Dillards 46: Now with Pants and a Possible Nose Piercing

[singsingsing]

23 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Let’s start with Monsanto and its insecticides/pesticides and their GMO seeds that the government REQUIRES farmers to use .

And then there’s high fructose corn syrup, which you’ll not find in European foods. GMO foods that are treated as “normal” foods. Margarine! Nasty shit!!! Highly recommended for YEARS! Milk and cheese made from cows treated with growth hormones. It’s  no secret that Americans are fatter than most of the rest of the world, and it’s down to what we eat and the way our food is produced.

i can eat wheat products in the UK all day long, but not in the USA. That’s down to the ripening agents used on US wheat crops—agents that are illegal in other countries.

I’m no alarmist, but I know first-hand how toxic American food is. 

None of what you listed is specific to the U.S., though. We have all of those things in Canada. And the obesity epidemic may be worse in the States, but it's definitely affecting the entire western world. I believe the obesity epidemic in America is more down to poverty, low minimum wage, lack of exercise in large part due to unsafe/unwalkable neighbourhoods, expensive and inaccessible healthcare, food deserts, etc. rather than margarine and ripening agents.

[SapphireSlytherin]

That’s your right to believe that, @singsingsing!

I don’t agree that obesity is a social issue. I believe it’s a science issue. In the days before GMOs, processed foods, additives, etc., obesity was an exception. Most preventable health issues are caused by dietary choices. 

[Nikedagain?]

22 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

That’s your right to believe that, @singsingsing!

I don’t agree that obesity is a social issue. I believe it’s a science issue. In the days before GMOs, processed foods, additives, etc., obesity was an exception. Most preventable health issues are caused by dietary choices. 

My child with ASD is part of a research study about glyphosate exposure and autism. The results so far are pretty alarming...

[Ali]

31 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

That’s your right to believe that, @singsingsing!

I don’t agree that obesity is a social issue. I believe it’s a science issue. In the days before GMOs, processed foods, additives, etc., obesity was an exception. Most preventable health issues are caused by dietary choices. 

Anyone has a right to believe anything. This has lead to #fakenews and an Orange Buffoon becoming president of the United States. Here we like facts and expect people to back up their claims.

Junk food is cheaper than healthy food. Not everyone has a working stove or oven. Obesity is a complex issue.

Quote

For a long time researchers have tracked high rates of obesity among black and Hispanic kids, but a closer look at communities shows family income matters more than race in predicting which kids are overweight. 

Using a model created from data on 111,799 Massachusetts students, the University of Michigan Health Systemshowed that as poverty rises, so does the rate of obesity among children in 68 of its public school districts.

http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201601/low-income-communities-more-likely-face-childhood-obesity

Edited to add that expressing concerns about processed food is perfectly reasonable. I avoid preservatives such as sodium nitrate because they trigger migraines. Blaming obesity completely on poor diet is ignoring the fact that it is a complicated issue with more than one cause.

[Rachel333]

The last time GMO's came up on FJ I learned a lot. I thought this comment from @LuckyShot was particularly interesting, and I learned something from this list debunking several myths about GMOs as well.

[PennySycamore]

Thanks for sharing that post of @LuckyShot's, @Rachel333!

@SapphireSlytherin, have you ever heard of food deserts?  Food deserts are places where there are no real grocery stores, but mainly convenience stores.  Where are you most likely to find food deserts?  The same place you are likely to find the poor and marginalized.

[Rachel333]

1 hour ago, singsingsing said:

None of what you listed is specific to the U.S., though. We have all of those things in Canada. And the obesity epidemic may be worse in the States, but it's definitely affecting the entire western world.

It's funny how even when criticizing America Americans often think our country is exceptional. The obesity epidemic is indeed a huge problem throughout the entire world, and while it's particularly bad in the US, the US isn't even the country with the highest obesity rate (it's #19, #19, and #22 on these three lists) and is only slightly ahead of countries like Canada, France, and Australia.

[SapphireSlytherin]

@PennySycamore, of course I've heard of food deserts. And I know what they are! 

[closetcagebaby]

Margarine isn’t an American invention...it’s in fact a French invention, the winner of a contest that Napoleon III had to find the best butter replacement. 

ETA:

It was originally made of beef tallow and some other sort of buttery stuff. The Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast does a great episode on this subject and the “margarine wars”...super interesting! 

[SapphireSlytherin]

I know that, @closetcagebaby. I was using it as an example of a "food" that's been pushed as a "healthy" thing.

[PennySycamore]

@SapphireSlytherin, you say that you've heard of food deserts and yet you deny that obesity might be a social problem?  I don't get that logic at all!  The fact that marginalized people can not get to decent food easily surely plays a role in their unhealthy diets.

[closetcagebaby]

2 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@SapphireSlytherin, you say that you've heard of food deserts and yet you deny that obesity might be a social problem?  I don't get that logic at all!  The fact that marginalized people can not get to decent food easily surely plays a role in their unhealthy diets.

It’s Lori Alexander-type logic, meaning there’s none there at all.  Obesity is absolutely a social problem. I have a hard time with people ignoring or belittling actual science and using scaremongering tactics when it comes to food and nutrition. It’s nearly as bad as anti-vaxxers and usually the two go hand in hand. 

[Rachel333]

How exactly do GMO's make people obese?

[FreeCalifornia]

I agree that having less money for food as well as living in an area with less healthy options will influence ones diet and has been shown to increase rates of obesity, diabetes, and other dietary related issues.

that said, there are plenty of people who have time to prepare food, MONEY to buy healthy food, and education to understand the consequences of a poor diet as well as what a healthy diet is- but they still choose to make decisions that are unhealthy.

There may be populations that arguably have less control over those decisions than others- but even then it’s a widespread issue.

