Half of U.S. adults will be obese by 2030, report says

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

Based on trends, half of the adults in the United States will be obese by 2030 unless the government makes changing the food environment a policy priority, according to a report released Thursday on the international obesity crisis in the British medical journal the Lancet.

Those changes include making healthful foods cheaper and less-healthful foods more expensive largely through tax strategies, the report said. Changes in the way foods are marketed would also be called for, among many other measures.

A team of international public health experts argued that the global obesity crisis will continue to grow worse and add substantial burdens to health-care systems and economies unless governments, international agencies and other major institutions take action to monitor, prevent and control the problem.

Changes over the past century in the way food is made and marketed have contributed to the creation of an “obesogenic” environment in which personal willpower and efforts to maintain a healthful weight are largely impossible, the report noted.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/half-of-us-adults-will-be-obese-by-2030-report-says/2011/08/25/gIQAYthweJ_story.html

---

With this news, I'd feel even more sad if Michelle Obama can't be First Lady for another 4 years. She's a great advocate for healthy eating and exerts that influence greatly through her position in the White House. And a big bleep you to HFCS, big agribusiness, and the junk food industry lobbyists in Washington.

[Gman]

1. I doubt it

if anything, no one will have any money to buy food and Americans will look like refugees in Africa.

[gauguin57]

4. The only food they'll be able to afford to buy will be high in empty calories.

For the most part, buying nice veggies is more expensive than buying carby foods to make yourself feel full.

[boppers]

16. Are empty calories like empty temperatures?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_energy

Nice veggies not only cost more, but have less energy in them. The whole "feeling full" thing is another problem, because we evolved based on having really crappy food sources. As our food sources improved, we kept eating the same amounts, even though we could now eat less food, less often.... heck, we had government programs encouraging us to eat 3 meals a day (seriously), and nobody ever said "wait, this is insane".

[Arugula Latte]

29. For the most part, I don't think the three meal thing is the problem

I think it's portion size, non-stop snacking, processed/calorie-laden food, excessive sugar, etc.

[goforit]

50. Totally agree!!! 3 meals a day is absurd!!!

I eat 2 meals a day.
And I have been off sugar and high fructose corn for 4 months up until last weekend related to birthdays,
baby showers and going away parties.
I'm not super skinny, just average.

[DeSwiss]

76. ''Nice veggies not only cost more, but have less energy in them...''

Not true.

[Cool Logic]

37. Actually, nice veggies can be had for next to nothing...

and a bit of manual labor.

At least for a few months out of the year...

[LetTimmySmoke]

40. Yep, meet the new peasant food: Quick, easy, fried slop.

Sorry about that pay cut and foreclosure. But here's some grease to make you feel better.

[gauguin57]

2. And yet, the wingers continue to mock Michelle Obama's fitness/nutrition initiative.

I second that "big bleep" to lobbyists and big ag!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Lots of untreated thyroid disease out there. Millions with untreated hypothyroidism.

www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

[midnight]

9. Thanks for the link....

[northamericancitizen]

38. Very interesting. Might explain why I can't lose weight. eom

[Manifestor_of_Light]

47. Thyroid and adrenal insufficiency are huge problems that doctors ignore.

http://thyroid.about.com

There is adrenal fatigue info at www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

[Dan Burdick]

57. Nutrients Thyroid Needs, Obesity and Diabetes

Magnesium Deficiency is epidemic in the USA especially. Zinc deficiency is big. Also vitamin C deficiency. B-6 deficiency is common. Selenium deficiency varies some by region. 'Although, in reality, too much selenium can be toxic to the system, research shows that most people do not have enough of this important mineral.'

