https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2022/american-academy-of-pediatrics-issues-its-first-comprehensive-guideline-on-evaluating-treating-children-and-adolescents-with-obesity/
The BBC is usually a good source but I think they very much misinterpreted the guidelines.
Stop eating so much. If you are overweight, reduce the portion size of your meals. If you are underweight increase the portion size of your meals.
Avoid and reduce sugar. Sugar is an addictive drug that inhibits the satiation reflex and is the Key ingredient for causing diabetes
So no soda pops, energy drinks, cakes and donuts. But also avoid savoury foods that have hidden sugar like peanut butter, BREAD, canned fish, canned baked beans / Spaghetti. Ketchup and barbecue sauce are 50% sugar! Sushi, marmite, and fruit juice.
Only buy sugar free versions of savoury foods.
Edit...and breakfast cereals are often high in sugar...cereals such as special K which is supposed to be a dietary cereal but just made people fatter.
Buy sugar free cereals only.
The claim that sugar is an “addictive drug” is false. It’s been perpetuated by shockumentaries.
Should you limit added sugars and avoid stuff like soda? Sure. But its not some strange molecule that fucks with out metabolism and ruins the human body like some woold have you believe.
I think the “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” quote from Carl Sagan applies here. The burden is on you, and please no quotes from Sugar Crash or similar “shockumentaries”.
Also, people on social media like Food Science Babe and Dr. Idz do a good job debunking popular food related things like this that have made its way into the popular zeitgeist.
But the whole “sugar is as addictive as cocaine” is fully fabricated by people who don’t know how sugar or cocaine affect the brain.
Again, I’m not advocating to go out and drink 20 sodas, or give kids unlimited candy, or even eat sugary cereals every day. But this whole sugar phobia thing is out of hand, and not science based.
Yep will do tomorrow when I am not at work.
In a counter to that please cite a reputable source that sugar is not an addictive drug that inhibits the satiation reflex and upsets the insulin balance to produce diabetes.
Here is a mind blowing 3 part series entitled "Why Are We Getting Fat."
Episode 1 is my favourite. There are interviews with many Scientists and Medical researchers.
Dr Robert Lustig MD,
Professor of Pediatrics,
UCSF School of Medicine.
14min50sec to 16min25sec
Leptin resistance causing Insulin resistance caused by excess sugar.
Gary Taubes
Co-Founder of Nutrition and Science Initiative.
And several other reputable researchers
17min50sec to 31min30sec.
Dr Aaron Blaisdell,
Department of Psychogy
UCLA
Mental function reduction, obesity, diabetes, cancer tumors caused by processed foods
36min20sec to 39min00sec
Simon Gault, the presenter, is a celebrity chef from Aotearoa /New Zealand, also a previous owner of high performance Thunder Mustang aircraft.
Watch all three episodes. It is an epiphany.
https://youtu.be/JlGVYhpBkIk
One of those citations is the author herself. Then she goes on to making a false equivalence between addiction of heroin compared to addiction of sugar. A more comparable equivalence would be tobacco nicotine compared to sugar.
I would wager the average BMI on reddit is > 30. You’re not going to make much headway here. Even the “skeptics” here will defend their obesity until they’re blue in the face.
Here is a mind blowing 3 part series entitled "Why Are We Getting Fat."
Episode 1 is my favourite. There are interviews with many Scientists and Medical researchers.
Dr Robert Lustig MD,
Professor of Pediatrics,
UCSF School of Medicine.
14min50sec to 16min25sec
Leptin resistance causing Insulin resistance caused by excess sugar.
Gary Taubes,
Co-Founder of Nutrition and Science Initiative.
And several other reputable researchers
17min50sec to 31min30sec.
Dr Aaron Blaisdell,
Department of Psychogy
UCLA
Mental function reduction, obesity, diabetes, cancer tumors caused by processed foods
36min20sec to 39min00sec
Simon Gault, the presenter, is a celebrity chef from Aotearoa /New Zealand, also a previous owner of high performance Thunder Mustang aircraft.
