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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   33197 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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It's a good point. I can support jacking up taxes on foods no one can credibly deny are unhealthy (donuts, soda, bacon), but not so far that it's a de facto ban (like the marijuana stamps they used to technically require weed dealers to buy, but which no one actually bought because it would entail admitting to a crime).

But you do get into problems when health authorities operate based on outdated, incorrect ideas: like "low fat" being the be-all, end-all (as opposed to aiming to eat good fats like in olive oil, nuts, etc.), or insisting on lowfat dairy even though there is much research showing full-fat dairy (particularly if it's from grass-fed cows) being healthier.

foods no one can credibly deny are unhealthy ... bacon

I deny this. Maybe there is a weak point to be made about nitrate free bacon being better. But bacon is healthy.

Right off the bat we're missing the mark and proposing sin taxes on the wrong things. And I know that the nannies of the nanny state would make this error but worse.

Bacon is healthy?!? Uhhh...got a cite for that?

Soda isn’t unhealthy when consumed reasonably. I drank a ton of it when I was a kid; I also had a paper route and walked for an hour a day doing that. And then I played outside everyday.

Perhaps we should just tax people everyday they don’t get an hour of quality exercise.

An hour a day running >>>>> eating foods you say are bad.

What makes bacon unhealthy? Fat? Fat is not in itself unhealthy. Eating nothing but bacon is not great for you, generally, but neither is eating nothing but lettuce.

Fat is not in itself unhealthy.

BTW, it's weird that you didn't seem to read my entire comment, even though it was fairly short. It included these words: "outdated, incorrect ideas: like 'low fat' being the be-all, end-all (as opposed to aiming to eat good fats like in olive oil, nuts, etc.)"

Yet you still thought you had to explain to me that "fat is not in itself unhealthy"? Srsly??

It's the type of fat (saturated nondairy fat), and the chemicals added in the curing process. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/are-all-processed-meats-equally-bad-for-health/

The nitrites are proven carcinogens

And not relevant to a discussion based on nutritional content. Also overblown. Everything is a carcinogen.

Nitrates and nitrites.

Uncured bacon exists. And the risk from nitrites is not a nutritional one like is being discussed.

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