America's #1 Killer Drug!

[Rosy Cheeks]

I still don't think employers should charge overweight people more for insurance... WTF?

I kind of agree, treating one group of people in society differently than the rest kind of smells apartheid.
Then again, all statistics show these people will 'cost' more money, so it falls within the logic of the capitalist society.
Young drivers generally pay more car insurance than older drivers, because statistically they crash their cars more often.
Same thing.
You generally get charged extra for excess luggage on an airplane, equally some airline companies charge extra for someone with an extra 100 Lbs on his/her ass.
Same thing.

A few more facts to concider before you eat yourself to death:

Every year 15 million children in the world die of hunger.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1/3 of the world population is well-fed, 1/3 is under-fed while 1/3 is starving.

Not only do we eat too much in the rich, industrialized societies, we process healthy foodstuff into unhealthy, energy consuming foodstuff.
An example; in order to produce 33cl of Coca Cola, the production process uses 1 liter of water. This might not mean much where fresh water is abundant, but in countries like India or China, where fresh water is scarce, it is an incredible waste of resources. Nevertheless, the Coca Cola company is so wealthy and influential that they can outbid Indian farmers for water resources, causing failing food crops in certain provinces.

Just something to think about next time you gulp down a coke.

 

[JJScorpio]

I know I feel a lot better being a little hungry than I do full.

I try to limit the fast food we eat to once a month. I know kids love it but it is one of the worst habits a parent can teach their children. Just the aftertaste after eating a cheeseburger is enough to make me sick......Good thread Rosy.....

 

[fr33th3w33d]

high fructose corn syrup anyone?

 

[marx2k]

partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, anyone?

Yeah, I used to eat.. a lot. I used to drink 2+ liters of coca cola a day. I used to smoke a pack a day. I used to do nothing but play videogames all day.

Not surprisingly, I ended up being 5'10" and 245.

Paradoxically, it was only when I started smoking mj for real when I was like 25 or so, is when I took a long hard look at myself and decided something needed to be done.

I quit smoking after something like 13 years of pack-a-day, I quit the fast food and I stopped drinking soda. Shrank down to 165 within a year. Now I'm up to about 180 but I stopped exercising as much since other aspects of my life have gotten very time consuming.

But yeah.. food'll kill ya just like anything else if you overdo it.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

More BBQ?

http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/americas_most_obese_cities.html

America's Most Obese Cities

By Rebecca Ruiz, Forbes.com
Nov. 14, 2007

We are heavier than ever.

Once considered an affliction of the lazy and indulgent, obesity now affects about one-third of Americans. The epidemic has swept up the wealthy, middle class and the poor; city dwellers, suburbanites and those in rural areas; and people of all races and ethnicities.

The causes, researchers say, are numerous. These include a diet of calorie-dense but nutrient-deficient food found in grocery and convenience stores, public planning strategies that favor motorists over walkers and cyclists, and simply bad habits.

And while the causes are many, the costs are enormous. Obesity's associated costs add $93 billion to the nation's medical bill annually. Each year, 112,000 people die from obesity-related causes, and the condition is responsible for an increased risk of chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

To better understand the local and state implications of the obesity epidemic, we ranked the nation's heaviest cities. In doing so, we discovered states with multiple offenders, metropolitan areas with expanding waistlines and a high representation of Southern cities. Worse yet, after claiming the title of the most sedentary city, Memphis, Tenn., has also ranked first as the country's most obese.

Behind the numbers

To determine which cities were the most obese, we looked at 2006 data on body mass index, or BMI, collected by the Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which conducts phone interviews with residents of metropolitan areas about health issues, including obesity, diabetes and exercise.

In this case, participants report their height and weight, which survey analysts use to calculate a BMI. Those with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 are considered at a healthy weight, those with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight, and those with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese. About 32 percent of the nation is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control; Memphis ranked above the national average at 34 percent.

Though data is collected for roughly 145 metropolitan statistical areas, we looked only at the country's 50 most populated cities and ranked the top 20. Because of an insufficient number of survey responses, data from some cities, including Sacramento, Calif., Columbus, Ohio, and Buffalo, N.Y., was not included. Had we included every area on the list, the smaller cities of Huntington, W.V., and Ashland, Ohio, on the West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio state borders, would have far outpaced every city on the list with obesity rates of 45 percent. Of the 50 cities we did rank, Boston entered last, with only 19 percent.

Noticeable Trends

Many of the cities on the list have high poverty rates and high frequencies of fast-food consumption.

In the city of Memphis, which does not include the outlying areas surveyed by the CDC, 24 percent of residents live below the poverty line. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the national average is 13 percent. The same trend was noticeable in the cities of Milwaukee (No. 17), Detroit (No. 5), and San Antonio, Texas, (No. 3) where 26 percent, 33 percent, and 18 percent of residents, respectively, live beneath the poverty line.

