What do Rush Limbaugh and former SciBloggers have in common?

Posted by ERV on February 23, 2011
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“If we’re supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we’re supposed to eat roots and berries and tree bark, show us how…

… The problem is, and dare I say this, it doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice. And then we hear that she’s out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving…I’m trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you.”

Huh. Overweight, out of shape twat more interested in ridiculing someone with a healthy relationship with food and an enviable physique and demonizing food than behaving in a manner that teaches/inspires others to have a healthy relationship with food themselves.

Why does that sound so familiar… hmm…

Let me repeat for the millionth time: There is no such thing as ‘bad food’. There is no such thing as ‘good food’. Any food, looked at independently, is both good and bad. A healthy approach to food is understanding how the individual foods you eat fit into the greater context that is your overall diet. Enjoying ribs now and then is fine. I recently had to incorporate red meat back into my diet, as my distaste for it (plus a very active lifestyle, plus my gender) led to severe anemia. So in the greater context of my diet, ‘ribs’ would actually be considered a ‘good food’, despite their high fat/caloric content (I actually prefer brisket. Jewish cowboy W00T!!!). I would argue that anyone can enjoy a serving of ribs now and then, including the President and First Lady, as part of a healthy diet.

I would even say that about foods that have no nutritional value whatsoever. Some of you might know that I love a particular beverage produced by Pepsi Co, called ‘Mountain Dew’. I eat +/-14,000 calories a week, plus again I lead a very active lifestyle. FREAKING OUT about having a 170 calorie Mountain Dew now and then is not a healthy relationship with food. Depriving myself of a simple pleasure is obsessive and illogical.

I also take offense to people perpetuating the idea that one must “eat nothing” or “roots and berries and tree bark” if they want to be ‘healthy’. That is not how you make ‘healthy people’. Thats how you make ‘anorexic and bulimic kids’, and ‘adults who give up’. ERV the Unoffendable is offended by that.

And this gem:

… our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue…

Because women should all look like swimsuit models and aspire to draw the affections of celebrities like yourself, and if they fail at that, theyre fat. Yeah, no, totally helping children have a healthy relationship with food there, Rush. Youre totally better than Michelle Obama.

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Comments

  1. #1 Michelleisfab
    February 23, 2011

    Christ you are a narcissistic little troll, aren’t you? Way to take an interesting issue of both public health and female body image and derail it to some petty imagined fight you have with your fellow bloggers. Get a grip.

  2. #2 ERV
    February 23, 2011

    I didnt fight with any bloggers, nor was the Pepsi fiasco imagined, nor were attacks on me, personally, imagined (kinda like the comment you just left, anon).

    You didnt address a damn word of this post, but actively chose to attack me personally instead of addressing the issues you pretend to care about: public health and female body image.

    I have made numerous posts in the past on this issue and what it means to me.

    But *Im* the troll?

  3. #3 T. Bruce McNeely
    February 23, 2011

    @Michelleisfab:

    WTF?

  4. #4 Emerson White
    February 23, 2011

    I’m listening to Rush too. I will point out that Rush is not obese, he is at a healthy weight and has been for more than a year. I have no idea what the Marx thing is all about, he has lost it since Obama was elected.

  5. #5 ERV
    February 23, 2011

    Bruce–
    “Michelleisfab” has never commented on any post on ScienceBlogs, ever, but apparently has intimate knowledge of SciBlog history.

    “Michelleisfab” is a SciBlogs old-fag who has so much courage of their convictions that they posted under a random anon (‘Michelleisfab’) instead of their normal handle.

    Like a troll.

  6. #6 386sx
    February 23, 2011

    Rush is chasing headlines and complaining about stuff as usual. That’s what he does for a living as a professional headline chaser/complainer/trumper upper.

  7. #7 becca
    February 23, 2011

    Your attitude toward food is sensible, in some respects downright admirable.
    Your attitude about body size is… neither of those things.

  8. #8 ERV
    February 23, 2011

    Where have I ever said anything derogatory about someones weight, becca? Ever. Anywhere. I will address it here (though probably not until tonight).

  9. #9 Greg Laden
    February 23, 2011

    Michelleisfat: What?

    Erv: Hahahahaha!!!

    Mmmmm …. ribs….

    Erv, Becca is wrong: Your attitude about everything totally sucks … so my blogger’s crush is totally about your attitude and has nothing to do with your body (which I’ve never seen) or your food (which I’ve never eaten).

  10. #10 Herp N. Derpington
    February 23, 2011

    >>+/-14,000 calories a week

    How do you eat -14000 a week?

  11. #11 Sili
    February 23, 2011

    I see they’ve graduated from the same school of argument that espouses “Global Warming is a lie because Al Gore is fat, and he doesn’t live in a hole in the ground.” The same people obviously complain about the hippies that did want us to live in holes in the ground.

