Free Republic

British women are officially the fattest in Europe. Well, hoorah for us. Of all the labels we could have picked up – the drunkest, the laziest, the most promiscuous – this one can't be that bad, can it? And what about those people who actually choose to be fat? A growing group of overweight activists claim it's OK and healthy to be overweight. Fat activism, as they call it – yes that's a thing now – is about recognising that all bodies are fine. Nowadays, the 'fat movement' is all about challenging prejudices. Except, we should be worried. Accepting obesity...

Brian and Kim Criley operate their farm business Slow Grown in Virginia from the Spring Hill Farm in Caroline County, Va. The Crileys are on a mission to preserve Virginia’s historical small family farming practices, as they produce natural herbal products (including teas), organic seasonal produce, bath and body care products, homemade baked goods, and crafts and home décor products, as well as pasture-raised pork, poultry and eggs. They do not use any herbicides, pesticides, hormones, chemical growth enhancers or genetically modified organisms. They also operate a farm store, where they offer community-supported agriculture and co-op programs. Brian, a former...

(CNN) -- Vermont's governor on Thursday signed a bill into law that will require the labeling of genetically modified foods -- hailing it as the first such law in the nation. Under the new law, food offered for retail sale that is entirely or partially produced with genetic engineering must be labeled as such by July 2016. "Vermonters take our food and how it is produced seriously, and we believe we have a right to know what's in the food we buy," said Gov. Peter Shumlin. "More than 60 countries have already restricted or labeled these foods, and now one...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Becky Domokos-Bays of Alexandria City Public Schools has served her students whole-grain pasta 20 times. Each time, she said, they rejected it. Starting next school year, pasta and other grain products in schools will have to be whole-grain rich, or more than half whole grain.

Hide your Big Gulps again, New York. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week his administration will pick up where former Mayor Michael Bloomberg left off and will continue the battle to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces. The city will appeal a state court ruling that pulled the plug on the ban last year. City lawyers will argue the case at the Court of Appeals on June 4, the New York Daily News reported this week. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg got plenty of headlines in 2012 when he declared war on Big Gulps and other large sugary drinks. The...

A trip to almost any bookstore or a cruise around the Internet might leave the impression that avoiding cancer is mostly a matter of watching what you eat. One source after another promotes the protective powers of “superfoods,” rich in antioxidants and other phytochemicals, or advises readers to emulate the diets of Chinese peasants or Paleolithic cave dwellers. But there is a yawning divide between this nutritional folklore and science. During the last two decades the connection between the foods we eat and the cellular anarchy called cancer has been unraveling string by string. This month at the annual meeting...

Rob Rhinehart invented Soylent—a beverage that he claims contains all necessary nutrients—as a food replacement. The first batch is shipping this month.“I was 6 or 7,” Rob Rhinehart began, “and I guess my mother was serving salad. I was looking down at a plate with these leaves on it. I could look outside and see leaves on the trees, and it just seemed a little weird. It seemed a little primitive - like something an animal would do. On this nice plate, in this nice house, why would I eat this thing that grows on trees? I thought, ‘We can...

Some people are saying that this time, PETA’s lost all credibility. They’ve crossed the line. I’d ask when PETA ever had any credibility? It is not possible to take them seriously. They have to pretend that they’re outraged by animal abuse so that they can raise lots of money from rich and flaky Hollywood liberals. Their latest attack is on the White House for using real eggs in their Easter egg hunt:

New federal dietary guidelines are due to come out next year, and critics say early drafts suggest they may represent a new nanny-state intrusion – calling for Internet-based "weigh-ins" and government text messages to overweight people meant to help them shed the pounds. Critics also fear the guidelines, which are subject to revision every five years, may go well beyond nutrition to address the planet’s health, too. At a March 14 meeting of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, committee member Miriam Nelson of Tufts University said: "The question that we're spending the most time on right now is really, what...

Candy, chips and a helping of ObamaCare. It's already disrupted the health-care marketplace. Now, the Affordable Care Act is infiltrating vending machines. Yep, a provision in the Affordable Care Act requires vending machines to display the calorie content of all food items. The FDA finalized the regulations April 3. If you know the calorie content of an item, you might make a more healthy choice. Or so the thinking goes.

