Obesity In America

[flowrchild]

Here is a new article:

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WASHINGTON - Batter-coated french fries are a fresh vegetable, according to the Agriculture Department, which has a federal judge's ruling to back it up.

But the department said Tuesday that the classification applies only to rules of commerce, not nutrition, and it doesn't consider an order of fries the same as an apple in school lunches.

The ruling last week by federal District Judge Richard Schell in Beaumont, Texas, allowed batter-coated french fries to be considered fresh vegetables under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. Most other frozen fries had been on the list since 1996.

Regulations under the law help to assure buyers of commodities such as french fries that they are getting what they ordered, said George Chartier, a spokesman for the department's Agricultural Marketing Service. Frozen fries are fresh simply because they don't meet the standard necessary for them to be listed as processed, and adding batter to the fries does not change the classification, he said.

The commodities act does not apply to nutrition, where batter-coated french fries are still considered processed food.

The department does not plan to repeat its experience in trying to classify ketchup as a vegetable in school lunches, Chartier said. The ketchup-as-vegetable proposal was put forward in the Reagan administration, and the department dropped the idea after it found itself not only opposed but laughed at.

The department's proposal to list batter-coated fries as fresh under the commodities act provisions was challenged by a Dallas-area food distributor, Fleming Companies. The company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, and the law requires creditors who sold fresh fruits and vegetables to be paid in full, while other creditors might get partial payment, said Fleming Companies' lawyer, Tim Elliott of Chicago.

Fleming Companies plans to appeal, Elliott said. The law was intended to protect growers of fruits and vegetables, especially small farmers, and the ruling misconstrues the act's intent, he said.

"It's unfathomable to me that, when Congress passed this law in 1930 and used the term `fresh vegetable,' they ever could have conceived that large food-processing companies could have convinced USDA that a frozen battered french fry fell into that definition," Elliott said.

Although Fleming Companies sold the fries to supermarkets, most are eaten in fast food restaurants, Elliott said. The coating makes the fry crunchy and adds flavor, he said.

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This reminds me of the good ole days when Reagan tried to pass ketchup off as a "fresh vegetable" in school systems.

Obesity rates among young people and the general population are skyrocketing, people spend more time sitting on their asses then doing any kind of exercise, and general healthy practices have gone down the tube.

What can be done to stop this madness?

[Grebdron]

The only thing that can be done is for parents to take responsibility.:eek: Which will never happen. So if you're concerned about your child being obese, or lazy, get them off their asses and feed them a grape or two.;)

Not you, flowr. Parents in general.

My first thought was...I thought Reagan was dead.

[Morgana]

Frozen fries are fresh simply because they don't meet the standard necessary for them to be listed as processed, and adding batter to the fries does not change the classification, he said.

The commodities act does not apply to nutrition, where batter-coated french fries are still considered processed food.


Hmm... why does this confuse me so? :confused: ;)

Personally, I think it's laughable that french fries be considered a fresh vegetable, but that's just me. And obesity, well... we've become a sedentary society. Parents need to encourage their kids to go outside and play, and particiapte in outdoor sports/activities, but they have to get into shape themselves first. You have to set a good example. But you have to get people away from their french fries first. ;)

[badberry]

Don't you mean freedom fries? Anyways...

Yes, obesity is on the rise. And I predict it will continue to do so. North Americans will continue to get fatter while other countries starve. Awareness of the issue is starting to increase, but our society in general has become so lazy and dependant on technology to do things for us that there's really no way to buck the trend...

[JohnTheHenchman]

Meh, obesity is up to the person. While never obese, I was pretty fat, but I managed to lose the weight, because I wanted to. If people don't want to be in shape, obesity will always exist.

[PapaJupe2k]

Originally posted by Morgana
Parents need to encourage their kids to go outside and play, and particiapte in outdoor sports/activities, but they have to get into shape themselves first. You have to set a good example. But you have to get people away from their french fries first. ;)

No doubt. You would think I live in a retirment village of some sort if you saw my neighborhood. Not a kid to be found outside doing anything. Too much internet and video gaming. I used to play baseball every day in the summer with all kids in my neighborhood. Sure we took a break and played some Atari 2600 between games, but hey who could resist Pac-Man?:)

Don't blame the fries!

[Tweek]

ive always been fat/obese. (working on shedding the pounds though)

always.

i blame it on the fact that my parents are refugees from a starving african nation.


Anyhoo, i may be fat, but a lot of the stuff being sold now makes me want to hurl.

like that hot dog with cheese in it from AM/PM
blech.

batter coated french fries? what in God's name were they smoking?

