Obesity as a disease

[TexasJeff 179]

@Dylan

I too worked at a fast food restaurant in HS. I went to work at KFC at 14. I worked there until I was 27. I ate a high amount of carbs literally everyday.

I would never let my kid work at a fast food restaurant.

[gigglypug 77]

Obesity is a disease and we are dependent on the chemicals.

I'm just going to add this: Why is it that in the 80s the average size if a woman was a size 8 and now it's a size 12? Do you know the chemicals that are in even the healthiest of foods? Our pork and chicken are stuffed full of arsenic, estrogen, caffeine and anti-depressants so it is more appealing and available in higher quantities for a lower price. This is just 2 market items! TWO!

Add this fact to our own addictive behaviors and you have a nation of people who are eating themselves to death.

We are to " blame" but we sure have a lot of help!

The strong ones are here trying to make a change.

This is my rant on government conspiracy! (I did a 12 pg research paper on the subject. Sure is enlightening! )

I absolutely agree that our food supply is whatever the opposite of "natural" is. I work with analytical chemists of all stripes, and some (very few, here in the States) do food analysis. In other parts of the world, there is constant routine testing going on...not so much here. A few recent examples that I have come across:

- ractepamide is a beta blocker that routinely gets fed to pigs to produce leaner meat. The practice is completely legal here, but banned in the EU as well as in Russia and in China (!!!). The lab I worked with is just now starting to offer this test because the local pork producer is interested in exporting pork to China...when they were selling to US vendors, noone cared

- antibiotics are routinely fed to farm animals at subtherapeutic levels because the animals will gain more weight (e.g. produce more $$ on the market). Again, that practice is banned in Canada and the EU but perfectly legal here. The main concern is that these animals help with the generation of antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella, E. coli etc.

- and lest you think vegetarians are much better off, the USDA is just now getting around to starting some (extremely low level) testing to verify pesticide residue levels in "organic" produce. Once a producer is certified "organic", the testing sort of just "went away", it's really an honor system at this point. Again, labs only sell testing services for produce destined for export, noone seems to care about the American consumer

Having said all that, I am not aware of any evidence linking veterinary drug and pesticide residue to obesity and I would caution against "chemophobia"...not all chemicals are evil and it takes some research and/or education to sort the bad from the good. It would, however, be nice if Americans as a culture would care more about their food than its price and its convenience

[aviva1979 375]

It would' date=' however, be nice if Americans as a culture would care more about their food than its price and its convenience[/quote']

I agree in part here - I wish we had a more curious and subsequently informed public when it comes to food - but I resist drawing a line around a focus on price. Coming from a low-income background myself I understand how difficult it is to make good choices on a fixed/limited income. Junky food is often less expensive than stuff that's local and fresh and ideally pesticide and hormone free, and for many families every penny matters.

[MiniMi 1,468]

I absolutely agree that our food supply is whatever the opposite of "natural" is. I work with analytical chemists of all stripes' date=' and some (very few, here in the States) do food analysis. In other parts of the world, there is constant routine testing going on...not so much here. A few recent examples that I have come across:

- ractepamide is a beta blocker that routinely gets fed to pigs to produce leaner meat. The practice is completely legal here, but banned in the EU as well as in Russia and in China (!!!). The lab I worked with is just now starting to offer this test because the local pork producer is interested in exporting pork to China...when they were selling to US vendors, noone cared

- antibiotics are routinely fed to farm animals at subtherapeutic levels because the animals will gain more weight (e.g. produce more on the market). Again, that practice is banned in Canada and the EU but perfectly legal here. The main concern is that these animals help with the generation of antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella, E. coli etc.

- and lest you think vegetarians are much better off, the USDA is just now getting around to starting some (extremely low level) testing to verify pesticide residue levels in "organic" produce. Once a producer is certified "organic", the testing sort of just "went away", it's really an honor system at this point. Again, labs only sell testing services for produce destined for export, noone seems to care about the American consumer

Having said all that, I am not aware of any evidence linking veterinary drug and pesticide residue to obesity and I would caution against "chemophobia"...not all chemicals are evil and it takes some research and/or education to sort the bad from the good. It would, however, be nice if Americans as a culture would care more about their food than its price and its convenience[/quote']

Arsenic, caffeine, estrogens and anti-depressants are not veterinary drugs or pesticides. I'm sure you would not find a study linking obesity with our tainted food source. You also don't see the poultry companies coming out freely with the information listed above. Researches stole a pile of ground up chicken feathers and did their studies on them under cover.

