The obesity crisis has many causes, cheap food, too much sugar, too big portions, processed food, driving instead of walking. But I suspect genetic changes in the womb and in early childhood are a major contributor, which is causing the generation on generation increase. If you know about the obesity issues of Samoans and Tongans…then you’ll get the picture…they are predisposed to obesity.
Obesity is led in large part by the food industry (pretty much undeniably evil) which has invested heavily in advertising and more importantly research to make food literally irresistible.
There have been lots of thorough and credible studies in the recent years to show just how manufactured, as in manipulated, junk food is. How calories are hidden from taste (but registered by the body) so that one unconsciously is led to overeat. How “heavy user” of junk food are targetted for even greater consumption. How foods are tailored for different ethnic groups to be maximally tasty and unhealthy.
Just think of the absurdity that something composed of 80% sugar is allowed to be labeled as a cereal. As a breakfast food for children. It should be in the confectionery aisle but the food industry fights this because they know if there is truth in advertising no one would buy this for breakfast.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]Obesity is led in large part by the food industry (pretty much undeniably evil) which has invested heavily in advertising and more importantly research to make food literally irresistible.
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Actually that’s not what I meant. Most of those foods, assuming they are using normal ingredients would not make you obese.
I meant things like working out the perfect size and texture of salt crystals for chips so that each bite delivers the maximum pleasure load on the tongue. And manufacturing the chips for a crunch that sounds just perfect.
Or adding sugar to fatty foods so that we literally are not aware how many calories we are consuming (we generally have a decent idea with normal foods but many foods are primed to fool our bodies; and hence encourage overeating).
There is also something called the bliss point which the food industry spends a lot of money and research to get just right to maximize their selling.
To say nothing of the way they force supermarkets to display their products, again for maximum sales, and no regard for health.
I was just joking. 
Like salt and vinegar Miss Vicky’s, I could not resist.
Back to topic. I think Tsai should come up with some “simple yet effective” policies. By simple I mean it’d be a very easy step to make, like it could be gotten over with overnight; by effective I mean it’d send out a strong message to the rest of the world. Legalising gay marriage(the harder one to push, but I genuinely think it’s gonna work like a charm), changing our time zone(inspired by North Korea), and offering to accept some Syrian refugees(I don’t think they’d want to come at all, nor do I think Taiwan is in the position of taking any sort of refugees, but I think the “gesture” is gonna work) are the ones which are off the top of my head.
Change our time zone? That’s a new one on me. A quick look at a world time map shows that we are fine in the time zone we currently have - we are the same time as the Philippines and Western Australia, which are directly south of us. Furthermore, by coincidence today is the autumn equinox, THE perfect date for checking if we are in the “right” time zone. So I just checked now…for today, Taipei sunrise is at 5:43 AM and sunset is 5:47 PM. The ideal “correct time zone” means you want as close as possible for sunrise to be at 6:00 AM and sunset at 6:00 PM during the equinox. If we switched to Korea’s time zone, today we’d have sunrise at 6:43 AM and sunset at 6:47 PM, which is further from the ideal. Not that it makes a huge difference in the scheme of things, but it seems obvious to me that switching the time zones just to be different from China is rather petty and childish…then again, it’s just the sort of thing that the DPP would do.
Maybe we should go off the metric system too for the same reason - use pounds, feet, inches and degrees Fahrenheit, to be like America. Well, good news - Taiwan’s household electric appliances use 110 volts AC and China uses 220 volts - we really outfoxed them there (unfortunately, you have to give the KMT credit for that one). To be different from China, maybe Tsai should change the law so that we drive on the left side of the road instead of the right (admittedly, many Taiwanese already do that, so they’d hardly notice the change).
Forgive me for being blunt, but that is totally insane.
Is there anything you TI guys won’t do just to score some petty political points?
Maybe we ought to consider some real reforms. You know, like banning ractopamine, withdrawing our application to join the TPP, and putting Tongyin Pinyin out of its misery. If Tsai would do that, I’d applaud her.
