Elissa's Random Thought of the Day!

[ParkTrips]

In even monsoon like rains, we'll still have people doing 75mph on the highways. A half inch of snow? Chaos. I would wager that those who see cold and snow every year aren't prone to weather related slow-downs as those of us who aren't used to snow and cold temps

[moinab]

From personal experience, I can say that a sudden change in temperature (say, 75 degrees one day, to 45 degrees the next morning,) can leave us scrambling to try to locate warm clothing for everyone, which could, in theory, cause us to be late.

 

That usually happens to us every fall. Everyone is used to wearing shorts and t-shirts, and then suddenly we need jeans and sweatshirts. Not a big deal for the adults, but it's a hassle with the kids, because we have to figure out what fits them, after 7 or 8 months since they last wore warm clothes.

[PKI Jizzman]

I think the cold weather makes me move faster. I want to get out of the cold as quick as possible if I'm not suited for it, so I'll be walking quickly. Oh, and the 45mph winds today also helped me move quicker!

[Sir Clinksalot]

Is there something I'm missing here?

 

Is this a SoCal exclusive thing or does anybody know if people in say, Florida, have the same problem when it's semi-cold there?

 

My gut wants to tell me it's a SoCal thing, and just another one of those "quirks" that exist only in SoCal.

 

Oddly enough, everybody in our house has seemed to be moving faster the past two days. Go figure.

[SharkTums]

12/9/09 - 'Fat People Show'

 

So KT and I have been watching this season of The Biggest Loser. She calls it the 'Fat People Show', which is hilarious and terrible at the same time.

 

While watching this season, I had an idea that I think could solve the obesity problem in America.

 

For those of you who dont' know, the show usually starts out each season with around 20 - 24 people that are SEVERLY overweight. They dangle $250k in front of them as a prize for losing weight and that motivates all of them to completely change their life, how they act, what they eat, EVERYTHING. When you look back, most of the people on the show do keep the majority of the weight they lost off and are leading better lives for them and their families. All of this and only one person actually wins the money. (The person with the highest percentage of weight loss)

 

So now to my grand plan. We get 50,000,000 obese people in the US (more obese than most, but not the type of obese that sit in bed and can't even move...let's say the 300 - 450 pound people) break them into geographic groups of 100 people, and offer each group of 100 people $50k to the person who loses the biggest percentage of weight. We'll even get some local trainer to help a bit. Heck, we'll even be more fair than the show is and group men separate from women, and people at the same weight to begin with together. So this will cost roughly $25,000,000,000, which I totally believe could be funded through insurance companies, government, private donors, and of course ADVERTISING!

 

I really feel that people just need motivation to get off their ass and change their life, and I feel that money is the best way to do this (and if you watch the show, you know it is!) I really think that something major like this needs to be done to change our society or we're screwed.

 

Thoughts?

[Mr. Starr]

12/9/09 - 'Fat People Show'

 

So KT and I have been watching this season of The Biggest Loser. She calls it the 'Fat People Show', which is hilarious and terrible at the same time.

 

While watching this season, I had an idea that I think could solve the obesity problem in America.

 

For those of you who dont' know, the show usually starts out each season with around 20 - 24 people that are SEVERLY overweight. They dangle $250k in front of them as a prize for losing weight and that motivates all of them to completely change their life, how they act, what they eat, EVERYTHING. When you look back, most of the people on the show do keep the majority of the weight they lost off and are leading better lives for them and their families. All of this and only one person actually wins the money. (The person with the highest percentage of weight loss)

 

So now to my grand plan. We get 50,000,000 obese people in the US (more obese than most, but not the type of obese that sit in bed and can't even move...let's say the 300 - 450 pound people) break them into geographic groups of 100 people, and offer each group of 100 people $50k to the person who loses the biggest percentage of weight. We'll even get some local trainer to help a bit. Heck, we'll even be more fair than the show is and group men separate from women, and people at the same weight to begin with together. So this will cost roughly $25,000,000,000, which I totally believe could be funded through insurance companies, government, private donors, and of course ADVERTISING!

