The number of Americans considered obese is expected to rise from the current 34 percent to 42 percent by the year 2030, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and discussed at Monday’s “Weight of the Nation” conference in Washington. Diabetes, kidney failure, heart disease, and other obesity-related ailments account for countless premature deaths and as much as 18 percent of the $2.6 trillion national cost of medical care.
The leading causes of obesity are consumption of fat-laden meat and dairy products and lack of exercise. This is particularly critical during childhood years, when lifestyle habits become lifelong addictions.
A five-year Oxford University study of 22,000 people, published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2006, found that those on a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least weight. A review of 87 studies in Nutrition Reviews concluded that a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss.
The time has come to replace meat and dairy products in our diet with wholesome grains, vegetables, and fruits and to undertake a regular exercise program. Parents should insist on healthy school lunch choices and set a good example at their own dinner table.
Roger Wicklund
Mesa
truth posted at 2:35 pm on Sat, May 19, 2012.
AND WE DON'T WANT BIG GOVERNMENT CHECKING INTO WHAT CORPORATIONS ARE PUTTING IN OUR FOOD UNDER WORDING MOST DO NOT UNDERSTAND OR OUR GOVERNMENT TRYING TO ENCOURAGE HEALTHY DIETS.
Rational Human posted at 7:28 pm on Sat, May 19, 2012.
I can partially agree with you at least. It is high time people started making better food choices and getting more exercise, but meat and dairy products are far from being the cause. High fat and sugar content food choices make for obesity and all those disorders that follow. I would argue that sugar is a drug that has absolutely no nutritional value and needs to be eliminated from all food sold in America. However, we need some fat in our diets and meat is the best complete source of protein there is. A vegetarian diet just isn't a practical diet for most people. Moderation and exercise is the key to the epidemic of obesity in the entire world.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:43 am on Sun, May 20, 2012.
Years ago, over 80% of the population worked from dawn to dusk just raising food. Entire families worked the farm.
Food was expensive for those who didn't live on a farm.
People ate huge meals with lots of meat.
Today only a very small percentage of the population works producing food and their work is largely done with machines.
Food is abundant. With our petroleum based fertilizers and petroleum fueled machines, just a few people can produce more food than we can eat.
Food is relatively cheap. Only about 16% of the average families budget.
The problem is … first we no longer perform physical work from dawn to dusk ( most of us ) and we eat a lot of carbohydrates because they are cheap and easy to raise and very very profitable.
But, carbohydrates that we don't burn off in manual labor / exercise turns to fat.
And thus we have an overweight population.
The only solution would be to make food expensive so people could not eat so much of it.
In something less than 100 years though, the situation will reverse itself.
As we run out of oil ( we've already passed the half way point of all the world's known oil reserves in only 125 years ), it will become so expensive farmers won't be able to afford the fertilizer and fuel for the huge farm machines we have today.
Family farming will eventually return and we will go back to a situation where food is scarce once again because petroleum is so expensive. Anything raised by the farmers who get an allotment of fuel will be so expensive people can't afford it.
Obesity related conditions will kill many of us but few of our grandchildren. Their problem will be starvation.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 3:45 pm on Sun, May 20, 2012.
There is one way to satisfy both the "tree-hugging" vegans and the "every day" meat-eaters in America = RABBIT MEAT.
Yes, rabbit has very little fat and it's feces and urine make great garden fertilizer. Two birds (well, actually.....two bunnies....with one stone.....[wink]).
Rabbit are easy to skin and clean. It just takes about 3-4 minutes with a good sharp knife. They eat all kinds of leftover produce and have a very, very high birthrate as we all know (remember the old saying...."breed like rabbits"...and now I am not talking about the just released Census figures showing that Minorities are now the "Majority" of births in America).
Rabbits don't contribute to the "methane" gas problem in our atmosphere either. Anything that you can do with a chicken = YOU CAN DO WITH RABBIT MEAT.
AND IT'S ALL WHITE ME...............TO BOOT.
RABBIT....THE OTHER "WHITE" MEAT WITH OUT THE .......OINK.......[beam]
Rational Human posted at 4:38 pm on Sun, May 20, 2012.
Rabbit meat, whilst very lean, does lack some of the nutrients and minerals found in red meat. Its delicious in any way you cook it - but you mustn't rely on it solely as a protein source. I recall in the depression, many people ate only rabbit (in Australia) and nothing else - and would have issues with mineral and nutrient deficiencies. You just can't beat beef. You don't need to eat very much of it though. Americans do eat way too much meat. Moderation is the key. Chimpanzees occasionally will kill and eat monkeys to get their nutritional needs met, but then they tend to eat to live instead of living to eat.
mrconservative posted at 9:36 pm on Sun, May 20, 2012.
You'll never stop me from eating meat. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands first.