[JCR]

Have to say all those cats on the super size me thread who were moaning 'cos McDonalds axed supersized portions fucking scared me. The war on obesity is even less likely to be won than the war on drugs.

I of course, am a fat bastard and proud of it, making the above words slightly ironic, but nevermind.

[ANavissi500]

I saw Super Size Me last week and promptly gave up soda and burger joints. While there is a growing health craze in this country, asking people to give up fatty foods is like asking people to quit smoking. It won't happen 100% of the time. And while we are at it, I hate Atkins - it is a quick fix!!! You wont stay thin forever. Watch what you eat and exercise - only way to do it.

[Raoul Duke]

I'm workin' on losing my flub...But people got to get more serious about this. French fries a health food? If you eat them deep fried shits like grapes and don't think anything bad will happen...Then your fat ass is in for a rude awakening!

[SLAW]

Now some people just get out of hand.

http://www.lard.net/news/gluttony.1999.12.2.jpg

[Jon Lyrik]

Fucking hell.

That woman is going to have a massive heart attack before she can reach 3,000 lbs.

[Dignan]

I've been a fat kid since I had my tonsels taken out. I was never a very active kid, but I alsp rarely ate anything at all before the surgery. Then, my apetite kicked in and I gained a TON of weight and was pretty obese up until last year. That's when I decided I did NOT want to be a lazy fatass for the rest of me life. So I started running, and since then I have gone from 235 to 170something(6, I'm thinking, but the last scale I weighed on was really hard to read). Now I'm moderately chunky, but by no means fat(paunches are hard to get rid of dammit).

What's really disturbing is the slop they serve kids in school cafeterias these days. Mostly pizza, fries, burgers, and cokes.
I stopped eating from my school's Caf a looooong time ago(though I still get lunch money from my parent's to use for Dvd funds, mwahahaha).

America, please: Get off the couch, put down the twinkie, turn off the tv, and go for a fucking jog.

[badberry]

Originally posted by SLAW
Now some people just get out of hand.


I call bullshit on that article. It is the Weekly World News after all.

But even still, that was gross to read.

[Thrizzle]

Ha.......i dunno......but sooooomething tells me that article is fake.
(can't quit put my finger on it)

Obesity in America is because of CORN!!!!!!! A hugely sibsidized industry, corn is so cheap it's in everything. You'll find corn syrup or corn fructose in everything. It's highly fattening. Its not the only cause, but its a major one.

[ANavissi500]

Originally posted by Dignan
I've been a fat kid since I had my tonsels taken out. I was never a very active kid, but I alsp rarely ate anything at all before the surgery. Then, my apetite kicked in and I gained a TON of weight and was pretty obese up until last year. That's when I decided I did NOT want to be a lazy fatass for the rest of me life. So I started running, and since then I have gone from 235 to 170something(6, I'm thinking, but the last scale I weighed on was really hard to read). Now I'm moderately chunky, but by no means fat(paunches are hard to get rid of dammit).

What's really disturbing is the slop they serve kids in school cafeterias these days. Mostly pizza, fries, burgers, and cokes.
I stopped eating from my school's Caf a looooong time ago(though I still get lunch money from my parent's to use for Dvd funds, mwahahaha).

America, please: Get off the couch, put down the twinkie, turn off the tv, and go for a fucking jog.


Amen!! Jogging and Dance Dance Revolution were my saving graces.

[SLAW]

Man, I can't get anything past you guys. Of course the article is a joke. Just offering a jelly bean in this thread.

[charliebobo]

According to statistics, 1 in 4 Americans is obese.
Obesity is due to many factors, and they're pretty much all present in American society.

1- Obesity is related to the level of education*. Since America has a high percentage of people with little education, it will have more obese people.
* It's true: 4,5% of people with a high education level are obese, whereas 15% of people with low level of education are obese

2- Mediterranean culture is a defense against obesity, so Europe right now doesn't have this problem. unfortunately thanks to all the McDonald's and shit, we're catching up with you. American eating habits include lots of meat, sauces (fat) and carbohydrates (potatoes...) and little vitamins (vegetables and fruit - unless purple is a fruit ;))

3- The food industry does not care much about the people's health, they're not gonna spend money making products healthier. That leaves it up to the people to eat healthy foods, but advertising pushes consumers to go in a totally different direction
So, the more educated person will know what it good for him and what isn't, whereas the ignorant man will listen to advertising. He will think that french fries are vegetables, and that if he drinks Diet Coke with his double-whopper-cheese-bacon-onion-rings meal, he will lose weight.
The only solution is probably to teach nutritional education in schools.