Between nutrient depletion caused by prescription drugs;

nutrient depletion of the soil from soil erosion, depletion, and use of potasium, nitrogen,
phosphorus fertilizor to keep the plants at least growing (used initially as a conscious stop-gap measure starting circa WW1);

nutrient depletion of produce - fruits and vegetables; stress; polution; cigarettes and beer;

the loss of ocean health, and loss of ocean foods (iodine, Omega-3s, minerals) in people's diets
and junk food that fills and has calories without providing fiber, enzymes, and nutrients

-- we have:

* magnesium deficiency leading to chronic inflammation, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease CVD, abdominal adipose tissue acting as an inflammatory organ - abdominal fat resistant to going away.

Vitamin D is also a major lack and it's needed for thyroid - and this lack is also connected to chronic inflammation/obesity/type two diabetes/CVD.

* widespread deficiency in various nutrients that the thyroid is depending on.

Search - hypothyroid magnesium zinc Vitamin C selenium potasium Search thyroid Vitamin D

"Ask Dr. Nicholas Perricone" 2004
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/jun2004_ask_01.htm
"“high glycemic” carbohydrates convert rapidly to sugar in the bloodstream, creating inflammation at the cellular level, raising insulin levels, and causing the body to store fat."

The Perricone Weight Loss Program by Nicholas Perricone, MD
Nov 2005 LE magazine
www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/nov2005_cover_perricone_01.htm
"I have observed significant weight loss in thousands of individuals who follow the simple formula of avoiding foods that are pro-inflammatory and choosing in their place foods with anti-inflammatory properties." "Inflammation, which is the response of the body’s immune system to infection or irritation, exists in a very wide spectrum. At the extreme end, it causes visible redness and swelling, such as in sunburn or an injured finger. On the low end of the spectrum, the inflammation is invisible; we can’t see it and we can’t feel it. But it does exist, and it causes a host of health-related problems."

Wise Traditions Magazine - Essential Fatty Acids: Precious Yet Perilous
http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/2010/10/precious-yet-perilous-understanding.html
...uh, Omega Supplementation generally should be done (with antioxidants and) as a limited-time course. Instead of heafty ongoing supplementation, the thing is to get the dark greens, fish and nuts in the diet - and make sure that you have all the cofactor nutrients like B-6 Magnesium Zinc and Vitamin C happening. The authors point out that traditional diets often don't have massive amounts of deap sea fish, people used to get along with just ALA containing foods. They point out studies showing harms from long-term supplementation. (And these are the really good-guys, not enemy propagandists). Wise Traditions is from Weston Price Foundation and has the primo information and attitude and want people getting seriously well. Hard for me to read, IMO this is a Pivitol, REALLY Good peice, and if one has been looking over other stuff this may put a florish of perspective on it all.

How Many Americans Are Magnesium Deficient?
www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/sep2005_awsi_01.htm

Paul Mason's Mg Water Website
http://www.mgwater.com

The multifaceted and widespreadpathology of magnesium deficiency
S. Johnson 2001
www.pinnaclife.com/assets/files/pdf/References/Magnesium/wide-mag-deficiency-path.pdf

Can Blueberry Extracts Halt Metabolic Syndrome?
By Matilde Parente, MD
www.lef.org/magazine/mag2011/mar2011_Can-Blueberry-Extracts-Halt-Metabolic-Syndrome_01.htm

Abdominal adipose tissue cytokine gene expression: relationship to obesity
and metabolic risk factors 2004 Tongjian You, et al
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/288/4/E741.full

"Adipose tissue is a major source of inflammatory and thrombotic cytokines."
"We conclude that abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue expression of inflammatory cytokines
is a potential mechanism linking obesity with its metabolic comorbidities."


Adipose tissue dysfunction in obesity, diabetes,and vascular diseases 2008
Gideon R. Hajar, et al.

http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/24/2959.full.pdf

"The objective of this paper is to describe adipose tissue dysfunction, delineate the relation between adiposetissue dysfunction and obesity and to describe how adipocyte dysfunction is
involved in the development of diabetes mellitus type 2 and atherosclerotic vascular diseases."

