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If you needed another reason to dislike your government


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Why is it that after centuries of being staples in our diet, sugar and salt and butter and red meat and fried foods are now bad for us. Enjoying delicious food is one of life's great pleasures. If obesity is a problem, food is not the culprit, glulttony is.  Parents need to stop using food as a tranquilizer and adults need to realize the importance of exercising moderation when it comes to eating. I do hate the big corporations who manipulate our habits but I also question the what "studies show" and "tests prove" and "surveys indicate" shills who perpetuate fads and spout recommendations that change from year to year. (Like computer industry giants that put out products that are obsolete after a few months.)  

 

The diet industry and food police and fitness zealots are just as suspect in their crusade to dictate what people put in their mouths and do with their bodies. Every sector has an ulterior motive and money is the bottom line. Even the medical community has its price when it comes to public positions.  The food industry impacts on so many areas of our lives that putting it out of business could add to the economic woes of this country,   :huh:  

 

Admittedly I am prejudiced because I am an old woman set in her ways and I like to eat what I have a taste for. I particularly like to scoff at the "experts", and when I look around me I don't see a lot of fat kids. Or do I personally know anyone who is morbidly obese.  Recently I heard a report that senior citizens who are slightly over weight fare better than thin ones who are underweight. Of course,  this resonated with me. (Pass the fried chicken and cut me another slice of pound cake, please.) :P

 

  Personally I'm more worried about riding on the highway in a General Motors car that may be the next model up for a recall. :o

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Cynique you may also be prejudiced because you largely avoided the problem for the bulk of your adult life.  You grew up in a world where people cooked their food--as did I.   

 

I'm perhaps more sensitive to it because as a parent raising children I was duped into falsely believe what I was giving my kids was good for them. 

 

I consider orange juice which I wrote about in my blog post: 8oz has 22g of sugar.  I might as well have been giving them Kool-aid or soda for breakfast.

 

minute-maid-label.jpg

 

So while I agree there is some level of personal responsibility, if we are misled and lied to by our government it is much harder to do the right thing in a ideal enviroment.  Pile on the stress and hardships of poverty, poor living conditions and services and doing the right thing becomes damn near impossible.

 

As a child I rarely went to a fast food restaurant.  Today some families, in the same community, eat at a fast food restaurant several times a week

 

Then we call all the over weight people in the ghetto lazy?!  And lets be clear, obesity skews toward the less educated and people with lower incomes--which includes a lot of us.

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There's a lot of shit they're putting in the foods like high fructose corn syrup and other preservatives that tend to make some people sick and obese.
It's funny when I cross the bridge from Detroit over into Canada, the RCMP (Royal Police) make it clear that not only are alcohol and tobacco items restricted but also many of the foods that are common in the United States are BANNED in Canada because they contain high fructose corn syrup and other banned ingredients.  So you find yourself tossing your M&M's and Twizzlers in the trash along with most soda pops before being allowed in.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Canadians are much thinner and have fewer health problems

But it's not just the diet, it's the lifestyle.
Today people live much more sedentary lives than they did in the past (unless you're extremely poor and living on the street foraging for food).

If you come from a family and culture were big eating is the norm like most AfroAmericans, Latinos, and certain White ethnic groups like Italians....check the history behind the diet.
They were probably doing a lot of hard agricultural work to burn off the energy produced by a high carb and high fat diet.
But now most of those groups live in an urban environment with cars, buses, and relatively slow pace jobs that do require a lot of physical stamina.
Yet the food is good and we tend to continue eating it in large volumes.
 


 

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After publishing the Blog post about Fed Up I went back to edit it.   I realized I missing providing a link to the Fed Up movie's website. 

 

Well for some reason the Fed Up movie website did not come up first, but there was a prominent Google ad for what appeared to be the Fed Up website.  I clicked the advertisement trying to reach the website and discovered a site by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).    The GMA's site homepage looks very much like the Fed Up movie site (see a comparison below).  The GMA touts itself as the “makers of the world’s favorite food, beverage and consumer products.” 

 

On the FedUpFacts website you will find additional “facts,” all of which contradict the information provided in the film. 

 

fedup-screens.jpg

 

Sources cited included a February 2014 New York Times’ article, Obesity Rate for Young Children Plummets 43% in a Decade.  Based upon this article the GMA asserts:

  1. Over the last decade, childhood obesity rates have dropped by as much as 43 percent, and obesity rates overall have plateaued.
  2. "For the first time, we’re seeing a significant decrease in childhood obesity" nationally, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, earlier this year.

However, if you read the actual article and the points above in context you see that;

 

Point #1 is a misrepresentation of what was written in the NY Times article.  First, the drop in obesity rates was from 14% to 8% for children ages 2 to 5 years.  Second, the article goes on to say the obesity rates for this "tiny fraction" of the population fluctuates and more time will be needed to determine if this is a trend.   Second, the articles states "...figures for the broader society had remained flat, and had even increased for women over 60. A third of adults and 17 percent of youths are obese, the federal survey found."  To say that Obesity rates have plateaued, based upon the NY Times article is egregious enough to be called an outright lie.

 

Point #2 A Dr. Thomas Frieden is not mentioned in the article the GMA referred as the source of their point.  But online articles are often make corrections, so it is possible he was mentioned in an earlier version.  The article did however quote Cynthia L. Ogden, a researcher and the lead author of the report who said “This is the first time we’ve seen any indication of any significant decrease in any group.”  Cynthia was also the person who caution that this group is a "tiny fraction" of the population and that the figures for the broader society had remained flat, and had even increased for women over 60.

 

Finally, and this is the main point, the GMA never denies that all the extra sugar is making people much less healthy.  They are no different that the tobacco industry.

 

At the end of the day the Surgeon General is useless.

 

The Government is merely the handmaiden of corporations who in reckless pursuit of maximizing the wealth of their owners are have no problem destroying the planet, poisoning the food supply, miseducating our children, locking up our adults, and controlling the media. 

 

The saddest part is we, as a people, don't seem to care. 

 

I would always tell people who expressed a concern about Obama being assassinated not to worry, because Obama poses no threat.

 

Indeed no one in the Black community poses a threat; most of us strive to successful parts of the system that oppresses us.

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Pioneer, sure life style is a problem, but if you see the film it explains how pervasive the added sugar is in the food being sold.  The labels are very misleading. 

 

Imagine if a corporation was allowed to sell you crack and say that it was good for you because it helped you keep your weight down (actually an argument many smokers use). 

 

Would you blame the individual who tried it became hooked or would the corporation be at fault?

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