Government’s Dietary Advice: Eat Less

[kpete]

Government’s Dietary Advice: Eat Less

By ANDREW MARTIN
Published: January 31, 2011

As the nation’s obesity crisis continues unabated, federal regulators on Monday issued their bluntest nutrition advice to date: drink water instead of sugary drinks like soda, fill your plate with fruits and vegetables and cut down on processed foods filled with sodium, fat or sugar.

More important, perhaps, the government told Americans, “Enjoy your food, but eat less.” Many Americans eat too many calories every day, expanding their waistlines and imperiling their health.

While the recommendations may seem obvious, it is nonetheless considered major progress for federal regulators, who have long skirted the issue, wary of the powerful food lobby. (The 112-page report even subtly suggests that people eat less pizza and dessert.)

......................

“For them to have said ‘eat less’ is really new. Who would have thought?” said Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We should have been saying ‘eat less’ for a decade.”

The Rest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/business/01food.html?hp

[Obamanaut]

1. And move more. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. WOW they are finally going there!

The AG and Milk boards will be annoyed.

[Fridays Child]

3. And then some!

They'll be all over this. Wait for it.

[grasswire]

14. I love the shirt in your sig

It's so me.

[Fridays Child]

27. Thanks!

:hi:

[grasswire]

4. to say nothing of the restaurant industry that has been racing to stuff people

All those commercials and ads about being "full" and "man-size" and double size and so on. UGH! It's an epidemic and the food industry has encouraged it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. These days I order the senior portions and even those

are close to too much... heck of a way.

[Pholus]

11. Well, *I* don't eat out at all anymore.

I guess I beat y'all in the lifestyle purity bragging contest, right?

Good thing it's the internet and my videocam is busted. :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. We are close to that due to MY food allergies

but from time to time I feel like NOT cooking

[DJ13]

5. With food commodity prices spiking due to the government allowing speculation

I think many people wont have any choice about eating less.

[Mz Pip]

7. There have been times

when I have gone to a restaurant and brought home a doggie bag that has provided me with lunch for 2 days.

I see the ads on TV for meals at popular chain restaurants and wonder how anyone could possibly consume that much food in one meal.

Even so, at my age, I have to work at keeping my BMI at a reasonable level. Staying healthy is hard work. Unfortunately, a lot of people think it should require no effort at all. Sigh.

[Skittles]

8. it's good advice

me, I find it easier to exercise an hour every day than to eat less

[Initech]

9. As seen in this week's issue of DUH! Magazine.

[Modern_Matthew]

10. Leave dietary advice to the fitness experts. Now where's them jobs you promised? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Actually that IS public health

part of what they do.

[flvegan]

15. Fruits and vegetables? The vegetarian apocalypse is now upon you.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

*snicker*

[struggle4progress]

17. It's not funny. I was just mugged by a bowl of raw broccoli and cherry tomatos

:scared:

[flvegan]

19. You're lucky the asparagus wasn't involved.

[unkachuck]

16. "Enjoy your food, but eat less."

....but many people have been taught, eating too much IS enjoying your food....now who would do such a thing?

....food processors and restaurants should be forced to produce healthier products across the board; they're killing us with high volume and low nutrition...it's todays' version of yesterdays' cigarettes - they're culling the herd for Social Security while creating profits for corporate healthcare providers....

....most busy people find it difficult to tally all aspects of daily nutrition....most busy people find it impossible to take 100% control over their daily meal preparations....should our government help? Don't ask me, "Take your time, but hurry up."

[dionysus]

28. "....food processors and restaurants should be forced to produce"

is where you went wrong

[RegieRocker]

18. The ecconomic situation should take care of some of this.

[Obamanaut]

20. When will we see the exclamations here that "It's your 'set point' that makes

you big. Your body 'knows' what weight you should be."

And "eat less, move more doesn't work."

"It's in your genes. You have an over active fat gene issue."

And the ever popular "Diets don't work." That one is true, fad diets really don't. But attention to your diet, controlling what goes down your throat, is the diet that does work.

So it appears there is something to be said for 'eat less.' Imagine that!

[Pholus]

21. Right after the lifestyle snobs make their appearance. Oh....wait.

But I guess people have to have *something* that makes them feel superior to the rabble, right?

[Obamanaut]

24. Or the realists who know that running to the kitchen to get another

plate of cookies should not be considered aerobic exercise.

