[quote]jsbrook wrote:
Interesting point, I believe there should be taxation on junk food like tobacco and alcohol tax.
The social cost of junk food is just too great.
Fahd
Hail Hitler. Nice to know that facism is thriving.
[/quote]
I see no problem in some sort of user-payer system. A real one.
[quote]The3toedSloth wrote:
How about not serving fat people in restaraunts? If you’ve had too much in the bar, the server is supposed to say, "I’m sorry sir, I think you’ve had enough… "
Fat guy walks into the restaraunt, maitre d takes one look at him and says, “I’m sorry sir, I think you’ve had enough…”
|/ 3Toes[/quote]
Haha! Works for me. I was at what I thought was a rather nice restaurant this past weekend and I had to be blinded by the fat ass crack of some guy on his third helping of everything.
[quote]fahd wrote:
jsbrook wrote:
Hail Hitler. Nice to know that facism is thriving.
How is that facism? Anyone who studied economics know there is a thing called demerit goods, basically goods that would incur great social costs.
Taxing junk food would increase its price and hence reduce the amount of people consuming them. This would benefit the nation as a whole.
Fahd
[/quote]
Not time mention having the possibility to create an actuarial provision for the coming morbidity epidemic.
[quote]jsbrook wrote:
I was really talking about putting a ‘sin’ tax on junk food.
[/quote]
A sin tax would prevent Darwinism though. And I think the world could really use a little more of that.
I think we SHOULD be fair to fat people.
We could charge for airline/bus/train tickets by the pound.
Charge for clothes by the yard of material per garment.
Make it illegal to have a handicap parking sticker if you are obese and not PERMANENTLY confined to a wheelchair.
Any other suggestions???
No family would NEED fast food, alochol and smokes to survive. You can argue that certain healthy food is very expensive and that poor people need them to feed their kids; I cannot disagree more with you.
I am in college on a very limited budget, yet I manage to eat 5 or 6 healthy and cheap meal a day. Milk, eggs, oats, brown bread, vegetables are not that expensive.
Statistically, poor people drink more and smoke more and are more affected by tobacco and alcohol tax; does it make them fascist?
[quote]The3toedSloth wrote:
How about not serving fat people in restaraunts? If you’ve had too much in the bar, the server is supposed to say, "I’m sorry sir, I think you’ve had enough… "
Fat guy walks into the restaraunt, maitre d takes one look at him and says, “I’m sorry sir, I think you’ve had enough…”
|/ 3Toes[/quote]
Or we could force feed the until the explode like in Monty Pythons Meaning of Life.
[quote]sjoconn wrote:
jsbrook wrote:
I was really talking about putting a ‘sin’ tax on junk food.
A sin tax would prevent Darwinism though. And I think the world could really use a little more of that. [/quote]
Yeah, I don’t think I agree that junk food should have a high tax on it.
[quote]fahd wrote:
No family would NEED fast food, alochol and smokes to survive. You can argue that certain healthy food is very expensive and that poor people need them to feed their kids; I cannot disagree more with you.
I am in college on a very limited budget, yet I manage to eat 5 or 6 healthy and cheap meal a day. Milk, eggs, oats, brown bread, vegetables are not that expensive.
Statistically, poor people drink more and smoke more and are more affected by tobacco and alcohol tax; does it make them fascist?[/quote]
Healthy food is expensive. I would bet you almost anything that the average T-Nationer spends a hell of a lot more on food than the the poorer segments of the country can afford. Especially if you want it to taste good.
Some of that is cause we’re big. But it was true for my ex-girlfriend who’s all of 5’2 and couldn’t weigh more than 110. Most of the things you mentioned are relatively cheap. Vegetables really aren’t that cheap, and the other things I mentioned aren’t either.
The only reason I support high taxes on cigarettes is that I feel it keeps kids from smoking more and getting addicted at a young age. Because many stores obviously sell to kids though they shouldn’t, and many will buy kids cigarettes when they give them money. If there really was an effective means of ensuring that no kids could smoke a cigarette until they were autonomous adults, I would care less.
If cigarettes were dirt cheap, and adults wanted to smoke, smoke, smoke themselves to a vicious cancer, that’s fine with me in this day and age with all the evidence we have about smoking. They should have that choice.
[quote]fahd wrote:
I am in college on a very limited budget, yet I manage to eat 5 or 6 healthy and cheap meal a day. Milk, eggs, oats, brown bread, vegetables are not that expensive.
[/quote]
How much would you say you spend on food a week? A month? The fact that you are a struggling STUDENT means that you most likely have more income than much of this country though you’re not rolling in the dough.
[quote]Lorisco wrote:
Maybe we should just keep silent and let the fat ass association be accepted and then let them die. Then they will all be dead and gone and we can go on with our meaningful lives that don’t revolve around Big Macs and Twinkies.
[/quote]
Natural Selection in action. Of course this couldn’t happen anymore.
[quote]Nomancer wrote:
Lorisco wrote:
Maybe we should just keep silent and let the fat ass association be accepted and then let them die. Then they will all be dead and gone and we can go on with our meaningful lives that don’t revolve around Big Macs and Twinkies.
Natural Selection in action. Of course this couldn’t happen anymore.[/quote]
Don’t see how it’s not happening. people don’t look to be getting any leaner on average. With or without criticism and condemnation.
We had to take this old woman to the ER yesterday for abdominal pain. She’s 67, 5’2, 489 lbs. Bedridden for the last 15 years of her life due almost entirely to her weight.
I had a bitch of a time getting her fat ass off her filthy little twin bed and on to our cot. God do I need to work on my deads.
[quote]SicTorn wrote:
We had to take this old woman to the ER yesterday for abdominal pain. She’s 67, 5’2, 489 lbs. Bedridden for the last 15 years of her life due almost entirely to her weight.
