November 21, 2024

Why doesn't this article even mention RFK Jr.? This is precisely his issue.

I'm reading "We Tire Very Quickly of Being Told That Everything Is on Fire," by Jeneen Interlandi in the NYT:
The obesity crisis has... brought its share of unintended consequences. Alarm bells have almost certainly nudged more people to eat healthier foods. They also helped spur the development of effective anti-obesity medications. But they have not touched off any meaningful effort to repair our food system, which most experts agree is the root cause of expanding waistlines. 
"Obesity did not reach epidemic proportions because of changes in human nature or human willpower," says Tom Frieden, who served as C.D.C. director under the Obama administration and is now president of the public health nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives. "What changed is that our environment became far more conducive to weight gain." 
What crisis vibes have managed to accomplish is to normalize fat-shaming, especially among doctors. Shame is a deeply ineffective way to resolve any health crisis, but it has proved especially counterproductive and cruel when it comes to weight loss.....
Why doesn't this article even mention RFK Jr.? This is precisely his issue. He blames the food industry, and Trump's elevation of him to Secretary of Health and Human Services surely  represents a "meaningful effort to repair our food system." But why look at him when we have an Obama era former C.D.C. director to quote? And, more importantly, why give him any credit for getting something right when we are deeply into the agenda of portraying him as a dangerous crackpot.

Yes, I'm journalism-shaming, and I think it needs to be cruel to be productive.

136 comments:

Stephen said...
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Jamie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
michaele said...

Since the article is behind the pay wall, I can only read what you shared. Was Dr. Casey Means also not mentioned?

Ann Althouse said...

Thx. Typo fixed.

Leland said...

Im glad I am not alone in disdain in the media and typing out homonyms.

Ann Althouse said...

Obesity is only one of the topics. There's a more general topic: Alarmism.

Ann Althouse said...

I don't have many free links left to give this month, so you'll just have to imagine, but my excerpt is not unfair to the NYT.

Christopher B said...

Shame is a deeply ineffective way to resolve any health crisis...

Do tell, NYT.

rehajm said...

'Beyond Repair' is the NYT status. Shaming only works if you're capable of having it...

Dixcus said...

What the hell is "journalism shaming?"

They have no shame, Ann. It's like trying to shame P.T. Barnum.

Journalism is a method of CONTROL, Ann. You knowing they are controlling you is not a bug, Ann.

It's part of the kink.

rehajm said...

Old Woman Yells at Cloud That Used To Be a Newspaper

Dixcus said...

On to the topic.

First, some science: Weight gain is a mathematical function. Here it is:

Calories expended minus calories consumed = Weight gain/loss

The NY Times would never give you that information because what that formula suggests is that people should eat less. Eating less means purchasing less. Purchasing less means companies have less money for advertising.

What business is the NY Times in? What do they sell?

Skeptical Voter said...

Shame is also a concept that's beyond the ken of the boys and girls at the NYT.

Leland said...

I yell at the cloud everyday, because I prefer the days when my files stayed on my device.

Tom T. said...

The people who believe in systemic racism also want to push the idea of systemic obesity.

Rocco said...

So what is the dividing line between [something]-shaming and “raising awareness”?

Temujin said...

You could be pounding on their foot with a hammer and, if you were a person of the right, or a person of the left who is working with Trump, they will instead talk about the itch on their elbow.

In regard to 'fat shaming', we're at the point where I need these people to define 'shaming'. Because it seems that even mentioning that you might need to lose some weight for your own good health is considered 'shaming'. Refusing to use an obese person as a model is considered shaming.

Calling a thing what it is, is not shaming. It is simply pointing out the obvious. I'm an older guy now. I would not be told I'm a candidate for being a model of mens underwear these days because of fear of 'shaming' me. It would be the correct and obvious thing to not do. Just ask my wife. The obvious difference though is that I cannot help my age. Oops. There I go. Shaming.

Dixcus said...