[northamericancitizen]

58. Ty for the info. nt

[givemebackmycountry]

5. Most of the country (if they actually hear this) will say....

Yeah, right.
More Liberal bullshit, just like Global Warming.
As they sit in their SUV's in the drive though lane at their local "super-sized" burger joint.
"You want fries with that"?
"Fuck Yeah"!

[alp227]

7. and while waiting in their SUVs their sweat dampens their car seats

what another DUzy!

[DesertFlower]

8. well said. nt

[MADem]

10. Most? Or just the wingnuts?

Let them eat up--have two of those half-pounders!!! Three, even! Make sure they get the fries, AND the shake as well!

The more they eat, the sooner they shuffle off this mortal coil...victims of their own excess.

[snooper2]

26. Laziness has nothing to do with political attitudes :)

[Exultant Democracy]

32. Exercise and nutrition are actually considered hippie bullshit by many people.

There is a distinct political bend toward many of the people whose attitudes re-enforce and magnify the obesity epidemic.

[snooper2]

33. not really, I know right wingers who get togther and ride bikes every weekend

Got right winger ladies at work doing labs around the office every day...

[Exultant Democracy]

35. yeah cause your anecdotal evidence belies a well documented sociological trend

apparently you didn't notice the shit fit the right had when Michelle Obama suggested that kids exercise and eat well as a way to fight the obesity epidemic maybe you need to look it up on the google and educate yourself on how very political this issue has become.

[snooper2]

36. All I'm going to say is you have fat and skinny people on the left and right

Somebody should do a thesis on it...

[alp227]

42. if Marcus Bachmann became the First Gentleman he'd push for reparative therapy

under the banner "You Can Get Better"...hee hee. And not a peep about the problem of food deserts or child obesity.

[MADem]

45. They're called "crunchy cons"--they do exist, but they are a small chunk of the whole GOP

They'll even buy organic food at farmers' markets and Whole Foods!

[defendandprotect]

75. Think you mean .... "by know-nothing's" .... ???? Anti-intellectuals ... !!

[totodeinhere]

59. I doubt if any ideology has a monopoly on obesity. It is true that

the obesity rate in most southern states that also happen to be red states by and large is pretty high. But obesity rates in a lot of blue states are not far behind.

One study had the obesity rate in red Mississippi at 34.4% and in blue Vermont at 23.5%. So Vermont is doing a much better job than Mississippi but nonetheless nearly 1/4 of Vermonters are obese. And there were exceptions to that trend. Red Utah was one of the leaner states with a 23.4% obesity rate.

http://calorielab.com/news/2011/06/30/fattest-states-2011/

[MADem]

6. If we get all that high fructose shit out of everything, we can avert this.

You know, I used to live in some real shitholes out in the ass-end of the world as a consequence of my work (don't feel sorry for me, it was quite voluntary). Every so often, we'd try to bring a little "America" to where we were at, but it wasn't real easy to get the "fixin's" for a traditional American cookout. So, we'd make our own. We'd get a little mustard powder, mix it with water and vinegar, and make mustard, and we'd get tomato paste, thin it down, add a little garlic, salt, maybe basil or oregano, and make "catsup," and we'd grill some meat and slap it between cut-up chunks of available bread with a tomato and onion slice, and some lettuce.

The shit was DELICIOUS. I mean, beyond DELICIOUS. Best ever. And no high fructose shit in ANYTHING we ate.

You look at the packages in the super mart, and there's that High Fructose crap in EVERYTHING, even catsup and mustard. I mean...come ON. That's just bullshit. It isn't needed.

If the HFCS guys need to make money, let them convert that crap to.....gasoline!

We sure as shit do not need it in our FOOD!

[handmade34]

11. +1000 n/t

[rayofreason]

17. Yep....

....it is FAR better to cook from scratch so you know exactly what goes into your food. The food is healthier, tastier, and cheaper. More people should experiment. They would be really surprised at how easy it is to make delicious food.

