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From: DawnWatch - news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Jan 28, 2007 5:21 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: New York Times Magazine cover story on nutrition 1/28/07

The cover story of this week’s (January 28) Sunday New York Times Magazine is “The Age of Nutritionism: How Scientists Have Ruined the Way We Eat.” It is by Michael Pollan, the well-known author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and of various other New York Magazine stories on food. Inside, page 39, the article is headed, “Unhappy Meals: Thirty years of nutritional science has made Americans sicker, fatter and less well nourished. A plea for a return to plain old food.”

Pollan opens with:

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

“That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.”

Pollan discusses the science of “nutritionism,” writing, “it really wasn’t until late in the 20th century that nutrients managed to push food aside in the popular imagination of what it means to eat.”

(more…)

In my last post I listed five tips for losing weight and the first one I listed was:

1) Unless you’re like the 0.5% of the population that actually has some some sort of glandular problem, you’re fat because of you. It’s your fault, it’s your responsibility. While this might sound harsh, the positive side is that it means you can fix it, because you can control it. Don’t feel bad, feel empowered.

My wife Kelly informed me that tip came off way too harsh. That, of course, was not my intent. The point Kelly brought up, was that not everyone lives in a situation where it’s easy to buy healthy food for a good price. I live close to the suburbs, so I have an infinite choice of what to buy. Someone in the inner city may not have any choices other than McDonald’s or a convenience store. Point made.

The point of Tip #1 wasn’t meant to make anyone feel bad. I just wanted to be clear that your weight is controlled by your food and exercise regimen. It’s not an outlandish or rare metabolic disorder. In retrospect, I should have fleshed the tip out more, or changed the tone somewhat. So, to start over, I want to empower you with the idea that you control a lot of the factors that go into your weight, and you have the control to change. I realize some people may be in tougher situations than others, but I do hope maybe to pass on some information that will help those people. To do that, I will be expanding the number of posts I do pertaining to Tip #1.

First, I will look at the top fast food restaurants in the inner cities, and try to work out a better meal plan for those who find it cheaper to buy fast food than groceries at their local store. I know it can be done, since you can read about it here.

The first menus I will look at will be Burger King and McDonald’s. They should be pretty much close to ubiquitous in the inner cities. Taco Bell and KFC will follow. After those four, I’m not entirely sure. However, covering those four should give people a lot of options.

Big thanks to my wife for reminding me not everyone has my options.