Corporate Responsiblity for Obesity

Dave Head writes:

I drove around until I found the 2 1/2 oz, 400 calorie bag of
peanuts.

Try skipping the 400-calorie bag of peanuts, and go for a walk instead
of driving around.

But should it be that hard to do the right thing?

How hard can it be to sit behind the wheel of a car?

Its not about _me_ doing or not doing anything, its about the vast amount of
fat in this country that can be attributed to the placement of profit over
health, and the removal of sane portions of food from store shelves.

No, the vast amount of fat comes from vast amounts of overeating.

Who the hell needs 20 oz of soda, anyway.

Nobody, but apparently a lot of people want it, at least in the U.S.

Well, don't buy that much in the 1st place ...

So what is the motivation behind your crusade? Public service?

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Dave Head writes:

Its about all those people that just buy a Coke or Pepsi, and all the stuff
that's there is in 20 oz. bottles, where 10 years ago it would have been in a
12 oz can, and 40 years ago it would have been in an 8 oz bottle. Why is
America getting so fat? That's one of the big reasons.

No. The big reason is that they are _drinking_ 20 oz of Coke instead
of just 8 oz. But nothing about the size of the bottle forces them to
drink any particular amount. Restaurants have tanks filled with
Coca-Cola, but nobody is drinking 20 litres at a time from the taps.

Its driven by
corporate self-interest at the expense of the American health situation, and
that's just not right.

What's not right is the lack of personal responsibility in America.
Nobody wants to accept any responsibility for anything--it's always
Someone Else's fault. Fat people are among the worst offenders.

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Dave Head writes:

Hey, I'm eating just about equal to my metabolism, and cranking in maybe 5000
calories a week of exercise. Can _you_ match that?

At times I've done more than that _per day_.

But it's not what you do for a month, it's what you do for a lifetime.

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Dave Head writes:

The charts are broken, espcially after this latest release of BMI ...

Let me guess: A secret conspiracy of corporate fast-food peddlers has
adulterated the BMI tables!

Naw, it might be a little overweight.

It's more than a little overweight. Eat fewer peanuts in the car--in
fact, stop driving a car, and walk.

I think I can justify about 200 of it - my personal trainer says I could lose
20... which I'm going to do, and have a good time doing it.

Right. Real Soon Now.

Its not about me... its about offering the American public only the wrong
choices.

The walls of this newsgroup must be extremely smooth, since the same
texts keep echoing back into every post.

I'm just not happy with having the country get fatter and fatter, simply
because some corporations want to make more money.

You just want to avoid responsibility for your own obesity. Nobody is
fooled, especially here.

3 big ones. Never again.

A diet is something you adopt for life, not something you do
temporarily.

2

Eat just one, then.

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Karstens Rage writes:

We can all sit on our sanctimonious high horses and scream "personal
responsibility" as long and and as loud as we like. Unfortunately it
isn't helping. Self-control is very hard and I applaud all of you that
seem to have an overabundance. I applaud myself when I have it too. But
the bottom line is that other people's lack of self control is affecting
everyone. Health care, junk food in schools, and the constant testing of
our own resolve.

So what do you suggest? The only alternative to self-control is ...
external control. Do you want other people to control your life for
you? I don't.

I work in a relatively progressive place but because there are two free
vending machines full of junk food and two fridges full of soda, I have
to bring all my own food.

You'd have to do the same if the vending machines and fridges weren't
there.

So you are welcome to blame me for my lack of self control.

It's your life, not mine.

You are welcome to blame every fat person you see (I try to take
extremely good care of my body and I find that I struggle constantly;
its never easy in this culture). But how is that helping?

It isolates the real problem. Anyone who faces the real problem can
lose weight; anyone who denies the real problem cannot.

If you are willing to accept that people lack the necessary
self control ...

People who lack self-control will become obese and die young. That's
their problem, not mine.

... then how are you going to solve the problem without removing
the temptation.

I'm not. The problem is not mine to solve. I worry only about my own
weight. Controlling someone else's weight is the responsibility of
the person in question, not me.

The temptation is force fed to us by the corporations who have no
motivations other than money.

Weak people yield to temptation; strong people do not.

