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kevin
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PostPosted: August 25, 2004 9:39 AM    Post subject: food for thought... Reply with quote

here's an interesting article i read the other day about the "food pyramid":

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Uncle Sam Wants You... Fat

by Radley Balko

Radley Balko is a policy analyst with the Cato Institute.

The disease known as "Type 2 Diabetes" was once known as "adult onset diabetes." The name distinguished the condition -- which is triggered by obesity and inactivity -- from "juvenile diabetes," which is largely the result of genetics.

But for the past twenty years, Type 2 Diabetes has been diagnosed in more and more adults -- and in adults younger and younger in age. In fact, today the disease reaches well into adolescence, so much so that the "adult onset" label has become a misnomer.

And so America fattens.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the percentage of obese adults in America has nearly doubled since 1980 -- from 15 to 27%. Today, 61% of Americans are either obese or overweight. In the next twenty years, scientists expect our health care system to buckle under the strain of epidemics in both heart disease and diabetes.

Already we're seeing the social effects. Obese-Americans now claim their own hyphen, and their own lobby. Southwest Airlines has started charging heavyset jet-setters one seat for each bum cheek. Fat has so dominated the news of late that networks now have stock "fat footage" -- low-angle camera shots of bulging abdomens, sagging rumps, and corpulent John Does sucking down cheese steak on random city street corners.

Conventional wisdom suggests our lifestyles are to blame. We're sedentary. We're married to our automobiles. Our kids play Madden 2002 instead of futbol. We choose from three hundred channels instead of three. We've bored thick grooves in our couches the size and shape of our ever-ampler derrieres.

But the trial lawyers say Big Grease is to blame. Grimace, Wendy, and Colonel Sanders have been clogging our arteries for years, the argument goes. They've been super-sizing, extra-crunchifying, beef-flavorizing and otherwise subsidizing our gluttony. They even market to our children -- as Big Tobacco does -- tying their heart-stopping foodstuffs to Disney movies, board games and television shows.

But perhaps there's a bigger, badder culprit.

Last month, the New York Times Magazine published an article by Gary Taubes that should force even America's fleshy jowls to drop. Taubes' thesis? We shouldn't blame our lifestyles for our waistlines. We shouldn't blame Mayor McCheese, Dave Thomas or Papa John, either.

We should blame our own United States government.

Taubes' story goes something like this:

For the past quarter century, the U.S. government has issued dietary recommendations that, if followed, were supposed to keep us all looking svelte and sexy - a nation of Halle Berries and George Cloonies. You've probably seen these recommendations. They form what the USDA calls its "food pyramid." The pyramid essentially recommends a low-fat, high-starch diet. It suggests 6-11 servings of "grains, cereals, rice and pasta" per day, and less than one serving of "fats and oils" -- or less than three per week.

The problem is, that pyramid was built not on scientific evidence, but on the prejudices of politicians, the special interests of U.S. agriculture, and the egos of career scientists at the National Institute of Health.

In fact, not only is the food pyramid not built on sound scientific evidence, but sound scientific evidence increasingly suggests that the pyramid is a sham.

For twenty-five years, Americans have been told by their government that a low-fat diet would stave off obesity, lower cholesterol, and prevent heart disease. For twenty-five years, mounting scientific evidence has suggested otherwise. And for twenty-five years, the U.S. government has ignored that evidence, and Americans have gotten fatter.

According to Taubes, the NIH has conducted five separate studies over the past twenty years at a cost of several hundred million dollars, all attempting to link dietary fat to heart disease. None of the studies could make that connection.

A sixth study -- costing another $100 million -- did show that drug therapy aimed at lowering cholesterol might prevent heart disease. It said nothing about diet. No matter. NIH officials took that study's results as vindication of their long-held anti-fat prejudice. They continued to promote a low-fat, high-starch diet.

As Richard Weaver famously wrote some fifty years ago, ideas have consequences. Private industry, media, and nutrition schools took cues from the federal government's lead. Over the course of the 1980's and '90's, Americans obsessed over "low-fat" and "fat-free." In college dorm rooms, dark green boxes of Snackwells replaced empty boxes of pizza. Bagels replaced eggs as America's breakfast staple. America looked to sugar for flavor, and to starch for satiation. The average American today eats 60 pounds more starch per year than he did in 1980, and 30 pounds more sweetener.

The problem -- long recognized by much-ridiculed "hucksters" like Dr. Robert Atkins -- is that human metabolism is regulated not by fat intake, but by insulin levels in the blood. When insulin levels are high, the body shuts off its fat-burning mechanisms. When insulin levels are low, it turns them on. Sugar and artificial sweeteners found in low-fat snacks spike the body's insulin levels. And since the body quickly converts starches to sugar, starch and sugar are virtually indistinguishable when it comes to metabolism.

Consequently, for a quarter century, the U.S. government has enthusiastically encouraged its citizens to turn themselves into walking fat repositories.

For those of us naturally distrustful of government, this doesn't come as much of a surprise. We watch as poverty rates soar with increased welfare expenditures. We watch as foreign aid outlays exacerbate third-world destitution. It isn't such a shocker, then, that federal efforts to keep us skinny have, in fact, only made us fat.

Even a cursory look at the USDA recommendations suggests chicanery. "USDA?" Why is the federal department responsible for the promotion of U.S. agriculture making dietary recommendations? Might there be conflicts of interests, there?

Indeed there have been. The Times piece points out that, despite evidence emerging as early as the late 1970's that starches are quickly absorbed into the blood and converted to sugar, public health officials chose not only to ignore the findings, but to negate them by downplaying sugar's effects on metabolism.

