Today is National Cereal Day! First, I want to give some love to my favorite cereal: Peanut Butter Puffins

Puffins remind me of Butterfinger filling in a puffy, crunchy cereal square. Delightful!

Since we’re on the topic of cereal, I might as well break out my…

Cranky Guide to Cereal

• Choose cereal that has less sugar than a pile of Oreos. Generally, you shouldn’t have more than 6 teaspoons/22 grams of sugar per day if you consume a total of 1600 calories a day. If you eat around 2200 calories a day, you shouldn’t consume more than 12 teaspoons/44 grams of sugar per day. Sounds like a lot, right? Not really when you consider that one cup of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch Cereal has 20 grams of sugar–that’s about four Oreo cookies worth of sugar. Yowza!
• If you’re vegan — watch out for animal crap masquerading as a hard-to-pronounce other. Here are some things to consider: “confectioner’s glaze” comes from insects; E471 is a synthetic fat additive that comes from both vegetable and animal sources (fat) and, unless it’s explicitly defined, you don’t know from which source when it’s listed; and Carmine/Crimson Lake/Cochineal/Natural Red 4/C.I. 75470/E120 are red food dyes that come from beetles. That’s not an exhaustive list, but, seriously–unless you’re eating a certified vegan cereal–the added sugar alone is probably not vegan (white sugar is typically filtered – to de-color – through bone char); so, in my wise-ass opinion, I say: be mindful, not overzealous.
• Choose a cereal that has a reasonable amount of calories per serving size. I don’t know about you, but this pretty much encapsulates how I eat cereal: [source]
  Beware of misleading serving sizes!  Most of us eat 2 servings or more of cereal and don’t even realize it. When you add your dairy or non-dairy milk to the equation, you’re eating about 400 calories of cereal if you’re not careful (plus loads of sugar!). Check out Hungry Girl’s serving size experiment and video here for more of an idea what I’m talkin’ ’bout! You might also want to try her cool tip to “Puff That Stuff” (see here). Basically, you can add volume to your favorite cereal by adding a puffy cereal with less calories. For example, I am not satisfied with one serving (3/4 cup) of Puffins for 110 calories; but you can add a cup of puffed millet for 60 calories. That way you have a total of almost 2 cups cereal for only 170 calories. A cup of unsweetened almond milk is 40 calories — which is more than half the calories of non-fat milk.
• Compare/Contrast. See how your fave cereal compares to others out there. You might be shocked or pleasantly surprised. Check out this cool comparison here of some mainstream commercial cereals.
• Remember that “No Trans Fat” doesn’t mean no trans fat. Technically, if a cereal product has less than .5g of trans fat per serving, it can list “0g” of trans fat. But, pals, if we don’t eat just one serving of cereal, doesn’t that mean that by the time we’ve licked the bowl clean from our 3rd serving, we’ve ingested a bit of trans fat? Why yes, yes, it does! D’oh! You can find out if a cereal really has trans fat by checking for “hydrogenated” and “partially-hydrogenated” oils in the ingredients list. Post’s Cupcake Pebbles has “0g” of transfat listed, but if you check out the ingredients, “hydrogenated vegetable oil” comprises the 3rd ingredient! Yikes! Might as well generally be a bit skeptical of claims made on cereal boxes — see here on how Kellogg’s wants to make weight loss claims on its cereals!
• Some Like it Hot. Bored with cold cereal? Try it hot! My favorite brand of hot cereal is Country Choice.  I like to eat it with just a little stevia added. One serving has 130 calories and is FILLING!
• Think Outside the (Cereal)Box. Use your cereal for somethin’ other than a cereal bowl! Try my recipe here for yogurt pie in a Puffins crust. You can use soy yogurt to veganize it. You can also make vegan Rice Krispy Treats.

What’s your favorite cereal? Any fun ways to eat it?

<3,

The Cranky One

I wanted to share the vegan options available at California Pizza Kitchen. I think it’s awesome that this information is so widely available these days, but it can still be hard to find compilations of all the facts in one place (i.e. nutritional stats + ingredients + allergen/dietary-restriction info.).

Vegan Options*

*Taken from the official CPK site. Nutritional info. does not take into account amendments suggested below.