I agree however that price and convenience is more important that quality. I also agree that it is not cheap to eat organic but maybe we would all eat less because we couldn't afford a lot.

(For organic foods, don't you only have to be something like 60% organic to get your certification? I wonder what the rest is!)

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT! 12,703]

I agree in part here - I wish we had a more curious and subsequently informed public when it comes to food - but I resist drawing a line around a focus on price. Coming from a low-income background myself I understand how difficult it is to make good choices on a fixed/limited income. Junky food is often less expensive than stuff that's local and fresh and ideally pesticide and hormone free, and for many families every penny matters.

I agree too. I've been on both ends of the spectrum, both good and bad. I can remember being a very young single mother digging through couch cushions for change to buy diapers. I remember living on Ramen Noodles and generic macaroni & cheese (made with Water instead of milk) because I couldn't afford to feed both my daughter and myself healthy. I had to limit her fresh fruit to one piece a day because I couldn't afford more. Ironically, it was during these years I gained the majority of my weight.

Sometimes, people just don't have a choice to spend more on food and healthy food is much more expensive. There are many people in this country that if they spent even $10 more a month on food it would be the difference between keeping their electricity on or not. I know, I used to be one of those people.

[B-52 7,113]

I understand a lot of people feel obesity is a disease....myself, I have a problem with that....obesity can be a epidemic, and can diretcly cause diseases.

What happens is once something is labled a disease, then there becomes justification to medically treat it, opening avenues for $$ funding...and that is a good thing. So i am sure there was plenty of lobbying to get it labled as such.....it's always about the $$

[bambam31 168]

Obesity is the end result of many factors - most of which are the result of bad decisions and correctable with lifestyle change. That's also why a calorie is a calorie is a calorie is not an honest statement. The chemical response to a Protein is not the same as a carb and a simple carb not the same as a complex one. Carbs and calories are not the enemy - we are. And we can be our worst enemy in many cases. I like the heroin analogy pertaining to sugar. That is so accurate for many people. But ultimately it comes down to personal decisions... Some people can drink alcohol and have no issues - other should avoid it because they don't know when to say when - same applies to simple carbs. If you can't keep control then avoid it in the first place.

While I think it's dismissive to blame a school lunch program for anyone's weight problem, it's also an area that the educational system is missing the boat. There is no good reason why learning about the human body and its use and application of nutrients is not mandated as part of the science curriculum. Eating and lifestyle habits are learned early in life and bad habits in that area are very hard to correct. Almost every 5th grader has had to dissect a frog yet how many of them know that carbs and Proteins have 4 calories per gram, alcohol 7, and fat 9??? Why not???

They should focus on educating kids on their bodies and fuel sources as a starting point - it affects every aspect of a students life and performance. And also stop pushing processed crap for the sake of a buck...

Brad

[MiniMi 1,468]

Obesity is the end result of many factors - most of which are the result of bad decisions and correctable with lifestyle change. That's also why a calorie is a calorie is a calorie is not an honest statement. The chemical response to a Protein is not the same as a carb and a simple carb not the same as a complex one. Carbs and calories are not the enemy - we are. And we can be our worst enemy in many cases. I like the heroin analogy pertaining to sugar. That is so accurate for many people. But ultimately it comes down to personal decisions... Some people can drink alcohol and have no issues - other should avoid it because they don't know when to say when - same applies to simple carbs. If you can't keep control then avoid it in the first place.

While I think it's dismissive to blame a school lunch program for anyone's weight problem' date=' it's also an area that the educational system is missing the boat. There is no good reason why learning about the human body and its use and application of nutrients is not mandated as part of the science curriculum. Eating and lifestyle habits are learned early in life and bad habits in that area are very hard to correct. Almost every 5th grader has had to dissect a frog yet how many of them know that carbs and Proteins have 4 calories per gram, alcohol 7, and fat 9??? Why not???

They should focus on educating kids on their bodies and fuel sources as a starting point - it affects every aspect of a students life and performance. And also stop pushing processed crap for the sake of a buck...

Brad[/quote']

My child's school counts tatter tots as a vegetable! Sad!