[PapaJupe2k]

I was back searching some archives in the local paper and found this to be relevant to the thread.

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This story published online: April 23, 2004


Kids will shake a leg to fight fat in Iowa

MASON CITY — One way to fight obesity in children is to get them moving.

More than 12,000 kids in 45 schools across the state will make at least a start in that direction with a day of information and aerobic activity sponsored by the Iowa Games.

Go The Distance Day will take place May 12 as a way to inform children about the benefits of physical fitness and show them that it’s easy and fun to be physically fit.

“It focuses on getting kids more active and getting physical activity back in the schools,” said Jim Hallihan, executive director of the Iowa Games. “Unless something changes, they are predicting that kids born now are going to be the first kids not to outlive their parents.”

With help from a federal grant, the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa State Extension Office, the Iowa Games was able to put the program together.

“It’s a way to bring attention to the fact that we need to be concerned with activity for our kids,” Hallihan said.

For the past three years, the Iowa Games has put on a program for adults called Lighten Up Iowa, a five-month competition that encourages healthy activities and eating habits.

It is a team competition designed to encourage weight loss and accumulate activity in the form of miles.

The strong success of the program and the noticeable need for healthy children led the way to Go The Distance Day.

“We wanted to create a program for youth,” Hallihan said. “We didn’t want to do anything with losing weight because that can be dangerous, especially with teenage girls.”

The state’s elementary, middle and high schools were given information about the program and asked to set aside 30 minutes of the day dedicated to continuous activity from its students.

“What we are asking is, on that day (May 12) to get every kid in the school aerobicly active for 30 consecutive minutes,” Hallihan said. “It doesn’t matter what they do. Some schools are having an Olympics and another is cleaning up the school grounds.”

On May 14, there will be a drawing for $500 given to five schools that had 100 percent participation from students.

“Because of the budget shortfalls in the schools this will not only help them physically but help them financially, too,” Hallihan said. “They need the money and this is an avenue to get it.

“Meanwhile they are doing what they know is right.”

More information about Go The Distance Day and Lighten Up Iowa can be found on the Iowa Games Web site at www.lightenupiowa.org/youth.asp.

[Moviefan1234]

Now I mean no offense when I say this, and if I do offend anyone I sincerely apologize.

When I'm out in public and see obese people, I wonder to myself why'd they want to live that lifestyle? I don't feel any pity as others seem to do, because the way I look at it, if they wanted to be thin they would be. It's not that hard to eat healthier, cut down on portions, not snack between meals, and exercise. Anyone with a smidgen of willpower can do it. Sometimes I wonder what the big deal is. Yes, there are way too many heavy people in this country, but they themselves are responsible in my eyes. If they really wanted to be skinny, they could do it rather easily.

[notchreturns]

You know obesity is out of hand when Richard Simmons starts smacking people in order to get the fat off them.



You know that was the real reason he did it - the man wouldn't hurt a fly

[JohnTheHenchman]

Originally posted by Moviefan1234
Now I mean no offense when I say this, and if I do offend anyone I sincerely apologize.

When I'm out in public and see obese people, I wonder to myself why'd they want to live that lifestyle? I don't feel any pity as others seem to do, because the way I look at it, if they wanted to be thin they would be. It's not that hard to eat healthier, cut down on portions, not snack between meals, and exercise. Anyone with a smidgen of willpower can do it. Sometimes I wonder what the big deal is. Yes, there are way too many heavy people in this country, but they themselves are responsible in my eyes. If they really wanted to be skinny, they could do it rather easily.

It's a big lifestyle change, no it's not easy at all. I'm assuming you've never had to lose much weight, so you probably don't know what it's like. Losing 50 pounds was extremely hard for me, but I eventually did it, the only problem is I started gaining again. I really don't eat alot, so I don't get.

Plus, when someone is full blown obese, just cutting down on food intake does not mean they will be able to burn the calories they do intake and because they are obese it is not that easy to excersize.

[Moviefan1234]

Originally posted by JohnTheHenchman
It's a big lifestyle change, no it's not easy at all. I'm assuming you've never had to lose much weight, so you probably don't know what it's like. Losing 50 pounds was extremely hard for me, but I eventually did it, the only problem is I started gaining again. I really don't eat alot, so I don't get.

Plus, when someone is full blown obese, just cutting down on food intake does not mean they will be able to burn the calories they do intake and because they are obese it is not that easy to excersize.