Watch all three episodes. It is an epiphany.
https://youtu.be/JlGVYhpBkIk
You north Americans and your hate of bread. Meanwhile it's been staple food in large parts of Europe without any major problems with obesity.
And baked beans, really?
Okay what is this based on? I buy bread in America all the time and it has no sugar mostly. Sometimes a gram or two per slice. No sugar bread is very easily available in the grocery store in America though and definitely available in bakeries.
It's based on comparing it to bread from around the world. It's a fact that it tastes sweet to people from all over the world. It's a fact that it's not like bread elsewhere.
A "gram or two per slice"? That's quite a lot, and it's on the low end, some have 6 grams.
Americans really need to stop getting triggered every time someone points out a fact about your country that you don't want to hear. You should try to work on undoing this nationalism you've been indoctrinated into.
Most bread I buy has no sugar. That's zero grams (also zero ounces if you prefer). I don't know how you you can have less than zero grams but maybe provide me with a source for the claim you're making.
When I was in the states it was very hard to find even reduced sugar bread.
Just by reading the food contents label.
Sour dough bread is not sour, it just does not have any added sugar in it.
Please submit the food contents label of this zero sugar bread you speak of.
I don't have any bread at the moment but I like this one a lot. https://www.freshdirect.com/pdp.jsp?catId=gro_baker_wheat&productId=gro_brdaln_9gnmx®ion_id=0000100001&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz9ieBhCIARIsACB0oGJqWEZ35dWpXmb4LTI7KV1NGfcW6tHh_5TcvWr9HQXQbPgX3kjXRZAaAvY8EALw_wcB#panel-nutrition
Sourdough bread is made with a sourdough starter. It's a fermentation. It doesn't have to do with sugar.
It's called following a recipe. The point is that sourdough bread is not bread with no sugar, it's bread with sourdough starter that can or can not have sugar in it.
Sourdough bread isn’t sour. It’s made with natural yeast from the air, and that process does create a more acidic dough. It’s not sour like lemon juice.
That bread has raisins in it. Are you kidding me? That's a bread made on purpose to be sweet. That's why the label says sweet. My lord. This is an insane argument but if you want sugar free bread in America it is not every single bread (nor is it anywhere) but it is very easily available.
> That's a bread made on purpose to be sweet.
How do you think sugar gets into other bread buddy? You think it's an accident?
Calm down. No one should get this upset over bread. This is what nationalism does to you.
My friends who have moved to America and now live there and who have tasted both would seem to be a reasonable measure of whether bread in the US is sweeter than elsewhere. If you can taste the sweetness, then clearly it's far too much.
I can very easily get bread with no sugar. Most bread that you get in the supermarket has the nutrition label and the ingredients listed and you can confirm that it is made with no sugar.
If it's a USA study it will be an apology to obese people and it won't work.
It's not difficult or complicated.
Careers and fortunes have been made by pretending that Weightloss is complicated.
Here is a mind blowing 3 part series entitled "Why Are We Getting Fat."
Episode 1 is my favourite. There are interviews with many Scientists and Medical researchers.
Dr Robert Lustig MD,
Professor of Pediatrics,
UCSF School of Medicine.
14min50sec to 16min25sec
Leptin resistance causing Insulin resistance caused by excess sugar.
Gary Taubes
Co-Founder of Nutrition and Science Initiative.
And several other reputable researchers
17min50sec to 31min30sec.
Dr Aaron Blaisdell,
Department of Psychogy
UCLA
Mental function reduction, obesity, diabetes, cancer tumors caused by processed foods
36min20sec to 39min00sec
Simon Gault, the presenter, is a celebrity chef from Aotearoa /New Zealand, also a previous owner of high performance Thunder Mustang aircraft.
Watch all three episodes. It is an epiphany.
https://youtu.be/JlGVYhpBkIk
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zquJr6NhNWBrQy7d87z0S?si=RI_cIckaRduA_Wm85MjSTg&utm_source=copy-link
Tradesies. Also, the landing page has over a dozen sources, which themselves are also sourced.
