White House Fingers PlayStation As Obesity Culprit 477
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Soulskill
from the wipeout-xxxxl dept.
from the wipeout-xxxxl dept.
theodp writes "The winners of the childhood obesity infographic design contest sponsored by GOOD and First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative are in, and the overall winner calls out Sony's PlayStation as a major milestone on its timeline of childhood obesity (together with Coke, Pepsi, mall food courts, fructose and high sugar tariffs, TV, McDonald's, and other fast food). Somewhat ironically, the First Lady's other anti-childhood obesity efforts include a $60,000 video game contest."
Hmmph. (Score:5, Insightful)
The basic fact that consuming more energy than you use makes you fat, though, seems too obvious to even bother arguing about anymore. This is conservation of energy, not subtle epidemiology.
Huge Idiot (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone who thinks it's not the food we eat here in the U.S. is completely missing what is going on. Carbohydrates are a nearly direct path to building body fat. Nearly everything on store shelves have breads, sugars and starches in them. Many other countries have successful laws and regulation against the types of foods we eat in the U.S. every day. It's as if other nations know and understand about nutrition and the U.S. somehow doesn't. Okay... so that doesn't seem too likely that our experts don't know about it while the rest of the world does. So what could it be?
What about the cutting of recess at schools (Score:4, Insightful)
What about the cutting of recess at schools and short lunch times at some of them.
Some schools even have a recess / lunch where you have to eat fast to get some recess time!
also what is point of a 30min lunch when you have to use half of just waiting in line to get / pay for the food?
And she left out one thing: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wheat and grains (Score:5, Insightful)
Bread and grains have been an enormous component of staple diets for ages. Even today, in a lot of third-world countries, people eat primarily starch. It's only recently that this has contributed to widespread obesity. I'm going to have to say that it's not as simple as people eating grains and other starches.
Maybe part of the problem is demonizing things that are the unpopular food item of the moment. Like saturated fat. Or starch.
Re:Wheat and grains (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, it's all down to heavy consumption of wheat and grains, and starches too, high fructose corn syrup, and the demonization of saturated fat.
I have always thought that perhaps federal corn price supports have lead to overproduction of corn, thus artificially cheap high fructose corn syrup, thus artificially cheap sodas/crap foods, thus obesity.
Re:Hmmph. (Score:3, Insightful)
The Xboxes, our society giving more rights to criminals, gun control laws that embolden said criminals, lack of police power. There is enough blame to go around but it starts out with parents not wanting to at least keep an eye on their kids and send them outside.
Yes, there is a lot of work to running a house, no one has to tell me this, but don't blame the XBox or Playstation or Wii when your kid gets fat from sitting in the house all day.
Re:Huge Idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
Corporatism.
Re:wheres the story? (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah, there is a pretty sad disconnect between the time line and the graph. The events might as well be totally random, most of the events aren't even events, just milestones, might as well have started with the moon landing. I'm also highly suspicious of the 2% blip around 2004 which is implied is due to McDonalds stopping supersize. As big as they are, I'm doubtful that it could have such a large impact. The timing doesn't really match either. More likely, somebody thought "ugh, gonna find something good that happened that year".
Re:wheres the story? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't see where they're blaming Sony. They're calling out video games as a contributing factor in childhood obesity, which is probably true. Maybe instead of blaming Sony they could educate parents or something. I wonder how they might educate parents? I don't know, maybe some kind of graphic that shows the rise of childhood obesity and points out a lot of contributing factors that parents could work on avoiding? Something like that?
Re:Huge Idiot (Score:1, Insightful)
What could it be? Industry lobbying to not restrict such foods. I mean, the food pyramid was negotiated with the various affected industries for crying out loud. Follow the money. It's the answer to everything, sadly.
Re:Wheat and grains and MEAT, too! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:nonsense (Score:3, Insightful)
It's fairly simple people. (Score:4, Insightful)
No soft drinks, no pre-packaged boxed snack foods (seldom cereal), no chips (well, chips and salsa occasionally). Seldom eat out at fried food joints (maybe once a week). Stick to wheat breads, fruits and vegetables, yogurt, meats, sushi and rice.
Essentially if you cut out all the 'americanized' boxed and packaged foods that are mainstream, as well as soft drinks, your overall feeling of health increases rapidly. Did I also mention coffee and beer/wine are essential? And no, I don't miss ANY of that crap processed and preserved food I've cut out.
If you listen to and feel out your body just a little, and think about the history of mans food consumption, its all pretty clear what the body CAN effectively use for food.
Cliffs: We Are Fucked. (Score:4, Insightful)
If pointing a few fat fingers at videogames is the best our fearful leaders can do to address the obesity epidemic, it's already over.
America is laboriously waddling itself into an early grave rife with gout, diabetes, pancreatitis, and countless other chronic ailments that turn the phrase "quality of life" into a cruel joke.
The problems come from every direction: Subconscious feeding instincts that don't translate well to calorie abundance, marketing honed to razor sharpness that capitalizes on these instincts, food designed to do the same, and a general lack of accountability from top to bottom all combine to create a horrifying socioeconomic problem that I don't see us pulling out of.
