Look at the people in the video below. Look at their self-satisfied little faces. These are the authors of the toxic sugar article. They are idiots. I do not say that to be insulting, but as a statement of fact. The woman on the right, in particular, should not be trusted with a pair of scissors. She calls herself a “medical sociologist” and works at UCSF. This should disqualify her from going anywhere near a scientific journal. She thinks that sugar is a poison because it is fermented to make alcohol. If you read the Daily Mail, alcohol is made by “distilling sugar”. This is what we’re up against: cretinous arguments made still more ludicrous by a woefully uneducated media.
Read the whole thing. Then send it to 3 random reporters.
“Corn sugar is a major ingredient in most processed ‘food’. What do you think is causing the North American obesity epidemic? In Canada corn sugar is increasing the cost of universal health care. Smarten up”
And recently there has been a doctor promoting the fact that modern flour is also VERY addictive and also causing obesity.
Now if we can just eliminate ALL foods with sugar and flour in them we should be just fine. That is of course, until they starve. Didn’t Ethiopia try that.
And on another note there has been a big movement in Canada and the states to take vending machines out of schools becuase that was also a major contributor to childhood obesity. Well, a study done recently in the states showed that there was NO difference in obesity rates after vending machines were removed.
Has anyone noticed the core argument of food nazis is always COERCION? You have to MAKE people do the right thing.
Remember friends, the good Oceanian citizen follows orders!
Todays reality:
Just hold up a microphone, and watch the a$$holes come out of the woodwork.
And from California, what else would you expect?
“There is a higher profit margin in soft drinks but lower or non-carb drinks could be sold at a similar profit.”
And you know this —-how??
Scar at 10:55 AM what is it about the words “stupid decisions” that you don’t understand?
We will all die of something but we should credit California for generating endless experts on controlling every aspect of our daily lives. When they slide into the Ocean after the “big” one I’m not sure New york will have the capacity to carry on. We could be on our own, to live life without daily guidance on what must be eliminated on the long list of things we enjoy (ed). In the past 4 decades we have been told to give up coffee, butter,eggs,salt,trans fats, all fats,alcohol,cigarettes/sugar (again)glutten,white bread,margarine,soft drinks(again)sun tans,red meat/all meat and probably many more that I’m too lazy to research at the moment. I’m sure we would all be dead by now if we had not listened to these experts. Just can’t figure out why California has such a high concentration of experts.
I just finished Saturday breakfast – 4 eggs, usually free range from a buddy’s farm, potatoe pancakes, back bacon and toast, along with lots of coffee. Ummm.
I’m a fifty something who drinks pop by the 2litre bottle, loves cookies and chips and chocolate. I weigh about 185lbs with 32″ waist.
I also weight train like a fiend, walk 30km a week with my dogs, sweat a bucket on the stationary bike a couple of times a week, and play floor hockey with young(er) guys twice or three times weekly – for 2 hours with 0-3 spares.
Yes, diet is important, especially if you’re looking for the elusive 6 pack abs, but exercise is king.
Kids today desperately need more activity. Today you need a permit to play on a sportsfield or get chased off the street for playing road hockey too loud. Kids are not expected to be active as in my younger days, now activity is no longer spontaneous, it’s a big deal, with weeks of planning.
That’s the bigger problem, not sugar, refined or otherwise.
“There is a higher profit margin in soft drinks but lower or non-carb drinks could be sold at a similar profit.”
And you know this —-how??
People buy bottled water… tea, coffee et. al.
It’s largely a matter of habit and routine and becomes cultural Using soft drinks as a regular beverage is a recent practice.
My local university used to sell milk in 250ml and 500ml containers. The Coca-Cola and Pepsi contracts were signed and that healthy alternative disappeared.
That was a stupid and irresponsible decision.
There needs to be push back and that is started. Just because these 3 in the video are control freaks doesn’t mean it isn’t a real issue.
Dear Horny @ 12:49,
This is a good example of what is known as the straw man fallacy.
And this is a really splendid example of the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy.
You really should stop that.
