Friday, September 28, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Portion Sizes and Beyond — Government's Legal Authority to Regulate Food-Industry Practices — NEJM
Portion Sizes and Beyond — Government's Legal Authority to Regulate Food-Industry Practices — NEJM
The government in whatever country, state, county or city has regulations on so many substances you can take into your body, why are industry heads protesting these particular issues?
1. Anything ADDED to food and presently labeled as a "food additive" is regulated to permissible maxima or within certain bounds.
2. The content of REFINED foods, such as wheat flour is regulated in many places by the amount of protein or the amount of folate, even certain vitamins, so that the community gets a partly guaranteed healthy intake.
3. The amount of additives you can put into our shared "fresh" air is regulated but we call it POLLUTION! In many places your car can be banned from the road if it emits more than a regulation amount of carbon monoxide, particulate matter (SMOKE) or other volatile substances.
4. The amount of additives we can DISCHARGE into waterways is also regulated so our drinking water is OK and aquatic animals are not killed.
So WHY THE HELL are people getting so irate with an attempt to regulate what goes into our stomachs?
As someone interested in the long term health of the planet, I would be happy to see everyone deprived of extra sugar that is not a natural component of a food, ie. no one should reject a farmer's oranges because they are "too sweet".
I'm also happy to see "standard" portion sizes of drinks that already have sugar added CONTROLLED. What's wrong with that among all the so-called "diet" drinks that have NO genuine sugar added, just some FOREIGN substance like aspartame or saccharine that our bodies have no natural enzyme or pathway to process.
PORTION CONTROL is new? Bull sh*t! Isn't there anyone out there who has subscribed to a nutrition service which delivers "portion-controlled" meals to the door, instead of you having to serve yourself smaller meals?? ...And what do you think of places like McDonalds who allow you to choose "small", "normal" or "large" portions? WHOSE portions are these if not the food-regulator-for-McDonald's portion-controller's?
GET OVER IT
The government in whatever country, state, county or city has regulations on so many substances you can take into your body, why are industry heads protesting these particular issues?
1. Anything ADDED to food and presently labeled as a "food additive" is regulated to permissible maxima or within certain bounds.
2. The content of REFINED foods, such as wheat flour is regulated in many places by the amount of protein or the amount of folate, even certain vitamins, so that the community gets a partly guaranteed healthy intake.
3. The amount of additives you can put into our shared "fresh" air is regulated but we call it POLLUTION! In many places your car can be banned from the road if it emits more than a regulation amount of carbon monoxide, particulate matter (SMOKE) or other volatile substances.
4. The amount of additives we can DISCHARGE into waterways is also regulated so our drinking water is OK and aquatic animals are not killed.
So WHY THE HELL are people getting so irate with an attempt to regulate what goes into our stomachs?
As someone interested in the long term health of the planet, I would be happy to see everyone deprived of extra sugar that is not a natural component of a food, ie. no one should reject a farmer's oranges because they are "too sweet".
I'm also happy to see "standard" portion sizes of drinks that already have sugar added CONTROLLED. What's wrong with that among all the so-called "diet" drinks that have NO genuine sugar added, just some FOREIGN substance like aspartame or saccharine that our bodies have no natural enzyme or pathway to process.
PORTION CONTROL is new? Bull sh*t! Isn't there anyone out there who has subscribed to a nutrition service which delivers "portion-controlled" meals to the door, instead of you having to serve yourself smaller meals?? ...And what do you think of places like McDonalds who allow you to choose "small", "normal" or "large" portions? WHOSE portions are these if not the food-regulator-for-McDonald's portion-controller's?