Nobody cares. About themselves. About what the things they sell others do to those people.
Just give everyone that wants it some meth. Keep the daily doses reasonable and people's brains would take longer to turn to mush from the drugs than their current sedentary lifestyles.
Re:Oh look more hypocrisy (Score:4, Insightful)
You didnt RTFA. They call out inactivity, fast food, and soda.
Nonsense (Score:4, Insightful)
If kids spent all day reading books instead of playing games would they get equal blame? In both cases a kid is just sitting there doing nothing.
Re:Something is missing (Score:2, Insightful)
Xbox is a subsidiary of Microsoft, an American company and a big lobbyist / but a surprisingly small campaign contributor.
Which says it all! If you haven't noticed yet, this is just another political "think of the children" ploy. Don't be fooled because it includes multiple liberal pet peeves of freedom, along the lines of "We will tell you what you can eat and do, when and where" bullcrap. But they are still required to play by the fancy political rules, which is what gives it away as dishonest by only mentioning a foreign brand. Come on people, encourage more exercise, but do not try to demonize inanimate objects because of your own choices.
IT IS CALLED PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!
Hope you didn't mind me fixing your quote.
Re:wheres the story? (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally I blame, in no particular order. Government for telling people that the world is coming to an end, and keep your kids inside. I blame 'think of the children' idiots, for telling everyone that their kids are at risk from *random thing here*, and they should be coddled from birth until they leave. I blame psychologists for repeatedly saying the same things as the 'think of the children' idiots, along with telling parents that males should be quiet and demure. While prescribing drugs to keep them 'under control' aka ADHD.
I blame the media for doing the same thing and reinforcing it. And I blame parents for not being well informed, and following what the media presented, and what the 'school psychologists' told them. Along with being told that games like cops n' robbers(or variations like cowboys n' indians), or war, or any supper-happy-stupid childhood games are bad for them because it 'reinforces negative stereotypes'.
Pretty sure that covers it, I know I'm missing a few like school boards, and such. I don't however blame the kids, but I pity them. Because of all that, they never had a childhood where they could actually go out and enjoy themselves.
Re:Question for those who Blame Lifestyle (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:wheres the story? (Score:4, Insightful)
Excusemewhat? It's the parent's job to educate and train their children. Encouraging activity and exercise falls within the purview of parental influence.
Re:Question for those who Blame Lifestyle (Score:3, Insightful)
The way your body handles food (burn/save) now is different than it will in ten years. Keep up the bad habits and most likely you will be overweight rather than under.
WebMD's article on testosterone [webmd.com] is interesting. Basically, your testosterone levels peak at around 25 and decline gradually until death.
Re:Huge Idiot (Score:3, Insightful)
Bastard child of capitalism and socialism more like. Worst of all worlds.
Iowa Baby Iowa! (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's not forget the importance the state of Iowa plays in American Presidential primary process. Being the first poll, each politician courts the state months or even years in advance. A few will skip the state, but most will make sure they do not vote against anything the voters there will be concerned with, and that includes corn.
Let them eat organic herbal-infused mocha latte (Score:3, Insightful)
Michelle Obama has adapted a worthwhile initiative to reduce childhood obesity into a platform for broadcasting her snide disdain for the plebeian tastes of the common people. Her chart also indicts "The first successful shipping mall FOOD COURT [emphasis hers]". Mrs. Obama has deigned to enlighten the masses, disabusing us of our philistine taste in Playstations and food courts at the mall. Once imbued with her own degree of elegance and sophistication, we shall live as healthfully she, dining casually in bistros on the Spanish coast and in elegance upon the healthful hors d'oeuvres at White House receptions.
Re:Wheat and grains (Score:3, Insightful)
Depends on a lot of things. But they don't usually die of obesity-related diseases, despite your theory. Strange, that.
Re:Hmmph. (Score:4, Insightful)
i think it's because it's hard to blame the wii and xbox is a US product why is every politicians wife anti some media?
For one, they tend to be wealthy or have access to wealth so they don't have to work for a living. Compare to the retirees who run homeowner's associations and take people to court over the difference between white and off-white paint.
Then, well, their only claim to fame is that they are sleeping with a man who has become famous through his own hard work. Any fame they as wives have is completely vicarious. That makes them either really insecure or really arrogant, enough to pretend they'd have been famous if they weren't sleeping with a famous man. Sure, lots of women achieve fame, wealth, and celebrity all on their own, but they have claims to fame greater than marrying into wealth and/or political power. They actually achieved something on their own and that's what politicians' wives usually cannot say. So right from the get-go they feel like they need to compensate for something.
Throw these ingredients together and you wind up with a busybody who has to go on a crusade of some kind. It makes them feel relevant. It makes them feel like they might even deserve all of the attention they get. Personally I don't give a damn about their feelings because their crusades always seem to involve telling adults what they should do with their lives, telling parents how to be parents, and other nanny-state we-know-what's-good-for-you bullshit. They never seem to want to balance the budget, investigate abuses of government power, or anything like that. So fuck them.