While fast-food consumption is a minor factor influencing obesity rates, purchasing patterns often reflect larger health issues and habits in certain communities. The average American had purchased fast food 16 days of the month between January and September of this year, according to Quick-Track research conducted by the consumer tracking group Sandelman & Associates. Thirteen cities on our list, including Memphis, Austin, Texas, and Indianapolis, met the national average or higher. Residents of San Antonio eat fast food 20 days of the month, and had the highest frequency of the cities on our list.

The Causes

Despite public health warnings about maintaining a frequent exercise regimen, limiting fast-food consumption and avoiding weight gain, there is no single cause of obesity, a fact that often frustrates experts, legislators - and obese people.

Other factors contributing to our ballooning waistlines, says Marian Levy, director of the master's of public health program at the University of Memphis, include enormous food portions, declining exercise rates and cheaper, unhealthy food. When asked about Memphis, however, Levy emphasizes a local culture built around Southern hospitality.

"We express our caring about people through food," she says, describing generous helpings of fried fish, chicken and okra often shared with neighbors and friends. "We have to realize that if we truly care about people, we want them to be healthful."

In Memphis, as in other cities on our list, reversing the obesity crisis can seem like trying to plug a thousand holes in a sinking ship. Public health campaigns are a start. Healthy Memphis Common Table, a nonprofit organization trying to promote better fitness and nutrition choices, provides residents with a list of exercise facilities and walking paths in addition to health tips and testimonials about the benefits of weight loss.

Another tactic, notes Levy, is vending machine legislation that will require schools pre-K through eighth grade to replace unhealthy foods and beverages in vending machines, on school store shelves, at fundraisers and a la carte cafeteria items with more nutritious alternatives. She hopes the legislation, which is being implemented for the current school year, will improve the diets of Memphis-area school children, 71 percent of whom receive a free lunch from school cafeterias.

Still, "there's not going to be a silver bullet," Levy says. "There has to be a simultaneous change at the environmental level, in schools, communities and families."

The Solutions

It's that community-wide change in lifestyle that experts say will result in fewer cases of obesity.

"You see cities taking this on in a range of different ways," says Leon Andrews, the project director of the Institute for Youth, Education and Families at the National League of Cities. Andrews is currently overseeing a one-year project in which six cities, including our third most obese, San Antonio, receive assistance in combating childhood obesity and promoting community wellness.

Andrews identified five ways cities could specifically address childhood obesity, as well as larger community health issues. These included improving public space and utilizing parks and recreation areas to encourage physical activity, as well as pursuing healthy food alternatives through community gardens and farmer's markets.

"More cities are becoming aware of [obesity] and looking to play a role in improving the situation," Andrews says. He also pointed out that city leaders often preferred to follow a successful example as opposed to chart a new course: "They definitely want to be the second, but may not want to be the first," he says. Regardless, it's clear that rising rates of childhood obesity - 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 12 to 19 are overweight - has prompted cities like Birmingham, Ala., San Diego and Richmond, Va., all on our list, to become more proactive in terms of obesity prevention.

Others, such as Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, believe our salvation lies mainly in ridding the grocery store of food he calls "not fit for human consumption." Among the items he would like to see purged, he says, are the "shelves of sugar water, the breakfast cereal section, dominated by refined starch and sugar, and white bread and rolls."

According to Willett, a healthier diet, in combination with increased levels of physical activity and environments that promote exercise, would drastically improve the country's obesity problem. "If we do this right," he says, "we'll improve our quality of life in many different ways."

 

[EatCannabisRaw]

the french eat all sorts of rich fattening foods and even sweets. but they eat smaller portions...and walk everywhere.

so the exercise, combined with the smaller portions, of high quality rich foods and wine... works for them.

americans eat tons of junk
-and- don't exercise
so they have NOTHING working for them

(im not from france but that is what i've read)

ps - i currently do not eat any cooked diary...only raw grass-fed diary products if i can find them. also i dont eat gluten.

what i really love is raw meat. wow... i guess its a bit dangerous maybe but it gives you a great feeling

 

[THCV]

american obesity is due to cheap oil--always drive, never walk--and cheap, subsidized corn, which is used as feed for mass produced unhealthy meats, high fructose corn syrup for sugar in soft drinks and everything else, and the inflammatory omega-6 fat that is corn oil and its solid partially-hydrogenated sibling. raise the price of corn and raise the price of oil and i think obesity will be in decline. Both of these things are happening due to peak oil. Oil demand is up but supply is flat so price is way up almost $100/barrel. Corn ethanol (to supposedly help the oil issue) has caused the price of all things corn to go up. When people have to walk or bike more rather than drive and the junk food costs the same as healthy foods, we'll see big changes in obesity. No govt intervention necessary.

