The media is full of what I call “butt-in-skys” or some may call them “bleeding hearts”….these are the people in the media and elsewhere that seem to think that they know what is best for the people….and they would go to any lengths to have their wills be law……the most recent is Mika of Morning Joe on MSNBC…..she is on her high horse about obesity….she sees some sort of conspiracy behind every hamburger….her biggest bitch is the cost to health care….but if people live longer the chances of a more horrendous disease and deaths rises….I guess if I was making millions and had time to run and buy the best organics I might be a prude also……
But please! Stop it! Anytime government takes over our lives the sooner we lose all forms of free choice…..Mika’s thing is a sugar tax on sodas and such….but I will bet she will see the good in Denmarks new law….a Fat Tax!
An extra 39 cents on a pack of butter. Twelve cents on a bag of chips. Denmark has become the latest country to levy a “fat tax” (Hungary has a similar one), adding about $1.32 in cost per pound of saturated fat in any food that contains more than 2.3% saturated fat, reports the Guardian. The tax is expected to raise some $220 million a year and cut saturated fat consumption by close to 10%. The country already banned the use of trans fats in foods, back in 2004. Ironically, despite Danes’ reputation for being big fans of butter and bacon, the country is relatively slim, with a 10% obesity rate, well below the European average of 15% (not to mention the United States’ 33%). “All these things need to be looked at, but saturated fats have a higher calorie content than carbohydrates. I don’t think you can do everything all at once,” said a doctor who used to be chairman of a national obesity group.
I am sorry but the government inserting itself into my eating habits is bullsh*t! What’s next? A law telling us the benefit of eating straw? Think I joke?
The federal government wants to restrict schools from serving peas and corn to America’s schoolchildren. But that idea isn’t producing many ho-ho-hos in Minnesota, the No. 1 grower of the green peas and sweet corn that schools serve.In January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new rules aimed at boosting healthy foods in the school nutrition program. What raised eyebrows were the strict limits proposed for “starchy vegetables” – potatoes, peas, lima beans and corn.
Under USDA’s plan, a high school would be limited to serving one cup of “starchy vegetables” a week. That’s one meal’s worth.
So it is either straw or a piece of cardboard…..what is next on the list of “bad for you” foods?
In closing I would like to share something a friend sent me in an e-mail……
Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart problems than Americans…….
Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart problems than Americans…..
Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart problems than Americans…..
Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart problems than Americans…..
Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of fats and have fewer heart problems than Americans…..
Conclusion: Eat and drink what you want. Speaking English is apparently what…..KILLS YOU!
I love your last line..and since things have sucked around ye olde homestead recently I could use the laugh…gracias’ Lobotero. 😉
por nada my friend….glad I could help….
I don’t have a big problem with such efforts by the government to raise needed revenue for vital things like jobs training programs as it also helps to stem the health issues with obesity and thus lower the over all costs of health care in this country.
Besides, these efforts serves as a reasonable counter balance to the freedom marketers have to exaggerate the claims of their product and dress them up to make them look so appealing as to overlook there health disadvantages.
We’re not an educated lot in this country so those who are most hurt by such products are the least likely to be educated about their health hazards.
Larry, my problem is that this is a regressive tax…it will effect the poor more than the rich, as a percentage of income…..what I would like to ask is if we all get healthy and still have catastrophic health problems…what will we blame then?
The government didn’t learn its lesson with the Volstead Act and Prohibition, I guess.
Your last few lines proves what B.S. all arguments in favor of this absurdity really are…
Terrance, like I said before…I agree that something needs to be done but this type of tax hurts poor people……I use to wear a button back in the day that said….eat well…stay fit….and die anyway……kinda my whole out look on the whole damn thing…….and then there is the prohibition thing…..have you seen the 5 part series on PBS? It is excellent!
Loboteto,
I would never support telling people what they can and cannot eat – even by way of “sin” taxing.
I don’t always buy the science, but more than that, the government increases healthcare costs on their own by disregarding poverty, failing to offer free medical care so that people can alleviate certain medical conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol before they turn into something more serious and expensive. I have also heard that unnecessary, preemptive wars can increase healthcare costs among our veterans…
Terrance….I know what you mean……I will continue to eat what I want……the government has enough to do running the rest of my life…..lol
Oh…. Yes, I have been waiting since July to see that PBS program… Love it…
Burns is a great documentarian……
Oh…. Yes, I have been waiting since July to see that PBS program… Love it…
I presume the Danish government introduced this tax because of the perceived threat that saturated fat causes both obesity and heart disease.
Science shows that both of these premises are false. The authors of a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2003;78:1331-1336 conclude a high saturated fat diet results in weight loss after 6 weeks without adverse effects on serum lipid levels, and further weight loss with a lipid-neutral effect may persist for up to 52 weeks.
Another study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (1997) 145 (10): 876-887 found that men who consumed the most saturated fats had a 27% decrease in coronary death and an 13% decrease in major coronary events compared to those men that consumed the least.
These are just 2 studies. However the scientific literature shows many, many examples where saturated fat has in fact many beneficial effects on human health.
I urge people to do their own research and come to their own conclusions with regards to the effects of saturated fat on health. Search my website (healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com) for the results of hundreds of studies and you will be surprised at what the scientific literature actually says.
David, thanx for stopping by and I agree totally….I personally seldom believe until I verify…..thanx for the info….please come again…..