nutrition


Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?

Because of government subsidies, that’s why.

As I do research on ways to clean up my diet, I keep stumbling upon little gems like this. It drives me crazy!

The article is from 2007, so the Farm Bill it mentions has already come and gone, but it’s a clear illustration of how broken the American outlook on nutrition is. Lobbyists for the big agribusiness like Monsanto, ConAgra along with self-motivated government officials are killing us with their subsidies to meat and grain producing farmers.

The government also purchases surplus foods like cheese, milk, pork, and beef for distribution to food assistance programs—including school lunches. The government is not required to purchase nutritious foods.

Today, we get most our nutritional guidance from advertising and the government. Except for the very outer fringe of the food industry, their goal is to make money, not make you healthy. More often than not, the people making decisions about the content and quality of the items sold on the shelves at your grocery store are not nutritional experts, they’re business people.

Don’t be fooled by their purposely misleading terms like original, homemade, premium and authentic. These are marketing terms, not statements of food quality. Trust me… I work in advertising. It’s all half-truths and perception spinning.

I encourage everyone to take a good long look at what you’re eating. And when I say that, I mean look beyond the whole Lyme or anti-candida diet concept. Unless you specialized in nutrition in college, everything you learned in school about a healthy diet no longer applies. Even the pyramid on the right – the one that the government says exemplifies a health balance – is wrong.

Do your own research. Be your own nutritional expert.

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Friday Link Love for 01.29.10

Days are getting noticeably longer!

Finally! Hints that Spring, though still months away here in NYC, is coming! I’ve been running in the late afternoon and have noticed that it’s not as pitch black as it was back in December. Each day we get two more minutes of daylight.

I can’t wait for warmer weather. I’m so over winter and running in tights, a base layer, a t-shirt, windbreaker, hat and gloves. I long for tank tops and race shorts!

Here’s what I’ve got this week

Guardian: Start running and watch your brain grow, say scientists – Props to my man EyeBob for sending this link to me. It’s a brief but well written article about how a group of Neuroscientists at Cambridge University have shown that running stimulates the brain to grow fresh grey matter (in mice) and that it has a big impact on mental ability.

I’ve read research in the past saying that running (or aerobic exercise in general) is good for the brain and that it may help prevent or at least hold off mental issues like dementia and Alzheimer. I’ve also talked from time to time with my friend Christopher Bergland about his theories on neuroplasticity and running mental health. It’s nice, however, to see science advancing this theory and examining the mechanisms behind it.

British Medical Journal: Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic – I use Feedly.com to help me organize and filter through all of the RSS feeds that I follow. I recommend it because it smartly suggests interesting articles based on what you choose to read. This link was a recommendation, but from what I can’t recall. The story was so gripping that I got completely side tracked from what I was doing when I read it. It’s one of those stories that’s good to recall on those days where you feel like shit and start getting all “woe is me” about your health and life.

On those occasions, think about being Dr. Leonid Rogozov. Trapped in the Antarctic, he had to perform an appendectomy on himself while an assistant held up a mirror. His strong will and determination to live are more than admirable.

A.V. Club (the Onion): KFC’s Double Down Sandwich – This link is to a hilariously written “taste test” of the new KFC Double Down sandwich by the  A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin. Truly worth the five-minutes it takes to read.

I’ve been getting more and more involved in what I’m eating. The more I look into the truth behind what I (we) eat, the more I’m HORRIFIED. It’s really no wonder that so many Americans are obese especially when you see something like this. KFC’s Double Down is a bunless grease-bomb. An artery-clogging marriage of bacon, two kinds of cheeses and “the Colonel’s sauce” (WTF?!) between two pieces of fried chicken.

A quick Google showed me that I’m not the only one who’s appalled at the new KFC menu item. Here’s humorous video review:

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Friday Link Love for 01.08.10

A busy week. Lots of travel

Been to Florida, New York, Washington DC and back to New York. As a result, the list is a little thin.

I’ve got some things cooking for the coming weeks so stay tuned. As always, if you come across something that I should share here, please let me know.

Here’s what I’ve got this week

Gluten-free food in NYC – Land of friendly eateries: I’ve been working really hard to eliminate gluten from my diet. I’m pretty good about it when I’m at home, but going out is a total crap shoot. Luckily the Gluten-Free Triathlete has compiled a list of GF places to eat in NYC from his recent visit.

Ten reasons whole foods will with the next decade of healthy eating: In addition to the above mentioned gluten, I’m trying hard to clean up my diet overall. The whole foods route seems like the best. Here’s quick blurb on why this “health trend” is likely to become a mainstream topic in the coming years.

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