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Burn the calories!
YOU GOTTA BURN THE CALORIES!!!
In light of the recent suits* against the fast food giants in the US, for making people fat and sick with empty calories and artificial ingredients, on the one hand, and the difficulty for people to burn them off, on the other, I'd say: "You gotta burn the calories!!!" How? Well, I leave it up to your imagination... But, as the following opinion shows, is doesn't seem to be an easy task in America...
(*these suits were made "illegal" by the politicians--quick to side with the junk food corporations)
Source: Talking Point, BBC News
Having lived in the US last year, I can say most of the comments here
belittling this lawsuit stem from ignorance of life in the US. People
here in the UK are MUCH more aware of what is healthy. In the US "Big
Food" dominates the airwaves and the vast majority of people are
genuinely misinformed. Americans live off processed food regularly now.
Having said that, I think the lawsuit is partially misguided because bad
food is no more than half the problem of obesity that is now coming to
the fore in the US. The other half is the lifestyle the country imposes
on people. In the US you are literally FORCED to drive everywhere - even
a 5 minute hop to a local supermarket. People live in a system where
they do everything sitting down. So it is not just that massive amounts
of calories (with little nutrition) are readily and cheaply on offer,
but that burning any of it off in the normal course of a day is near
impossible.
James, UK
***
Is obesity a U.S. public policy issue?
By Lou Marano
WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Americans are fat. But is obesity a
problem that lends itself to public policy solutions?
Shannon Brownlee, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, is
inclined to think it does. James Glassman, an economic analyst at the
American Enterprise Institute, thinks it does not. The two presented
their arguments at a New America Foundation forum on Tuesday.
Brownlee said the issue is not whether the government has a right to
interfere with your right to eat Big Macs, but whether it is
contributing to the "epidemic" of obesity in the United States and
whether it should play a role in reducing the rate of obesity.
She said obesity is a public health problem, not a matter of
aesthetics, and asked to what degree government policy is subsidizing
obesity.
Brownlee said the medical establishment defines obesity as being 100
or more pounds over one's optimum Body Mass Index. Obesity rates have
increased dramatically since 1970. Now nearly one-third of the
population is considered obese. Another 35 percent is considered
overweight. "Sixty percent of Americans are at increased risk for all
kinds of diseases," she said.
Brownlee quoted Harvard economist David Cutler as saying that even
small improvements in health can justify the high cost of medical
insurance. "Health is worth an enormous amount to the wealth of this
country," Brownlee said.
"Imagine a disease that kills almost as many people as tobacco kills.
It disables you and kills you slowly, like AIDS. It kills more than
AIDS, drugs and guns combined. Your kids are at risk from this
disease. It's not communicable like AIDS, but is rather the result of
behavior and environment.
"Not only is local, state, and federal government not doing anything
about this disease, they are promoting the disease through taxes and
other policies."
Government is actively encouraging obesity by failing to have any
credible anti-obesity campaign, Brownlee said. "We subsidize the
advertising of junk food, we allow the advertising of all kinds of
food to children, when we don't allow everything to be advertised to
children ... We allow entire subdivisions to be built without
sidewalks or bike paths. We're letting junk food into schools, and
even hospitals have junk food franchises these days.
***
*very important article*
'Cities are designed for automobiles, not for healthier ways of getting about like walking or bicycling. "In fact, we've made it dangerous and unattractive to do so," says Willett, recalling a symposium on urban environments that the School of Public Health held with the Graduate School of Design: "For the architects, designing spaces to encourage physical activity wasn't even on the table."'
http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/050465.html
***
From the jacket of the book "Fast Food Nation," by Eric Schlosser.
To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar America. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food industry has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad.
Schlosser also uncovers the fast food chain's efforts to reel in the youngest, most susceptible consumers and hone the institutionalized exploitation of teenagers and minorities.
Isn't this Child Abuse?
Swallow that Pill?
the beast preys on kids
New Dream
Uncle Sam Wants You Fat
HOMEPAGE
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