[MADem]

18. We weren't Chef Boyardee (er, probably a lousy reference, but you know what I mean)

either....we were just schmucks who knew how to make simple, basic stuff. It was great food! Very tasty!

[rayofreason]

25. And as you described....

...you can make yummy stuff with just a few, straightforward ingredients!

[Odin2005]

68. I'm a guy who loves to cook and IMO the best meals are the simplest.

[Arugula Latte]

55. The thing that kills me is they put HFCS in most apple sauce.

Apple sauce?! It's naturally sweet. It's made from apples. That's all you need!

[totodeinhere]

62. Look on the label for unsweetened applesauce. I shop at several different supermarkets and they

all have it at the same price as the sweetened variety.

[MADem]

64. It's disgraceful that the 'good stuff' is so hard to find. You have to read the labels!

A little cinnamon and nutmeg are nice, maybe a bit-o-lemon....but yeah, you don't need that additional HFCS garbage at all.

[totodeinhere]

61. Actually, it's prudent to limit all added sugars, not just HFCS. n/t

[MADem]

65. It's the HFCS stuff that I see in everything, though--not our old friend "sugar"

on the label. I guess "sugar" costs more, so even when they use it, they use less.

I think it's best to let people decide themselves if something needs more sweetness, not plunk it in everything from catsup to soups.

[totodeinhere]

66. Agreed. n/t

[Odin2005]

67. Yup, The HFCS needs to go. I've been growing on stevia, lately, as a sweetener.

It's a 0-calorie sweeter extracted from a South-American plant, and doesn't have the nasty chemical aftertaste aspartame has. Yummy stuff.

[defendandprotect]

74. +1000% -- and stop throwing chemicals/pesticides all over our crops -- !!

[AndyTiedye]

12. Let the People Dance!

This "obesity epidemic" started after the government shut down the raves in most parts of the country.

The places that still have a thriving dance scene tend to have a lower rate of obesity.

Let the people dance!

[Arugula Latte]

30. I was at a mall just outside Portland, Ore. yesterday

I was actually thinking that I didn't see that many people who were obese. Yes, there were some, but they were definitely a small minority...I wish there was more research on the cultural factors contributing to obesity.

[CBHagman]

13. A number of factors have caused this, and the article points out...

...that people are going to have to take a highly realistic approach to get anywhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/half-of-us-adults-will-be-obese-by-2030-report-says/2011/08/25/gIQAYthweJ_story.html

The report said that weight loss should be viewed over a longer period of time and proposed a new “approximate rule of thumb” for an average overweight adult. It said that “every change of energy intake of per day will lead to an eventual bodyweight change of about 1 kg (just over two pounds) . . . with half of the weight change being achieved in about 1 year and 95 percent of the weight change in about 3 years.”

Though the report acknowledged that it’s ultimately up to individuals to decide what to eat and how to live their lives, it maintained that governments have largely abdicated the responsibility for addressing obesity to individuals, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. Yet the obesity epidemic will not be reversed without government leadership, regulation, and investment in programs, monitoring, and research, it said.

Sedentary lifestyles, portion size and fat content, city planning, structure of the workday/schoolday, and a great deal more play a role.

I also believe that this tragedy is going to force us to finally get out of denial about health insurance. When you've got young people developing hypertension and type 2 diabetes, you can't just say the private insurers will sort everything out.

[alp227]

14. "without government leadership, regulation, and investment" hmm, TEA PARTY???

apparently obesity is NOT an issue for them...whatever happens with the free market, happens, basic human dignity be damned.

[totodeinhere]

63. That is correct. Weight loss should be a gradual process takes months and usually years, depending

on the amount of weight that you need to lose.

It is not helpful to have weight loss companies such as Nutrisystem running commercials showing obese people losing huge amounts of weight over short periods of time. They are setting up unrealistic expectations that often lead to disappointment and abandoning the weight loss program. Yes, they run a disclaimer saying that those results are not typical but they put it in such small print and leave it on the screen for such a short time that most people can't read it.

