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Why are so many people fat and unhealthy


sunrat

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I know we try and steer clear of political comment and this kind of touches on it, but I think this is important to know. The USDA has policies aimed at helping farmers make money, not public health. They focus on subsidising crops such as soy and corn which are not very nutritious (and have serious downsides), and promoting genetically engineered foods is foolish in my, and many experts, opinion. GE is not allowed in Australia and many other countries.

Read the article - How the USDA Can Make or Break Public Health, and Why It Has Chosen the Latter

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, I can rant on this all night. The USDA's food pyramid has been killing Americans for decades now. Their idea of a balanced diet is loaded with high carbohydrate foods. The near pandemic of Type 2 Diabetes in this country is directly linked to Americans' addiction to high-carb foods (corn and soy included).

 

What's more, in order to actually eat healthy in this country, you must first be financially well-off. The poor in this country can only afford the cheapest foods (high carb content, of course). This is the only country in the entire world where the folks living in poverty are the fattest.

 

Don't believe me? Visit a Walmart on any Saturday afternoon. :(

 

Oh well... IIWII

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Guest LilBambi

If they sold real food for a decent price, and didn't push premade/instant crap and snacks, and HEAVILY sugar laced drinks, chemical crap in all our foods. Unless you grow it yourself or can afford more expensive foods and don't mind making everything yourself, you get antibiotics, chemicals, food colorings that are not safe, etc. etc.

 

We make all our own stuff these days. Except for the occasional cheese curls or potato chips, or oreo cookies. ;)

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Guest LilBambi

And don't get me started on HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and fillers and stretchers that they add in.

 

Chicken nuggets etc. that have very little real meat in them. And the list goes on....

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Simple answer, folks are lazy and greedy. There is enough dietary information around that is easily available these days and has been for some time so there is no excuse for not knowing what is good for you.There is also tons of information about living a healthy lifestyle. If folks decide to be couch potatoes and stuff themselves with fast foods and cheap booze then they have made a concious decision to do so.The fact that they will have a short and miserable life is entirely their own choice.

 

I do not know how it is anywhere else but here in the UK you can eat really well for not much loot as long as you are prepared to put a bit of effort in the kitchen.

 

B)

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securitybreach

Because this is Merica:

merica_cart_main.jpgMerica.jpg

 

All kidding aside, it is shameful how many overweight people we have in the US. The majority of people are overweight, at least in the Southern US.

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Guest LilBambi

Sadly there are no generalizations that speak for everyone in this regard.

 

Some folks drink too much soda, others eat on the road too much, others think because it's fructose it's OK, and the list goes on.

 

Some people are on prescription drugs or OTC pain killers that are killing their kidneys and livers.

 

Others have metabolism problems due to many different issues.

 

 

Others have bone (hip, knee, back) problems and have trouble walking distances.

 

Others like all the wrong stuff.

 

And yes, some are lazy and/or greedy...

 

As I say, the list goes on...and on.... and on....

Edited by LilBambi
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V.T. Eric Layton

I'm a fatass. I admit it. However, there's a healthy thin person inside me trying to get out. ;)

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I have been thinking about this "problem" for some years now .

 

I am heavily biased (no pun intended) towards the idea that obesity is related to depression and fear.

 

.Fear that comes as a throwback from the great depression ,especially the Oklahoma dust bowl etc. Will I eat tomorrow ??? Better really fill up today .Just in case.

 

Depression . Well I'll just have a packet of Nachos and a Hersey bar .Sugar hit. How about a Dr.Peppers. a few cans to top it off . Ah! no I'm hungry again I'll just get a hit with a family size chicken nuggets from crakponalds. And so it goes.

 

It's important not what you eat within reason . But how much.

 

It's good to have hungry pains before sitting down to eat . Chewing well and eating modestly improves one's sense of well being

 

We will never win this war on fat ,But a little dent in it will save lives that may be constructive and hence valuable to everyone.

 

GM may or may not be a good thing .Time will tell . In the meantime we are all guinea-pigs ..

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I know we try and steer clear of political comment and this kind of touches on it, but I think this is important to know. The USDA has policies aimed at helping farmers make money, not public health. They focus on subsidising crops such as soy and corn which are not very nutritious (and have serious downsides), and promoting genetically engineered foods is foolish in my, and many experts, opinion. GE is not allowed in Australia and many other countries.

Read the article - How the USDA Can Make or Break Public Health, and Why It Has Chosen the Latter

I believe the USDA chose the latter because they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of big business, in this case agribusiness. To avoid political comment, I won't say any more.

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I highly recommend those who wish to improve their health to subscribe to mercola.com newsletter. It comes every day and sometimes is an info overload, but I have turned my fattish, sluggish life around in 18 months with some of his advice on exercise and diet. I am now slim, have toned muscles and way more energy. Of course this is just as an adjunct to my health guru who is a holistic osteopath in an integrative health clinic. His advice and treatment is magic, with filtered advice from Dr. Mercola being icing on the cake.

Getting insanely addicted to playing Ingress has helped recently too. I've walked ~260km in the last 5 weeks! :o :thumbsup: B)

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I highly recommend those who wish to improve their health to subscribe to mercola.com newsletter. It comes every day and sometimes is an info overload, but I have turned my fattish, sluggish life around in 18 months with some of his advice on exercise and diet. I am now slim, have toned muscles and way more energy. Of course this is just as an adjunct to my health guru who is a holistic osteopath in an integrative health clinic. His advice and treatment is magic, with filtered advice from Dr. Mercola being icing on the cake.