I don’t know anything about nutrition, and I don’t know anyone who knows anything about nutrition. My doctor is fat. Just about everyone I know over the age of 30 is fat. The two “experts” in the video look fat to me.
Like most people, I’ve kept an eye on newspaper articles reporting on research and obesity over the years. These articles contradict each other so often that now I just enjoy them as magic realism. I like what the National Post’s nutritionist Jennifer Sygo said about this, which was essentially that the only thing health professionals agree on is that people should eat more vegetables and get more exercise.
I think the government should raise taxes on sugar. The government needs to be involved in food production to some extent, and I think it should be more involved in this area. I think sugar makes me fat, and I know it’s bad for my teeth. I don’t bring sugar into my apartment, but I can’t always work at home. At work, options are limited to Tim Hortons and Starbucks, so if I forget to pack a lunch, or need to work late, things are difficult, and I don’t really want to waste time and energy thinking about this. If sugar were more expensive, these chains might provide more options.
Phantom @12:53:
Yeah, we noticed. Coercion is the ubiquitous characteristic of the (post)modern “liberal” state. Now, here’s a harder question: Can you identify any area of your life into which the state has not stuck its grasping, greedy fingers?
Take a good look at yourself, then take a good look at Arthur DeVaney. Then we’ll talk about sugar.
And for those of us old enough to remember.
Jim Fixx
Born: Apr. 23, 1932
Running
author who popularized the sport of running; his 1977 bestseller The Complete Book of Running, is credited with helping start America’s fitness revolution; died of a heart attack while running.
Died: July 20, 1984
We are all born with that stamp, Best before………….
Many good and some relevant comments. my wife and I enjoy eating dinners at restaurants recognizing one reason we continue to go out for dinner is the substantial amount of butter used in the preparation of “fine dining” dinners.
The impact on waistlines can be substantial, requiring extra exercising and some discipline to maintain trimness. The reason many foods are attractive to kids is, I believe, the amount of glucose these foods add to their diet.
Please do not comment on the parents are responsible for the kids diets, it is part of North American culture. The choice of what foods are in the diets of kids is a massive marketing and focus effort.
My take on this video is this is a preliminary step, comparable to public awareness of nicotine and carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking. Cheers
p.s. Started smoking cigarettes at fourteen, when they cost 27 cents/pack; quit at 28 years of age when they were somewhere around a dollar, I think.
This was well before the cigarette manufacturers commenced the increase of nicotine in the tobacco.
Oh noes, we’s all gonna die (again)!
MikeSr
“This was well before the cigarette manufacturers commenced the increase of nicotine in the tobacco.”
Bull – simply bull.
Formerly the government demanded analysis of cigarette smoke and specified testing procedure. Then they attacked the tobacco companies because the tests they specified were meaningless. They allowed brand comparison and quitting is the only acceptable solution to government.
Some provinces are suing tobacco companies but smokers do the system a favour by dying early, as do the obese. Remember that old people are stressing the system, not the obese or smokers. One lung cancer patient I knew was 2 weeks from diagnosis to death. Had he lived to 80 he would have been past his working life drawing heavily on the system.
The taxes the government will place on products containing processed sugar won’t control your lives any more than the taxes on alcohol and tobacco do now. The only people who will be affected in any significant way are those who consume large quantities of products containing processed sugars. People who consume large quantities of processed sugar place a disproportionate burden on our tax funded health care system in the same way that people who consume large quantities of alcohol and tobacco do. Such taxes are actually user fees to make the people who abuse the system pay more.
Would you rather see increases in health care premiums or income tax to pay for the increased health care costs that obese people are causing?
Would you rather see increases in health care premiums or income tax to pay for the increased health care costs that obese people are causing?
