I've been watching BBC2's The Men Who Made Us Fat

I watched Part 1 of The Men Who Made Us Fat on BBC2 last week. I must say it's a refreshing change to have some evidence-supported information about important causes of the dramatic rise in the incidence and severity of obesity and obesity-related ill-health instead of the usual incorrect propaganda.

In Part 1 it was explained how sugar is a major contributor to obesity and how since the second world war the USA's food industry has been ladling sugar, sugar and more sugar, into its processed junk food products, be they sweet or savoury. And another even more-dangerously obesogenic sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is also added to their food junk and their ghastly soft drinks. This corn product use is massively profitable for America's corn farmers and massively damaging to the health and weight of American citizens. - Especially when it is coupled with the ill-conceived (blame Ancel Keys) misinformation that low-fat food is a good way to lose weight (it isn't and it doesn't work) and that low fat intake is good for our health (it isn't). 

So those of us who were paying attention learned that although America purports to be a democracy and proclaims, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people," these days it's more like, "Government of the people, by the farm industry's political stooges, for the farm industry's profits, and to Hell with the well-being of the 'American people'".

On Thursday night I watched Part 2, in which it was explained that not content with changing America's food to obesogenic mass-manufactured highly-addictive crap, Big Business perverted civilised eating to a fast feeding process, with fast food outlets serving food fast to customers, who ate it fast (it didn't take too much chewing), sloshing it down with over-sweetened soft drinks, having queued for 'counter-service', so much speedier than table service. And furthermore, they increased portion sizes to ludicrous levels. - I found the gargantuan size of the drinks especially horrifying! 

Well America's citizens are now mostly pretty huge - well huge, certainly, but not so pretty... And they are so big that they almost look like another species. - And what does the food industry suggest as a remedy for this gross obesity problem caused in large part by the food industry itself? - Well, blame it on the victims of course! Like rapists used to do. - The victims need to eat less fat and take more exercise! (NOT)

But it is not lack of exercise that causes obesity, so taking more exercise does not and will not reduce obesity. Obesity causes inactivity, not the other way round, as I explain in my Mensa article. And as Professor Terry Wilkin of the Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry. explained in Thursday's programme. 

Professor Wilkin led a pioneering study into childhood weight gain and found that children do not gain weight because of inactivity and do not lose weight by taking exercise. The study had been commissioned by the government of the time, but the findings were unwelcome, so they were buried and funding stopped, and successive governments, few among them scientists, chose to heed the falsehoods of the food industry, i.e. cut down on fat, especially saturated fat, and take more exercise! - Oh dear! - Do you think it's too much like America's plight? - Government of the people, by Big Business interests, for the profits of the Food Industry and its mates? - What do you reckon? - We've got the Dept of Health being advised about how to tackle obesity by the food and drinks businesses who promote obesity. - Looks like we're gonna be getting more and more obese with all this crap food and crap advice, doesn't it?

And when are they going to get on to SALT? and anti-depressants? and other prescription drugs that cause weight gain?

Leave it out! - The salt, that is.

If you want to lose excess weight, the fastest, simplest, safest way is to leave out the salt when you are cooking, give up sprinkling salt on your meal and cut down on the ready meals/fast food/processed food/pizzas/crisps and other highly-salted products that you eat. Home cooking of fresh food allows you to control the amount of salt that goes into a dish - as well as being more nutritious anyway. - Here's some information about the amount of salt/sodium in foods.

The Food Programme Radio 4: Transfats are poisonous. Why is the Food Industry still allowed to put them into our food?

The transfats to which I refer are the artificial transfats that are added to food products, mainly in order to increase their shelf-life. In other words, they increase the profits of the food manufacturers. Artificial transfats are not a natural constituent of any food whatsoever. The body does not have a natural way to metabolise them. It cannot use them as food, because they are not food. They are toxic to the body. Toxic is a synonym for poisonous. For most consumers it is next door to impossible to know whether some of the foods they buy contain any of these poisons or not, and if they do contain any of these poisons, how much? and how much harm will they do? They damage your body and your brain. They contribute to your risk of stroke, heart disease, memory problems, dementia and more.

