Fear Of Food

[Dreamliner]

Is there a rising chorus of hysteria about the food we eat ? Maybe not. Food Fear seems a staple of American life. From the 19th Century on, Americans have constantly expressed fears that something in the foods we eat is killing us, whether germs, chemicals, HFCO, etc. And interestingly, we continue to live longer and longer lives.

An interesting read on this subject:

Fear Of Food: A History of Why We Worry about What We Eat - by Levenstein.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Is there a rising chorus of hysteria about the food we eat ? Maybe not. Food Fear seems a staple of American life. From the 19th Century on, Americans have constantly expressed fears that something in the foods we eat is killing us, whether germs, chemicals, HFCO, etc. And interestingly, we continue to live longer and longer lives.

An interesting read on this subject:

Fear Of Food: A History of Why We Worry about What We Eat - by Levenstein.

Look up thyroid and Iodine and you'll see a reason to panic about our food. Bromine/bromide is poisonous to the thyroid - it's in all white breads, cookies and flour. Water has fluorine and chlorine also kills your thyroid.

[Dreamliner]

Hysteria, we're healthier and living longer than ever.

[Juggernautz]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Is there a rising chorus of hysteria about the food we eat ? Maybe not. Food Fear seems a staple of American life. From the 19th Century on, Americans have constantly expressed fears that something in the foods we eat is killing us, whether germs, chemicals, HFCO, etc. And interestingly, we continue to live longer and longer lives.

An interesting read on this subject:

Fear Of Food: A History of Why We Worry about What We Eat - by Levenstein.

It's a known fact everything we eat/drink is killing us. It's a conspiracy by the government to prevent people from living longer, think China.

[ATL_Gator]

Fear of food based illnesses → increased food safety → We live longer

Seems like a logical conclusion to me, or am I looking at this wrong?

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by ATL_Gator

Fear of food based illnesses → increased food safety → We live longer

Seems like a logical conclusion to me, or am I looking at this wrong?

Well, we know that fear of food (and environmental toxins and pollutants) engenders the Placebo Effect's evil twin, the 'Nocebo Effect.'

Accordingly, people fear they've ingested something bad and indeed they begin to manifest the symptoms of the conditions they fear they'll get, like gluten allergies, etc.

[MeyerIsBack]

Everyone is scared of cancer. It is not clear what causes cancer. Ergo, anything new or strange is thought to cause cancer. If there was no cancer, I think the fear would go away. People know that if they get fat they are at higher risk for diabetes and heart disease. Just like if you smoke you are at higher risk for lung cancer. However, there are so many damned reports about foods that cause and cure cancer with no or incredibly marginal proof, it is no wonder people are scared.

[Dreamliner]

Actually, obesity does not actually cause heart disease and diabetes. Heart disease is largely heritable, and diabetes risk for the obese is only 6-8%. And in diabetes, weight gain may be a part of the disease. It was certainly true, for a diabetic client of mine, that she gained weight precipitously around the time she was diagnosed.

And on the obesity thread, I posted links showing that obesity seems to confer a certain level of immunity for heart disease and diabetes.

Screwy, I know, but that's what the research is telling us.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by MeyerIsBack

Everyone is scared of cancer. It is not clear what causes cancer. Ergo, anything new or strange is thought to cause cancer. If there was no cancer, I think the fear would go away. People know that if they get fat they are at higher risk for diabetes and heart disease. Just like if you smoke you are at higher risk for lung cancer. However, there are so many damned reports about foods that cause and cure cancer with no or incredibly marginal proof, it is no wonder people are scared.

Your Thyroid is part of the endocrine system that fights/prevents cancer.

A failing endocrine system causes cancer.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by Gatorrick22

Your Thyroid is part of the endocrine system that fights/prevents cancer.

Yes, but we're somehow living longer and longer and most cancers are down.

[ATL_Gator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Yes, but we're somehow living longer and longer and most cancers are down.

Interesting....

Searched for cancer rate info.. found an article supporting your quote.. cancer rates are down...

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.1052338

From the article...
While there's a lot of good news in the report, the authors noted some looming concerns. One is increases in skin cancer cases and deaths, which experts believe are being boosted by the use of tanning beds. "I think this is a future epidemic in the making," said Plescia, director of the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control.