Appetizers

• Lettuce Wraps (request with only wok-stirred vegetables) – 911 calories, 2g saturated fat, 2667mg sodium, 8g fiber, 36g protein (Nutritionals based on “Lettuce Wraps with Chicken”)
• Tuscan Hummus (request thin crust instead of pizza-pita bread) – 861 calories, 4g saturated fat, 1562mg sodium, 7g fiber, 21g protein (Nutritionals based on “Tuscan Hummus with Traditional Pita”)

Small Cravings

• White Corn Guacamole & Chips — 362 calories, 3g saturated fat, 759mg sodium, 7g fiber, 6g protein

Soups

• Asparagus Soup (no croutons) — 213 calories, 1g saturated fat, 1862mg sodium, 4g fiber, 8g protein (Per bowl. Cup has about half the stats)
• Dakota Smashed Pea & Barley Soup –368 calories, 0g saturated fat, 2100mg sodium, 26g fiber, 25g protein (Per bowl. Cup has about half the stats)

Salads

• Grilled Vegetable Salad — 810 calories, 8g saturated fat, 2104mg sodium, 19g fiber, 13g protein (For full size. For half size, cut stats in…half…duh?)
• Field Greens Salad (omit candied walnuts) — 998 calories, 12g saturated fat, 805mg sodium, 15g fiber, 18g protein (For full size.)

Pastas

• Asparagus & Spinach Spaghettini (request without cheese) — 1115 calories, 10g saturated fat, 2078mg sodium, 10g fiber, 32g protein (Nutritionals include cheese, so I’d assume you could know off quite a few calories and sat. fat grams with cheese removal)
• Broccoli Sun-Dried Tomato Fusilli (request without cheese) — 1287 calories, 14g saturated fat, 2368mg sodium, 10g fiber, 37g protein (Nutritionals include cheese, so I’d assume you could know off quite a few calories and sat. fat grams with cheese removal)

Pizzas

•  with Japanese Eggplant (thin crust, request without cheeses) — 991 calories, 19g saturated fat, 2808mg sodium, 12g fiber, 51g protein (Nutritionals based on eggplant pizza minus 175 calories for thinner crust; but still includes cheese. I imagine without cheese you could knock off about 200 cals and quite a few fat grams)

Sandwiches and Dessert

• Fresh Fruit (Nutritional stats unavailable, but I’m sure you can guestimate on this one!)

Other Items

• Table Bread (Nutritional stats unavailable)
• Pasta Only with Olive Oil (Nutritional stats unavailable)
• Wok-Stirred Vegetables (upon request) (Nutritional stats unavailable)

I’ve got to admit — there are not a lot of options that I would personally choose; however, that’s not because I feel vegan options are limiting, but that I feel CPK has limited healthy items in general. I don’t want to eat a pizza for almost 1k calories — vegan or not.

Bottom line: I’d opt for a half-sized grilled vegetable salad plus a cup of asparagus soup. That’s around 500 calories, 21g fiber. Not too shabby.

Do you guys research food options at a restaurant before  you go out to eat? What’s up this weekend?!

<3,

The  Cranky One

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

Heat & Eat Foods at Trader Joe’s (Vegan-Friendly)

Sesame Soba Noodles with Asian Vegetables $2.99

Nutritional Info. for 1 bowl: 250 calories, 4g fat, 610mg sodium, 3g fiber, 9g protein

Vegan Pad Thai with Tofu $2.29


Umm I don’t have a picture of the inside because I ate it too soon lol. It looks just like the soba noodle one except with more noodles and little pieces of tofu!

Nutritional Info. for 1 bowl: 600 calories, 7g fat, 840mg sodium, 3g fiber, 18g protein

The Pad Thai has quite a bit of calories and sodium for one meal, but I don’t see why you couldn’t eat half and just add a bag of steamed veggies to the mix. Or you could just ravenously eat the whole thing, shrug and go “eh, at least it’s got a lot of protein!” (<– that’s what I did!).

Coupons — One for Free Vegan ‘Cheese’!

I’ve accumulated some coupons and was wondering if anyone wanted them. First to reply that he/she wants one/all of ‘em, gets ‘em.

• FREE Galaxy Product (Vegan cheese, rice cheese, veggy cheese…) (I’ve got two of these)
• Save $1.00 on any Galaxy Nutritional Foods — Rice, Veggy, Rice Vegan or Vegan Product
• $1.50 off a Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal or Crackers (I’ve got 3 of these)
• And for all my pals who eat out, here’s a coupon for $1.00 off a grilled chicken salad at Jack in the Box and $2.75 off a chicken breast meal at El Pollo Loco — two healthier options from fast-food joints. (Hey, sometimes economy trumps health-zealousness, right Maslow?)