On the Food Programme on Radio 4 this week "Sheila Dillon investigates the issue of trans-fats in our food, and asks whether a voluntary agreement by the food industry to eliminate them by the end of the year is enough to prevent the kind of health problems associated with a diet heavy in industrial cooking fats." - I can tell you the answer to that question right now: it isn't...)o: - No way! No! It is not!

If you listen to this programme on iPlayer you will hear Sheila Dillon ask pertinent questions and you will hear slithering responses just as oily and toxic as the transfat content the apologists seek to defend. And do not be fooled by the talk of small quantities and of small percentages of calories from these transfats. They are very harmful even in very small quantities. And the damage they do is cumulative. - Remember the old adage: poison comes in small packages!

If you eat shop-bought biscuits, cakes, bread, pizzas, margarine, vegetable shortening, ice-cream, puddings & pudding mixes, ready-made pies, some confectionery - this list is not exhaustive - then you will almost certainly have eaten artificial transfats. Some groups of people are more reliant on processed foods than others are, and some groups of people, e.g. people whose health is already compromised by degenerative disease, are more vulnerable to the harm that artificial transfats cause in the body.

Unfortunately, the groups most at risk from these transfats are of minor importance to UK legislators. Otherwise there would be a BAN on adding these poisons to our food. Adding these poisons to our food swells the profits of the Food Industry, i.e. big business. Food Manufacturers are the groups whose welfare is important to our legislators. Their welfare is paramount.

That processed foods so often contain artificial transfats is yet another reason why, as far as you can, you would do well to avoid processed food, and eat fresh food that you eat raw, or that you cook yourself.

Why do food companies put so much salt into their processed foods?

When more salt is added to the ingredients, this enables the product to absorb more water - for example, if the food company manages to get more salt into its bacon, it can sell excess moisture content (water) at the same price as bacon. - A nice little earner...

Extra added salt tends by its taste to disguise the taste of poor quality meat, thus cutting costs by reducing quality.

Salt increases thirst. This enables retailers to sell more drinks. Hence the widespread practice in fast food restaurants of sprinkling salt onto burgers and chips if it is permitted. Likewise in pubs it has been the custom to provide free salty snacks like crisps and salted peanuts, not as a generous gesture, but so as to ensure that more drinks are bought.

Lose weight by eating less salt. - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

If you want to lose some excess weight, make sure you eat breakfast!

You may think that by pretending to yourself and other people that you 'just don't feel hungry' in a morning and doing without breakfast you are bound to lose weight, but I'm afraid that isn't the case. When you disregard your body's need for food and your body's message of hunger, and you go without food for too long, by the time you allow yourself to eat you may feel like a ravening wolf! - Unhappily, in that condition, you are more likely to wolf down the quickest, easiest food you can get hold of...)o: - Sandwiches, crisps and other salty stuff, processed garbage, diet junk, unsuitable drinks, cakes full of nothing that resembles good nutrition - stuff them all in! the faster the better. Fast food eaten fast; fast food eaten in excess; fast food to pacify that empty, hungry wolf inside you, born because you didn't breakfast!

Here's what you could try: have an egg at breakfast time; have some delicious probiotic wholemilk yoghurt and a banana. These don't take much time or effort, but they are good for you - good nutrition with some of the protein and fat and vitamins, etc. that your body needs. If you get something nutritious inside you before you start work you will work more efficiently and so will your body and your brain. And by the time you have your midday meal you will not be tempted to bolt down a riot of highly flavoured rubbish bearing little resemblance to real food.

See how to lose weight safely and sodium in food.

Incredibly irresponsible suggestion to provide statin medication to accompany meals in fast food outlets

BBC News reports that Dr Darrel Francis et al are recommending this measure to reduce the harm to health caused by eating junk food. Statins are pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed for the purpose of lowering cholesterol levels and are claimed by this means to be drugs that benefit heart health. But as these researchers must certainly know, statins only rarely reduce health problems. Much more commonly they damage the health of the innocent patients who take them. Evidence for this - from reputable sources - abounds on the internet. Click on the statins link beneath this blogpost to see some of the evidence. Click here and here and here for a few more examples, and look up Dr Malcolm Kendrick's strong views on the subject of cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Anyone who wants to lower their cholesterol levels can do so without drugs. Simply cutting down on salt/sodium and salty food lowers cholesterol and also, much more importantly, lowers high blood pressure, lowers the risk of heart disease, heart attack, dementia, type 2 diabetes and many other degenerative illnesses, and reduces overweight by reducing fluid retention. And there are no adverse side-effects to cutting down on salt.

