Which Is It--Fat or Dead?

Okay, I know no one wants to be overweight. But what would you give up to not be overweight?

I'm not sure. I wouldn't give up my house, or my pets. I wouldn't trade a year of my life, or allow a limb to be lopped off. Does that mean I don't want to be the paragon of thinness?

This piece from Discover.com was published last summer, but I was startled as I stumbled across it this week. In "20 Things You Didn't Know About Obesity," it shows how pervasive the vilification of fat people has become.

Just a few of the "facts":

• 50 percent of people would give up a year of their life rather than spend it as a fat person.
  
• Up to 30 percent would rather give up their spouse than be fat.
  
• Up to 30 percent would rather suffer clinical depression than be fat.
  
• Up to 30 percent would rather become an alcoholic than be fat.
  
• 5 percent would rather lose a limb than be fat.
  
• 4 percent would rather be blind than fat.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't want to be overweight--it's why I'm working to not be that way. But really. I would rather be overweight than dead, depressed, alcoholic, maimed or blind. Maybe that's my problem--I'm not willing to give up enough to lose weight!

What Shall We Eat Today?

I've had Michael Pollan's bestseller, The Omnivore's Dilemma, sitting in my "To Read" pile for the past month or so--it was a Christmas present, or, actually, what I bought myself with the Barnes & Noble gift card that was my Christmas present.

After reading this weekend's article by Pollan in the New York Times (registration required, I think), I'll have to move the book higher up in the stack.

In "Unhappy Meals," Pollan says a lot of things strict low-carbers will disagree with--he advocates a mostly plant-based diet, albeit of "real" foods, not processed foods, with meat as a side item rather than the star of the meal.

But the article is fascinating for his insights into the food industry, the food lobbyists in Washington, and how the ridiculous food pyramid has been compromised and sold out in the name of politics over the years.

His thoughts are interesting about how the transition was made from eating a diet based on foods to a diet based on nutrients (counting carbs, fats or proteins). Who knew George McGovern played a role?

His point that we need to get back to the basics of planning our diets around real food is well made -- he points out all the conflicting research coming out of the nutritional arena. It results in what he calls the "cognitive dissonance of the supermarket shopper."

"Last winter came the news that a low-fat diet, long believed to protect against breast cancer, may do no such thing — this from the monumental, federally financed Women’s Health Initiative, which has also found no link between a low-fat diet and rates of coronary disease," Pollan writes. "The year before we learned that dietary fiber might not, as we had been confidently told, help prevent colon cancer. Just last fall two prestigious studies on omega-3 fats published at the same time presented us with strikingly different conclusions. While the Institute of Medicine stated that “it is uncertain how much these omega-3s contribute to improving health” (and they might do the opposite if you get them from mercury-contaminated fish), a Harvard study declared that simply by eating a couple of servings of fish each week (or by downing enough fish oil), you could cut your risk of dying from a heart attack by more than a third — a stunningly hopeful piece of news. It’s no wonder that omega-3 fatty acids are poised to become the oat bran of 2007, as food scientists micro-encapsulate fish oil and algae oil and blast them into such formerly all-terrestrial foods as bread and tortillas, milk and yogurt and cheese, all of which will soon, you can be sure, sprout fishy new health claims."

More later--gotta go to work now. But check the article out if you haven't read it!

Are You a Food Snob?

Apparently, most Americans are, to some degree. This Salon.com article talks with Barry Glassner about his new book, The Gospel of Food. I want to get the book--it looks ready-made to be something that will just really set me off big-time!

In the meantime, he has interesting comments to make in the Salon article about how we are such total snobs about whatever type of diet we support. Low-fat snobs, of which there are such an abundance, not only disagree with low-carb proponents but are absolutely disdainful of the idea. Unfortunately, most low-carb proponents are just as snobbily disdainful of the low-fatters. Basically, we all think we're right, and that's that.

Calianna, over at Calianna's Low-Carb Cottage, touches on a similar topic today, aimed primarily at the low-fatters but basically saying: What works for some people doesn't work for other people.

A problem for low carbers, of course, is that we've had to defend this way of eating for so long--and we're so frustrated that the high-carb-low-fat mantra continues to predominate in the face of mounting research evidence that simple carbs are slow poison--that it's hard for us not to push back in the game of Bully Nutrition.

Only time will tell.

Only 31 Years?

Now, why don't I find this surprising? In an article from the London Daily Mail comes the news that the average woman spends 31 years of her life on a diet.

According to a new report, British women spend an average of six months a year counting calories, and more than 20% are on a "permanent diet" throughout their lifetimes. Men spend 28 years dieting.

When you set that up against the fact of spiraling obesity, don't you just figure something is not working? Like high carb, low fat austerity? The article goes on to say that half of the dieters who quit their programs say it is because they "don't have enough willpower." A quarter say it's because their diet leaves them depressed.

I don't know how much of my life has been spent on a diet but it has been significant, and yet I still have a real weight problem. Which is why I'm trying to change my way of eating and thinking about food instead of "dieting" now.