Posted by: North of 60
Just kill anyone who’s lifestyle you diasprove than you can have cheap health care costs. Of course it won’t happen , just the “heath ” care workers wages would increase. Perhaps concentration camps for the fat are the answer? Neo-Pagan puritans have become the temperance movement of the day. All for money with bogus causes. Justifying it with tax money they steal from citizens. Whipped op by pseudo-experts who are fanatic driven control freaks. Quacks they used to be called. Looking to cash in on the latest “Global” threat. While being sadistic to others.
north of 60; Your just as dumb about sugar, governments and experts as you were about glysophate.Governments didnt introduce health care for YOUR benefit,they introduced health care for THEIR benefit.THey have increased their own salaries to where they couldnt possibly make as much in the private sector so the biggest thing on their agenda is to get reelected by any means possible.The politicians knew, when they set it up,that universal health care was a ponzi scheme. As for the university experts,they got educated to know more and more about less and less, so, these three have proved that they know absolutely everything about nothing.
Thanks for proving my point.
What point is that No60…?
You are plainly arguing that enforcing public health care on an unwilling public is a good thing.
By extension then … you seem to be arguing that this gives governments the right to enforce life style rules on the same public. Just like these twats from CA.
Nick, whole WHEAT bread raises blood sugar faster than table sugar. I don’t know whether other grains have this high a glycemic index. Perhaps they do, but I haven’t seen data specifically on other grains. Modern hybrids of wheat are especially high in amylopectin A, which breaks down into glucose very quickly.
Canadian universal health care isn’t enforced on an unwilling public. The vast majority of Canadians support universal health care.
Only an idiot would believe that taxes on booze and smokes will ‘enforce life style rules’. People are free to shove just about anything they want into their pie holes, even if it kills them.
Murray@4:04: Thanks for the correction. Cheers.
All you have to do to prove Loki and others point on diet and exercise is travel to Europe or almost anywhere except North America. The fact that hits you instantly as it did in Spain and France this past summer is how slim everyone is, other than the fat tourists. Their diet is good except for the UK of course but the big reason for their lack of obesity is that you have to walk everywhere.
Their cities have continued with their history of dwellings close to stores, restaurants and businesses with good transit which make it easier to get places without our curse of having to drive everywhere. These populations have been walking all their lives so they are used to it.
Our cities have been, for the most part, designed for cars not people. Look at the massive condo developments along the lake in Toronto. Every one is isolated, not close to stores or conveniences so their residents must drive. Lazy people become fat people with all sorts of medical problems.
If we let the government tax certain types of food as a behaviour modification tool because it will reduce the cost of our public health care, we have reduced ourselves to the status of livestock. I bet a lot of people would take better care of their health if they had to pay their own doctors bills in our so called health care system. I am 47 years old, could stand to loose 10 pounds but I exercise regularly and I am no burden at all on our health care system. I do however have very bad eyesight, which puts me at risk for detached retinas and glaucoma. This health problem, however isn’t covered by the system so I pay for a check up – happily – every year out of my own pocket. By having a “free” healthcare system we have taken responsibility for our own health out of our hands and turned it over to the state, who in turn, turn us into livestock, who have no control over what we eat what we do, how we are born and how and when we die. Not much of a trade off in my books. I would just as soon be free to make these decisions on my own.
One picture is worth a thousand words:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/beckysoup61/euro_vs_america.jpg
I would just as soon be free to make these decisions on my own.
I do, why don’t you? I am responsible for my health. Universal health care does not make me ‘livestock’ nor does it take away my personal responsibility to keep myself healthy as I’ve done all my life.
Canadian health care is more like a ‘safety net’. If I’m inadvertently injured or get sick I will be treated without having to mortgage my house to pay for it.
“Canadian universal health care isn’t enforced on an unwilling public. The vast majority of Canadians support universal health care.”
NO60…you really are a control freak idiot.I DO NOT want to pay ONE red cent to universal health care.And where will I end up if I refuse? In jail.If that ain’t known as being forced on me,then perhaps you could explain your new leftard definition of “forced” to me. Ya know,the more you open yo yap,the more left you become.Maybe you shouldn’t be inhaling so much of that wood smoke of yours.It seems to cause brain damage in the area of cognitive reasoning.
dave, yes, we have noticed that wherever we have been in Europe. Some of the older people look similar to those here and that would be due to the age factor. I believe Europeans eat at home a lot more than North Americans as there is not a restaurant or fast food place every block and they do walk more because they have to. There are almost no malls, although especially in Eastern Europe, almost all the apartment and condo complexes have many various types of shops on the ground floors.