Do you guys ever eat microwaveable meals? If so, which are your favorites? Are you guys coupon hounds?

<3,

The Cranky One

p.s. Did you guys hear the new Hungry Girl book coming out March 30 is now available for pre-order? The first 2000 people who buy two copies and complete and submit receipts and an entry form could win a CASE of Popchips. It would be dangerous for me to have a case of Popchips since a) I could eat a case of Popchips. in.one.sitting. Annnd most of the varieties aren’t vegan. Anywho — you can pre-order the book for $10.79 from amazon here.

I’ll wait while you digest that beautiful pair of words and clean up your slobber.

If you’ve been vegan for a while there’s no doubt you’ve heard of the cook-book Veganomicon by the same authors who run Post Punk Kitchen and who’ve written Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. But if you’re a newbie-gan, you’ve gotta get this book!  My friend Michelle let me borrow her copy to test out a couple recipes before I invested the $17 in the book. How often do you get to test a book before you buy it?! I can’t lie — I’m stoked about this book and getting my own copy! In an effort to pay forward Michelle’s kindness, I got permission from the book’s authors to share a recipe with you guys! Vegan or not — I hope you’ll check out Veganomicon and especially try the recipe below. Let’s be real — taste buds are amoral and uninvolved in food politics — so I’m *stoked* these donuts taste like bite-sized heaven, ‘cuz, if not, I’d be a little cranky!

Vegan Jelly Donut Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy or rice milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• About 1/3 cup raspberry jam or preserves (you can use strawberry or grape if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Pour the soy milk, vinegar and cornstarch into a measuring cup and set aside.
• Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
• In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Create a well in the center if the flour to pour your wet ingredients into.
• Stir the soy milk mixture with a fork to dissolve the cornstarch, then pour into the flour mixture. Add the oil, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Stir until well combined.
• Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full with batter. Place a heaping teaspoonful of jam on the center of each cupcake. You don’t need to press down in the jam or do anything else; the baking will take care of all of that and it will sink in.
• Bake for 21 to 23 minutes. You can’t really do a toothpick test here because of the jelly filling, but the cupcakes should be done by this point. The tops should be firm.
• Remove from the oven and let cool completely on wire racks.
• Once cooled, set them someplace cool and dry. and eave uncovered. It it’s winter, leave them in your coldest room. If it’s summer, leave them somewhere air-conditioned, if possible. If it’s not possible, don’t sweat it–just don’t leave them anywhere very warm. Let them sit overnight and preferably up to 24 hours. This will make the tops dry and a little bit crispy and more donutlike.
• Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar (using a sifter if you have one) . Serve with coffee.

Notes: You can’t bake these without cupcake liners. If you run out (like I did — whoops!), you can make your own liners with foil. Also, you don’t need to wait for these to cool overnight or even for them to cool down from the oven as the boyf and I dug in on these babies straight out of the oven and they were amaaaaaazing. Also, I ended up with 16 cupcakes instead of 12.

Nutritional Info. per Cupcake (Out of 16) — Calculated via Sparkpeople Recipe Calculator

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe 16 Servings Amount Per Serving Calories 150.4 Total Fat 4.8 g Saturated Fat 0.4 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.7 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 142.7 mg Potassium 23.5 mg Total Carbohydrate 25.5 g Dietary Fiber 0.4 g Sugars 12.7 g Protein 1.3 g Vitamin A 0.0 % Vitamin B-12 0.0 % Vitamin B-6 0.5 % Vitamin C 1.1 % Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 5.3 % Calcium 1.7 % Copper 1.6 % Folate 7.3 % Iron 3.5 % Magnesium 1.0 % Manganese 4.7 % Niacin 4.1 % Pantothenic Acid 0.6 % Phosphorus 2.1 % Riboflavin 3.7 % Selenium 5.9 % Thiamin 6.5 % Zinc 0.7 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

NOT BAD!!!

Follow Up on My Un-Lent Challenge

I have *so not* been looking forward to divulging what a lame-ass I’ve been for not completing my goal of 5-hours of exercise a week, but, alas, the charm of any public challenge you give yourself is that you can use fear of humiliation to your advantage. I think I might be getting a little too immune to it at this point though lol

Mon. — Nada
Tues. — Nada
Wed. — Ran for an hour.
Thurs. – Nada
Fri. — Ran for 30 minutes.
Sat. — Turbo Kick Boxing (1 hour)
Sun. — 1-hour bike-ride.
Total: 3.50 hours <– Damnit!