I have long advocated changing laws so that companies like that will be forced to show their disclaimers in large sized print and leave it on the screen during the whole commercial so that everybody can read it and be aware of it.

[handmade34]

15. same from CNN

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/study-world-is-getting-fatter-needs-to-stop/?hpt=he_c2

"...The report also said trade "liberalization" is contributing to global overconsumption ...The report includes suggestions for ways governments can implement policies that it says will reduce obesity and save money. Proposals include a tax on unhealthy foods and beverages, school programs to promote good nutrition and physical activity, and cutting junk food advertising..."


This is just another way that corporation and big business do not take responsibility for external costs (health conditions and problems from processed, chemical laden foods)

...not telling anyone what to eat, just don't want to make it easy on the food processors and businesses who market the junk to kids and poor folk....

Michelle Obama is right!
Tax the hell out of soft drinks and junk food
restrict junk food advertising
put emphasis on phys ed and art in the schools
universal health care (emphasis on preventative care)
education, education, education...

[JJW]

19. By 2030 a box of cereal will be the size of....

a deck of cards and cost over $ 1 million dollars.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. They probably won't even make it to 2030.

[truthisfreedom]

21. That's one way of looking at it.

[No Elephants]

22. I stumbled on a 1950's photo on the internet of two street corners opposite each other.

People were walking on the sidewalks while others were waiting at both corners for a chance to cross the street. Must have been at least 30 people in the photo.

What struck me first? Not one obese person in the photo and only one mildly plump one. Most of the men in particular looked undernourished by today's standards.

[LuckyLib]

34. As boomers, we often comment that "folks were not this big in the old days."

But they didn't have to graze their way through every gathering of people either. Food was not available everywhere you look. Now, wherever two or more people are gathered, food is for sale. Eating for entertainment. It's what Americans do.

[eridani]

23. Contradicted by other reports

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34832702/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition

America’s rapid rise in obesity appears to have leveled off, with new government figures showing no significant increase in a decade.

But there's little reason to cheer. More than two-thirds of adults and almost a third of children are overweight, and there are no signs of improvement.

Experts say they’re not sure whether the lull in the battle of the bulge can be attributed to more awareness and better diets — or whether society has simply reached a maximum level of tubbiness.

“Maybe in this environment, this is as overweight as we’ll get,” said Gary Foster, director of the Temple University Center for Obesity Research and Education.


http://articles.boston.com/2006-04-05/news/29239697_1_cynthia-ogden-obesity-data-leveling

More American children are getting fat, with more than one-third now overweight. More of their dads are getting heavy, too.

But the percentage of women who are overweight seems to have peaked, leading some specialists to wonder whether the obesity epidemic may soon be leveling off.

Overall, larger proportions of the US public are overweight than ever before, according to the government's most accurate recent check of the nation's girth. But women, who as a group are more obese, seem to be holding steady.

[Javaman]

24. In other news: Texas to sink in the gulf; unable to sustain weight. nt

[Born Free]

27. the day will come...

I am afraid the day will come when the do-gooders will decide it is illegal for people like me to eat at our favorite places, such as
http://shady-maple.com/smorgasbord in Lancaster Much like the smokers that currently hide in the back lots , people that enjoy a big meal will
have to hide to eat their favorite foods. It's ironic because most obese people I know really don't care what others do, any faith,
or lifestyle is OK, live and let live but there are many that frown upon them because they don't have the beautiful bodies. Oh, the do-gooders
are quick to point out they are only concerned the obese people are not as healthy as they should be and lord knows they like to "pack" it on at times,
but if those obese people would just be like them, you know, thin they would be so much better.

[Alameda]

44. I don't think your weight is the problem. I have noticed a

particular type of weight. It's hard to describe, but it's sort of puffy & unhealthy looking. If people don't care about being svelte, and they feel fine, great, but many do not want to carry the extra weight and don't know why they have it.
If your weight gain is from eating a lot of healthy food, no problem. Too often it's the empty calories packed into the foods that do nothing for your health and pack on extra unhealthy pounds. There are added hormones that also cause disruption in weight control, these are the things I'm concerned with.

