perry said:
Argentina provides more than enough food for its citizens and then some and I do not believe that people are dying in this country from lack of food . There is a generous social system in place for those who are less fortunate that is the envy of Latin America.
Tens of thousands of argentinians die each year from obesity related illnesses and in comparison maybe a handful die of anorexia and related diseases.
Most poor people in the capital are fat due to a terrible diet . They make the choice to buy coke and junk food. There is a mimimum subsidy set by the government of 1200 pesos per person . Buying rice, lentils , vegetables can be very cheap and nutritous.
Eating healthy is not more expensive and rice ,lentils, beans are cheap and will sustain the human body very well.
Hi Perry -- Unfortunately there are people dying in this country from malnutrition -- in the north -- Formosa, Missiones, Chaco -- it is nothing like here in Capital. Even in Santiago del Estero, where I was in August, the poverty even just outside the centre of the provincial capital, is devastating. Even the portenos with whom I was travelling were shocked and they had known previously that it was a very poor province, whereas myself knew relatively little about the province at all.
http://en.mercopress.com/2010/10/25...-children-in-six-months-in-argentine-province
However do agree with you on most points! Educolorante is the devil, and it has a horrible taste -- if you're going to have a soft drink, which I do occasionally, you're better off having regular Coke instead of Diet -- here in Argentina the Coke is still made with sugar not HFCS (at least last time I checked the label, haven't in a bit as I haven't had any).
Buenos Aires does have a bounty of healthful foods, they can be found in your local dietetica -- who usually stock all sorts of dried beans and whole grains. Like anywhere else, eating healthfully is a choice, unfortunately most people I know here have been fed Coca Cola from the time they were two...
My father-in-law just had gastric bypass surgery (literally just got out of the hospital on saturday). if you ask me it was unnecessary -- he needs to lose about 30kg or 70lbs -- I thought such a drastic and permanent procedure was meant for those who were 50kg or 100lbs + overweight. He has never truly tried to diet -- this is a man who proudly claims that he "hates water" -- he refuses to drink it -- the only thing he drinks is soft drinks. Well now he's had a procedure where he can never drink them again, unless he wants to induce voiting and diarrhea.
If you ask me he was looking for a quick fix, he has not truly considered that now his diet must change for the rest of his life (his first words upon waking were "Estoy mas flaco??") -- I don't believe that in the USA he would have been considered a good candidate for the surgery. He does not seem to have truly understood the consequences of this permanent procedure, and I've seen the man eat, he has no control. He buys 24 masas for a lunch with 4 people, 3 of whom he knows find them way too sweet to even consider eating, so he keeps them all...
The surgery is going to physically fix him, with a stomach that can only contain about 50ml of food at a time (I believe, I can't remember the stats exactly) -- he will obviously lose weight. But I hope that he gets a psychiatrist assigned to him because I believe he is going to enter a huge depression when he realises the thing that he has used as a coping mechanism is no longer available.