 

I really feel that people just need motivation to get off their A$$ and change their life, and I feel that money is the best way to do this (and if you watch the show, you know it is!) I really think that something major like this needs to be done to change our society or we're screwed.

 

Thoughts?

 

I've also been watching the Biggest Loser (By the way, this season was not very good, the contestants whined way too much and it was hard to pick favorites) and seen how it can affect people. Your plan would work, but we would probably need about 300,000 more Jillians in order to severely motivate people!

[SharkTums]

^From what I've seen almost EVERY community has some 'biggest loser' or 'boot camp' type scary fitness person to help people!

[spaceace12]

I wish more companies would offer gym memberships or in house gyms. I would like to spend time in a gym (like 15 minutes before and after work), but there is few 24 hour gyms around where I live. Actually, there is one, Anytime Fitness. Which would work, but I don't have the money extra to join. The city where I live actually made a deal with a gym. Any employee of the city can use the gym for free. Well, free for them, normal people like myself get to pay for them.

 

There is a meeting here at work tomorrow and I believe it is to announce that we are getting a new building. I hope it has a fitness center included in it. The GM of the station had a building design for another station in Alabama that had a fitness center built in. I told him I liked that. They are actually getting rid of the area I work in since it is no longer needed. If they have the exact size room in the new building, it would be a perfect size for a gym.

 

And I am not fat, I big boned.

[dandaman]

So KT and I have been watching this season of The Biggest Loser. She calls it the 'Fat People Show', which is hilarious and terrible at the same time.

 

Word of the day: "Hilarible"

 

And heck, reallocating budget for this project would probably take even less time than the current healthcare debate!

[DirkFunk]

I really feel that people just need motivation to get off their A$$ and change their life, and I feel that money is the best way to do this (and if you watch the show, you know it is!) I really think that something major like this needs to be done to change our society or we're screwed.

 

Thoughts?

 

As a dude with opinionz 4 u, I think its well intentioned, but the fear I have is that the incentive for keeping the weight off after the program ends doesn't exist. At this point, many insurance companies are willing to cover gastric bypass/lap band surgeries because weight loss is enough of an incentive for them to cut future costs by spending thousands now. The issue with those surgeries has always been failure rates, and it will likely be that way for some time into the future. It doesn't really cut to the heart of the problem. If people are conditioned to eat terrible food in monster portions their whole life, they may be willing to "go on a diet" and cease doing it for a few weeks/months, but lifestyle changes that are permanent are a whole different deal.

 

Burgers, fries, and Coke are popular with people, in spite of being artery clogging, fat gaining, etc. because they taste good on a primal level. There was something on ESPN.com (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/091014&sportCat=mlb) recently about stadium food and not just how bad it is for you, but how so many variants have appeared in recent years. You can't merely sell fries at a ballpark anymore, because they have to be covered in meat and cheese to appeal to prospective buyers.

 

My viewpoint is that people will stop eating like this when they can no longer afford eating like this, just as they cut back on driving when they could no longer afford it. The threats of heart disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea couldn't do it, but when Whoppers end up being $12, you'll see people change their minds.

[Sir Clinksalot]

I was impressed that the guy who won pretty much lost an entire me, which I think is impressive.

 

IMO, there needs to be shows for people like myself who aren't "morbidly" obese but need to lose 20-30 pounds (in addition to the 30 I've lost since July).

 

I think this group of people is the bigger problem, not always the 300-500 pound people.

 

Anything that get's more people involved in doing physical activity, dieting and losing weight the "right way" rather than resorting to surgery is a good thing.

 

I am actually pitching a web-series to my work right now as part of our fitness program. People like me who want to get into shape and to prove that you can do it on your own without the help of dietitians and personal trainers. I have my Treadmill, my Wii Fit and I go jogging on the jogging trail by my house 2-3 times per week.

[SharkTums]

^I totally get what you mean! I'd love a show that was 'lose 5 - 10lbs and get in shape'. Cause really I just want to get in shape, I don't really need to lose any weight. Unfortunately there's not a cool reality show to help me do this!

