———- Forwarded message ———-
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.”

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

While I personally go one step further and eat vegan, I thought these stories were interesting. I believe vegetarianism as a “gateway lifestyle” to veganism.

Vegetarian choices offer healthy lesson

Vegetarian diet offers health benefits: Dropping meat from diet not difficult

You can ease into vegetarianism

SMART KIDS GO VEGETARIAN LATER IN LIFE

It’s that time of year again, when we give way to the temptations of holiday meals and desserts. Some of you are looking at your waistlines and thinking about your upcoming New Year’s Resolutions. I have faced the New Year many times and resolved that “This was the year I lose the weight. This year is different.” Invariably, the year wasn’t any different, and I lost not a pound. However, 2006 was different. I lost a lot of weight, and after a year I don’t feel in danger of putting it back on. I’ve changed my eating habits, my exercise habits, and my knowledge of nutrition was expanded.

So, to kickoff 2007, I’m going to give my list of tips for losing weight, and I will expand upon each of these in later posts in early 2007. Here we go:

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.

2) You have time exercise. The biggest excuse I hear is that people don’t have time to exercise. I’m calling BS on that. You prolly spend at least thirty minutes a day watching TV, smoking, surfing YouTube, etc. You have the time, period.

3) “Low-fat/fat-free” foods are a scam. In a nation where we have a diabetes problem, the last thing fat people should be eating is sugar infested “low-fat/fat-free” food.

4) Eating vegan will lead to a healthier lifestyle. I’m not saying you will to be 110 years old, but it will make you eat healthier.

5) Eating out is the worst thing you can do. Learn to cook, even if you can only cook pasta dishes.

That’s it for now. I will have five posts expanding on each one of these tips. Follow these tips, and 2007 can be different.

Happy New Year!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: PCRM Nutrition and Research Assistant Tara Nicotra – info [at] pcrm.org
Date: Dec 1, 2006 2:20 PM
Subject: PCRM Event: Food for Life Diabetes Online Classes

You are invited to participate in the Food for Life Diabetes online series. This exciting new series offers education on diet and diabetes, along with group support. The classes feature lectures by PCRM president Dr. Neal Barnard and cooking demonstrations by PCRM nutritionist Dulcie Ward, R.D.

The next class is Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. EST. Two more classes follow on Dec. 13 and Dec. 20. Each session will last about 1 hour. You will need a high-speed Internet connection to participate. Additional computer requirements can be found here.

Click here to register for the remaining classes in the Food for Life Diabetes online series. Registration for the Dec. 6 class ends on Tuesday, Dec. 5.

Please forward this e-mail to friends, family members, listservs, or associations who might be interested. If you forward this e-mail to 10 or more people or groups, you will be eligible for a free copy of Dr. Barnard’s new book on diet and diabetes.

We look forward to having you join us!

Best Regards,

Tara Nicotra
PCRM Nutrition and Research Assistant

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400
Washington, DC 20016 Phone: 202-686-2210
E-mail: info [at] pcrm.org

——————

Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts pcrm Physicians+Committee+for+Responsible+Medicine health diabetes diet online+courses

Via Grist:

There was a time when Eric Schlosser took his kids out for fast food. But once he started researching an article on the industry, all that changed. The article turned into a widely acclaimed book, Fast Food Nation, which has now been turned into a Richard Linklater-directed film, opening today. And his kids don’t get to eat Happy Meals anymore. Sarah van Schagen talks with Schlosser about his hopes for the new film and his dreams for a revitalized food culture, and offers her take on the film in Gristmill. In Soapbox, a former McDonald’s cook explains why he returned to his farming roots. Bon appetit!

New in Main Dish: Fast Food Damnation

New in Soapbox: Fry Away Home

New in Gristmill: A short review of the new film Fast Food Nation

Also, check out the movie’s website for tons of extra-yummy vittles!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sustainable Table – info [at] sustainabletable.org
Date: Nov 14, 2006 12:58 PM
Subject: Sustainable Table and Eat Well Guide Re-Launch Today!

Sustainable Table (www.sustainabletable.org), a leading resource designed to celebrate the sustainable food movement, re-launched our website today, offering enhanced navigation of the site — making it easy to get involved and keep up-to-date with the latest sustainability news, resources, educational tools, and award-winning advocacy films.

