Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
Lmao. I'm going to ignore the inflammatory part of your post and go right to the meat of it.
You don't think that people take in a HUGE majority of their HFCS in drinks? Sodas are hugely common in the daily lives of people nowadays. Have you ever wondered why we eat 300 calories per capita more? If you'd like to research it, you can see that chemical cascade from processed sugar and HFCS actually increases ghrelin, while hindering leptin and screwing with PYY 3-36 as well. It truly IS sugar and HFCS' fault for obesity. When you're still hungry, you will still eat even if you've already met your caloric maintenance levels for the day.
I do agree that there is a degree of personal responsibility here, but do you think people want to be fat? They feel terrible for it and feel like victims. There's research out there that shows that because they eat what is available cheaply, they are getting obese. Go watch "Why are thin people not fat?" on BBC. It'll explain it at the basic level.
Also, I think you forgot to tell me your credentials in this matter. What are they exactly?
If you are willing to equally blame sugar and HFCS then I'm with you. If you single out HFCS as the cause or even a significant contributer to the obesity epidemic, I'm going to ask for valid proof of that claim.
But by now we all know that no such proof exists, even after years of trying to prove such bullshit in vain attempts to single out a boogie man as the cause of our ever growing waist lines.
I also find your position that people are not responsible for their bodies and diets alarming, and a HUGE part of the problem.
The ONLY differences in society that directly correlates with the obesity epidemic is LIFESTYLE. And the bulk of the extra 300 calories is not just sugars, it's starches as well. Not just sodas are the problem, but munchies too. And that makes sense, because sedentary people have far more time to munch while sitting on their asses all day, and all evening.
Here is a breakdown of the added calories between 1982 and 2000:
Of that 300- calorie increase, grains (mainly refined grains) accounted for 46 percent; added fats, 24 percent; added sugars, 23 percent; fruits and vegetables, 8 percent; and the meat and dairy groups together, declined by 1 percent.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/public...DEC2002/frvol25i3a.pdf
(Page 2.)
GRAINS, mainly refined grains, make up the bulk of the added calories. Yes, sugars and added fats are there signifigantly, but the bulk is refined grains. What are refined grains mixed with sugar and added fats? MUNCHIES. That's the very contents of your average munchie.
So, you see, it's not as simple as just sugars or the ever evil HFCS. It's a mixture of things adding up to one very simple conclusion: Munchies. You may not be old enough, but I am old enough to remember how supermarkets have changed since the 70s. In the 70s, chips, crackers and snacks had a small portion of one aisle in supermarkets. Now chips have their own aisle, crackers their own aisle, and snacks in their own aisle as well. And yes, along with the explosion in munchies has been an expansion of sodas and soda consumption, but not nearly as dramatic as the explosion in the snack and munchie market.
So you see, it IS a personal responsibility issue. As we became more sedentary with the advent of cable/sat TV, video games and the internet, we started munching more and more at the same time. Which is easy to understand because idle time on the couch is munching time. Just look at what people do in theaters. It's tradition to eat while sitting idle.
And finally, I rely on real data and valid studies. You, it seems, rely on... well, I don't know. Your "credentials?"