  12. #12 Stogoe
    February 23, 2011

    Brisket is tasty. Also it’s less likely to glomp your hands up with gunk than ribs are.

  13. #13 D. C. Sessions
    February 23, 2011

    There is no such thing as ‘bad food’.

    I beg to differ. Certain wild mushrooms come to mind, along with several members of the Solanaceae family.

    If someone offers to prepare you a dish of fried tomato roots, don’t take them up on it.

  14. #14 steve
    February 23, 2011

    Oh god I want a Pepsi so bad right now.

  15. #15 Poodle Stomper
    February 23, 2011

    I’m kinda craving a Diet Mt. Dew right about now, too!

  16. #16 Rorschach
    February 24, 2011

    Let me repeat for the millionth time: There is no such thing as ‘bad food’.

    Yes there is. You can’t just make it all a matter of balancing calories, the way you seem to be doing. There is a reason that 25-year olds have heart attacks or high blood pressure, and that hospitals run paediatric constipation clinics.Processed foods are bad, too much saturated fat is bad, excess salt is bad, white bread devoid of fibre or any nutritional value is bad. There are foods that are bad, and make people sick. It’s not all about becoming overweight. You can go to the gym 5 times a week and still get cardiovascular diseases, if you eat unhealthy food all the time.
    It’s not about the odd Mountain Dew, or ribs, or Grand Angus burger.

  17. #17 ERV
    February 24, 2011

    Rorschach– I got all of my protein from beans, eggs, dairy, and poultry (chicken breasts, fish, etch), and found myself with chest pain, dizziness, heart palpitations, extreme fatigue, etc from anemia (which helped lead to some panic attacks). Funny enough, I might still be able to avoid red meat if I ate more processed foods, because they are enriched with many nutrients, including iron. Including white bread. One of the contributing factors to my anemia was the fact I made everything I ate from scratch (like bread and cereal). I ate store-bought bread and cereal in college, which is why this didnt really rear its head until I was older and had a kitchen of my own.

    No bad foods. No good foods. Its your overall diet that matters.

    Unless you are eating poisonous things that resemble other food products :P

    Herp Derp– What do you mean? Like you want to know what I eat, or how I eat 14,000 generally? Generally, I get that number from my BMR + my activity level. I dont worry about counting calories/day because little things can throw you off (go out to eat at work one day, drinks with friends, etc), but as long as the week is even, its cool.

    If you want to know what I eat, its about 80 cans of Mountain Dew. That, and the crack. :P

  18. #18 Epinephrine
    February 24, 2011

    I agree with erv that you can’t label foods with 1s and 0s, good and bad. It’s a false dichotomy, and there is a lot more to making a food “good” or “bad” than calories or grams of fat. But the “there is no such thing as ‘bad food’” line is a little like saying “there is no such thing as a poison,” on the basis that the poison’s in the dose. Sure, there are quantities of botulinum that are safe, but I wouldn’t deny that it’s a toxin. Minimally, there are worse and better foods in general, and for specific individuals.

  19. #19 Herp N. Derpington
    February 24, 2011

    Just a nitpicky joke, +/- or ± means +14000 or -14000 to me, not ~14000.

  20. #20 OgreMkV
    February 24, 2011

    I think it could be argued that things that may kill you if injested (I mean directly and immediately) are not ‘food’.

    Toxic mushrooms are not food, while Agaricus bisporusis a yummy food.

    I’m on the fence about caffiene free diet colas. I mean, they don’t even keep you awake.

  21. #21 becca
    February 24, 2011

    Look, there are mostly likely literally thousands of accurate criticisms of Rush that I have no problem with. But referring to him as an “Overweight, out of shape twat” is where you said something derogatory about someone’s weight. Duh.

    In addition, let’s analyze the logic with *some* semblance of consistency, ok? He’s not wrong cause he’s fat. He’s probably not even wrong because he’s totes jealous of Michelle Obama. He’s probably wrong because he’s a blind ideologue who is looking for any cheap shot to take at Michelle Obama.

    Actually, his point is the same one you are making. He is arguing against fear of eating the wrong things. He is criticizing Obama for not following her own advice. According to him, if she followed her advice, she would eat tofu and roots.
    Now. That is a blatant and ridiculous mischaracterization of Michelle Obama’s position. However, IF Michelle Obama was making the argument Rush CLAIMS she was making, then his argument against her would be entirely consistent with the argument you make in favor of Mountain Dew (nectar of the tards ™).

  22. #22 Logan
    February 25, 2011

    I’m skeptical that red meat was necessary for you to avoid anemia. I suppose it is one solution, once the problem surfaces, if you aren’t opposed to eating red meat or if it is a dire situation. I say this a vegan who has always had good iron levels.

  23. #23 Greg Laden
    February 26, 2011

    DCS: I beg to differ. Certain wild mushrooms come to mind, along with several members of the Solanaceae family.