[Odin2005]

69. Some people carry their weight better than others, I'm one of them.

If people guess my wight they usually guess about 50 pounds less than I am. And I'm Not a tall person (I'm 5' 8"), but I am heavily built with a wide frame.

[dogfacedboy]

28. In most of the "Red" crap holes of our nation, gravy is a beverage. That's part of the problem.

[MADem]

46. .....!

:rofl:

[Exultant Democracy]

31. Just got back to the US after a month in South America,

One of the first thing I noticed was how much fatter Americans are. What does that say about us as a people and our culture.

[defendandprotect]

73. It says we have lousey food -- little nutrition now in our vegetation ... and what's left ....

is cooked out or processed away --

PLUS HORMONES in animals if you eat animals!!

[pitohui]

79. really? what part of south america? what part of north america?

in bolivia there seemed to be a lot of those folks w. a lot of native american ancestry who get chunky if they even happen to get a whiff of some aroma of rice...

and there were areas where they did this hawaii thing of having potatoes and another starch on the same plate, i'm blanking, i think potatoes and rice together (def the case in hawaii) but maybe it was potatoes and pasta...in any case, they were not eating a better diet than north americans and they sure as shit weren't svelte

i think it's a worldwide problem of we have too many people to feed them all on quality fats like butter/olive oil and good quality protein so we're fattening them up on cheap carbs...but it's not just in the usa

[sofa king]

39. And then that American will eat the other one.

[BlueIris]

41. Now, now, obesity is an empowering, life improving condition.

By 2030, half our of country will enjoy this liberated state.

:sarcasm:

[crim son]

43. If people learned to eat more simply

then the way food is marketed and made would have little impact on their diets. Furthermore, simple food takes little time to prepare and is relatively inexpensive, especially if one buys fruits and vegetables in season. I have no trouble whatsoever bypassing the ice cream, chips and Oreos when grocery shopping but I don't know many like me. I don't believe it's a coincidence that I am also of average weight and have a BMI of 23 while my neighbor who believes that it's perfectly normal to have a candy bar after lunch and a bowl of ice cream after dinner, struggles with his weight.

[Odin2005]

70. I'm the same as you, but I have always struggled with my weight.

the stuff I eat is pretty healthy, my main problem is my very bad habit of eating when I'm bored or feel down in the dumps.

[CreekDog]

48. "Shares of Cracker Barrel skyrocketed on the news"

:D

[HughBeaumont]

52. Cracker Barrel . . . the only restaurant whose name adequately describes the people that eat there.

[Arugula Latte]

54. Oh, you are bad ...

:spank:

But that is funny! :rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

56. To be fair, I like their "retro" section . . .

Their food would make me grind to a halt unless I ran 10 miles afterwards. ;)

[sofa king]

77. Every time I see that name...

... I think of this scene from this strange and beautiful film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqMh8SB3qcU

Which in may be related to an early line in this awesome tune.

"Sure you're right."

[indurancevile]

49. especially if they keep changing the definition.

Optimal Weight Threshold Lowered
By Sally Squires
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 4, 1998; Page A01

The federal government plans to change its definition of what is a healthy weight, a controversial move that would classify millions more Americans as being overweight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/guideposts/fitness/optimal.htm


At least a substantial part of the obesity epidemic can be accounted for by a change in the definition of "obesity." When the CDC changed the definition in 1997, 30 million Americans who had been of normal weight now found themselves to be obese, all without gaining a pound.

http://heartdisease.about.com/od/dietandobesity/a/obesity_bad.htm

[Arkansas Granny]

51. Do they teach nutrition in school these days? I know that a lot of things have been dropped

from the cirriculum since my kids were at school. Are Home Ec courses still available? If kids aren't taught how to do these things while they are young, how will they know how to take care of themselves when they leave home?

