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Oh no! The food industry could go under!
A proposed standard for nutrition claims in New Zealand and Australia is being opposed by an industry group.
Yes, I know, that's hardly news. After seeing the US food industry insist on no more than voluntary guidelines and then using tens of millions and all its other muscle to defeat those, it's clear that the industry will truck no curb, no matter how innocuous.
Who needs our protection?
A question that keeps recurring: Why are the free-speech rights of corporations more important than our shared imperative to protect children?
No rights are absolute, as exemplified by falsely shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, as expressed by Oliver Wendell Holmes in a 1919 Supreme Court case. In the larger sense, there are very few absolutes in a world colored in shades of gray, anyway.
How can you not be outraged?
I'm late to this topic, and perhaps have failed to add to, or take advantage of the momentum generated when this special Reuters report on food marketing to children was released April 27. But it's too important not to bring it to your attention, and by more than just a tweet.
Un-dieting advice, part 3 | Take it seriously
You may know that I've begun a series of short videos offering dieting advice that doesn't focus on food. As you (should) know, I'm not a nutritionist, or researcher, or clinician, and I have no desire whatsoever to advise others on food plans. What I am is a person with the experiences having been very fat for decades and then having escaped that obesity, also for decades (so far).
Michigan may discard licensing for dietitians
A while ago I tweeted a Forbes article which asked whether the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics, formerly known as the American Dietetic Association, was seeking to eliminate competition by proposing dozens of state laws that would further codify who can give nutritional advice and provide stiff penalties for those who do so without the imprimatur of AND.
Gussow in '79: Current AND ahead of her time
In 1979, I was over 300 pounds, a daily pot smoker, and about to piss away my opportunity to graduate with my college class by blowing off two courses in my last semester. Joan Gussow was already preaching a gospel of healthy, sustainable food that I would have ignored had I known about it at the time. Somehow, it makes me more appreciative of it now.
Breathtaking dishonesty, harebrained reasoning
It's hard to know which is more breathtaking about the Center for Consumer Freedom, its intellectual dishonesty or its harebrained reasoning. Either way, the come across so often as devoted idiots.
Yes, that makes me the chronicler of idiots, which I hope won't be my epitaph. But someone has to call out their crap, lest it be allowed to stand as fair, rational, logical discourse.
Loved ones tried to help, without success
I stray too often, but my goal on this blog is to share personal perspective, because foremostly, that's what I have to offer: I am a food addict, recovering from the obesity that resulted for my first 30 years. With 20 years on an altered path, I can share what both sides feel like, as well as the treatments, practices, and attitudes that allowed me to change.
Lack of information is not the key problem
A study published in British Food Journal and reported by foodnavigator.com casts doubt on whether giving consumers more nutritional information will lead to healthier eating habits, and I generally agree.
McDonald's desecrates the family dinner
Utterly revolting, a McDonald's radio spot I heard yesterday foreshadows an all-family dinner which Junior doesn't text, Billy doesn't play video games, and Dad doesn't watch sports. It's as home-homey-home as Laurie David and other sages of the dining room would want it, right? But then comes the punchline: "Wait, we're having it at McDonald's?"
Pay attention to the crop-insurance debate
Few things sound as boring as a discussion of future federal crop insurance fortunes, but believe it or not, said discussion will be a fulcrum in the next Farm Bill, whether it comes up this year or next.
I don't care about crop insurance per se, but I do care about federal ag policies that subsidize some crops at the expense of others.
The fat guy sings
Because I haven't posted from "Britain's Got Talent" recently...
In an obesity crisis, one size does not fit all
Friend and reader Casey Hinds pointed me towards Casey Seidenberg's post for the Washington Post lifestyles blog "On Parenting" and asked my take on its "all food should be enjoyed" message, vis a vis children and addiction potential.
Dr. Lustig's miniseries
It's almost impossible to be in my line of work — commenting on how we eat, with the goal of increasing respect for, and interest in, healthy nutrition — and not admire what Dr. Robert Lustig is accomplishing. His appearance on "60 Minutes" a couple of weeks ago was the the latest wild success he has achieved in bringing attention to primary causes of in the world's obesity pandemic.
It's complex, so let's do nothing
It’s wishful thinking to imagine that attacking only one of the many causes of obesity will solve a complex problem.
What's this? The Center for Consumer Freedom, a front for Big Food, saying something I can agree with, even if it probably wishes it could have this one back?
Wasted on pink slime
I've withheld comment on pink slime until now for shifting reasons, and I probably ought to shut up still, but the topic continues to flit across my screens.
At first, I couldn't really get into it, and not only because I haven't eaten beef in longer than a decade: OK, ground beef has fillers in it. Not much news there. Yes, I had questions about treating non-nutritive meat trimmings with ammonia, but otherwise, I just couldn't get up for it.
In conflict, pick the public good
The burgeoning fight around sugar toxicity has two sides: public-health advocates and the private industry.
For the former, the clients are you and me. Not only do individuals suffer from the flood of processed-sugar injected into every corner of the American diet, but there are significant and mounting collective costs as well: shared health costs, lost worker productivity, even national security. Every American, of every political and social persuasion, is affected by these things.
Mush and misdirection
Just about every time I refer to the Center for Consumer Freedom, I feel the need to acknowledge that yes, I'm doing it again — giving attention to the cynical, purchased slants of a collection of people who identify themselves as uncredible by their very name. They call themselves a consumer group — which is true and a lie. Yes — who isn't a consumer? But no, a group that is funded by industry but implies that it is made up customers should not be heeded.
The curve is catching up
Only by virtue of having the condition myself, I've long been ahead of the curve on food addiction. But it is catching up, which is (mostly) fine with me.