You're right about the fact that I really don't know what it's like to be in that position. However, I disagree with your statement about them not being able to exercise. If they start exercising slowly, nothing huge at first but increasing it over time, they'll end up losing a lot of weight. The key is keeping up with it.

[flowrchild]

Originally posted by Moviefan1234
If they really wanted to be skinny, they could do it rather easily.

If it were that easy, then millions of people wouldn't be obese. No offense but it seems like you're declaring all obese people as inactive lazy-asses who have no desire to improve their health. Not the case. While this certainly is true for many people, there are also a ton who have spent a lifetime battling with their weight and trying any diet out there and any exercise possible. I used to have your mentality where I would look at fat people and think "what's wrong with them that they don't care about their appearance or their health at all" but I've grown to realize it's actually much more complicated than that. Many of them are depressed or have psychological problems that go hand-in-hand with their weight. And many have also tried to fix the problem with little results.

I am lucky that I've never experienced this particular personal struggle, but I feel bad for the millions of people who have. I think a lot of it lately stems from neglectful parenting, because many young people with weight problems will have these issues their entire lives.

[RicochetShaw]

Originally posted by flowrchild
If it were that easy, then millions of people wouldn't be obese. No offense but it seems like you're declaring all obese people as inactive lazy-asses who have no desire to improve their health. Not the case. While this certainly is true for many people, there are also a ton who have spent a lifetime battling with their weight and trying any diet out there and any exercise possible. I used to have your mentality where I would look at fat people and think "what's wrong with them that they don't care about their appearance or their health at all" but I've grown to realize it's actually much more complicated than that. Many of them are depressed or have psychological problems that go hand-in-hand with their weight. And many have also tried to fix the problem with little results.



I totally agree here. While I do think obesity is usually preventable, it doesn't mean the obese people haven't done things to get thin. It's much, MUCH tougher than you think. And, like flowrchild said, very often psychological problems are in the mix.


I myself used to be quite the fat kid, but eventually it just went away as I grew older. I was very fortunate.

[Tom Samborski]

There are many things to blame for child obesity in the U.S. One is that many school budgets have been cut, which has resulted in the elimination of many physical education programs. Two is that parents have done a bad job of watching their kids' eating habits, or they haven't done enough to encourage them to exercise. It is becoming more of a tradition for parents to drive their kids to a friend's house that they can easily walk to, which I read in a Sports Illustrated editorial back in Phys.Ed. Three is the overwhelming precense of high-fat, high cholesterol snack machines and drink machines in the schools, as well as foods being served in the cafeterias that are high in fat.

If the government really wants to control obesity in the schools, they must put that action into full-use if they at least want to make a small difference. But this is a problem that is being constantly ignored in my opinion, despite the fact that the statistics are getting more media attention then ever before.

[Moviefan1234]

Originally posted by flowrchild
If it were that easy, then millions of people wouldn't be obese. No offense but it seems like you're declaring all obese people as inactive lazy-asses who have no desire to improve their health. Not the case. While this certainly is true for many people, there are also a ton who have spent a lifetime battling with their weight and trying any diet out there and any exercise possible. I used to have your mentality where I would look at fat people and think "what's wrong with them that they don't care about their appearance or their health at all" but I've grown to realize it's actually much more complicated than that. Many of them are depressed or have psychological problems that go hand-in-hand with their weight. And many have also tried to fix the problem with little results.

I am lucky that I've never experienced this particular personal struggle, but I feel bad for the millions of people who have. I think a lot of it lately stems from neglectful parenting, because many young people with weight problems will have these issues their entire lives.

Originally posted by RicochetShaw
I totally agree here. While I do think obesity is usually preventable, it doesn't mean the obese people haven't done things to get thin. It's much, MUCH tougher than you think. And, like flowrchild said, very often psychological problems are in the mix.


After reading you guys' two posts and doing a little research. I've come to see that I spoke too soon about a topic I know very little about. While in some cases it is preventable, I didn't realize some of them have psychological problems as well as their heredity having a large effect on it. Thanks for educating me, and I'm sorry for sounding narrow-minded.

[JohnTheHenchman]

It's alright, someone like me who is definitely overweight but not obese in the slightest, a little effort and I'll be back in fine form. But I'm not going tolie, my weight goes hand in hand with how I feel with myself. Last year I felt great I was in great shape and was confident. Now I way atleast a good thirty pounds extra from getting depressed and feeling shitty. I know I can change it, but it's alot more than just eating right and excercising which I have to overcome.

But I won't compare myself to obese people, I'm just saying it's hard enough to lose 30 pounds so I can only imagine how hard it is to lose 100+ pounds.