Good nutrition doesn't have to be expensive if you know which foods to buy and how to prepare them. I continue to be surprised by the number of people I know who don't know how to cook even a simple meal for themselves or their family without using prepared foods for most of it.

[CountAllVotes]

53. people don't cook anymore it seems to me

If not that, they don't know how to cook anymore.

I was out shopping at COSTCO a few weeks ago buying some canned salmon. A young woman approached me and wanted to know what I did with it. I told her that I was very poor growing up and that my late father did all of the cooking and made "salmon cakes" for the family with a large can of canned salmon (with skin and bones included which was the only way you could buy it canned for many years -- you did the de-boning and removed the skin). Her husband was with her and he accused me of being a liar and said that we couldn't have been "poor" if we were eating salmon (what an idiot he was; he just didn't "get it").

Being she didn't know how to make salmon cakes so I told her that all she needed was some crushed up salt crackers and one egg. She did not know how to crush up salt crackers and wanted to know if you could buy crushed up salt crackers. I told her that you had to crush them up yourself and that you can release some pent up whatever inside of you while crushing them up by placing the crackers in a bag and banging it with your fist on a table to crush them up. She was baffled I could tell.

I then advised her to buy a copy of The Joy of Cooking, the version printed in the mid-1970s being she apparently did not know how to cook and only knew how to microwave food.

She then wanted to know if I had any quick microwave recipes and was horrified when I told her that I don't have nor do I want a microwave oven.

Sad example here but I rather think it is quite common.

People don't know how to cook anymore, McDonald's is quick and easy (and not so damn cheap any more either) -- that is a huge part of the problem IMO.

:kick:

[Odin2005]

71. I'm 25 and I swear on am one of the few people my age that can cook decently.

[ClosureHasCome]

60. I don't agree with taxing unhealthy foods.

Making healthy food more affordable? Yes.

But taxing unhealthy food? It IS possible to be healthy and eat junk food every now and then.

Sounds like more suffocation of personal choice to me.

[defendandprotect]

72. Since we've been throwing chemicals/pesticides on our vegetation, it has less nutrition....

and recent reports suggest nutrition levels in vegetables/fruit are still falling!

We also need to look at the hormones used on animals to make them grow --

also makes humans grow!

All of this crap also ends up in our drinking water -- !!


Capitalism is suicidal -- !!

[pitohui]

78. that's the price of an aging population

as life expectancy goes up, and the average age of the usa citizen goes up, then since on average healthy people gain weight with age, we're going to have a heavier population

not sure what anyone is supposed to do about this

we could all lose a lot of weight if there was more food poisoning and terminal cancer in the middle aged population but the cure is worse than the disease!

the folks i've known who have lost weight in middle age had very expensive treatments, namely, i have seen only two techniques that worked -- gastric bypass/lapband and related surgeries or else extreme low carb diets, both expensive techniques impractical for most people

there is a reason why rich people are thinner than poor people, it costs money, a lot of money

it ain't about "food" although it's convenient to blame the victim for being fat rather than to hand him the money he needs to fix the fat -- and i really think it's hilarious that women who have babies think going on a diet is going to change what happened to their hormones and their body, hello, you are not uma thurman and you are not willing to have the surgical techniques she had after having a baby, you think you're going to look like her after a baby just by not eating cake??? has that ever worked for even one woman that you ever met in all of human history? then why would it work for YOU?

[indurancevile]

80. not to mention in 1994 the obesity rolls increased 10% due to a definition change.

americans have gotten fatter, but not as much as the hype would make you believe.

[OnionPatch]

81. Who can exercise when they're chained to their desk for 50+ hours a week?

The main reason I hear from people as to why they don't exercise and why they buy fast food is that they don't have time for the healthier options. I used to scoff at that "excuse" until I started working full time. That we are surrounded with fattening, greasy (but tasty) food and ads for food everywhere we look doesn't help.