Post by: Paddy on August 27, 2007, 11:52:59 AM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9051178/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20461564/
Post by: Manedwolf on August 27, 2007, 11:57:32 AM
For most all of history, the poor ate veggies and lean meats, while the rich ate fatty meats and sweets. The poor had vitamin deficiencies, but they were slender...and sometimes malnourished, but still slender. The rich often were the ones suffering from the effects of being "corpulent", like gout.
Now, the cheapest food is processed carbs made with cottonseed and other hydrogenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup, which, when eaten as a primary diet, makes people morbidly obese. Lean meats and organic veggies are the expensive food.
There's inexpensive options that are healthier for you, of course, but many people do not seem to want to make the effort to prepare them, hence, they get fat.
What really gets to me is seeing all the kids who are already morbidly obese, the ones who, before they're even teens, are already huge enough to have a waddling gait.
Post by: El Tejon on August 27, 2007, 12:11:06 PM
Post by: Paddy on August 27, 2007, 12:16:02 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3296064/
Post by: Manedwolf on August 27, 2007, 12:17:20 PM
It's complex carbs. Your body breaks them down slowly if you use them. Drinking a beer is much better for your metabolism than drinking a soda made with high-fructose corn syrup, or having one of those 700 calorie frappucino things.
Post by: Paddy on August 27, 2007, 12:31:03 PM
Or maybe it's just an addiction, like any other, driven by stress?
Post by: Manedwolf on August 27, 2007, 12:33:44 PM
Post by: French G. on August 27, 2007, 02:29:02 PM
Quote
What are y'all eatin' in the South?
Answer: Youse guys! Y'all come back now ya hear!
Recent medical research seems to indicate that fat is not benign and in fact drives body metabolism, probably leading to more lethargy, less motivation to seek good food, and thus fatter people. High Fructose corn syrup is the devil, I lost 5 pounds the month I quit soda 2 years ago.
Post by: Manedwolf on August 27, 2007, 03:14:03 PM
The problem is that it's horrendously BAD for your body.
Post by: Paddy on August 28, 2007, 09:13:58 AM
Poverty main cause of obesity problem in South
50 percent in Miss. will be heavy by 2015 if trend continues, expert says
JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippians need to skip the gravy, say no to the fried pickles and start taking brisk walks to fight an epidemic of obesity, experts say. According to a new study, this Deep South state is the fattest in the nation.
It also became the first state to crack the 30 percent barrier for adults considered obese, with West Virginia and Alabama just behind, according to the Trust for America's Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.
Aside from being a butt of late-night talk show jokes, the obesity epidemic has serious implications for public policy.
If current trends hold, these states could face enormous increases in the already significant costs of treating diabetes, heart disease and other ailments related to extra weight. The leanest state in the rankings was Colorado, with an obesity rate projected at a much lower 17.6 percent.
"We've got a long way to go. We love fried chicken and fried anything and all the grease and fatback we can get in Mississippi," said Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland, chairman of the Public Health Committee.
Poverty and obesity often go hand in hand, doctors say, because poor families stretch their budgets by buying cheaper, processed foods that have higher fat content and lower nutritional value.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee a self-described "recovering foodaholic" who lost 110 pounds and tried to put his entire state on a wellness plan explained during a Southern Governors' Association meeting last weekend that there are historical reasons poor people often fry their foods: It's an inexpensive way to increase the calories and feed a family.
Lack of exercise is a huge factor in obesity rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found last year that more than 22 percent of Americans did not engage in any physical activity in the past month. The percentage is greater than 30 percent in four states: Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Schools trying to reverse trend
Mississippi's public schools already are taking steps to try to turn the trend around.
A new law requires at least 150 minutes of physical activity instruction and 45 minutes of health education instruction each week for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Until now, gym class had been optional.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20476824/
I've never heard of fried pickles.
Post by: El Tejon on August 28, 2007, 09:35:39 AM
Lack of exercise a huge factor. I thought so. It's just so hot down there that people just sit about in white suits and fan themselves.
At least my state came down--one whole ranking, geez. With all the fat guys with monkey butts and love handles, beer guts and hot dog necks (all wearing shorts and work boots) I see in court day in and day out, I thought Indiana would be higher than we are.
