ya know, mabey it isnt unhealty food making people fat, mabey its all the growth hormones they inject in to every animal so they can sell the animals to the supermarkets faster than nature intended

but then im sure the beef industry has a much stronger lobyist than the twinkie people do

Hmm, I wonder if has an effect on spelling, too.

These days, I eat grass-fed, New Zealand beef, for the most part, but even when I didn't, I wasn't a big mooing cow.

John, two notions for you:

1. Spell-check.
2. Supported arguments.

Hiring morality police to sneak up on fat people and beat them with canes as they are stuffing their faces with donuts is the only obesity-prevention program that will work.

Yes, I believe Nash has it.

If shame, deprivation and humiliation were actually effective tools in combating obesity, we'd all be thin. Making fat a moral issue is the problem, not the solution.

And agree with Amy that the idea of a "fat tax" is wrongheaded.

Gary Taubes will be coming out with a book that will change the way Americans eat. Mistaken notions about fat as evil are part of the problem. This book, The Fat Fallacy, by neurophysiologist Will Clower, addresses the problem pretty well. But, a lot of it does stem from people refusing to get up off the couch, and refusing to be anything other than totally self-indulgent about what and how much they eat. The reason I had half a doughnut to give to the homeless guy is that food is big here. I trained myself not to automatically hoover up whatever was in front of me, but to eat until I wasn't hungry anymore, then stop. This involves understanding that you should eat slowly so you know if you're satisfied, not just gobbling stuff down. I eat a bit of my food, wait a little while, then eat more if I'm still hungry. In America, more often than not, I either throw away half my croissant or take it home. When we go out to dinner, I almost always get a full lunch out of the deal for the next day. Tragically, asking for a doggie bag in Paris is a faux pas. Then again, the portions there are fit for humans, not for a herd of famished moose.

I love how the bureaucrats try to justify these taxes by talking about how much money they will raise. Unbelievable. Just think if I robbed a bank and tried to justify it by saying it was the quickest way for me to raise a lot of money.

On weight control, I figured out a long time ago that it doesn't matter where the calories come from - only that you burn them all back off. Glad to hear you're a biker, Amy! Riding my bicycle is what I fantasize about during sex. Since we are unbelievably lucky in Iowa today to have 55 degree weather in January, I'm getting my butt out and doing some pedaling.

That's pretty funny. I actually worked as a bike messenger for a few weeks in NYC. I used to ride everywhere on my bike, which I painted with hot pink and orange leopard spots and covered with pink plastic flowers -- my form of theft-proofing. Unfortunately, I'm biking more than usual these days because I strained my knee running up stairs. I'm apparently a flat-surfaces runner only. Found out the hard way. Sigh.

Y'ever notive how of the thousands of articles you read every year, five of the best ones never get filed, or saved to disk or otherwise recorded?

A few years ago there was a convincing argument that an important component of our ballooning obesity is agriculture policy. Dammit I can't remember the details, but it went something like this: The farming cartels have made it so lucrative to produce corn sweenteners that the market is beyond saturated. Product designers are working in a bizarro world where 100-ounce soft drinks make sense. Consumers look at a bucket of soda pop, compare the price to an 8-ounce serving, and think they're making the deal of a lifetime, pancreas be damned.

> Making fat a moral issue is
> the problem, not the solution.

That's true, but when looking at photos like the one below, I feel ashamed. We're letting these kids down. Cancer, heart disease, lethargy...

http://uk.gizmodo.com/too-many-happy-meals-thumb.jpg

http://uk.gizmodo.com/too-many-happy-meals-thumb.jpg

You're right about the corn sweetener, Crid. Also, lowfat food is highty sweetened to make up for the lack of taste.

So what we got here is kind of an inside-out taxation that's levied on our cardiovascular systems.

A lot of our problems come from tinkering too deeply with prices. If stuff (farm product/petroleum/healthcare) was priced the way it oughta be, we wouldn't have to make fun of others for being weak-willed.

Though I, personally, would continue to do so. It's irresistable.

Kelly is pretty scary looking. If you want to see a movie about real food, check out Last Holiday with the Queen of Curves (and not the stupid girls' gym), Queen Latifah. Yes, she's larger than a size 2, but the food in the movie looks luscious.

Kelly is pretty scary looking. If you want to see a movie about real food, check out Last Holiday with the Queen of Curves (and not the stupid girls' gym), Queen Latifah. Yes, she's larger than a size 2, and the food in the movie looks luscious.
Corn syrup and soy are in everything.

There was an interesting report from the NBER in September about junk food vending machines in schools and the problem of childhood obesity. The authors pointed out that although junk food machines may be harmful to students who are prone to obesity, the sales usually help fund programs that benefit all students. It's conceivable that without the junk food revenue, some schools would have to cut physical activity programs -- thus leading to even more fat kids. Those grumpy economists, keeping us honest:

http://www.nber.org/digest/sep05/w11177.html