Yes, They're Coming for Your Burgers

At PM, WHO head Tedros declares war on meat and traditional farming to fight ‘climate change’

A new declaration from the World Health Organization has revealed that it wants the masses to eat less meat and more plant-based foods in order to supposedly combat "climate change."

World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a grave warning on the matter, saying in a video address, "Our food systems are harming the health of people and planet. Food systems contribute to over 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and account for almost one-third of the global burden of disease. Transforming food systems is therefore essential by shifting for this healthier, diversified and more plant-based diets."

"If food systems deliver healthy diets for all we could save 8 million lives per year," Tedros claimed, "WHO is committed to supporting countries to develop and implement policies to improve diets and fight climate change. I'm therefore very pleased that over 130 countries have signed the code 28 UAE Declaration on climate and health. Together, we can protect and promote the health of both people and planet. Thank you."

Leslie Eastman at LI notices the NYT Pushes “Groundwater Crisis” to Attack America’s Poultry and Dairy Industries

Watch for 2024 to be the Year of Water Crisis. As we head into the New Year, The New York Times has decided to push a story about a “groundwater crisis” created by the American love of poultry and dairy products.

America’s striking dietary shift in recent decades, toward far more chicken and cheese, has not only contributed to concerns about American health but has taken a major, undocumented toll on underground water supplies.

The effects are being felt in key agricultural regions nationwide as farmers have drained groundwater to grow animal feed.

In Arkansas for example, where cotton was once king, the land is now ruled by fields of soybeans to feed the chickens, a billion or so of them, that have come to dominate the region’s economy. And Idaho, long famous for potatoes, is now America’s largest producer of alfalfa to feed the cows that supply the state’s huge cheese factories.

Today alfalfa, a particularly water-intensive crop used largely for animal feed, covers 6 million acres of irrigated land, much of it in the driest parts of the American West.

These transformations are tied to the changing American diet.

This is a subject that will likely require even more attention in 2024. In early 2023, the World Economic Forum decided that the world wasn’t panicked enough about COVID-19 or carbon dioxide but began turning its attention to a “water crisis.”

From my cold, dead hand . . . 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year! ready at The Other McCain.

Magic Weight Loss Secret Revealed

Eat Less. It seems to work for me. Whoda thunk?

Exercise hasn't really worked; we go to the gym 3 days a week, and I work out fairly hard and Sky insists on a long walk every day, or else! So I'm in decent shape for a fat old geezer.

Many years ago, pre-blog, Georgia and I tried the Atkins diet, and lost a lot of weight, in my case dropping to 185, a weight I hadn't seen since early in college. We even kept it off for a few years, but the diet is hard to stay on if your wife is Italian and likes bread and pasta (and sweets literally call your name) and eventually we drifted off of it.

At some point during our trip to California this Sept, Ted and I were talking about weight, and he said he was using intermittent fasting to lose weight, and I made the offhand (and not entirely serious) comment that I really needed to lose weight too. Dieting while traveling is hard because of dining out, and eating with family at large dinners.

Georgia overheard, and shortly after we got back, asked if I was serious about losing weight, and I said yes. She said she would simply cut back on our portions, and see what happened. Eggs and sausage for breakfast, with a little toast, usually a sandwich or leftovers for lunch, a single snack in the afternoon, and a single serving for dinner.

The day after we started I weighed 235.5 according to the bathroom scale. I weighed 217.0 even this morning, although I glimpsed 216.0 a few days ago, but I don't get overly concerned with a lb here or there, as long as the trend continues. So I've lost slightly more than 15 lbs.

I can already feel a little lighter, and my clothes fit more loosely. I even put a new hole in my belt.

If I eat everything I want, I top out somewhere near 235, but it's clear that by fighting, I can take it down considerably.

How low will we go? I don't know, but I'd like the see 200 from the underside.

Rule 5 Saturday - A Plus for Robin Lawly

This week's Rule 5 victim is Robyn Lawly, "plus sized" model.

Robyn Lawley (born 13 June 1989)  is an Australian model.

Robyn was born in Girraween, New South Wales . . . Robyn went to see a mainstream agency when she was 15 and although they were ready to sign her, she didn't feel ready. After taking a year off she returned and started doing straight size modeling for a year. Finding it to be not worth the effort of maintaining the size 8 that was required, she signed with Bella model management, a "plus size" modeling agency in Australia, when she was 18.

Lawley's swimwear line, designed by Lawley in collaboration with Bond-Eye Swimwear, launched in August 2013. The swimwear was produced in sizes 8 (US) to 18 (US), with plans to extend the size range in the future.

The success of Lawley's food blog, "Robyn Lawley Eats" led to her receiving a contract with Random House to publish a cookbook with original recipes, family recipes and tips on eating at restaurants around the world. . . 

Linked at Pirate's Code in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Monday: Eunice Gayson, RIP" ready, sans FMJRA for now.