Taubes writes, "Rather than accept this possibility [that starch is akin to sugar], the policy makers simply allowed sugar and corn syrup to elude the vilification that befell dietary fat."

By ignoring the starch-to-sugar science, the USDA could continue recommending that Americans eat lots of grain. That kept the corn and wheat farmers happy. By downplaying sugar's effect on metabolism, Americans would continue their low-fat obsession, consuming snacks and soft drinks largely sweetened with corn syrup. That kept the sugar farmers happy, and the corn farmers even happier. And all of this allowed NIH scientists to avoid admitting that their long-held low-fat prejudice might have been wrong. That kept the bureaucrats happy.

Everybody wins. Except the people who took their own government's advice, and wound up with bulging bellies, belabored hearts, and a case of diabetes.

If there's someone to blame for America's fat problem (other than fat Americans, themselves) it isn't private industry, it's the public sector. You might argue that the officials at the NIH and the USDA (and HHS, if you needed another acronym) made a series of wrong decisions about the American diet that led to lots of Americans to be in need of a diet. But that's missing the point.

The federal government oughtn't be in the business of telling us what to eat at all. Federal policy is rarely based on science or objectivity or empirical evidence. Instead, it's almost always based on a series of compromises forged to appease the interests of careerists, interest groups and elected politicians. In sectors of public life as sensitive as health and nutrition, such compromises aren't merely amusing bureaucratic hijinks, they're dangerous assaults on the public health.

----

food for thought...
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londa



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PostPosted: August 25, 2004 10:07 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found this extremely interesting.
Thank you! Smile

Londa
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Ben's Mom



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PostPosted: August 25, 2004 12:32 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank You Kevin,

I was listening to the news last night about Type 2 Diabetes and the lastest studies show that even one soda a day will increase your chance of getting it.

This was pretty scary for me since my Coca-cola has always been my reward and my brother was born with diabetes.

I probably would have ignored this when I smoked, but now it seems more important to me. It is another one of the changes that occurs when we peel off the layers. I don't just want to be smokefree...I want to be healthy all around.
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kannprint



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PostPosted: August 25, 2004 4:53 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very interesting, Kevin. Thanks for posting.
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ms_tapestry



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PostPosted: August 25, 2004 9:10 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had absolutely no problem with anything I wanted to eat until I turned 40. After 40 the weight just kept adding up a little at a time. My grandmother had adult onset diabetes. I finally tried the South Beach Diet, which is a modified Atkins diet This diet cuts out the foods that convert to sugar quickly in your body such as white potatos, white rice, white bread, sugar (do you notice white as a theme?) and replaces them with sweet potatos, brown rice, and whole grain breads. Dark green vegetables, fruit, cheese, eggs and lean meats such as chicken, sirloin steak and fish. I lost 38 pounds from December 28 until I Quit on June 20. I gained some back after I Quit but have lost most of it now.

It is a lifestyle change as opposed to a diet. But it does really work.
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bwick18



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PostPosted: August 25, 2004 11:16 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

absolutely interesting. I find that so true as i can remember years ago after my first child was born I was trying to shed the last of the baby weight and in place of the fat I was chewing on sour dough pretzles. I really thought i was doing something there! Apparently not. I refuse to buy potatoes or rice or white bread any more though. But my kids are ticked!! But better to change the eating habits with them as diabetes runs in my family also. However, chocholate in any form is my downfall!
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ms_tapestry



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PostPosted: August 26, 2004 6:43 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Barb, recent studies support chocolate as beneficial. The dark chocolate especially. I can't remember why right now (mental moment!) I just remember thinking, YES! Laughing It is also included in the SBD in the form of desserts.
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Marigrrl



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PostPosted: August 26, 2004 12:41 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

This article is scary and true at the same time. I believe in america most people are sedentary, we eat more calories than we actually burn. Its scary to see that 61% of Americans are obese or overweight. I know when I travel abroad and especially to Japan, when I get back to US, I notice a lot more overweight people, b/c people overseas in general are healthy weight. So to come back to America, obesity and people that are overweight stand out. When i was younger, a child, i was running around outside with my bike and play tag and all that. My neighborhood is filled with little kids, i see them walk home from school. At 4pm, i don't see them playing outside, I bet they are playing video games or on the computer. What happened to outside activity? The portion size in America is way too big too. When im in Japan most americans complain about portion size, but its the right size, that is why, most people in Asia are thin. THis article is very interesting, its unfortunate as americans, we are getting bigger! I know everyones body is different, but we shouldnt be a fattest country.....I was in Florida this summer at one of the most active places, which is Disney. I was very surprised to see many many overweight people. I am guessing it was a good look at all of america in one place, majority, was overweight...thats pretty sad...even small children. Confused

thanks for sharing this article..

mariko
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ms_tapestry



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PostPosted: August 26, 2004 7:19 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the major reasons children are not outside playing after school is because of the high number of single parents raising children and the high number of families that both parents work outside of the home. These are latch key children. Their parents instruct them to come home, go inside, lock the doors and stay there until they get home because of safety concerns.
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Ben's Mom



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PostPosted: August 26, 2004 7:46 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dr. Dean Edell says that if chocolate were discovered today it would have been considered an herb and health food!

I like that idea!
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bwick18



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PostPosted: August 26, 2004 9:59 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

My children did not have a recess at school until this year when everyone started getting concerned about obesity in juviniles. All because the FCAT- those of you from Florida know what I mean- that test dictates wayyyyy to much. But how can you stick kids in a class for so many hours with no recess, offer a snack and lunch and not expect some of that sendentary lifestyle to stick into adulthood?
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