Yeah...food is WAY too cheap and people are WAY too stupid.

Time for the government to step in ... say a 50% tax on all processed food with the money going to Washington where upon they will immediately institute a program of mandatory medical checkups and legal sanctions against those that exceed the BMI. And a Czar of Nutrition that will pass/fail all restaurant entries.

Oh..and ban the Food Channel.

Time to levy jail time on Wolfgang Puck and Ronald McDonald.

That's the ticket.

Mange Bene.

Darleen -

Except, that's not what I'm advocating, so I'm unsure what invisible (yes, that's right, he's invisible!) strawman you're arguing against, or for, whatever. I'm just pointing out that the food lobby does not have your best interests at heart.

Simple education would be fine. A short course on the finite "bank account" of insulin receptor function would be pretty helpful in causing smart folks to moderate their sit-downs at the "heapin helpin pasta bar" at the Olive Garden.

Of course, the stupid folks may never listen ... but screw 'em, they're stupid.

So, what's for lunch? I'm hungry.

As everybody knows, Bill, no particular kind of food induces ill-health from fatness. Well, OK, lard. I'll give you lard. Italians eat all sorts of fats and...pastas! Yet they are pretty healthy as a group. So on with pretty much every non-malnourished society.

That begs the question as to why the main problem is Americans, Canadians, and Brits.

The answer: speaking English.

I propose that, if we all stopped speaking English, all the crappy-food-related deaths would drop 80%.

Only problem: what language to we switch to?

I propose German, Italian, or Latin. German, as it is pretty damn close linguistically to English; Italian, so we could eat all the pasta we want; or Latin, as that would just be cool.

no particular kind of food induces ill-health from fatness.

Sure it does. Anything with sugar, to start.

I wanted to come back to your statement about supermarkets, that 80% of the stuff in them is crap. Best advice I ever got was to only eat stuff from the outside wall -- produce case, meat case, dairy case. Deli case for finger-food snacks.

I still can't lay off the Del Monte Blue Lake cut green beans or their kernel corn in the winter time, though. Tortillas and sourdough have been known to find their way into my cart about once a month, too.

Of course, you've got to learn to love raw vegetables if you want some crunch in your life.

That outer wall advice is pretty good.

Bill

I was engaging in a bit of sarcasm

and you must know I'm not really creating a strawman argument because there have arguments to slap extra taxes or "regulate" the food industry ala the tobacco industry for some time.

The rise of obesity in children is multifaceted, including the dearth of stay-at-home-moms, gutting of school phys-ed programs and rise of technology (why ride a bike or roller skate when one can stay inside waiting for a parent to get home and play with Playstation or Xbox).

It's easy to demonize Ronald McDonald, especially in a culture that tends to eschew personal responsibility, but it's wrong.

Now Darleen -

Let me ask you a serious hypothetical -

1. if McDonald's were to sprinkle diluted Comet drain cleaner on their food for coloring - not in a deadly amount - would it be fair to "demonize Ronald McDonald?"

... and then an outright question:

2. Is it wise for a series of restaurants to be politicizing and offering their own sweeping judgment on health advice - for their financial interest - based on one flawed, large-scale epidemiological study put out by the govt? Advice that still flies in the face of mountains of other more highly specific and relevant studies?

The National Sugar and Fat Council has determined Americans are not getting enough sugar and fat. Please increase your intake of these important nutrients.

Thank you, that is all.

Bill

1) if any food producer is adulterating their product with a non-food item and not disclosing thus, then obviously they can be demonized because they are not being honest

2) Live by the study, die by the study ... The Food nannies have no problems getting column inches and evening news time to breathlessly report that any yummy bits that give you the least amount of pleasure is BAD BAD EVIL, step away from the alfredo! I'm merely amused that suddenly studies that don't reinforce the food nannies are being "wrongly" used by the sworn enemies of a life dedicated exclusively to brownrice and steamed organic brocolli.

"no particular kind of food induces ill-health from fatness.

Sure it does. Anything with sugar, to start."

Anything? So you mean just about every fruit and vegetable? Yah, eating a lot of ANYTHING will make you fat, but I think you are taking that a little to far...

But I do get where you were going with that. Although I think your Olive Garden reference was a bit flawed. I don't think the real problem is the carbs themselves - it is the form they come in. And I will go with you on the whole sugars thing - as far as the sweets are concerned. All thems sodas and candys ain't no good, ya hear? Although I will have as much of those as I want, when I want - no damn government is going to tell me what I can and can't eat, nor my kids (when that time comes). Those are my own responsiblity. If I become a fat tub of lard (which I won't - I AM responsible for myself, after all), that is my fault, and I will have to deal with it.

As for stuff in schools, that is the perogative of the school. I don't see why people get all messed up about having or not having vending machines in schools, or whatever else. If you don't like your kids getting that crap, don't give them the money to spend. And if you don't like what is provided by school lunches, make the damn lunches yourself. Take some responsibility for you kids, damnit!

Oh, and where did you get this "finite "bank account" of insulin receptor function" from? This is the FIRST time I have ever heard about this. If it is true, it seems to be a negative evolutionary trait.

Royal Family -

No time to address your whole comment here, but ...

Anything? So you mean just about every fruit and vegetable? Yah, eating a lot of ANYTHING will make you fat, but I think you are taking that a little to far...

No I'm not - sucrose (table sugar) has no nutritional value and universally deleterious consequences, even in modest amounts. Fructose (the sugar found in fruit) has no intrinsic nutritional value, but the fruit does, and it is metabolized differently than table sugar in the body, thus spiking insulin and cross-linking proteins less. That being said, too much fruit can be bad for you.

Oh, and where did you get this "finite "bank account" of insulin receptor function" from? This is the FIRST time I have ever heard about this.

It's an analogy that I'm making. We all have "bank accounts," finite resources of cellular division, DNA repair, proper insulin function, and the quickest way to wear out your insulin pathways is to eat crap, specifically sugar. Hence the rash of 9 year-olds with Type II Diabetes, a disease that used to only be seen in folks over 45. They are wearing out on that sugar, a large portion of which they get in those vending machines. By the time I was 10, I was getting money from a variety of sources that my parents knew nothing about, btw.

No reason for soda machines in school, except to make the school board money. These aren't adults making health choices, these are kids. Libertarianism doesn't typically extend to minors.

I also believe that much of the food found in regular supermarkets is just loaded with junk... tons of chemicals, artificial colorings, preservatives, etc. No wonder so many people are getting cancer nowadays. That is the reason why I have been involved with promoting good whole foods at companies such as www.MannaHarvest.net. With around 8000 products, you can find foods with whole grains, natural ingredients, etc. There is a better way!