Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Life of Pie

We watched the Penn & Teller "Obesity" episode of their Bullshit! show.

I think they're right that this issue has been blown completely out of proportion. They zeroed in on the misleading use of the word "epidemic," which headline writers love, and which suggests a widespread contagious disease. They went into the misleading use of the BMI to determine whether one is overweight. And they kept asking "Where is the pie?"

I liked their suggestion that this issue will look different decades from now. For example, suppose a medicine is developed that safely regulates weight - a pill that lets you eat what you want but stay thin.

The diet book business would suddenly die,
And I would be asking, "Where is the pie?"

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