Expert calls for total junk food ban to stop obesity 'catastrophe'

thisislondon.co.uk ^ | 01/27/09 | Sophie Goodchild, Health Editor

[brwnsuga]

Why ban junk food? My kids enjoy junkfood and they are both thin and healthy. So my kids have to suffer because other kids are fat?

[HereInTheHeartland]

Another flavor of fascism. We will tell you how to think and behave because we know better.
For the common good of course.

[RetSignman]

Simple solution: EAT RESPONSIBLY sign in all fast food places. s/

[GreyMountainReagan]

Simple solution: EAT RESPONSIBLY sign in all fast food places. s/”

---

Ding, ding, ding,

we have a winner. Or should I say ding-dong, ding-dong, ding, dong.

[MissCalico]

What, exposing kids to smokers’ smoke keeps asthma down?

Of course not, it's just an observation that could lead to some correlation, or not. There are many environmental variables that alone or in combinations might lead to something but I doubt any grant money is available for such a non-pc study.

During my childhood every kid I knew was exposed to second hand smoke on a daily basis because you could smoke everywhere, including the Doctors office then. I didn't know one kid with asthma and very few with allergies. There also were very few obese kids but that's probably partially due to the more sedentary habits of our society.

[9YearLurker]

Hey, they’ve concluded now that too clean an environment can lead to allergies and suppress kids’ immune systems, so who’s to say doctors won’t be purposefully blowing smoke in kids faces in a few years!?!

[Straight Vermonter]

There is a growing trend towards using stand up desks or workstations. I use one and I feel much better as a result. It doesn’t sound like much but just standing and walking around a bit (instead of sliding my chair back and forth) has made a big difference for me.

[MissCalico]

... so who’s to say doctors won’t be purposefully blowing smoke in kids faces in a few years!?!

LOL to that visual.

[aruanan]

That's is related to what I've heard referred to as the "starvation reaction" correct?

I think that's probably a reference to a slowdown in resting metabolic rate in response to starvation as a way to conserve resources. You have to be REALLY starved for this to occur.

[aruanan]

The vast majority of people I know do NOT eat out. One of the noticeable changes of our society is "cubicle" living. No walks to the water cooler, to the office down the hall etc, etc.

The problem is a relationship between food intake and energy expenditure. Even if you don't eat out, it's very, very easy to take in more kcals than you expend in a day because we require so little physical activity in the course of a day. A hundred years ago people were eating hundreds of calories more per day without being fat because they had so much more physical activity. By the time someone gets to be 40, he's probably put on 20 or 30 pounds more than he weighed in his twenties. This happens at the insensible rate of about 10 kcals/day (to compare, 1 small cake donut is about 150 kcals): 20 years X 365.25 days/year X 10kcals/day divided by 3500kcals/pound fat = 20.89 lbs of fat over 20 years.

[Thermalseeker]

You have to be REALLY starved for this to occur.

Yes. I was a wrestler in high school and college. Strict dieting to get to the next lower weight class was very common. Some of my teammates were literally starving themselves, yet weren't seeing weight loss beyond a certain point, despite daily strenuous exercise. We began to think this was due to a starvation reaction, but there was really no way to know. Ever since those days, and since my siblings are both morbidly obese, I've been interested in diet and nutrition. Now, it's to the point where I grow most of my own food. I could easily be heavy like my brother and sister were it not for my own strict dietary habits in regard to empty sugar calories and daily exercise activity. Thanks for the info!

[Sacajaweau]

I weigh the same as I did when I was 17. At 65 and knowing that I don't use as much energy, I count calories and no longer eat a sundae on a daily basis.

My dad maintained the same weight for 50 years. Trick...If he gained 5 lbs, he decreased his calorie intake until he got back to his norm.

People have to learn to count actual calories. The fat content, salt and sugar are all related.

[aruanan]

I weigh the same as I did when I was 17. At 65 and knowing that I don't use as much energy, I count calories and no longer eat a sundae on a daily basis.

My dad maintained the same weight for 50 years. Trick...If he gained 5 lbs, he decreased his calorie intake until he got back to his norm.

People have to learn to count actual calories. The fat content, salt and sugar are all related.

My mom has stayed trim into her mid-80s. She's told me she knew she couldn't eat past a certain amount and not grow fat and she stayed behind that point.

[djf]

As a smoker whose been discriminated against and maligned for most of my life, I cannot help but take a certain sad pleasure in saying the following:

“TAKE THAT, Lardsters!!!”

What goes around comes around...

[AuntB]

“

As a smoker whose been discriminated against and maligned for most of my life, I cannot help but take a certain sad pleasure in saying the following:

“TAKE THAT, Lardsters!!!”

What goes around comes around...”

________

Especially to my 350 pound better-than-thou in law!