KATIE COURIC'S PERILS OF FOOD POLICS
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All children like sugar and dislike vegetables. It's the way the human body functions. An infant's and child's taste receptors aren't fully developed. They taste sweet very well, so they eat it. Bitter is bad to them, hence disliking vegetables, due to the bitter flavors in them. This isn't new. This is something that's been ingrained in human behavior as long as there have been humans. Sweet = good, bitter = poison.
Kids don't eat sugar and shun vegetables because they are addicted to sugar. They eat sugar because they are kids.0 -
surely anything to ... reduce the obesity and diabetes problems
As long as people are so lazy that on a clear, warm day they will park their cars ON THE SIDEWALK at the grocery store or block fire lanes just to avoid walking the relatively short distance from a parking space to the door, we will have an obesity problem in this country.0 -
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I have a grandson who is obese. His mother will pack him a 1000-calorie lunch for school, and what she packs for him is crap. He is 10 years old, and if it isn't a corn dog, french fries, ketchup, cheese pizza, candy, or ice cream, he won't eat it. The last time he was probably fed vegetables was in his baby food. This kind of stuff makes me want to weep, because unless something changes, it's not going to get any better for him.
His mother could pack 1000 calorie lunches full of healthy foods and he'd be just as fat. Your anecdotal evidence proves nothing more than poor parenting. Children should not tell parents what they are going to eat. Far too many parents want to be friends with their kid(s).
I could not agree more, but I have no control over his mother, who is a case all unto herself.0 -
Calories are calories, if you eat too many of them you will gain weight. You can lose weight just eating Twinkies (ignoring the obvious lack of vital nutrients) if you eat them at a calorie deficit. Carbs are not the enemy and they are in fact essential.
You could lose weight on just twinkies - but do not forget excessive sugar is inflammatory for our bodies, which is one of the reasons it is best kept to a limited intake.
I am sorry to say dietary carbs are not essential, but they are optimal.0 -
What is going to happen if they regulate food(sugar) and in 5-10 years from now people are still fat? Is the gov't going to mandate that people exercise a certain amount of time every day?0
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There is no reason to go off the deep end. The government does not provide food for the majority of the population, nor is what it generates from your facility the reason that many Americans are obese.
Maybe you should send me a personal message if you have issue? I didnt make outlandish claims, i expressed m,y opinion - and yes, I felt you were rude because of the personal attack, not because i couldnt "back up outlandish claims" as you put it
I was obese - and I didnt know how i got that way, neither did many of my obbese friends. We werent dumb, we werent stupid, we just didnt understand. I didnt call us, obese people, dumb.
The goverment adds sugar to food, yes, ok....so...what more do you want? I don't know what "private businesses" you are talking about??? i dont really care though so there that...
yes, i place, for me personally, sugar in the same catagorie as drugs and alcohol - sure - however you see addictive, like i said, if you look up the definition of addictive, thats how i feel about sugar, for me, personally, IMO.
Your comment about Monsanto makes no sence to me so Im not sure how to respond.... I dont know what you want me to defend. Its my opinion, like i said over and over.... I work in a lab and alter food, so, its just something of interest to me because its essentially my life...
And obviously scaring people gets their attention otherwise they wouldnt do it - this is how the news works, its a bunch of bull **** - all you have to do it watch it to see that.
Smile more - be less miserable :-)
Why should I personally message you? You made your statements here, do you not want to discuss them here? Personally I prefer educating people who might read your post as to how inaccurate it is, so others don't fall for the same lies you have.
Again, the government does not add sugar to food. Private companies make and sell food. This is a fact, it's not up for debate. You're just wrong.
I am a happy, non-miserable person. I called your beliefs dumb, because they are. Same as I would to someone who thinks the Earth is flat. You being wrong about something does not make me an unhappy, mean person.
All the name calling in the world won't make what you said right. And while I may not have held your hand and said, "Aw honey, it's ok. You go right on believing any false thing that makes you happy!" that doesn't make me mean. If anything you could probably use more people in your life who are straight and honest with you, as opposed to feeling that manipulating the facts is ok so long as it inspires some kind of change in your life.
Learn more, believe facts.
I got to go have a meeting with the research leader - apparently my job here doesn't actually exist! All this time... I've been driving all the way here and going through the motions for nothing - I must have been dreaming this entire time - this entire government facility is a facade, a huge holgrame, a figment of my imagination?? Who knows, Im just glad there are so many better educated people out there than I who can point out that what i do for a living is actually just a scene from the god damned movie the matrix. Im going to go eat a candy bar and see if i can fly.
