Thoughtful Eating

Leggo my frozen fake waffle?

thoughtfuleating — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:21:19 +0000

So I get my local newspaper the other day and there’s an interesting article on the front page. Amid all the big stories in the world – health care reform, pending decision on increased troops in Afghanistan, the president in China, even Oprah announcing the end of her show – what was big enough to warrant presence on the front page? News that there will be shortage of Eggos from now until mid 2010.

How sad that this is considered huge news. We’re talking about a food item that contains 20 ingredients, many of which you’ve never heard of, is processed and shipped from hundreds of miles away on a freezer car, which requires who knows how much energy.

Here’s an idea: What if we took this opportunity to learn how to make our own waffles. What a crazy notion.

Fat pride?

thoughtfuleating — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:14:04 +0000

Amid the U.S. House of Representatives passing its health care bill over the weekend, the Times ran an article about fat people uniting to try and stop the scapegoating of obese people for our health care problems and for them to be treated equally as people as not overweight, for the country to celebrate our weight diversity.

Yet I absolutely love the first sentence in the fourth paragraph of the article – “Extra weight brings with it an increased risk of chronic disease, medical experts say, and heavier people tend to have medical costs that are substantially higher than their leaner counterparts.”

You can’t scapegoat if it’s true. Here’s a recent study by the American Institute for Cancer Research linking 100,000 new cancer cases each year DIRECTLY to obesity. That’s approximately 7-8% of all cancer incidence in the US per year, not including how many other cases are due partially to obesity. US health care cost estimates for cancer care is over $200 billion per year.

I could include numerous studies about the link between obesity and heart disease, but I think that’s pretty well established. US health care cost estimates for heart disease care is over $400 billion per year.

Isn’t that already half the total of the $1.1 trillion bill (for over 10 years) that just passed?

Final question – if being obese is now supposed to be a source of pride, not ridiculed, and obesity has skyrocketed in the US in the past 20 years (2/3 of all Americans are now overweight or obese), does it really matter what kind of health care reform does or does not pass when we’re spending this much to treat diseases that were doing to ourselves by being overweight?

Fun food rules

thoughtfuleating — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:48:07 +0000

Here’s a Michael Pollan article in the Times, but it’s the rules link at the end of the article that’s the most fun. My favorite is “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, than you’re not hungry.”

Tainted meat

thoughtfuleating — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:39:58 +0000

Here’s a length Times article about a woman who is paralyzed after eating beef that was tainted with E. coli. Not to scare the hell out of people, but this is real. We’re not taking Upton Sinclair “The Jungle” scary, but it makes you think twice about some of the things we’re willing to put in our bodies. Besides, after reading all of that, do hamburger patties sound that appetizing?

Health care talk without the health

thoughtfuleating — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:38:34 +0000

Leave it to Michael Pollan to talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to the current national debate on health care. As Americans turn to screaming at each other about universal health care or not, how come no one wants to talk about the fact that much of the problems our health care covers could be prevented with a better diet? Here’s an op-ed piece he wrote in the NY Times last week that discusses this topic, along with divulging into how this trend my change if insurance companies are no longer able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Additives to avoid

thoughtfuleating — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:33:04 +0000

Here’s an article on a topic that’s easily overlooked - additives. Most people, me included, didn’t even know some of these additives were in foods I eat on a regular basis. Consider yourself warned.

Tomato fungus outbreak

thoughtfuleating — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:39:49 +0000

It’s scary how quickly a food fungus can break out, and scary also how interconnected our food supply is now.

Organic vs. natural

thoughtfuleating — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:35:36 +0000

Here’s a great article in the Chicago Tribune which talks about the difference between organic and natural labeled foods. The main story is about Dean Foods, which makes an organic milk but is about to also offer a natural milk product, but there is also a link that directly compares organic vs. natural. Good info to have.

Subdivisions around farms?

thoughtfuleating — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:57:34 +0000

Here’s an interesting article in the New York Times about a pretty novel idea. Instead of building subdivisions around fairly trivial establishments, such as golf courses, there is a new trend developing of building these subdivisions around farms. Wouldn’t that be great? I love the idea.

Halfway though the year

thoughtfuleating — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:48:44 +0000

Well, today, July 2, is officially hump day of the year. 162 days before it, 162 days after. So I figured today would be a good day to access the progress so far with the challenge and mentioned some fun experiences along the way.

The freshest memory occurred yesterday, when Rachel and I went and picked blackberries at a local u-pick farm. Not going to lie, picking blackberries for 45 minutes on a hot, Savannah summer day (even if it was before noon), is not the most relaxing way to spend time getting your food. I was ready to go when we left. But it truly was rewarding coming back home and admiring our 4-plus pounds of fresh blackberries for our disposal. I will take comfort, mentally and physically, knowing that when I drink my fruit smoothies for the next several months, the blackberries in there came from a farm just down the road, not from god-knows-where in the world, chugging up energy costs all the way to my corner of Georgia.

Now that summer is here, it makes my goal of buying locally-grown food once a month a joke. I’m going to the local farmers’ market twice a week, getting most of my vegetables there. The best part, other than the food, is joking with the farmers, mainly letting them know they can’t hit on my girlfriend anymore since I’m living in the same town with her now.

And aside from the occasional slip-up, the other four goals of eating 2 fruits and 2 veggies every day, not eating meat one day a week, saving and eating all of my takeout food, and stopping my use plastic bags at the grocery story, have been coming along smoothly. Just today Rachel and I had delicious grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and a Indian-style garbanzo bean dish for dinner. Another easy, meatless day.

I’m looking forward to the next 162 days to see how I finish. But I don’t expect to stop any of these five items once Jan. 1, 2010, rolls around either.