On Tue, 01 Oct 2013 07:02:15 -0400, Stephen wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:36:38 -0500, Shay wrote:
>>
>> > "Jim Henderson"  wrote in message news:5249dcd8@news.povray.org...
>> >
>> >> One might also argue that obesity has long been around - in fact,
>> >> food related health issues were somewhat worse back "in the old
>> >> days".
>> >
>> > Any evidence to for that opinion (excluding famine) would surprise
>> > me. I went to a seven-year-old's birthday party a few weeks ago.
>> > Every child there would have been considered overweight when we were
>> > kids.
>>
>> That seems pretty anecdotal to me.  I'd want to see some real data.
> 
> Have a look at films from the 60's and 70's. There is very seldom a fat
> child unless it is to laugh at. And even then you would not think of
> them as fat nowadays. :-(

"Fat Albert" is a counterexample.  OK, it was a cartoon, but still.

That still doesn't strike me as "data" though.  Hollywood makes 
intentional choices (most of the time) for reasons.  That they didn't 
show any overweight people (or rarely did) just means that they made that 
choice, not that overweight people didn't exist.

>> But food-related health issues certainly have been around.  Logically,
>> we now know things about (for example) fat content, sodium consumption,
>> sugars, and so on that we didn't know 30 years ago.
>>
>> Though arguably the best food advice was to be had 30 years ago, too - 
>> "moderation".
> 
> That is my maxim too. Moderation in everything, including moderation.
> It is okay (IMO) to go off the rails, once in a while.

Yep. :)

>> We've certainly gone through "eggs are bad for you," "eggs are good for
>> you," back and forths over the last 10-15 years that have led me to not
>> really trust any of it beyond moderating intake of everything.
> 
> "Eggs" have two problems. Dairy food is good for you and dairy food is
> bad for you, arguments. And salmonella in the food chain.

And better ways of dealing with those problems now than in the past.

>> Fast food once in a while is OK.  Fast food as a steady diet?  Not so
>> much.
>>
>>
> Master of the understatement, you are.

I was looking for an obvious example. ;)

>> >> But the topic the pundits in particular are talking about
>> >
>> > I'll take your word for it. I don't watch television or listen to
>> > talk radio.
>>
>> That's probably a better way to stay sane, certainly. ;)
>>
>>
> Talk radio turns your brain to mush and television caters for those with
> an attention span not much above that of a goldfish.
> All IMO, of course.

The Internet does a lot of that as well, unfortunately.

Jim

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