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posted by Fnord666 on Friday November 17 2017, @02:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the a-different-kind-of-coca dept.

She Took On Colombia's Soda Industry. Then She Was Silenced.

It began with menacing phone calls, strange malfunctions of the office computers, and men in parked cars photographing the entrance to the small consumer advocacy group's offices. Then at dusk one day last December, Dr. Esperanza Cerón, the head of the organization, said she noticed two strange men on motorcycles trailing her Chevy sedan as she headed home from work. She tried to lose them in Bogotá's rush-hour traffic, but they edged up to her car and pounded on the windows. "If you don't keep your mouth shut," one man shouted, she recalled in a recent interview, "you know what the consequences will be."

The episode, which Dr. Cerón reported to federal investigators, was reminiscent of the intimidation often used against those who challenged the drug cartels that once dominated Colombia. But the narcotics trade was not the target of Dr. Cerón and her colleagues. Their work had upset a different multibillion-dollar industry: the makers of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages.

Their organization, Educar Consumidores, was the most visible proponent of a proposed 20 percent tax on sugary drinks that was heading for a vote that month in Colombia's Legislature. The group had raised money, rallied allies to the cause and produced a provocative television ad that warned consumers how sugar-laden beverages can lead to obesity and diet-related illnesses like diabetes. The backlash was fierce. A Colombian government agency, responding to a complaint by the nation's leading soda company that called the ad misleading, ordered it off the air. Then the agency went further: It prohibited Dr. Cerón and her colleagues from publicly discussing the health risks of sugar, under penalty of a $250,000 fine.

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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday November 17 2017, @06:42PM (8 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 17 2017, @06:42PM (#598300) Journal

    Exercise helps with depression, health, etc. But don't expect it to help you lose weigh, as it also increases appetite (just not immediately after the exercise). Only diet can cause you to lose weight...and possibly having the right gut bacteria, though I think that's still being debated, and, of course, there's no agreement on what the right bacteria are or how to get them, but it will probably come down to diet.

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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday November 17 2017, @07:02PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday November 17 2017, @07:02PM (#598320)

    I completely disagree. The total lack of obese people in Manhattan, plus all the other places around the developed world where people walk a lot, is proof enough that exercise helps maintain weight. More exercise = higher metabolism.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @08:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @08:29PM (#598367)

    Just because your hungry doesn't mean you have to eat. That's what fasting is all about. Getting the right bacteria is a matter of providing them with the right environment and understanding that that environment is meant to ebb and flow. Glut, encroaching famine, seasonal availability, food requirements related to extra work that needs to be done. All this ensures that the biome has a broad spectrum of constituents that can adapt to change in a symbolically useful fashion.

    Everytime I've put on weight the way I've lost it is exercise. Didn't change my diet or the quantity I consumed. Not a miracle, what else could possibly happen.

  • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Saturday November 18 2017, @03:27AM (5 children)

    by coolgopher (1157) on Saturday November 18 2017, @03:27AM (#598540)

    I find myself *less* hungry after I've exercised. Evenings when I've been at training I've usually no mind for dinner, I just prefer to drink plenty to re-hydrate.

    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday November 18 2017, @06:15AM (4 children)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 18 2017, @06:15AM (#598585) Journal

      I agree, that's a common experience. But weight isn't a thing of one day at a time, and I believe that most studies show that the weight gain averages out over time, so that other times you eat more...perhaps the next morning or something.

      That said, exercise certainly contributes to health, stamina, alertness, etc. I wish I didn't dislike it so much.

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      • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Saturday November 18 2017, @02:08PM (3 children)

        by t-3 (4907) on Saturday November 18 2017, @02:08PM (#598655)

        I've always found exercise to be an acquired taste. It seems to take a week or two of regular exercise to condition the body to start giving you that serotonin boost when you work out.

        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday November 18 2017, @06:37PM (2 children)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 18 2017, @06:37PM (#598712) Journal

          Well, for me I know that it would have taken more than 9 months (1 school year I was on track team). These days (decades later) though it's actively painful.

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          • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Saturday November 18 2017, @09:39PM (1 child)

            by t-3 (4907) on Saturday November 18 2017, @09:39PM (#598758)

            I don't do any intentional cardio, I walk when it's necessary and don't bother otherwise. I keep my exercise to low impact calisthenics, pushups and squats etc, and 2x daily stretching, which is more than enough to have me in reasonable shape and feeling healthy and without pain when I do have to move around. Cardio is the reason people hate exercise, it always sucks. Bodyweight exercises can be done anywhere, anytime, require no financial or time investment, and aren't painful or difficult once you attain the base level of strength required to do a couple pushups.

            • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday November 19 2017, @12:21AM

              by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 19 2017, @12:21AM (#598793) Journal

              If you can do even one squat, your knees are in better shape than mine...and I'd recommend you check with a doctor or physical therapist to make sure you aren't injuring yourself. Squats are dangerous.

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