I think it's a witches' brew of several different attitudes:
A) marketing of food. The more is better attitude has really gripped us. The Asian notion of eating 80% full is laughed at when restaurants offer so much food. Just look at sodas, or anything else, there's so much of it.
B) path of least resistance attitude. When I was a LEO, I walked to work. It was only .9 of a mile but I walked to and from work everyday (after work I went to the gym). I was asked continually why I walked, I told them it was good for me and save wear on my car (a used Buick). They all laughed and said "but the car is easier". People would tell me "I saw you on the street, walking around" like I had nothing else to do. Even today I tell people that I take hikes on weekends, I get blank stares as if I am some sort of paramilitary nut.
Just look at city planning now, there's no thought given to pedestrian traffic. We have to drive everywhere, even to gyms.
C) "just take a pill" attitude. Every time you turn around the Big Pharm (and I live in the middle of Pharm country) is trying to make you take a pill. Have an upset stomach? Why don't stop eating filth, just take a pill. Do your joints ache? Why don't go to yoga or exercise and move off the sofa, just take a pill.
Last year I showed my mother, who was having arthitis problems, some hand and elbow exercises to do to correct here problem and she was so impressed she showed the exercises to a friend. The friend told her that she would rather take a pill than exercise. And they think that we wil only be 50% obese. With these attitudes it will be closer to 99%.
Post by: mtnbkr on August 28, 2007, 09:40:14 AM
Not just the Southern food groups--sugar, starch and lard, but isn't a lack of exercise a problem down there as well. Just too hot to get out so they sit around a lot, right?
Lard? Practically nobody cooks with lard anymore. I know this because I had to really look to find lard last time I wanted to make my grandmother's biscuits.
As for exercise, I don't see people being more sedentary here than other places. My grandfather, born and lived his entire life in NC, is far from sedentary. He does yard work, household repairs, etc. I have lived my entire life in the south (NoVa being the furthest north I've lived), but I still manage to hit the gym 3xweek and bike several times a week. The mountain bike club I'm a member of is quite busy too. I lead weekly night rides and we have anywhere from 10-50 folks. That's for a type of riding that is challenging and requires expensive lights, which would tend to discourage all but the most devoted. Oh, and I love biking at the extremes of temps. It keeps the riffraff off the trails. The first ride I did with JamisJockey was in the 20s.
The bigger problem IMO is that folks are eating the diets their parents and granparents ate (lots of fat, carbs, etc), but not putting in the field work that helped those folks burn it off.
I really have to watch my diet or I'll fall into old eating habits. I find if I eat a little something often, I eat less and better than if I stuck to 2-3 meals a day.
Today I had:
Breakfast: two slices whole wheat toast w/o butter, spinach, jalepeno, and garlic omelet with one egg, cooked in olive oil.
Mid-morning snack: banana
Lunch: Baloney sandwhich (no cheese), low fat mayo, whole wheat bread, and an apple.
Mid-Afternoon snack: half a chocolate chip cookie and coffee (met family at Starbucks, shared the cookie with daughter)
Pre-ride snack: Apple
Biking 10-20 miles...
Dinner will probably be a salad since I won't get home till well after 9pm.
Chris
Post by: mtnbkr on August 28, 2007, 09:43:40 AM
I do bike to the gym when the weather allows (ie not raining or temps below 50deg). It's only 4.25 miles each way. I don't mind driving though because it's on the way to work (I work out in the AM).
Chris
Post by: Manedwolf on August 28, 2007, 09:59:24 AM
Lard? Practically nobody cooks with lard anymore. I know this because I had to really look to find lard last time I wanted to make my grandmother's biscuits.
Ironically, lard is much better for you than hydrogenated oils.
And coconut oil, used earlier in the 20th century to simulate butter, is better for you than partially hydrogenated oils.
Cheap waste oils like cottonseed oil are partially hydrogenated to simulate a butterlike fat, and fully hydrogenated to simulate lard.
The problem with hydrogenation is that partially hydrogenated fats do not exist in nature. And though the body promptly stores them as it does regular fats, the receptor sites on the molecule are all off, so it doesn't quite know how to utilize them. It's sort of like walking along with one key...if it doesn't work in one door, you eventually give up and try the next door, leaving the first door in place.
The reason why they're used, then? Because it's cheaper than natural fats, and because they significantly increase the shelf life of products.