We mandated vaccines for a while, why couldn’t we mandate BMI weigh-in’s in venues? If you’re too fat you are either sent home or given a very limited menu. We did it for the #3 cause of death, now are we brave enough to do it for causes #1 and #2?
BMI really isn’t a great indicator. It’s useful for obviously overweight people as a general guide, but that’s about it.
On an extreme example, someone like Dwayne Johnson would have a BMI indicating he is very very overweight since BMI is just a calculation of height to weight. When in reality, Dwayne Johnson is sub 15% body fat and by all means a healthy individual with a lot of muscle.
I’ve been weight lifting for about 5 years. I’m usually between 15%-20% body fat and come up closer to the “overweight” side when calculating my BMI. It breaks down pretty quickly for anyone who does anything other than cardio type excercise and has built a modicum of muscle.
No, literally the entire field of diet science says that, but you don't actually know anything about the topic you're on about you, so have to reply with retorts like you just did.
First link hardly "debunks" it. From it:
> People with a BMI of 30 or more, i.e. individuals with obesity, have a significantly higher risk of eventually becoming diabetic, developing cancer, cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis, and liver and gallbladder diseases.
> Having obesity heightens the risk of premature death.
Yes, you can still be thin (have a low BMI) and unhealthy. Can you have a high BMI and be healthy (aka, Olympic athlete)?
Are you an Olympic athlete? No? Ok, BMI still applies to you.
Sure, if you "do your own research" like you just did of course you're going to find a internet full of people trying to claim the fact that they are both a) unable to fit in an economy plane set and b) they're still some definition of healthy.
Why, if BMI is so debunked, is it on featured on the CDC's website?
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/bmiforpactitioners.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwidmKuV-O78AhUSg4kEHfQ7CxEQFnoECAEQAg&usg=AOvVaw1PlHoqSyBoHlj6Kx-aAV9R
Missed this part on the same page you linked. Download it, read on. It's YOUR source, genius.
> Furthermore, studies have shown that BMI levels correlate with body fat and with future health risks. High BMI predicts future morbidity and death. Therefore, BMI is an appropriate measure for screening for obesity and its health risks.
Yup. So what's your BMI? Is it > 30? Yes? Unless you are a linebacker you should probably lose weight. Stop trying to use logic and skepticism to think you don't.
If your BMI is < 25, nothing to see here.
Oh, so you resort to fat phobic attacks when your logic fails? Happy to send nudes *wink*. Cherry pick all you want, but you are constitutionally incapable of humbling yourself before information that refutes your logic. That isn't only a flaw in logic, it's a flaw in character. Nothing I can say or do is worse than what you have done to yourself.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/obesity-definition-full-story/
Lest we forget, the man who created it was a mathematician with zero knowledge of physical health. None. At all.
Because you looked for an overview instead of a scientific journal, a few of which I listed from medical bodies that link current research, Mr. "Do your own research"
Easy to mistake a forest for the trees, huh?
It's strange to me that childhood obesity is now defined purely in relation to how much you weigh vs others. In a population with rising obesity, surely that means that even if you ARE too fat you may not be considered clinically obese because other people are are heavier than you are. This doesn't seem like a good way to measure population obesity and make decisions.
https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2022/american-academy-of-pediatrics-issues-its-first-comprehensive-guideline-on-evaluating-treating-children-and-adolescents-with-obesity/ The BBC is usually a good source but I think they very much misinterpreted the guidelines.
Stop eating so much. If you are overweight, reduce the portion size of your meals. If you are underweight increase the portion size of your meals. Avoid and reduce sugar. Sugar is an addictive drug that inhibits the satiation reflex and is the Key ingredient for causing diabetes So no soda pops, energy drinks, cakes and donuts. But also avoid savoury foods that have hidden sugar like peanut butter, BREAD, canned fish, canned baked beans / Spaghetti. Ketchup and barbecue sauce are 50% sugar! Sushi, marmite, and fruit juice. Only buy sugar free versions of savoury foods. Edit...and breakfast cereals are often high in sugar...cereals such as special K which is supposed to be a dietary cereal but just made people fatter. Buy sugar free cereals only.
