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No mandates over food choices (long but interesting)
- Mar 20, 2010 at 7:56 PM
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- Comments (11) Total Views (422) Everyone can see this journal post.
The obesity problem is up for more media coverage these days and it has me thinking about it once again. I have faced this in a personal way several times. The idea of a 'fat tax' goes against my best judgment and a fair amount of research and personal experience.
I hold a strange, rare and unpopular belief about human nutrition. I have lived it and I have researched it. I have read studies and I have conferred with lots (hundreds) of people who had the same experience. Without exception each one of us has improved our lipid panels (like cholesterol) and cardiac health to the point of having our doctors reduce and discontinue our meds (for those who had heart trouble), resolved blood sugar issues of either type, lost fat (not muscle), and improved our outward signs of health such as hair, skin, energy, and mood. We experience negative health consequences when we lose our resolve and go off our chosen diets (diet as in what you eat, not as in losing weight for your high school reunion) because it can be somewhat difficult.
What regimen are we following that would be threatened by governmental mandates designed to influence public eating choices? We eat mostly fat in our diets. We don't eat fats and carbohydrates together, such as french fries and desserts. As a matter of fact, the bulk of the carbs we eat are in vegetables with some cheese and eggs. Butter on our veggies helps tremendously but green and yellow vegetables have low enough carb counts that it doesn't hurt.
High protein is not necessarily a feature of these diets but we are careful to eat adequate levels of protein. Low carb diets as described by doctors in the most popular books of this nature are not typically high protein. Only some 0 carb plans are structured that way. There is a big difference. It is a very unpopular notion and I am not here to preach to anyone as to how they should eat. Our docs have seen our improvements. Natural dietary fat (anything not manufactured, such as trans fats) is metabolically inert in the absence of carbohydrates. That means your pancreas is not aware of it and the chemical reactions that convert dietary fat to body fat which are the 'job' of that organ are not stimulated.
So, while I would not ever force you to eat my way, I strongly resent the possibility that I would be legally punished for eating the way I believe is best. That choice should not be taken away from anyone. At the moment I am recovering from going off my diet. I have re-launched it and am having better results since I also deleted wheat. If it works like it has in the past, I will lose well over five pounds a month. It's not easy, but neither is eating very low calories or low fat if that's what you crave. That doesn't make it a bad plan and I don't want to be punished for my discipline when I manage to stay on plan for the rest of my life.
Comments:
Sadly it isn't even that much thought. It isn't about carbs and protein. It isn't about fat or no fat. We have to get off our butts and move and we have to eat close to nature.
Rules of thumb-
*if it is made in nature and supposed to be food eat as much as you want.
*If it is made in nature but has to be changed in any way eat less.
*If it comes in a package eat very little.
I have actually been doing some reading and experimenting with a vegetarian diet, though I still eat meat so I can't claim myself to be a vegetarian. I do try to limit it, though, and I feel better and lose weight more easily when I reduce or eliminate meat from my diet.
I don't know much about the "fat tax" but just by the name it sounds very unethical, IMO.
French fries + Wendy's frosty = Ultimate fat and carb combo
:P
I think a fat tax sounds absolutely disgusting on many levels.
Of course we all are trying to figure out our best combination. I am just concerned that the foods I consider to be good for optimal human nutrition are soon to be banned because the grain business has such a huge lobby and we may soon be penalized for eating fats. The necessity to focus on preventive medicine is serious but it needs to be on a personal level, not on a political one. When our health care system starts to crumble under its own weight, there will be cries for prevention and fats will be the first culprit. We will see diabetes soar and obesity increase, just as it has since the beginning of the low fat paradigm in nutrition since the 1980s. It will just be a vicious cycle.
I agree.... my mom is in the process of finding a diet that works, for HER. And I think that that is so important, aside from everyone having their own body (what works great for you, or in theory may just not work great for EVERY body), we shouldn't be punished for the choices that we choose to make- whether it means we are bettering our body, or making it worse.
After all, the government doesn't own my body, you don't own my body- I do.
Great thoughts...thanks for sharing. I agree!
The thing is... our bodies NEED good fats our diets. So many people forget that.
I wish that the governement would stop trying to micro manage my life. Most people would be LIVID if a boss/company started to tell us that we couldn't have our coffee/chips/chocolate in the afternoon!
Even if the fat tax goes threw, I will still eat the way I have always eatten. I'm always on the run and nothing in my life is going to change. So I will still grab Pepsi and fast snack foods. To me the fat tax is just another way the government can make more money off of us.
Eating on the run does NOT mean you have to eat crap.. nuts, dried fruit, lots of stuff that is healthful is easy and cheaper than fast food, candy and soda.. I used to eat that way- and felt like crap cuz that is what I ate.. now I have removed gluten (wheat+)/corn/soy from my diet and I feel MUCH better..
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Personal freedom comes with personal responsibility. Sadly, many Americans cannot be responsible for their own person- therefore the Government feels that they cannot handle the freedom. If only people realized how insulting this is! It's like your mother telling you what you can and cannot have as an adult- you'd be irritated! But you let strangers do so without question?
People need to get a clue... or deal with the consequences of their actions.
- HistoryMamaX3
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