Epidemic in America (prevent, painting, Toronto, hiking)

[RogueMom]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Carbohydrates, and carbohydrates alone.

Your are right. Sugar, and more specifically, High Fructose Corn Syrup is in absolutely just about every processed food, even those we don't think of as being "sweet", like many breads and crackers. I avoid corn syrup, but when you start trying to avoid it and read labels, you really realize that it's in everything. Barbeque sauce, ketchup, some mayonnaise, salad dressings, ice cream and almost all frozen treats, some peanut butter, ...

I also don't get people who drink soda like water. Growing up, a Coke was a "treat", like an ice cream cone or something. We didn't drink it with every meal and all day long. And don't get me started on the "diet" soda.

Not that I myself couldn't stand to lose a few pounds. I've put on ten pounds with every decade. My biggest weakness? Cheese, and "cheesy stuff". Nachos, pizza, jalapeno poppers; I'll probably die of clotted arteries from all the cheese I eat.

I refuse to call overweight/obesity a disease, unless someone's weight gain is truly medically related. Most of us know good and well what we are doing (or not doing) in order to gain this weight.

[Sunbiz1]

Processed foods(which began w/K rations during WW2 and TV dinners)are to blame, along with the sugar industry.
Our government is also to blame, there is a reason Norway is dominating the Olympics. They subsidize fitness centers equipped with trainers, most of which have college degrees. The U.S. needs to do the same, even take it a step further and pay taxpayers to get in shape; by the pound.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by SimplySagacious

Numbers 1-3 on that page explain why Asians should stay with traditional Asian diets. That is what they are genetically adapted to.

Traditional Asian diets make me worse. Inflammation increases causing arthritis pain to flare up, and other problems. A traditional Western European diet works best for me. This becomes increasingly complicated for people with more genetic diversity (an issue for many Americans) and usually requires more individual experimentation and observation. Actually, I am more Northern European than Western but am more genetically adapted to the Western Euro diet, which is rich in saturated fats that would wreak havoc on many people.

Cultures around the world were healthy on widely varying diets. None of them were wrong. They didn't know the nutrients or the science but through observation, figured out the combinations of local foods that provided the nutrition required to keep them healthy. This became their traditional diets. Over time, they became genetically adapted so changing their diet changes their genetic expressions (epigenetics) making them fat or sick, or both.

This is what I think. Vegetarianism became bookends for my stint as a vegan. That went pretty well for a while, until the intense food cravings started at about five months. I wanted cheese. I started eating more calcium rich foods and adding a bit more fat to my diet. I didn't work for me.

My ancestors are from England, Wales, and Ireland. They ate fish, dairy, meat, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. Oh, and peas.

I felt better after I fell off of the turnip cart.

[nativenewenglander]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Carbohydrates, and carbohydrates alone.

I read that you should only shop the outside edges of the grocery store.
The inner aisles have a prepared food, which is probably why this makes sense.
I'm down 17 pounds since New Years, just cutting out most all carbs.

[Mikala43]

I think if the majority of overweight people stopped eating processed, fast food and chain restaurant food, they would lose weight.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

A little off topic, but that is exactly what you would be asked to do under this "universal health care" thing that everyone seems to be so in love with.

And after that happens, you will protest the fact that you are paying for the self-destructive persons' medical bills (as you should because you should not be expected to pay for anyone else's responsibilities unless you so choose). At some point, the government would start passing laws against certain types of food, drink, or behavior. Thus, we have all lost our liberty due to the sins of the few and the public expectation of the "big safety net." It's a cycle of which I want to be no part, but is indeed the way all collectivism evolves. It becomes tyranny at some point.

But I do agree that nobody should be paying for anyone else's medical bills. That is why I am against the concept of "insurance" in general, universal or not, because by its very definition that is exactly what it does.

I had cancer surgery four years ago, that has now come back. Now I need to start radiation treatments. Last week we met with my Radiation Oncologist. He spent half the time complaining about all the Canadians who come down here for treatment.

It is a nice new facility, with the latest equipment and computer imaging [which is great]. But since Canada has always had a serious shortage of specialists, they lack oncologists, and apparently, they have none of these super expensive computer imaging radiation machines. Canadians are put on years-long waiting lists for treatment, so they do medical tourism and come down here. Our local cancer center is not allowed to turn them away, they are required to provide treatment to everyone.