If you'd think I'd eat tofu (yuck!) or some other disgusting vegan food, instead of turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas, you are incredibly stupid. You might as well give me dog food!
mrconservative posted at 9:55 pm on Sun, May 20, 2012.
I love carrots with peanut butter, corn, peas and certain kinds of green beans, but if you think I am going to quit eating meat, Roger Wicklund, you are as YOICKS as David Rich!
mrconservative posted at 10:01 pm on Sun, May 20, 2012.
"I would argue that sugar is a drug that has absolutely no nutritional value and needs to be eliminated from all food sold in America."
This baloney, Rational Human. Sugar is one thing we need. It keeps us energized. Too much of it is, of course, not healthy, but to eliminate it completely? Are you aware that pretty much everything that we consume has sugar in it? It would be quite impossible, and impractical, to eliminate it completely.
Arizona Willie posted at 8:42 am on Mon, May 21, 2012.
Actually, mrconservative, cane sugar as we know it today would not be approved by the FDA if it were just being discovered.
There are other sweeteners which are nowhere near as harmful as pure cane sugar.
But, unfortunately, before science showed the harm it does sugar was deeply embedded in our food chain and removing it now is very difficult.
But it can be replaced in many instances by other sweeteners such as stevia and molasses.
However, doing so would increase costs and decrease profits so I wouldn't advise anyone to hold their breath waiting for that to happen.
The best one can do is try to avoid products that don't use alternative sweeteners and to replace sugar on your table with available alternatives.
As for needing sugar for energy? Haw. Carbohydrates are converted into sugars by your digestive process that's where you get energy. That's why athletes carbo load before games. They don't run to the sidelines and eat a couple spoonfuls of sugar real quick.
VofReason posted at 12:22 pm on Mon, May 21, 2012.
Normally a fruitcake like this writer should just be dismissed as such. However, I will bite. Obesity is an American problem, not a meat eating problem. As you know many or all other countries also eat meat, but don't have the same problems with obesity. Our problem is we allow people to live without paying for their decisions. Can't make fat people pay more for their health insurance as it wouldn't be "fair". Cannot disallow them from your insurance due to pre existing condition (morbid obesity) because that too would not be "fair". What we should do is start calling a spade a spade in society- fat people are fat and should be called such. Make it uncomfortable for people to be fat and they won't be.
mrconservative posted at 12:29 pm on Mon, May 21, 2012.
Sugar is energy. It may not be the only sweet thing we can eat, but it is the best thing for energy. I'll settle for real sugar, thanks. You people can have the fake stuff. I'm nowhere near fat, and I've had a lot of sugar in my 27-plus years.
I'm not into science. Racdrops! I don't buy a word of it.
chuckles3 posted at 1:10 pm on Mon, May 21, 2012.
I've got a better idea, lets stop handing free food to obese kids at school. Breakfast and lunch, no matter how chubby you are. You just have to be part of the 50% getting a ride on the backs of the rest.
Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty murder.
Rational Human posted at 7:25 pm on Mon, May 21, 2012.
Sugar is not energy. It's a dangerous drug. Glucose is energy. Oh I forgot you don't think very highly of science so I wont bother you with any more details on nutrition. Never mind, just go back to mainlining your drug of choice.
k33j88 posted at 5:25 am on Tue, May 22, 2012.
The next time I decide to honor the "Lord of Hosts", their's going to offered tofu and a nice tossed salad, instead of a "burnt offering" of the flock of sheep. Mr Wicklund, when you noted a "conference in Washington", a liberal twist came to mind. A study from the "American Journal of Preventative Medicine"------Could they possibly be supportive of Obamacare?
mrconservative posted at 2:05 pm on Tue, May 22, 2012.
Meat is not muder. If that were true, you'd have to arrest every single carnivorous animal on the planet. Animals eat animals. Why can't we?
Sugar is not a drug, either. It's not the best thing in the world, but it's better than a LOT of other things.
Haven't you ever seen "Gilligan's Island"? There's a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo in that show, but one particular episode specifically calls sugar "energy".
samkat posted at 6:05 pm on Tue, May 22, 2012.
Roger: You go vegan and I will stick to a sensible diet. A little meat is not going to cause a dietary imbalance.
Rational Human posted at 9:26 pm on Wed, May 23, 2012.
Gilligan's Island? lol Now you really are trying to be funny I know but you just sound stupid to me. Look up the definition of a drug and you will see that the physiological changes that occur to the human body when large amounts of sugar are consumed is the textbook definition of what a drug is. Take enough sugar and it will kill you. Salt is another poison that is at least useful in small quantities. Sugar has no nutritional use what so ever.I know this because as a young man I studied medicine thinking I might want to be in the medical profession somewhere. Meat is murder and murder taste good is a joke. I think you should use yourself as a test dummy and consume mostly sugar for a whole year. Just think of the knowledge Gilligan could get by studying your remains.