RUSH: Can exercise be bad for you? This is another great story, folks. We have find out through research, extensive research that exercise is harmful to some people, but nobody knows why. I’m sorry for not picking up on this years ago. This is something that I feel the need to apologize for. Everybody fell for this. Everybody fell for the notion that exercise is good for everybody, and what should have been the first tip-off that that can’t possibly be true? We’re not all the same. Anything that says something is great and good for everybody can’t possibly be true. We’re too unique. We are too different.

Researchers studied 1,687 people and how they reacted to rigorous exercise. They found that 10% of the participants got worse. Ten percent. I’m convinced that had I been in this study, I would have been one of them. Ten percent of the participants got worse, based on one or more measures of heart disease, including blood pressure and levels of insulin and HDL cholesterol. In fact, seven percent got worse on at least two measures. The weird thing is that nobody knows why.

Claude Bouchard, one of the researchers and a professor of genetics and nutrition at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, could only say that the finding is bizarre when the New York Times asked him about this. Why is the finding bizarre? It’s because everybody just assumes that exercise is good for everybody. It’s just one of these universal truths that has to be. Now, I often say that we need to look at everything through an ideological prism. Snerdley said, “Don’t turn exercise into liberal versus conservative.” I’m not turning exercise into liberalism versus conservatism. The exercise advocates, no doubt, try to tell everybody what to do, trying to guilt and shame people that don’t do what they think they should do. They’re liberals.

And so the weird thing is, nobody knows why. I’ll tell you why. We’re not all the same. We’re different. And so now the New York Times and its readers, “My gosh, exercise might actually be bad for you? Oh, no.” And then a holdover, a carryover from yesterday. “For many people, a decision to lose weight isn’t just made because of the obvious health advantages, but to change the way people think about them.” In fact, the majority percentage of people who lose weight has nothing to do with health, has everything to do with looking better and having other people approve of or like the way you look. Wouldn’t you think that would probably be the main reason people lose weight? Particularly younger people who have no concept of death, people that have more years ahead of them than behind them clearly would be focused on that. Some people would probably get taken by the health arguments as well.

Well, here’s the sad thing about this. “New research…” I love this. I love all this research. Funded by tax dollars, no question. “New research suggest that, in the minds of friends and family, a fat person is always fat, regardless of how much weight they lose.
The research, carried out by the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Manchester, and Monash University, examined how anti-fat prejudice persists –” this is about women, by the way “– even after women lose weight. To do that, the team of researchers asked participants to read short descriptions of women who had either: lost 70 pounds; stayed consistently fat; or stayed consistently slim.

“Then, the participants were asked their opinions on the women — including how attractive they found them — as well as being asked about their general attitude towards fat people. Janet Latner, one of the researchers from the University of Hawaii, said that, ‘Those who had been obese in the past were perceived as less attractive than those who had always been thin, despite having identical height and weight. The findings demonstrate that residual obesity stigma –” we have a new disease. “– residual obesity stigma persists against individuals who have ever been obese, even when they have lost substantial amounts of weight.

“Perhaps predictably, the researchers blame the effect on a widespread societal belief that weight is highly controllable. While there is evidence that both supports and refutes the assumption that it’s easy to shed pounds, it’s undeniable that weight is thought of negatively — a notion regularly amplified by the popular press.” The point of the story is that once people get this picture of you as fat, even after you lose the weight, they still see you as fat. The dirty little secret is the same is true of the fat person. I don’t know how many times I have lost — At one time I could honestly say I’d lost 40 pounds six times, 60 pounds four times, 90 pounds a couple times.

I’ve done it, every diet there is, including fasting. The one thing I’ve learned is, no matter how much weight you lose, you never feel thin. I never did, anyway. And after I’d lost a lot of weight, I mean, I liked it, I enjoyed it for a while, but I never did think it was the real me. I can’t explain why, just never did. Once you go fat you can never go back. (laughing) Snerdley, don’t you get the play on words, once you go fat you can never go back? It’s a little sexual thing there that if you don’t get it I’m not gonna explain it to you here, maybe someday in the future fourth hour. But a fat person that loses a lot of weight never really — you notice ’em. Everybody loses a lot of weight, check ’em out, any chance they have to check themselves in a mirror or reflecting glass, they’ll do it just to make sure that they’ve actually lost the weight. They have to have that confirmation, because they don’t feel it.