In print advertising, the retail sector represents the largest spend in advertising. ChatGPT informs that the top two segments in the retail segment vis-a-vis ad spend are department stores (Macy's, Nordstrom, Dillards, etc.) and ... wait for it ... food stores.

In the newspaper company that I used to own, food stores were the single largest advertisers in our business (think Sunday and Wednesday inserts from your local grocer with the week's sales).

There is a reason why the newspaper business does not want you to spend less on food. They will mislead on all aspects of obesity and point in every other direction and yell SQUIRREL! Because otherwise, they go out of business (most have anyway due to their politics, but that's another story.)

Rocco said...

So let me see if I have this correct: [something]-shaming is pointing out someone’s problem, but not doing anything about it. The author of this piece works in an industry where the job description is to point out a problem, but not actually do anything about it. Do I have this right?

MadTownGuy said...

We grew tired of being told everything is on fire ever since Al Gore was a thing.

Dave Begley said...

And I’m extremely tired of being told that if the US doesn’t achieve net zero by 2050 that the whole world will burn up in 2100.

Dixcus said...

Al Gore stole Time magazine's schtick.

MadTownGuy said...

Not only that, but where's the clock set now at the Bulletin store f the Atomic Scientists? Oh, here it is - "Biden allowing Ukraine to strike into Russia is much ado for little consequence". 90 seconds to midnight, but even a little consequence could have bad effects.

Quaestor said...

And why source Tom Frieden, who evidently did little or nothing about the obesity epidemic when he had the authority to do so? Obviously, NYT is getting very little traction in their attack on the Trump mandate by using the Kennedy name, still a magic word in MA.

Michael said...

We just went thru a decade+ of being told by our betters that talking about obesity was fat phobia and fat-shaming. Remember that Cosmopolitan cover with the morbidly obese woman over a caption that read This is Healthy..

RFK has done a valuable service by shifting the Overton Window.

gilbar said...

fat-shaming, especially among doctors. Shame is a deeply ineffective way to resolve any health crisis, but it has proved especially counterproductive and cruel when it comes to weight loss.....

of course, we QUIT shaming fat people, right around the time that the obesity epidemic started. high school girls used to diet.
THEN the media started Screaming about "anorexia" !! and they stopped.
THEN the media started singing about "body positivity" and they got Fat
THEN the media started putting Fat, Disgusting LARDASSES on their covers..
calling them "swim suit model of the year" and girls got EVEN

NOW fat disgusting Hippos are demanding that They receive 2 (or 3! (or 5!!) airline seats -- FOR FREE-- BECAUSE of how disgusting and fat those hippos are.

IF we, as a people, want less obesity.. we NEED to teach our children to Point at lardasses, and say: "LOOK MOMMA! Look at that disgusting hippo! How GROSS!! Someone should SHOT it, and put it out of their misery!"

When i weighed 374 lbs (two years ago, last July).. you want to know HOW many people EVER mentioned it to me? ONE person, my doctor
Not a single friend or associate (or person on the street) EVER told me i was fat..
Now, ALL my friends and family Congratulate me on my "weight loss"*..
Which is STUPID, because i am STILL a fat disgusting hippo.
AND NEED MORE SHAME!

"weight loss"* 244.7lbs just now.. You Know what that is? That is a Fat Disgusting Hippo, that NEEDS to lose MORE WEIGHT

rastajenk said...

The formula also suggest humans should sit around in front of a TV or other electronic screen less, and be more active. There are a wide variety of ways to accomplish that.

Randomizer said...

"What crisis vibes have managed to accomplish is to normalize fat-shaming, "

Seems like 2nd grade normalized fat-shaming.

gilbar said...

the ONLY things good about me losing about 130 lbs are:
a) it might keep me alive long enough to
b) lose enough weight to "only" be over weight

gilbar said...

you haven't been in 2nd grade for a LONG time.
like MOST people here, you're living in the past..
Welcome to the future
https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/how-childhood-obesity-rates-have-changed-over-time/

Dixcus said...