    Those things are not food. The word “food” does not apply to things you can’t or don’t eat, in most cultures. The fact that we have mixed up the terms ‘mushrooms’ (fungi you can eat) and ‘toadstools’ (fugi you can’t eat) is just a Western Maladaptation or linguistic relaxed selection.

  24. #24 John Marley
    February 26, 2011

    @becca

    Actually, his point is the same one you are making. He is arguing against fear of eating the wrong things. He is criticizing Obama for not following her own advice. According to him, if she followed her advice, she would eat tofu and roots.

    Bullplop. Limbaugh is not “arguing against fear of eating the wrong things”. His “nothing” or “roots and berries” statement is his usual hyperbole, meant to dismiss any idea he doesn’t like as ridiculous. His entire point, as always, is to demonize anyone connected to the Democratic Party in any way. There is no hypocrisy on Michelle Obama’s part.

    Michelle Obama’s advice was, like ERV’s, that overall diet needs to be healthy. An occasional Mountain Dew (I prefer Coke, personally), or plate of ribs is perfectly okay. It’s kids who drink entire six-packs of carbonated sugar-water every day, and eat high-fat, high-calorie foods as regular staples that are the problem.

    Most community colleges offer remedial courses that can fix that reading comprehension problem.

  25. #25 Prometheus
    February 26, 2011

    “I recently had to incorporate red meat back into my diet, as my distaste for it (plus a very active lifestyle, plus my gender) led to severe anemia.”

    This has become a virtual plague among the Manhattanite lady hipsters.

    I’ll send you a cast iron frying pan. In the meantime, put more raisins in your oatmeal.

    My only problem with Mrs. O is that she supports “slow food” which is a nonsensical exercise in haute cuisine elitism at the same time she claims to worry about economically disadvantaged kids being under or badly fed.

  26. #26 daedalus2u
    February 26, 2011

    Abbie, anemia can also be a sign of low NO. What triggers erythropoeitin is HIF-alpha, which is triggered by NO. Hemoglobin in the blood is the sink for NO, so NO-hemoglobin-HIF-alpha-erythropoeitin is a feedback loop that regulates hemoglobin according to NO status. The anemia of end stage kidney failure, dilative cardiomyopathy, liver failure, is due to low NO.

    A way to increase your NO/NOx status is to eat more green leafy vegetables. They have a few thousand ppm of nitrate, that is concentrated ~10x in saliva and reduced to nitrite on the tongue and the nitrite is reduced to NO in the stomach (and also absorbed as nitrite). There is considerable thought (and data) in the NO research community that the positive health effects of green leafy vegetables are due to the nitrate they contain.

    But you need to eat a fair amount of lettuce to raise your NO/NOx level. Drinking beet root juice is another way. Nitrate has a pretty short half life, so you need to eat foods containing it a couple of times a day.

  27. #27 becca
    February 26, 2011

    @John Marley-
    Yes, it is Rush’s usual hyperbole. I said IF Michelle Obama had made the argument Rush said she made, it would have been a failure to live up to her own standards. I also pointed out that Michelle Obama did not make the argument Rush claimed she made.
    I would be offended about the reading comprehension quip, if it wasn’t so abundantly obvious you don’t know the first thing about reading comprehension.

    Here’s the weird thing though. I bet if you ask people some inane vague thing like “do you support people choosing more healthy eating options?” there’s a good chance Michelle Obama, erv and Rush would all say “yes”.

    If you make it specific, and say something like “do you support vending machines in schools selling soda?” I’d bet erv and Rush would say “yes”. Michelle Obama, on the other hand, is aiming for “healthy juice drinks in vending machines” (according to the article erv linked to).
    So, although erv is apparently completely oblivious to it, her ideas about food may have a lot more in common with Rush than with Obama. And of course, the nasty obsessive small mindedness that allows Rush to intentionally misconstrue everything Obama says is… oh, nevermind. That’s not like erv’s attitude toward her former Sciblings. No. Not at all. Nevermind, move along. Nothing to see here…

  28. #28 John Marley
    February 27, 2011

    @becca
    You admit Limbaugh is wrong in his characterization of Michelle Obama. What is the point of saying the he would be right if he was right?

    as for “do you support vending machines in schools selling soda?”, there are very good arguments against it. One of which is that children don’t tend to have a great deal of impulse control, and do somehow tend to have lots of change.

    Can you read Limbaugh’s mind. How do you know his position on healthy eating. AFAIK the only statements he has ever made on the subject were to ridicule.

  29. #29 Ed Darrell
    February 28, 2011

    Limbaugh’s unhealthy obsession with the First Lady is probably no deeper than the fact that he’s a creepy guy. Creepy guys develop obsessions on all sorts of women they can’t have in a million years.

