Thursday, July 3, 2014

On the Conflicting and Confounding Information We Receive about Food...


This excerpt from "The Fever Pitch of Obesity" written by Rachel Combe made me laugh... 

In the beginning, there was the low-fat dictum, which was revised to: cut out saturated fats but encourage vegetable fats—unless your vegetable fats are trans fats, in which case they’re killing you. Oh, but while you’re eliminating butter, make sure you don’t add in too many ­refined carbs—toss out those Snackwell’s! Sugar will kill you. Actually, maybe all carbs are the problem—including fruit. Double up on your breakfast sausage, but drop the Wheaties. After all, ­humans were never designed to eat agricultural products. We’re hunter-gatherers: We should be eating wild game and greens. Nothing processed! What would possess you to eat sausage?!??! Fill up your plate with dandelion greens and elk. But wait! Actually, scratch the elk. Cut out meat. Meat will kill you. Except for fish. No, wait, fish is too high in mercury, and the seas are overfished. Okay, okay, you can eat small, stinky fish like anchovies and maybe a little chicken and eggs (as long as they’re humanely raised by a ­local ­farmer with whom you are on a first-name basis), but you’d ­better chuck dairy. It’s full of growth hormones that are giving seven-year-olds pubic hair. Unless you get organic, grass-fed, raw milk. But just know that raw milk can kill you. Actually, you know what? Go vegan. Go raw vegan. Go on a detox fast. Juice all your food. No, wait—juice is too high in sugar. Get a Vitamix and make a breakfast smoothie out of avocados, foraged mushrooms, and kale. Gwyneth Paltrow’s kids love it! Wait! Stop! Put that down! Liquid calories are causing the diabetes epidemic. So just eat vegetables, fruits, beans, olive oil, anchovies, chicken, eggs, plain yogurt, sea vegetables, and whole grains. Except brown rice. There’s arsenic in it. Arsenic will kill you. And, obviously, don’t eat ­gluten. Have a little wine with dinner, unless you care about getting breast cancer—in which case, stop boozing and become vegan (you know, we already told you to go vegan—pay ­attention!). But go easy on the soy. Because it can kill you. Got that?

At one point, is it possible, that eating may have been a form gustatory enjoyment rather than a tension-filled research project?

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