I was hoping someone would mention that, Rasta ... thanks. Now part 2:

Once the United States moved from a manufacturing economy to an information economy, the above solution no longer works. We force people to sit for 8 hours a day. That is 1/3rd of their life. 1/3rd is spent laying down expending almost no calories ... meaning 2/3ds of the available time is spent not expending calories (or relatively few anyway). That is simply not sustainable if you also have children who's needs must be met in the 8 hours that are remaining.

The ONLY solution is limiting caloric intake. And most of the rest of our economy is food-related (restaurants, fast-food outlets, bars, etc. service economy stuff). And so we're not going to decimate that part of our economy.

So ... drugs. Or bringing back manufacturing to the US is the only way.

Dixcus said...

Shut up, tubby.

Danno said...

Leland, you can fix that. Work with files on a laptop and save to the hard drive.

dbp said...

The food industry, for all its faults, is not the primary cause of the obesity epidemic: It is mainly a function of wealth. Even the poor, who are the most obese, can afford more food than they need.

Evolutionarily, Humans are hunter gatherers and there is a selective advantage in being able to turn excess calories into fat stores when food sources can be intermittent.

Todd said...

What crisis vibes have managed to accomplish is to normalize fat-shaming, especially among doctors

Fat shaming
Slut shaming
Drug abuse shaming
Pedio shaming
Rape shaming
Theft shaming
Spousal abuse shaming

Shaming has been used for centuries to assist in maintaining social norms. Generally the things that society has chosen to "shame" individuals for are things that adversely affect individuals and the wider society. "Modern" America (as well as other western societies) have [I would say mostly] due to the rise of more liberal/progressive collectives worked to remove these "guard rails" for a more "anything that feels good goes" structure, an undermining of these "social norms". A society can and should tolerate a little bit of this "boundary pushing" around the edges to help a society evolve and avoid stagnation BUT when the fridge becomes mainstream, society will suffer and eventually fail. A village can ONLY support so many idiots before it reaches a point where nothing gets done, nothing works, no one trusts anyone, and everything reverts to local tribes. We are well down this path.

Randomizer said...

I don't agree. Shame is used all the time, but for some reason, the word 'shame' makes progressives uncomfortable. The term, 'fat-shaming', is intended to shame people into normalizing fatness.

Progressives are using shame ruthlessly to turn vices into virtues.

wild chicken said...

Gee my weight went up and down over 30 years and doctors never said a thing. Found out I was in the early stages of kidney disease, nothing. NBD. I figured it was medical politesse now not to say anything. About anything.

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

The reason that the "Environment became far more conducive to weight gain" is that obesity has "transitioned" from being a behavioral problem to a disease.
Massively overweight people are no longer "obese people." They "have obesity," or "suffer from obesity," similar to people who have broken bones or diabetes. Obesity is now a different big business; it was once Weight Watchers and similar which occasionally helped people lose weight by changing behavior. Now it's drugs and surgery, both of which are more effective at least in the short term, but (funnily enough) way more expensive.
I'm starting to see articles in the surgical journals bemoaning the effect that the new drugs have on bariatric surgical departments- bad for business you know. I never saw analogous articles bemoaning how the smoking cessation campaign hurt the business of thoracic surgeons, but, as a different professor says, this is the 21st century.
Blame Big Food. Not Big Mouth.

narciso said...

People have gotten fat because lockdowns and other psych operations

Also they downgraded pe

Iman said...

Why ask why? We ALL know why…

Randomizer said...

"The nation’s public health apparatus is reliant on panic and outrage as a tool for addressing basic problems."

The article doesn't mention Fauci. Alarmism was his favorite approach to public health.

Jaq said...

Democrats lost Cory Booker on this one. It is a hit amidships.

Democrats have been herding cats for decades, and Trump is wandering around the perimeter with liver treats.

Jaq said...

To be honest with you, this is the kind of stuff that has made me give socialism a second look. I still am holding on to liberal democracy because it has a better chance of being self correcting, in my opinion. But when they won't allow elections to be verifiable in any true sense, I start to think: "What was my problem with socialism again??

Jaq said...