In fact, if you are making MREs, their goal is to provide incredibly calorically dense food in small quantities with a high carb load because soldiers in action don't have a lot of time to eat, and I'm sure starving to death with no energy does not make a good fighter. That said, many people active in the military who are likely to be eating MREs are usually in pretty good shape, and are not adversely affected by the sugar you are adding in your lab. Why? Because their caloric output equals or exceeds their caloric input.
And if you truly feel that you job is the downfall of the system and you are duping Americans and making them all fat, why don't you change jobs?
If we're going to point fingers I'd like to propose pointing in the direction of General Mills.
Cereal, the idea, in and of itself, is ancient and fine. People have been having breakfast cereal forever. It used to be grains, with cream, butter etc etc and was a brilliant way to start your day.
Most people don't realize that when you feed your kids/family the modern manifestation of cereal, you're feeding them something akin to a candy bar in nutrition. And it tastes so dang good no one has the 1/2 cup serving size. So if it has 30g sugar in once serving, and your kid has two bowls, your angel just unknowingly scarfed down 60g of sugar. That is a LOT! And that's just to start the day off.
General Mills goes right into elementary schools (as does Coke) and advertises, promotes, hands out freebies, donates to the school in exchange for promotions and putting signs up in the schools. It's outside the scope of what you would expect. It's predatory. Kids do not have the physical ability to use logic, rationalize, and moderation. They're kids. Their brain is still developing. You tell them to drink Coke & Lucky Charms and they will.
It works and that's why the keep on doing it.
I went to my daughter school assembly one morning and the principal went in front of the school and held up boxes of General Mills cereals. She stated verbatim in the microphone to every child in the school looking on "When you see these cereals int the store tell your parents to buy them!"
When educational authorities that are supposed to be teaching the children health are literally taking pay-offs from junk food companies to push it on the children, I have a problem with that.0 -
Most people don't realize that when you feed your kids/family the modern manifestation of cereal, you're feeding them something akin to a candy bar in nutrition. And it tastes so dang good no one has the 1/2 cup serving size. So if it has 30g sugar in once serving, and your kid has two bowls, your angel just unknowingly scarfed down 60g of sugar. That is a LOT! And that's just to start the day off.
Read the stuff you buy? No, blame a company making cereal. Logic.0 -
But good journalists look for balance ..........no...what does Katie Couric know about nutrition? She is a reporter there by jumping on a controversial topic for ratings.Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. FED UP is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see. From Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever.
Yup got all the major players in it....those who want to demonize sugar...
I will save my money for a DQ soft serve thanks.
ETA: I did watch the trailer btw...it's got lustig and the other one with a similar name...along with another guy I've seen mentioned a lot...
She's a journalist. She doesn't need to be an expert. She goes and interviews experts and gathers data and then presents it in a way that the common person can understand. By your standard, journalists would have to be experts in absolutely everything before they can report on it.
Balanced reporting doesn't generate ratings which sell advertising.
We have regressed back to the days of "yellow journalism". Sad really.0 -
Logic. They feed it to the kids in schools, so they really don't have much of a choice. Eat it or starve. Especially kids on the National Free School Lunch Program. Some kids have parents that can afford to pack and send their lunches, but many face poverty and eat what the school gives them.
I don't buy it, obviously, but many, many, many Americans don't read labels or care about nutrition, or seek the balance, and it's hitting them hardest.0 -
Isn't EXCESS of anything in the diet bad? This is just a promote your stance against sugar in it's entirety. Especially fructose.
The message that the "messenger, Katie Couric" is trying to send is : EXCESS sugar is dangerous. EXCESS. According to experts, EXCESS is this case, is more than 10 percent of one's calories.
Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Well it's not going to be from various viewpoints. Just those against sugar.So Couric's show should only be about topics she is an expert on? That's never been a requirement for documentaries before, not sure why it would be now.
I'll watch this because it's a topic that's of interest to me and I have an open mind to see the various viewpoints presented.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
policsIn the four pages of comments, did we ever figure out what polics are?
And in.
- no dictionary results
The mystery continues
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polics?s=t0 -
This ^What is going to happen if they regulate food(sugar) and in 5-10 years from now people are still fat? Is the gov't going to mandate that people exercise a certain amount of time every day?
I am overweight.
It's because *I* made poor choices nutritionally and from an exercise standpoint in the past.
*I* am working on changing that.
I do not wish a nanny state to do that for me, thank you....0 -
Hi !! I just had to re-read to make sure i didn't mis-speak - I don't want to spread rumors about what we do because it is very important and I don't want people to think we are feeding the military poorly!!