By the same token, if you get known as a fat person no matter what happens they’re always gonna see you as fat. I can help out with the research on this. It’s not so much that you were obese and then lose weight and people still see you as obese. It’s that once you’ve demonstrated you know how to get fat, it’s assumed you’re gonna get fat again. And that being thin is just temporary. That’s all it is. It’s an acknowledgement that, yes, you got there once, and the trend, the statistics are you’re gonna get back up there again. I’m not advocating anything. I’m not saying go ahead and stay fat ’cause it doesn’t matter. Do what you want to do. Do what makes you happiest. Do what makes you feel more fulfilled. I’m just sharing with you the latest scientific data.

This takes us to New York and Mayor Doomberg. I swear we just had news that 3.4 million New Yorkers have left town. The city or the state, I’m not sure which. In the last ten years, fleeing to states where taxes are lower. Texas, Kentucky, Florida, no state income tax. Three and a half million people. It’s not an insignificant number. Mayor Doomberg, you may have heard this, Mayor Doomberg is now placing a ban on super-sized sugary drinks. Sixteen ounces or higher are not allowed to be sold. Now, that doesn’t apply to Two If By Tea. Mayor Doomberg did not include Two If By Tea in this. And he did not include diet drinks. You can still go out and buy a 32-ounce Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Sprite Zero, what have you, but if it’s got sugar in it, if it’s a standard soft drink — this is where Doomberg doesn’t get it. If you can’t buy a 16-ouncer, go buy two eight-ouncers, have your own cup and pour ’em in together.

These liberals have no concept of the dynamic way people live their lives. So if you tell people in New York you can’t buy anything larger than 16 ounces, a Coke or a Sprite or a 7-Up, whatever, they’re gonna find a way around it. Just buy two eight-ouncers. Doomberg even outlawed Slurpees. Do you realize, folks, only outlaws are gonna have Slurpees in New York? In addition to guns, only the outlaws are gonna have Slurpees. I wonder if Mayor Doomberg has a backup plan in case some people get the idea of buying two drinks and combining them. How’s he gonna deal with that? Has he even stopped to consider that people might just buy two? Once he figures that out he’s gonna have to ban that as well.

Now, the New York Times article on Doomberg’s plan to ban extra-large sugary drinks, he said he foresaw no adverse effects on local business. No way. It’s not gonna affect local business. He suggested that restaurants could simply charge more for the smaller drinks if their sales drop. Just charge more, just like the subway does. Ridership goes down, raise the price. Is that not a textbook example of liberal thinking? You’re losing money, so all you have to do is jack up the price? Tax revenue is down so you raise tax rates, and three and a half million people move out. It ought to be outside his purview. He ought not have the ability to do this. New York City, this is the place that anything used to be possible. Never shut down. It’s just laughable.

This is a classic. This is exactly one of the reasons why New York has lost 3.5 million residents in the last ten years. Again, I want to remind everybody that these are threatened laws. They’re not real yet. These are just threats. This is just Doomberg’s dream. But none of these threatened restrictions should hurt Two If By Tea. We don’t sell our tea in extra-large bottles, so our tea is exempt from Doomberg’s autocratic rule. In fact, this might even help us out a little bit. But, nevertheless, we’re adamantly opposed to it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: CBS Eyeball News in New York went out talked to some New Yorkers about Doomberg’s ban on large, sugar-sweetened beverages. And like I said yesterday: “It’s the little things.” They went out and talked to average New Yorkers, and some of the things are scary.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: E-mail, bottom-of-the-hour break: “What do you mean, Rush, you’ve done every diet?” I have, folks. I’m not your typical media guy that does these things publicly, chronicling weight loss every day. I’ve done it in earlier incarnations of my career, but now I don’t do it. I’ve done every diet there is, and you know what? They all work. Well, there was one time I was on two diets at the same time because one diet didn’t let me eat enough. So I had to do two diets the same time. I don’t know how many people ever done that, for example. But I did.

CBS Eyeball News, New York: “Here He Goes Again: Bloomberg Set to Ban All Sugary Drinks Over 16 Ounces — Every single menu in New York City could soon be getting a major overhaul if Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way. The man behind calorie counts is set to announce a new public health initiative to battle obesity, taking aim at super-sized sugary drinks.” They went out and talked to people on the street in New York. Actually, they found a tourist.

“‘I disagree with it, because it’s the right to choose. If you want to drink a Slurpee, you should be allowed to drink a Slurpee,’ said Jamie Sawyer, a tourist from Oklahoma.” So an out-of-town visitor to New York gets it right. “‘Stupid, he did a lot of good things, but this he shouldn’t do,’ added Art Lensvelt, a tourist from Amsterdam, Holland. [The reporter] found Lensvelt enjoying his sugary iced coffee,” and then they talked to other people. “‘That’s a good idea. A lot of obese people are in New York,’ Canarsie resident Jillian Russell said.”

It’s the little things.