:eh: Pretty sure that’s the work of the Japanese…
:eh: Pretty sure that’s the work of the Japanese…[/quote]
OK, I concede. I guess I can only give the KMT credit for not changing it to 220 volts. As I recall, Chen Shuibian loudly advocated that Taiwan switch to 220 volts but quickly went silent on the issue - maybe someone told him that China was also 220. Perhaps we can switch from AC to DC - that would make us unique in the world (well, at least since Thomas Edison’s time, he used DC). Using DC would also have some advantages for rooftop solar, since solar panels produce DC power only. Of course, using DC power would mean replacing the entire electric grid and every electric appliance, but hey, who needs it?
The Japanese drive on the left side of the road, so it looks like the KMT went pro-China on us by switching it to the right.
[quote=“Dog’s_Breakfast”]
Maybe we ought to consider some real reforms. You know, like banning ractopamine, withdrawing our application to join the TPP, and putting Tongyin Pinyin out of its misery. If Tsai would do that, I’d applaud her.[/quote]
Give this man a cigar!
Wait, Ractopamine isn’t currently banned?
Ractopamine itself cannot be sold in Taiwan, but American beef contaminated with ractopamine can be imported thanks to Ma’s groveling to AIT and Amcham (the latter basically runs AIT). I could have been more specific when I said “ban ractopamine,” but I’m sure by now everyone here knows the score.
Raise your hands if you are in favor. 
Ractopamine itself cannot be sold in Taiwan, but American beef contaminated with ractopamine can be imported thanks to Ma’s groveling to AIT and Amcham (the latter basically runs AIT). I could have been more specific when I said “ban ractopamine,” but I’m sure by now everyone here knows the score.[/quote]
So what?!
I’ll take the ractopamine any day because US beef is absolutely delicious.
And what difference does it make at the end of the day. The poison in the air and food locally is a thousand times worse. Do you know that Taiwanese still pour boiling hot soup into plastic bags after all these decades and with everything we know now about chemicals in plastics and danger to health, they still do it. Such an easy fix to such a reckless practice (e.g. companies can drop off large pots, containers etc to the 5 or 6 restaurants locally that they order from every day).
Ractopamine itself cannot be sold in Taiwan, but American beef contaminated with ractopamine can be imported thanks to Ma’s groveling to AIT and Amcham (the latter basically runs AIT). I could have been more specific when I said “ban ractopamine,” but I’m sure by now everyone here knows the score.[/quote]
So what?!
I’ll take the ractopamine any day because US beef is absolutely delicious.
And what difference does it make at the end of the day. The poison in the air and food locally is a thousand times worse. Do you know that Taiwanese still pour boiling hot soup into plastic bags after all these decades and with everything we know now about how plastic chemicals and danger to health, they still do it. Such an easy fix to such a reckless practice (e.g. companies can drop off large pots, containers etc to the 5 or 6 restaurants locally that they order from every day).[/quote]
How about the American pioneering sipping 90 degree hot coffee from plastic lid, and also spill on themselves? How’s that any different?
You made my point for me. The problem with toxic coffee cup lids was determined, discussed and solutions immediately followed.
Taiwan has had decades to come up with a fix for POURING HOT SOUP INTO CHEAP TOXIC CHEMICAL PLASTIC BAGS! and letting it leach into the soup for 30-60 minutes before consuming
US beef is a political issue only, not a health issue.
Be my guest. It’s your ass.
[quote=“Gain”][quote=“Mucha Man”]Obesity is led in large part by the food industry (pretty much undeniably evil) which has invested heavily in advertising and more importantly research to make food literally irresistible.
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Whether a person gets morbidly obese is a lot more complicated than just “eating more” or “eating more carbs”. I’m saying this as a person who just ate half a pint of Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk right before bed last night, only works out by going to the swimming pool once a month at best, and still weighs under 170lb, at 6’. I eat tons of carbs and very little protein. That’s just how my genes work. But just because I’m not appearing on Extreme Weight Loss anytime soon, it doesn’t mean my lifestyle isn’t taking a toll on me in other ways.
That’s why these studies are so difficult. They would have to first identify people who have genes making them susceptible to being dangerously overweight, and use a test group and a control group to see if ractopamine has an effect on them over at least a 5-year period.
It would have been much easier to do so before ractopamine is pumped into over 80% of cattle in the US. But no, let’s make money first and to hell with those who’s genes are tough enough to withstand the effects.
Changing the time zone would make a lot of sense. Sunrise is 5-6 am
For most of the year!