I did not, ever, say we add sugar to MREs - someone else said "please explain how goverment makes food" so I replied "I work for the goverment, I make MREs, so the goverment makes food". I was answering an un-related question to the "sugar war" as Im calling it - looking back it seems as though words were put in my mouht, we DO NOT "add" sugar to MRE's in the way I think this documentary is saying (though, there sugar in them - but its not added sugar). Someone else said something about my job being the downfall of this country - yikes - I certainly don't eblieve that! I may not like my job, but nutrition for the troops has come along way - they are getting much "better foods", goverment mandated and all!
What we grow in petri dishes are bacteria resistant strains of yeast... which make up many of the meals we supply - we - as the government - There are many, many private organizations, companies that provide their own food Im sure - I personally know only one, I buy meat from him sometimes, he doesnt add sugar, or anything "extra" to his meat.
There is also this goverment agency called the FDA that mandates what is in school lunches amoung other things, which include certain foods, made by government owned organizations (which I see as 'the goverment) that so add sugar to their foods. So thats what i mean when i say the goverment does add sugar to their foods.
We don't add sugar to MREs - if you read back you will see I never said that, i think there was just some confusion because i asnwered a question on a post you had previously commented on.
This entire thing looks like it spiraled way off topic and out of control, i didnt read all the way back so if someone else threw a jab at me and i didnt respond sorry!! Glad people are at least talking about this stuff, which, after all, if the point of this documentary and why it is important.0 -
Hail Hydra...What is going to happen if they regulate food(sugar) and in 5-10 years from now people are still fat? Is the gov't going to mandate that people exercise a certain amount of time every day?0 -
I grew up only being allowed to have non-sugary cereals except for our two week vacation. I was obese by the age of 12 or so due to overconsumption of foods in general (including cereal without sugar added; grapenuts are awesome, but who eats half a cup of them?!). I no longer eat cereal at all because as a reactive hypoglycemic, it doesn't go well (because I never balanced it with eggs or everything else the commercials tell you to do). I'm still overweight.
There is no reason to go off the deep end. The government does not provide food for the majority of the population, nor is what it generates from your facility the reason that many Americans are obese.
Maybe you should send me a personal message if you have issue? I didnt make outlandish claims, i expressed m,y opinion - and yes, I felt you were rude because of the personal attack, not because i couldnt "back up outlandish claims" as you put it
I was obese - and I didnt know how i got that way, neither did many of my obbese friends. We werent dumb, we werent stupid, we just didnt understand. I didnt call us, obese people, dumb.
The goverment adds sugar to food, yes, ok....so...what more do you want? I don't know what "private businesses" you are talking about??? i dont really care though so there that...
yes, i place, for me personally, sugar in the same catagorie as drugs and alcohol - sure - however you see addictive, like i said, if you look up the definition of addictive, thats how i feel about sugar, for me, personally, IMO.
Your comment about Monsanto makes no sence to me so Im not sure how to respond.... I dont know what you want me to defend. Its my opinion, like i said over and over.... I work in a lab and alter food, so, its just something of interest to me because its essentially my life...
And obviously scaring people gets their attention otherwise they wouldnt do it - this is how the news works, its a bunch of bull **** - all you have to do it watch it to see that.
Smile more - be less miserable :-)
Why should I personally message you? You made your statements here, do you not want to discuss them here? Personally I prefer educating people who might read your post as to how inaccurate it is, so others don't fall for the same lies you have.
Again, the government does not add sugar to food. Private companies make and sell food. This is a fact, it's not up for debate. You're just wrong.
I am a happy, non-miserable person. I called your beliefs dumb, because they are. Same as I would to someone who thinks the Earth is flat. You being wrong about something does not make me an unhappy, mean person.
All the name calling in the world won't make what you said right. And while I may not have held your hand and said, "Aw honey, it's ok. You go right on believing any false thing that makes you happy!" that doesn't make me mean. If anything you could probably use more people in your life who are straight and honest with you, as opposed to feeling that manipulating the facts is ok so long as it inspires some kind of change in your life.
Learn more, believe facts.
I got to go have a meeting with the research leader - apparently my job here doesn't actually exist! All this time... I've been driving all the way here and going through the motions for nothing - I must have been dreaming this entire time - this entire government facility is a facade, a huge holgrame, a figment of my imagination?? Who knows, Im just glad there are so many better educated people out there than I who can point out that what i do for a living is actually just a scene from the god damned movie the matrix. Im going to go eat a candy bar and see if i can fly.