UK Faculty of Public Health wants ban on trans-fats in UK food

UK Faculty of Public Health wants ban on trans-fats in UK food. So do I! Read BBC News article, where you will see that "an editorial in the British Medical Journal said 7,000 deaths a year could be prevented by a 1% reduction in consumption" of trans-fats.

Trans-fats - solid fats found in margarines, biscuits, pastries, cakes and fast food - have no nutritional value and are banned in some countries. You'd think that the Food Standards Agency would be in favour of banning trans-fats, wouldn't you? But you'd be wrong.

Trans-fats are used to extend shelf life of products and so are useful to the food industry, and the FSA pays far too much heed to the voice of the food industry, and so is unconcerned about those thousands of deaths that could be prevented and the even greater numbers of people suffering avoidable ill-health for want of a ban on trans-fats in food.

Do yourself and your family's health a big favour by avoiding fast food and using butter rather than margarine.

Los Angeles bans new fast food outlets and California outlaws trans-fats

Los Angeles bans new fast food outlets and California outlaws trans-fats
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"On Friday night, California became the first state to prohibit the use of artery-clogging trans-fats in all its restaurants and bakeries, in legislation signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Planners in America's second largest city have backed an unprecedented moratorium on the opening of new outlets of chains such as Burger King and KFC in South Los Angeles, in an attempt to impose better eating habits on the area's mainly black and Hispanic population.

The restriction is the most recent example of local leaders across America seeking to impose a healthier lifestyle on residents to counter soaring obesity rates.

Last week in New York, health inspectors began to fine restaurant chains that fail to display prominently the calorie counts of their offerings.

Some major fast food franchises, which are backing a legal challenge against the regulation, reluctantly began to post the often alarming calorific breakdowns just one day before the new regime of fines took effect.

In Los Angeles the full council is expected on Tuesday to approve the restrictions across a 32 square-mile area of the city, where fast-food eateries currently make up 45 per cent of restaurants.

Officials have received inquiries from other American cities which are considering adopting a similar law. But the California Restaurant Association condemned the move as "damaging, misleading, uncalled for and bad for business".

The state, often a trailblazer on nutritional issues, is also ordering the phasing-out of trans-fats, a synthetic product linked to heart disease, from its 88,000 restaurants by 2010 and other food outlets such as bakeries by 2011.

"Today we are taking a strong step towards creating a healthier future for California," said Gov Schwarzenegger. New York was the first city to ban trans-fats from its restaurants and Boston and Baltimore have voted to follow suit.

New York's calorie count initiative is also being copied. San Francisco plans to implement the same rules later this year, in the face of opposition from the restaurant industry which plans court actions to try to block the move.

Health inspectors issued 277 "violation notices" to chains with outlets that failed to display the calorie information during an initial 10-week grace period in New York. Last night officials could not yet say how many actual fines - of up to $2,000 - had been levied since last weekend.

Already the new law has led to shocking discoveries by customers, including 630-calorie muffins, 1,300-calorie salads and a 2,000-calorie "Bloomin' Onion" appetiser - only just short of the recommended government calorie intake for an American adult for a day."

Well I'm sure trans-fats are food baddies and I'm well in favour of banning them, but the widespread belief that reducing calories will reduce obesity is absolutely wrong.

To reduce obesity it is necessary to reduce salt/sodium intake, not calories. Restaurants should be required to display the salt content of the food they provide, rather than the calories.

The fattest people - the morbidly obese - are usually the victims of prescribed drugs that cause sodium and water retention. Doctors prescribe these drugs far too readily/carelessly/recklessly, often in high dose, and without the important warning that while taking them the patient should avoid eating salt of salty food.

See Health problems associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

Most fast foods/convenience foods/ready meals contain a lot of SALT. - That is why they are 'fattening'.

Overweight and obesity are caused by fluid retention, and occur only in people who are sensitive to salt/sodium. - To lose excess weight it is necessary to cut down on salt and salty food. - So instead of eating a ready meal you need to cook a meal from fresh ingredients and use little or no salt to flavour it. - You could try using pepper or herbs instead of salt, or if you feel you cannot yet give up salt, then use one of the low sodium salt substitutes, e.g. LoSalt, Solo Low Sodium Sea Salt or AlsoSalt, instead of ordinary salt.