Then a few years after that, there might be famines that help get everyone down to fighting weight...

 

[fr33th3w33d]

i bet if every obese person went on a diet, the food they cut out would be enough to feed ethiopia 3x over.

just one more reason the world hates america.

 

[HotCha]

just one more reason the world hates america.

Jesus Christ! Everyone needs to get over it. I pity any loser on their moral high-horse hating people from another country for whatever reason. I don't hate other people anywhere, I'm evolved enough to realize that the vast majority of people in this world are just doing their best with the hand they've been dealt. Nobody gets to choose where they're born, and nobody is in the right for hating others. So **** that and **** anybody who would choose to hate me without knowing me, they're the ones with the problem.

/rant off

Back to the topic, Rosy, what's the solution? They punish parents for having thin, malnourished children, aren't obese children equally malnourished? There's no quick fix, do you think awareness is growing? Will our food culture get worse before it gets better? It seems to me that it's easier than ever to make good choices about food.

 

[Wiimote]

As a parent, it is getting near impossible to make good choices for your kids. The school fights everything I do for my kids (food-wise). For example, I have 2 boys, both VERY muscular for thier ages and size. One has a six pack (actually almost an 8 pack) and the other (younger) has just enough fat in his body that his stomach is flat. Both are very athletic, both are stars on thier respective sports teams, both are the fastest and strongest of thier class, but according to the BMI tests the school does, are considered borderline obese.

My sons were both pulled aside (along with every other "at risk" child) and told that they should have their parents buy preprepared "DIET" meals (with a recommendation on which brand to buy of course). Also they were told that if their parents did not comply, they could be "in trouble" for child endangerment. After this little "class" each child was interviewed by a "health professional" and a child psychologist to guage how likely it was for the parents to make these recommended changes. Both of my boys told them flat out that they did not think their Dad (me) would change their diet in any way, let alone buying specialized preprepared meals.

I then received a note from the school to come down and discuss some "issues" that had arisen. I went to the school and they had the principle, the health teacher, phys ed teacher and school dietician talk to me. Using a homework assignment my kids had (list every meal and snack for a month) the school said they were very concerned about my kids and thier weight. The principal then brought out the "homework" and had the dietician cross off all the foods that I had served that they considered unhealthy (which was mostly pasta dishes, heavy meat meals, and our weekly out for dinner night). Once I explained to them that ALL of the foods that my children ate were prepared by me (except for the weekly night out) using fresh, organically produced foods, and had no "chemicals" added (no aspartame, very little if any additional salt, no corn syrup, etc) the principal, health teacher and phys ed teacher all agreed that my kids diet was fine, but they recommended they at least 30 mins of exercise daily. I then mentioned the various sports they participate in, all of which are at least 2-3 hour practices 5 nights a week (plus game/match days), not to mention my older son had just started weight training in his offseason, they relented and apologized for wasting my time.

Thats when the dietician spoke up. She said that I was endangering my kid's welfare because I refused to allow them to have diet foods, low cal foods, and low fat/fat free foods. Her point was that eating diet and low fat foods would allow my kids to eat the volume of food they wished, while limiting their weight gain. I asked her how feeding my kids chemicals in large amounts would be beneficial. She would not relent and said that her recommendation was to refer me to Children and Youth for proper "diet counselling". Thats was my last straw. I blew up and DEMANDED that she at least take a look at my kids, right then and there and point out what issues she sees with my children (everyone present except her knows my kids well). I have a very loud voice, and know how to use it, and the principal agreed to bring my kids into the office if I would quiet down. When my sons walked in, the dietician's jaw hit the floor. She IMMEDIATELY started back tracking and saying there must be some mistake as thier is no way these 2 boys are on her "watch" list (her words not mine). I proceeded to make her do a BMI calculation on my boys in the nurses office, she did and yes my boys are considered borderline by the chart my state uses for criteria. She then commented that she has never seen children that looked so fit and healthy, show such a high BMI. Being a smart ass (and a proud father) I had my oldest son (btw was 12 at the time) flex his arms for her and show her that he has high muscle density (due to being athletic) and that is what is throwing the BMI off for my kids. After it all was said and done, she said she was mistaken and that I would not be referred to Children and Youth, but that she still thinks my kids could benefit form eatting low fat and diet foods. As my last shot, I told her as soon as it grows in a field labled "low fat" or "diet" I would be happy to switch foods.

 

[TwoOhSix!]

^OMFG
I can't believe you had to deal with that bullshit!