In fact, if you are making MREs, their goal is to provide incredibly calorically dense food in small quantities with a high carb load because soldiers in action don't have a lot of time to eat, and I'm sure starving to death with no energy does not make a good fighter. That said, many people active in the military who are likely to be eating MREs are usually in pretty good shape, and are not adversely affected by the sugar you are adding in your lab. Why? Because their caloric output equals or exceeds their caloric input.
And if you truly feel that you job is the downfall of the system and you are duping Americans and making them all fat, why don't you change jobs?
If we're going to point fingers I'd like to propose pointing in the direction of General Mills.
Cereal, the idea, in and of itself, is ancient and fine. People have been having breakfast cereal forever. It used to be grains, with cream, butter etc etc and was a brilliant way to start your day.
Most people don't realize that when you feed your kids/family the modern manifestation of cereal, you're feeding them something akin to a candy bar in nutrition. And it tastes so dang good no one has the 1/2 cup serving size. So if it has 30g sugar in once serving, and your kid has two bowls, your angel just unknowingly scarfed down 60g of sugar. That is a LOT! And that's just to start the day off.
General Mills goes right into elementary schools (as does Coke) and advertises, promotes, hands out freebies, donates to the school in exchange for promotions and putting signs up in the schools. It's outside the scope of what you would expect. It's predatory. Kids do not have the physical ability to use logic, rationalize, and moderation. They're kids. Their brain is still developing. You tell them to drink Coke & Lucky Charms and they will.
It works and that's why the keep on doing it.
I went to my daughter school assembly one morning and the principal went in front of the school and held up boxes of General Mills cereals. She stated verbatim in the microphone to every child in the school looking on "When you see these cereals int the store tell your parents to buy them!"
When educational authorities that are supposed to be teaching the children health are literally taking pay-offs from junk food companies to push it on the children, I have a problem with that.
If we really want to point fingers, we need to point at ourselves in the mirror.0 -
Did you watch last night's episode?Hail Hydra...
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Did you watch last night's episode?Hail Hydra...
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Hang on - no spoilers please.
We get the show on a Friday night in the UK so I haven't seen the latest!0 -
At the end of the day, it boils down to personal responsibility for the food amounts we consume and feed to our children. If people aren’t going to take stock in their health and the health of their children then they don’t have any right to blame external entities. Even before I learned the scientific facts behind weight loss or even bothered to lose weight, I knew my *kitten* was getting bigger and bigger because I ate too much food. There is no way in hell I didn’t know the reason I become fat and overweight. A typical day for me used to be sitting in my office chair eating large amounts of food over the 10 or more hours a day I worked. I went home and cooked a big three course meal and ate it. I snacked at night before bed. What could it have been that made me fat other than eating too much food? It sure as hell wasn’t Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.0
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I actually haven't watched at all except for the first 3-4 episodes because I couldn't get into it. Everyone is saying that now after the new movie released, they've gotten really good. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go back and watch all the old ones and catch up.
Did you watch last night's episode?Hail Hydra...
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Hang on - no spoilers please.
We get the show on a Friday night in the UK so I haven't seen the latest!0 -
Will I watch it? Sure, when it comes on Netflix. I have questionable taste in entertainment. It doesn't mean I'm going to buy into what is said, and generally sets me up to be able to refute the nonsense. I like to know what I'm refuting before I argue.0
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I actually haven't watched at all except for the first 3-4 episodes because I couldn't get into it. Everyone is saying that now after the new movie released, they've gotten really good. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go back and watch all the old ones and catch up.
Did you watch last night's episode?Hail Hydra...
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Hang on - no spoilers please.
We get the show on a Friday night in the UK so I haven't seen the latest!
Yeh it has got good, some twist and turns along the way - some very predictable others pleasantly surprising!0 -
Ok, I'm not saying General Mills is the root of the problems I had, but my issues are practically resolved outside of aesthetics, and my daughter never formed weight issues because of mommy's effort.
I took control of the situation and put the effort out there and made it happen.
I'm talking about everyone else, speaking generally and addressing issues across the nation.
Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to point a finger at Coke and General Mills and the School Boards that allow them to saturate the schools with their advertising and "Coke Parties" and say "Hey! Those are kids! Stop advertising to them in school! They lack the ability to rationalize and make a responsible decision for themselves, they're a low-hanging fruit to your predatory advertising!"
It's un-ethical on the part of the business and the school administrations.
It's a problem. If we started there, it might help a bit.
If a grown-up eats a ton of food and gets fat, they made those choices with the knowledge or the access to knowledge about the consequences of their actions.
