700lb Californian woman enters record books as the world's fattest

[sgreger1]

I'd like to remind everyone that we here in CA live in a state where "CA style" burgers etc means it comes with bacon AND avocado. I eat bacon and avocado on pretty much everything. Gonna beat this record some day.

[devilock76]

Ken

[Veganpunk]

All of the above is true regarding the food most of us eat but I'll guarantee you if you're chowing down on 5-10 thousand calories a day of the most politically correct and organically perfect food around you'll still be the size of a house in a few years. Blaming the country's declining level of self-control in dietary matters on the kind of food we eat may be putting the metaphorical cart before the horse. Cheap and tasty high-calorie food that's easily obtainable is hardly a new phenomenon. One could weigh 500 lbs. fifty years ago if one desired but the cultural shifts of the last several decades that have produced the obesity "epidemic" is a frustratingly complex phenomenon and a heck of a lot more is at work here than simple food availability. The seemingly rampant availability of cheap high calorie food, and subsequent weight explosion, could well be the effect of our skidding self-control instead of its root cause.

Right. I'm not blaming the food, it is all the individuals fault. But I still don't want all that crap they put in processed foods in my body. Same vein as switching from cigs. to snus.

[sirloot]

I'd like to remind everyone that we here in CA live in a state where "CA style" burgers etc means it comes with bacon AND avocado. I eat bacon and avocado on pretty much everything. Gonna beat this record some day.

I made the mistake of ordering the "California Whopper" it was very dissapointing and later i think it gave me the s**ts

[devilock76]

Right. I'm not blaming the food, it is all the individuals fault. But I still don't want all that crap they put in processed foods in my body. Same vein as switching from cigs. to snus.

Processed food is a whole nother animal. That I agree with, but more to the point I cook. I find it simple enough to make something better than what comes out of a box most days, and cheaper for the amounts I get. Heck I made enough black bean and turkey sausage jambalaya the other night to eat for a week on it. Ingredient cost was about 6$.

Ken

[sgreger1]

All of the above is true regarding the food most of us eat but I'll guarantee you if you're chowing down on 5-10 thousand calories a day of the most politically correct and organically perfect food around you'll still be the size of a house in a few years. Blaming the country's declining level of self-control in dietary matters on the kind of food we eat may be putting the metaphorical cart before the horse. Cheap and tasty high-calorie food that's easily obtainable is hardly a new phenomenon. One could weigh 500 lbs. fifty years ago if one desired but the cultural shifts of the last several decades that have produced the obesity "epidemic" is a frustratingly complex phenomenon and a heck of a lot more is at work here than simple food availability. The seemingly rampant availability of cheap high calorie food, and subsequent weight explosion, could well be the effect of our skidding self-control instead of its root cause.

Exactly, all Americans generally eat like shit. But most people I know aren't obese. If you keep your calories between 1500-2500 a day (assuming your a grown man), your never going to get super huge almost regardless of where those calories came from. The average American eats 4,000 calories a day. People in Etheopia eat an average of 1500. Think about that, if the average is 4000 than that means that for every person like me who eats 2000, there is someone out there who is eating like 6000. That is just excessive. Keep your calories at the recommended levels for your height/age/gender group and you'll never get obese, genetics or not.

[CoderGuy]

Exactly, all Americans generally eat like shit. But most people I know aren't obese. If you keep your calories between 1500-2500 a day (assuming your a grown man), your never going to get super huge almost regardless of where those calories came from. The average American eats 4,000 calories a day. People in Etheopia eat an average of 1500. Think about that, if the average is 4000 than that means that for every person like me who eats 2000, there is someone out there who is eating like 6000. That is just excessive. Keep your calories at the recommended levels for your height/age/gender group and you'll never get obese, genetics or not.

First... bacon and avocado... mmmmmm

Second, that is true. Think about someone getting a Whopper, fries, and shake for lunch, that alone is over 4k, it's not hard to consume over 5k per day thanks to fast food, and most people, especially in these lean times (ironic) opt for fast food due to it's convenience and price. Also, I can tell you from experience, when you are dieting and watch TV and every other commercial is a fast food joint telling you they now stay open all night, it's very difficult to be good.

[Thraxy]

After years of research they finally discovered the source of Californian earthquakes and they all lived heavily ever after. The End.

[CoderGuy]

After years of research they finally discovered the source of Californian earthquakes and they all lived heavily ever after. The End.

LOL that's just wrong

[truthwolf1]

I have not had a chance to watch the Penn/teller dimwits but probably already agree that there are probably some meritable points in the piece as there are always two sides to the story.