They can not give priority to paying patients, or patients like me with good insurance. So they have a bunch of non-paying Canadian tourists here being treated, who they know up front will never pay for the treatments.

Single-payer healthcare is 'great' until you need a specialist and you are in a nation with only General Practitioners.

Trying going to an oncologist who is overly frustrated from dealing with Canadians.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

Chris, if you are against the concept of insurance in general (private and other) then you are against it for your home and car?

Well, let's just put it this way: I've been driving for about thirty-seven years now. In all that time, I have been paying for auto insurance. And in all that time, I haven't had so much as a parking ticket and certainly not any sort of collision. Now you tell me if that was a wise investment of my money over all those years. I could, with exactly the same outcome, simply have flushed that money down the toilet.

There are two ways to look at it: One is that (as mentioned above) it was a poor use of my money. What could all that money have done if it were, say, invested wisely? Rather, I'm giving an insurance company free money for which they provide absolutely NO service to me in return.

Two, I could look at it with the perspective that I am paying for and encouraging lousy, reckless drivers. They drive as if there is not a brain in their head, like lunatics, knowing full well that they are not responsible for the consequences of their bad behavior when they invariably cause a crash. They know that people like me will be paying for their stupidity.

Either way I look at it... well let's just say I don't think about it much because it only serves to raise my blood pressure.

Now of course, it is the law. So I pay. And the only reason I'm not militantly opposed to it rather than philosophically opposed to it is that it is still a voluntary payment. I'm not forced to drive a vehicle. I choose to do that, so I suppose I, as well, choose to pay. Grrrr.

As for home insurance, I have the skills to build a home. If it burned to the ground, I could build a new one that is better than the old one. Sure, it would be expensive, but I'd manage.


As for the concept of "insurance" generally speaking, it is simply a gambling venture on the part of the insurance company that is mathematically calculated to ALWAYS favor the "house" (insurance company). So, it becomes no gamble at all. Would you be in Las Vegas every day on the card tables in high-stakes poker if you KNEW you would win every time? Sure you would. So I can't really say I blame the insurance companies. Assuming they have competent actuaries, it is essentially a money tree growing in the middle of their high-rise office complex--as long as they have a captive audience that they have convinced there is no better way to "play it safe."

Unfortunately, because the insurance companies and government have convinced us all that there is no better way to "insure" our cars, homes, health, life, etc... nobody bothers to look for a better way. Well, actually that is not completely true: there is the collectivist idea of "health cost sharing" and such. That notion is miles better than insurance because even though it is a collectivist (socialist) notion, at least it is voluntary and not a money-for-nothing scheme. It is truly a group of people paying each others' medical bills.

Another dreadful result of the middle-man insurance companies is the lack of competition on the part of the services that "fix the problem" once it occurs. The doctor knows he/she can charge a hundred times what he/she would charge in a free market. The auto body shop knows it can charge a hundred times what it would directly charge. And then everyone complains about the high cost. It was THEIR OWN fault for allowing insurance companies to control the game. Not much different from a mafia protection racket in 1920s Chicago.

So, no, I'm not thrilled with the concept of "insurance" or the insurance companies. However, in a truly free society, they are of course free to exist. That's the price of liberty, I suppose. But when the government colludes with the insurance companies, THAT is NOT a free market. In a free market, people are free to come up with better ways to handle "insurance"--better than the "insurance agent" on the playground saying, "Psst, hey kiddo... you give me your lunch money every day and I'll INSURE that Brutus doesn't knock your teeth out."

[BlackberryMerlot]

I've been seeing a lot of TV commercials for 'carcass insurance' to pay your funeral bills. I laugh at this because
1. I don't plan on dying.
2. Why worry? I don't have any kids to stick with the bill.

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

As for home insurance, I have the skills to build a home. If it burned to the ground, I could build a new one that is better than the old one. Sure, it would be expensive, but I'd manage.....But when the government colludes with the insurance companies, THAT is NOT a free market.

I agree with you, Chris, about insurance. My house is NOT insured. I own it outright (hail, I built it!) and if I add up all the insurance payments I would pay over the years, it would more than pay me to re-build the house. So, I thumb my nose at the house insurance firms!

[ColoGuy]

Obesity is winning for many reasons.
Lower testosterone levels with higher estrogen levels. Enter BHP leaching plastic bottles and wrapping. GMO soy foods that mimic estrogen. Less physical activity. Corn syrup. Pharmaceuticals.

I look at the food supply as much as anything. We even package crap as "health food".