One out of five people reading this post are overweight, terribly overweight. They’re obese.
The St. Vincent Health website (central Indiana) lists the following causes of obesity:
Genetics
Culture
Physical inactivity
Emotional or psychological factors
Gender
Age
High-fat / High Calorie diet
Medical problems
Nowhere in the list is this mentioned:
True, the Golden Arches serves a lot of items high in fat and calories. But is McDonald's to blame for a nation of bloated waistlines?
Two years ago, a study group at the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggested 10 new causes for obesity:
1. Sleep debt. Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today's Americans get less shut-eye than ever.
2. Pollution. Hormones control body weight. And many of today’s pollutants affect our hormones.
3. Air conditioning. You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices.
4. Decreased smoking. Smoking reduces weight. Americans smoke much less than they used to.
5. Medicine. Many different drugs — including contraceptives, steroid hormones, diabetes drugs, some antidepressants, and blood pressure drugs — can cause weight gain. Use of these drugs is on the upswing.
6. Population age, ethnicity. Middle-aged people and Hispanic-Americans tend to be more obese than young European-Americans. Americans are getting older and more Hispanic.
7. Older moms. There's some evidence that the older a woman is when she gives birth, the higher her child's risk of obesity. American women are giving birth at older and older ages.
8. Ancestors' environment. Some influences may go back two generations. Environmental changes that made a grandparent obese may "through a fetally driven positive feedback loop" visit obesity on the grandchildren.
9. Obesity linked to fertility. There's some evidence obese people are more fertile than lean ones. If obesity has a genetic component, the percentage of obese people in the population should increase.
10. Unions of obese spouses. Obese women tend to marry obese men. If there are fewer thin people around — and if obesity has a genetic component — there will be still more obese people in the next generation.
They contend fast food and inactivity can lead to obesity, but are circumstantial factors often given too much attention as opposed to a host of other causes.
Regardless of medical research or common sense, liberal politicians know best. In the city of Los Angeles, the evil fast-food restaurants have been designated as the culprits for a certain section of the city being far too fat.
What’s the solution proposed by members of the city council? In essence, they want to ban “fast food restaurants,” placing a one-year moratorium on the opening of "any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."
Approved by a council committee, the moratorium must still pass the full council and the mayor.
Councilman Jose Huizar has problems with the way “fast food restaurant” is defined. For example, what does a “limited menu” mean?
"McDonald's has been increasing the number of items on their menu, so at what point would they exceed that definition?" Huizar said.
The do-gooders in LA haven’t quite figured that out.
Some places, like Subway complained. Subway makes their sandwiches fresh with no heat lamps.
But the intent is clear based on the premise that the restaurants are the villains and that personal responsibility has nothing to do with the problem. So, let’s not build any more Burger King’s. Uhhh, but these political geniuses forget that the moratorium won’t stop those fatties in LA from still going to any of the thousands of fast food joints that are still up and running.
Not only is the idea anti-business, it’s downright foolish. Let’s blame everyone and everything except the individual with questionable personal behavior. It’s that large, evil, corporate giant that insists on mass producing two all-beef patties, lettuce, special sauce, pickles, and cheese on a sesame seed bun. Los Angeles will show ‘em. And then one year from now, when LA is even fatter, what brilliant plan will they come up with next?
Read more in the LA Times.
To read previous Culinary no-no’s, please click CULINARY NO-NO under my TAGS section.