New to the website is:

• An updated and expanded Issues section, highlighting easy-to-understand information about industrial and sustainable agriculture

• A new Get Involved section, making it simple for everyone to find out how to make their lives and communities more sustainable

• A growing focus on personal stories. Through the blog, forum, features, and new Stories section, the updated Sustainable Table site will focus on the people behind the sustainable movement, as well as the consumers involved in it.

The Eat Well Guide (www.eatwellguide.org), Sustainable Table’s free online directory of farms, stores, restaurants, and other outlets that offer sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and egg products also re-launched today with enhanced features. In addition to providing consumers an easy-to-use tool to search by zip or postal code, product, growing method, or region to find the nearest wholesome food, the Eat Well Guide (www.eatwellguide.org) now offers:

• More than 7,500 entries

• Consumer reviews of outlets in the Guide

• Expanded “My Notebook” functions where registered users can save their favorite listings and keep notes to refer to in the future

Sustainable Table also has The Meatrix and The Meatrix II: Revolting, our award-winning Flash animation films, in a new digital format, downloadable to handheld media players, video phones, and iPods — free of charge. In addition, we recently released The Meatrix II 1/2, the latest installment of the award winning Meatrix series. Produced by Sustainable Table and Free Range Studios for Participant Productions, The Meatrix II 1/2 was launched to educate consumers about problems at processing facilities and to help promote the social action campaign surrounding the Fast Food Nation movie being released by Participant Productions and Fox Searchlight on November 17th. For more information, visit www.themeatrix.com.

Read the press release about our re-launch, or visit the Sustainable Table media lounge!

Sincerely,

The Sustainable Table Team

The Sierra Club’s Mr. Green shares his top 10 tips for eating well.

Shorter Mr. Green: buy organic, buy local, buy unprocessed/unpackaged, and buy veg; and, when possible, grow and make your own. And always recycle!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Oct 24, 2006 4:17 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: NY Times front page on humane meat labels — 10/24/06

The front page of the Tuesday, October 24, New York Times includes a story, by Andrew Martin, headed, “Meat Labels Hope to Lure the Sensitive Carnivore.”

It is a great article to see on the front page as it should provide readers with surprising information about standard meat production.

The article focuses on the new “animal compassionate” labels soon to appear at Whole Foods, and tells us, “The initiative was started by Whole Foods’ chief executive, John P. Mackey, a vegan who has been increasingly outspoken on animal-rights issues.”

While in the case of Whole Foods, the standards are driven by the CEO’s personal concern over the issues, labels are sometimes applied simply as a marketing tool to attract compassionate consumers. We read:

“For instance, the United Egg Producers provided an ‘animal care certified’ logo to its members that several state attorneys general said was misleading because it falsely suggested that the chickens were humanely raised. While denying the charges, the group recently changed the label to say ‘United Egg Producers certified.’”

We read about other concerns over humane labels:

“Others question the validity of the certification programs for animal-welfare labels because some allow farming practices like cutting the tails off pigs and allowing animals to be raised entirely indoors.”

And:

“The Animal Welfare Institute and ‘free farmed’ allow nose rings for pigs; the rings make rooting more difficult and prevent the pigs from tearing up the ground. The others do not allow rings.”

One problem with the article is that it quotes people who deliver misinformation. For example, we read of George Siemon, chief executive of Organic Valley: “He noted that the federal government’s organic standards include animal-welfare provisions, like prohibiting cages for laying hens and requiring outdoor access for livestock.”

A story on the front page of the Chicago Tribune, however, on August 20, made told us that the standards are not clear and that cows at the Horizon organic dairy farm are rarely allowed outdoors. (That article is on line at http://tinyurl.com/p68ue.)

The New York Times article includes a sidebar with some information about the different standards of different humane labels — whether they allow, for example, castration (without anesthesia) and tail docking.

You’ll find the article on line here.

The front page story provides a great opportunity for letters to the editor discussing the common treatment of animals used in the US food supply. Good sources of information, and photos, are http://www.FactoryFarming.com and the HSUS publication “Eating for the Animals.”

Or you might wish to write about the horror of under-regulated slaughterhouses, reminding readers how bad the end is for the animals no matter how they are raised. Even if slaughterhouses were better regulated it would make no difference to the hens who are exempt from the Federal Humane Slaughter Act.

The New York Times takes letters at letters [at] nytimes.com.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure to share you own thoughts and not to use any of my words or references in your letters.

Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi. You are encouraged to forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts but please do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

—————————————-

Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts dawnwatch meat food+labeling certified+humane eggs animal+compassionate whole+foods animal+care+certified