I stumbled across a news story “Peter Jennings reporting: How to Get Fat Without Really Trying.” This story is several years old but the ideas are still relevant. Although as a general rule I don’t watch much TV, this 43 minute report is a good overview of the forces at work in our food supply. [...]
Big Food laboratories have been rushing to get genetically modified fish on your plate. First up? The ever popular over hyped salmon. The companies face one last hurdle: apparently consumers don’t want to eat their Frankenfish. They’ve already done a very good job of marketing the so-called benefits of eating fish several times a week [...]
A recent study out of Sweden finds that taking in more calcium than your body needs actually slightly increases your risk for bone fracture. The Swedes have good reason to study this. They are one of the few countries with higher rates of fracture than the US, despite their love of all things dairy. Conventional [...]
Every five years, the government gets together to decide what Americans should be eating. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) were recently released. These Guidelines will be used to ‘guide’ the nutrition in federal programs, such as school [...]
Recently the know-it-alls at the FDA got together to discuss food dyes. Why now? The first reason is the The Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling for it. They are the self-proclaimed “organized voice of the American public on nutrition, food safety, health and other issues”. This advocacy group is calling for a ban on the [...]
I’ve never gone out of my way to celebrate Earth Day other than a few activities with my kids. I kind of regarded it as I do other ‘so-called’ holidays: National This Day or World That Day. I recycle, I keep my thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer, I contribute to Wind Power, [...]
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” This expression is commonly used to illustrate inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning allows for the possibility that the conclusion is false, even where all of the premises are true. For example: All of the swans [...]
A recent headline caught my eye: “Soy after breast cancer is safe”, new study finds. Yet another reason the public gets so fed up with health and nutrition research. I know those poor journalists have to use any trick they can to get you to read past the headline but scaring cancer survivors and their [...]
What did our cave-dwelling ancestors eat and what does that mean for modern homosapiens? A few gimmicky diet books promise optimal health if only you follow your ancestors eating habits. This means being a ‘hunter-gatherer’. The basis of all these diets is meat, more meat, extra meat and oh yeah, some vegetables and fruits. Sound [...]
Don’t get me wrong, I loved sushi. And fish fry. Aren’t we supposed to stop eating all that big, bad red meat and switch to healthier, lighter, omega-3 loaded fish? Don’t those healthy Mediterraneans eat fish with their olive oil and wine? Isn’t pescetarian the new omnivore? True, there are worse things you could eat. [...]