I will look to start blaming individuals rather than corporations when...

.... you get the first or second emergency bypass.

- people have to spend an inordinate percentage of their time, effort
and income to get junk food.

Junk food doesn't make people fat--overeating makes people fat. Even
if you can only eat junk food, you don't have to eat any more than
necessary to keep you alive. You don't have to become obese.

- people are inundated with billions of dollars worth of marketing about
how you are only a good person if you eat healthy food.

That's happening already. But marketing often has little effect.

- when doctors start prescribing exercise and healthy diet rather an a
little white pill to take care of all your ills.

Doctors have been doing that for decades. They go blue in the face
telling their fat patients to eat less and exercise.

- when government outlaws the sale and advertising of junk food to minors

Most obese people are adults.

- when all junk food carries warning labels about obesity, risk of
heart disease, cancer, etc.

People stupid enough to overeat are too stupid to pay attention to
warnings.

I'm sorry that you lack self-control, but I don't want to sacrifice my
civil liberties just to accommodate your weakness. Take
responsibility for your own life, and stop expecting others to run it
for you.

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Carol Frilegh writes:

I am off to have 20 almonds and can manage that all on my own without
corprate assistance. I bought the almonds in bulk, not packaged and
fortunately can count to twenty amd take responsibilty for the
appropriate portion limitations.

How do you resist the temptation to eat all of them at once? Isn't
the bulk seller conspiring to make you eat 40 lbs of almonds at a
sitting?

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Dave Head writes:

Don't need to - I'm doing quite nicely eating 2. as long as I stay at or under
my metabolism of about 2400 calories... everything is cool.

So how did you get to 220 lbs?

But I like 'em... now _this_ _is_ about me - having a good time without feeling
hungry any time.

You don't need to snack to avoid feeling hungry.

I could do that, but then I'd be hungry... that is sooo unpleasant.

It must be even more unpleasant than diabetes and congestive heart
failure, if you continue to avoid it.

Hey, mostly I don't overeat anyway.

If you overeat even occasionally, you'll still get fat.

2400 calories is a lotta food - I don't
usually go much over that. But lately I've been knocking down that 2400 to
about 1000 - 1200 with 1200 - 1400 calories of exercise. Fat _does_ disappear
when you're doing that.

It's hard to get 1400 kcal of exercise. That's nearly five hours of
walking.

There are people that can eat the statue of liberty done in chocolate and not
get fat... my brother was one of 'em.

There isn't anyone who can overeat and remain thin. People who are
not fat are people who do not overeat.

There are also people that have extremely active jobs - lumberjacks,
construction workers (some of 'em that aren't sitting down operating cranes).

The vast majority of Americans do not have such jobs, and yet many are
still thin.

Some of 'em are just naturally on the side of not wanting much food,
and not getting hungry with the frequency and intensity of other.

Some are not addicted to overeating, that's true. But addiction is
psychological and can be overcome.

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In article , Mxsmanic
wrote:

Carol Frilegh writes:

I am off to have 20 almonds and can manage that all on my own without
corprate assistance. I bought the almonds in bulk, not packaged and
fortunately can count to twenty amd take responsibilty for the
appropriate portion limitations.

How do you resist the temptation to eat all of them at once? Isn't
the bulk seller conspiring to make you eat 40 lbs of almonds at a
sitting?

I have succumbed on many occasions. I keep a clip on the bag but
usually grind most of the nuts in a food processor as I bake with them
instead of grain flour.

Dave here's where you should be venting:

http://www.kraft.com/contacts/

http://www.heinz.com/jsp/consumer_contact.jsp



http://www.bluediamond.com/food/contacts/index.cfm

Nunya B. wrote:

Corporations have a responsibility to their shareholders and that's
basically it. The reason they install air bags and make crush zones is
because of laws and because of sales.

If people wanted smaller portion snacks and lower calorie items, they'll be
available. However, take the fast food industry for example - they've
attempted numerous times to put healthier items on their menu but the items
don't sell and they lose money on the proposition.

The facts are that you are solely responsible for your own best interests
and shouldn't be looking for corporate entities or big brother type
government to look out for your back.

Here here!

Dally