[Pholus]

26. Snobbery is never pretty.

But by all means get it out of your system if you need to.

A word of advice though.

Please associate your "realistic" banality with another handle. It's offensive to see this pettiness and intolerance associated with the President's name.

[Mimosa]

22. This is the same Gov which came up with the carb heavy 'food pyramid'

I remember in the 1980s when the government was using ads all over the place to push a carb heavy food pyramid. That, in part, became just a part of the bad information which helped people become fatter.

Now, with 'eat less', they're masters of the obvious. *rolling eyes*

Here's a good article from the LA Times.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/20/health/la-he-carbs-20101220

Excerpt:

"Fat is not the problem," says Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If Americans could eliminate sugary beverages, potatoes, white bread, pasta, white rice and sugary snacks, we would wipe out almost all the problems we have with weight and diabetes and other metabolic diseases."

It's a confusing message. For years we've been fed the line that eating fat would make us fat and lead to chronic illnesses. "Dietary fat used to be public enemy No. 1," says Dr. Edward Saltzman, associate professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University. "Now a growing and convincing body of science is pointing the finger at carbs, especially those containing refined flour and sugar."

Americans, on average, eat 250 to 300 grams of carbs a day, accounting for about 55% of their caloric intake. The most conservative recommendations say they should eat half that amount. Consumption of carbohydrates has increased over the years with the help of a 30-year-old, government-mandated message to cut fat.

And the nation's levels of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease have risen. "The country's big low-fat message backfired," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "The overemphasis on reducing fat caused the consumption of carbohydrates and sugar in our diets to soar. That shift may be linked to the biggest health problems in America today."

[GSLevel9]

23. so how many millions were spent

on this study?

Lol... same old stuff we've been told the last 50 years.

[mentalsolstice]

25. As someone who has been overweight and underweight...

I'm glad the gov't is taking this issue on, as long as no person is ostracized,either way. I've been obese, and my mom still very is. I've seen the stares, people watching you, as an obese person, eat in a restaurant, impatient because they have to move their chairs to let you by, when I was 220 lbs. On the other hand, I've been so skinny, at 90 lbs. that people would stare...the veins in my arms stood out like ropes. Now, I'm 50 y.o., 5'2", around 120-130 lbs, and I've maintained that situation for many years. We as a nation needs to eat better. I'm not big into sweets, and I'm a big veggie person. I prefer fish over meat...My diet has worked out for me. I eat a lot, but I've learned how to eat natural carbs and lean meat. I hope the Obama administration will promote healthy eating, and I applaud their efforts to do so.

It's not a fix for the morbidly obese, but it's a start for people before they get to that point. Additionally, in my perfect world, people who are obese or morbidly obese would get affordable, non-judgmental treatment.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. Don't you know that fat is a moral failing, on DU?

Lots of people here think that every fat person sits on the couch, stuffs their face with junk food, and never moves.
They refuse to believe that glandular and metabolic problems exist. Forty million Americans with thyroid problems doesn't sound like a rare condition to me. Glandular disruptions such as hypothyroidism and diabetes tend to be inherited and auto-immune related.

What I have heard all my life: "Eat! Eat! You eat like a bird". I got YELLED AT constantly when I was a kid because I wouldn't eat my grandmothers shitty boil it to death southern cooking. I also have a lot of food allergies. As a kid I did not know they were allergies, but I knew they were disagreeable. In high school I would eat pizza with bell peppers and it would come back up an hour later. This started to clue me in as to what I needed to avoid.

I refused to eat tomatoes because they are acid, or bell peppers, or lots of other things that either upset my stomach or I am allergic to.

And that was before I got fat.

I eat when I am hungry, I stop when I am full. I do not eat too much and get sick. I have plenty of self-control. I don't eat when I'm bored or anxious or any of those other emotional conditions. I have a healthy, sane relationship with food, unlike the bossy grandmother from hell who couldn't understand why I wouldn't eat her crappy food.

According to the sanctimonious on DU, I should not be fat because I don't overeat.

I was at some previous in-laws' house one Thanksgiving. I had one plate of food that was moderately full. The in laws told me I NEEDED to get another plateful of food and eat it. I told them, "No, I am NOT going to eat another plate of food and make myself sick just because you want me to. No."

They GLARED at me like I was a bad person. :banghead:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. kick