patrick.net

The comments on CalculatedRisk suggest that this tiny uptick is just a blip on the way down. I'm inclined to agree.

Re: diets

I've found that trying to cut down on HFCS results in a healthier diet; but then I've never been a big carb fan; I naturally tend to meat and veggies. My take is, have the incoming calories balance out the outgoing calories, and minimize foods that come in a box, and you'll do fine.

Buffets are usually bad. All you can eat for a fixed price? I bet they do not have many items with high marginal costs.

Peter P,

Were you referring to the "Dark Towers of Financial Doom" that have been sold almost exclusively to flippers and are dark at night (save for a few lights)?

Were you referring to the “Dark Towers of Financial Doom” that have been sold almost exclusively to flippers and are dark at night (save for a few lights)?

Exactly.

Yeah, uh..... carbs. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and could eat pasta 6 nights a week if you'd let me. We've tried to switch to wheat pasta but it must be an aquired taste. And potatoes? How do you make a meal w/out them?

@Jon,

Exactly. For most people (SQT and professional marathon runners excluded), it's almost impossible to lose weight through exercise alone, unless you also combine it with a healthier diet & fewer calories. The amount of exercise it would take to burn off all the empty calories from a typical obses person's diet is staggering --and for most people, unrealistic.

To me, reducing food intake is analogous to reducing debt intake. Ridding oneself of McAlbatross jumbo mortgage, useless bling, leased SUVs, redundant plasmas, etc. is a whole lot easier than getting those 2 extra jobs. Downsizing --whether food or debt-- requires far less effort, is more sustainable and puts YOU in control of your lifestyle & health.

DinOR raises an excellent point. If I had easy access to garlic mashed potatoes I'd be in trouble! At least during soccer season my workouts beat the "powder puff" gym workouts.

I agree. I think a fair solution is to reduce the length of patents and have governement only subsidize the generics. The main key is to minimize moral hazard.

Reducing the patent will reduce incentive for developing new drugs because the period of enhanced profit will be shorter.

On the other hand, if patents are longer then companies will be compelled to develop new drugs to go around patents for competition.

So longer patents are actually better.

We should make the development/approval cycle cheaper and shorters though.

Also, we as a society need to learn to accept more mishaps.

Drugs companies should not be sued for liability if they are not criminally negligent.

Why are people so worried after a just few E Coli deaths? People die every day.

@DinOR,

I still eat pasta & even pizza (thin crust of course :-) ) on occasion, though obviously not as often. The key thing for me is LOW-carb, not NO-carb. It's actually more accurate to call it a low-SUGAR or low-REFINED carbs diet.

A lot of people have the misconception (mainly thanks to Dean Ornish & other reflexive, intolerant Atkins-haters) that Atkins = zero carbs or zero veggies/fruits. Not true. It's just that the carbs you do eat should come mostly in naturally occuring forms: nuts, fruits, beans & green, leafy vegetables (the eColi spinach scare's been a real bummer, btw... :-( ). Almost anyone can adapt a basic low-carb diet to meet their personal tastes & dietary needs.

On the other hand, if patents are longer then companies will be compelled to develop new drugs to go around patents for competition.

This assumes that the patent applies to the drug and not the technique. A patent on a drug that targets a particular receptor is good, a patent on a technique critical to the production of an entire class of drugs is somewhat more anticompetitive.

(I'm in favor of drug patents, but against software patents in part for this reason.)

(I’m in favor of drug patents, but against software patents in part for this reason.)

I agree. Are software patents ever enforceable though?

I still don’t know how you do it. I like meat, but the idea of that much makes me ill. I need fruit to stay sane.

@SQT,

A popular misconception, perpetuated mainly by people who have a visceral hatred of Atkins and his methods. See my comments to DinOR above. I eat vegetables and/or salads practically every single day. If you are moderately vegan (eggs & fish ok, but no meat), then you can handle the diet just fine. If you are a militant hard-core vegan, then it would be quite difficult.

@SFWoman,

Your lifestyle you describe is essentially what is touted as so great and fantastic in that book, "Why French Women Don't Get Fat." It's basically a lot of common sense and moderation.

If you are a militant hard-core vegan, then it would be quite difficult.

Very.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you that courts would award damages if criminal negligence did not occur!

Hmm... The one-click patent nonsense seemed to hold up, but I think they passed that off as a business method patent. Wait.. are those patentable? It's been some time since I watched that debate. Personally, I'd be happy if the PO started applying the "novel" and "nonobvious" tests instead of assuming the courts would clean up after them.

@SQT,

Posted before I saw your comment --I agree. I believe the old 2-week induction phase was unnecessary and helped give the diet a bad name. Most people just assume the extreme no-carbs phase IS the diet and don't bother researching any further.

A lot of people think that if they exercise a little they can eat like crazy but that’s really the wrong way to think about it.

On the other hand, if you exercise for a large enough portion of the day, you'll be too busy to find time to eat.

SP, we need lobby groups who have sufficient resources to fight the proliferation of global vegetarianism.

If some people become fat because they make silly choices, so be it.

@SFGuy,

Yes, I've seen that stuff. Unfortunately, I think much of the increasing obesity is due to global proliferation of the American lifestyle. I was surprised the last time I was in Europe that there were so many US-style big box stores. There are tons of McDonald's, KFC's and Pizza Huts. European kids exercise less, too. More insidiously, there has been a proliferation of packaged foods throughout Europe and beyond, ala the "middle aisles" of US supermarkets. Trans-fats for everyone!

