Comments on: Jimmy Moore’s March 2009 Health Headlines Commentary

By: Sonya Fox

Sonya Fox — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:14:39 +0000

Hi Jimmy,

Just giving you a shout out! Enjoy your weekend! I am follower on Twiiter.

Shake a leg!

Sonya

THANKS Sonya! Twitter has been a fun addition to the LLVLC family.

–Jimmy

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:13:30 +0000

It indeed is an outrage – and it’s very sad that it shows just what had been on my mind. Once taxes are imposed to contain the ‘obesity epidemic,’ no one should think it would stop at junk food. I can very easily see ‘low carbers’ be backed into a dreadful corner where the only food they could afford was ‘healthy’ grains.

By: Annelie

Annelie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:02:25 +0000

“Taxing my “high-saturated-fat” meat that is perfectly good for my low-carb lifestyle is discriminatory on the basis of dietary preference. ”

This is exactly what they are doing right now in Denmark. There is virtually no low-carb movement there at all and now they’re going to start taxing saturated fat: http://translate.google.se/translate?prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kostdoktorn.se%2Fdanmarks-fettskatt&sl=sv&tl=en&history_state0=

I am very glad I don’t live in Denmark.

WOW, I had no idea about this, Annelie! That’s an outrage!

–Jimmy

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:10:36 +0000

“EAT LESS REFINED CARBOHYDRATES because of their negative impact on health. If the majority of the country would just cut out potatoes, white rice, pasta, sugar, HFCS, and other high-carb food sources”

If “less refined” means less processed, then potatoes do not belong with the others on the list. People who choose brown rice over white might be interested to know that while the former is less refined and thus contains more nutrients, its glycemic index and load are virtually the same as more refined white rice. HIghly refined parboiled rice actually has a slightly lower GI. It’s counterintuitive, so don’t ask me how this works. The real complex carbohydrates are found in fibrous vegetables and some fruits.

How about “less refined and less starchy” Sonagi? Does that include potatoes now?

–Jimmy

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:47:01 +0000

Obviously, sugar and junk foods are not part of my own diet – but it makes me shudder to think of ‘obesity taxes’ of any kind nonetheless. If the “Mediterranean diet” (on which I was raised – I therefore have endless negative comments I can make) or “ADA food pyramid” are to be imposed by law, I can easily see rationing (where one can only buy four eggs a week, or 3 ounces of protein a day) in the future! (I never would have thought I’d see the day when one could not have a cigarette in a pub in England, Ireland, or France… if the tiny portion sizes were imposed by law, which is no longer a fantastic concept, those of us on low carbohydrate diets could suffer most.)

What next? Those of us who don’t meet the weight charts (and even those who’ve lost 100 pounds or more may not) being barred from restaurants? Laws keeping us from buying meat or cheese? Rationing to enforce “portion control” on the ‘new food pyramid’ model? I think any move at all to legislate against the ‘obesity epidemic’ could put those of us who are seeking healthy ways of eating in the line of fire. (I’m no less ‘obese’ at 150 pounds than I was at 240.)

As an aside – though I thankfully am not diabetic, I could weep when I see the instructions diabetic friends receive. I well remember when one of my friends, who recently died and had poor eyesight, used to have me read food labels for her. I would say “this item has 30 grams of carbohydrate in an ounce,” and she’d say “but how many sugars?” It was very sad to see that, where she was encouraged to watch grams of sugar, she was encouraged by doctors to increase intake of grains!

My father died 12 years ago today – he knew nothing but the Mediterranean diet, never smoked, did hard manual labour and was all muscle – but died of a heart attack! When he had congestive heart failure, and was burning with thirst because the cardiologist’s diet was all starch and the instruction to avoid the water build up was ‘don’t drink anything,’ I ached to say “cut out the starch!” But the doctor’s sheet had all carbohydrates, so my words would have been wasted… Had he been a low carber, my dad may not have lived longer (his first heart attack left him with enormous heart muscle damage), but at least he would not have had the huge fluid accumulation nor the agony of not being able to drink anything!

By: Vered - MomGrind

Vered - MomGrind — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:01:09 +0000

Taxation on junk food is an interesting topic. I haven’t fully formed my opinion on the subject yet. It was interesting to read yours.

Thank you for including a link to my article on women and body image.

It was my pleasure…GREAT LIST, Vered!

–Jimmy