Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

[swgprop]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

I think the greater cause is lack of exercise. We have successfully engineered a society in which you have to go out of your way to expend any energy between waking and going to bed.

Pointing a finger at the food pyramid is bogus IMO. We need to walk, run, carry more. Perhaps if oil prices continue their trend this will happen.

I agree that lack of exercise is a contributing factor to obesity and ill health. But I disagree with your disagreement regarding the food pyramid. From 1991 to 2005 the food pyramid extolled the virtues of eating 6-11 daily servings of bread, cereal, rice, pasta while restricting servings of meat, poultry, eggs to 2-3 daily.

A high carb, low fat regimen that plays a key role in wide spread obesity and metabolic syndrome in western civilization.

[Jay]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

[quote=touchring;130548]

"Good" or "bad", I wouldn't be too hasty to write off America's iconic brands... :p

An excerpt from McDonald's recently released 3rd Q earnings statement.

/quote]


McDonald's doing very well in China. But with time, maybe another 10-15 years, the novelty effect will wear off, and people will start to move onto Italian and Japanese food.

Hasn't worn off in the states yet.

[a warren]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

The McDonalds business model is an insult to humanity and every other species involved. Chickens, cattle, corn, soy ... It makes money sure, but so does drug dealing.

"Good" or "bad", I wouldn't be too hasty to write off America's iconic brands... :p

An excerpt from McDonald's recently released 3rd Q earnings statement.

McDonald's Third Quarter Earnings Rise on Strong Global Results

OAK BROOK, Ill., Oct 22, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- McDonald's Corporation today announced strong results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009, fueled by positive comparable sales in every area of the world. In constant currencies, the Company posted higher revenues, operating income and earnings per share compared with the prior year... ...Global comparable sales increased 3.8% with the U.S. up 2.5%, Europe up 5.8% and Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa up 2.2%... ...Earnings per share of $1.15, a 10% increase (14% in constant currencies) over the prior year... ...In Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA), operating income for the quarter rose 21% in constant currencies with Australia and China leading the segment. Emphasis on convenience, value, operations excellence and core menu are enhancing consumer appeal and driving growth across APMEA. Jim Skinner [McDonald's Chief Executive Officer] concluded, "We begin the fourth quarter from a position of strength, and I am confident that our focus on the customer and commitment to financial discipline will continue to deliver long-term profitable growth for our System and our shareholders. For October, despite a declining informal eating out market around the world, we expect consolidated comparable sales to remain positive."... That last sentence is worth paying attention to. It means that in a declining global market, McDonald's is taking market share away from its competitors. Many years ago, in my former life in Big Oil, I had the opportunity to listen to executives from numerous other companies in other sectors of the economy come to our management sessions and discuss their businesses and strategies. One of the most insightful and useful discussions was with a McDonald's executive from Oak Brook who left me with a crystal clear understanding of their formidable competitive advantages and how they were applying them outside the USA to grow their international businesses. He showed us exactly how in an expanding market, McDonald's would grow faster than any other competitor, and in slow economic times how his firm would take market share from others. What he described then is precisely what the company has done in the intervening 15-odd years. I rarely frequent a McDonald's restaurant as I do not prefer fried foods, but anyone judging the quality of their business model using his/her taste buds is making a big mistake...

[GRG55]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

The McDonalds business model is an insult to humanity and every other species involved. Chickens, cattle, corn, soy ... It makes money sure, but so does drug dealing.

Have you actually ever run a business? With your own money on the line?

[a warren]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

I have run my own business for the last 15 years and also have interests in other closely held businesses. I think it is possible to be in business and have ethics, but it is difficult.

[GRG55]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

I have run my own business for the last 15 years and also have interests in other closely held businesses...

...which makes the statement in your previous post even more surprising.

...I think it is possible to be in business and have ethics, but it is difficult.

Okay, you seem to think McDonald's is filled with unethical leadership. Perhaps you know something about the organization that the rest of us don't.

However, in the absense of anything specific, given their superb execution of a strategy articulated some years ago, and what to me seems like a sustainable global business model for its shareholders, your charge of unethical people running the company rings rather hollow in this age of asset-stripping Private Equity privateers, bonus-crazed bankers that levered their companies to the edge of collapse and beyond, and corporate executives and Boards of some of the venerable American manufacturing firms that systematically ran them into the ground all the while enriching themselves handsomely. What is it about McDonald's that makes it unethical in the way it treats its shareholders?

[a warren]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

I did not suggest anywhere that the shareholders are treated unethically. But it would be hard to argue that the beef in the feedlots is treated ethically. Or for that matter the customers at the 'restaurants'. The tobacco industry executives were regarded as ethical until they weren't.