I don't know if you've read about this, but NYC is considering banning trans-fats from all its restaurants. What you might not have known is that Denmark and the Netherlands already do this, and Spain never adopted trans-fats very much. However, the EU is fighting the Danish ban - it would make it "hard" on the food industry.

I don’t know if you’ve read about this, but NYC is considering banning trans-fats from all its restaurants.

We should be fair though. Arguments from all sides must be reviewed.

http://www.trans-fatfacts.com/

Over the past decade, the obesity rate among French children has doubled, from 6% to 12%, and between 1997 and 2003 the percentage of overweight and obese adults jumped from 37% to 42%. That growth curve parallels the one in the U.S. about 10 years ago.

It seems that the so-called "French Paradox" is about to be resolved. They are on track with the U.S. after all, just 10 years behind. :-(

I do not want trans-fat banned for the same reason why I do not want horse-meat or whale-hunting banned. The slope is very slippery.

We should be fair though. Arguments from all sides must be reviewed.

@Peter P,

Do you work for the food industry? Again, if you click on the link at the bottom of your link ("About Us"), it forwards to, guess what, the Center for Consumer Freedom yet again, the same group that gave us the obesity is not a problem. These guys remind me of the tobacco industry lobbying groups.

This site is completely WRONG. There is OVERWHELMING evidence that trans-fats increase mortality from heart disease. And this is from multiple well-designed epidemiologic studies from several countries. Based on these studies, the amount of mortality benefit you get from either quitting smoking or taking lipitor, say, is completely wiped out by the increased mortality risk by just eating an extra doughnut every morning.

But maybe we’ll find a way out of it and lead the Euros back to proper food.

But what is proper food?

We just need people to know all the facts and make their own choices.

I eat many things people considered maligned.

Do you work for the food industry?

I wish.

I don't know about that, Peter P. Trans-fat is nasty, nasty stuff. It's not a naturally occuring compound (requires heating oils to very high temperatures), so it does not break down in the body easily. Not really fit for human consumption, IMO. Of course, it greatly prolongs shelf life for packaged, highly processed foods, so naturally trans-fat (along with HFCS) is the darling of snack foods & dessert manufacturers.

Peter P Says:

I do not want trans-fat banned for the same reason why I do not want horse-meat or whale-hunting banned. The slope is very slippery.

I'm just as libertarian as the next housing bubble blogger, BUT, there has to be some kind of regulation on this, I must say. I do not want to go to a local bistro and get steak frites (once in a blue moon, of course) and worry that they used partially hydrogenated oils to fry the frites. I'd be perfectly happy with full disclosure. You don't realize how much of our food supply is tainted with the stuff.

If you're worried about a "slippery slope," we should legalize recreational drugs, abandon the speed limit, and legalize prostitution. They're all "choices," after all.

I would avoid trans-fat if at all possible. Even the site admits that it is unhealthy. But should it be banned?

I agree that restaurants should probably disclose any use of trans-fat though.

If you’re worried about a “slippery slope,” we should legalize recreational drugs, abandon the speed limit, and legalize prostitution. They’re all “choices,” after all.

Excessive speed has externalities on roads and other people's safety. I am not against decriminalizing drugs and prostitution.

@Peter P,
But restaurants and food manufacturers are "slipping" trans fats into our food supply without our knowledge (until this year for packaged foods, at least). This creates "externalities" that affect a far greater number of people in this country compared to auto accidents, for instance.

Excessive speed has externalities on roads and other people’s safety. I am not against decriminalizing drugs and prostitution.

Agree. Victimless crimes should not be crimes.

But restaurants and food manufacturers are “slipping” trans fats into our food supply without our knowledge (until this year for packaged foods, at least). This creates “externalities” that affect a far greater number of people in this country compared to auto accidents, for instance.

Then perhaps a law requiring disclosure is more appropriate? I would never knowingly use or consume trans-fat.

BTW,
Chicago (DinOR would be glad to know) is also considering a trans-fat ban.

Agree. Victimless crimes should not be crimes.

Exactly.

Consciously making some decisions should have implications to your Health Care. i.e. if you decide to smoke 3 packs a day, I do not want to pay for your lung cancer!

@J Galt,

Bingo! Thanks for bringing it back to the thread topic. The bigger problem is that most Americans want the gluttony (and other vices), but they don't want to pay for the consequences.

Consciously making some decisions should have implications to your Health Care. i.e. if you decide to smoke 3 packs a day, I do not want to pay for your lung cancer!

I agree too.

SFWoman Says:

Popeye’s chicken uses pork fat to fry in. I asked them.

Thank goodness for lard! Honestly, though, lard is better for you than trans-fats. I wish McDonalds would go back to frying their fries in lard. It would at least be the better of 2 evils.

Lard is good.

Said it before, I'll say it again:

Excessive junk food intake is analogous to excessive debt intake.

jumbo McAlbatross ~ jumbo McWaistline
subprime mortgage ~ sub-par junk food
useless bling ~ empty calories
leased SUVs ~ super-size McMeal
extra plasmas ~ extra fridges
NAAVLP ~ trans-fat

I was considered a bit zaftig and was told by a sales clerk that I had giant breasts once.

Please supply photos, so the uh, "experts", here at Patrick.net can evaluate more thoroughly.