Reducing meat/beef consumption?
First, it should be pointed out that the argument that there are fewer cows today than large ruminants 200 years ago is silly. It is estimated there were at most 60 million bison in N. America during their heyday (no pun intended) in the 1700's. It is reasonable there were a similar number of wildebeests and buffaloes in SE Asia. So put the number of pre-industrial ruminants at something like 200 million. In contrast it is estimated there are 1.3 billion cows alive today, most of these eating a grain-based diet during some portion of their lives. To suggest that the greenhouse gas emissions from 1/6 the total number of free-range animals was greater than today is at best silly. Wait, I said that already. Anyway, the most realistic plan for reducing CO2 emissions I have read was the one in Scientific American in Sept. 2006 by Socolow and Pacala, "A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check." Reducing beef consumption didn't factor into their plan, although ceasing deforestation was a component. I would provide a link to the article but it is available online by subscription only. However, a link is provided below to the core proposals of their plan. My hunch is that any realistic mitigation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas output is going to be so painful for a lot of people in the industrial world (e.g., air condition less in the summer, heat less in the winter, drive less (and in smaller cars!)) that they are going to have to have some luxuries to make it bearable. A hamburger seems like a small price to pay.
Is the meat and dairy industry brainwashing people?
I'll take it one step further and propose that the brainwashing goes beyond the meat and dairy industry. The Food and Drug Administration is largely responsible for convincing people that they need various animal products in their diets to be healthy. They are responsible for the food pyramid that is learned in grammar school. It's ingrained in us at an early age. Whatever agenda the meat and dairy industry may have is easily and quickly carried out by the FDA. The FDA and the Department of Agriculture are closely linked and of course, lobbyists serve both groups quite loyally. They are both masters at perpetuating lies.
Who is most to blame for America's obesity?
A. Fast food chains B. The American people for buying fast food, which gives them profit to open more stores C. Our parents, for not feeding children properly and being lazy D. The children, for whining and crying and being spoiled when it comes to fast food E. Our capitalist economy, which makes our nation obsessed with work, work, work, that we don't have time to cook for ourselves. F. The bullies in school, which make children have low self-esteem and eat for comfort. Anything else you can think of please write it down.
Should health insurance companies cover costs of obsity related illnesses?
On a social scale, absolutely. In the case of the USA, which is the last developed country that does not have national insurance, our diet is strongly influenced by the profit motivation of the corporations that control our food supply.A strong lobby by the meat and dairy industries has been chanting the Protein is Life mantra for so long that an entire generation embraces it as gospel. People who embrace a plant based diet are demonized as radical outliers, at best annoying and maybe a danger to all good meat loving folk.We are the children of a Pepsico, McDonald’s, Kraft country. These companies reap an obscene profit, putting themselves between the farmer and the consumer, literally killing people for money. They’re a dangerous force to oppose.If you are going to treat your population like cattle, you are responsible for the health care of those people. If your strategy is to encourage blaming fat people who grew up in Fat Land, then shame on you.
Fast-food companies are marketing unhealthy food to consumers.?
It's not up to the companies to dictate that you can only eat heathly food. If they did, you'd probably be on here arguing about your right to choose what you want to eat. Companies are out to make a profit, plain and simple. If people want Whoppers and Big Macs, Whoppers and Big Macs are what will get sold. They may be marketing unhealthy food to kids, but the kids aren't driving themselves through the drive-thru... parents are letting their kids eat that crap. Say no to the fries and give them an apple once in awhile. Sure they'll whine, but you can deal with the whine and explain why... or you can wait until your kid is obese, has a heart condition, and then try to blame it on the fast food industry as if you didn't know it was coming. Not to mention there's a slippery slope here. Say the industry has to start monitoring things like this. Who's next? Alcohol, tobacco, red meat, dairy... it would all be up in the air. Once you get to a certain point, capitalism is out the window. Not to mention studies have already concluded that the introduction of "low fat" and "diet" food items has contributed to an overall weight gain in the United States. People assume that if soemthing is "low fat," then they can eat more of it. I think 7 out of 10 of the most unhealthy fast food items are actually SALADS... bet that blows your mind. I mean we could go on... since fast food companies have started accepting credit/debit cards in the last 90's/early 2000's, the average american has gained something like 3.5 lbs. There's too many variables OTHER than the content of the food to hold the fast food industry liable for our choices.
Is eating junk food bad?
What part of the word JUNK did you not get?There are some components in junk food that do have nutritional value. They have to have to be considered as food.The fact that junk food is considered as food is not because junk food has any redeeming features or ingredients. It’s because the people whose job it is to assess the safety of the food they are monitoring know so little about food that just about anything that you can swallow without dying immediately or shortly after qualifies.If food inspectors actually understood the inherent dangers in dairy products, all present dairy products would be banned. That is not to say that safe dairy products are not possible. It is to say that to change the world’s dairy cows to those that could produce casein-free milk would take ten years and an admission of guilt from the entire industry for the lethal and damaging effects have on unsuspecting consumers - especially children. Dairy products are responsible for about 80% of children suffering at least 3 year infections by the time they are 8. That is up from next to none before 1938 and pasteurization.Ear infections can sometimes be fatal and they always have consequences.All grain products would be banned as well since they are merely glue with nutritional components. Unfortunately our bodies didn’t evolve to break down mucus. So since we are consuming grain and virtually every other species is smart enough not to, we are the sickest species on the entire planet. We are also the only species with our own doctors who as you might expect are almost completely clueless about metabolizing glue and all that it entails.JUNK food is generally a formulation that includes both dairy and grain of some sort.Such a formulation causes constipation even more readily than dairy and grain do individually. When you add meat to the mixture, that’s when JUNK food becomes lethal on a cumulative basis.JUNK FOOD IS WHAT YOU EAT TO TURN YOUR BODY INTO JUNK.
Did your parents literally count every calorie you ate as a child?
(This is Ron, George's wife. I am a lady) Both my parents were the only slender members of their respective families. When they married they promised each other they would not let themselves or their children be fat. We rarely had dessert, candy was a special treat found in Christmas stockings and Easter baskets, and kool-aid was absolutely forbidden. I first drank it in High School and was so disappointed! It was nasty! We ate the dinner that was put in front of us or stayed hungry until breakfast, and I was so stubborn I would rather be hungry than eat Texas Hash. We played outside every day unless it was pouring rain or it was below 0 degrees with wind. My folks drove us NOWHERE. Need a snack? A glass of whole milk or a carrot or celery with peanut butter in the groove. Green salad every dinner and meat every day. Sundays we would have yummy bacon and eggs, toast and jam and all the milk we could drink.Those rare occasions when we all ate out my parents ordered for everyone under 12 and if you misbehaved you would get left home or at the neighbors next time! And yes! They never forgot! I acted up once while we were traveling, smugly sure there would be no repercussions —we were on the road! The next meal was carried out to me in the car by my younger brother who thought it was hilarious. As he handed me the PBJ the cook had made up just for me he cheerfully let slip that Mom said we could all have milkshakes. Except me…..Not one of the five kids ever got even close to being fat. I once weighed 167 for about two weeks, it was a few years after we retired and we were livin' large, eating out a lot. My clothes were so tight! And I was just too cheap (and proud) to move up to the next size in clothes. My sweet roly-poly hubby and I spent a year getting back to a more fit lifestyle and size and never looked back. Now I am 67 and weigh about 140 which is just right for now. Thanks Mom and Dad, good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones!