Fat Acceptance - Problem or not

[kickazz]

MSG is perfectly safe. Fluoridated water is perfectly safe. I'm sure those GM fries are safe too.

MSG can be dodgy if you are allergic. But for everyone else, I would go as far as to say it is actually a net positive thing as it can make some foods enjoyable with much less need for salt

 

[Scotland]

When a bottle of soft drink is cheaper than water we've got issues.

Except that you don't need to buy bottled anything. I maintain a garden, shower, cook and clean etc. and my water costs $1.50/kL - or 0.15c/L if you prefer. For the price of a $5 airport bottle of Mt Franklin I can refill the 600mL bottle over 3,000 times.

Besides, you can buy 24 600mL bottles of spring water from Coles for $8. And those big 10L containers and upside down bottles you have in offices don't cost much either.

I agree that it's silly that a can of Coke can be $2 and a bottle of water the same size the same price or more but that's just marketing. The unit cost of each product is pretty much the same in the volumes they are produced.

I will never buy that 'soft drink is cheaper' as an excuse for obesity, though.

 

[Scotland]

MSG can be dodgy if you are allergic. But for everyone else, I would go as far as to say it is actually a net positive thing as it can make some foods enjoyable with much less need for salt

I reckon MSG allergy is one of the trendy ones. I feel a bit ordinary sometimes after eating foods with MSG but I don't know if it's the MSG itself or the fact that the food tends to be pretty oily, salty etc. anyway.

I find food allergies hilarious. Now I'm not talking about people who get really sick if they eat fish or peanuts etc. - I feel for them, but the self-diagnosed gluten intolerant, lactose intolerant etc. folk. Was watching Dragon's Den last night and the people were pitching cereal and said to one of the Dragons (the pretentious 'design expert' one) 'I know you're gluten intolerant so we made you this special one' and as soon as she said it I immediately thought 'She's gluten intolerant? Gee, there's a shock...'.

 

[Catfish Alley]

I saw a comedian say he had a gluten free muffin and in that moment he worked out what his favorite food was - gluten.

 

[Scotland]

The key to a good dinner party is meat, dairy, gluten, sugar, fats, peanuts, shellfish... The more of these you can use the better to knock out the 'Sorry, I'm allergic' brigade.

 

[craigos]

I will never buy that 'soft drink is cheaper' as an excuse for obesity, though.

Neither do I, but a lot of overweight people do. Soft drink is an easy example of the problem though, people will think I can feed my family 2 x large pizzas for $15, I can't possibly get a family meal cheaper than that. If you make these foods more costly people are going to be forced to re-think their choices when it comes to feeding their family and not just opt for the easy way out (ie take away).

 

[Catfish Alley]

They'll still eat too much and sit on their ass though.

$15 for two large pizzas is a good deal. Got one the other week for about $25! Haha

 

[Lebbo73]

Think I've mentioned it before but I often get (more so in my younger years) you're so lucky you're naturally skinny. Well, I do a lot of fitness and am very conscious of what I eat. Not to say I don't eat rubbish but I know that eating a bar of chocolate will take 3 times more exercise to work off than a banana.

When a bottle of soft drink is cheaper than water we've got issues. Tax anything with terrible nutritional value at a high rate, I reckon. People will say "why should we have to pay more for fat peoples problems". The same reason the occasional beer drinker has to pay a huge amount of tax for alcohol.

What a load of bs. Bloody nanny staters!

 

[Scotland]

Neither do I, but a lot of overweight people do. Soft drink is an easy example of the problem though, people will think I can feed my family 2 x large pizzas for $15, I can't possibly get a family meal cheaper than that. If you make these foods more costly people are going to be forced to re-think their choices when it comes to feeding their family and not just opt for the easy way out (ie take away).

People are stupid. And lazy.

How many people have taken up Curtis Stone's 'feed your family for $10' recipes? If money was your driver that's where you'd be looking.

The sort of people that think 2 pizzas for $15 is a good deal (it is) for a regular family meal (it isn't) are the same people that will end up getting garlic bread, soft drink and some kind of dessert and end up spending $30. Then probably getting it delivered which costs more again.

Take away really isn't that cheap, it's just convenient.

If you make the cheapest takeaway pizza $15 then the takeaway pizza shopper will just go to Coles and get a $5 frozen pizza. So you make that $15. Then what? At what point do you start taxing everyone for everything? Do we tax a bag of flour? A kilo of cheese? Ham by the kg?

 

[Scotland]

They'll still eat too much and sit on their ass though.

$15 for two large pizzas is a good deal. Got one the other week for about $25! Haha

Domino's online here is $8 a pizza pick up using the 'make your own' thingy.

I made one the other week. Thin base, prawn, fetta, capsicum, spinach leaves. Pretty good for $8.

Pizza has a bad rep but it does't have to be unhealthy. When you have thick, doughy base layered in cheese, oily meat etc. it gets pretty heavy and the calories mount up but if you have a light base, use healthy toppings, don't smother it in cheese etc. it's OK.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Yeah, I noticed it's much cheaper in Australia. $25 is about normal here for just a few toppings.

 

[Scotland]

Pizza is cheaper now than it was when I was a kid in the 90s.

The market has split off into two tangents. The chains (ie Domino's and whoever they drag along with them) are all about price. Yeah they are constantly introducing new varieties etc. but it's all about high volume sales which when you're selling pizzas for $5-6 you need.

Smaller places, pubs etc. compete on quality. You can get a pizza for $6 from Domino's but places still thrive selling them for $20+ because they have the fresh ingredients, made by hand angle.

 

[Catfish Alley]

I got a bunch of stuff to make a bolagnese tomorrow. Ground beef, tomatoes, celery, eggplant, mushrooms, pasta and parmesan. Cost maybe $25. It's a good way to get veggies into my toddler. Not overly healthy if you eat too much though. Which of those items should be taxed more?

 

[Axcellence]

I think the thread has deviated a bit towards good food option vs people's attitudes.

I really think people are too accepting of obesity. Now, I am not saying we should go up to people and telling them to lose weight. But, definitely support them in getting fitter and helping them with getting into fitness systems that work. Also, people should be more willing to try things that they can see working.

I went to a great PT place and slimmed down to an ideal weight. And society's attitude was horrible. I was continually pointed out for being "too thin". By multiple people, family, work colleagues, friends, checkout people at where I regularly shopped, et al. Yet, I was wearing size 30 jeans which is not super slim.

Yet, whenever I asked anyone to give the PT place for a free 2 week trial (and I was a living proof that they could see of its effectiveness), they ran away as if I was asking them to come to church mid week.

 

[apparentlydead]

I got a bunch of stuff to make a bolagnese tomorrow. Ground beef, tomatoes, celery, eggplant, mushrooms, pasta and parmesan. Cost maybe $25. It's a good way to get veggies into my toddler. Not overly healthy if you eat too much though. Which of those items should be taxed more?

If the obese were going to the trouble of making a spag bog with fresh ingredients your question may have some validity.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Just curious what may be taxed under such a system. Cheese, meat, pasta etc.

 

[Gough]

I got a bunch of stuff to make a bolagnese tomorrow. Ground beef, tomatoes, celery, eggplant, mushrooms, pasta and parmesan. Cost maybe $25. It's a good way to get veggies into my toddler. Not overly healthy if you eat too much though. Which of those items should be taxed more?

Use 1/3 pork, 2/3 beef.

 

[Scotland]

Tax... all the things!

 

[Catfish Alley]

Good tip! I normally do but they are sold out. Mixing it with some bison we have left from Christmas.

 

[Gough]

Good tip! I normally do but they are sold out. Mixing it with some bison we have left from Christmas.

Canadian/Italian fusion, I like it.

 

[apparentlydead]

Just curious what may be taxed under such a system. Cheese, meat, pasta etc.

None of it to my way of thinking.

Much more along the lines of direct excises against fast food chains and processed, overly packaged foods.

Someone far smarter than I could find a way...once they got past the lobbyists from Maccas, KFC, HJ's etc.

 

[Big Cox 88]

What shits me is the "real women" target ads where they have size 16-22 women advertised as being real women. All women are real, however, healthy women are between size 8 and 14. Stop promoting being fat as normal and healthy.

 

[Scotland]

Pffft, real women. Imaginary women are much less of a pain in the arse.

It's mildly amusing that people think it's unhealthy to promote VS models who basically spend their whole life training to have perfect bodies but instead want to promote women who are overweight.

Been a while since I've got a Target catalog in the post. Do they have a 'real men' section with fat blokes in Y-fronts?

 

[Catfish Alley]

None of it to my way of thinking.

Much more along the lines of direct excises against fast food chains and processed, overly packaged foods.

Someone far smarter than I could find a way...once they got past the lobbyists from Maccas, KFC, HJ's etc.

Yeah, that's where it gets messy. Hit those big guys and you also have to go after independents, pubs etc. And then those guys also sell drinks or healthy options. Do you just tax the whole menu or pick and choose?

I'm not sure how you'd rate things. Like, a cheeseburger may have 300 calories but I could go to a fancy restaurant and get a 1200 calorie meal.

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

How simple. Feel bad! Change! Fix it! Job done!

Gotta wonder what sort of simpleton world you live in.

Here's a lightning bolt of reality for you clowns:

Being fat isn't acceptable. In fact it's never been less acceptable.

For the past 50 - 100 years western society has been on a tidal wave of body image obsession. How people look gets more and more and more important to every aspect of life. Thin, fit beautiful people are rammed down everybody's throat everywhere you look, day in, day out.

You don't have to worry. Fat acceptance isn't a "thing". Nobody wants to be fat, in fact being fat can be social torture for many people, especially the young.

Relax. Thin obsession is the same unstoppable force it's always been.

Nobody these days feels good about being fat. So there's some low profile, minor pissing of "fat can be beautiful" against the generations long tidal wave of thin. So what. It's so incredibly overpowered by the cultural obsession with body image that to suggest it could be a problem is ridiculous, and just a sign that you actually have an issue with judging others that you don't want to admit.

You say it's a simpleton viewpoint, but it really is that simple. I realise that deep down the overwhelming majority of fat people, no matter how much they try to convince themselves otherwise, are not happy with their weight. Rather than making up every excuse in the book about why they are overweight, they could try actually losing it by:

a) lowering the mass of food/drink they are putting into their body.
b) increasing the amount of energy/mass they're body is burning

Anything other than this is just over complicating things.