Posted on 05/11/2012 3:54:51 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Americans are fatter than ever, but it’s not their fault. That’s according to the latest effort to solve an obesity crisis in the only way liberals know how - with more government.
A study released this week from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Duke University and RTI International found obesity rates to be on course to rise from 34 to 42 percent of the U.S. population by 2030. The number of severely obese - defined as about 100 pounds overweight - will double to 11 percent.
Today, 68 percent of Americans are overweight and half of those are obese. According to the CDC, the average man is 5‘9” tall and weighs 195 pounds. That’s an inch taller but 30 pounds heavier than the average in 1960. The average woman has also grown an inch in 50 years to 5‘4”, but she spins the scales 25 pounds heavier at 165 pounds.
A new report from the highly influential Institute of Medicine this week blames society and business for this obesity epidemic. The organization, which was created by the National Academy of Sciences, wants the federal government to insert itself in the private market to force food and beverage companies to provide healthy options at “competitive prices everywhere that food is offered.” Fast-food and chain restaurants would have to change the children’s menu to comply with federal dietary guidelines without charging more for these options. Sugary sodas would be taxed.
The basic idea is that people can’t stop themselves from eating hot dogs at a baseball game or ordering a double-cheese pizza from the couch. Government-centric busybodies want to turn fat people into a class of victims so that Big Brother can come and take control of not just their lives, but everyone’s food choices.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Interestingly, the special trade barriers set up to “protect” US sugar producers has pretty much led to the death of the industry in this country. It props the price up far higher than the cane can be grown here for, as price controls always do. Thus, Imperial and the other sugar companies have had to go overseas.
I just read, was it in the article(?), that 5’9” and 160 was the average for a man in 1980 (I think), but now it’s 195.
I don’t know about that. People weren’t even aware of the need for exercise in advancing years. In the 60s, my neighbor’s dad started “jogging”, and everyone thought he was a nut, a flake, eccentric.
Yes, there were always fat people. I’m not at all sure that I believe the problem is as bad as the statistics portray - they have played fast and loose with the criteria they go by, just like everything else in this turd world government.
Its not about an awareness of the need to exercise. People just used to be a lot more active.
MSG makes me feel sick as a dog. I had a bad experience with beans and rice last night. Woke up this morning feeling like HELL. Yes, I ate too much of it, but I shouldn’t have felt so terrible waking up. It was beans and rice for God’s sake, not ice cream and hot fudge sauce. Researching a little more, I think it must have been the ranch style beans I used. I don’t usually use them, and I’ve always vaguely disliked them, without knowing why.
Thanks - but it’s getting so hard to find things that are healthy to eat - I don’t know what to switch to. I’ll try though. I’ve sensed for some time that grains and starch are making me sick.
Funny, when I go to the gym, karate practice, or take a bike ride, one of which I do every day, and when I cart my kids to baseball, lacrosse, scouts, karate, etc, etc - I don’t notice very many obese people.
It’s almost like there is some kind of linkage between regular physical activity and fitness.
Ever read the "Little House on the Prairie" books? They ate a very high carb diet. Sometimes all they ate was bread and potatoes with a little salt pork. They were slim, and at times very thin, because food was usually in short supply.
And of course every thing you did back then worked off calories. Want a glass of water? You don't just turn on the tap. You go to the well, lower the bucket down, pull the bucket back up, carry it to the house and then you can have a glass of water.
You want a piece of toast? First you have to chop the wood for the fire and carry it into the house.
A high carb diet is fine as long as you are doing a lot physical work.
Even a few years ago office workers still got a fair amount of exercise just doing your job.
About the only thing of which you can eat all you want and not gain weight is if you eat only very lean meat. Of course you will also starve to death because it does not have all you need to keep going. If you are always moving eat what you like, it will not put weight on you. If you are not then you need to watch your intake.
“Never forget the millions who traded tobacco for a fat body.”
I never expected that response when I wrote my theory, but I hope you realize how true your statement is.
The Left assaulted the Tobacco Industry from the sixties forward, and now we have obesity, and the Left is assaulting the fast food/restaurant/snack food industry. SHEESH!!! The appropriate target to assault is the Left Wing Industry.
I smoked for fifty years, quit in 2009, and promptly found myself 70lbs. overweight. Still working to unload the fat.
I quit smoking only because of the costs directly responsible to the Leftist’s assault on my smoking, and where those taxes were going.
I actually enjoyed smoking around the ranch as I worked on the many, many projects. One of the pleasures being isolated, and able to not offend anybody with my smoke, but they had to keep messing with it until it was too expensive, and the taxes were going to Leftist programs I of course disagree I want my money to go to, so I quit.
Try a modified Atkins diet.
I thought that the average for men was 5’10 and the average for women was 5’4” back in 1970.
See, I don’t want to diet. Every time I’ve dieted I’ve ended up heavier than I was before I started the diet. I’m all about eliminating things that make me feel bad when I eat them, though, and so I’m willing to look at cutting out the rice and wheat. I didn’t think, about this time last year, that I would successfully adopt the Juicing lifestyle, but I have.
Join the Reboot, people! I juiced fruits and vegetables for 60 days and lost 55 lbs. Just finished a week of fruits and vegetables and am now eating chicken or turkey. I cook with fresh ingredients and stay away from breads and heavy white starches.
So far, the weight has stayed off and my family is eating as healthy as ever. After my doc appt. and lab work next week I hope to start another 60 day Reboot. Obesity is most often a choice just as eating healthy is a choice.
Just dropped 15 lbs. I put on since turning 40 15 years ago. Now back to pre age 40 weight which is basically high school college weight.
Along the way I noticed something. Losing weight was hard *until* I neared my (self-set) ideal weight.
When I reached that weight I noticed that losing any more weight wasn’t hard anymore. It was like some kind of switch got flipped.
Just like they say “the rich get richer” I’m starting to think that “the fat get fatter”. The fatter you get the more you crave those unhealthy foods in unhealthy quantities. And when the weight comes off you don’t.
If this is true then this should help devise optimal weight loss strategies and also explain why we’re in an “epidemic” - basically an unstable equilibrium like we see in other fields.
I know one thing for sure - I don’t get enough protein. I have to force it.
Just shut up Mookie!
If you are into blenders- just add some protein powder to your smoothies. It’s a great meal replacement. I think that snacks are my biggest problem. I never thought about it, until I was telling my son about how differently we ate when I was a kid, mostly because there was no alcohol in our home and little money for snacks. We never ate between meals, no chips and dip, no cheese and crackers, not even pretzels. But we did have desserts after dinner. I weighed 95lbs when I graduated from high school.
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