Oy. I’ve been slackin’! I know it’s slacking and not lack of opportunities to fit in the time. We all know I could read while fast-walking on the treadmill. I could spare 20 minutes every day to do Jillian’s Shred. I could lift weights while watching the news. I can fit in circuits while waiting for my donuts to bake   Ya know what I mean, jelly bean? This week better be better *shakes fist at self*

Do you guys multi-task while exercising?

<3,

The Cranky One

Hey guys!  Happy Sunday! I wanted to point your attention to an article in The New York Times a few days ago called “‘Yes!’ to Pop Tarts! Panel Approves Bake-Sale Rules” (2/25/10) here. The article discusses a decision made by New York’s Panel for Education Policy to ban home-made goods from school bake-sales and yet allow processed foods so long as they meet a list of agreed-upon criteria (generated by the panel). If you haven’t been keeping up on NY schools and their bake sale policies (why am I — grad student on the West Coast — paying attention, you ask? For some of us it’s scantily-clad vampire and werewolf men, for others *cough,* it’s food debates! , then here’s the gist:

• A while ago (and before the article referenced above), most bake-sales used to raise funds for school programs were banned in NY city school. See article here (10/2/09). Reasons cited for this include, “Roughly 40 percent of the city’s elementary and middle school students are overweight or obese, according to the Education Department. The department also found a correlation between student health and performance on standardized tests, according to a survey it released in July.” Read the city’s proposed changes memo here, which includes only using vending machines from those the city has a contract with (hmm sounds fishy, no?) and putting timers on the machines so that its contents are inaccessible during meal times.
• Because the above regulation left school programs, clubs and activities hurting since they had relied on bake-sales to raise funds, the city panel amended the rules this past Wednesday.  “Under the new rules, students may sell fresh fruits and vegetables, or one of 27 specific packaged items that have been approved for sales in city vending machines, between the start of school and 6 p.m. on weekdays. The same goes for parent groups, except for an exception carved out for one no-brownies-barred Parent Teacher Association bake sale during the school day per month.”
• Some of the criteria the packaged foods have to meet include that they are one serving only, under 200 calories, without Splenda, and with less than 35% of the calories coming from sugar or fat, among other restrictions.

I guess I’ll say a couple nice things before I unleash the cranky. It’s great that school officials are talking about and taking seriously the fact that we rely too much on processed junk in our schools — both from the vending machines and served up in the cafeteria. Just the fact that people are noticing how kids are duped by lack of information and by misrepresentations by food companies — serving size tricks, crap foods masquerading as health foods, yadda yadda yadda — is awesome. But is saying no to home-baked foods because “’it’s impossible to know what the content is, or what the portion size is’” and yet allowing certain foods like Doritos and Pop Tarts to pass the check-list appropriate? Maybe “appropriate” isn’ the right word. Is this the smart thing to do? If we’re talking about the impossibility of knowing “content” of food, I hardly think Pop Tarts’s ingredients list would fall into a “knowable” range given you’d need to hand a kid a dictionary and chemical engineer to translate.

(Don’t mind my half-ass art. I couldn’t find a picture that said “LAYS in a state of a nature” so I made my own!)

I can just imagine little Johnny goes home from school to a mom who greets him excitedly with home-made banana bread to which he briskly asserts, “mom, I don’t know what you put in that crap, now hand me my Doritos!”

I think skepticism of packaged food is seriously warranted. But we’re kinda talking out of both sides of our crumb-filled mouths if we then allow specific food companies to monopolize our vending machines and “bake-sales” with their pre-approved packaged garbage. Sure, it’s a great idea to limit the sheer volume of crap being sold to kids on campus. Even better to limit it to items that are one-serving and under 200 calories, versus those king-sized monstrosities I so enjoyed in my youth. But what kind of message our we sending if we’re saying, in one breath, take control of your health! And then in another saying, “and it’s only food companies who can show you the way!” I get it if people worry that PTA moms add too much sugar to their blondies and macaroons and serve up cookies the size of baseball mitts, but is banning home-made goods the smart thing to do? Also, we’re sending the wrong message if kids equate the healthiness of an item with its being under 200 calories. We all know you can eat 200 calories of crap. We also know that calories from processed foods are not accepted and treated the same by our bodies as whole foods are.

