What's in a McNugget and other fun food facts

[ghost]

Sure, juice has a lot of sugar and in theory drinking tons of juice can make you obese but let's get real, the average obese person is not binging on fruit juice. In terms of fighting obesity I imagine getting people to drink less juice should be priority 2000 or so.

The average obese child very well may be.  You clearly don't understand child health and the dramatic rise in obesity in young children.  The shit parents feed their kids is insane.  I have parents that actually try to get as much OJ into their kids as possible because it's "real fruit" and "vitamin C is healthy". 

[Lantyssa]

I'm amazed at how scared of water people are, especially for living in a first world country. The need for bottled/filtered water being a deterrent for why some people just go with crap drinks boggles my mind.

What's really amazing is that in first world countries, the water is fine out of the tap.  When you go elsewhere you have to drink bottled water.  Our water is just fine, but it's like if we're not paying a premium for it, it can't be good for us.

[01101010]

Fuck paying for water. If I am forking over cash, I want sugar, flavor, caffeine, coloring 28, sodium, everything else. 

[Paelos]

Coke ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 

[NiX]

What's really amazing is that in first world countries, the water is fine out of the tap.  When you go elsewhere you have to drink bottled water.  Our water is just fine, but it's like if we're not paying a premium for it, it can't be good for us.

Yeah, my girlfriend keeps bugging me about buying another Brita filter, which I never intended to do. I bought the damn thing so people would think I was giving them filtered water because so many would complain I only ever had tap water.

It all reminds me of the Penn & Teller's Bullshit show on bottled water.

[ghost]

The USA has some of the best tap water in the world.  There's really no reason to not drink it, unless you're in some sort of creepy old building with nasty pipes.  Another benefit of tap water is the fluoride, which you don't get with bottled water. 

[Margalis]

The average obese child very well may be.  You clearly don't understand child health and the dramatic rise in obesity in young children.  The shit parents feed their kids is insane.  I have parents that actually try to get as much OJ into their kids as possible because it's "real fruit" and "vitamin C is healthy". 

This sounds like less of a problem with juice and more of a problem with parents.

[Numtini]

Another benefit of tap water is the fluoride, which you don't get with bottled water.

Not here. It was voted down a few years ago because it was dangerous and contaminated our precious bodily fluids or something.

For me, having an on faucet filter when we lived down in DC was essential, not because of safety, but the taste of all the chlorine.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Yeah, the water locally just doesn't taste good all the time.  We didn't have water service when we first moved in, I think that came a few months later in the fall when the water tables turned over and the water out the tap smelled and tasted funky.  Oh, it was still perfectly safe to drink! according to the village, but it was just icky.  So we got bottled water service and have been using it since.  Most of the time the water is fine but there are periods where it's just not palatable or appealing to drink out of the tap.

[HaemishM]

But in the end I recommend nothing but water for children and adults, period.

You must be a real joy at parties. 

[bhodi]

Well, if you object, he'll be happy to pull out the big book of british smiles.

[ghost]

The average obese child very well may be.  You clearly don't understand child health and the dramatic rise in obesity in young children.  The shit parents feed their kids is insane.  I have parents that actually try to get as much OJ into their kids as possible because it's "real fruit" and "vitamin C is healthy". 

This sounds like less of a problem with juice and more of a problem with parents.

No argument from me that most parents are absolute fucktards.  That doesn't change the fact that mass produced juice has extremely high levels of carbohydrates and strange chemicals that aren't good for you, both of which make it fall in the "you shouldn't drink it" boat.  

And don't make me get all dentisty on you, bhodi.....

[Rasix]

Filter on the fridge makes our water drinkable.  Straight out of the tap?  Do you like your water cloudy and smelling slightly of sulfur? Barely suitable for swallowing pills.

[HaemishM]

My wife refuses to drink our tap water because it makes her sick to her stomach. So we buy bottled water.

[ghost]

That's totally cool for adults.  For kids you'll probably want to talk to your dentist about fluoride supplements if they're going to drink bottled water.  
Come to think of it, there are definitely some places that I wouldn't drink the tap water.  Like the whole state of Louisiana. 

[IainC]

Well, if you object, he'll be happy to pull out the big book of british smiles.

[ghost]

Oh man.  Did you really have to go there?   

[Merusk]

Filter on the fridge makes our water drinkable.  Straight out of the tap?  Do you like your water cloudy and smelling slightly of sulfur? Barely suitable for swallowing pills.

Then report it to the local water agency and have them test.

Americans are fucking spoiled about water. Fucking. Spoiled.

[NiX]

Then report it to the local water agency and have them test.

Americans are fucking spoiled about water. Fucking. Spoiled.

This. With less swearing. When I moved into my last place the water was cloudy and smelled terrible and within a couple weeks of complaining there were surveys with empty water samples in bags hung on everyone's door knob in the complex. Not sure what they did, but not long after the water was no longer an issue. You're paying for water treatment somewhere in your taxes, might as well get the most out of it.