Re:Let them eat organic herbal-infused mocha latte (Score:3, Insightful)
The real culprits? (Score:3, Insightful)
1. Corn. A lot of food is loaded with high-fructose corn syrup because it's cheap. Modern meat has a higher percentage of fat because subsidized corn is a cheap way to fatten livestock and increase the quantity of meat. The surplus fat ends up in all kinds of products as a cheap way to provide flavor that consumers have developed a preference for. And of course, corn products of all types end up in high-carb foods that are cheap and supported by relentless marketing. Corn doesn't just fatten livestock, it fattens humans too. Healthy food is more expensive than junk food. All of this happens because corn is sold for less than the cost of production (thanks to the government).
2. Fear. When I was a kid, we would go to a nearby forest and play outside all day. Or we would play unsupervised baseball, football, etc. from dawn to dusk. Today, we don't let kids play without a boatload of supervision, protective equipment, etc. Therefore, outside play is infrequent. Walking through the woods is now out of the question, thanks to lenient sentencing of violent criminals and paranoia that we get from watching crime dramas on TV.
3. Homework. Teachers are pressured into assigning homework far beyond what is needed to support academic progress. Administrators seem to think that keeping kids busy will keep them out of trouble (by keeping them seated and indoors, of course). This has a number of side effects, none of which help the kids.
Re:Wheat and grains (Score:3, Insightful)
Or salt.
There's no reason why healthy people can't consume near limitless amounts of salt (up to the point of over saturation) without harm. Yet, it is demonized to the point that we're forced to make do with food that is sub-par to satisfy some ignorant fools. Our bodies run on salt. It's the second most important agent after water for keeping our biological machinery running. Properly functioning kidneys will get rid of any excess without any ill effects. Popular opinion, however, has come up with the false idea that salt is a causative agent in heart disease so the nannies can stick their noses where it doesn't belong.
Re:wheres the story? (Score:1, Insightful)
If the child wants to be healthy, then it is their own job to try to be healthy. Having someone force you to do everything will turn up bad results.
I'm sorry but you're fucking wrong. Left on their own the MAJORITY of kids will only do what they want, regardless of the consequences for the future. They will not study, they will not clean their rooms until the mold tries to eat them, they will eat nothing but chocolate, hot dogs, and ice cream, and the list goes on.
Most of those kids will understand that the things their parents tried to "force" on them when they were young were for their own good - but only after they're finally out on their own and they realize that if they don't do these things, nobody will. (And there will be consequences for them if they don't start doing them at that point if it isn't already too late.)
There are gripes I have with parental types even now as an adult, but I'm GLAD they gave more of a shit about my own health than I did.
Re:you know why people eat too much? (Score:3, Insightful)
it's harder when all preprocessed and prepackaged food, including breads and juices contain fructose. It's very hard indeed.
Re:Hmmph. (Score:2, Insightful)
But the only way to achieve that is to cut out half the work force so labor prices go up.
We can't force women back in the home because "they've got rights", but, while I'm sure lots of the guys would love to be house husbands, women won't let men "be lazy".
I don't know any other way to arbitrarily reduce the workforce. Although I suppose we could develop some crippling/disfiguring but non-lethal disease with a 40% infection rate.
Re:Hmmph. (Score:4, Insightful)
So the natural outcome of achieving the dream of 100% automation of all work is that everybody starves?
It seems that the benefits of increased productivity have accrued to only a small segment of the population. Most of the people whose productivity has increased are stuck with stagnant wages.
It seems you have made it all the way into grad school without realizing that when the economy only serves a small portion of the population, things eventually get quite ugly.
But what would I know? I'm just an engineer that knows that systems (mechanical or economic) that harm the people they're supposed to serve are bad and must be revised until they work right.
Re:Hmmph. (Score:2, Insightful)
Do people drink more Coca Cola (or eat more Twinkies) than they did 10 years ago?
When I was a kid in the '70s, soft drinks came in those six-packs of 16-oz. bottles that you could turn back in to collect your deposit. We'd get a couple six-packs every other week or so, and drinking one really was a treat.
The 16-oz. bottles became plastic, and they evolved into 20-oz. bottles. Two-liter bottles became common and cheap. By the time I was in high school, I was probably drinking a good 2 L of soda a day, but I managed to stay fairly thin until after college. Now I'm fat, and I'm definitely drinking vastly more soda than I did 30 years ago. It's delicious, and cheap. Hell, if you want to grab a portable drink to take with you at the gas station, it's a lot cheaper to buy soda than plain water.
I'd say this phenomenon has almost certainly contributed to the obesity problem. These drinks are a staple instead of a treat, and we're drinking a lot more of them than we used to.
Re:Hmmph. (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, Free Software is a great counterexample. Most people WANT to do something useful and if freed from economic necessity, will do so.
Stealing from others on a large scale simply doesn't work long term.
Exactly, so those at the top who keep trashing the economy and screwing the country over for their massive personal gains well out of proportion to their personal effort need to be stopped. They need to start carrying their own weight like everyone else.