I had a bitch of a time getting her fat ass off her filthy little twin bed and on to our cot. God do I need to work on my deads.[/quote]
wow. amazing that she’s still alive at that age being that big. If you can really call that living.
While I appreciate the difficulty of losing a lot of weight once you are overweight, I do not respect these NAAFA folks at all.
Can these people really argue that being fat is healthy? Any doctor or health practitioner can expouse the horrible healt effects of being overweight, but these people want to say that it is acceptable? No way.
The healthy food cost versus unhealthy food cost is an interesting debate. Personally, before, when I was overweight, I ate out almost everymeal. Let me tell you, eating lunch and dinner out every day is a lot more expensive than preparing 6 good meals (unless you are eating filet for every meal!)
I think the government should subsidize healthy food (free range meats, vegetables- not corn- etc.) If the cost of healthy food went down and the cost of junk food went up, people would be able eat healthier.
The next obstacle to overcome is the convenience factor. How can you beat driving to McD’s and picking up some burgers for the family, as far as convenience is concerned. Our society is so fast paced and busy that most people have little time to prepare healhty meals. This is something I am still working on overcoming.
Jeff
Here’s another “America is fat and getting fatter” article to piss you all off some more…
Fat times for fast food
Americans back to eating giant burgers, fried chicken
If you think that all the talk about obesity is scaring people away from fatty food, think again. Americans are eating hamburgers, doughnuts, French fries, and fried chicken like never before.
Yes, fried chicken: KFC has been going gangbusters this year. In October, sales at stores open for a year or more soared 6 percent, vs. a 3 percent drop in the year-ago period. This comes after a total 6 percent increase in the previous three months combined. In fact, fried chicken has become so popular that KFC is considering bringing back the name “Kentucky Fried Chicken” in its full form.
“Kentucky Fried Chicken is the one big trend that’s going on in the world today,” says David Novak, chief executive of Louisville-based Yum! Brands, KFC’s parent. “We’re the chicken capital of the USA.”
Heavy snacking
What’s going on? Apparently, all the talk about obesity causing clogged hearts, hypertension, high blood pressure, and even diabetes is falling on deaf ears (see BW Online, 1/11/05, “Ready for a fast-food workout?”).
“What can I say? Americans love fried chicken,” says Harry Balzer, renowned food expert and vice-president of researcher The NPD Group. He says fried chicken is the fastest-growing fast-food menu item in the last decade. In every food survey conducted over the last 25 years, Balzer points out, three common themes emerge in terms of what Americans want: taste, price, and convenience.
If that mantra really works, KFC certainly found its sweet spot in March, when it introduced the Snacker, a 99-cent chicken sandwich that proved to be a runaway bestseller. The 5,525 KFC restaurant outlets in the U.S. sold 100 million Snackers in the past seven months, making it one of the most successful product launches in KFC history.
A growing population
But while Americans are digging in to the fried chicken, they’re certainly not eschewing other fatty foods. Hamburger outlets served over 500 million more customers in 2004 than in the previous year, according to NPD. And doughnut shops served about 150 million more people last year than in 2003 (see BW Online, 6/3/05, “Salad days for burger joints”).
Plus, research has shown that Americans currently eat out, or order in, more than ever before – fueling the trend toward weight gain. Food-market researcher Technomic found in a 2005 survey that 69 percent of consumers described their diets when eating out as “fair to poor,” compared to 39 percent who said they eat “fair to poor” diets at home (see BW Online, 4/22/04, “Restaurants are cooking again”).
Not suprisingly, a new study that followed Americans for three decades suggests that, over the long haul, 9 out of 10 men and 7 out of 10 women will become overweight. Published in the Oct. 4 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the report shows obesity may be an even greater problem than indicated by other studies demonstrating that two-thirds of the U.S. population is already overweight or obese. “The health implications for the country are enormous,” says Ramachandran Vasan, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University and the new study’s lead author.
More than a mouthful
The fact that a majority of the U.S. population is overweight could be one explanation why Americans are so blas? about the subject. “Fat is mainstream, which is why everyone has become complacent,” muses Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of Food Politics. “What used to considered pudgy before isn’t even worthy of a comment today.”
Junk-food chains are now catering to people who have ignored the healthy-food movement of the last few years, and in fact have gotten sick of the focus on healthy living. “There are those, especially the younger people, who shun the health and nutrition talk and throw caution to the winds,” says Bob Sandelman, president of market researcher Sandelman & Associates. “When they go out, they go way over the other end, and want the thickest burger they can find.”
No wonder the fast-food giants are fighting over who can come up with the most fattening food. Last year, Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., units of CKE Restaurants, created quite a stir with the Monster Thickburger, which has two 1/3-pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese, and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame-seed bun ? totaling 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat. Hardee’s proudly proclaimed the sandwich “a monument to decadence.”
And, earlier this year, Burger King introduced the Enormous Omelet Sandwich, comprising one sausage patty, two eggs, two slices of American cheese, and three strips of bacon, which translates to 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.
Have your cake
Americans needn’t worry that they’re getting fat alone. The fast-food giants are aggressively moving into Asia. KFC, for instance, expects to open more than 375 new restaurants in China in 2005 and 400 in 2006, and targets sales growth of at least 22 percent. Sales in China are sizzling: They’re up 11 percent year-to-date, after soaring 24 percent in 2004.
Back in the U.S., Yum’s Novak points out that, besides the 99-cent Snacker, KFC’s $9.99 bucket of chicken was also a fast seller. Just in case that’s not enticement enough, KFC recently started offering free cakes to families to increase store traffic.
Clearly, the philosophy today is “obesity be damned.” Let the feasting begin.