<p>WASHINGTON — Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo is pushing a bill in Congress that would shift responsibility for any labeling of genetically modified foods to the hands of the federal government, potentially stopping the efforts underway in many states to mandate labels on such foods.</p>

Exercise, and not colorful marshmallow Peeps, will be the focus of the 136th Annual White House Easter Egg Roll on April 21, the sixth year in a row that first lady Michelle Obama's fitness-first goal for kids has taken over the once sugar-filled event on the South Lawn.“The day's activities will encourage children to lead healthy, active lives in support of the first lady's Let's Move! initiative,” said the White House of their sixth roll, titled “Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape.”In the past, administrations have given differing themes for the annual Easter Egg Roll. Former President George W. Bush,...

Although it’s been going on for years, it seems lately there is an all-out assault by the nanny government to crack down on our liberties. Nowadays, when the people say no, our rulers just do the old end around, or sleight-of-hand. They cause us to concentrate on one thing while they regulate behind our backs. Lately it seems that even this tactic has changed and the Nanny State has begun to attack us from all sides. Take this global warming nonsense. With every passing year, the people are coming to realize what a hoax it has been. Every poll conducted...

American public school students sick of the smaller portions and healthier offerings they get at lunch thanks to Michelle Obama's anti-obesity initiatives are sounding off on social media. Just a month after school lunch participation saw the steepest drop on record following the implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, students tired of going home hungry are making sure the first lady knows why. 'I'll never forgive Michelle Obama for this school lunch,' tweeted one angry student.

I don’t know of any other food that harms us more than rice, which despite its many benefits is unhealthy if consumed in large quantities. There are only a few countries in the world whose people eat rice in large quantities like Saudis, and they include people in countries in South Asia and in Japan and Indonesia. But these people eat rice in a healthy way - either boiled or steamed. We, on the other hand, eat rice in an unhealthy way by preparing it in oil, butter or ghee and other unhealthy ingredients, all of which are high in...

White House executive pastry chef Bill Yosses is resigning after First Lady Michelle Obama fundamentally changed his job duties to focus on healthier food. Yosses is leaving the White House in June to work on a new project focusing on “food literacy” and The New York Times says Michelle is “partly to blame.” The openly gay chef was hired by Laura Bush in 2007 to make his trademark cookie plates and sugar sculptures. Mrs. Obama took over in 2009 and ordered Yosses to make healthier plates in smaller portions. Yosses began replacing butter with fruit puree and sugar with honey...

If you were reading me in January, you might remember how shocked I was by a claim (one of many false claims) that President Barack Obama made in his state of the union speech. I wrote, “If The President Can Credit Michelle Obama With Lowering Childhood Obesity, Then He can Get Away With Anything.”

Gov't Spending $4.8M to Tell Students to 'Get Fruved' March 17, 2014 - 9:13 AM By Eric Scheiner (CNSNews.com) - If a college student dressed up as a giant bunch of grapes jumped out of the shadows and told you to "get fruved," what could you possibly say? The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is getting more than $4.8 million taxpayer dollars to develop a healthy-eating campaign that has students -- dressed up as fruits and vegetables -- cavorting in the hallways of higher education. Getting "fruved" means you're eating your FRUits and VEgetables. Get it? The USDA’s National Institute of Food...

It won't be nearly as much fun as eating candy bars, but a big study is being launched to see if pills containing the nutrients in dark chocolate can help prevent heart attacks and strokes. The pills are so packed with nutrients that you'd have to eat countless candy bars to get the amount being tested in this study, which will enroll 18,000 men and women across the U.S. ``People eat chocolate because they enjoy it,'' not because they think it's good for them, and the idea of the study is to see whether there are health benefits from chocolate's...

A doughnut shop chain won't be selling doughnuts at a new Massachusetts location. Quincy's licensing board this week approved a plan for Honey Dew Donuts to open a shop inside the city's new $30 million YMCA. Sara Trubiano, YMCA spokeswoman tells The Patriot Ledger that the elimination of the sweet treat fit with the the Y's focus on physical fitness. “It’s definitely tailored to the healthy lifestyle the Y supports,” she said.