Category Archives: Social Commentary
Top Nutritionists Attempt To Reach A Consensus
…and end up in a food fight. This would be funnier if it didn’t have such profound implications for health. I don’t know why anyone pays attention to that quack Dean Ornish. It was low-fat recommendations like his that almost surely killed my father thirty-five years ago. I enjoyed this, too:
In the spirit of the conference, he did make a concession: Red meat, a staple of a Paleolithic diet, “is a real problem” due to its carbon footprint, said Eaton, and he proposed a more sustainable Paleo diet that instead derives its protein from plant sources, poultry, and seafood.
Because nothing is more important when it comes to nutrition than carbon footprint. And this:
Those who follow a low-glycemic diet might eat, for instance, pasta but not bagels, parsnips but not potatoes, grapes but not raisins.
Bagels are worse than pasta? Who knew?
From Hunting/Gathering To Farming
Yes, humans evolved in the age of agriculture.
Per the end of the piece, this doesn’t really invalidate the paleo diet theory. It makes sense that we would have adapted to milk; it’s a useful high-protein food source. There would have been less evolutionary pressure to be able to handle grain, because the ill effects don’t occur until later in life, past child-bearing age.
The Transatlantic Accent
How it was created, and why it essentially died.
Interesting. I’d always wondered why Cary Grant talked like that, and where his accent was from. Boarding schools, apparently.
Treating Brain Cancer
After quitting my job, I decided to study for a Master’s degree in Nutritional Therapy. As I got deeper into my course work,I was shocked to discover that everything I had learned during my undergraduate studies was either false, misleading, or outdated information.
It’s an anecdote, but a pretty powerful one. The ignorance about nutrition in the health-care field is probably killing thousands.
A Car Of Memories
This is a nice story.
I had MGs when I was young, but my younger brother had a couple Healeys. One of them was wrecked when a woman made a left turn in front of us at an intersection. I was in the jump seat, and got tossed out the back, suffering nothing but a pulled shoulder from breaking my fall. He injured his lip and broke a tooth on the wheel. His friend went into the windshield and had to have reconstructive surgery. As the story notes, no standard seat belts back then (though I installed them in my cars after market).
A Rose By Any Other Name
You have to feel bad for this guy:
Bich wrote in part, “I find it highly irritating that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it. I’ve been accused of using a false and misleading name of which I find very offensive.”
Given his residence, maybe he should think about a name change.
The English Language
Possibly the weirdest one on the planet.
Funny, seems perfectly normal to me. But it’s a fascinating history.
Coffee
A daily habit may contribute to longevity.
That’s why I choke down the swill ever morning. I’ve never found any other reasons to do so.
Speaking of my apparent imperviousness to caffeine, I was staying with an old (in both senses of the word) friend in Seattle last week, and he noted that since he’d gone more paleo in his diet, he noticed much less of a caffeine effect from morning coffee or evening tea. I started drinking it after I’d changed my diet as well, so maybe carbs enhance it. Actually, someone should do a study on that.
Cats And Cukes
This is truly bizarre. I don’t think I’ll try it with Rerun, though, even though I happened to buy a cucumber the other day. She gets enough abuse.