Prince Charles: Ban the Big Mac (1 Viewer)

[Squeezebox]

And, I think everyone in New Orleans over the age of 25 is fat:

 

[TPS]

>>And, I think everyone in New Orleans over the age of 25 is fat:

ThinkagainPS

 

[kevin from buffalo]

7 pages..this reminds me of that napolean Dynamo movie thread.

What i think is this..people over think and worry to much. some folks are decicated to their spouses but could care less about their intake..as others indulge in alcohol,tabbaco products and wine and dine women that they didn't meet at the alter. but yet we have folks that observe their vows but let their bad intake of american fast food chains consume them

i think we all have vices.

also-i believe in this..when the big man in the sky pulls up your dog tag #...there is nothing you can do about that.

i believe in destiny and if hamburgers and french fries are a main source of death and killing in america...A. i don't believe it B.all the power to the consumer as long as he or she doesn't suffer.

I'm not suggesting that anyone should sit in a astrovan of a fast food parking lot monday thru sunday morning noon and night..but we have to pleasure ourselves in some way shape or form..

for some people its food...bad food

 

[Squeezebox]

7 pages..this reminds me of that napolean Dynamo movie thread.

What i think is this..people over think and worry to much. some folks are decicated to their spouses but could care less about their intake..as others indulge in alcohol,tabbaco products and wine and dine women that they didn't meet at the alter. but yet we have folks that observe their vows but let their bad intake of american fast food chains consume them

i think we all have vices.

also-i believe in this..when the big man in the sky pulls up your dog tag #...there is nothing you can do about that.

i believe in destiny and if hamburgers and french fries are a main source of death and killing in america...A. i don't believe it B.all the power to the consumer as long as he or she doesn't suffer.

I'm not suggesting that anyone should sit in a astrovan of a fast food parking lot monday thru sunday morning noon and night..but we have to pleasure ourselves in some way shape or form..

for some people its food...bad food

I don't know whether or not I agree with you, and I won't even bother as none of what you said applies to this discussion. Once again, we're not talking about the types of food you eat. We're talking about the harmful artificial substances that are in the foods you eat. It is quite possible to eat a giant hamburger loaded with cheese and bacon and whatever you want on it with a large box of fries and a giant Coke without consuming a gram of trans fatty acid or high fructose corn syrup.

 

[Wombat]

J. Eric Oliver, among others, disputes the claims of an obesity epidemic. "Undoubtedly, we are gaining weight, but it's another thing to call this an obesity epidemic," said the University of Chicago political science professor and former health policy scholar at Yale.

Oliver said the basis for measuring obesity, the BMI tables, is flawed. The Body Mass Index is the weight of a person relative to their height.

An athlete may be overweight based on the BMI tables, but that weight is due to muscle mass and not necessarily body fat, Oliver argues in his book, "Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic."

"The BMI tables are the predominant measure because it is easy to conduct epidemiological studies by calling someone on the phone and asking them how tall they are and how much they weigh," he said. "It is so much easier to measure [that] than things like diet, exercise, family history or another measure.

Oliver suggests in his book that the talk of an obesity epidemic is driven in part by the diet and pharmaceutical industries, and a subconscious discrimination in society against fatness.

 

[Squeezebox]

J. Eric Oliver, among others, disputes the claims of an obesity epidemic. "Undoubtedly, we are gaining weight, but it's another thing to call this an obesity epidemic," said the University of Chicago political science professor and former health policy scholar at Yale.

Oliver said the basis for measuring obesity, the BMI tables, is flawed. The Body Mass Index is the weight of a person relative to their height.

An athlete may be overweight based on the BMI tables, but that weight is due to muscle mass and not necessarily body fat, Oliver argues in his book, "Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic."

"The BMI tables are the predominant measure because it is easy to conduct epidemiological studies by calling someone on the phone and asking them how tall they are and how much they weigh," he said. "It is so much easier to measure [that] than things like diet, exercise, family history or another measure.

Oliver suggests in his book that the talk of an obesity epidemic is driven in part by the diet and pharmaceutical industries, and a subconscious discrimination in society against fatness.

 

[Dre]

TPS is quite prescient with the arguments he presented earlier, for as the government takes a bigger role in health spending, it is going to have much more interest in the size/health of its people. If we go down a route of more access to health care (which is something that will be happening in our lifetimes, almost no doubt), I cannot imagine the government NOT being THE major provider. This is mostly speculation, but the govt will be more involved (and it is already quite involved), IMHO. And when the government gets more involved with providing, you can sure bet it is going to do what it can to limit costs...and that will include more decision-making for us (again, think taxes on cigarettes, requiring motorcycle helmets), etc

That obesityinamerica.org site is rather eye-opening, but one big paradox there is osteoarthritis, ranked number 2 in cost. Obese people get arthritis, but so do the athletes from the constant pounding on joints...the cure and disease cause the same problem...go figure. (this doesnt really add much to the discussion, but I found it interesting)

That said, I dont like the idea of the government dictating what we eat, but we can definitely expect more of this; for as TPS pointed out the government does have an interest in our body habitus. And that interest will get bigger and bigger as the govt becomes more and more of a provider.