That's why we come here every day.

wildswan said...

Journo-shaming. I like it. Just as the food industry packages its products to allure us into eating and, in fact, overeating, so internet lournalism, like tabloid journalism in the past, packages its stories to allure us into attention and, in fact, over-attention. I like the picture of our attention becoming obese as we spend our days devouring a hour of fear with Bluesky here and an hour of horror on MSNBC there, and then an hour of laughing it off/indignation, a sophisticated mix found on Bill Maher/Jon Stewart, and also unknown hidden devouring of side-bar stories and such. And then, the next day the same until attention becomes a sort of appetite. So that you get the situation where you have "Literally Hitler" for months and then "Never Mind," flowing through your thoughts without any mental protest. "Yesterday I had chicken; today, salmon. No one wants the same thing everyday. The point is quieting the appetite."

Jaq said...

Of course, it is never that simple, different foods encourage different levels of activity, different levels of desire for food, you can pee out calories as ketones, etc, etc.

narciso said...

Freiden almost invited an ebola epidemic why do we listen to him again

Caroline said...

AMEN

O'Beezy said...

Brava, Professor ... Spot on!

John Borell said...

Paste the NYT link into archive.is and you can get the article (no comments, though).

Aggie said...

Shame is not an ineffective - if it were, we would not have a cosmetic surgery industry.

"Nearly five years out from the beginning of Covid, the most substantial and straining turn of this cycle, its central and most damning paradox is clear: The nation’s public health apparatus is reliant on panic and outrage as a tool for addressing basic problems. But the nation itself is spent from so much panic and outrage....."

I think the reason she has not included Junior' is because he has not used these tactics to convey his message. People might generally label Junior' as a kook, but not a scaremonger.

The article may be found here: https://archive.ph/YZRX6#selection-4711.0-4715.276

Quaestor said...

"Journo-shaming. I like it."

Far too easy. I'd prefer journo-tar-and-feathering or journo-merciless-hounding.

Howard said...

You breathe out calories in the form of carbon dioxide. The amount of calories that you pee out as ketones is insignificant. Math is hard, Barbie.

Howard said...

There is no dividing line in this universe. Everything is a long day spectrum which requires brains to deduce distinctions and differences. People who believe in dividing lines also believe in magic pills to solve their problems.

Kylos said...

Wasn’t it the NYT that was just telling us how Kennedy was wrong to claim Froot Loops in the US has many more artificial ingredients than in other countries? And then went on to note all the artificial ingredients in US Froot Loops?

Howard said...

Aren't you the one that believes that the lack of smoking is the cause of the obesity epidemic?

Howard said...

Let me give you a bit of advice wild chick. You need to take charge of your own healthcare. Your doctor is not your mommy your doctor is the ass covering representative of the insurance company.

Sebastian said...

"Yes, I'm journalism-shaming" LOL. Progs don't do shame. Nor guilt.

Howard said...

The drug cartels, for all their faults, are not the primary cause of the drug addiction epidemic. It is mainly a function of wealth. Even the poor who are the most drug addicted can afford more drugs than they need.

Howard said...

Guilt and shame leads to anxiety and depression not to behavioral changes. If you people bother to watch all of the bro science podcast available you would know that Free Will is an illusion.

Hey Skipper said...

Howard, there is an inverse correlation with smoking and obesity rates.

That doesn’t demonstrate a cause-effect relationship, of course, but it is worth thinking about.

tommyesq said...

There is so much that is wrong with the initial premise.
Alarm bells have almost certainly nudged more people to eat healthier foods.

She said without evidence. The "almost certainly" is the tell that this is nothing more than a wild-ass guess.

They also helped spur the development of effective anti-obesity medications.

Actually, diabetes is what drove the development of these drugs, which then turned out to also work on obesity.

"What changed is that our environment became far more conducive to weight gain."

One of the big changes to the "environment" was the Government's introduction of the food pyramid that glorified grains and de-emphasized proteins. Why would this reporter, who "writes primarily about public health," not be aware of this?

