22 replies to this topic

[FunkOdyssey]

And it is:

New FDA Report Threatens Consumer Choices: Big Government Wants Restaurants to Force Their Customers to Eat Brussels Sprouts

AScribe Newswire

06-05-06

WASHINGTON, June 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- Today a new report commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration will recommend that U.S. restaurants reduce portion sizes, serve high calorie foods with lighter sides, advertise healthier foods, and provide greater access to nutritional information. On its way to restricting consumer choices, the report inappropriately singles out the restaurant industry as a leading cause of obesity, ignores the impact of Americans' shrinking exercise habits, and dismisses the role of personal responsibility in dietary choices.

Center for Consumer Freedom research analyst J. Justin Wilson said: "This report ignores the best science about obesity. It implies that a picture of a salad will entice consumers to choose it over a burger, and that the public is too stupid to recognize the difference between the two."

Study upon study has demonstrated that obesity rates in America are largely the result of an imbalance between calories-in and calories-out. Research accumulated since the 1960s shows that physical activity rates have plummeted. Unfortunately for misinformed consumers and maligned restaurants, government bureaucrats and food activists rarely recognize this reality. Instead they blame food producers for selling the products that consumers demand.

Wilson continued: "This report is the latest incremental step toward eliminating consumer choices. When groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest are involved, one can surmise that the real issue isn't healthy choices or menu labeling. It's just the food police selling the same warmed-over plan and telling the rest of us what to eat."

The FDA-commissioned report goes further, suggesting that restaurants engage in "lifestyle education" to help consumers make healthier choices.

Wilson continued, "Restaurants are in business to serve food that customers want. Visiting a restaurant to take yoga lessons makes about as much sense as ordering a cheeseburger at the gym. Any couch-potatoes who blame restaurants for their extra paunches are pointing the finger of blame squarely in the wrong direction."

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers, working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

[Shepard]

I'm thinking that this won't make a difference. On a relatively recent trip to Europe, instead of being happier with the smaller portion, the Americans I was with simply ordered more food.

[jaydfox]

Yeah, when I used to frequent Taco Bell, I used to order multiple items. A Taco Supreme wasn't a meal, it was just one course. It's sort of like chicken strips: you don't order just one, you order 3 or 5, depending on how hungry you are. Well, I'd order 2 or 3 or 5 items from Taco Bell.

Of course, even their meal deals reflect this: the "chalupa" meal is two chalupas, a taco supreme, and a large drink.

But there are enough calories in a chalupa or a taco supreme (ignoring nutritional content, just focussing on calories) to be a proper meal. Eating three is like eating three meals in one. But that's what most Americans do.

[kenj]

I just can't eat these HUGE meals anymore, - well I CAN but I would be so lazy and lethargic afterwards.

[stephen]

It would be highly amusing if the FDA decided that foods with > X cal of saturated fat and > Y grams of sugar were classified as illegal narcotics and could no longer be sold in stores. A huge drug trade emerges in low nutrition foods! It would be like going back to elementary school when you got busted for doling out candy to classmates like crack.

Really, though, it's not that much different from classifying other consumables as "drugs". All one agency making a value judgement on how best to protect us from ourselves. There are probably quite a few drugs out there that are less damaging in the long run than a giant pixie stick! I guess it's hard to outlaw traditional unhealthy regimes.

[xanadu]

This is another example of big government deciding to meddle in the lives of citizens. While it's a worthwhile goal, the means are not appropriate to the ends. This is the camel's nose pushing yet farther into the tent. Big brother wants to tell us not only what to do and not to do but what restaurants must serve. Stephen, you are on the right track. We already live in a police state and soon our every action will be under scrutiny and subject to some law or regulation. If people want to eat crap and die young, that is their constitutional right. Let govt educate but not regulate.

[Brainbox]

In case it makes you Americans feel any better, over here in Europe we also have an epidemic over-weight issue. So, if it’s true our portions are smaller, it just doesn’t work that way.
I’m sure the bad nutritional value of (fast) food has something to do with it, beside the calories-in/calories-out ratio. High calorie does not compensate for low nutritional value. On the contrary, low nutritional value demands eating more, and if eating more means eating more junk, the cycle is started. Extra exercising, increasing the calorie-out, is not the only issie.

[the big b]

I'm with jaydfox, when I used to go to Taco Bell, I ate 10 Crunchy Tacos and put a ton of ketchup on them, and then finished it off with a Quesadilla and a Pepsi. And my friends, man, I have 5 friends who could each eat their own Pizza. And have. On several occasions.

I think one way of helping a majority, though not all, of obese people and even those who are not but get the same health issues would be to ban the junk put into our foods. Hydrogenated Oils, High Fructrose Corn Syrup, MSG, ect. They have absolutely no nutritional value, and yet, they are added to enhance flavor, make the product more addictive, and increase shelf life. I know for a fact I wouldn't have weighed over 300lbs if it wasn't for McDonalds, KFC, Wendy's, trans fats in Oreos. I know people with great metabolisms who still eat that stuff, but it's not helping their hearts.

