Bill Maher triggers with “fat” again…

My boys (now men) have never seen a meal too big.

 

See Monsanto head running the FDA. I know I harp on them every time these threads come up...but man if you ever doubted the government cared about our health, that was the proof they do not.

 

My son (12 years old today actually) can out eat me. We literally manage his food because the caloric burn is so high from all the sports and skateboarding etc. Its fine now but we want him developing good habits for when he gets older.

My girls both eat like my wife, which is barely and healthy .

I changed my diet years ago mostly thanks to my wife. Its a great gift legacy to install into our kids minds.

 

Sure, if the government and agribusiness weren't in bed together

 

The head of the FDA is a former Med School Professor at Duke that headed up Alphabet's medical group for a couple of years. Not sure who you are talking about.

 

I was trying not to make this political... So just the names...

Focus on the names Michael Taylor and Henry Miller.
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The Revolving Door: FDA and the Monsanto Company

"Connections have led many to speculate whether any conflicts of interest exist within this revolving door between the big food companies and the department charged with regulating them.

At the forefront of this controversy is Michael R. Taylor, currently the deputy commissioner of the Office of Foods. He was also the deputy commissioner for Policy within the FDA in the mid '90s. However, between that position and his current FDA position, Mr. Taylor was employed by Monsanto as Vice President of Public Policy.

During his employment with Monsanto, the company was developing rBGH, a type of beef growth hormone. Mr. Taylor advised the company on the possible legal implications of using the hormone on cattle that could reach beef markets for human consumption. However, when Taylor left Monsanto for the FDA, he became one of the main authorities behind the FDA’s rBGH labeling guidelines, posing potential conflicts of interest."

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How Monsanto's Man in the FDA Paved the Way for GMOs - Robyn O'Brien

"Attorneys with Baum, Hedlund, Aristel & Goldman, the firm representing hundreds of plaintiffs across the US in the case, indicate that these so-called “Monsanto Papers” “tell an alarming story of corporate malfeasance. They reveal that Monsanto has been manipulating the science…ghost-writing scientific literature…bullying scientists that publish anything negative…and colluding with regulators to ensure ‘positive’ assessments.”

I was especially intrigued to learn that Henry Miller, who was described in The New York Times as “an academic and a vocal proponent of genetically modified crops,” is implicated in the ghost-writing scandal, albeit in regard to a non-academic journal. As reported in The Times, Dr. Miller “asked Monsanto to draft an article for him that largely mirrored one that appeared under his name on Forbes’s website in 2015.” Forbes has since taken the article in question down from its website and ended its relationship with Dr. Miller.

What was not mentioned in the article in The Times, and the reason for my intrigue, is the fact that Dr. Miller was the founding director of FDA’s Office of Biotechnology from 1989 to 1994. During that timespan, Calgene Inc., was seeking approval from FDA to commercialize what turned out to be the first genetically engineered (GE) whole food to enter the marketplace, the Flavr Savr™ tomato. Back then I was part of a team of scientists at Calgene conducting safety studies, explaining to FDA scientists how the genetic engineering process we were using worked, and participating in a dialogue with those FDA scientists about what possible risks might be associated with crop genetic engineering technology."

 

I'll chime in since there was a brief discussion about running and cycling.

I was a distance runner in high school and at the University of Florida (F-Club Member). Directly after graduation I matriculated to the US Army where I continued to run (as much as training and deployments allowed-I was my post's Cross Country and 10-mile champion). When I left the Army I took up training for my first marathon (Marine Corps in DC), finished, and qualified for Boston. Then came the injuries (knees, back, hips) that I battled unsuccessfully for the next 18 + months before I gave up and took up road cycling (never did run Boston).

Now one thing about that transition is cycling demands about 3X as much as running. So, for the guy who used to run 7 miles a day, you would figure out how much time that took, and you need to cycle for 3 times as much. So if you were around 7 minute mile pace, that means ~50 minutes a day running, which demands ~150 minutes/day cycling (boilerplate cycle training is based upon time not distance). If you are training on a bike that much, it is a guarantee you can find some mostly car-free roads to train upon. I started road cycling when I lived in San Francisco, and within 20 minutes of departing the garage, I was on the open roads and unmolested by the air conditioned cages.

My next suggestion for anyone that wishes to take up road cycling is find a group to ride with when you are a beginner. They'll show you all the roads and routes, it's safer to ride in a pack, you'll learn more in one group ride than you ever can from online, and you'll have other riders to compare yourself to see where you fit in (racer, fast group ride guy, weekend Fred, etc). Most runners transition to cycling and either light it up or fail miserably, there's very little middle ground. I was fortunate in that I was talented, so I took up racing about 3 months after I bought my first road bike, and I went from Cat 5 to Cat 1 in 14 months (about 8 months of actual racing). Last September I hung the bikes up for good (other than mountain biking with my kids when we are at our summer home in Flagstaff) and got a gym membership. I truly wish I had discovered cycling when I was 14 as opposed to the Cross-Country team.

Oh, and I'm 5'11, yoyo between 160 and 164, and triathletes are weird and annoying, so if you buy a bike resist taking that route.

I'll save my approach to diet for another day.

 

Okay, that's a fair amount different than the claim. That was the head of a division of the FDA, not the head of the FDA, and he was formerly a lobbyist for Monsanto, not the head of it. Regulatory capture is always a complicated topic and one well worth having, just think we should be accurate about it.

 

I was going from memory. But if that doesnt make you doubt that government cares to protect you, then trust them.:shrug:.

Obama's Farmer Assurance Provision. ("monsanto protection act") should make you concerned too.

Our FDA is in the tank and is allowing big corps to buy their way onto American tables that Europe wont allow (for instance).

 

So, if you don’t mind me asking, what foods make up the majority of your diet? Chicken and fish? Majority of vegetables?

 

And then there is Aurelia Skipwith who was with Monsanto and Trump put in charge of Fish and Wildlife for his last 3 years. She worked on GMOs and pesticides while at Monsanto and from her position with the Department of Interior (before getting the FWS job) helped get their bee killing insecticide ban lifted from being used in national wildlife refuges and other places.

 

Just makes my point even more. The gubmit aint in it for you and I.

 

Fully agree, my reply was more of an addition to everything you said afterward without quoting it all, not trying to point out one side or the other because we know both do it as you said.

And Monsanto is awful.

 

but it doesn’t mean we should collectively pay for everyone’s unhealthy habits.

Socializing the risk doesn’t seem very on par with your ideology.

 

My ideology is pretty consistent with most conservatives. I want people to have freedoms to make mistakes. and I hope people make good choices or they face consequences.

 

Need a tax on tater chips. And smaller forks.

These big businesses have spent a lot of time and research cultivating congress, I mean crops. Maybe an anti tax deductions. If you make a product that has a negative effect on the healthcare system, you lose three deductions

 

My three boys are the same. One has to have his gallbladder removed. He has had to change up his diet. He is only 28.

 

Swimming is good on the knees

 

Whole Foods Plant based diet. Get an air fryer.