And of course, as everyone has noted above, we have been shamed out of fat-shaming.

Mason G said...

"BUT when the fridge becomes mainstream"

Fridge?

n.n said...

Freewill is axiomatic or an article of faith. Science cannot discern origin and expression.

narciso said...

Science correspondent doesnt know science

n.n said...

A correlation that may not bear witness to a causal relationship.

n.n said...

It's seance in the popular vulgar form indulged by the modern family.

Wilbur said...

You've gotta be cruel to be kind in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind means that I love you
Baby, you've got to be cruel to be kind

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Anything that ends in "...shaming" is complete and total b***sh!t. Stop normalizing the thoughts, statements and behaviors of crazy people.

gilbar said...

you know what country, has Almost NO obesity? North Korea.. They're TOO POOR
you know what country, has Almost NO drug abuse? North Korea.. They're TOO POOR

Aggie said...

@Gilbar, How does one write a story like that, with that title, and not use graphics to reinforce the point ?

Congratulations on your continued progress.

gilbar said...

Fridge?

he was a football player, back when weighing 350lbs was a LOT

Iman said...

The wisdom of Nick Lowe never gets old.

Peachy said...

The collective D-hack media left are immature children. They can only call him a nut.

Justabill said...

Shame, sometimes I think I’m going insane.

Howard said...

Why are you so focused on JFK junior? Why not complain about the lack of focus on all of the broh science podcasters who have been talking about the obesity epidemic since forever? You know who I'm talking about, Joe Rogan Dr Andrew Huberman, Dr Peter Attia, etc etc. You should be ashamed of yourself, professor, for being drunk on the Trump train Kool-Aid thinking that history began with your fall into his cult of personality.

Bob Boyd said...

Howard grandly insists there are no dividing lines and explains by insisting a dividing line exists where there isn't one, then loftily draws a line between people who believe in the mythical dividing line and those that don't.

planetgeo said...

The RFK, Jr. nomination is an example of selecting someone who is outside the sphere of career professionals of an agency function to head that particular agency. As such, the frequent objection is that such a person is therefore "unqualified".

But as a practical matter, such a selection may be necessary to fundamentally change that agency. Career professionals may be inhibited by long-term associations and acceptance of certain practices in that industry and therefore not able to dramatically change it.

I see Trump as a change agent. And I see most of our federal agencies needing major change. So at this point, I'm adjusting my perception of nominee "qualifications" to support major change. It's definitely time.

Howard said...

Yes and they are mostly Trump supporters. Also it is the Trump supporters who are the most dependent on federal largesse and the transfer of wealth from Blue states to Red States blue counties to Red counties. I think it's a great idea to end the subsidized lifestyle of the low class fentanyl addicted fast food consuming under educated whiners and complainers.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

RFK (why is he still “Junior”?) or no, the iron laws of nature dictate that Americans shall be fat

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

RFK (why is he still “Junior”?) or no, the iron laws of nature dictate that Americans shall be fat

Achilles said...

Negative reinforcement is more effective as a teaching method than positive reinforcement.

The way we learn is to form neural pathways that help us react to situations we have seen in the past. The pathways formed by negative experiences are always stronger and more quickly formed for obvious reasons because of their relationship to survival.

Ignoring this is an indulgence to weakness.

tim maguire said...

I never use my freebies.

Achilles said...

If you are in ketosis your body stores or burns fat at very different rates. If you have a calorie deficit your body reacts very differently if you are in ketosis than if you are not in ketosis.

People who live on carbohydrates and cow diets react to calorie surplus like cows. Have you ever seen a fat lion?

Humans are the same way. We were never meant to have a cow diet.

Levi Starks said...

I blame modern culture. Most people are in the process of planning their next meal before they’ve even finished the one they’re eating.
Human bodies were created to exist in an environment in which they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. It’s likely their first meal of the day was the one they chased down and killed. And it might be the only meal they had that day. Today’s humans are programmed by culture to believe that “a healthy” balanced breakfast, lunch, dinner, and evening snack before bed are the basic requirement of a happy life. Not everyone will take my approach, (because they don’t think it’s possible) but in the 5 months since I retired I’ve gone to eating a single meal a day (OMAD). And my weight loss over that time has averaged about a pound a week. It’s actually quite liberating.

