Coke Didn't Make America Fat

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 10-07-09 | MUHTAR KENT

[GOP_Lady]

Americans need more exercise, not another tax.

Obesity is a complex issue, and addressing it is important for all Americans. We at the Coca-Cola company are committed to working with government and health organizations to implement effective solutions to address this problem.

But a number of public-health advocates have already come up with what they think is the solution: heavy taxes on some routine foods and beverages that they have decided are high in calories. The taxes, the advocates acknowledge, are intended to limit consumption of targeted foods and help you to accept the diet that they have determined is best.

[calex59]

All those people trying to explain why so many people are fat have obviously never watched fat people eat. It is not what they eat that makes them fat but the humongeous amount of food they consume. Fat people are prodigous eaters. That is why they are fat.

I would suspect you don't know many fat people. A great many fat people eat very little. Yes, some are large eaters, many are not. What they all lack is exercise. I would suspect that Bozo will have us all working our tails off for the government and starving if he has his way, not to mention freezing to death in the dark without electricity.

[Hodar]

To make a sweeping statement such as you did; a fat person is ALWAYS hungry -- is simply, factually incorrect.

I provided 6 different medical studies that support my statment. Can you provide any sources? If I am wrong, then why do every drug, and every medical proceedure target the appetite mechanism? If I am wrong, why does every recognized diet stress the fact that you "won't feel hungry"? Sources please, personal opinions don't count.

BTW, I do agree with your last statement, in that a person's body weight is no one else's business, nor is it the busines of the Federal Gov't.

[aruanan]

While this is certainly what we are taught (I have a degree in exercise physiology) it doesn’t appear to be the entire story in practice.

And I have a Ph.D. in human nutrition/nutritional physiology. It's a matter of physics: you can't have an increase in stored energy that is more than the amount of energy absorbed from food.

[mysterio]

The natural state of the human animal is feast or famine. And for northern Europeans, a lot of the year is famine. So for about 40,000 years, your ancestors have evolved to deal with that reality.

For the last 50 years or so, the "famine" part of the year has been erased for most Americans. Food is usually available and plentiful, but our brains tell us to eat it when it's there to store up for when it isn't. When our economy was still largely agricultural, this wasn't as big of a deal, as the average worker might burn as much as 4,000 calories a day. But now the average job is more sedentary, and the person working that job is burning possibly 2,200 a day, or as low as 1,800.

I lost a great deal of weight, and to keep it off, I count calories and exercise an hour most days. My brain still tells me to eat all of the time, and I have stretches where I have to be hungry. But the 23 BMI is worth it. Also being slim like humans historically were is better for me than carrying extra weight, especially for my back and knees.

So it isn't coca cola. In my opinion, it's not artificial sweeteners, HFCS, or McDonalds, either. It's a new calories consumed / calories burned balance that is unique to this particular group of humans in this particular location, and the scenario has only existed for about 50 years. That's not enough time to evolve away the brain signals that tell us we're starving Europeans and winter's coming.

[csmusaret]

You are incredibly stupid. What I stated was my opinion. Unless you have insight into what my opinions are, you have no way to determine whether or not I mis-stated them. “You LIE” is an insult you would never have the nerve to say to me in person. You are one of those sniveling cowards who hide behind the anonymity of an internet forum to say the things you wish you had the cojones to say in public. Yes, you are a real keyboard warrior, and a sad pathetic bag of yellow.

[tatsinfla]

bingo!!!

[ravingnutter]

I can’t eat or drink anything with sugar in it, as I have reactive hypoglycemia. However, besides the obvious caloric intake, it has been proven that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages can make you more prone to Type 2 Diabetes, which can subsequently cause treatment-induced weight gain and that carries a risk of worsening the patient’s insulin resistance. It is a vicious cycle brought on, initially, by drinking too many sugar-sweetened beverages, such as Coke.

[Just A Nobody]

I provided 6 different medical studies that support my statment.

Honestly Hodar, I did not read your "medical" studies. After reading the "medical studies" regarding the 400,000 yearly deaths due to smoking and ETS I wouldn't waste my time reading their pre-determined outcome "studies" on anything.

If I am wrong, then why do every drug, and every medical proceedure target the appetite mechanism?

See the bolded portion for the answer to your question. $$$$$

Can you provide any sources?

My source is me and a few other friends. I'm usually too busy to eat or simply forget to eat until late afternoon or evening when I'm about to pass out from low blood sugar.

Oddly enough, the only time I was ALWAYS hungry was when I went on a diet that required 6 meals a day. Had to start eating early to work them all in. It's a metabolism thing.

[mlizzy]

My sister takes Prednisone as she has Meniere's Disease ...

I've had Meniere's since 1971 ... I currently take no medications for it, yet at one time, I was taking some and spending a month block of time in the hospital on several different occasions ... if you are not against holistic healing, there's much you can do for Meniere's.