The authors also cited the nation's weight problem. Two out of every three adults is overweight or obese, and that seems to be contributing to rising case rates for cancers of the esophagus, uterus, pancreas and kidney. Excess weight triggers production of insulin and certain hormones that can play a role in cancer growth, experts say.

"For people who do not smoke, excess weight and lack of sufficient physical activity may be among the most important risk factors for cancer," John Seffrin, the Cancer Society's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

!?!? HUH?

[MeyerIsBack]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Actually, obesity does not actually cause heart disease and diabetes. Heart disease is largely heritable, and diabetes risk for the obese is only 6-8%. And in diabetes, weight gain may be a part of the disease. It was certainly true, for a diabetic client of mine, that she gained weight precipitously around the time she was diagnosed.

And on the obesity thread, I posted links showing that obesity seems to confer a certain level of immunity for heart disease and diabetes.

Screwy, I know, but that's what the research is telling us.

I would have to see something to verify that to believe it. Both my father-in-law and father were on diabetes medication. They both lost weight and were both taken off the medication. There may be other factors but surely weight is one of them. They were also both on medication for blood pressure that is no longer needed.

I don't claim to be an expert in the subject. However, I remember reading an article that attributed type 2 diabetes to fat build up around the pancreas. As weight was lost the fat around the pancreas was also lost and blood sugar was regulated.

I will look at your other thread but I seriously doubt I will ever believe that health is equal between fat and skinny people (all other things being equal). Sometimes science can confuse things that are so incredibly obvious by just observing.

[ATL_Gator]

Originally Posted by MeyerIsBack

I will look at your other thread but I seriously doubt I will ever believe that health is equal between fat and skinny people (all other things being equal). Sometimes science can confuse things that are so incredibly obvious by just observing.

The studies seem pretty conclusive (well, they aren't REALLY studies.. but still)...

My problem is that science can quickly get confused with predetermined outcomes clouding the moral judgment of the "scientist" (or data-miner, as the case may be)...

See: The China Study.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by ATL_Gator

Interesting....

Searched for cancer rate info.. found an article supporting your quote.. cancer rates are down...

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.1052338

From the article...
While there's a lot of good news in the report, the authors noted some looming concerns. One is increases in skin cancer cases and deaths, which experts believe are being boosted by the use of tanning beds. "I think this is a future epidemic in the making," said Plescia, director of the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control.

The authors also cited the nation's weight problem. Two out of every three adults is overweight or obese, and that seems to be contributing to rising case rates for cancers of the esophagus, uterus, pancreas and kidney. Excess weight triggers production of insulin and certain hormones that can play a role in cancer growth, experts say.

"For people who do not smoke, excess weight and lack of sufficient physical activity may be among the most important risk factors for cancer," John Seffrin, the Cancer Society's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

!?!? HUH?

It appears for all the world that researchers note that we are fatter than ever and then ASSUME that fat is causing the diseases we're getting BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING OLDER.

[Gatorrick22]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Yes, but we're somehow living longer and longer and most cancers are down.

What about prostate, colon, breast and uterine cancers?

http://journals.lww.com/oncotimesuk/...by_20_.10.aspx

http://journaltimes.com/lifestyles/h...cc4c002e0.html

http://www.dana-farber.org/Newsroom/...ng-adults.aspx

http://news.cancerconnect.com/prosta...ostate-cancer/


By the way it's not the "environment" per se that's to blame, it's the FDA and it's failure to see the problems with of Chlorine, fluorine, Bromine/Bromides, that food companies and municipalities continue to poison us with.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by MeyerIsBack

I would have to see something to verify that to believe it. Both my father-in-law and father were on diabetes medication. They both lost weight and were both taken off the medication. There may be other factors but surely weight is one of them. They were also both on medication for blood pressure that is no longer needed.

I don't claim to be an expert in the subject. However, I remember reading an article that attributed type 2 diabetes to fat build up around the pancreas. As weight was lost the fat around the pancreas was also lost and blood sugar was regulated.

I will look at your other thread but I seriously doubt I will ever believe that health is equal between fat and skinny people (all other things being equal). Sometimes science can confuse things that are so incredibly obvious by just observing.

The numbers don't lie. I invite you to peruse the obesity thread.

