You should be angry at corporate food companies.

Manipulated, not chosen.

“If you're making a decision based on lies, is that really a free choice?”

Ultra-processed food isn't just food - it's engineered. Companies hire scientists to pinpoint the 'bliss point' of salt, sugar, and fat, maximizing addictiveness.

Aggressive advertising, especially targeting children, bypasses rational thought. Misleading health claims and funded 'junk science' obscure the real consequences.

Sound familiar? It's the Big Tobacco playbook. We know they lied. Now, look at Big Food.

The Playbook Transfer: When Big Tobacco Bought Big Food

The "Big Tobacco playbook" wasn't just inspiration - it was often implemented by the *same companies*. During the 1980s, tobacco giants, facing declining smoking rates and seeking growth, bought major American food corporations:

This ownership meant expertise in marketing, lobbying, and potentially even the science of addiction and flavor optimization honed in the tobacco industry could be directly applied to processed foods, shaping the products that filled supermarket shelves.

The System is Already Rigged (Against You).

“We subsidize junk food and let it flood communities. That's not freedom—that's corporate welfare.”

Government *already* intervenes heavily in our food system, but often on behalf of industry, not public health.

• Subsidies for corn and sugar make processed ingredients artificially cheap.
• Food Deserts: Low-income communities are often saturated with fast food and lack access to affordable fresh alternatives.
• Lobbying ensures processed products dominate school lunches and SNAP benefits.

The real question isn't *whether* we intervene, but *who* we intervene for—your health, or their profit?

It's Not Food, It's Slow Poison.

“You should be furious, not about regulation—but about what they've gotten away with.”

This isn't about an occasional treat. Ultra-processed foods are fundamentally different - engineered to drive overconsumption and cause metabolic dysfunction.

We're talking about chronic, low-grade poisoning leading to epidemics of obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and more - 'diseases of civilization' that barely existed a century ago.

The cost? Your health, your energy, your lifespan. And society pays over $200 Billion annually in preventable healthcare costs in the U.S. alone.

Déjà Vu? We've Seen This Movie Before.

The arguments defending ultra-processed foods echo defenses of industries that caused massive, preventable harm:

• Cigarettes: "It's my choice!" → Decades of lies about addiction & cancer.
• Leaded Gasoline: "No conclusive proof!" → Neurological damage, lowered IQs.
• Asbestos: "Perfectly safe!" → Lung cancer epidemic.
• Climate Change Denial: "Natural cycles!" → Global crisis.

The playbook is consistent: Deny the harm. Fund doubt. Lobby against regulation. Delay action while profits roll in.

They're Targeting Our Kids.

Children are the primary target and the most vulnerable. They lack the capacity for truly informed consent against sophisticated marketing and addictive food science.

1 in 5 U.S. kids is obese before age 12.

They're developing fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes - conditions once seen only in adults - before they can even vote.

Protecting yourself is important. Protecting the next generation from being physically and metabolically shaped by predatory industries is critical.

What is Freedom Without Health?

The "freedom to choose" argument rings hollow when those choices lead to debilitating illness.

Is it freedom to be bedridden by preventable disease at 55? To lose mobility due to diabetes? To live a shorter, sicker life?

Pushing back against the flood of ultra-processed food isn't about taking away freedom - it's about preserving the possibility of a long, healthy, truly free life.