Levi Starks said...

I blame modern culture. Most people are in the process of planning their next meal before they’ve even finished the one they’re eating.
Human bodies were created to exist in an environment in which they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. It’s likely their first meal of the day was the one they chased down and killed. And it might be the only meal they had that day. Today’s humans are programmed by culture to believe that “a healthy” balanced breakfast, lunch, dinner, and evening snack before bed are the basic requirement of a happy life. Not everyone will take my approach, (because they don’t think it’s possible) but in the 5 months since I retired I’ve gone to eating a single meal a day (OMAD). And my weight loss over that time has averaged about a pound a week. It’s actually quite liberating.

Anthony said...

which most experts agree...

Well, we should definitely take that on faith. . . .

Mark said...

The amount and types of food a person eats is a choice. In other words, freedom. Just because Trump is now dear leader does not make the Nanny State - or RFK's Gen. Ripper State - a virtue.

n.n said...

The issue of health care is not limited to, but begins with our diet. People eat too much (for their activities) and the wrong kind of nutrition that engenders excess (varies by sex) body fat, metabolic dysfunction, and inflammatory conditions.

robother said...

The cult of (Trump) personality now includes RFK, Jr.? But not Joe Rogan? Do you have any clue how monomaniacal you sound?

Achilles said...

There is absolutely systemic racism and systemic sexism and there is absolutely systemic obesity.

It is the source of accusations we must all watch. Do people's actions match their words?

Peachy said...

The corrupt lying lairs who lie - the disastrous toxic propagandizing over-paid monsters who shovel lies and shit on MSNBC for million per year - are dying.,
The left are losing the middle. the vast middle. The left are now the party of elite super-stars and billionaires. We laugh at you - millionaire and billionaire Bernie. The left are frauds.
The immature babies who write for the their leftist audience - are grasping for relevance.

tommyesq said...

Maybe because Trump didn't name any of them to head HHS?

Achilles said...

Everything is on a spectrum.

People who set dividing lines are almost always trying to gain political/social advantage for something.

People trying to solve a problem generally focus in the individual needs in question rather than categorization into a group.

n.n said...

Don't forget fiber to facilitate digestion and composting.

robother said...

RFK, Jr. has become news that is literally not fit to print. Shaming the Grey Lady, now that is truly a sisyphean task.

narciso said...

His name is a killing word

Achilles said...

Eating food and smoking cigarettes has the same net primary effect: release of dopamine. They both have side effects.

Eating too much on a carb based diet makes you fat and insulin resistant. Smoking causes lung cancer.

In the current environment lower smoking rates will cause people to seek dopamine in other ways. One of those will be eating too much.

planetgeo said...

Levi, I'm glad you've found a regimen that works for you. I'd like to suggest my alternative for those people who may find one meal a day too difficult for sustaining energy throughout the day. I call it the H3MAD method - eat half of what you normally eat 3 times a day. And one way to insure it is to use the smaller plate or bowl in your dinnerware at each meal. When you go out for lunch or dinner, for example, split the meal with your partner. Works great both for your weight and your budget.

No diets, no calorie counting, and eat whatever you normally eat. But just half at every meal.

Freder Frederson said...

Why doesn't this article even mention RFK Jr.?

Because RFK Jr. is a conspiracy nut and a crank. If his name wasn't Kennedy nobody would pay attention to him at all. He doesn't even deserve the attention he is getting. Trump and he will have a falling out (as will Musk). There can only be one malignant narcissist in any group, or they will kill each other. Trump has that locked up. Hopefully, the break will come before the administration takes over.

tcrosse said...

Quite right. No fair depriving fat people of their agency.

who-knew said...

" Shame is a deeply ineffective way to resolve any health crisis, but it has proved especially counterproductive and cruel when it comes to weight loss....." she said without evidence.