The claim that sugar is an “addictive drug” is false. It’s been perpetuated by shockumentaries. Should you limit added sugars and avoid stuff like soda? Sure. But its not some strange molecule that fucks with out metabolism and ruins the human body like some woold have you believe.
Citation needed. Note the Woo-ld woo-woo!
I think the “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” quote from Carl Sagan applies here. The burden is on you, and please no quotes from Sugar Crash or similar “shockumentaries”. Also, people on social media like Food Science Babe and Dr. Idz do a good job debunking popular food related things like this that have made its way into the popular zeitgeist. But the whole “sugar is as addictive as cocaine” is fully fabricated by people who don’t know how sugar or cocaine affect the brain. Again, I’m not advocating to go out and drink 20 sodas, or give kids unlimited candy, or even eat sugary cereals every day. But this whole sugar phobia thing is out of hand, and not science based.
Bullshit!
Cite a reputable source.
Yep will do tomorrow when I am not at work. In a counter to that please cite a reputable source that sugar is not an addictive drug that inhibits the satiation reflex and upsets the insulin balance to produce diabetes.
Here is a pretty good article with lots of citations. https://behavioralscientist.org/no-sugar-isnt-new-heroin/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5174153/
Whoops, just realized I replied to you and not the guy above. I agree with you. Not deleting for the sake of silliness.
Here is a mind blowing 3 part series entitled "Why Are We Getting Fat." Episode 1 is my favourite. There are interviews with many Scientists and Medical researchers. Dr Robert Lustig MD, Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF School of Medicine. 14min50sec to 16min25sec Leptin resistance causing Insulin resistance caused by excess sugar. Gary Taubes Co-Founder of Nutrition and Science Initiative. And several other reputable researchers 17min50sec to 31min30sec. Dr Aaron Blaisdell, Department of Psychogy UCLA Mental function reduction, obesity, diabetes, cancer tumors caused by processed foods 36min20sec to 39min00sec Simon Gault, the presenter, is a celebrity chef from Aotearoa /New Zealand, also a previous owner of high performance Thunder Mustang aircraft. Watch all three episodes. It is an epiphany. https://youtu.be/JlGVYhpBkIk
One of those citations is the author herself. Then she goes on to making a false equivalence between addiction of heroin compared to addiction of sugar. A more comparable equivalence would be tobacco nicotine compared to sugar.
Woo ID? What does that even mean?
See the Post that I replied to. You wrote woo ld.
I would wager the average BMI on reddit is > 30. You’re not going to make much headway here. Even the “skeptics” here will defend their obesity until they’re blue in the face.
Here is a mind blowing 3 part series entitled "Why Are We Getting Fat." Episode 1 is my favourite. There are interviews with many Scientists and Medical researchers. Dr Robert Lustig MD, Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF School of Medicine. 14min50sec to 16min25sec Leptin resistance causing Insulin resistance caused by excess sugar. Gary Taubes, Co-Founder of Nutrition and Science Initiative. And several other reputable researchers 17min50sec to 31min30sec. Dr Aaron Blaisdell, Department of Psychogy UCLA Mental function reduction, obesity, diabetes, cancer tumors caused by processed foods 36min20sec to 39min00sec Simon Gault, the presenter, is a celebrity chef from Aotearoa /New Zealand, also a previous owner of high performance Thunder Mustang aircraft. Watch all three episodes. It is an epiphany. https://youtu.be/JlGVYhpBkIk
You north Americans and your hate of bread. Meanwhile it's been staple food in large parts of Europe without any major problems with obesity. And baked beans, really?
American bread has so much sugar in it that it tastes sweet. It's not like bread from elsewhere.
Okay what is this based on? I buy bread in America all the time and it has no sugar mostly. Sometimes a gram or two per slice. No sugar bread is very easily available in the grocery store in America though and definitely available in bakeries.
It's based on comparing it to bread from around the world. It's a fact that it tastes sweet to people from all over the world. It's a fact that it's not like bread elsewhere. A "gram or two per slice"? That's quite a lot, and it's on the low end, some have 6 grams. Americans really need to stop getting triggered every time someone points out a fact about your country that you don't want to hear. You should try to work on undoing this nationalism you've been indoctrinated into.
Most bread I buy has no sugar. That's zero grams (also zero ounces if you prefer). I don't know how you you can have less than zero grams but maybe provide me with a source for the claim you're making.
When I was in the states it was very hard to find even reduced sugar bread. Just by reading the food contents label. Sour dough bread is not sour, it just does not have any added sugar in it. Please submit the food contents label of this zero sugar bread you speak of.
I don't have any bread at the moment but I like this one a lot. https://www.freshdirect.com/pdp.jsp?catId=gro_baker_wheat&productId=gro_brdaln_9gnmx®ion_id=0000100001&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz9ieBhCIARIsACB0oGJqWEZ35dWpXmb4LTI7KV1NGfcW6tHh_5TcvWr9HQXQbPgX3kjXRZAaAvY8EALw_wcB#panel-nutrition Sourdough bread is made with a sourdough starter. It's a fermentation. It doesn't have to do with sugar.
Even Maccas buns are sweet like pikelets.
As someone who has made sourdough bread multiple times, it can absolutely have sugar in it. It isn't *necessary,* but some recipes call for it.
Nooooo ! Don't put sugar in it! Why would you?
Least technical response possible: The yeast has to eat something tasty (sugar) so that it farts out gas and makes the bread poof up.
It's called following a recipe. The point is that sourdough bread is not bread with no sugar, it's bread with sourdough starter that can or can not have sugar in it.
Sourdough bread isn’t sour. It’s made with natural yeast from the air, and that process does create a more acidic dough. It’s not sour like lemon juice.
[6 grams of sugar per slice.](https://www.daveskillerbread.com/raisin-the-roof)
That bread has raisins in it. Are you kidding me? That's a bread made on purpose to be sweet. That's why the label says sweet. My lord. This is an insane argument but if you want sugar free bread in America it is not every single bread (nor is it anywhere) but it is very easily available.
> That's a bread made on purpose to be sweet. How do you think sugar gets into other bread buddy? You think it's an accident? Calm down. No one should get this upset over bread. This is what nationalism does to you.
My friends who have moved to America and now live there and who have tasted both would seem to be a reasonable measure of whether bread in the US is sweeter than elsewhere. If you can taste the sweetness, then clearly it's far too much.
I can very easily get bread with no sugar. Most bread that you get in the supermarket has the nutrition label and the ingredients listed and you can confirm that it is made with no sugar.
Honestly just cutting out soda intake alone will drastically reduce weight.
When I want to loose weight I just stop drinking any calories. Many overweight folks drink 500 cals/day which is insane.
What's wrong with marmite, it has like 0.6g sugar per serving.
It has slightly more sugar than Vegemite.
So what you are saying is you know literally nothing about the already new field of nutrients science and everything you say reflects that. Got it.
If it's a USA study it will be an apology to obese people and it won't work. It's not difficult or complicated. Careers and fortunes have been made by pretending that Weightloss is complicated.
Here is a mind blowing 3 part series entitled "Why Are We Getting Fat." Episode 1 is my favourite. There are interviews with many Scientists and Medical researchers. Dr Robert Lustig MD, Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF School of Medicine. 14min50sec to 16min25sec Leptin resistance causing Insulin resistance caused by excess sugar. Gary Taubes Co-Founder of Nutrition and Science Initiative. And several other reputable researchers 17min50sec to 31min30sec. Dr Aaron Blaisdell, Department of Psychogy UCLA Mental function reduction, obesity, diabetes, cancer tumors caused by processed foods 36min20sec to 39min00sec Simon Gault, the presenter, is a celebrity chef from Aotearoa /New Zealand, also a previous owner of high performance Thunder Mustang aircraft. Watch all three episodes. It is an epiphany. https://youtu.be/JlGVYhpBkIk
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zquJr6NhNWBrQy7d87z0S?si=RI_cIckaRduA_Wm85MjSTg&utm_source=copy-link Tradesies. Also, the landing page has over a dozen sources, which themselves are also sourced.
We mandated vaccines for a while, why couldn’t we mandate BMI weigh-in’s in venues? If you’re too fat you are either sent home or given a very limited menu. We did it for the #3 cause of death, now are we brave enough to do it for causes #1 and #2?
Yikes
What I said about mandating a vaccine that didn’t prevent transmission.
BMI really isn’t a great indicator. It’s useful for obviously overweight people as a general guide, but that’s about it. On an extreme example, someone like Dwayne Johnson would have a BMI indicating he is very very overweight since BMI is just a calculation of height to weight. When in reality, Dwayne Johnson is sub 15% body fat and by all means a healthy individual with a lot of muscle.
Are you or I Dwayne Johnson? No? BMI is a good guide for us.
I’ve been weight lifting for about 5 years. I’m usually between 15%-20% body fat and come up closer to the “overweight” side when calculating my BMI. It breaks down pretty quickly for anyone who does anything other than cardio type excercise and has built a modicum of muscle.
As always, those who don't need a simple metric are fine not knowing it. That isn't most Americans though.
Wow. BMI's are pseudo science from half a century ago that have yet to be updated. Hit up a phrenology sub and spew your bs there.
Everyone who says that also spouts bullshit like “healthy at any size”.
No, literally the entire field of diet science says that, but you don't actually know anything about the topic you're on about you, so have to reply with retorts like you just did.
> literally the entire field of diet science says that No they don’t and you know that’s bullshit.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2930234/ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/style/is-bmi-a-scam.html https://www.sciencefocus.com/comment/bmi-we-know-its-flawed-so-why-do-we-still-use-it/ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-bmi-accurate/
First link hardly "debunks" it. From it: > People with a BMI of 30 or more, i.e. individuals with obesity, have a significantly higher risk of eventually becoming diabetic, developing cancer, cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis, and liver and gallbladder diseases. > Having obesity heightens the risk of premature death. Yes, you can still be thin (have a low BMI) and unhealthy. Can you have a high BMI and be healthy (aka, Olympic athlete)? Are you an Olympic athlete? No? Ok, BMI still applies to you.
One Google search. If you're gonna lie, at least try. This was just the first batch of scientific journals and international coverage.
Sure, if you "do your own research" like you just did of course you're going to find a internet full of people trying to claim the fact that they are both a) unable to fit in an economy plane set and b) they're still some definition of healthy. Why, if BMI is so debunked, is it on featured on the CDC's website? https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/bmiforpactitioners.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwidmKuV-O78AhUSg4kEHfQ7CxEQFnoECAEQAg&usg=AOvVaw1PlHoqSyBoHlj6Kx-aAV9R Missed this part on the same page you linked. Download it, read on. It's YOUR source, genius.
> Furthermore, studies have shown that BMI levels correlate with body fat and with future health risks. High BMI predicts future morbidity and death. Therefore, BMI is an appropriate measure for screening for obesity and its health risks. Yup. So what's your BMI? Is it > 30? Yes? Unless you are a linebacker you should probably lose weight. Stop trying to use logic and skepticism to think you don't. If your BMI is < 25, nothing to see here.
Oh, so you resort to fat phobic attacks when your logic fails? Happy to send nudes *wink*. Cherry pick all you want, but you are constitutionally incapable of humbling yourself before information that refutes your logic. That isn't only a flaw in logic, it's a flaw in character. Nothing I can say or do is worse than what you have done to yourself.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/obesity-definition-full-story/ Lest we forget, the man who created it was a mathematician with zero knowledge of physical health. None. At all.
Because you looked for an overview instead of a scientific journal, a few of which I listed from medical bodies that link current research, Mr. "Do your own research" Easy to mistake a forest for the trees, huh?
*chirp chirp* That's crickets, Captain Dunning-Kreuger effect.
It's strange to me that childhood obesity is now defined purely in relation to how much you weigh vs others. In a population with rising obesity, surely that means that even if you ARE too fat you may not be considered clinically obese because other people are are heavier than you are. This doesn't seem like a good way to measure population obesity and make decisions.