Mrs. Weer’d sends me this story on the NYC Trans Fat Ban:
A five-year-old ban on the use of trans fats in New York City restaurants has sharply reduced the consumption of these unhealthy fats among fast-food customers, a study by city health officials has found.
In 2007, the New York City Board of Health, spurred on by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, adopted a regulation that forced restaurants to all but eliminate the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and spreads, the main sources of trans fats in the U.S. diet.
The ban appears to have had the intended effect. A new analysis of thousands of lunch receipts, collected at fast-food chains before and after the ban went into effect, estimates that the average trans fat content of customers’ meals has dropped by 2.5 grams, from about 3 grams to 0.5 grams.
Go figure, ban an ingredient, and people consume less of it.
BTW look all over the article and look for ANY data on how Healthy New Yorkers are. You won’t find it. Even if Trans-Fat is the horrible poison the people with no biology or medicinal background say, the average person consumes very few calories per day from trans fats.
I like to chuckle about these stupid trend in “Magic Food”. When I grew up we would always have a tub of yellow margarine, because butter is bad for you. Now, margarine is nearly pure trans-fat and a horrible poison, and butter is the “natural fat”.
Of course they’re all pure fat, which should be consumed in moderation. BTW I prefer extra virgin olive oil…not because its a “poly-unsaturated fat”, but because it tastes good…and we use butter for all other applications…because it tastes good.
Of course this is all just a political version of the Grapefruit Diet, just ban some demon food, and TA-DA! Everybody is healthy. (Note the study also notes the NYC large-cap soda ban)
Of course I can sit on my couch all day and eat whole wheat bread dipped in olive oil all day long and wash it down with unsweetened green tea, and have a sensible meal of chicken and vegtables, and then go back to the couch to snack some more…and I’ll blow up like a blimp and suffer horrible health consequences.
Or I could have a few donuts made from trans fat after I jog, and before I start lifting weights, and watch my calories and keep active and be perfectly healthy….but that would be letting people live their own lives, and “Progressives” HATE that!
Dang it! Now I have that song stuck in my head!
And yeah, I gave up on the “this is healthy, that isn’t and should never be eaten” stuff a long time ago. All things in moderation and in proper proportion, and enjoy your life. No one gets out alive, anyway.
Control freaks just can’t admit that people will do what they want to do, regardless of the official statements and regulations. What I put in my mouth is my responsibility. I’m all for education, and I’ll accept public service announcements, but I won’t give up my own choice.
My body my choice and Keep the Goverment Out of My Organ of Choice wear pretty thin when it comes time to pay for all the “free” healthcare or make the proles do their mandatory calesthencis.
Acutally, Orwell was an optimist, as he thought the proles would largly be left alone.
I had the misfortune of surfing past MSNBC’s Morning Joe this a.m. where Mika Brzezinski and two other female collectivist ghouls were singing praise to Bloomberg and his food fascism; along the lines of “See! These policies do work! We’ve lowered the fat in meals by xx%! This is great. We need more of this. It’s for the common good!” Ugg. I blurted a quick FU! to the TV.
At least NY and maybe CHI and SanFr and other progressive bastions are good candidates to be wall-off cities a la Escape From NY.
Mika seems like the type of person who would be MUCH more comfortable locked in a cell or facility where she isn’t burdened with the stress and tribulation of free will.
Me? I’ve never been happier as a grown man who makes his own life.