Lose weight and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

If you need my help, I can be contacted from my website. - My help is free.

Even more high sodium foods to avoid if you want to lose weight

• most ready meals
• baked beans in tomato sauce
• bottled ketchup
• salted butter and margarine
• salad dressing
• salad cream
• mayonnaise
• low fat mayonnaise (usually contains more salt than ordinary mayonnaise so will not help you to lose weight)
• very low fat mayonnaise (usually contains even more salt than low fat mayonnaise, so will not help you to lose weight)
• gravy mix
• salted nuts
• salted peanut butter
• pickles
• pickled onions
• chutney
• piccalilli
• onion relish
• tomato relish
• pasta sauce
• sauerkraut
• goulash
• most curries
• fast food
• anchovies
• cottage cheese
• blue cheese
• processed cheese
• most cheese is medium to high sodium
• tinned soups
• packet soups
• pot noodles
• instant mashed potato
• Oxo cubes
• stock cubes

To convert sodium content to salt content, multiply the sodium by 2.5

On labels, more than 0.5g of sodium (1.25g salt) per 100g is high, less than 0.2g sodium (0.5g salt) is low.
In general, if you are overweight, then to lose weight you need to be eating and drinking food that is as natural as possible - cooking fresh meat and fish, drinking plain water, rather than choosing highly processed food containing high salt levels.
It is best to avoid Diet Cokes and other diet drinks. Calorie reduction does not reduce obesity, and the chemicals these diet drinks contain are often of dubious safety. - For example, there is a lot of evidence that aspartame is not good for you.
If you are overweight or obese, and you follow the suggestions on my website, you will DEFINITELY lose weight, and you will lose it speedily and safely.
There is no need to overdo anything. - Some websites advise drinking large quantities of water. This is not a good idea. Water is very good for you but too much water is not good for you. The famous actor, Anthony Andrews, drank several litres of water during a performance of "My Fair Lady" in 2003 and had to be rushed to hospital.

Food watchdogs are to clamp down on the use of unhealthy trans fats in fast food, biscuits and cakes.

Food watchdog wants to trim use of trans fats

from the Telegraph:

"Food watchdogs are to clamp down on the use of unhealthy trans fats used in fast food, biscuits and cakes.

The board of the Food Standards Agency is reviewing its advice to the Government on the health impact of artificial trans fats - chemically-altered vegetable oils that are more harmful than any other form of fat."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Acrylamide may be increasing women's risk of ovarian and endometrial/womb cancer

Study finds acrylamide link to cancer in women

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Fresh fears have been raised over the safety of cooked foods as a wide-ranging study found for the first time that a common chemical caused by frying, roasting or grilling can double the risk of cancer in women.

Five years ago, scientists sparked a worldwide alert when they disclosed that many household foods contain the substance acrylamide, which was thought to be a probable cause of the disease.

Now a study involving 120,000 people - half of whom were women - has established a direct link between consumption of the chemical and the incidence of ovarian and womb cancer.

Research has shown that acrylamide is found in cooked foods such as bread, breakfast cereals, coffee and also meat and potatoes which had been fried, baked, roasted, grilled or barbecued.

The Dutch study found that women who absorbed more acrylamide were twice as likely to develop ovarian or womb cancer as those who ingested a smaller amount.

The higher amount eaten by the women involved was the equivalent to a single packet of crisps, half a pack of biscuits, or a portion of chips a day.

The EU has now advised people to avoid burnt toast or golden brown chips because they contain higher levels of the substance acrylamide.

They have also recommended eating home-cooked meals which contain much lower amounts of the chemical than processed products, fast food and restaurant meals."

Reduce your risk of most cancers, lose weight and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

BEWARE OF EXTREMELY HIGH SALT CONTENT IN MEALS AT PIZZA HUT, KFC, McDONALD'S AND BURGER KING. - CHILDREN ARE ESPECIALLY AT RISK.

Fast food 'almost as salty as the sea' - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Family meals at fast food outlets contain more than twice the recommended daily amount of salt, a new study claims.