With diabetes, yes, weight-loss typically alleviates symptoms. Sure enough, when my diabetic client lost a little more than 10% of her bodyweight, her blood sugar dropped from malignant levels to normal.

THEN she had another heart attack (read the diabetes thread).

So, we know that while weight loss improves numbers, we do not know that better numbers actually presage better health. And with diabetics, symptoms tend to return.

Moreover, EVEN IF weight loss is the panacea for many diseases, we're still left with the problem that we really haven't a clue about how to help people maintain their weight loss for any appreciable time. Almost everyone gains the weight back within 1-2 years. And the majority end up heavier than when they began.

[ATL_Gator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

The numbers don't lie. I invite you to peruse the obesity thread.

With diabetes, yes, weight-loss typically alleviates symptoms. Sure enough, when my diabetic client lost a little more than 10% of her bodyweight, her blood sugar dropped from malignant levels to normal.

THEN she had another heart attack (read the diabetes thread).

So, we know that while weight loss improves numbers, we do not know that better numbers actually presage better health. And with diabetics, symptoms tend to return.

Moreover, EVEN IF weight loss is the panacea for many diseases, we're still left with the problem that we really haven't a clue about how to help people maintain their weight loss for any appreciable time. Almost everyone gains the weight back within 1-2 years. And the majority end up heavier than when they began.

IMO, that is not a PHYSICAL problem, it's a mental one.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by ATL_Gator

IMO, that is not a PHYSICAL problem, it's a mental one.

It is only a mental problem in that 'willpower' is not sufficient to override the very powerfu,l unconscious biological drives that kick in to recoup lost weight.

It's not meant too.

Attributing weight regain to lack of willpower is like saying that all you need is more willpower to keep yourself in a starved state. Hell, if that's what people want to do, they can go for as far as I'm concerned.

I'll sit back and watch.

[MeyerIsBack]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

The numbers don't lie. I invite you to peruse the obesity thread.

With diabetes, yes, weight-loss typically alleviates symptoms. Sure enough, when my diabetic client lost a little more than 10% of her bodyweight, her blood sugar dropped from malignant levels to normal.

THEN she had another heart attack (read the diabetes thread).

So, we know that while weight loss improves numbers, we do not know that better numbers actually presage better health. And with diabetics, symptoms tend to return.

Moreover, EVEN IF weight loss is the panacea for many diseases, we're still left with the problem that we really haven't a clue about how to help people maintain their weight loss for any appreciable time. Almost everyone gains the weight back within 1-2 years. And the majority end up heavier than when they began.

Numbers lie all the time. I will read the thread.

Or was there other damage already done because she was fat? Wouldn't a heart attack most likely be the cause of heart disease caused by being obese. To my knowledge, plaque build up in your arteries either doesn't or very slowly dissipates when weight is lost.

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Moreover, EVEN IF weight loss is the panacea for many diseases, we're still left with the problem that we really haven't a clue about how to help people maintain their weight loss for any appreciable time. Almost everyone gains the weight back within 1-2 years. And the majority end up heavier than when they began.

I think this is a great question. I think the reasons we are getting fatter include.
1. I personally believe there are too many excuses for people to be fat.
2. Too many people in our population believe to their core that they cannot be skinny.
3. It is common to be obese.
4. There is no longer a stigma attached to obesity.
5. Fast and prepared food is extremely calorie dense
6. Americans drive everywhere
7. Technology has decreased other activities.
8. Portion sizes are getting bigger
9. Calorie rich drinks

I think most of this is just part of our society. Essentially, it comes down to people recognizing healthy food intake vs activity. Then it comes down to individual discipline.

[MeyerIsBack]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

It is only a mental problem in that 'willpower' is not sufficient to override the very powerfu,l unconscious biological drives that kick in to recoup lost weight.

It's not meant too.

Attributing weight regain to lack of willpower is like saying that all you need is more willpower to keep yourself in a starved state. Hell, if that's what people want to do, they can go for as far as I'm concerned.

I'll sit back and watch.

People who are fat are not 'STARVING'. Slow and steady weight loss should cause very little discomfort to a person.

Obviously, from a macro level, it would be much better to keep people from getting fat. Then there is not a need to 'STARVE' anybody.