[BeemerBoy]

So these folks get a payoff at the end of their huge weight loss odyssey? In many cases, you could probably look at that as just a simple reimbursement for most of what they paid to get that way in the first place.

 

And by that rationale, where's my reimbursement for escalating health care costs due to an overall decline in general public health?

 

I don't know, I'm just on the fence with these shows and contests. Is it admirable to put forth the immense effort it takes to lose the weight? Yes.

 

Is dangling the proverbial "carrot" in front of them the right answer? I'm just not sure.

[ParkTrips]

^ Better than dangling a twinkie (ref)

[darklingscribe]

..Burgers, fries, and Coke are popular with people, in spite of being artery clogging, fat gaining, etc. because they taste good on a primal level. There was something on ESPN.com (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/091014&sportCat=mlb) recently about stadium food and not just how bad it is for you, but how so many variants have appeared in recent years...

 

A website I visit occasionally for advice on workouts and diet had a recent Q&A with a nutrition specialist and he talked about not only this but out there has been studies by the big food corporations to find a magical formula that would make their products more addictive.

 

Here is the section of the article: (expletives removed)

 

Big Tobacco's New Buddy: Big Processed Food

 

Q: I heard recently that food manufacturers chemically alter some foods to make them more addictive, sort of like the cigarette companies have done with tobacco. Any truth to that or is it just a conspiracy theory?

 

A: I wish I could say it's a conspiracy theory just so I could get in a couple of tinfoil hat jokes, but unfortunately it's not.

 

Former FDA commissioner David Kessler, MD, goes into deep detail about exactly how this works in his new book, The End of Overeating (highly recommended, by the way) and it ain't pretty.

 

Kessler quotes research by Adam Drewnowski that shows it's the combination of sugar with fat that makes people go nuts. Give someone a packet of sugar and tell him to go to town and you won't get much enthusiasm. Ditto for a stick of butter. But combine the ingredients and watch out.

 

Drewnowski conducted a study where he added various amounts of sugar to five different dairy products from skim milk to heavy cream. People gave low marks to sweetened no-fat products like sweetened skim milk and low marks to unsweetened high-fat products like a heavy cream/vegetable oil blend. But any high-fat product that had sugar added, or any high-sugar product that had fat added, scored way higher.

 

This combo (sugar, fat, and/or salt) creates what Kessler calls "hyperpalatibility." Rats given a chance to eat such combinations will literally gorge themselves. Obviously, so do humans.

 

Sugar, fat, and salt is what makes food "compelling" according to dozens of food executives that Kessler interviewed. Take potato skins, for example. Typically, the potato is hollowed out and the skin is fried which provides a substantial surface area for "fat pick-up." Then some combination of bacon bits, sour cream, and cheese is added. The result is fat on fat on fat on fat, much of it loaded with salt.

 

Is this stuff addictive? You bet your life.

 

Sara Ward of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the willingness of animals to work for a food reward even when they're not hungry. She used Ensure, a particularly loathsome drink doctors give to older patients who aren't eating enough calories. The breaking point at which the animals would no longer work for the "reward" was just slightly lower than the breaking point for cocaine.

 

So it's not so much that manufacturers chemically alter the food as it is that they use lethal (to us, not to them) combos of ingredients to make them irresistible and to make us overeat them.

 

Then they cleverly pair those foods with an actual emotional or visual experiences, which later become stored as pleasant associations to the food — i.e. a "Happy Meal" or a TV commercial with Megan Fox. Pretty soon, you've got a customer for life.

 

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/dirty_nutrition_vol_2

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

My viewpoint is that people will stop eating like this when they can no longer afford eating like this, just as they cut back on driving when they could no longer afford it. The threats of heart disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea couldn't do it, but when Whoppers end up being $12, you'll see people change their minds.

 

The problem is everything that you have stated is 100% opposite right now.

Crappy unhealthy food is cheap to buy and Healthy food that everyone SHOULD be eating is expensive. Like you said though, if Whopper's end up being $12, maybe people will stop buying them. My fear though, is when a Whopper cost $12, is a healthier option now gonna cost $20?

