Killer At Large

Reality's Fringe

Reality's Fringe

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I think it looks like an interesting movie, especially considering who I used to be and what I am now.

I'll be watching this with my "skeptic" hat on, but it's hard to argue that this is a huge problem

Note that the part about military mess-halls is true. While certain branches have it better (The Navy, most notably) a lot of them are filled with absolutely counter-productive slop.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRSGUZrOU_w[/media]
 
I'm interested in this for sure. I do think obesity is a problem, but it looks the this film is trying to say that the government should do something about it. What? I'd like to think it is through education and not legislation.
 
LOL fatties.

Still looks very interesting though. And yes, I agree that it shouldn't be legislation, but rather education and self-imposed habits.
 
I don't think this is an American problem, it's just a problem that any nation with a high standard of living would probably have. When food is abundant and lives are fairly easy, obesity will probably be a problem.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']I don't think this is an American problem, it's just a problem that any nation with a high standard of living would probably have. When food is abundant and lives are fairly easy, obesity will probably be a problem.[/QUOTE]

Except it's not as large a problem in first world nations other than the US.

Not that it is not a problem outside the US, but that, like gun-related fatalities, our national problem is exceptionally high.

As much as I'd like to think that this is a social problem that is individually created, I can't help but wonder at what point a problem is so endemic to our society that we can no longer admit that it is the fault of individualism, but, rather, institutional forces that change the way we live our dietary lives.
 
Hating fat people is stupid. It's like hating someone who is anorexic, or has crooked teeth, or has red hair. I'm sure the people doing the hating aren't models of perfection either, surprise surprise. Some people are even extremely bigoted towards fat people; in fact, it's probably the last "acceptable" form of discrimination in this country.

BTW, the problem is overstated. The government has lowered where you have to be on the BMI index (itself far from an accurate measure when it comes to many individuals) to be obese progressively over time, so -- shock! -- more people are considered "obese." Hell, Arnold Schwarzenegger is now considered "obese." I'm not saying there aren't people with problems, there are plenty, but manipulating numbers to help create more crisis-mode thinking is despicable.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']Hating fat people is stupid. It's like hating someone who is anorexic, or has crooked teeth, or has red hair. I'm sure the people doing the hating aren't models of perfection either, surprise surprise. Some people are even extremely bigoted towards fat people; in fact, it's probably the last "acceptable" form of discrimination in this country.

BTW, the problem is overstated. The government has lowered where you have to be on the BMI index (itself far from an accurate measure when it comes to many individuals) to be obese progressively over time, so -- shock! -- more people are considered "obese." Hell, Arnold Schwarzenegger is now considered "obese." I'm not saying there aren't people with problems, there are plenty, but manipulating numbers to help create more crisis-mode thinking is despicable.[/QUOTE]

Even discounting terminology and the govt. manipulating numbers, anyone would have to admit that there are fat fatties simply everywhere you look these days.
 
You know who I "hate"?

The "fat rights" lobby.

That aside, I feel bad for overweight people, and despite my comment above about patterned social behavior, there are elements of patterned behavior that can remedy this problem. In other words, I don't buy that obesity is a large cluster of poorly-behaved and reasoned individuals, but I do certainly believe that people can undoubtedly take care of themselves should they become obese.

I don't buy that individuals make these decisions, but I also don't buy the "I'm helpless/I need surgery/my metabolism/big boned" excuses. They do certainly exist, but they aren't as omnipresent as the people who claim them.
 
Me and the wife were talking about this today. It is so much cheaper to eat bad. Healthy food is so much more expensive
 
[quote name='jlarlee']Healthy food is so much more expensive[/QUOTE]

No kidding, in the case of supermarkets. Bullshit hot house tomatoes were $3.99/lb where I last lived.

But more organic tomatoes than you need in two weeks was about $3 at the farmer's market. 3/4lb. of raspberries and blackberries were around $3 (and if you're a berry person, you know how much Kroger takes you for!).

Now I'm in a very rural area, and the farmer's market is crazy cheap. If you don't have one, undoubtedly produce, aside from bullshit produce (head lettuce, green bell peppers, and carrots), is quite expensive. Sweet (red/yellow/orange) bell peppers are almost $2/per these days. How many "lunchables" can you buy for that price?

There's a cost and time cost element to eating poorly. Plus the often-ignored element of how much fucking sodium there is in the prepackaged foods we eat. As cheap as fresh produce is, the "cooking" element is a bit bothersome, to some. Some people would rather have bacon from a box, or one of those creepy "Compleats" meals.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']
Still looks very interesting though. And yes, I agree that it shouldn't be legislation, but rather education and self-imposed habits.[/QUOTE]

Education. Better food in schools. Better health classes in school. More physical education in school.

Other than that, maybe legislation requiring restaurants to make their nutritional information easily available (not just online, but also in the restaurants etc.).

Beyond that, there's not much else I can support them doing. Beyond local governments using zoning laws to block more fast food restaurants for opening etc. Banning trans fats and stuff like we've seen some places is just ridiculous.

And yes, eating healthy is more expensive. So spend more money on food and less on games, movies, cds, and all the other frivilous stuff we buy. That stuff should be bought on top of the necessary bills, expenses and the cost of eathing and living healthy!
 
[quote name='mykevermin']No kidding, in the case of supermarkets. Bullshit hot house tomatoes were $3.99/lb where I last lived.

But more organic tomatoes than you need in two weeks was about $3 at the farmer's market. 3/4lb. of raspberries and blackberries were around $3 (and if you're a berry person, you know how much Kroger takes you for!).

Now I'm in a very rural area, and the farmer's market is crazy cheap. If you don't have one, undoubtedly produce, aside from bullshit produce (head lettuce, green bell peppers, and carrots), is quite expensive. Sweet (red/yellow/orange) bell peppers are almost $2/per these days. How many "lunchables" can you buy for that price?

There's a cost and time cost element to eating poorly. Plus the often-ignored element of how much fucking sodium there is in the prepackaged foods we eat. As cheap as fresh produce is, the "cooking" element is a bit bothersome, to some. Some people would rather have bacon from a box, or one of those creepy "Compleats" meals.[/QUOTE]


Yep or in a pinch look at fast food pricing. I spend $3 and get some cheap items off the dollar menu but to get a salad it is like $6. Is the salad really that much more expensive to make?
 
My best guess is that mass producing low-grade beef is possibly not as cheap as a salad, but also lasts longer. Getting produce to stores so it is fresh is costly, and it doesn't hold as long in stores.

Another explanation is that people order several dollar menu items at once, or they'll order a "value meal" sort of package w/ sammich, fries, soda. With a salad (this is a total guess on my part), they're probably not adding a double cheeseburger or two with it - so it's "meal-based cost" to McD's and the like. If they feel like they're getting a full meal, charge them a full meal price.

Though, to be fair, I don't know what salads cost at McDonald's. I only order the spinach chicken salad from Wendy's if I'm getting fast-food salad, and I can't remember the last time they carried it.

But the cost of food
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Education. Better food in schools. Better health classes in school. More physical education in school.
[/quote]

I don't really think those things help much, really. It doesn't matter what Timmy eats for lunch at school or how much Serious Business his gym glass is, if he goes home and sits on his ass for four hours watching TV and eating potato chips, he's going to be fat.
 
[quote name='Jesus_S_Preston']I don't really think those things help much, really. It doesn't matter what Timmy eats for lunch at school or how much Serious Business his gym glass is, if he goes home and sits on his ass for four hours watching TV and eating potato chips, he's going to be fat.[/QUOTE]

It has to be coupled with more aggressive PSA's/education aimed at adults too, because you're right the kids have no control when they go home.

But schools are still important as it at least improves the chances that they'll make healthy decisions when they're adults.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Except it's not as large a problem in first world nations other than the US.

Not that it is not a problem outside the US, but that, like gun-related fatalities, our national problem is exceptionally high.

As much as I'd like to think that this is a social problem that is individually created, I can't help but wonder at what point a problem is so endemic to our society that we can no longer admit that it is the fault of individualism, but, rather, institutional forces that change the way we live our dietary lives.[/quote]
Cheap and easy access to fast food probably has something to do with it. I'm not saying fast foods restaurants don't exist outside the US, but not to the extent they do here. There are two McDonalds, two Sonics, and two Taco Bells just in my little town alone. That isn't counting all the other individual places.

I suppose it is a bit more of an American problem, though i'm sure that other countries would have the same problem if they lived in simliar ways.
 
I saw this movie a couple months ago already. My sister's high school friend is the producer, and so she drug me to the "premier", with subsequent QA with the filmmakers and many people in it afterward.

It's an alright movie, but it devolves into political commentary too often. I shit you not, there is about a 15 minute stretch in the middle that is nothing but a collage of clips of President Bush jumbling words trying to talk about health or nutrition, with editing and music clearly trying to put heaps of blame on Bush or Republicans (And the film actually opens with interviews with Bill Clinton talking about how he's struggled with eating junk all his life, presented in a sympathetic almost glorifying way) It just rubbed me the wrong way, and it diluted it's message.

There are a couple of good stories presented in it though. The one that sticks in my mind is they go into a lot of depth concerning the corn industry. They show how corn is literally in absolutely everything we buy now, edible or not - and show how the corn farmer lobby has had a huge grip on Washington for eons. It then diagrams the actual nutritional value of corn and corn based products.

Overall I'd give the movie a C. The filmmakers spent way too much time essentially trying to prove why it's important that the government has far more control in advertising, food regulation, school lunches, etc. They basically want the government to babysit our diets as if we are not capable of responsibility ourselves. In doing so, they get super partisan to the point that it feels like George Sorross paid for it.

My sister said about a year ago she saw a 3 1/2 hour cut of the movie that had a lot more interesting stuff they cut out, she told them it was also way too politically charged, but unfortunately they cut the interesting stuff and left in the politics. the current cut is about 90 minutes.

If you must see this, wait for rental.
 
get all the crap out of food like HFCS. There are countries like France and Italy that consume what appears to be unhealthy food and there obesity rates are much lower than the US'. Obviously we are doing something wrong. Also if the government didnt have to Kowtow to all the food lobbies we'd be much better off getting the truth out.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']get all the crap out of food like HFCS. There are countries like France and Italy that consume what appears to be unhealthy food and there obesity rates are much lower than the US'. Obviously we are doing something wrong. Also if the government didnt have to Kowtow to all the food lobbies we'd be much better off getting the truth out.[/QUOTE]

Well most of that has to do with portions. Europeans don't eat healthier than we do, they just eat a lot less. Anyone that has spent time over there would see that.

My wife's family is vacationing with us from Europe right now and they comment constantly about how much we eat, it boggles their minds how big our portions are.
 
Portions are a big part of it. But there is also less HFCS in staple foods in a lot of other countries.

But portions here are ridiculous. Nearly every restaurant you go to you get enough food for 2 or 3 people with your entree. And if they shrink them people will bitch that they're getting ripped off as it's not enough food for the money as people are used to these giant portions and have become gluttonous.
 
Freedom makes a man hungry. Suck on it, socialists. Aarrg rgt ar s Wat w sae at eras

Translation: Aargh, my right arm is numb. What will I shake at liberals?
 
[quote name='JolietJake']It boggles my mind why we're even using corn to make ethanol, there are so many better plants to use.[/quote]

1. The government is involved.

2. Sugar cane is grown by "brown" people.

3. Success would hurt the pocketbooks of those who paid for the representatives and president.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']1. The government is involved.[/QUOTE]

Seems like this is a constant theme when most problems are being discussed.
 
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