Why is it so hard to lose weight? -Excellent article

bump to remind myself to read this when I get home from work

thanks for posting this!

Thanks, emailed to myself so I can sit and read it later.

Very enlightening - thanks for posting the link.

Informative article for anyone interested in food manufacturing and marketing, nutrition,and what you are really putting in your body.

excellent and true!

this is an awesome read!

But...it isn't more expensive to eat healthy - I don't care what anyone says and I use to say this. My grocery store spending hasn't changed. The money spent on fast food and junk food is now going to healthier foods. And fast food isn't all that cheap anymore - unless you get small items in - hmmm, can we say normal portions. (i.e. small fry, 4-piece chicken nugget).

I still think the only person I can blame for packing on 20 pounds in under a year is me. The only person I can blame for the kinds of foods that I have eaten my whole life is me. And the only person who will change that is once again...me.

I do believe all of what the article talks about is true. The government, the FDA, the food companies are all in it together. And a lot of info stays far away from the public's ears and eyes.

But when you have gotten to more than 100 pounds overweight you just can't put all of the blame on the government or McDonalds, or anyone else for that matter.

I hope I didn't offend anyone. This is just my opinion. I have never been way overweight because I never let myself get there. If I saw the scale pushing 140 then I knew I had to make some changes. I'm here because I didn't know how to eat healthy and all the crappy food was taking a toll on my body and I don't want to end up diabetic like my dad and brother.

I do think that nutrition education has to start with the children. As adults we know what all this food does to us. Children don't understand that part. They just know what tastes good to them.

(I'm terrible with words).

This article takes some of the basics from "King of Corn" and "Super Size Me," as well as some basic public health class issues and rolls it into one Unfortunately, it fails to address the main problem (as they all do): that what we call "food" in the US is not actually fit for consumption. We should NOT be eating the majority of the things that most people put in their mouths (over-chemicalized, processed crap).

Many people blame genetics for their obesity (still), but the fact is that if this stuff was around 65 million years ago, we would have had the same problems. It is not food. I don't care how you package it, what cute little mascots taut it, or what people say it is, it is not food. This was my biggest issue with my public health degree. There is so much debate over regulating and taxing and making policies about certain things (like whether or not to reduce or end corn susidizing) that we lose sight of the real, fundamental issue.

I have a hard time with putting policies on things, but it seems like we have to do something. I wouldn't mind a "fat tax" at restaurants, for example, or an extra tax on sodas (and I drink them). However, I am from the South, was poor all of my life, and had a terrible childhood. I decided to make a change. I decided that I didn't want to continue to live my life that way as the rest of the people I knew continue to live their lives today. I still think there is an issue of personal responsibility that needs to take precedence. If I can lose 100 pounds in the South, in the ghetto, while going to school full-time and working 65 hours a week, well...I don't like people's excuses for "why they can't" do things.

As far as "food deserts" and things being cheaper go, many of these studies are way off-base. Some of them count it as a "food desert" if there's not a grocery store within a mile. Seriously. One mile. Many are 3-5 miles, but there is no consistency in the studies. Some lower the ratings if there is a convenience store closer to your home than a grocery store. Even if the grocery store is only another few blocks away (which is the case at my house). Saying that eating healthy is more expensive is ridiculous, in my opinion. First of all, to eat healthy you can eat rice and beans and some vegetables. The problem is that many people include meat as the main staple in their diet, which is more expensive.

But besides that, I have always looked at it like this: the cost of your food should not be counted on its own. People should calculate Overall Health Costs. (This is what I've always believed.) You MUST calculate the costs of your groceries AS WELL AS any medical and doctors bills. You can also include your gym membership or health equipment if you want. Once you realize that the person spending $150 a week on food is actually spending less once you factor in the costs of the person spending $65 a week for cheap crap who also spends $300 a month on diabetes medication, and add his insurance and medical costs, co-pays and insurance costs, as well as any other doctors bills or tax money payments (Medicare/Medicaid), not to mention all of the money going to medications, you will see that eating healthy is FAR less expensive that eating a crappy diet that looks cheaper up front. Plus, how do you measure the cost of having to sleep with a C-Pap machine? You wouldn't pay an extra $100 a month to give that up? Really? I don't understand how people don't realize that their "Dollar Menu" is going to cost them another $10 in medical costs for that meal. Or more.

And to conclude my little rant: going on and on about "how hard" something is just makes problems worse. That kind of attitude defeats people before they can even begin. Things are only as difficult as you make them. If we don't start looking at the positives in things, we are just making it more difficult for everyone. If you can't say, "I can do this," then why even bother? If you say you can't, you're right. If you say you can, well, you're right then, too. So do us all a favor, and let's start saying we can.
(Oh, crap, I think I channelled my inner Obama right there!) :blushing: