Denmark imposes "fat" tax...

I did a quick search and didn't find the article. Can you give a link? I'd love to post this on Facebook.

Interesting...

I avoid ketchup in principle. Okay, it's because I don't need more sugar in my diet, so I use mustard instead. Heck, when I fry eggs, instead of putting ketchup on them like some folks do, I use mustard...when possible. (Just TRY to find mustard in 99% of fast food restaurants.)

Because salsa is a good way to get tomatoes (which are good for you) into a diet, I've started using salsa. Most brands of salsa and for that matter, tomato sauce, have sugar in it. There is only one brand of salsa I've found so far, that does NOT have sugar in it.

I have a passion for Little Debbie's, pretty much anything they make that has chocolate FLAVOR to it. And yes, it's about THE cheapest food, per pound of weight, sold. I swear, when the price of their ingredients goes up, they do something to keep it "dirt cheap". I'm not sure I want to know what it is that they do, tho.

Article was on Yahoo's homepage, their news section...or health section.

What is it with you guys and hating on ketchup? I just looked at the back of mine when eating some KD ( ) and the sugar amounts were miniscule. I also buy the low sodium kind, so that was also miniscule. Maybe if you drink the stuff it might be an issue...

It's easy to eat bad and hard to eat well. I tell patients that every day. It's always easier to make bad choices when eating out. Restaurants make the seemingly healthy really bad- sauces, cheese, salt in massive sneaky quanties. Look at nutritional information of restaurants and you will be shocked and disgusted.

integraguy wrote: Interesting... I avoid ketchup in principle. Okay, it's because I don't need more sugar in my diet, so I use mustard instead. Heck, when I fry eggs, instead of putting ketchup on them like some folks do, I use mustard...when possible.

There is an alternative to mustard and ketchup: It is called hot sauce. Whether it's Sriracha, Tobasco, Louisiana, or Cholula, I love them all. Ketchup can GTFO.

Going back to the original topic, how much would "bad food" cost to manufacture if subsidies were cut for corn derivatives? What if manufacturers were required to use natural flavors? If crops could not be genetically modified?

Why is this food so cheap? One reason is because unlike fresh produce, processed food does not require refrigeration. Compare that to asparagus; most of which comes from Peru. Asparagus is extremely sensitive to temperatures and water loss, so it is harvested, packed under refrigeration, flown in a refrigerated cargo plane to the US, unloaded on refrigerated shipments to warehouses, and finally delivered to the store... Considering how extensive its transit is, under refrigeration at that, $4/lb doesn't seem so bad.

cardiacdog wrote: It's easy to eat bad and hard to eat well. I tell patients that every day. It's always easier to make bad choices when eating out. Restaurants make the seemingly healthy really bad- sauces, cheese, salt in massive sneaky quanties. Look at nutritional information of restaurants and you will be shocked and disgusted.

Don't forget butter. The trick to developing that "restaurant" taste is lots and lots of butter. A cheese sauce starts with butter and cream, has cheese added, and is then finished with MORE BUTTER to really get that creamy texture.

How do I know this? Anthony Bourdain told me so.

Since the majority of my meals are eaten while working, I have to consume large amounts of dry, pre-packaged food. Fruits and vegetables are too expensive, messy, and require prep time to eat on the job. Water doesn't satisfy, so it's 44oz of soda a day. I'm out of shape but not over weight. Why sound I have to pay more for the food I need? I'm for jacking up heath ins cost on over weight folks, but who decides whats fat and whats fit?

Many would argue that you do not have to eat dry, pre-packaged food. It only takes a minute or two to make a sandwich before leaving in the morning. Buy fruit that is on sale, and a big bag of carrots to eat instead of, or at least in conjunction with the chips. I always eat the healthy stuff first so that I won't say, "Oh darn, no time left to eat the carrots! Gotta get back to work!"

I have lost weight, and I have gained some of it back. It's easy to gain five pounds in the course of a year. So what? That's barely anything. Well, twenty years of five pounds a year is an extra hundred pounds to lug around!

I eat donuts, pop-tarts, cookies, little debbies, and fudge stripes on a near daily basis. I'm 43, 6'2", and 180lbs. Most of my friends that 'eat healthy' are overweight. I'd probably sue over a tax like this.