GET OVER IT
Friday, July 6, 2012
My Say on: "Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends: Experts' view of controversial diet plan"
Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends: Experts' view of controversial diet plan - Mirror Online:
'via Blog this'
My say:
For once I agree with SOMETHING a diet promoter claims! Personal trainer, Paul Khanna (writing under the pseudonym Venice Fulton), says that merely using his diet will not give you an eating disorder, because eating disorders are within people. He also, admirably states that magazines, newspapers & the media in general will not cause you to become eating disordered, although I haven't seen his sources for this. Most "policies" on eating disorders & dieting by magazines, even governments (eg. Australia's), link the media to frank anorexia or bulimia, although the studies done have not shown a dose-response relationship. Colleagues & I in Adelaide & Sydney [Australia] performed a dose-response study of media consumption & dieting behaviours that could possibly be linked to eating disorders and found no connection, let alone "causation".
However, I think Paul Khanna needs to emphasise caution in dieting behaviour rather than competition, along with the caveat that his variety of dieting is for ADULTS ONLY and for adults with mature approaches to life and their emotions concerning obesity.
Personally, I believe most sensible adults won't try this diet, but some with concerns about weight & appearance may make themselves more psychologically unhealthy by following it's tenets.
'via Blog this'
My say:
For once I agree with SOMETHING a diet promoter claims! Personal trainer, Paul Khanna (writing under the pseudonym Venice Fulton), says that merely using his diet will not give you an eating disorder, because eating disorders are within people. He also, admirably states that magazines, newspapers & the media in general will not cause you to become eating disordered, although I haven't seen his sources for this. Most "policies" on eating disorders & dieting by magazines, even governments (eg. Australia's), link the media to frank anorexia or bulimia, although the studies done have not shown a dose-response relationship. Colleagues & I in Adelaide & Sydney [Australia] performed a dose-response study of media consumption & dieting behaviours that could possibly be linked to eating disorders and found no connection, let alone "causation".
However, I think Paul Khanna needs to emphasise caution in dieting behaviour rather than competition, along with the caveat that his variety of dieting is for ADULTS ONLY and for adults with mature approaches to life and their emotions concerning obesity.
Personally, I believe most sensible adults won't try this diet, but some with concerns about weight & appearance may make themselves more psychologically unhealthy by following it's tenets.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Can Autism Really Be Diagnosed in Minutes? [reblog & comments]
Can Autism Really Be Diagnosed in Minutes? | Healthland | TIME.com:
'via Blog this'
This Dr Wall and his brief diagnostic method using a video of the child plus some questions that carers can answer via web portal seem fantastic to me. Kids all over the country & around the world can be assessed at the earliest possible time and directed towards local therapeutic services. Having a false positive [classifying a child as autistic when they're not] is not going to HARM a young child because a skilled teacher or therapist will quickly spot their abilities and refer them on for further assessment or back to mainstream schooling.
To me, Dr Wall's method is a boon to public health- it will ultimately save health dollars by eliminating lengthy waiting periods where early intervention is life-changing. The bonus is also the fact that people in remote areas are not so disadvantaged because the assessment can use electronic media instead of face-to-face contact.
For the objectors: Sure, autism warrants a thorough and comprehensive assessment to plot the best educational & social path for the child. However, the details can wait while the principles for intervention with autistic kids are put in place, especially in teaching them attention to social cues, which allows them to learn as much as they can in language, play & academic subjects.
Three cheers for Dr Wall!
'via Blog this'
This Dr Wall and his brief diagnostic method using a video of the child plus some questions that carers can answer via web portal seem fantastic to me. Kids all over the country & around the world can be assessed at the earliest possible time and directed towards local therapeutic services. Having a false positive [classifying a child as autistic when they're not] is not going to HARM a young child because a skilled teacher or therapist will quickly spot their abilities and refer them on for further assessment or back to mainstream schooling.
To me, Dr Wall's method is a boon to public health- it will ultimately save health dollars by eliminating lengthy waiting periods where early intervention is life-changing. The bonus is also the fact that people in remote areas are not so disadvantaged because the assessment can use electronic media instead of face-to-face contact.
For the objectors: Sure, autism warrants a thorough and comprehensive assessment to plot the best educational & social path for the child. However, the details can wait while the principles for intervention with autistic kids are put in place, especially in teaching them attention to social cues, which allows them to learn as much as they can in language, play & academic subjects.
Three cheers for Dr Wall!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)