The real skinny: Dieting's a bunch of baloney

Atlanta Journal Consitituion ^ | July 20 2003 | SANDY SZWARC

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Some foods are so dangerously delicious that we must be protected from them and from ourselves -- or so the thinking goes among certain trial lawyers, legislators, special-interest groups and the Health and Human Services secretary.

These dietary watchdogs blame the obesity epidemic on fattening foods and the restaurants and food makers who tempt us with them. Fast-food restaurants especially must be stopped because they prey upon the poor and uneducated, duping them into ordering their greasy burgers and fries.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

One rarely sees an overweight Parisan.

Julia Child never skimped on the cream and butter, did she?

[Sam Cree]

"But behind these ideas is an intrinsic prejudice against fat people as irresponsible"

IMO, behind these ideas is mainly greed on the part of lawyers, who smell blood, and a payday.

[nevergore]

Bump!

[Sam Cree]

"Low fat is not the answer for all."

IMO, not that I have all the answers, low fat is not the answer for too many of us, I believe low fat diets are dangerous and unhealthy.

[Keith in Iowa]

I failed to note that I'm not the original author of that - it was one of those things that came to me in e-mail once that had been sent around the 'net before it got to me...I does rather sum things up quite nicely - that's why I posted it :)

[CaptRon]

Before we get behind policies and regulations to "fix" the obesity problem, we need to be sure they're based on sound science rather than intuition. Our favorite creme brulee may be at stake

I wonder if the author has the same opinion on second-hand smoke and Kyoto.

[WestPacSailor]

Eat right, exercise, die anyway. Eventually we will realize there are more important things in life than a skinny waist, big boobs, and a washboard stomach.

Things like taking the kids to the park, going to church with the family, and shutting off the TV and actually TALKING to our children. I've never heard a four year old say "I'm sorry daddy, I don't want to go on the merry-go-round 'cause you're too fat".

You only get one chance at life, don't blow it!

[Dr.Deth]

It couldn’t possibly be that Atkins was right and everyone else was wrong…

Personally, I think he’s right.

Personally, I think he's dead. :-\

In any event, what good can comes from Atkins and Sears is that people should cast the suspicious eye on carbos that had previously been cast on fats. For myself personally, it's a matter of exercise. If I exercise, I keep the 32-inch waist. If I don't, then I gotta try to find the box with the 36's.

What's actually happening is a return to the commonly accepted 'folk knowledge' of hundreds of years, before pointy-headed university nutritionists foisted their inane 'food pyramid' upon the American populace as yet another liberal Great Society social experiment.

[Sam Cree]

I agree about those charts. They are way too general.

However, considering the amount of overweight folks around, it seems like obesity deserves plenty of attention, even though much of that attention seems ill considered.

[Maria S]

Good one!!

[tiamat]

I think it's the stupid society an all of the stress that causes most heart failure.

Tia

[ProudGOP]

I was thinking, when they give a woman a "perfect weight" do they take into consideration if she's big busted versus small busted?

Good point. Apparently I am ahead of the curve since I always take that into consideration.

[tiamat]

WestPacSailor wrote:

Eat right, exercise, die anyway. Eventually we will realize there are more important things in life than a skinny waist, big boobs, and a washboard stomach.

Things like taking the kids to the park, going to church with the family, and shutting off the TV and actually TALKING to our children. I've never heard a four year old say "I'm sorry daddy, I don't want to go on the merry-go-round 'cause you're too fat".

**********************************

YES!

And Thank you!

I think you are wise

Tia

[Sam Cree]

"What's actually happening is a return to the commonly accepted 'folk knowledge' of hundreds of years"

That's true. Back in the 50's, when I was a kid, Mom used to always tell us kids that bread, potatos and sweets were the fattening things. I didn't even like the bread and potatos much then, though I do now.

[Maria S]

1. Whether we like it or not, heredity DOES have a lot to do with our propensity to be overweight. But just because we have the TENDENCY to gain weight easily doesn't give us a pass to pack on the pounds.

2. Usually the really thin people we all know do NOT diet; they really aren't all that interested in food and eat only when they're really hungry. I have two friends who actually forget to eat until somebody asks when they ate last. They're too busy doing...whatever they do all day.

3. We've made food the center of our lives; everything is scheduled around food. Life isn't about food.

[keats5]

America's fatter because the Baby Boomers aged. They were all skinnier in the 70s. because we were teens and young adults. There's a ton of them, which can't help but skew the data.

[Calvin Locke]

I always liked the Scarsdale diet. Following it was sort of a discipline. Only for a couple of weeks at a time, but it
did tend to break bad habits.

Not that the bad habits didn't come creeping back.

[WestPacSailor]

There's a ton of them, which can't help but skew the data.

Clever pun, even if it was unintended.