 

It's a bunch of crap. To me, it's the same thing as companies charging a crap ton for medical supplies, tools and products that handicap people NEED. You wanna charge a crap ton for something? Charge people a lot for luxury items, and keep the necessities of life that people need to survive affordable for everyone.

 

 

P.S. I'm glad the guy that won this season's Biggest Loser, won. I thought he deserved it and he seemed genuinely appreciative.

[ParkTrips]

I generally think the unhealthy food is cheaper idea is accurate, but you can eat healthy on a budget. It doesn't have to be sold at Whole foods to be healthy, even Wal Mart sells healthy stuff at affordable prices. The real problem, to me, is that unhealthy food is not only cheaper but usually requires little to no work to prepare. The drive through window has really hurt this nation's waistline

[moinab]

Thanks for posting about Kessler's book. I'm going to have to check that out. This has been a topic of interest for me for a long time. It's why I chose to study dietetics, and it's something I encounter every day at work as an RN.

 

Like any addiction, it's a problem of instant gratification versus long-term gain. I have seen a patient come back from a cardiac cath for blocked arteries, and the first thing he ate was a bucket of Popeye's fried chicken.

 

I regularly see uncontrolled diabetics, in the hospital for strokes or renal failure, gorging on chocolates that family members bring them.

 

I've had COPD patients on oxygen trying to sneak a cigarette in the bathroom.

 

Don't even get me started on the med seekers.

 

For these people, I doubt that even dangling a huge chunk of money in front of them would conquer their addictions, since imminent death has no effect.

 

I truly hope to see a cure for addiction in my lifetime. You want a solution to our massive healthcare problem - that would be it, because 90% of the people I see in the hospital are there because of smoking, alcohol, drugs, and poor diet.

[buttonman700]

Ever since my heart attack in March I have stopped eating fast food. There are some options I can eat if I am with friends, but not many. AS for healthy food not being cheap, not entirely true. We eat at home cheaper than we can eat out and it's not that hard.

 

I am writing a book about my journey back from weighing 425 at the time of my heart attack. I survived what should have killed me, but if I didn't change, I am gambling with my life.

 

Part of my book is exposing the sodium content of not only fast food restaurants, but chain restaurants as well. Yes the fat can kill, but the levels of salt in most of this food will shock you. And not all chain restaurants will tell you what's in their food either.

 

 

Eat well, be well.

[SharkTums]

12/13/09 - Spanish in my Fortune Cookie!?!!?

 

So I'm all for other languages and cultures and I realize that I live in SoCal and there is a LOT of Spanish language around me. Heck, I'm even trying to teach KT some Spanish...BUT...

 

While eating at our local Chinese restaurant today we got our fortune cookies and they were in SPANISH!!!!!!!!

 

Ok, seriously, they were in Spanish on one side and English on the other. WTF?!!??!

 

I'm used to the ones that have a Chinese word or phrase on one side, or 'lucky' numbers, whatever...but Spanish!?!?! Come on!

[Nrthwnd]

Re: Spanish in your Chinese...

 

They're going more global (beyond the USA), obviously.

 

[jray21]

"Una Sonrisa es su alfombra personal de bienvenida"

 

A smile is your personal welcome mat.

 

How touching!

[Sir Clinksalot]

I think the Spanish in your fortune cookie is going WAY too far. I have yet to get one (which is surprising).

[larrygator]

I like Americanized Chinese food. I like Americanized Mexican food. It's not surprising it has come to this in California. I'll be on the lookout for Spanish Fortune Cookies in New York's hispanic neighborhoods.

[atem122]

No me gusta nada!

-----------------------

I don't like this at all!

 

 

Well actually it doesn't really matter, it's very odd to find that at a Chinese restaurant though.

...but just for the hell of it:

"THEY TOOK OUR FORTUNE COOKIES"

-"DAY TUK OUR FORTUNE COOKIES"

--"DURKAB DURRRRR"