Like the tobacco industry, the food industry has a problem. So does the diet industry. Both of them would rather have their customers believe that we’re the ones with the problem—we’re too weak willed to control our appetites and refuse to take responsibility for our weight. So far, the companies have done a good job at selling that message. It’s a clever way to distract us from their problem, which is that they need to persuade individuals to buy their products, but they can’t afford to admit where the profits lie in the industry. How many people would sign up for a diet program or buy a weight-loss book if they knew that the business model depends on repeat customers who come back after they’ve regained the weight they lost the previous time? Who would feel good about buying their family a nice snack of Hyperprocessed Heart-Attack Crisps if the package were labeled accurately? Yet diet plans don’t make money by making people permanently thin, and food companies don’t make money by selling crunchy fresh apples.

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