[MtnGoat]

A hilarious article from James Lileks....

[GrnXnham]

Isn't it wonderful that we all have a choice! Here in the USA, we can buy complete junk and stuff our bodies with it. Or we can buy very healthy foods and stuff our bodies with that instead! Why do we have a problem with obesity and other health problems related to what we eat? People choose to buy the junk foods. I've seen articles blaming the government, supermarkets, fast food, and just about every other corporation out there, but ultimately we each decide what to put in our bodies.

[Jake Neiffer]

People should be able to eat whatever they want. The problem is the govt rewards certain crops/industries and penalizes local producers that are trying to provide a healthier option. That makes the local food more expensive than it should be. For example, we market grass fed beef, but there are only (4) USDA butchers in Oregon that will even mess will small producers. This means we have to truck our cattle 175 miles one way to the Portland area. When in reality a butcher up the road can come out to the farm and knock the cow in the head. But 99% of butchers don't want to get involved with the extemely cumbersome USDA regs. The second butcher option would obviously result in a cheper price for the cosumer, but our govt has deemed it unsafe. Complete crock if you ask me

[coldrain108]

[MtnGoat]

yes we know it must be immoral to conjure up new things people will decide for themselves they like.

[ejain]

It's quite convenient to shrug off issues as a matter of "personal responsibility", or to turn around and blame the environment. Reality is a bit more complicated than that. We can make fun of people who spend money on "artisan" popcorn, but there's plenty of irrationality in everyone's decision-making.

[wheatie]

[GrnXnham]

[Bedivere]

[wheatie]

[GrnXnham]

All I know is this: I used to be overweight. When I blamed the government and fast-food restaurants, it didn't help. I was still overweight. When I decided that I was going to take responsibility for what I put in my mouth and stop pointing fingers elsewhere, I was able to take control and lose the weight. It can be done. People can lose the weight and keep it off. But it's not easy. It's hard work. Most people gain it back because they lose focus over time. It's tough to hear and it always makes people angry and defensive but most Americans are lazy. They are too lazy to exercise. They are too lazy to take the time to make themselves a healthy meal when a Big Mac and a large fries on the way home from work is the easy/lazy way to get your dinner. You have to take the time to make your health a priority. I hear from people all the time "I don't have time to make meals!" while they are sitting on their butt watching TV all evening long. Laziness comes from within us. We have to fix it ourselves. There is not much the government, lobbyists, and corporations can do to fix laziness. So I've quit paying attention to this article or that article on who is to blame for America's obesity problem. Until Americans learn to take control over what they put in their mouths, the obesity problem will just continue to get worse.

[wheatie]

[ejain]

[moonspots]

[contour5]

The food mafias are much more insidious and behind-the-scenes powerful than the food police. The food police shake their tiny fists and shriek about corn syrup and unhealthy additives but the mega-producers just keep raising the proportions of corn, toxic waste and pink slime in their products. Oddly enough, most "Himalayan pink salt" is mined in the Punjab region of Pakistan, at a distance of several hundred kilometers from the big mountains. Despite marketing claims to the contrary, it is hideously impure and may frequently contain trace amounts of mildly toxic minerals. The pink color comes from iron oxide; so one might easily concoct a poor man's version by simply scraping a bit of rust off an old truck chassis and mixing it in using a blender. Obesity is a multi-faceted conundrum. Genetics, environment, sloth, ignorance and brainwashing may play a large role, but the bottom line is that many people have an improper relationship with food. Rather than simply ingesting nutrition as required, food is used as an emotional security blanket: a source of psychological comfort when we are angry, upset or otherwise discombobulated by life's many little disappointments. Just yesterday I was so ragebound that I spent 5 bucks on a 2 oz. bag of blue cheese popcorn, made with "Rogue blue heaven" cheese from the exotic wilds of Oregon. Instant nirvanapocolypse inna foil pouch.