Getting insanely addicted to playing Ingress has helped recently too. I've walked ~260km in the last 5 weeks! :o :thumbsup: B)

 

Grand effort. Look forward to a decent healthy life. Downside is it will cost you a load of loot for shoes :Laughing:

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Cluttermagnet

Great thread! Capt.Crow is right IMO regarding a whole lot of folks 'eating feelings'. Yep, dead on accurate. Worse is the effect of TV and later computers in producing a couple of generations of mesmerized, unfit, pliant couch potatos. But above all, our food supply is absolutely loaded with vile crap now. Sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup which is also, BTW, genetically modified pseudo-food. And so much other harmful stuff- especially all the refined carbs Eric mentions.

 

Sunrat's suggestion about mercola.com is absolutely dead on. A refreshing oasis of reasonably accurate and devastatingly truthful info about diet, health, exercise, etc. amidst a sea of lies. Let me also mention Mike Adams. Some may find him a bit over the top at times, he definitely sounds a wee bit conservative, and I don't always agree with him- but- his heart is in the right place and he puts out a great quantity of good, accurate health info on the web. Recommended. I get both Mercola's and Mike Adams' newsletters and read them quite often.

 

See the GMO giants fighting for their collective lives right now in the US. They desperately want to keep the American people ignorant of what unmitigated crap they are shoveling down their throats. Watch for a protracted lawsuit now that Vermont went on the books as requiring GMO disclosure. The evil giants know that if given a choice, folks will reject their vile crap, at least all but the poor, who haven't all that much of a say in the matter. Those folks are just trying to avoid starvation. This is not a fair fight. President Obama has appointed a number of these questionable folks to Cabinet positions in his administration. Yet I'm convinced that that sort of thing would only get way worse much faster under the other major American political party.

 

The west collectively has seen a number of things go wrong, chiefly the rise of the military- industrial complex that US President Dwight Eisenhower warned about in his parting speech. But the US is in particularly dire straits, being slowly sucked dry by some evil moneyed interests, soulless corporations like huge addicts, addicted to money and power. Our national diet in the US is attrocious because of the ascendency of these pigs. Their attitude: "...I've got mine, F everybody else."

 

Caveat emptor, hurrumph, and a hearty bah humbug!

Edited by Cluttermagnet
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Whoa there !! this little island is getting it in the neck really heavily at the moment. Whole families are chucked out on the street for falling down with heavy mortgages foisted on them by w bankers . Celtic Tiger syndrome in reverse. Taxes on taxes are hammered on the elderly.

Chronically ill children and others are having health aid rescinded mostly the very poor. who are already looking at empty cupboards ,with children to feed.

 

I am monkey sick of the way things have gotten. And frustratingly powerless to assist .

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V.T. Eric Layton

It's bad all over and getting worse.

 

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

 

I almost went off on a tirade there. Whoo! Saved by taking a deep breath and thinking of petunias instead.

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Kinda funny the way some topics suddenly do a ground-loop.

 

Now where were we.

.

Automatize anatomy

Alacrify autocracy

Abrogate banality

Be ready for the fools.

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In an effort to improve our overall health, my wife and I have been trying to stay away from processed foods and are trying to eat more vegetables and fruits, etc. You know what's really interesting? There are far less carbohydrates and sugars (aside from fructose) in our diet as a result. When we were very strict about our food intake, we were both shedding pounds. I think I dropped 20, and she dropped almost ten in a month.

 

Eat natural, folks. Not necessarily organic (that term has lost any real meaning recently), but whole, unprocessed foods. You'd be surprised at the result.

 

Adam

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Cluttermagnet

Right on, Adam. And some truth to what you say about 'organic'. Still, organic is a better choice, all things considered.

 

A little research on the mercola.com site or naturalnews.com will bring up valuable data on which fruits and vegetables

carry more of a toxic pesticide burden. Those ones in particular are the ones to target your organic purchasing to.

Or if money is no object, just go organic across the board. And hope not too many of your sources are cheats.

I'm sure some are. The term 'organic' got hijacked by the big corporations, as most of you already know. So yes,

'organic' doesn't mean as much as it used to.

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I do want to be clear- I am not a gung-ho organic foods person. As we said, the meaning of organic has largely lost its meaning, and is more of a buzz word than anything else.

 

We are just staying away from pre-made foods, HFCS, etc. We want to make our own dinners, and not just throw a Stouffer's lasagna in the oven for dinner. We have also been staying away (with less success) from wheat, corn, and rice, since those are high in carbohydrates. It's worked well in the past for us.

 

Adam

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I like organic food because I'm really leary of pesticides. Unfortunately, organic food is much more expensive then "ordinary" food, so most of the time I give up organic in favor of being able to eat something, even something with pesticides.

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By avoiding processed foods, regardless of the other nutritional properties, you're probably avoiding a lot of excess sodium.

That could account for a significant part of your weight loss. You're not retaining as much water....

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That is part of it, for sure. When on a low carb or keto diet, one has to make sure to get enough water, more so than normally.

 

Adam

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V.T. Eric Layton

Pesticides are great! Where would the world be without Paraquat and Agent Orange.? Remember the motto of the folks spraying AO all over Vietnam... "Only YOU can prevent forests." ;)

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Heh... in most cases, the amounts you will get in the food are pretty low.

It's the glyphosate (Roundup) you have to worry about. Recent tests show it not to be as innocuous as Monsanto make out, in fact it may be more toxic to humans than DDT.

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V.T. Eric Layton

Temmu! You're killing me, man. I almost got a hernia laughing at that one. :hysterical:

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