The Good, the Bad & The Ugly in News

Hey guys! Forgive me if I don’t “talk” much — I’m running on 4 hours of sleep! Blasphemy! Wanted to point you to some interesting things in the news. Are you ready for the good, the bad & the ugly (it’s not more MeMe Roth, promise!)?

The Good

Michael Pollan. In case you’re new to my blog, um, I heart Michael Pollan. Three news items on him:

• NPR did an “All Things Considered” segment on his Food Rules here (5 minutes audio).
• If you missed Pollan on the Oprah show, his segment will be re-broadcast on March 11.
• Food Inc. is up for an Academy Award on Monday. YAY!

In other good news, Native Foods just announced a new online take-out ordering system! Suh-weet! From the announcement:

• You pick the exact time you wish to pick up your order, you pay online and you even receive your Rewards Card points online!
• No waiting in line or paying at the front when you get to the Native Foods restaurant. Just go straight to the area marked “Online Order Pickup” and tell us your name—we’ll have your Take Order ready and off you go!!
• Don’t forget: Costa Mesa, Tustin and Aliso Viejo all have designated “Take Out” Parking spaces within steps of those Native Foods restaurants for easy and quick parking. [And Westwood has an alleyright next door to the Native Foods entrance!]
• As an added incentive to all existing Rewards Card members, we are offering 25% off on your first Online Order placed prior to March 31. YAY!

And, finally, being kind may actually indicate you have an evolutionary advantage — see here. Gives a whole new meaning to paying it forward. Ya hear that meanies?!

The New York Times ran a piece recently called, “In Obesity Epidemic, What’s One Cookie?” here.  Basically, the article discusses the merit of the adage that “little changes add up” when it comes to weight loss; so they really do consider how cutting out a cookie, for instance, can offer a change, but not necessarily a substantial one over time. From the article:

•  ”Bodies don’t gain or lose weight indefinitely. Eventually, a cascade of biological changes kicks in to help the body maintain a new weight. As the JAMA article explains, a person who eats an extra cookie a day will gain some weight, but over time, an increasing proportion of the cookie’s calories also goes to taking care of the extra body weight. Eventually, the body adjusts and stops gaining weight, even if the person continues to eat the cookie. Similar factors come into play when we skip the extra cookie. We may lose a little weight at first, but soon the body adjusts to the new weight and requires fewer calories.
• “Regrettably, however, the body is more resistant to weight loss than weight gain. Hormones and brain chemicals that regulate your unconscious drive to eat and how your body responds to exercise can make it even more difficult to lose the weight. You may skip the cookie but unknowingly compensate by eating a bagel later on or an extra serving of pasta at dinner.”
• “’There is a much bigger picture than parsing out the cookie a day or the Coke a day,’ said Dr. Jeffrey M. Friedman, head of Rockefeller University’s molecular genetics lab, which first identified leptin, a hormonal signal made by the body’s fat cells that regulates food intake and energy expenditure.
• My take: Um, what a narrow view of small changes. Weight as a change may certainly seem trivial. But think of how changing one habit like stopping smoking, can dramatically increase your life expectancy and quality of life! I say, think positive, and be kind (see above — it’s a sign of evolutionary advantage

Also, bad — apparently our children (yours, not mine — this baby doesn’t have babies!) are considered “Generation Snack.” Just another article in the NY Times here telling us how crisisy this obesity crisis is.

The Ugly

An article in Time Magazine called, “Putting a Pricetag on Food Unsafety ” sounds kinda yucky ugly. See here. An excerpt:

• “Illness from contaminated food, ranging from minor stomachaches and queasiness to life-threatening E. coliinfections, are a serious public-health threat in the U.S., resulting in 5,000 deaths and 325,000 hospitalizations each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). When tallied up, the consequences of foodborne illness — including doctor visits, medication, lost work days and pain and suffering — cost the U.S. an estimated $152 billion annually. That figure was reported on Wednesday in a new study by the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trust.” Yikes, guys.

 Alright, gotta jet! Any of these news items strike a chord? Any news you wanna share with ME?!

<3,

The Cranky One

Tags: Food Rules, michael pollan, native foods, NPR, obesity crisis, Oprah