Tara Parker-Pope catches up with Michael Pollan

I know JustSaying has plugged and praised MP's new book multiple times already (without even receiving it in the mail yet) but once again, I've got to point out this recent interview because.... he mentions the rule that YOURS TRULY submitted: “It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language.”

OMG OMG OMG!!! Yay!!! (Of course, there is a chance that this rule was submitted by more than one person but regardless, a girl can dream that her efforts have contributed to the success of a bigger movement, right?)

Anywho, some highlights from the interview:

"I came up with [Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.] when I was writing a piece for The New York Times Magazine called “Unhappy Meals,” which became my book. I was trying to simplify everything I learned as radically as possible. I thought that was a compromise. I really wanted to say just “Eat food,” but I realized that wasn’t enough. You had to sort of take a position on meat and vegetables, and you had to address the whole issue of quantity. I’ve learned that from Marion Nestle (the New York University nutrition professor and author), that in the end, so much of the discussion about nutrition is a way to avoid talking about how much people are eating. People would rather talk about anything else than quantity. Eat food was the main message, but I realized I needed to qualify it. I was hoping for two words. I compromised at seven... The adverb “mostly” has been the most controversial. It makes everybody unhappy. The meat people are really upset I’m taking a swipe at meat eating, and the vegetarians are saying, “What’s with the ‘mostly?’ Why not go all the way?” You can’t please everyone. In a way that little word is the most important. It’s not all or nothing. Mostly. It’s about degree. But in the whole food discussion, I’ve learned the most from that, that little “ly” and people’s reaction to it."

"Some of these rules require absolutely no explanation. “If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.” “It’s not food if it’s served through the window of your car.” “It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language.” Think Big Mac, Cheetos or Pringles. Another one I like, “The banquet is in the first bite.” Economists call this the law of diminishing marginal utility. When you realize the real pleasure in food comes in the first couple bites, and it diminishes thereafter, that’s a kind of reminder to focus on the experience, enjoy those first bites, and as you get into the 20th bite, you’re talking calories and not pleasure. I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that."

Understanding the American Appetite

Great article in yesterday's Well column in Science Times, How the Food Makers Captured our Brains, about the topics of a new book by former Food and Drug Administration head Dr. David A. Kessler, “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite.” A few excerpts from the article:

When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.

Dr. Kessler isn’t convinced that food makers fully understand the neuroscience of the forces they have unleashed, but food companies certainly understand human behavior, taste preferences and desire. In fact, he offers descriptions of how restaurants and food makers manipulate ingredients to reach the aptly named “bliss point.” Foods that contain too little or too much sugar, fat or salt are either bland or overwhelming. But food scientists work hard to reach the precise point at which we derive the greatest pleasure from fat, sugar and salt.

The result is that chain restaurants like Chili’s cook up “hyper-palatable food that requires little chewing and goes down easily,” he notes. And Dr. Kessler reports that the Snickers bar, for instance, is “extraordinarily well engineered.” As we chew it, the sugar dissolves, the fat melts and the caramel traps the peanuts so the entire combination of flavors is blissfully experienced in the mouth at the same time.

Much like the above text, the book is supposed to focus on why those peanut M&Ms are so darn addictive and not so much attack the industry, but simply understand how our brains work in response or in conjunction. Join Tara Parker-Pope's discussion here.

Pollan to Compile Food Rules

Michael Pollan is asking his readers and followers to share the traditions and wisdom that guide their daily decisions about food (via TPP's Well Blog in the NY Times). From his post:

I want to create a compendium of such rules, across cultures and also time. Some of the rules readers have sent me so far are specifically about navigating the modern food landscape: “It’s not food if it comes to you through the window of a car.” “Don’t eat at any restaurant of which there is more than just one.” “A snack is not the same thing as a treat.” “If a bug won’t eat it, why would you?” and so on.

Folks are encouraged to submit their rules via the blog comments. Here are some of my favorites (from the first couple pages of comments):

Don’t eat anything you can buy at a gas station.— Jesse Montgomery

Nevermind what McDonald’s says, it is NOT OK to eat chicken for breakfast.— Ralphinjersey

Don’t eat anything you see advertised on TV.— wc

Don’t eat the icicles off the back of the car.— Liz

Don’t buy sushi out of the trunk of a car.— Alan

Perhaps a rule should be, “Eat a food in inverse proportion to how much its lobby spends to push it.”— KW

“If you don’t eat your green vegatables, you will turn purple.”-mindyn

The great cartoonist Kliban wrote, long ago, “Never eat anything bigger than your head.” That is good advice for all of us…— David Binger

And in case you were wondering, here's what I posted:

If you can't learn the equivalent title for it in a foreign language dictionary, it probably isn't food. Perhaps I should also mention that if it's title is the same worldwide it may not be food. For example: Cheetos, Big Mac. Seriously... go to Google Translator and type in Big Mac. You will get: Big Mac. Type in simply "big" and you will get grande, gandisimo, mayor, gran.... hmmm....