  30. #30 the backpacker
    February 28, 2011

    WOW…I guess you can’t make fun of Rush without summoning the Trolls. The best description of this was from Hal Sparks (i think) “if you are Rush how do you walk into that rake.” Rush is the same guy who said it is the people who workout are the ones using all of the health care. The sad part is people still listen to him like he has any cred on anything. And Rush is at a healthy weight… if he is 15 feet tall.

  31. #31 Spartan
    February 28, 2011

    @becca,

    But referring to him as an “Overweight, out of shape twat” is where you said something derogatory about someone’s weight. Duh

    ‘Twat’ is derogatory, but has nothing to do with weight. ‘Overweight, out of shape’ are not derogatory unless many of our physicians are inadvertantly, according to you, being derogatory.

    In addition, let’s analyze the logic with *some* semblance of consistency, ok? He’s not wrong cause he’s fat.

    No, he’s most likely hypocritical because he’s fat. I thought it was clear with, “Overweight, out of shape twat more interested in ridiculing someone with a healthy relationship with food and an enviable physique and demonizing food than behaving in a manner that teaches/inspires others to have a healthy relationship with food themselves.” If he’s not wrong because he’s fat, is he wrong at all? Did he actually say something you deem ‘right’ in the quoted statement?

    And of course, the nasty obsessive small mindedness that allows Rush to intentionally misconstrue everything Obama says is… oh, nevermind. That’s not like erv’s attitude toward her former Sciblings. No. Not at all.

    So then you do understand hypocrisy after all. A pity you were too busy playing language police, or more likely just trying to defend the ‘former Sciblings’, to catch erv’s point the first time.

  32. #32 becca
    February 28, 2011

    John Marley- the point is that Rush was actually, in point of fact, correct about something. It is perfectly correct to imply extraordinarily restriction focused diets are not useful (that is the point Rush makes with the comment “If we’re supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we’re supposed to eat roots and berries and tree bark, show us how”)

    The incorrect part is trying to portray this as Michelle Obama’s position.
    Rush criticizes Obama. When he can’t criticize her based on what she actually said, he will criticize her on a point that sounds like it might be what she said (if you don’t think very carefully about her overall message). In this case, he didn’t even have to baldly lie so much as just set up a strawman. Ridiculing democrats is his ‘job’, such as it is.

    On the soda thing- I get that for some people, kids are a special case. That is, people who would never dream of bringing back prohibition of alcohol will get right up in arms over someone giving alcohol to minors. So of course it’s entirely possible erv thinks soda machines in schools are a terrible idea even if her Mountain Dew would have to be pried out of her cold, dead hands.
    But personally, I think there’s a bit of logic fail for this one. I think soda would actually be healthier for kids than for adults. If anything, kids are more active, so the ‘empty’ calories are less of a problem. And for the ones still on their baby teeth, the corrosive aspects of sugar and carbonation aren’t as much of a threat to dental health.
    Of course, kids are also learning habits. The question in that sense is whether having soda in schools allows them to form better habits by practicing self restraint (instead of expecting them to just know it when they show up to the freshman dorms at college) or whether keeping all soda from them prevents them from developing a taste for it to the same degree. I don’t know what would result in healthier consumption in the long run, and wouldn’t trust anyone else’s beliefs unless they’ve got some data.

    Spartan- the phrase “overweight, out-of-shape twat” is derogatory. Or would you argue that calling you an “impotent, limpdicked asshole” is not derogatory because doctors can use the word “impotent” when treating patients with ED?

  33. #33 Spartan
    February 28, 2011

    becca,

    the phrase “overweight, out-of-shape twat” is derogatory.Or would you argue that calling you an “impotent, limpdicked asshole” is not derogatory because doctors can use the word “impotent” when treating patients with ED?

    Let’s stick with the context if possible, which was that something derogatory was said about body size or being overweight. If I call you a ‘fairly intelligent, well-groomed, athletic asshole’, did I say something derogatory about your intelligence? Is describing someone as overweight and out-of-shape derogatory, regardless of its truth? You seem to agree that Rush is in general, a ‘twat’, so how do you know that the derogatory vibe of that word now applies to the words ‘out-of-shape’ and ‘overweight’, and is not just an overall descriptor? I’d say you don’t; you need more evidence.

    The post didn’t say anything derogatory about being overweight and out of shape in general, which is clear if you would read past the first five words in that sentence; it said that it’s a bit rich for overweight, out of shape people, especially of Rush’s ilk, to be criticizing the eating habits of non-overweight, in-shape people within the context of being role models for healthy living and eating. Pot and kettle and all that.

    Worst of all, you’ve taken this statement which notes this hypocrisy, disregarded that specific context, and charged that it’s a negative statement representing erv’s general ‘attitude towards body size’. Maybe you’ve got other statements from her to buttress that, I don’t know, but if it’s just this post that tea is pretty weak.