The solution is to read labels. Even in things like supermarket bread, you can find brands that use sugar instead of HFC, and canola or other oils instead of partially hydrogenated oils.
Post by: Stetson on August 28, 2007, 10:56:05 AM
Start with small steps.
It would help eating healthier were not the things that are better for you so damn expensive.
Post by: mtnbkr on August 28, 2007, 11:01:50 AM
It would help eating healthier were not the things that are better for you so damn expensive.
That or you can't keep it for any length of time. If we try to buy groceries for two weeks, we have to eat all the fresh fruit and veggies quickly or they start to go bad. We cook a lot from scratch, but it gets old having to go to the grocery store every few days.
I've been eating spinach nearly every day since Saturday because we bought a bag Friday. I'll probably finish it off tonight.
Chris
Post by: Manedwolf on August 28, 2007, 11:15:00 AM
It would help eating healthier were not the things that are better for you so damn expensive.
I work for a medical company. I see pictures like this all day:
and I know how expensive things like angioplasty balloons are. That's incentive enough to spend the extra for good food.
Post by: Paddy on August 28, 2007, 11:17:22 AM
Quote
It would help eating healthier were not the things that are better for you so damn expensive.
I'd think the healthiest foods would be the least processed and the least expensive.
Whole grains, brown rice, beans, fresh vegetables, etc.
Post by: Manedwolf on August 28, 2007, 11:34:20 AM
Quote
It would help eating healthier were not the things that are better for you so damn expensive.
I'd think the healthiest foods would be the least processed and the least expensive.
Whole grains, brown rice, beans, fresh vegetables, etc. That's the most expensive in a lot of areas of the country. Processed foods are the cheapest sort.
Ramen noodles are 10 for a dollar. Fresh vegetables are rather expensive now.
The "healthiest" organic stuff, the stuff that doesn't come from China or someplace you can't drink the water and where they douse it with DDT...is usually sold in uberhip "farmer's markets" surrounded by luxury SUVs.
Post by: Paddy on August 28, 2007, 11:43:23 AM
Fresh boneless skinless chicken breast 1.49/lb
Picked ripe large nectarines .99/lb
Fresh large cantaloupes $1 each
Fresh white corn 6 for .96 cents
A 24 oz cooked rotisserie chicken $6
Fresh broccoli crowns 1.49/lb
Crenshaw, casaba or orange honeydew melons. .59 cents/lb
Is that expensive?
Post by: mtnbkr on August 28, 2007, 11:48:20 AM
My local grocery store has chicken for $1.79lb, 'lopes are $2.50 each, corn is 6/1.99, and so on. Not a huge difference, but it adds up quickly.
Chris
Post by: Paddy on August 28, 2007, 12:01:04 PM
Quote
marketing of food. The more is better attitude has really gripped us. The Asian notion of eating 80% full is laughed at when restaurants offer so much food. Just look at sodas, or anything else, there's so much of it.
Amen to that. There are restaurants around here that pride themselves on giving you too much food. It's ridiculous. Who wants to eat a 26oz steak? Along with bread, beans, fried potatoes, etc. Even 8 oz of meat is too much. 5 oz is just about right.
Post by: ilbob on August 28, 2007, 02:48:25 PM
For most all of history, the poor ate veggies and lean meats, while the rich ate fatty meats and sweets.
Interesting. I visited Colonial Williamsburg a few years back and one of the enactors was working on a vegetable garden. He said vegetables were expensive back then because of the resources it took to grow them so only the well to do could afford them, and most people got by on potatoes, grains and meat because they were cheap.
Post by: Manedwolf on August 28, 2007, 03:12:37 PM
For most all of history, the poor ate veggies and lean meats, while the rich ate fatty meats and sweets.
Interesting. I visited Colonial Williamsburg a few years back and one of the enactors was working on a vegetable garden. He said vegetables were expensive back then because of the resources it took to grow them so only the well to do could afford them, and most people got by on potatoes, grains and meat because they were cheap.
Depends which vegetables. What we traditionally think of as "garden" vegetables like peppers, perhaps. But root vegetables, like onions, turnips and carrots, not so much. Onions have been a traditional food of the poor for most of human history.
Post by: The Rabbi on August 29, 2007, 09:18:37 AM
Post by: mtnbkr on August 29, 2007, 09:36:12 AM
Chris
Post by: Lee on August 29, 2007, 09:46:43 AM