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In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold for BMI 27.8 to 25 to match international guidelines (WHO). The move added 30 million Americans who were previously in the "healthy weight" category to the "overweight" category.
Did you catch that? We have an obesity "crisis" BECAUSE THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT WAS CHANGED, which made more of us "fat!"
I am of the opinion that upper limits of BMI needs to be set at 23 for people who aren't muscular, especially now that people are less muscular than the laborers of yore. To set it at 27.8 is just burying your head in the sand. You can't change obesity by changing a standard measure. You can see it everyday on the streets, and it is disgusting.
Cars. 150 years ago the average person walked 8 miles a day. If you walk 8 miles a day, you will loose weight. At 3 mph, the average walking speed, that can be done by just cutting out TV time.
the problem isn't too much government control of what we eat, it is the lack of meaningful government control of the food and drug industries. They are knowingly selling garbage that is solely meant to increase consumption and abuse. We are being forced feed on this garbage and free choice has all but been taken away.
High fructose corn syrup, HFCS, has been around for the last 40 years or so and the obesity problem has exploded in the last 35 to 40 years. In the 1970's I weighed 165 LB, by 2006 I was up to 235 LB. In the last three years or so I have lost over 45 LB and the last 30 of that was me living without HFCS.
Try to find any processed food without HFCS as one of the primary ingredients. I haven't eaten HFCS in several years and I can confirm just how difficult it is to find basic food stuffs without it. All but three cereals out of hundreds the last time I checked.
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Originally Posted by stillkit
The point of this whole thread is that the "crisis" which many are using as a reason to impose government actions on everything from soda taxes to restrictions on "junk food" advertising to children (it's for the children!) to mandatory rules binding food producers to BMI measurements in school is all predicated on the "fact" that we all suddenly got unhealthily fat. And, we all suddenly got unhealthy because the cut off between unhealthy and healthy weight was lowered for no apparent physical reason.
Suddenly, the data indicated what's been called the greatest challenge of the 21st century and nobody noticed, or cared, that it's because the goal line was shifted backward.
I give up. Y'all go right ahead and preach "health," pat yourselves on the back for being so "healthy," look down your noses at those poor idiots who aren't as smart as you are
those "less sophisticated" people are exactly why the government should be "encouraging" the food and drug industries to produce healthy alternative at a reasonable price. not everyone has the time and devotion to research, read studies and study every label to find the right choices. It is NOT about forcing people to eat something they don't want to, it is about the industries producing healthy choices and not selling garbage just to increase their bottom line.
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and get out in the streets and agitate for more government control. Who cares that it's all based upon a contrived data and benefits nobody but big pharma.
You've been had again, just as you were with seat belts, motorcycle helmets, tobacco and every other "unhealthy" or "dangerous" thing which junk science and special interest groups can convince you need correction by the government for your "own good."
How many times can you be manipulated before the blinders fall off?
Last edited by buzzards27; 04-21-2011 at 07:56 PM..
Did you know that obesity was rare before the 20th century?
In part, that's because the definition of obesity was commonly held to be a person who was 100% heavier than people of the same age who died.
Later, most of the US used the Metropolitan Insurance Company height and weight charts to determine whether or not a person was too heavy. Most of us fit within that chart at an acceptable weight. Eventually, Body Mass Index (BMI) came to be used as a better measurement, though it does not account for the difference between fat and muscle.
Then, in 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a classification for three "grades" of overweight using BMI cutoff points of 25, 30, and 40.
In 1997 the WHO formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic.
In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold for BMI 27.8 to 25 to match international guidelines (WHO). The move added 30 million Americans who were previously in the "healthy weight" category to the "overweight" category.
Did you catch that? We have an obesity "crisis" BECAUSE THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT WAS CHANGED, which made more of us "fat!"
In other words, it's little more than a manufactured crisis, one achieved by moving the goal posts, but one which is already resulting in higher taxes on "unhealthy" foods and more government interference in our lifestyle choices.
Moreover, there is no physical evidence to support changing the standards and recent "studies" merely quote previous "studies" without any indication as to why the standard was lowered. It's precisely the same kind of "science" which resulted in the second-hand smoke hysteria.
Is this alright with you? Are you still willing to support higher taxes on "junk food" and restrictive laws such as the banning of trans-fats or new fast food stores or salt-less kitchens? Do you think schools teaching "body awareness" in Kindergarten to combat the "obesity crisis" is justified?
How much liberty will you surrender to fight a non-existant "crisis?"
So what if things HAVE changed? Has it changed enough to warrant government intervention? That's what all this is leading to, isn't it?
The government, by bowing to the likes of Monsanto and others, helped create the obesity problem with the food preservatives and artificial sweeteners as it is.
By paying over inflated unionized public teacher pensions PE has been cut from recess. By refusing to address tort reform the rise of a litigeous society has made it such that now even tag and dodgeball are too dangerous for the playground.
It is not all about Big Pharma, it is about Big AG and Lawyers too. It is about the government over reaching their enumerated powers allowed through the Constitution.
Yet........you continue to mock the Tea Party that wants to return to limited government.
I was at the grocery store yesterday and I saw 10 year olds who were bigger and fatter than me. Their parents were Jabba The Huts too.
They are a lot less heavy than Americans. Sure they have obese people but what they consider "overweight" is what we consider to be just about average.
Corn fattens cattle quicker so why shouldn't it do the same for people ?
That's just simple logic folks. Yet all these government and private "authorities" never mention HFCS.
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