Now, I don’t make too big a deal of this, but it’s understandable in New York. You can find people who’ll support this because they buy the notion it’s the government’s business to run everybody’s life; it’s the government’s business to protect everybody from themselves. “That’s a good idea. A lot of obese people are in New York.” She’s all for it. A couple other people were basically praising Doomberg and his idea. But it does not include such things like large milkshakes, large servings of fruit juice, or large servings of adult beverages.

But “oversized” cups of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, 7-Up, whatever, are not permitted.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Anthony in Cleveland. I’m glad you called, sir. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Pleasure to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.

CALLER: I wanted to make some comments about exercising. In my younger years, I was an exercise trainer. The types of people that have trouble with exercise, a lot of ’em are vegans. They don’t get enough fat in their system to rebuild back up the muscle —

RUSH: Yeah?

CALLER: — and you can literally rip your joints up with exercise.

RUSH: If you are a vegan?

CALLER: Well, even if you’re not a vegan, you still can rip your joints up. I mean, you can get injured.

RUSH: Well, yeah, you can, but this report… Maybe I didn’t make it clear enough. I think I probably sped through this ’cause my stack is so thick today, but this was cardiovascular stuff. You know, the assumption about exercise is that it makes the cardiovascular system stronger, that it enhances your endurance, that it helps you lose weight, that it burns more calories. What they found is that…

Okay, they’ve unveiled the portrait. Those are damn good! You know, the big question at portrait day is: How much like the President is it gonna look? That looks just like him. That is an excellent portrait. I know you can’t see it right now. I’m not trying to tease you, but it’s an excellent portrait — and the same with Laura Bush. It’s really well done. They’re getting standing O’s right now.

This report on exercise mentioned that for as many as 10% of the 1700 respondents, their cardiovascular system worsened. It did not help; it hurt. And everybody is scratching their heads. They can’t figure out why. And the only reason they’re scratching their heads and trying to figure out why is they all live under a false premise, and the premise is: “Exercise is good for you. Exercise is good for everybody.”

See, as a rugged individualist and as a resident of Realville, one of the things that I, as mayor, realize is that no two people are alike. And in something which is medical or health-related, you simply can’t say that something is true for everybody. I mean, look at me. I defy so many premises out there in medicine that it makes my doctors mad. My cholesterol is normal. My blood pressure is normal. My triglycerides are normal. I ought to be off the charts! I don’t exercise. My lung capacity ought to be zero.

Something’s gonna get me like it gets everybody. But I don’t fit the plugged-in norm. And they get mad! I’ve had doctors even try to get me… What is it, the cholesterol medicine? Lipitor? I’ve had doctors try to get me take that stuff because I’m gonna need it someday. I’m not kidding! “Well, you’re gonna need it somebody. You fit the profile.” Well, okay. Wait until I do, if I ever do.

And it’s the same thing with exercise. It’s the same thing with global warming. It’s the same thing with every cause championed by the left where everybody ends up being the same. It permeates their politics. They can command-and-control an economy made up of hundreds of millions of unique individuals based on their belief that everybody is going to behave identically when certain policies are implemented, and it’s not possible. No two people are the same. You cannot legislate outcomes. You cannot have it.

There’s no system in the world that can provide, or dictate, identical outcomes — economic educational, or otherwise; you name it — between two people, much less hundreds of millions. So they’re scratching their heads because they’ve had this lifelong, age-old premise: “Exercise is good! Exercise is good!” Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We found out it actually hurt some people.

They can’t compute it, can’t figure it out. Now they’ve got no reason to explain it. They’ve got no way. They’re totally befuddled.

And it’s not that hard.

Not everybody is the same.

That’s all you need to know.

And then the next tough thing to do is to admit that the premise is flawed, which is the toughest thing for know-it-alls to do. It’s not complicated. It’s easy. All you have to do is accept it. Now, your little add-on here about vegans, that’s interesting. Vegans are supposed to be the pictures of health. They don’t digest any fat. They’re not putting anything in their bodies that’s processed. Everything is totally au natural. It’s organic, it’s normal or what have you.

Then you find out that vegans go out and eat fried cheese and other things. Potato chips, yeah, vegans eat that. Soda. They drink all that stuff. But they’re not having anything that’s got a face on it, as Paul McCartney said. “Don’t eat anything with a face on it.” That’s his rule. That’s how he defined veganism. They don’t eat anything that has a face. Well, fine and dandy. This guy is saying that vegans do not have proper nutrition; they start exercising, and they can literally rip tendons away from bones because they’ve got no other points of resistance. (interruption)

He’s a professional trainer, Snerdley. He knows. We can’t doubt him.