Dr. Vinay Prasad reports on the insanity. Here is is in a nutshell (this is my mini-summary):
Mount Sinai School of Medicine: Striving for a healthy weight is racist. NYT: Stop worrying about losing weight. This is part of the new American ethos: This bad thing that is happening to you is not your fault. In fact, nothing is your fault. And there is no need to work hard to achieve anything.
I didn't know this until today:
It's a good thing we stopped doing extremely dumb things a long time ago.
Shocking disclosures by whistle-blower Calley Means, interviewed by Tucker Carlson. The things that soft-drink manufacturers do to make sure that their sugar-water is widely available and that Americans are lead to believe that sugar-consumption is healthy. Here's one of Means' disclosures that stood out: Coke and processed food companies spend 11 times more on nutrition research than the NIH. Coca-Cola pays big money for peer-reviewed studies by elite institutions, studies that conclude that sugar does not cause obesity.
I'm convinced that misguided empathy running amok is preventing us from dealing with many serious issues, even issues that are killing us. Here's an example: The problem with obesity.
Fifteen years ago, there was a lot of talk about the obesity epidemic. In 2008, Michelle Obama started a government program called “Let’s Move!” that sought to reduce childhood obesity. You might remember the First Lady teaming up with everyone from Beyonce to Big Bird to promote exercise and better eating habits. Unfortunately, the program was largely a failure. And the obesity statistics continued to rise.74% of Americans today are either obese or overweight. And yet, we’re no longer talking about it. The national conversation around health and weight has turned away from things like good nutrition, weight loss and the importance of physical fitness, and instead adopted phrases like “fat acceptance” and “healthy at any size.” In some circles, there’s even blanket denial that there is anything unhealthy at all about being obese.
Shaming people for being overweight is unequivocally wrong. But in our attempt to not offend, we’ve lost sight of the very real fact that there’s a problem. Americans are heavier than ever, sicker than ever, dying earlier than ever, and it’s all preventable. So today, a conversation with Dr. Casey Means, a Stanford trained physician who left the traditional medical system behind to solve the one problem that she says is going to ruin us all: bad food.
This entire podcast episode hosted by Bari Weiss is riveting, filled with shocking statistics and demoralizing because this is a problem we can solve but won't.
Tweeted by Sagar Enjeti