What Revnant Dream and OMMAG said.
After the governments got away with making wearing seat belts mandatory and a crime if caught without one on, they realized that they can get away with forcing us either through laws or by taxation or both to do whatever they deem necessary. While no doubt some of the stuff is good, it has got to the point when they will be telling us when we can go the can. What ever happened to freedom?
I DO NOT want to pay ONE red cent to universal health care
Then move to America….. see ya.
@ Ken (Kulak) at February 4, 2012 5:18 PM
“What ever happened to freedom”?
It was replaced with “Think of the children” and “It will save millions in Health care”.
Ken, we noticed that in Barcelona and it made it so convenient to just walk down from our rented apartment and have a coffee right outside our door. Having been in Europe many times it is a delight to explore their cities on foot.
I read in the book Fast Food Nation that there was a definite choice for European countries to keep gas prices very high and build transit whereas North America with Standard Oil and the car companies kept gas prices low so people would buy cars. They even bought up private transit companies in American cities and tore up their tracks! Eisenhower built the US highway system that dovetailed with the expanding suburbs and we continue with this mindset today.
North O 60 again raises the stupid flag
Why don’t we just kill the next a$$hole that wants to tax something or somebody!! Enough is enough.
I got two minutes in. These “experts” are the most boring twosome I’ve ever encountered. I couldn’t be bothered listening to them.
Did the woman in the middle ever get to say anything? She reminds me of “Madge,” Dame Edna Everage’s silent sidekick.
It’s always amusing to watch someone engage in name calling and personal attacks on a public forum as a clear demonstration of their intellectual inability to discuss issues like a rational adult. No doubt they will continue to prove the point.
Notice how the anti-tax folks don’t have a problem using all that infrastructure that taxes provide like: roads, bridges, airports, hydro dams, hospitals, or services like fire, police, ambulance, and coroner, military defense, search and rescue, etc… Some would call that not taking responsibility for paying one’s fair share of the societal benefits one enjoys, or even call it hypocrisy.
I know when I saw this “study” last two or three news cycles I was astonished. No one even questioned the premise here.
Usually this crap lasts a day at the end of some newscast and is never heard from again. I sure hope this just goes away because it’s so ridiculous it’s just unbelievable.
They are talking about taxing CARBS. They are necessary for human survival. Your brain uses CARBS as fuel ok. This is the really the end game of the death cult. They will not be satisfied until you are sitting in a fly infested hut with a distended belly like all those guilt commercials.
North of 60 at 5:11 PM: “Universal health care does not make me ‘livestock’ nor does it take away my personal responsibility to keep myself healthy as I’ve done all my life.”
=========================
No. It just takes away the incentive to keep yourself healthy.
North of 60 at 4:05 PM: “People are free to shove just about anything they want into their pie holes, even if it kills them.”
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Exactly. But who has to pay for the consequences when they land in the hospital because of their eating habits or every time they visit a doctor for some problem caused by a poor diet? If they had to purchase their own health insurance, they may think twice before they shove that Twinkie into their pie hole.
It just takes away the incentive to keep yourself healthy.
Speak for yourself. That only applies to stupid people.
Intelligent people realize the long term benefits of maintaining good health, the health care system has nothing to do with it.
But who has to pay for the consequences when they land in the hospital because of their eating habits or every time they visit a doctor for some problem caused by a poor diet? If they had to purchase their own health insurance, they may think twice before they shove that Twinkie into their pie hole.
Not likely. The stupid people wouldn’t buy health insurance and they’d just fill up the emergency rooms like they do in the US.
EBD is right on with his post of how many calories athletes need. The problems I see are in former athletes who continue to eat the same now as when they needed 6000 calories/day just to maintain their weight.
