra money to get black rims to put on their cars/trucks/SUVs so they look 'tough' like the 'good guys.'

Yes, the people are brainwashed and manipulated by TV - not just the ads, but the covert ads (news, dramas, comedies, sports, etc.) and the TV watchers are very obedient.

Brain tests have shown that when people watch TV, their brain waves and brain activity gos into the same state as hypnosis and many drugs. This makes them very susceptible to to the ads on TV. And they also found that the covert ads work even better than the actual ads. They way it works is the covert, subliminal ads set the brain up for a pleasant and/or exciting feeling about the product -- and then minutes or days later the actual ad comes on and it drives it home.

If they show the sexy star enjoying sugar frosted chocolate bombs for breakfast, millions of people will eat sugar frosted chocolate bombs.

If you watch TV, you are being drugged and manipulated. Just say "No" to TV.

Bob

I do believe in supervillain foods.

I'd buy shoes!

I have to admit, I watch too much TV. I mean, if I go out to lunch or get my hair cut or whatever, there is often one right in my face that I can't ignore. And when the 49ers make it to the playoffs, I'm a sucker. Hell, that's HOURS a year, WASTED.

I agree with all the brainwashing stuff, it's really nothing but a mindf*ck propaganda box. (or rather, panel these days I guess) But my thing is, why watch somebody else's life when you can be out living your own!?!

That's the main reason why I turned off the tube in the mid 1980s - disconnected the cable, did not hook up an antenna, and never even got a digital converter.

I phrased a little differently.

I'd rather live my life by doing things than to live my life vicariously by watching actors pretend to do things.

While not watching TV I taught myself wind synthesizer and guitar (my 6th and 7th instruments), learned to write music software, learned to run a business, and learned to write web pages - examples of my software, businesses and web site skills are http://www.nortonmusic.com and http://www.s-cats.com plus I spent a lot of quality interactive time with my DW - and we're having a great life!

By doing so, I also didn't get brainwashed, and the only way I know about what the media is ordering people to do is by watching them. When so many people are all doing the same thing, it's a safe bet they were manipulated by TV to do so. Black SUVs, Black Wheels, Tattoos, Piercings, Sports Clothing, High Heel/Platform shoes, the latest gym shoe styles, the unhealthy food prominently displayed at the supermarket, and so on ad infinitum.

Full disclosure: We occasionally rent a movie, and there I can see the stars sporting all the things that I noticed everybody doing.

I've never seen The Simpsons, MASH, Taxi, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, any "reality" show, and the last football game I watched was in the 1970s, Bob Griese was the quarterback.

BTW, as far as 'reality' is concerned. I read in a trade magazine that American Idol is completely rigged - it's nothing but a promotion. They know the winners before the challengers are even auditioned - before each season starts. They carefully match the challengers to the winners so as not to show them up. And while the judges responses aren't totally scripted, they are given an outline and told what to say (but in their own worlds). The entire show is nothing but a promotion for the eventual "winners".

TV is nothing but a sales media, disguising as an entertainment and information media. Everything, 100%, the whole 9 yards, on that tube is there to manipulate you. You are not the customer, you are the product.

Take back the control of your mind, take control of your life, just turn it off. Superfoods, Schmooperfoods - what you have is a Super-Salesman in your living room who's one and only intent and purpose is to shrink the membranes in your wallet.

Bob

I am so happy that others out there don't watch TV! Everyone looks at me like an alien when they say, "have you seen that commercial..." and I say "I don't watch TV." The Time Warner cable gal who was trying to sell me some cable that gets you soooo many shows didn't understand the first two times I told her. I occasionally watch movies, but with this great weather, I plan to spend the time outside!
Chris

People honestly think "I don't watch TV" means "I don't watch much TV." I'll get a question about a show or commercial, answer with "I don't watch TV" and get "oh me either, I just watch X on Tuesday and Y on Friday, and sometimes..." Yeah. They don't get it.

Yup, everyone is addicted to their favorite drama - or reality show. I know I used to be. X Files, Ally McBeal come to mind. Good old Ally, the heroine of the show looking like a rail in short skirts, hum...

I was never "big" into TV because my folks rarely watched it (my mom is trying to break her CNN habit because I've told her how watching news at their house has a huge negative impact on me).

People certainly raise their eyebrows when I say I don't have cable (no, not even basic). I told someone that I didn't know how to turn my TV to TV (it's on whatever setting lets you watch movies), and they didn't believe me. Pretty funny stuff...