Too Much Cucumber

My Doctor says I need to eat more fish. pic.twitter.com/MKkCbFopsd

— Dan Osborne (@LaziestofDans) October 6, 2017

Federal Dietary Guidelines, a Politically Determined Fraud

I've had this one in the adress bar for at least a week, trying to find something cute to say, but I guess I'll just put it out here instead: The U.S. Dietary Guidelines: A Scientific Fraud

. . . In September of 2015, prior to the publication of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, I was invited by President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to present our research on implausible dietary data. The presentation was short and simple: the dietary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, “What We Eat In America” study (NHANES /WWEIA) are incompatible with the survival and therefore cannot be used to inform public policy. Nevertheless, the administration proved impervious to contrary evidence and presented the implausible NHANES/WWEIA data as scientific evidence of the “Current Eating Patterns in the United States” in the recently published 2015 Guidelines. This official presentation is patently false and fraudulent. It should be obvious that dietary data that cannot support human life are not an accurate description of the “Current Eating Patterns” of Americans.

In response to the misrepresentation of the NHANES/WWEIA data, we recently published evidence on the willful manipulation and doctoring of data by government-funded researchers to support current dietary dogma. Yet perhaps the most egregious example of scientific fraud and misconduct in the Guidelines is the use of these implausible dietary data to create fear and uncertainty in American citizens. In chapter 2, the section entitled, "Underconsumed Nutrients and Nutrients of Public Health Concern," states that vitamins A, C, D, E, and iron are under-consumed. This statement is directly contradicted and refuted by the Government’s own objective data (i.e., serum biomarkers). For example, at the time of the last CDC Biochemical analysis, less than 1% of Americans were at risk for deficiencies in vitamins A and E, and 80% of Americans were not at risk for deficiencies in any of the minerals and vitamins measured (including vitamins C, D, and iron). It should be obvious that Americans could not be under-consuming vitamins A, C, D, E, and iron while at the same time maintaining healthy serum levels of these same vitamins and minerals. As such, the Guidelines present alarmist, subjective, implausible dietary data as scientific fact while ignoring the objective, rigorous, and obvious data that Americans are exceptionally well fed.

The Executive Branch of our Federal government and the government-funded nutrition community have been aware of the empirical refutation and misrepresentation of dietary data for decades, yet this evidence is ignored. Stated more simply, government officials knew the dietary data used to create the Guidelines were patently false but published them as fact. . .

The horror of big government is that there is no lack of ignorant (sometime even deliberately ignorant) people, telling you what to do and what to eat, and with the authority of the government to propagandize you, and through the regulatory powers, force you to do their bidding.

And it's a long standing problem:

Eat What You Want, Die Anyway

From the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Mortality in vegetarians and comparable nonvegetarians in the United Kingdom

Conclusions: United Kingdom–based vegetarians and comparable nonvegetarians have similar all-cause mortality. Differences found for specific causes of death merit further investigation.

There were some minor differences:

HRs in low meat eaters, fish eaters, and vegetarians compared with regular meat eaters were 0.93 (95% CI: 0.86, 1.00), 0.96 (95% CI: 0.86, 1.06), and 1.02 (95% CI: 0.94, 1.10), respectively; P-heterogeneity of risks = 0.082. There were significant differences in risk compared with regular meat eaters for deaths from circulatory disease [higher in fish eaters (HR: 1.22; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.46)]; malignant cancer [lower in fish eaters (HR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.97)], including pancreatic cancer [lower in low meat eaters and vegetarians (HR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.86 and HR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.28, 0.82, respectively)] and cancers of the lymphatic/hematopoietic tissue [lower in vegetarians (HR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.79)]; respiratory disease [lower in low meat eaters (HR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.92)]; and all other causes [lower in low meat eaters (HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.99)]. Further adjustment for body mass index left these associations largely unchanged.

So when that special vegetarian in your life (everybody has one) tells you that steak is going to kill you, just laugh and keep eating.

Eat Shit, Lose Weight?

New freeze-dried 'poo pills' could be the answer to obesity

SCIENTISTS are set to test freeze-dried pills containing the faecal matter of healthy and lean donors in a bid to tackle the obesity crisis.
Twenty obese volunteers will be taking part in the research and each will be receiving capsules that include several grams of stool from slim donors.

The pills will be taken every week for six weeks without making any changes to their normal diet and exercise habits while researchers track any changes.

These health and weight recordings will be taken at three, six and 12 months, with the potential to continue further depending on the success of the trial.
 . . .
The method has been tested in a number of animal studies and some anecdotal data in humans and has proved effective.

Previously, researchers took the gut microbes from a set of twins, one slim, one obese, and transplanted them into two sets of microbe-free mice.

The mice were on the same diet but those who got the obese twin's microbes became plumper, while the mice who received the lean twin's microbes remained slim.

Why would you think that a small dose of oral bacteria from a slim donor would overwhelm the huge population of bacteria already present in the gut?