If you are interested in finding out how the fast food industry, led by McDonalds has changed supplier and customer behaviour for the worse check out this movie.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

...which makes the statement in your previous post even more surprising.




Okay, you seem to think McDonald's is filled with unethical leadership. Perhaps you know something about the organization that the rest of us don't.

However, in the absense of anything specific, given their superb execution of a strategy articulated some years ago, and what to me seems like a sustainable global business model for its shareholders, your charge of unethical people running the company rings rather hollow in this age of asset-stripping Private Equity privateers, bonus-crazed bankers that levered their companies to the edge of collapse and beyond, and corporate executives and Boards of some of the venerable American manufacturing firms that systematically ran them into the ground all the while enriching themselves handsomely. What is it about McDonald's that makes it unethical in the way it treats its shareholders?

[rogermexico]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

I think the greater cause is lack of exercise. We have successfully engineered a society in which you have to go out of your way to expend any energy between waking and going to bed.

Pointing a finger at the food pyramid is bogus IMO. We need to walk, run, carry more. Perhaps if oil prices continue their trend this will happen.

There's a reason that you don't see many obese people in NYC and you see them everywhere in the mid-west. Sprawling suburbia where you are forced to drive everywhere is a guarantee of obesity.

No evidence whatever for the exercise hypothesis. It is indeed the food pyramid with pasta and bread at it's base. Read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Taubes.

I, too, accuse the food pyramid.

Take out the grains, linoleic acid and excess fructose and eat real food meant for human consumption.

[rogermexico]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

I did not suggest anywhere that the shareholders are treated unethically. But it would be hard to argue that the beef in the feedlots is treated ethically. Or for that matter the customers at the 'restaurants'. The tobacco industry executives were regarded as ethical until they weren't.

If you are interested in finding out how the fast food industry, led by McDonalds has changed supplier and customer behaviour for the worse check out this movie.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

The most unhealthy thing McDonald's ever did was switch from using real animal fats for the french fries to poisonous Omega six laden industrial vegetable oils, which cause oxidized LDL formation that contributes to ahterosclerosis and which creates a non -evolutionary 6:3 ratio in the tissues of your body that contributes to inflammation, cancer and other chronic diseases.

This switch was not initiated at the corporate level, but in response to ignorant "healthy eating" do-gooders inspired by the Fraudulent Ancel Keys and our own government.

It is actually easy to eat healthy at McDonalds. Burger without ketchup or mayo, throw away the bun. Iced tea with lemon. Salad with grilled chicken.

It's the sugary drinks, the carbs and the vegetable oils that kill you.

As far as their corporate ethics, they sell what people want, they don't steal from me and they don't print money. Sounds good to me.

[Chomsky]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

Please post more often, Rogermexico.

[mcgurme]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

????? No evidence for the exercise hypothesis ??????

Where have you been lately?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/7140.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9812095/
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/...-obesity-cause
http://record.wustl.edu/web/page/normal/1832.html
http://www.obesitydiscussion.com/for...food-2379.html
http://www.10news.com/health/2979319/detail.html

That is from a 1-minute Google scan. I'm sure I could do a PubMed scan and turn up plenty more.

I know quite a few people who came into my bike shop, bought a bike, then came back later having lost substantial weight from the exercise. Like one lady who got an electric assist bike from us and after 11 months had lost 80 pounds from riding it every day. Her diet was the same.

Or my own case where I had to be off the bike for two months a few years ago, and gained twenty pounds (while eating less).

In fact, the evidence in favor of exercise is about the strongest you can find if you want statistical validity.

However, I do agree that poor diet - too many starches, HFCS, and omega-6 fats - exacerbate the problem. The food pyramid serves only certain ag industries, and nothing else.

No evidence whatever for the exercise hypothesis. It is indeed the food pyramid with pasta and bread at it's base. Read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Taubes.

I, too, accuse the food pyramid.

Take out the grains, linoleic acid and excess fructose and eat real food meant for human consumption.

[FRED]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

And you can largely thank this flawed model:



for this epidemic in America:

Let me fix that for you.

[GRG55]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

Let me fix that for you.

Just another in a long history of pyramid schemes...;)

[swgprop]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

Let me fix that for you.

. Nice! .

[strittmatter]

Re: Maybe Iceland is not so bad after all

Please post more often, Rogermexico.

Roger,

I've read many of your posts.

Do you have any stance as to the substance on the theories of "leaky gut syndrome"?

Leaky Gut Syndromes are clinical disorders associated with increased intestinal permeability.

http://www.mdheal.org/leakygut.htm