Children do not have the ability to seek out peer reviewed journals and decide for themselves if the breakfast cereal they got from the cafeteria, Lucky Charms, or the Coke they received as a reward in school for making good scores on a quiz fits in a balanced way into their diet.
They mentally do not have that ability for critical thinking because that part of their brain is still developing.
I don't think we should out-law sugar, or that I have any right to tell a grown person if they should or shouldn't eat it, but I want the Coke banners at my kids school down now, and I want the teachers to stop blatantly pushing food items I refuse to purchase (Lucky Charms, in particular) on my child immediately.0 -
I have been a PTA board member for over 20 years and was highly active in my sons' schools. I functioned on the local and national levels for years. I don't know of any schools or school boards that allow manufacturers to promote foods or products that cause children to become obese. Since overeating causes obesity, how are the schools causing this when they aren’t responsible for the children total diets? Cereal and sodas will only become the demons if those items push the calories children eat into a surplus.0
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I got annoyed when DP won the contract for our school, but mostly because that meant no coke products anymore. :laugh: Funding for schools is always a problem, and it's very unfortunate that they have to go to big corporations for sponsorship (which means vending machines, banners, etc.). I agree that it's a problem, but as of right now I don't know a good way to fix it. And you of course can see why the big companies want in; they get customer loyalty starting at an early age. Since I don't see this trend changing anytime soon, the best option is education of children by parents. Unfortunately, my friend who is a teacher tells me that a lot of parents don't want to teach their kids much of anything and mostly ignore them.Ok, I'm not saying General Mills is the root of the problems I had, but my issues are practically resolved outside of aesthetics, and my daughter never formed weight issues because of mommy's effort.
I took control of the situation and put the effort out there and made it happen.
I'm talking about everyone else, speaking generally and addressing issues across the nation.
Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to point a finger at Coke and General Mills and the School Boards that allow them to saturate the schools with their advertising and "Coke Parties" and say "Hey! Those are kids! Stop advertising to them in school! They lack the ability to rationalize and make a responsible decision for themselves, they're a low-hanging fruit to your predatory advertising!"
It's un-ethical on the part of the business and the school administrations.
It's a problem. If we started there, it might help a bit.
If a grown-up eats a ton of food and gets fat, they made those choices with the knowledge or the access to knowledge about the consequences of their actions.
Children do not have the ability to seek out peer reviewed journals and decide for themselves if the breakfast cereal they got from the cafeteria, Lucky Charms, or the Coke they received as a reward in school for making good scores on a quiz fits in a balanced way into their diet.
They mentally do not have that ability for critical thinking because that part of their brain is still developing.
I don't think we should out-law sugar, or that I have any right to tell a grown person if they should or shouldn't eat it, but I want the Coke banners at my kids school down now, and I want the teachers to stop blatantly pushing food items I refuse to purchase (Lucky Charms, in particular) on my child immediately.0 -
Branstin, when the National Free School Lunch Program is covering the breakfast and lunch of children in poverty, it is safe to say they are responsible for the majority of the diet, 2/3 of it.
It's almost a work of magic to put a home-cooked dinner on the table every night, there's no way to track everything our children will intake and adjust the macros of their meals accordingly.
I'm sure as a parent, at the end of the day you and I both aim for presenting our perception of healthy and try to have a nice chatty bonding dinner, utterly blind to how many kcal or what macros your child took in that day, and just hope for the best, that they won't over eat but take in the perfect balance of nutrients for optimal health.
No?0 -
Also Branstin, I get the feeling from your way you communicate and your long term investment in your children's education that you and I are in the very fortunate position of being pretty smart cookies, pun intended!
There are a lot of parents out there working with a few pieces to their puzzle missing, a few screws loose, and a myriad of other situations (it's hard to relate too, but some parents of children in schools are actually homeless, drug addicts, working multiple jobs, illiterate, prostitutes, drug-dealers, strippers, etc...) that make their ability or desire to study nutrition and optimize that and enhance and enrich their children academic experience just not happening the way it does for us.0 -
AsaThorsWoman: I don’t agree it is safe to make that assumption at all. I worked all of my childrens lives and it was not magic for me to make my children eating habits a priority. I never once thought about blaming the school or anyone else for that matter. Even though I worked during the time my sons were growing up, I made it my business to know what they were eating at school as well as home. Yes, it was a challenge but it was also my job as their parent. Who is to blame for all of the other children who eat at school and didn't become obese? Are the schools responsible for that as well?0
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I'll be interested to see the follow up debunk film and papers if it's anything like "An Inconvenient Truth".0
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