Health campaigners say the "big four" restaurants - Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald's and Burger King - are behaving irresponsibly by making some meals almost as salty as sea water.

A report by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) named Pizza Hut as the worst offender, with an average family meal containing more than twice the maximum level of salt for adults, and almost four times the limit for a six-year-old child.

Prof Graham MacGregor, the chairman of Cash and the director of St George's Hospital Medical School blood pressure department, accused the fast food chains of using excessive salt so children become hooked on them and help drive up profits.

"Salt is very addictive," he said. "You see this in children when you give them good, home-cooked food without much salt, they think it does not taste right."

"Cash is calling for firms to slash salt levels in their products and to display traffic light symbols on all products so customers can see at a glance how much their food contains."

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

The Poor are not the only ones with a poor diet, according to the Food Standards Agency.

Poor not the only ones with poor diet - Telegraph


Extract:


"Poorer households that live on a diet of high fat and sugary fast food have been frequently blamed for dragging down the nation's health record.

However, according to new research, they actually obtain the same level of nutrients from what they consume as the rest of the population - who apparently eat too much fat and sugar and not enough fibre, fruit and vegetables.

Rather than confirming preconceptions about what people on low incomes eat, a survey of more than 3,500 people over a 15-month period by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reveals that their diets provide virtually the same levels of nutrition as those of the general population.

The findings of the Low Income Nutrition and Diet Survey, say experts, suggest that poor diet is far more widespread than previously suspected, blighting middle-class and wealthier families as much as the poorer households, and that a major Government rethink is required to tackle the problem.

Until now, most Government schemes, based on the socio-economic status of poorer households, have used vouchers and free fruit and vegetables promotions to improve diets,

In the light of the results, Rosemary Hignett, the head of nutrition at the FSA, admitted: "We are going to have to sit down and look at the policy implications of this survey. There were no specific issues in terms of patterns of diet relating to this group, so we need to look at ways to help make the right choices easier for everyone. We could improve the labelling of food to make healthier choices clearer, and encourage promotions on fruit and vegetables.""



Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html

(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)


Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection


See Sodium in foods and


Associated health conditions and


http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page


http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

At last! - A newspaper article about fat people that does not mock them or tell them to eat less and stop being lazy!

Obesity: It's time to stop the fat attack - The Independent

Extracts:

"Myths about fatness abound. US academic Paul Campos, author of The Obesity Myth, debunks many of them. For instance, the idea that Americans are getting fatter because of fast food is questionable. "The heaviest consumers of fast food in this country are single men in their 20s who weigh less than the average American," says Campos.

Another common misconception is that fat people are lazy. Recent evidence from the Early Bird study in Plymouth, which is tracking the weight and activity of 300 children, found no link between how much kids do and what they weigh."

"Obesity is harmful, but so are lots of things we do to ourselves. And while obese people do harm to themselves but not to others, they do not deserve the negative press and moral vilification that is so widespread. Fatism is just about the only irrational prejudice that is still deemed acceptable. Let's get rid of it. "

Nice to see an article that is sympathetic to fat people. - But if you are fat and would like to lose weight, here is how to do it:

Give up dieting/'slimming'! - Dieting does not work and is harmful.
Eat good meals, including plenty of fruit and freshly cooked vegetables.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Increasing the fatty acid content in children's diets can boost their mental abilities - reported. (Channel 5 documentary Mind the Fat, next Thursday)

Professor: Fish oil boosted children’s brains

Extract:

"Four overweight children given capsules containing omega-3 and omega-6 were said to have undergone three years' worth of development in just three months.

The youngsters, aged between eight and 13, were also said to have made remarkable improvements in reading and problem-solving.

Professor Basant Puri carried out the tests for a Channel Five documentary, Mind the Fat: Does Fast Food = Slow Kids?, to be shown on Thursday.

"The results were astonishing," said the professor, a neuropsychiatrist at Imperial College, London. "We saw as much growth as you would normally see in three years. The concentration of all the children improved enormously and they seemed a lot calmer and happier.""

Obesity impairs mental performance, and obesity is caused by fluid retention. Since fluid retention in children is almost always the result of eating salty food, if you want your children's intellectual achievements to improve cut down on the amount of salt they eat. - They will then lose some of their excess weight, lower their blood pressure, feel a lot better and happier and more alert and will perform better at school.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)