Howard said...

The Joe Rogan podcast proceeds the Trump train. Unlike RFK Jr Trump needs Joe a heck of a lot more than Joe needs Trump.

Howard said...

Negative reinforcement is different from shame and guilt. The institution best known for its most effective shame and guilt system produced the pedophile priest epidemic

Peachy said...

Freder arrives for the tired obedient leftist regurgitation.

Howard said...

Of course it's modern culture. The culture has produced ultra processed food that is hyper palatable and ultra cheap. It's like the difference between fentanyl and aspirin.

Peachy said...

The left "He's a NUT!" - wow. Fresh.
Keep it up, MSNBC losers.

Howard said...

I have never seen a fat Impala either. It's also a very rare thing to see a fat hunter-gatherer that gets most of their calories from honeycomb and tubers. I appreciate the advantage of using a tool like the carnivore diet or the ketosis diet to transition from a disgusting fat body to a lean and mean Green machine. However those tools are not the best diets for long-term maintenance once you have achieved your transition to normality.

Peachy said...

Collective obedient Left:
"It's illegal to question the rushed COVID jab. You nutters"

Achilles said...

Our food industry is absolutely predatory. I will prove that by stating some facts and watching the cow diet people who have been lied to about diet freak out:

1. Ansel Keys is a fraud. The cholesterol hypothesis is indefensible. High cholesterol is around 14th on the list of correlated factors to Heart Disease. Statins are evil and destructive to your liver.

2. Wheat damages the endothelial layer in your intestines and causes leaky gut. This allows the same pathogens to get in your blood stream and damage the linings of your vascular system that are very similar to the linings in your gut and also damages the blood brain barrier which is almost identical. Wheat heavy diet is a top 5 correlating factor in Alzheimers.

3. We get most of our pesticides from plants. Plants do not want to be eaten. Plants are loaded with enzyme blockers and poisons that prevent their digestion and attack things that eat them. Things that eat plants have large GI tracts that require a lot of energy. Eating plants is an evolutionary choice. You are signaling that you want to be more like cows and you want your progeny in about a million years to be herbivorous.

Achilles said...

Modern doctors are actually the most propagandized groups. They are worse than ignorant. The Standard of Care in the US that protects doctors from getting sued is written by big pharma and big ag.

If a doctor prescribes Statins to you they are doing the bidding of evil powers whether they have good intentions or not.

Lazarus said...

"Obesity did not reach epidemic proportions because of changes in human nature or human willpower. What changed is that our environment became far more conducive to weight gain."

A Marxist would call that "insufficiently dialectical."

Lean times produce lean people and small appetites. Fat times produce lean men and big appetites.

The Vault Dweller said...

Shame is a deeply ineffective way to resolve any health crisis,

Wasn't it Weight Watchers, or Jenny Craig, or one of those other weight loss programs that came about in the 80's or 90's that as part of their weight loss tactics would have it's members weigh in publicly so that other people could see their weight? People will do lots of things to avoid public embarrassment, including modifying their behavior to lose weight.

Achilles said...

The Catholic Church is a corrupt institution from it's inception. It's foundational purpose was to coopt the message that Christ put out and to recentralize power. Using them as an example is specious in this regard and linking it to pedophilia is absurd and bad faith. The only thing that stops pedophilia is shame and the imposition of taboo.

Also the rest of the world institutionalizes pedophilia. The Catholic Church essentially has the same rates of child predators as the rest of the world. The teachers union in the US has similar rates but female predators are treated differently so it shows up less in the news. Islam all over the world makes the Catholic church look like pikers.

Rocco said...

Char Char Binks, Esq said…
(why is [RFK] still ‘Junior’?)

For the same reason my eldest sibling is still a “III”, even though our father and grandfather have passed away.

Larry Mullen Jr started including the suffix in his name because his father kept receiving large tax bills intended for the son.

Howard said...