[Simond]

I'm amazed at how scared of water people are, especially for living in a first world country. The need for bottled/filtered water being a deterrent for why some people just go with crap drinks boggles my mind.

What's really amazing is that in first world countries, the water is fine out of the tap.  When you go elsewhere you have to drink bottled water.  Our water is just fine, but it's like if we're not paying a premium for it, it can't be good for us.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1572840/Tap-water-beats-bottles-in-taste-test.html

London tap water has been rated superior to expensive mineral waters in a blind tasting conducted by some of the most sophisticated drinkers in the country.

At less than 1p a litre, it beat 20 bottled waters, including some which sell for £50 a litre, in the survey conducted by Decanter, the wine drinkers' magazine.

The panel, made up of Masters of Wine, top sommeliers and some of the most experienced palates in the country, voted tap water supplied by Thames Water third equal in a tasting of 24 products.

Admittedly that's because Thames tapwater is basically mineral water, but still....

[Selby]

Then report it to the local water agency and have them test.

Good luck with that in some areas.  I grew up in West Texas where the water was so hard it corroded your pipes and water heaters out within 3-4 years.  Many many arguments were made to improve the taste and smell, many many millions were spent on improving the process, but in the end it was still hard water that tasted bitter and corroded pipes and water heaters out in 5-6 years.  I used a Brita pitcher to slightly improve it, a true RO system fixed it but required constant cleaning.  Moving to Northern California and drinking the water made me realize how good tap water can actually be.

[Lantyssa]

West Texas is kind of stuck.  Most places get theirs from a well or from an aquifer with limestone and other soft minerals lining it.

[TripleDES]

Fuck you bottled water haters.

Not everywhere in the first world, the tap's water acceptable. Drinkable sure, but if it tastes bad, nothing's to be won here. I'd invite you to try my tap water, it's like you're shoveling pure limestone into your yap.

[Simond]

And that's different from mineral water...how? 

[TripleDES]

The ratio of limestone to water?

[Lantyssa]

That's why I have an under-the-counter filter.  The water that comes out is better tasting than bottled.

[Sheepherder]

A number of the tourist camps where I live, often built in the early 1900's, have water quality problems where they just meet the provincial criteria for lodgings.  The owners of one of them, suspecting that their UV and cartridge filtration system must be at fault, decided to test the lake water to establish a baseline.  They discovered that the lake has next to no dissolved mineral content, and little enough organic matter that it would pass regulations.

[ghost]

A number of the tourist camps where I live, often built in the early 1900's, have water quality problems where they just meet the provincial criteria for lodgings.  The owners of one of them, suspecting that their UV and cartridge filtration system must be at fault, decided to test the lake water to establish a baseline.  They discovered that the lake has next to no dissolved mineral content, and little enough organic matter that it would pass regulations.

That's generally going to be the case, unless you are downstream from London. 

The US is very lucky in that we have good, drinkable water in all locations.  It may not taste to your liking, but it's very potable.  The bottled water industry is about as silly as the new age supplements industry. 

[Sheepherder]

That's generally going to be the case, unless you are downstream from London.

The Ontario standard includes no detectable coliforms.  Most water systems will pass that, but a lake or river is another matter.  Older systems tend to have more troubles with metals.

[ghost]

That's generally going to be the case, unless you are downstream from London.

The Ontario standard includes no detectable coliforms.  Most water systems will pass that, but a lake or river is another matter.  Older systems tend to have more troubles with metals.

I meant London, England, i.e. at the mouth of the Thames. 

[Teleku]

Then report it to the local water agency and have them test.

Good luck with that in some areas.  I grew up in West Texas where the water was so hard it corroded your pipes and water heaters out within 3-4 years.  Many many arguments were made to improve the taste and smell, many many millions were spent on improving the process, but in the end it was still hard water that tasted bitter and corroded pipes and water heaters out in 5-6 years.  I used a Brita pitcher to slightly improve it, a true RO system fixed it but required constant cleaning.  Moving to Northern California and drinking the water made me realize how good tap water can actually be.

Yeah, we're pretty lucky in Northern California.  Most of the water is stored in mountain reservoir up in the Sierra's, so even large cities like the Bay Area can get good mountain water sent down to it.  Though it can be hit or miss.  When I was a kid, I lived in a town up in the mountains for a few years.  Every glass of tap water tasted like they had somehow managed to cram a gallon of Chlorine into it.

Though having said that, until my tap can start pumping out carbonated water, I'm going to keep buying lots and lots of bottles every week.  Luckily I can get 1.25 liter bottles for a $1 each.

[ghost]

Carbonated water is different.  I drink the hell out of La Croix grapefruit flavored water. 

[Mosesandstick]

Can't you carbonate your own water?

[ghost]

Wouldn't that be a spectacular waste of time?

[rattran]

You just like that the can says it's pamplemousse flavored. Freak.