How the Government Made You Fat

PragerU ^ | 9/23/2019 | Bret Scher

[fireman15]

How is it that ever since the government began telling us what to eat, we have gotten fatter and sicker?

In 1977, when the government first set dietary guidelines, the average American male weighed 170 pounds. He now weighs 197. It’s not any better for women —145 to 170. And you don’t need an academic study to know the same thing is happening to kids. Just look around.

The weight gain has real-life consequences: the percentage of Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes—a condition that can lead to severe medical issues—has risen from 2% in 1977 to over 9% in 2015. In hard numbers, that’s five million people to over 30 million people.

How did this happen?

It all started innocently enough in the 1950s, when President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack while in office. Suddenly, the issue of heart health became a national obsession.

[jntrees]

Great documentary on Amazon called Fed up. Great info on how the food industry basically caused this by adding sugar to everything. They give some insight as to why your daily sugar recommended percentage isn’t on labels.
Both parties are complicit and are guilty.

[Kommodor]

Ban spoons!

(Oh, wait.... This is just a ping to read more later)

[MCF]

“Beer made me fat.
Stopping beer drinking made me not fat”
Ditto

[Uncle Miltie]

I was going to argue that we’ve gotten taller.

But we’ve gotten shorter.

Because immigration.

[NEMDF]

I think Michelle 0bama re-wrote them all (government nutrition guidelines), anyway, so who knows whether they have any validity?

[Codeflier]

I think calling it a cure is almost malpractice. A cure would mean the underlying causes are completely reversed. A diet where insulin is virtually unneeded is a workaround, not a cure.

[xrmusn]

Just the opposite

Went in USN 1956 at 120 & 5’8, got out in 1964 a 6’ 145 and stayed in the 140 range until I stopped drinking AND smoking in 1990.

Uh if on scales and I get out of truck and off scales they tell me to get back on as they can’t believe the difference (NOT really) but, I did ‘grow’ and grow and grow, OUT, not up...ha ha

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

As soon as you carve it up, put the carcass and wings (first eating the wing meat of course)

Just the wing meat?

[Codeflier]

Great post! All comes down to net in vs. net out, but there are a ton of variables in that simple equation that are unique to that individual.

In 30 years, we will be finding out that all this carb elimination led to X.

Moderation is not part of the mindset of many these days.

[SamAdams76]

I know this is anecdotal but bears mentioning. My father grew up on a working farm in the Deep South during the 1930s and 1940s.

Despite growing acres of it, my grandmother would never put corn on the dinner table except maybe as cornbread. Corn was something you fed to the livestock to get them fat. Just something to think about.

[ConservativeWarrior]

“Beer made me fat.
Stopping beer drinking made me not fat”
Ditto

---

Did you give up drinking, or choose a new beverage?

[Starstruck]

I was normal weight until I turned 53. I quit smoking and gained 45 Lbs. For the last couple of years I eat the same foods but less. I have lost 40 Lbs. I will eventually get that other 5 Lbs. It may take me another 6 months, but with my weight loss I may have the time.

[Pocketdoor]

The men who made us fat...

I cant seem to find it, just getting a couple short clips. Do you have a link?

[Freedom56v2]

The Food Pyramid, which is bad nutrition advice, was published in 1992 by our government. 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice and pasta...YIKES! How many servings of Carbs in that chart?

[mlo]

"If you eat more calories than your activity level and metabolism can burn and you do not poop the excess out because of inefficient digestive absorption they will be stored as fat."

True, but it says nothing about cause and effect and doesn't provide any useful information about how to change things.

[mlo]

I switched to whiskey.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Bottom line:

If the National Sawdust Foundation had enough money to throw around up on Capitol Hill, it wouldn’t be long before the government would be advising Americans to eat sawdust five times per day.

The government is just too corrupt to be trusted with the transmission of health advice or science.

[MCF]

I didn’t officially give it up. It’s that I seldom drink it or any booze now. I do like my coffee, Earl Gray tea, and Fresca though.

[trisham]

Atkins for me.

[familyop]

"How is it that ever since the government began telling us what to eat, we have gotten fatter and sicker?"

The government told us what to eat in the 1960s, and we were skinny, fast and productive. The reasons for so many people getting fat since the 1980s are lack of exercise, troublemaking drug addicts and their pit bulls inhibiting walking outdoors, too much manufacturing being exported (lazy service jobs), drug abuse, gluttony (sugars, grains,...), fatherlessness, crooked hiring and insurance practices,... There are many obvious reasons that can be summed up as a societal rejection of common sense.