In fairness to doctors and the medical system, Achilles, you and I both know that it takes a tremendous amount of effort to live a healthy vibrant lifestyle. Reality is people are to consumed by the rest of their lives to take charge of their own health. Therefore it is actually more successful too give people pills to put off the inevitable hardening of the arteries

Achilles said...

Trump needs X more than he needs Rogan.

Howard said...

Islam runs on guilt and shame.

Achilles said...

It is actually easier to just eat the same thing one to three times a day. Decision Fatigue should be a class in high school. The number of things that people are distracted with by big ag/pharma is insane.

If you are OK with 12m/20f% body fat like well adjusted people just getting some meat out of the freezer and eating the same thing every day is easy and ideal health wise.

I personally don't eat enough to do OMAD. I try to ride the edge of anxiety/motivation to be more productive and I enjoy the aesthetic of single digit body fat too much so I "snack."

Achilles said...

Islam and Catholicism run on indulgence. All motivations are external. They actually promote shameful activity. The basic message of both religions is do what you want and if you feel bad about it it is OK. Societies and Governments centered around these religions are similar in structure using the state religion as a tool of control.

The goal of both religions is to produce a cowed population of guilty peasants.

Readering said...

Would undermine the article to quote a polarizing figur in the middle of it, especially as it's not actually about obesity, but about something else with obesity an illustration.

loudogblog said...

"Yes, I'm journalism-shaming, and I think it needs to be cruel to be productive."

It's hard to shame people who are shameless.

Achilles said...

The primary issue you are addressing is bio-availability and nutrient density. We just don't use the vitamins and minerals in plants well because they are not in a form we can digest. The Potassium in plants is just not absorbed by our bodies as the Potassium in red meat. For every nutrient we need we absorb the version that is present in red meat.

I eat small amounts of Onions, Asparagus, Pickles and Coconut. But I realize my body gets very little out of those things. I am feeding bacteria that live in my gut which in turn feed the mitochondria in my body.

The gut to brain ratio for Impala is probably not much better than the gut to brain ratio of a cow. Without research I would also guess that Impala tend to eat seeds and higher energy density plant parts and have GIs adapted for higher efficiency foods compared to water buffalo.

loudogblog said...

Maybe the Catholic church should start selling indulgences on Amazon.

Jupiter said...

How did you lose 130? Have you tried keto?

Jupiter said...

FYI, tim's link is a free link to the article in question (I thought he was linking to some meme about free things).

Kirk Parker said...

tommyesq,

"Why would this reporter, who 'writes primarily about public health,' not be aware of this?"

It's right there in the text that you have quoted: she writes about public health. It does not claim she knows anything about public health

mikee said...

Journalism shaming? I'd suggest saving your pixels and your bandwidth and your typing and your mental efforts, but that was a laugh out loud phrase for me, so thanks. What next, attempting to shame hookers for their acceptance of money from johns?

Rocco said...

Howard said...
I have never seen a fat Impala either.

Try lowrider culture.

tim maguire said...

Oh, I guess I never actually said that. Thanks Jupiter.

Jupiter said...

That's pretty funny. The filthy lying scum at the NYT are running interference for the filthy lying scum at CDC and NIH. "Oh, we're sorry! We must have lied to you wrong! We promise, if you trust us and give us more money, we will tell much more believable lies in the future."

Smilin' Jack said...

“Why doesn't this article even mention RFK Jr.? This is precisely his issue. He blames the food industry…”

Well, I blame society, and gland problems, and big bones, and fat ancestors, and Twiggy.

Smilin' Jack said...

And if he’s not a crackpot, why would he dump a perfectly good bear in Central Park? Lots of nutritious, raw, unprocessed bear meat—-yumm!

tcrosse said...

In all my decades working in the Big Food industry, we never put a gun to anybody's head to eat our products. In accordance with FDA regulations we supplied ingredient declarations and nutritional labeling so they would know what they were eating.

Tom Grey said...

Too bad it’s not more cruel. Shame is the non-physical punishment from a society, or sub-culture, which generates better behavior of the members.
We need far more news shaming.

Shannon said...

Agreed!