 

[2manyKidzzz]

2 hours ago, Nikedagain? said:

My child with ASD is part of a research study about glyphosate exposure and autism. The results so far are pretty alarming...

Do you have any info to share on this? There has to be a reason for an obvious increase in the incidence of spectrum issues. 

[PennySycamore]

@2manyKidzzz, I read a column in the New York Times a few years ago that raised the question of whether or not there were really more people "on the spectrum" or whether the definitions were so broad that more people fell under it.  I read the list of criteria for being on the spectrum and every single one human member of our family would fall on the spectrum because we had met several criteria.  Except that I don't think we do.  We're just weird!  

I do think one of my daughters has ADHD and definitely know that one son-in-law does.  There are those who argue that those individuals with ADHD don't suffer from a lack of attention, but notice everything.  Earlier in human history, that was an advantage.  People with ADD/ADHD are "born to explore".

[singsingsing]

6 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

I do think one of my daughters has ADHD and definitely know that one son-in-law does.  There are those who argue that those individuals with ADHD don't suffer from a lack of attention, but notice everything.  Earlier in human history, that was an advantage.  People with ADD/ADHD are "born to explore".

As someone who has ADHD, this does ring true. I was once telling a psychologist about how much I hated department stores, because they were so huge, and so full of stuff, and there was just so much going on, so many different lights and colours and shapes and displays, noise and people, it was just completely overwhelming. And he said, "Have you ever considered that you don't have to pay attention to all of it at once?" Nope. I had literally never considered that. 

[Rachel333]

Last fall I was having some particularly severe episodes of anxiety where I felt like I was constantly in danger and every little noise made me startle. I remember thinking that this would actually be useful if I were being stalked by a lion, but less so when there are no lions around and I need to ignore background distractions and focus on studying.

It's similar to how for most of human history "If it feels good, keep doing it" has been a good survival strategy. But now that we've got access to far more calories than we need and drugs that hijack the brain's pleasure centers the instincts that once helped us survive can now kill us.

[feministxtian]

21 minutes ago, singsingsing said:

As someone who has ADHD, this does ring true. I was once telling a psychologist about how much I hated department stores, because they were so huge, and so full of stuff, and there was just so much going on, so many different lights and colours and shapes and displays, noise and people, it was just completely overwhelming. And he said, "Have you ever considered that you don't have to pay attention to all of it at once?" Nope. I had literally never considered that. 

My response to that would have been...."I'd LOVE to not pay attention to all of that, can you tell me how?" There are stores I can't walk into...they make me feel almost dizzy. I don't really like driving on the street...way too many people to watch out for (especially after my accident), I hate hearing the lights buzzing, the high-pitched whine from the TV...it's overwhelming...

[JillyO]

3 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

@PennySycamore, of course I've heard of food deserts. And I know what they are! 

You say that, and yet you apparently completely fail to grasp the implications.

[Ilovebrownies]

No longer accepting donations

[12 Hungry Safety Pins]

11 minutes ago, Ilovebrownies said:

No longer accepting donations

That campaign was shady as hell! Those enormous offline donations ... I wonder why it's shut down!? Because Derick scr*wed GFM out of its cut with the offline donations? And who gave him more than 4000 bucks "offline" so he could save face? Did anyone, really, or where they fake? So many questions!

[Chewing Gum]

8 minutes ago, 12 Hungry Safety Pins said:

That campaign was shady as hell! Those enormous offline donations ... I wonder why it's shut down!? And who gave him more than 4000 bucks "offline" so he could save face?

Himself? 

[LuckyShot]

6 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Let’s start with Monsanto and its insecticides/pesticides and their GMO seeds that the government REQUIRES farmers to use .

*Snip*

i can eat wheat products in the UK all day long, but not in the USA. That’s down to the ripening agents used on US wheat crops—agents that are illegal in other countries.

I’m no alarmist, but I know first-hand how toxic American food is. 

 

 

 

I see that @Rachel333 linked one of my previous posts (thanks!), but let me make another. I snipped the middle of your post because it's not really relevant to my experience.

I am a grain & livestock farmer in Canada, I worked for many years in agronomics and grain processing, and I have many American friends who farm as well. I actually know first hand how our food is produced. The government absolutely does not require farmers to grow Monsanto crops in any country that I know of. We are free to grow whatever crops we like, GMO, conventional, organic, whatever works for us. And FYI, Monsanto is far from the only company producing GMO seed. Using GMOs actually reduces our pesticide use and has improved our productivity and soil health. Hundreds of scientific studies have shown that they're just as safe as any conventional crop.

The agent you are referring to is called a dessicant, and it's used to speed up the drying of a crop before harvest. Usually in wheat we use glyphosate. It is not a common practice in the US though, because it's not necessary due to the weather in wheat growing areas. Here in Canada we have a shorter growing season, and have to get crops dry before it freezes or it ruins the quality of the grain. Some years the wheat dries early enough on its own, and some years we have to spray. Glyphosate is also used in Europe as a dessicant, especially in countries with damp climates like the UK. It would be far more common to find dessicated wheat there than in most of the United States. So your reaction to US wheat over UK wheat doesn't make much sense.

[klabourdeth]

On Knitting if someone links to the FJ group on Raverly I would like join right away. Been knitting since 2009 because it was the thing to do in my first year at university. Current working a baby blanket . While I love knitting but I may need to find some other way to accomplish some of my projects since the knitting is causing stress on my tendons.

Healthy vs Unhealthy- I do not personally believe that the unhealthy eating habits is the sole cause to our obesity dynamics. I give a lot more weight to our genetics as the main cause. I can imagine the chemicals & hormones used in our foods could be the tigger point for making it happen.