The main thing to have in food is choice as people differ in their reactions to plant and other proteins. Gluten causes celiac disease in some people whereas it is tolerated well by others. Milk in vending machines is only for those who are lactose tolerant. Of course the hospital I’m in now has no “junk food” so I have to leave the place to find something to produce enough glucose to maintain brain function. Just couldn’t stomach the cafeteria for supper tonight.
Sorry, I was away, I hope this is interesting and helpful.
@Minuteman: Yes and no. I think there was a little more root vegetable activity going on than has met your eye. The wheat… well the wheat of the 17th and 18th centuries makes the stuff we have today look like God farmed it. More on that ties into another comment.
@nick personally, I would advise people to be aware of the privileged calorie rich environment we live in. Adherence to any diet is a challenge, and the benefits of a diet may quickly turn to detriment with a few simple slips. I have not read Eades’ book but I rather suspect it is close to Atkins . The high fat part becomes dangerous with a few carb slips and I would not trust myself to follow it safely given the preponderance of carb laden food. BUT… Remove the high fat portion because you may slip and the advice is probably sound IMHO.
I get hot and cold on policing up my eating, I have the will power of a six year old, and no chance at some new hotness to motivate me. In general, when I’m on a roll, I lose weight, sleep better, and feel better.
I work from a basic understanding of the Paleo diet, the Alkaline diet, with a sprinkle of Blood Type recommendations. But most importantly I avoid wheat as if I had celiac disease. I don’t count calories and I don’t eat 5 or six times a day. Unemployment makes me fat, I have always worked on my feet, but given work and c+ adherence I drop 30-35 lbs. in about 3 months and stable out. That for me is a 20% reduction in weight.
@Murray spot on
We have changed wheat sooooo much in the last 100 years through modern agricultural practices that it is amazing. I’ve worked on a heritage farm with heirloom wheat. There is very little beard on the tops, the berry count is less than half of modern wheat and the modern berries themselves look like they’re on steroids.
Interestingly sprue or Celiac diagnoses are on the rise. The surface proteins of today’s wheat are now dissimilar to what we evolved (perhaps) to tolerate. Celiac disease is difficult to diagnose. Other problems like chronic gastric irritation can lead to cancer. Here’s a shocker I snipped a long time ago and cannot find the reference. I’ll let it close this long messy comment.
15
Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) has actions very similar to insulin in promoting cell division and increasing cellular glucose transport. In the ileum it causes changes similar to Celiac disease – but without generating anti-gliadin antibodies – i.e. no Celiac diagnosis and no confirmation biopsy. It also appears to damage the brush border of the intestine, where lactase is produced. There may be many people out there diagnosed with lactose intolerance simply because their lactase has been knocked out by WGA. If I were lactose intolerant I’d cut out wheat for a few weeks then challenge with dairy to see if it is true lactose intolerance. These things are never simple.
If I’m inadvertently injured or get sick I will be treated without having to mortgage my house to pay for it.
True, someone else has to mortgage their house.
A true believer in pyramid schemes, so long as they are on the receiving end.
The cognitive dissonance of saying they are responsible for their own health until they get sick is mind boggling.
someone else has to mortgage their house.
Not in Canada. Taxes pay for health care. Petroleum, Hydro and Potash revenue is a big chunk of it. If someone has to mortgage their house to pay their taxes then that’s personal finance mismanagement and nobody’s fault but their own.
If someone has to mortgage their house to pay their taxes then that’s personal finance mismanagement and nobody’s fault but their own.
Yeah, we all know having less money due to taxes means a smaller mortgage. /sarc
‘North of 60, et al’ kate bandwidth hoggers should think about having their own blogs to educate all of us plebes.
Me: “It just takes away the incentive to keep yourself healthy.”
North of 60 at 9:17 PM: “Speak for yourself. That only applies to stupid people.”
========================
And who is arguing that smart people should pay for the consequences stupid people bring upon themselves? (Hint: Look in the mirror.)
Another prospective…..
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/lincolnbrown/2012/02/05/an_id_to_buy_sugar_but_not_for_voting