However, consumers are pushing for more natural products and you can clearly see more of that now on the shelves. It was only a few years ago the bigger chains started the organic aisles and they are getting bigger.
What would you rather eat something that lists a few ingredients of what the product is or a paragraph of 50 ingredients added to it? Do you honestly believe there is absolutely nothing to question here? Honestly, GMO Franken food?

For somebody who has dropped a considerable amount of weight over the last year I have put some research into this and have had great results without cutting fat and worrying about calories. Those arguments are 2 decades worth of propaganda that have added to the obesity problem.

THE FACT is YES you can control your weight by cutting fat and counting calories but how long can you sustain that?? obivously not long enough for a majority of humans.

What is needed in my opinion is a back to real food campaign and not this FAT FREE/Counting every spoon deal which clearly has become a health disaster. A public transit infastructure like Europes would also be beneficial by getting people walking more.

[lxskllr]

Penn and Teller are dipshits, They make an entertaining show, but it's pseudo science of the worst kind. Organic proponents make some bullshit claims too, but there's good reasons to buy organic...

Better flavor. Smaller organic farms especially, raise crop varieties that aren't as common anymore. The food is a little smaller, a little uglier, but better tasting.

You're supporting the little guy. You still have to read labels, and do research, especially with the big boys getting into the act, but on the whole, buying organic gives regular Americans jobs.

Fewer petrochemicals being dumped on the ground. If they aren't being dumped in the ground, they can be dumped in the gas tank, and it makes the water better.

They aren't bioengineered. I take a dimmer view of food patents than I do software patents. Monsanto, and their secret police scuttle across the nation like cockroaches looking for people who's fields have been unfortunately pollinated by their garbage crops, and then sue them. There's nothing right about corporate food. You think an MS monopoly is bad. Wait until all your food comes from one source...

Edit:
Correction. Penn and Teller aren't dipshits. They're shrewd businessmen that cater to people's desire to do what they want, and the nagging feeling in the backs of their heads that tells them science is wrong. P&T's schtick is in telling people they don't have to improve. the current course is the best course, and nothing is required from you. Don't bother thinking about it. You're right, and those shifty scientists are trying to put one over on you.

[Monkey]

Sex goddess?

Man....I need to buy stock in flour.

[CoderGuy]

Sex goddess?

Man....I need to buy stock in flour.

I guess when you know you have no shot at Jessica Alba... you go for your level

[Darwin]

There are very few food crops indeed, organic or otherwise, that have not been manipulated within an inch of their lives by selective breeding over the decades, centuries, or millennia. Of course until recently this was done with what was already available in the plant's original genetic structure but who's to say that this "organic" way of raising grain size, nutritional content, and crop yield has not had its own deleterious effects? There are plenty of people out there who are allergic, sometimes even fatally, to this that or the other foodstuff and it's possible that they would not be allergic to the originating plant. Can we be even remotely certain that the centuries it took to convert the grass tsinte into what we know as corn has not caused problems for humans? Same with wheat, all the other cereal grains, and virtually every vegetable we consume. It would be a grave fallacy to assume that man's "natural" modifications of food crops have not resulted in undesirable qualities as much as it is a fallacy to suggest that laboratory manipulation on the direct genetic level of the same foodstuffs is ipso facto always a bad idea. At least these days we can test for adverse reactions to any proposed plant modifications.

Centuries ago adverse allergic reactions of a small percentage of the population were not much on farmer's minds but increasing plant yields so that the overall population did not starve most definitely was. Whatever GM engineers do these days it can only represent a fraction of the massive genetic interventions of some eight or ten millennia by those dependent on agriculture for their survival. The whole silly business of "Frankenfoods" is 99 percent alarmist hysterics. We still need to look out for that pesky one percent but that's a job manageable by current testing regimes. Current efforts to genetically modify foodstuffs are bent towards enhancing the same qualities that agriculturists have been chasing since the early days of the Fertile Crescent and companies have no interest whatever in making anyone sick. If a modification does indeed do that then they should go back to the drawing board and not abandon the field in defeat. The potential payoffs, of all sorts, are simply too great to ignore.

[truthwolf1]

The whole silly business of "Frankenfoods" is 99 percent alarmist hysterics..


Maybe so, but maybe it's 22 mg of alarm and that is way too much for me.

I will also go with what my gut instinct tells me on this topic.
If animals prefer non-GMO feed or some of these other experiments floating on the web about sterility after a few generations, then I will take that as sign that something is seriously worthy of discussion


http://www.responsibletechnology.org...d-to-sterility