tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post88033832221105558..comments2023-10-17T15:56:22.827+01:00Comments on Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: The Fat Lie (plus Channel 4 News)Christopher Snowdonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15963753745009712865noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-6659805533716068682014-08-28T14:38:58.847+01:002014-08-28T14:38:58.847+01:00There's another factor they haven't consid...There's another factor they haven't considered: heating. People are mammals. Mammals spend a huge amount of their energy intake on maintaining a stable body temperature, which increases in cold conditions and decreases in warm conditions.<br /><br />I was born in 1970 and remember what houses were like back then. In winter, brisk, cold and similar adjectives were the ones to use; growing up I had effectively no heating in my bedroom at all, and only two gas fires downstairs which were rarely if ever run anywhere near full output.<br /><br />We lived by putting on more insulating clothes and by putting up with the temperatures, and much more of our food was metabolised to keep us warm.<br /><br />Nowadays central heating is the norm. My house is set to maintain fifteen degrees inside come what may, and to boost this to twenty one if it can in the mornings and evenings. Life is much, much more comfortable, and spending more time in such palatial luxury can only make us fatter.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02618328278732100203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-87737844250831481512014-08-27T15:27:06.734+01:002014-08-27T15:27:06.734+01:00Nice paper, but I still don't understand how t...Nice paper, but I still don't understand how they measure the weight and the weight/height ratio of the population.<br />In England, there are a lot of different groups with different heights. South-east-Asians are usually smaller than Norther Europeans, for instance. Then, people eat and behave differently according to a lot of different parameters. How can you possibly find a representative sample? And if you find one for England, how can you possibly use it for an international comparison? Even for a comparison between now and the 50's or the 80'?<br />The rest of the data must be roughly reliable, but I have some doubts about the population weight data.Jean Granvillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12863378650172171963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-29723536021368837852014-08-20T00:34:42.411+01:002014-08-20T00:34:42.411+01:00I too thought that your annoyance was fully reason...I too thought that your annoyance was fully reasonable. The (quack) prof had just implied that you are a 'silly boy', messing in things that you know little about. <br />I sometimes wonder if presenters are briefed to let the profs speak uninterrupted, but to jump in and mess up your chance to speak. It seem to happen an awful lot.<br />On the topic, it seems perfectly obvious to me that the fall in physically taxing jobs must have an effect on the need for calories consumption generally. The balance of physical activity and calories consumption is what matters. The important thing to me is that it is a matter for the individual to work out for himself. Personally, I don't think that it matters much what you eat. Constantly eating too much of anything will cause weight increase, depending upon each individual's metabolism. Personally, I think of exercise as a means of toning the muscles, and certainly not a means of weight loss. And you don't need to do an awful lot of exercise to keep your muscles in decent shape. <br />What I object to, and I am sure that this is one of the reasons for your report, is the constant attacks from the fascists in health zealotry upon major industries and the their propaganda tactics. <br /> Junican https://www.blogger.com/profile/03405543859782362078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-41900071446653145002014-08-19T18:33:55.051+01:002014-08-19T18:33:55.051+01:00Its a simole equation for Kcal: Food in - living/e...Its a simole equation for Kcal: Food in - living/exercise out. Every 7000 Kcal on one side of the balance means 1 Kg body weight more or less. <br />Its not rocket science. <br />I know people prefer fairy tales.Phönixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11679016781190518573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-23621881410101606862014-08-19T13:38:44.609+01:002014-08-19T13:38:44.609+01:00As one who sees great merit in the high fat/low ca...As one who sees great merit in the high fat/low carbohydrate theory, I first thought that the increase in obesity could be explained by a decrease in the proportion of calories from fat between 1974 and 2012. However, from your figures, and the fact that 1g of fat equates to 8.8 cals, it can be seen that the proportion of calories from fat has decreased from 39% to 36%; on the face of it, not much of a fall. Supposing protein calories stayed constant as a proportion of total calories, this 3% decrease would have been compensated by an increase in the proportion of carbohydrate calories. The fall in total calories is so large that this is possible together with the recorded decrease in absolute carbohydrate consumption. However, if this did occur, I've no idea if it would have been sufficient to precipitate the growth in obesity. <br /><br />If we discount this explanation, the only others seem to be that some of the food statistics are wrong, or that your lack of exercise explanation is correct. The figures from independent sources broadly agree, yet I find the exercise explanation difficult to accept. Calorie intake fell from 2534 to 1990 between 1974 and 2012. This represents an enormous amount of physical activity. The examples you give for the decline in walking and cycling are almost insignificant in calorific terms. A mile walking roughly equates to 80 calories and you quote a yearly (far less than a mile a day) decrease of 76 miles between 1976 and 2010. I don't think the decline in manual labour is sufficient either. 540 calories a day is an hour, for a fit person, of really hard physical exercise in a gym or over seven miles of walking. Was there a large enough decline in this kind of work. I'm open to persuasion. Perhaps the decline in manual work and all the small things really do add up to population average of 540 calories. I'm sceptical? Jonathan Bagleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17331501151709216753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-22688256030577072312014-08-19T12:09:22.174+01:002014-08-19T12:09:22.174+01:00Don't beat yourself up Chris, you didn't c...Don't beat yourself up Chris, you didn't come across as exceptionally irritated, just annoyed with a smug - albeit softly spoken - git who quite happily tried to dismiss your work as "hooey". I think most people would feel your response was pretty proportionate in the circumstances. I would probably have just called him a lying c*nt, but that's because I have no patience with lying c*nts!<br /><br />Also, don't forget that the "average couch potato" will take more notice of a news report where there is a bit of a punch-up - as opposed to the polite but dry outpourings of self-satisfied idiots like Lean.<br /><br />As for whether or not this went down well with viewers - there are 4 comments on the Channel 4 website. Two of these are criticising you - but 50% of these critical comments are from one Simon Chapman! That says a lot.<br /><br />The other two comments make the salient point about how it suits so-called 'public health' when people 'misreport' their exposure to tobacco smoke, which leads to entirely false conclusions about passive smoking 'risks'. Such PH hypocricy need calling out at every opportunity.<br /><br />Finally a word of advice. When you are asked the (inevitable from biased interviewers) question about funding, you should reply along the lines of "I will answer that question when Mike Lean identifies his own funding links with pharmaceutical and other beneficiary industries". He will, no doubt, deny it - but if he is lying, he won't do so too many times.<br /><br />All in all, I enjoyed your spirited performance. I absolutely despised Lean from the moment he said <i>"we who know about obesity and public health..."</i>. Ugh! What incredible, and quite unnecessary hubris!BrianBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01932385164287199462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-23487648528585428142014-08-19T09:37:27.469+01:002014-08-19T09:37:27.469+01:00Mike Lean has ties to the food industry!! CSO for ...Mike Lean has ties to the food industry!! CSO for eat balanced ...<br /><br />http://www.eatbalanced.com/who-we-<br />are/meet-the-team/<br /><br />I guess that makes his views invalid ;)<br /><br />There's even a picture of arch capitalist and multimillionaire Deborah Meaden on the same page ... <br /><br />I just can't believe these people are using markets to promote their "healthy" food ... how dare they!! ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11140878708880282829noreply@blogger.com