[Shepard]

This is why we need to legalize cocaine. Bam...no more obesity problem.

[Live Forever]

I'm with jaydfox, when I used to go to Taco Bell, I ate 10 Crunchy Tacos and put a ton of ketchup on them,

Tacos with ketchup?!?

[the big b]

I'm with jaydfox, when I used to go to Taco Bell, I ate 10 Crunchy Tacos and put a ton of ketchup on them,

Tacos with ketchup?!?

I was living crazy ass bad, when your really fat and hungry, ketchup will taste good on anything. ANYTHING.

[Athanasios]

I work in the culinary industry. Restaurants love these words:

" yeah, it costs a bit more, but the servings are huge"

How can you make two customers out of one? Give them twice as much food, and charge 150%.

[xanadu]

MSG and aspartame are a whole 'nother subject. That is crap with a capital C and even worse than that. That is one reason I will not eat processed food and avoid restaurants, just to get away from the legal poison they put in our foods. Not that we can avoid it altogether, they are allowed to spray veggies with msg and not tell you. Reading the labels also is fruitless because they put the msg in one of the ingredients and just list the ingredient.

Avoid sugar, flour and fatty food. After a few weeks you lose your cravings and start to eat sensibly. The pounds drop off and you get healthier. Then take a good multi and...

[emerson]

I'm a bit torn. On one hand I hate government overregulation. But, on the other, I'm in the states right now and the restaurants I've been to have all been rather excessive in their serving sizes. I'm used to bringing what amounts to a small meal home with me when I go out to eat. But seriously, the amount of food a lot of the restaurants around here consider one serving is about one large meal and TWO small meals for me!

Still, if the intent is to make people eat better, forcing change into restaurants isn't going to do a thing. How many people these days are 'embarrassed' about ordering another course. Heck, it's a sign of pride among a lot of folks. Most people are going to base their restaurant eating on their home eating, and there's not a thing that can be done to change that on a mass scale.

The money going into this would be a hundred times better spent by putting it towards sidewalks and bike lanes so Americans could more easily exercise outdoors.

[stephen]

I'm a bit torn. On one hand I hate government overregulation. But, on the other, I'm in the states right now and the restaurants I've been to have all been rather excessive in their serving sizes. I'm used to bringing what amounts to a small meal home with me when I go out to eat. But seriously, the amount of food a lot of the restaurants around here consider one serving is about one large meal and TWO small meals for me!

Another good reason to have a significant other: split meals!

I agree, though, the ideal meal out is one where you're with 5 people, they all order different things, and you sample a bit of each. Tastes get boring after the first few bites anyway. Let's hear it for tapas!

[mitkat]

This is why we need to legalize cocaine. Bam...no more obesity problem.

Petiton the government. Work your hard week, pushin' that paper, while living on a typical high-fat American diet , but also supplement with colostrum, indium, and brussel sprouts (possibly pyritinol).

Then cut loose on the weekends with the shnay-sniff. Problem solved, viva hedonism! [tung]


Seriously though...tax dollars pay for this kind of thinking?

The money going into this would be a hundred times better spent by putting it towards sidewalks and bike lanes so Americans could more easily exercise outdoors.

I concur. It was recently "bike week" in Toronto, and that along with the possibility of massive changes in the transit system (which is pretty damn efficient anyways, except for recent half-day strike), including even MORE bike lanes...hell yes. There's nothing like riding a bike through the gridlock [thumb]

[zoolander]

Her's an idea to try and tackle obesity. How about we have a No fast food day/week here at imminst.

We have over 3000 members.

Who's in?

[Live Forever]

Her's an idea to try and tackle obesity. How about we have a No fast food day/week here at imminst.

We have over 3000 members.

Who's in?

I'm down, but I hardly ever eat fast food anyway. There are a few things I should probably cut out though, and I could give those up for the day/week or whatever.

[zoolander]

Considering that most of the people that frequent these forums are proably reasonably healthy how about this then

"Help someone else be healthy for one day"

Feed a homeless person with a healthy home cooked meal

[Shepard]

"Help someone else be healthy for one day"

I'm here to tell you that this is impossible. I have had more success working on my Jedi mind tricks than getting people who are on the SAD (who came to me asking for training/nutrition advice) to follow my recommendations. The healthiest thing I could do for a lot of folks is knock them out or tie them down so that they couldn't eat.

[Live Forever]

I bet if we declared some random week "Give Up Fast Food Week", and promoted it once a year on other message boards, blogs, etc., then it would bring us some exposure.

[the big b]

The healthiest thing I could do for a lot of folks is knock them out or tie them down so that they couldn't eat.

Great idea! I think that everyone on ImmInst should go out right now, and knock someone out, bring them home, tie them down, and spoon feed them oats. Then, once they have enough fiber in their system to see the light, we send them out and have them do the same. Sane, right?

[Shepard]

Yes, an army at my command.