Post a suggestion of your own here

research to watch

There has been some buzz in the scientific research world regarding the pro-oxidant possibility of antioxidants and I'm pleased to see Tara Parker-Pope touch upon it in her recent Well post. The mainstream media appears to have caught the wave of research reporting that many vitamin supplements, to use a colleague's terms, "are only really resulting in some expensive, vitamin rich urine," but few and far between are the stories about the potential of antioxidants keeping unwanted cancerous cells strong. From Parker-Pope's post:

In 2007, The Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed mortality rates in randomized trials of antioxidant supplements. In 47 trials of 181,000 participants, the rate was 5 percent higher among the antioxidant users. The main culprits were vitamin A, beta carotene and vitamin E; vitamin C and selenium seemed to have no meaningful effect.

“We call them essential nutrients because they are,” said Marian L. Neuhouser, an associate member in cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “But there has been a leap into thinking that vitamins and minerals can prevent anything from fatigue to cancer to Alzheimer’s. That’s where the science didn’t pan out.”

just terrific

Check out Tara Parker-Pope's recent post in the NY Times about an emerging positive trend encouraging parents to involve their children in all aspects of meal preparation in the kitchen, not just cookies and cupcakes. Parker-Pope reports that, along with a recent string of cookbooks targeted to children, Nintendo has started heavily advertising the “Personal Trainer: Cooking” game, for use on its DS handheld system, that includes videos of cooking techniques and 240+ dishes from countries around the world.

(PS - I am aware that the picture of the baby has nothing to do with this post but that is my little niece, Layla, and the picture was taken somewhat near to a kitchen in which cooking was taking place and the hat... holy terrific cuteness... I couldn't resist!)

certified organic people?

Tara Parker-Pope put up an interesting post yesterday about going organic - or more specifically, about Dr. Allen Greene's attempt to eat 100% organic over the course of three years (because that is the amount of time it takes to have a breeding animal certified organic by the Department of Agriculture).

As you would expect, Greene joined a CSA, cut back on his meat consumption, and notes the high cost and challenges of eating 100% organic. Check out the entire post here and this interesting tidbit from Parker-Pope's post:

On the road, though, life was more challenging. In corporate cafeterias and convenience stores, he looked for stickers that began with the number 9 to signify organic; stickers on conventionally grown produce begin with 4.

More bad news about vitamins...

Tara Parker-Pope writes about all the recent bad news about vitamins in her NY Times Well blog. From her post:

Everyone needs vitamins, which are critical for the body. But for most people, the micronutrients we get from foods usually are adequate to prevent vitamin deficiency, which is rare in the United States. That said, some extra vitamins have proven benefits, such as vitamin B12 supplements for the elderly and folic acid for women of child-bearing age. And calcium and vitamin D in women over 65 appear to protect bone health.

A Johns Hopkins School of Medicine review of 19 vitamin E clinical trials of more than 135,000 people showed high doses of vitamin E (greater than 400 IUs) increased a person’s risk for dying during the study period by 4 percent. Taking vitamin E with other vitamins and minerals resulted in a 6 percent higher risk of dying. A later study of daily vitamin E showed vitamin E takers had a 13 percent higher risk for heart failure.

On the bright side, while Vitamin C has no overall benefit for cold prevention, it has been linked with a 50% reduction in colds among marathon runners, skiers, soldiers, and people who are exposed to significant physical stress and cold temperatures, according to the study Parker-Pope discusses. Be careful though - because Vitamin C may interfere with Cancer treatment.

Living on a dollar a day

Tara Parker-Pope recently blogged about a couple in Encinitas, California who spent one month living on just a dollar a day each for food in order to find out how difficult it is for people with limited income to eat a healthful diet. According to the World Bank, nearly a billion people worldwide survive on a dollar's worth of food a day. The average American eats about $7 worth per day. The couple, Christopher Greenslate and Kerri Leonard, lived on raw beans, rice, cornmeal and oatmeal bought in bulk, made their own bread and tortillas and budgeted for Tang orange drink mix out of fear of a Vitamin C deficiency. Fresh fruits and vegetables were out of the question. So were canned foods and bread. From Parker-Pope's article:

Last year, Dr. Drewnowski led a study, published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, comparing the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. The study showed that “energy dense” junk foods, which pack the most calories and fewest nutrients per gram, were far less expensive than nutrient-rich, lower-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables. The prices of the most healthful foods surged 19.5 percent over the two-year study period, while the junk food prices dropped 1.8 percent.

Read the full article here and check out the couple's blog here.

Edible schoolyard

Definitely check out Tara Parker-Pope's post in Well Alice Waters Takes Kids Beyond Chicken Nuggets. Waters, along with Rachel Ray and Jessica Seinfeld, will speak at the New York City Food & Wine Festival. Waters hopes to bring an understanding of gardening and agriculture back into the lives of children and aims to educate parents and schools how to do so.

I couldn't be happier about this as a friend and I constantly discuss the need to reconnect children (and adults) with the garden and an appreciation of it.

Beets: Nutritional Powerhouses

I'm not usually one to jump on the nutritionism train, but I trust NY Times blogger Tara Parker-Pope and if she is posting about the benefits of beets (high in folate, manganese and potassium) I might just have to roast some up.

For some more information, check out Martha Rose Shulman's suggestions here for preparation and other helpful hints about "the new spinach."

(thnx Alissa)