 

[Wiimote]

It's normal for me. I'm one of those people with a large mouth, a big voice, and am very stubborn. I tend to piss a lot of people off. I have my views and it is rare that someone will change them. I can be convinced, but it takes a lot of logic, and even more time to do so. Just about 2 weeks before this incident, I had an "encounter" with my son's football coach (the phys ed teacher).

He wanted my son to start power lifting to help bulk up (for the JR high team the following year). My son is at a strange point in his growth, he has a football player's frame (very wide shoulders and hips), but a distance runners build (slim and dense but small muscles). I told the coach, in no uncertain terms, that my son would not start lifting weights in any serious fashion until he physically reached puberty. I showed the coach how almost all studies show that not only is prepubescent weight lifting a complete waste of time, (boys before puberty will put on very little muscle mass, although getting more definition is possible) but also can be very dangerous in regards to damaging the growth plates of his bones just as they were about to kick in and do thier thing. He did not like me pointing this out in front of the whole team and all of the parents (it was a team/parent meeting) as he was, for some unknown reason, convinced that I would be his biggest backer. I think this whole BMI thing was his way of getting back at me. I can't prove it, but people are very petty these days.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

Back to the topic, Rosy, what's the solution?

I don't have a solution, other than continuously inform people of the dangers of bad eating habits. Taxing junk food producers to death could be a solution, similar to what they do with Tobacco today. As long as a donut and a coke will be a cheaper meal than a tuna salad, the problem will be very persistant.

But as I already said, I posted this mainly to highlight the fact that a much more dangerous 'drug' than Cannabis is legal without any kind of restriction. In fact, the 'dealers' particularly target kids, and that seems to be okay since no legislation exist against it.
So we're talking about hypocricy in society of gigantic proportions.

Here's another take on eating. Starve and live longer. Yes, it's true!

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/071115_caloric.htm

Drastic diet may extend human life, study finds

Nov. 15, 2007
Special to World Science

Eating little may help people live longer, a study has found, offering support for an idea that has tantalized scientists for decades.

Researchers have long known that cutting animals’ food supply to near-starvation levels gives them—for reasons still un clear—longer lives and healthier old age. Studies have found that in humans, too, sharply reduced eating is associated with healthier aging, as long as nutritional balance is maintained.

Less food on the plate could mean a longer life, researchers say.

But whether this practice could actually lengthen our lives has remained uncertain.

Some scientists have argued that it’s doubtful, because humans already live unusually long. Only one small past study in humans offered weak evidence that people eating less lived longer, according to its authors, who were also involved in the new research.

The new study is the first to probe the claim by comparing human populations, wrote the American and Japanese scientists in a report on their findings.

More over, they added, it’s the first study that has shown extended average and maximum life span in a human population that is potentially due to reduced eating. The practice is known as caloric restriction.

The researchers studied residents of the Japanese is land of Okinawa, known through much of the last century both for exceptionally long-lived in habitants and for very spare, though balanced diets. The investigators said they found evidence that the two things are at least partially related.

Although that conclusion might seem obvious to some—given the past research—the scientists wrote that to reach it, they had to account for some factors that had hampered systematic analysis. For one, Okinawan diets have changed, be coming richer since about the end of the 1960s. Also, it wasn’t clear how to best assess historical dietary intake and compare it to that of other populations.

The findings, by Bradley Willcox of the Pacific Health Research Institute and John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu and colleagues, appear in the November issue of the research journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Animal tests have found that the extreme diet ing of caloric re striction entails cutting some 40 percent of calories to get the strongest life-extending ef fects. Animals placed on such regimens live up to 40 percent longer than normal, as long as the diet remains nutritionally balanced. (Some scientists propose—a gain based mostly on animal tests—that taking a substance called resveratrol may replicate caloric restriction’s benefits, without the unpleasantness.)

Willcox and colleagues found that at least from the mid-20th century through the 1960s, the Okinawan diet was about 11 per cent short of what would normally be recommended to main tain body weight. As of 1995, the average Okinawan lived about five years longer than the average American, and about 18 months more than the average Japanese.

The islanders’ spartan diets may have been a legacy of “periodic crop failures that occurred in Okinawa in the early 20th century and a long history of marginal food supply,” the researchers wrote.

The study had some weaknesses, they added; for instance, it couldn’t rule out that Okinawans lived longer be cause of the types of nutrients they ate, rather than the amount. Nonetheless, the “tentative” findings fit with a broader ray of animal studies, and point to a need for still more research, Willcox and colleagues wrote.

Isn't it rediculous to think of the astronomical amounts of money people in the western world spend on looking young, when all you have to do is eat right to stay young longer, and live longer?

 

[kdk-lotnar]

Plenty of bad shit around. Aspartame is fda approved, but it is poison, man. I think the japs use another natural sweetener in their drinks...