The first diet I remember going on was in 8th or 9th grade, when my mom would ply me with hamburger patties and cottage cheese. Now that I think of it, it was a pretty nice controlled-carb diet. I did the Stillman Diet, the Rotation Diet, some horrendous liquid protein stuff. I did grapefruit diets, cabbage diets, and several rounds of Atkins that I didn't stick with. I did Nutrisystem--twice, and Weight Watchers at least four times. I've tried Sugar Busters and South Beach, and Carb Addicts. Hmmmmm. Did I mention the Scarsdale Diet, and the Wine Diet (a personal favorite)?

If you feel like a trip down memory lane for your own dieting adventures, check out The Fad Diet website.

Today's Food Trivia: Aardvark

A fine low-carb food, that aardvark. According to my new Oxford Companion to Food, aardvarks have a good reputation as human foods and tastes like pork. Since it "has the reputation" as being good, I assume the author of the Oxford Companion never ate any. I've had Ostrich and Buffalo, but never have I seen aardvark on the menu! Aardvarks are "one of a kind"--they have no relation to any other animal group, but their name, which comes from the South African Dutch, means "earth pig" because they root and tunnel into the ground, where they eat termites and such until they can grow as large as 6' long and 220 lbs. That would make some fine aardvark steaks.

The Not-So-Friendly Skies

I've been uncharacteristically quiet the past few days, tending to my mom after her surgery (which went well).

But now I'm back!

I couldn't believe it when I read this story about a California man, a Hepatitis-C sufferer, who was denied boarding on a Southwest Airlines flight to Arizona for a liver transplant? Why? Because he was "too fat" and they wouldn't let him fly without purchasing an additional ticket so he'd have two seats.

Wow, I thought. He must have been really huge. Well, not really. The man weighs about 300 pounds, according to his daughter. He's on disability and couldn't afford the extra ticket.

Now, while I wonder why the guy was flying alone, why no one was with him to pick up the cost of the ticket and sort it out with Southwest later, etc., the fact remains that some ticket counter personnel thought it was more important to punish the fat guy than have some compassion for someone who was ill--the flight wasn't even sold out.

On the other hand, another Southwest employee bought him the second ticket so he could make the flight.

I have to fly to Chicago in March on business, and I'm already dreading it!

I'm Hatin' It

Check out this video on uTube to see a subliminal ad for McDonald's supposedly found during an episode of Iron Chef America on the Food Network. Hmmmm.....wonder if you're supposed to crave a Big Mac if this is flashed at you enough times. Am I the only one who finds this totally insidious?

Hi, My Name is Binji and I'm....

Let me introduce you to Binji, my evil twin. Binji likes to binge. When faced with an opportunity to overconsume, she becomes out of control. Her mind stops working; all reason is lost. The little voice in her head that is me, is ignored (if she hears it at all). She is the possessor; I am the possessed.

I've had Binji on a short leash for the past five months, and boy is she unhappy. When she escaped her leash on Christmas Eve, I let her roam free for a few days, until New Year's Day, when I reined her in again.

She didn't like that.

And yesterday, she saw her chance to escape again, when a friend showed up to watch the New Orleans Saints-Chicago Bears debacle of an NFC Championship game, bearing (no pun intended) chips, popcorn, and Blue Bell ice cream in Binji's favorite flavor, Homemade Vanilla.

Binji broke free about halfway through the first quarter of the game and rampaged till bedtime, when I, ironically, finished reading Courtney Rubin's "Weight Loss Diaries," a raw and honest account of her own battle over binge eating. I was about 20 pages from the end before I accepted that no way was she coming up with a solution, a breakthrough, a-ha moment, before the end of the book. She sabotaged herself through 200 pages despite running marathons, battling compulsive eating and poor self-image over a two-year period. Her final analysis? Relax and do the best you can; you have to live your life, and accept that battling food is always going to be a part of your world.

At what point is it relaxing, and at what point is it surrender and defeat? I'm not ready to concede it yet.

She's back in her pen now, and it's another day.

What's in Your Vitamin?

We all take our multivitamins like good little girls and boys, trusting the big old vitamin manufacturers to have our best health in mind.

Not.

This story from MSNBC cites a study by ConsumerLab.com that shows half of 27 brands of multivitamins failed a quality test.

One vitamin--The Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women, was contaminated with lead. Lead!

Others didn't contain the ingredients they claimed, or contained them in different amounts. The article said, "Hero Nutritionals Yummi Bears, a multivitamin for children, had 216 percent of the labeled amount of vitamin A in the retinol form, delivering 5,400 International Units (IU) in a daily serving. That's substantially more than the upper tolerable level set by the Institute of Medicine of 2,000 IU for kids ages 1 to 3 and 3,000 IU for those 4 to 8."

Nature's Plus Especially Yours for Women took twice as long as allowed to disintegrate, while AARP's Maturity Formula took almost twice as long. Eniva's VIBE, had only half the amount of Vitamin A claimed on the label.

The good news is that if you stick with the big brands, you're probably OK. Among the multivitamins passing the test were Centrum, One-a-Day, Flintstones Complete, and the Member's Mark brand from Sam's Club.

Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to the site to see the full report. Hopefully, it'll get picked up somewhere else to get the full list.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Which valentine gift works best for your sweetie? The Krispy Kreme heart-shaped donuts or the heart-shaped low-carb cheesecake? Or some heart-shaped cheese,better yet!