Howell Wechsler with the CDC said something that stuck with me: “’Schools are supposed to be a place where we establish a model environment, and the last thing kids need is an extra source of pointless calories.’”

Hmm. Stripping responsibility from kids and families and putting it in the hands of food companies doesn’t seem like a model environment — though I can see how it would certainly be a profitable one for food companies and the politicians lobbying for them. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity for kids and families to discuss how to read food labels, how to decipher what all that ingredient crap is in the foods they buy, how to make healthy home-made treats? (I’m sure parents need to learn this stuff as much as, if not more than, their children do!). Shouldn’t we be empowering people with knowledge? If we didn’t have food companies banking off of misguided consumers and monopolizing our airwaves, t.v.s, and grocery stores it certainly would be easier for families to navigate the basic human necessity to eat. But it ain’t that simple these days, my friends.

What do  you think about policy makers banning home-made goods from schools and yet advocating portion-controlled processed foods? Where do you draw the line between school responsibility and personal responsibility? Who should be teaching our kids about nutrition?

I’d love your thoughts!

<3,

The Cranky One

When I ate what I thought to be vegan Trader Joe’s sausage-less sausage and then later realized it had egg whites in it

I remembered that any lifestyle needs to be flexible enough for long-term survival (and that I need to be better at reading labels if it’s that important to me!).

When I get caught up in self-loathing and thinking I haven’t gone quite far enough

I remember the letter I wrote to my body and think of how far I’ve come.

We throw “failure” around like it’s insulting or something to be shunned. If we gave up every time things got hard or gave up every time we screwed up, we’d never move forward. Hell might be paved with good intentions, but the heart of success is always sutured with failures.  

How do you pick yourself up after feeling you’ve failed at something? Any failures of yours turn into successes?

<3,

The Cranky One

I caught wind (via BFD) of a Nightline debate airing this past Tuesday night called “Is it Ok to be Fat?” with MeMe Roth, Crystal Renn, Marianne Kirby, and Kim Bensen making up the panel.

You can watch the entire episode here. I’d also recommend checking out the comments here.

Quick info. on the panel:

• MeMe Roth — President and Founder of the National Action Against Obesity, whose mission is to ”eradicat[e] Secondhand Obesity™ (obesity handed down from one generation to the next, as well as from citizen to citizen).” Read the research compiled on her here by the F-Word.
• Marianna Kirby – Author of Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere and writer at The Rotund.
• Crystal Renn – Plus-sized model (the only plus-sized model to ever get a cover in Harper’s Bazaar), author of Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves
• Kim Bensen – Author of Finally Thin! She lost over 200 pounds and helps others lose weight, too.

First thing to note is that the panel is totally not as diverse as it should be. By “diverse” I simply mean having someone on there who is an expert on health issues from the medical field with actual credentials. MeMe Roth is just an opinionated and privileged mom. Crystal, Marianne and Kim are all weighing in (tee-hee) from the side of personal experience. What we needed was someone who could really interpret the “facts” and give a medical perspective on the diversity of personal experience on the panel. We missed out on what could have been a more serious debate instead of a sensational battle that sounded like “wa wa wa,” “i’m crazy” and “in my experience.” C’mon, guys! It’s journalism 101 — get people with legit cred on each side of the debate!

I spent a lot of time thinking about and then writing out my thoughts on the issues and how the panel presented them. Then, I realized I could sum up my feelings in a much simpler way:

The second we realize that we should be fighting for health, not against obesity, we’ll stop paying attention to people like MeMe Roth who romanticize thinness and falsely correlate thinness with health as an absolute. We all know skinny is not an indication of health, at least not in and of itself. In 2005, there were 10 million people suffering from eating disorders [source]. We could just as easily talk about an “obesity crisis” as we could a “skinny crisis.” Let’s be real. And, folks, it’s not just teen girls suffering from eating disorders (see here, for instance).

Once we start fighting for health, we’ll realize that people can be healthy at a variety of weights and sizes (and the inverse is too, as well!). We need a more holistic way to determine, gauge and measure health.

But, slow your roll, before we break out a new set of rulers and prods to haphazardly determine where to draw the line on who is too fat to be healthy, let’s give everyone a fighting chance to be healthy! Fighting forhealth means changing the way our government subsidizes corn! It means eradicating food deserts and giving everyone fair access to healthy foods and health/nutrition education. It means limiting if not eradicating advertising crap food to children. It means changing the meals served in school cafeterias (our govt. subsidizes corn and then also subsidizes some school lunches. Can you guess what type of school lunches they typically subsidize? Crap food!). Can anyone else imagine what a crock of s— it is for MeMe Roth to talk about the price of obesity on thin people and not the price of corporate interests on impoverished children?