 

[TPS]

Good post Dre.

Wombat,

That guy's work seems almost intentionally contrary. Have you been out lately? Been in an office building? The grocery store? Wal-Mart? There's no way that this country isn't getting fatter and fatter. I was aghast back in 1997 or 1998 when I heard that the average woman's size in 5 years would be a 16. A freaking 16!!!! (Consider that my wife at the time was in 0's, 1's, or 2's depending on the clothes maker). 16 isn't even super fat, but it's big just the same. Where we're mortgaging our future is in childhood obesity. There's no disputing that either. Kids are far more sedentary and/or involved with indoor activies than they were when I was a kid. The last thing I wanted to do ever was stay inside. And that went for me and all my friends too. None of us in that neighborhood was remotely overweight.

According to Wonderquest (not the pharm industry or diet industry):

In 2002, the average woman in America is 5' 3.7" and weighs 152 pounds (that's about 12 less than I do and I'm 5'11").

But get this, they updated their findings in 2007 and the average woman's weight has increased 11 pounds to 163.

http://www.wonderquest.com/size-women-memory.htm

Cotton incorporated states that 40% of women in the country are sized 14 or larger (apparently much larger if we have achieved a median size 16).

http://www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=356

^^Note, also not the diet or pharmaceutical industries.

You may also check the University of Minnesota for an excellent article on how we got this way (note, also not diet/pharm industries).

http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/Supersizing_America.html

TPSvelt

 

[Shawn]

J. Eric Oliver, among others, disputes the claims of an obesity epidemic. "Undoubtedly, we are gaining weight, but it's another thing to call this an obesity epidemic," said the University of Chicago political science professor and former health policy scholar at Yale.

Oliver said the basis for measuring obesity, the BMI tables, is flawed. The Body Mass Index is the weight of a person relative to their height.

An athlete may be overweight based on the BMI tables, but that weight is due to muscle mass and not necessarily body fat, Oliver argues in his book, "Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic."

"The BMI tables are the predominant measure because it is easy to conduct epidemiological studies by calling someone on the phone and asking them how tall they are and how much they weigh," he said. "It is so much easier to measure [that] than things like diet, exercise, family history or another measure.

Oliver suggests in his book that the talk of an obesity epidemic is driven in part by the diet and pharmaceutical industries, and a subconscious discrimination in society against fatness.

I know this argument, and while the links I provided center mostly around the BMI tables, there's plenty of other data out there to support the claim, not only about obesity, but about the general decline of the health of Americans. Look at rates of diabetes, and especially the rates of obesity and diabetes in children.

Even anecdotally, I can tell you that in New Orleans and the south in general--people are much fatter than they were when I was a kid. When I travel to Alabama to see my extended family, I'm honestly astonished at how unbelievably fat almost everyone is. A trip to the mall is like going to a fat farm. Again, it wasn't like that at all during the 70's or even into the 80's.

 

[Dre]

While the BMI system is certainly flawed (thanks to athletes being "morbidly obese"), it does work well for about 99% of people. While it would make sense superficially for the pharmacuetical industry to drive the talk of the obesity epidemic, they really are the ones who gain the most from people being obese (again check out that obesityinamerica.org site). Then again, they probably know most of us will ultimately fail AFTER trying the new products. So perhaps their thought process is to doubly win.

FYI everyone WeightWatchers is the only diet program that works (I am talking long-term).

 

[rob021275]

Prince Charles,

You are absolutely correct. Please ban the Big Mac and everything else McDonald's sells.

Sincerely,
The Triple Whopper, The Wendy's Triple with Cheese and Bacon, and the 1400 calorie burger from Jack in the Box

 

[kevin from buffalo]

I don't know whether or not I agree with you, and I won't even bother as none of what you said applies to this discussion. Once again, we're not talking about the types of food you eat. We're talking about the harmful artificial substances that are in the foods you eat. It is quite possible to eat a giant hamburger loaded with cheese and bacon and whatever you want on it with a large box of fries and a giant Coke without consuming a gram of trans fatty acid or high fructose corn syrup.

So this has nothing to do with wisconsin or cheese(s)? For some reason..ahh for get it.

but i saw you mention cheese..so this thread is not "jacked"?

 

[kevin from buffalo]

I don't know whether or not I agree with you, and I won't even bother as none of what you said applies to this discussion.

you sound like my wife-

her:"Kevin,get up..you' ve been asleep for a full day ,almost"
me-"what the hell are we in ireland again"?