Noooo!!! I'd never be able to afford sweet, sweet bacon ever again!

Also, If we ever do have a ketchup prohibition, I will personally start illegal moonshine-esk ketchup running in from Canada to supply the underground burger joints that will inevitably spring up everywhere. OTOH, cops aren't driving slow cars anymore and an RX8 isn't exactly the ultimate escape machine... Maybe I'll just brew my own ketchup?

All old unsafe cars should have a high tax placed on them as they might hurt someone. That is where this type crap leads.

Gearheadotaku wrote: who decides whats fat and whats fit?

I think fat and fit are easy to quantitatively measure.

Health and unhealthy foods are not.

racerfink wrote: I eat donuts, pop-tarts, cookies, little debbies, and fudge stripes on a near daily basis. I'm 43, 6'2", and 180lbs. Most of my friends that 'eat healthy' are overweight. I'd probably sue over a tax like this.

I find most people's concepts of eating healthy is, well, fat-out wrong.

In the world of socialized medicine, I'm for taxes on fatties.

aircooled wrote: I would agree with it IF: The money collected from taxing FAT foods was used to reduce the price of HEALTHY foods. Cheeseburgers get more expensive, asparagus gets cheaper (asparagus is kind of pricy BTW). It is pretty sad that the most cost effective way to eat is usually food that is really bad for you.

This for the truth, having been very very poor, but not homeless, for a while you start to look at things in a dollar/calorie sort of way. I lived on Red Beans and rice (Vegie) for a long time but it was tempting to get 0.39$ cheeseburgers at McD to change things up a bit.

I will just leave this here.

http://www.manolith.com/2009/04/19/17-foods-with-the-most-caloric-bang-for-your-buck/

http://www.manolith.com/2009/04/19/17-foods-with-the-most-caloric-bang-for-your-buck/

OK, that did it, I'm officially HUNGRY!!

I've also found that how much and how quickly people eat has a lot more to do with their size than what they eat.

the government up here in Canada finances it's healthcare system by taxing things that are detrimental to health, like booze and smokes, this seems no different to me. And as the son of two parents with a combined weight of 500+ lbs and someone who has to count every calorie to stay thin, I support a tax like this in my country.

carguy123 wrote:

http://www.manolith.com/2009/04/19/17-foods-with-the-most-caloric-bang-for-your-buck/

OK, that did it, I'm officially HUNGRY!!

Gah... Now I want a burger, and ribs, and an awesome blossom... some of those were surprizing, but mostly it didn't seem like news. Who in their right mind would think cake, BBQ ribs, and burgers coated in cheese, bacon, and ranch dressing were anything but terribly unhealthy? They're also amazingly tasty... I think I'm gonna find me an Outback Steakhouse for dinner tonight.

Seems somewhat hypocritical since these are the only foods from Denmark anyone's ever heard of.

Wally wrote: Seems somewhat hypocritical since these are the only foods from Denmark anyone's ever heard of.

2 things I hardly ever actually run across in Denmark unless Im staying at the Marriott which is very "americanized"

However I'm surprised they dont all have high blood pressure, I have yet to have soup anywhere in the country that didn't just taste like seawater and (whatever flavor soup it was supposed to be)

wearymicrobe wrote: This for the truth, having been very very poor, but not homeless, for a while you start to look at things in a dollar/calorie sort of way. I lived on Red Beans and rice (Vegie) for a long time but it was tempting to get 0.39$ cheeseburgers at McD to change things up a bit. I will just leave this here. http://www.manolith.com/2009/04/19/17-foods-with-the-most-caloric-bang-for-your-buck/

2600 calorie milkshake. Let me repeat that: A 2600 calorie milkshake.

There are a few foods that I am incapable of eating in moderation. Ice cream is the major one. A few months ago, I went through two half-gallon containers of Blue Bell ice cream in the course of a week. I solve this problem by not buying ice cream very often. Chips and salsa is probably the other. Imagine this scenario: Oh no, I still have salsa in my bowl. Better get some more chips. Whoops, I now have too many chips. Might as well re-up the salsa! Repeat forever. Nap.