Private food rating systems are quietly shaping what we think is “healthy” — and they’re doing it based on rules they set themselves. Rules that are often biased, subjective, and completely out of context.
Let’s take ice cream as an example.
A high-protein ice cream made with whey and a low-calorie sugar alternative gets an A rating.
Regular ice cream? C rating.
Now, here’s the problem. Ice cream is a dessert. Its job is to make you happy, not to ace a nutrition exam. But suddenly, thanks to these ratings, all the “underperforming” ice creams are being terminated for poor performance — as if they were bad employees.
It’s like expecting a chocolate cake to pass a sugar-free, keto, high-protein compliance check. That’s not its job description.
From a health perspective, sure — most ice creams won’t compete with a protein bar. But should they?
Pitting them against each other is like making a sprinter compete with a chess grandmaster. Wrong race. Wrong rules.
Here’s the takeaway:
Let desserts be desserts. Let protein bars be protein bars. And let’s stop firing ice cream for not being a fitness influencer.
