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Poor Diet Is a Factor In One In Five Deaths, Global Disease Study Reveals (theguardian.com)
schwit1 shares a report from The Guardian: Millions of people are eating the wrong sorts of food for good health. Eating a diet that is low in whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds and fish oils and high in salt raises the risk of an early death, according to the huge and ongoing study Global Burden of Disease. The study, based at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, compiles data from every country in the world and makes informed estimates where there are gaps. Five papers on life expectancy and the causes and risk factors of death and ill health have been published by the Lancet medical journal. Diet is the second highest risk factor for early death after smoking. Other high risks are high blood glucose which can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, high body mass index (BMI) which is a measure of obesity, and high total cholesterol. All of these can be related to eating the wrong foods, although there are also other causes.
So I can eat food that tastes good all my life and I only have a one in five chance of it being a factor? Here's the rolling the dice!
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
did it really take a study and five papers to tell us that eating garbage food is bad for us?
No, but the study doesn't tell us that bad diet is bad; it quantifies how bad it is and ranks it against other risk factors.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
3.1 billion years of evolution went by with the vast majority of our ancestors endlessly starving. Most of our ancestors time was spent trying to gather what meager food they could, often dying of hunger when slightly injured, sick, old or just unlucky. Now all of a sudden nearly all humans have endless amounts of cheap, effortless, concentrated food available 24-7-365.25. Now the problem is food is just too damn easy to eat - I'll take that over dying of starvation any day.
I grew up in the 1950's and 1960's. (Lawn, etc). There were very few obese people. All though pre-university schooling I remember only one kid who was overweight. Adults were also thin, and that formed my mental image of what a normal sized person is. You did not see "mobility scooters" for weight- only wheelchairs for disabilities such as paraplegics.
Tody, I am still "normal" size (in my 60's), and the world has ballooned around me. I see obese children, even young ones 5-6 years old. Most adults look overweight to me, even ones in the prime of their lives in their 20's or 30's. It seems mostly related to terrible diets.
With the "fat acceptance" movement they insist they are normal and healthy. I do not agree! They have a higher risk of a large number of serious health problems: heart disease, cancers, strokes, diabetes, joint problems, and more. Not only that, but I can climb multiple flights of steps better in my 60's than many in their 20's, because for the same height of person they are hauling up 50, 100, sometimes even 200 extra pounds.
Cook your own food, pick healthy ingredients, mostly vegetables and fruits, and do not over-eat or eat constantly between meals. Exercise to burn 2500 calories per week.
"high body mass index (BMI)"
High BMI is a red herring. BMI is based on a sedentary lifestyle like office workers have. Those of us who are in physically demanding jobs very often have high BMIs without being obese because we have more muscle, denser bones and lower body fat levels. My son and I farm and do butchery. we have very high BMIs but it is muscle that is necessary for our work. Same goes for athletes who tend to score high on the BMI but again it is muscle, not fat. The BMI system needs to be redone to account for the fact that not everyone is a sedentary office worker. Our life insurance company takes this into account - they do a measure of hips, belly and chest which corrects for the errors on BMI.
[chuckle] If you still think we grammar nazis don't have a point, please take note of the example above. It means the opposite of what the poster meant to write.
A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
> Now compare what a healthy diet costs ( especially feeding a family ) vs the non-healthy variety and you -might- get a clue as to why folks choose to eat what they do.
You mean healthy staples versus processed junk?
Your media narrative is UTTER HOGWASH intended to soothe your inner conspicuous consumer and enable bad habits. Real food is not more expensive.
It actually costs LESS money. What it costs more of is time and effort.
Pretty much ANY thing you are willing to make yourself is going to be cheaper (and much better).
Ready made junk food isn't just "bad for you" it's pretty much inferior in any way (including taste).
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.