[Mr Rogers]

There are no fat people in concentration camps. Get the intake low enough, and the body WILL lose weight.

Some fat people - and I’m NOT skinny - think they could eat a peanut a day and be fat, because of their ‘genetics’. But physics says that if the intake is low enough, weight WILL be lost.

[GUNGAGALUNGA]

Ask anyone you know who was obese and lost the weight. They will tell you how amazing it is that they can survive on the amount of food they now consume; and that when they were ‘big’ they were hungry all of the time.

Thats me. Lost mine 5 years ago. I can live off of nothing now. LOL!!

[Hodar]

So, if you dislike the medical facts; then the facts are done not by academics, but for fiscal results. How very convenient. Wrong, but you have dismissed them not based on any merits; but based upon personal bias.

I’m just a silly engineer; I deal in facts, theories and observable laws on a daily basis. I also know that when I was obese, I could not suppress my appetite. Those medicals studies I mentioned do not propose to sell anything, they are linking enzymes related to appetite suppression and the fact that obesity interferes with the release of those enzymes and hormones.

For example, if you skip breakfast, like a lot of people do; around lunch time you may be a little bit hungry, a small sandwich may be all you crave, or an apple.

But, have a donut, or a candybar at 8am; and by 10am you will want your sandwich, and at noon you will want more yet. Or, have a donut at 8, and by 9 you will want another - by noon you will be ravenous. This is a typical carbohydrate metabolic response; the obese person has this response as a constant companion. This causes them to overeat - not because they need the food - it’s because their appetites are demanding the food.

Check out the sites; they are not sponsored by Rx peddling companies (I filter them out as being biased). If I provided sources that were hawking a product, I would be undermining my arguement.

[upbeat5]

Freepers I’ve been moderately heavy all my life. Been on many diets lost and then gained back until I finally found that weight problems are “all between my ears”. Until I found “Weight Loss God’s Way” by Dr. Frank Smoot. Use your search engine and find him. He has a lot of free articles out there that will help you determine if it is the right thing for you. I’m not pumping anything. Just telling you what has worked for me.

[cweese]

I don’t disagree with that. I was merely making the observation that Coke contains high-fructose corn syrup which has been proven to be a contributing factor towards obesity.

[The Great RJ]

Taxing sodas isn’t anymore about improving health than raising cigarette taxes. It is all about new sources of tax revenue that can be levied with the excuses of ..”why it is for the good health of all” and “only those who indulge pay so you don’t have to”. These sin taxes are easy to get, but taxes are taxes and the effect on the economy is the same. Raising the price of sodas with a new tax will not address obesity it will just cause consumers to buy less soda or switch to another drink that is less taxed.

[fooman]

Trust me. You burn the calories.

I started off slow too. The trick is to now increase the intensity slowly. IT has taken me over a year to get to this point, so you want to go in the right direction.

You will feel energized in direct proportion to the degree you increase intensity. I was where you are at.

Also treadmill/stairclimber/swimming is much easier on the knees than running on the pavement.

[fooman]

I dropping the corn syrup/coke/nestea and it made a hugh and series difference.

[RipSawyer]

Body weight and size are individually determined not only by eating habit choices but by genetics and metabolism.
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Exercise is the key, thirty months ago I went back to the weight room shortly before my sixty third birthday. I was more than sixty pounds over the maximum weight recommended for my height. After thirty months of hard lifting and cardio work I can wear all the jeans and dress slacks that were hanging in the closet for years because I was too big around the middle to wear them. I gave away two suits, a blazer and a lot of shirts because a size forty eight coat is too small for me now. What do I weigh? About five pounds MORE than when I started.

[Just A Nobody]

You are incredibly stupid.

Personal attacks are unbecoming.
However, coming from you, I will now take it as a compliment.

What I stated was my opinion.

Which was stated as a fact. No where did I see "IMO" within your post:
All those people trying to explain why so many people are fat have obviously never watched fat people eat. It is not what they eat that makes them fat but the humongeous amount of food they consume. Fat people are prodigous eaters. That is why they are fat.

“You LIE” is an insult you would never have the nerve to say to me in person. You are one of those sniveling cowards who hide behind the anonymity of an internet forum to say the things you wish you had the cojones to say in public.

ROTFLOL!!! You know less than nothing about me as your statement above proves. I don't hide behind anything or anyone. If you want proof of that, let me know and I will call over several dozen FReepers that know me, and know what nerve I have. Yes, I would say "you lie" to your face for making such a sweeping statement about something you clearly know little about.

BTW, spellcheck is your friend.
No results found for humongeous

[fooman]

you are correct. And the folks who protest thyroid issues can have that easily fixed with synthroid or just taking kelp for the needed iodine. It works.

Sure, you will be phat if you are running around with untreated hypothyroidism.

We both take enough kelp to keep our T3 uptake around ~30 and make that our TSH is 2.5 or less and no where near 5.