Links With Your Coffee - Monday
- The questions our healthcare debate ignores | Salon
As President Obama issued his call for reform of American healthcare, he must have been gratified to hear so many professions of good faith and civility from the political and commercial interests that have always opposed change. The health insurance lobbyists as well as the politicians who serve them all promised that this time would be different.
But amid all the reassuring blather, certain fundamental questions were not asked, as usual, because merely posing them might discomfort those same special interests and political leaders. Why do we spend so much more on healthcare, per capita, than other developed countries? Why do we achieve worse outcomes on several important measures than countries that spend far less? Why do we spend up to twice as much per person as countries that provide universal coverage while leaving as many as 50 million Americans without insurance?
- What if Woody Allen had directed Watchmen? - By Dan Kois and Ashley Quigg - Slate Magazine
- Sunday Sermonette: James Wolcott | Vanity Fair
Instead of men kneeling in confessionals admitting to lust, maybe they should be encouraged to regard greed...as a more devastating and destructive sin. In this respect, it is interesting to note that Pope Benedict has recently suggested that there is a close connection between original sin and the greed that has created the current economic crisis. It is also notable that the credit crunch has been created by a profession that is almost exclusively male. In the line-up of failed bankers, not a single woman's name has appeared. Male greed has proven to be a murderous sin, destroying the livelihoods of millions, bringing down economies and social institutions and threatening starvation to the most vulnerable people on earth.
- Jon Cogburn's Blog: Wheaton College Rescinds Job Offer to Socrates
- Pharyngula: Elephantine errors from Ray Comfort
- xkcd - A Webcomic - Pirate Bay
- Missing Link Between Fructose, Insulin Resistance Found
- A most spectacular blog comment (Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge)
- More Americans Say They Have No Religion
Comments
That fructose article is proof of what is wrong with our health care system in the US. Instead of just coming out and saying 'hey America, eating HFCS will kill you!', they come up with a 'therapy' of knocking down part of our metabolism.
It's great scientists are finding out just how HFSC kills us, but coming up with a 'therapy' is rediculous!
How about this therapy? Stop eating it!
Hope you're eating all fresh produce, bread, meat, etc. that you cook yourself. Read a food label lately? HFSC is in almost every commercially sweetened product in the Americas these days. A little wouldn't kill you, even though cane sugar would still be a better choice. Even juice that should be all juice tends to put a little HFCS in to sweeten the pot. Zounds.
Yes, I read them. It seems hard to avoid it, but I assure you it can be done. Adapting your taste to enjoy spice instead of sweets is the easiest way.
It's really only been in the last 100 years or so that sugars went from an occasional indulgence to an every meal ingredient. Sure there is sugar in fruits and berries, but you've got to eat a ton of fruit to get the sugar content of a regular soda. And sure, there is fructose in honey, but that used to be a dangerous bounty to chase!
Look at the obesity rate in the US! Michael Moore is beginning to be the norm instead of the exception. Nurses quit after a couple years because helping lard-ass patients go to the bathroom or even transfer beds can and does permanently injure their backs.
Pills aren't going to change this. They may make living with it a little more comfortable for a little while, but that only encourages us to indulge in more gluttony.
If people really gave a shit about health care, they'd stop poisoning themselves. Instead, we cry about how much our pills cost. It's a vicious circle Sister, and it's got to be broken!
Agreed; part of my point was that most people are not label readers; they'd rather not know, cross their fingers and get used to the sweetness.
We have known for quite some time that fructose can cause insulin resistance--this is not news. The merits of this research lies in identifying a gene that appears to have a role in this relationship.
While I agree that the proactive solution is to not each so much sugar, I think that some people may benefit from this type of treatment when changes in diet can't reverse type II diabetes.
I'm not a HFCS advocate, but I do take issue with furthering the myth that HFCS alone is to blame while sugar gets a pass. Yes, it's cheap and it's in about every food imaginable, but it contains the same amount of fructose as regular table sugar (sometimes less). That's like saying vodka is bad because it contains alcohol while ignoring whisky and rum.
Yeah, I suppose you're right Steve. Diabetes is killing my father and several people very close to me have been diagnosed with it, so I can get a little worked up about it.
The tragedy is that once they were diagnosed with it, they were finally taught how to eat. If they had known that when they were younger, they never would have developed Type II.
I'm sure you know Type II used to be called Adult Onset Diabetes because it almost never happened to children. Now it happens pretty regularly so we've changed the name to Type II. That's got to be a clue we're doing something really wrong!
I'm no dietitian (except that I eat ;), but here's my theory: Eating anything really sweet (even artifical sweeteners) makes us crave more and more carbohydrates and since most of our carb rich foods are loaded with sugar, well, you know. That's why people who drink diet soda are more obese than those who don't.
Health care is getting more expensive because there is too much demand for it - not because we're getting ripped off by insurance companies.
You're sounding an awful lot like Bill Maher.
But, I'm curious. Do you really think people don't know what to eat? Since I'm in California which is super conscious, I don't want to judge by that standard. I think people know what they should eat -I think they just don't want to eat that way. A guy I know said "I know what to do - I'm just not doing it." It's like smoking, drinking, exercise...I even know people with diabetes who don't eat right - it's good your father is.
I am amazed at how quickly people will go for a pill to fix them as first option. And, I'm amazed at how little food in regular (less expensive) grocery stores is real food. They say to be healthier, you should be buying the bulk of your food from the outer aisles. And fast food and other things that are being sold to you (like diet soda) - ingredients can be frightening, not to mention portion sizes.
I think most of us know, but since everyone around us eats like crap, we forget. PSAs about the dangers of diabetes and obesity would be money well spent in my opinion.
Showing the foot of someone with diabetic ulcers on their feet would wake up most women.
Explaining how diabetes can permanently deflate your penis (no pics) should wake up most men.
I don't know that much about Maher's position, but if he's a proponent of emphasizing prevention of disease over treatment after the fact, I guess we'd agree.
I think most (obviously not all) people are pretty detached from the food they consume, whether they know what to eat or not. Just something to quell a hunger pang or satisfy a marketing-induced urge. I'm not saying we all have to be farmers, but the move to packaged food signaled a move away from what food really is.
Vending machines in nearly every institution contribute to this as well.
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