"Fast food accounts for minority of calories but gets all the focus

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Intersesting paper by Prof Mike Gibney of UCD

Fast food accounts for ‘minority of calories’ but gets all the focus


Fast-food and soft drinks account for “a minority” of calories we consume but we focus on those items while ignoring foods such as potatoes, chicken and meat which account for most of our calorie intake, Prof [broken link removed], head of UCD’s centre for food and health, said yesterday.
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He said this “tsunami of lard” tended to come in waves throughout centuries and by blaming one thing we were ignoring the complexity of the problem. Hippocrates [who was born in 460 BC] wrote in his essay on the Scythians that the girls were “amazingly flabby and podgy” while obesity was common in ancient Rome.
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What is fast food if not deep fried potatoes, chicken and meat (amongst other things) Brendan! :D
 
Have you ever noticed the very elderly... I meant those who get to their 90s and over the century mark.
I have yet to see one who is overweight...

That said, I dunno if I want to get to my 90s or go over the 100 mark unless I have all my senses about me...
 
Bronte said:
In the US pizza is officially classified as a vegetable.

I read an article that said people are now putting McDonalds food into a blender to give to babies. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that really. McD no doubt have acres of verified scientific data on how good their food is for you.
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I think it said one person did that. Would be wary of saying 'people' are doing it. At least I hope so!
 
Sue Ellen said:
I hope they're not salt and vinegar flavour because the salt would be bad for ya ;)
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Friend of mine used to pick carrot cake for dessert, cos there are carrots in it, so it's healthy. ;) ( She was joking, honest!)
 
DB74 said:
Obesity comes solely from too many calories anyway and not the type of food eaten

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

I would be worried about the long-term effects of such a diet though
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Hmmm, that's not a reasonable study though. He halved his calorie intake, which would always have an effect. However, he should have tried to consume at the recommended intake and see what the results were.

A few interesting studies covered here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_calorie_is_a_calorie


Plus there is this from a few months ago where on average we actually eat less calories than our parents and grandparents did, but we are fatter.

http://m.thegrocer.co.uk/Article/344282
 
It's not strictly true to say that a calorie is a calorie. There are differences in how different foodstuffs are processed by the body.
 
Latrade said:
Plus there is this from a few months ago where on average we actually eat less calories than our parents and grandparents did, but we are fatter.

http://m.thegrocer.co.uk/Article/344282
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Were they in better shape though because there was more manual labour, cars weren't as freely accessible as now, so more walking was done, there was no couch potato lifestyle etc? Basically, they weren't as lazy as some of the newer generations have become?
 
It's a simple equation; energy in versus energy out. The two should be the same.
 
PaddyW said:
Were they in better shape though because there was more manual labour, cars weren't as freely accessible as now, so more walking was done, there was no couch potato lifestyle etc? Basically, they weren't as lazy as some of the newer generations have become?
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I think there's got to be some of that (or a lot of that), given my Nan cooked everything with in lard or with suet, you can hardly say the food was "healthier". Plus thanks to the evil corporate giants of the world we now have cheap fruit and veg available consistently throughout the year.

So the sedentary jobs and lifestyle must be a big factor in weight gain rather than diets.
 
Latrade said:
I think there's got to be some of that (or a lot of that), given my Nan cooked everything with in lard or with suet, you can hardly say the food was "healthier".
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lol You won't go too far wrong if you stick with what your granny ate. There are many people, including me, who don't like putting industrialised, inflammatory vegetable oils in to our bodies. I only cook in lard , dripping, butter, ghee or coconut oil.
What amazes me is that we have never had more of the low fat propaganda thrown at us and yet obesity and diabetes are on the increase! Advertising is powerful - you only have to look at the the statin manufacturers to see that . You won't hear too many drug companies going on about lipoprotein A, C reactive protein, fibrinogen levels, homosysteine levels etc. in the blood. Now why is that I wonder ?
 
demoivre said:
lol You won't go too far wrong if you stick with what your granny ate. There are many people, including me, who don't like putting industrialised, inflammatory vegetable oils in to our bodies. I only cook in lard , dripping, butter, ghee or coconut oil.
What amazes me is that we have never had more of the low fat propaganda thrown at us and yet obesity and diabetes are on the increase! Advertising is powerful - you only have to look at the the statin manufacturers to see that . You won't hear too many drug companies going on about lipoprotein A, C reactive protein, fibrinogen levels, homosysteine levels etc. in the blood. Now why is that I wonder ?
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Not all vegetable oils are industrialised, so while I agree, I wouldn't go that far. Plus, we use the term clarified butter rather than ghee, just for childish reasons.

Advertising has always been powerful, though we prefer to pretend it isn't, and companies have always sold on the basis of dubious science. Even from the early days of everything containing radon as being good for you to companies inventing (or at least classifying) bad breath and body order to sell products.
 
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