Can’t make this stuff up

What have I told you about diet and exercise?  Exercise is irrelevant…. "How do you know all this?"  One of the reasons I know what I know is that I know liberals, and I know liberals lie, and if Michelle Obama’s gonna be out there ripping into "food desserts" and saying, "This is why people are fat," I know it’s not true.  "Rush, do you really believe that? It’s that simple to you, liberals lie?"  Yes, it is, folks.  Once you learn that, once you come to grips with that, once you accept that, the rest is easy.  Very, very simple.  Now, my doctor has never told me to restrict any intake of salt, but if he did, I wouldn’t.  I’d just spend more time in the steam or the sauna sweating it out.http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/11/eat-all-the-twinkies-you-want.html

4 thoughts on “Can’t make this stuff up”

  1. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_110810/content/01125106.guest.html
    Rush is partially right that calorie intake (and calorie use) are the primary factors that determine how much we weigh. Haub's experiment is a pretty good example of this. OTOH, Haub didn't eat strictly junk food, he ate sugary snacks supplemented with whole milk, vitamins, and vegetables.
    He also continued exercising.
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/
    Also Rush claims that total calories are the only factor in weight loss, maybe not. Haub drastically reduced the total calories he was consuming, at the same time as he changed what he was eating. Possibly he would have lost more weight if he had continued to eat the same kind of food while reducing his calories by the same amount. The reason this might have happened is Nutrient shielding, fiber hides nutrients and keeps them from being digested. So if he was eating a more fiberous 1800 calories his body might have absorbed fewer of those calories.
    Rush's argument is bad because he takes a single anecdote and uses it to make a broad claim (diet and exercise are bs), instead of a more narrow and defensible claim (total calorie intake is the primary determinant of weight).

  2. ^^^^Haub was also drinking protein shakes and at least for part of the time eating meat.
    So he was eating a balanced diet in the sense that he consumed all major macro-nutrient groups (Fat, Carbohydrate, and Protein).

  3. True there may be something that Rush is somewhat right about in there. But, I don't think that is the problem with his argument. His problem is that he asserts:
    1. Liberals lie.
    2. Michelle Obama is a liberal
    3. Therefore, If Michelle Obama says "this is why people are overweight" then we know it isn't true.
    But, in reality this reveals much Rush Limbaugh's psychology: "If a liberal says its true, then I must reject it as false." That is, it confesses that truth is not important, only ideology. It doesn't matter that there may be good scientific evidence supporting the position being advanced by the liberal, it must be false for Limbaugh.

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