And, because my class on ecocriticism seems full of endless fodder for my interest in health issues, I’d like to share this quote from Sarah Blaffer Hyder in her book Mother Nature that sums up why focusing on things like “eradicating second-hand obesity” and trying to place blame on nature or nurture when it comes to “fatness” is antiquated and lame:  ”instead of old dichotomies about nature versus nature, attention needs to be focused on the complicated interactions among genes, tissues, glands, past experiences, and environmental cues” (174). Thank you Hrdy!

Well, guys, that’s all I have in me to share at this point! The issue, of course, is so much more than I’ve represented. I’ve barely touched on the discrimination, and the imposed (im)morality of fatness, etc., but I’m sure if you hit up the comments on the Nightline page, you’ll get an idea of how intricate these issues get.

Happy reading!

Did any of you catch this debate or have an opinion on any of these topics?

Relevant News:

• “Michelle Obama take on Food Deserts,” Huffington Post, 2/24/10 here

<3,

The Cranky One

Cucumber Wonton Rolls

Fully cooked, frozen. Nutritional Info. for 1 serving (4 pieces): 100 calories, 1g fat, 160mg sodium, 1g fiber, 4g protein.  The ingredients list is too long for me to care to replicate. It’s got the vegan sticker on it, so it’s officially vegan and it’s obvs got soy and cucumber in it. I liked the taste of these alright. They’re a nice last resort if you’re starving and want something quick and warm. But I am not really a fan of warm cucumber. Cucumbers, like penguins, belong in the cold.

Fruit Frenzy Bars, Raspberry, Lemon & Strawberry

Nutrtional info. per serving (1 bar): 120 calories, 0g fat, 5mg sodium, 1g fiber, 0g protein.  Ingredients: strawberries, raspberries, lemon juice, water, fructose, sucrose, lemon pulp, natural stabilizers (guar gum, caron bean gum, carrageenan), lime oil, citric acid, tumeric (for color).

These are g-double o-d!

Have you tried any new food finds lately?

Fri.: Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred

This was my first time doing a complete episode (before I had just played around with a snippet on YouTube). Look, people, I’ve seen so many of you mention this was too easy for you and that you did all levels in one sitting. You’re freakin’ crazy. My ass was dying on LEVEL ONE *hangs head in shame* You know how they say if you don’t use it, you lose it? Well my muscles went through atrophy and died off, let’s face it. So far, I love this work-out. Forget that Jillian is a hypocrite and meanie yadda yadda yadda, I prefer her “no-bs” personality to those fitness gals who wear spandex unitards and sing praises at the t.v. Plus, this is a 20-minute work-out meant to kick your butt in record time. It truly makes me feel like a jerk to myself if I won’t even allow 20 minutes for a work-out, so I do it. Yay! After Jillian tortured my weak-butt, I did additional strength moves and mat-work for 10 minutes. Total work-out: 30 minutes.

Sat.: Turbo Kick Boxing at my gym. (Remember my first TKB experience here?), ran for 25 minutes & did Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred again. I have another confession — running is just not as easy for me as it used to be! I was tired and just not feeling it the entire time. Somebody tell me it’s because I was still recovering from the flu and not that I’ve lost my running mojo!!! Total work-out: 1 hour & 45 minutes

Sun.: Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred — Total work-out: 20 minutes

In three days I did a total of 2 hours and 35 minutes. Kinda lame, but I’ll take it! Next Monday I hope to show that in a week I was able to complete my 5 hour goal! So, I’ve brought in reinforcements:

Remember that damn giant calendar I used when I was doing my 10-pound challenge? Well, it’s back! I won’t be tracking calories on this thing like I used to, but I will be marking my activity. Maybe I should buy some cute little stickers and do that thing elementary school teachers do where they reward you with stickers and punish you by writing your name on the board?

Yes, I do have a chalk board and while I usually use it to leave obscene poetry for the boyf, I think I could put it to better use!
And, just so I don’t feel alone in my exercise challenge, I take solace in the fact that Michelle Obama’s making a big deal about exercise, too. See here, too.

Are you making a big deal about exercise (have you always?)? What do you think about Jillian Michaels’ Shred? About Michelle Obama’s plan?

<3,

The Cranky One