but she made me do it

Research from two economists out of England suggests that becoming overweight may be a phenomena associated with “keeping up with the Joneses.”

They acknowledge that in a Darwinian society, in which people compete for status, being overweight carries a stigma. But as more people become obese the perception of what constitutes being overweight changes. ‘Thus when my neighbour gets a little fatter, I … become a little fatter (since it is now not necessary to be so slim in order to compete),’ Blanchflower and Oswald write.

Data suggests that people living in developed countries are approximately 10kg heavier than they were a few decades ago. The two economists found that, among European women, ‘there is evidence that perceptions of being overweight depend not just on a person’s own Body Mass Index, but also on their BMI relative to other people’.

I found this very interesting, too:
Their findings are supported by similar socio-economic analyses. Studies have suggested that it is psychologically preferable to be jobless in areas where there is significant unemployment. ‘This is presumably for reasons of reduced stigma,’ Blanchflower and Oswald write. ‘For equivalent reasons, it may be easier to be fat in a society that is fat.’ They also suggest an individual’s perception of whether they are overweight depends on their socio-economic characteristics and that ‘highly educated people hold themselves to a thinner standard’.

You can find the whole article HERE

take that!

Have you seen those awful Kentucky Fried Chicken advertisements where they claim that you can’t go to the market and buy the fixins’ to make your own meal, so therefore you must go to KFC?

I squirmed in my seat every time that darn thing comes on! It is just so inaccurate and such terrible media manipulation in allowing you to believe that KFC is cheaper and better than anything you can do at home. (I have written about this in the past, which you can find HERE.)

I was so happy today when I went onto Grist and saw that someone had taken on the KFC challenge and won!

Even allowing for the whole batch of 24 biscuits, the meal still comes in at $8.45. In fact, using organic or other high-end items where the market carried them (flour, grapeseed oil, butter, milk), my total bill for the meal came to $10.62. Here’s a GoogleDocs spreadsheet of my prices in case you want to check my math or compare your own recipe.

You can go HERE for the whole article.

it isn’t supposed to be this way

There was a time when kidney stones were an “old” persons disease. A new article in the New York Times examines the increase of this disease in children as young as five.

The most likely cause is the increase of salt intact, in conjunction with a decrease of water intake. Many of the children in China that drank milk with the chemical Melamine, were also found to have high rates of stones.

You can find the whole article HERE.

I know that times are tough and parents are doing the best that they can. But, maybe the best is not getting prepackaged, preserved food for their child’s meals. We know that the number one way they preserve it is by adding a ton of sodium. The article also says that the children don’t drink water, because they don’t want to leave class to go to the restroom. OK. First, that is heartbreaking. Second, it is going to be easier to fix what they eat then the social stigma of being a bed or pant wetter, right?

We already had to change the name of “Adult Onset Diabetes”. Let’s stop the creation of Pediatric Kidney Stone care.

update on my nemesis

New research came out about High Fructose Corn Syrup.

I beg of you… STOP PUTTING THIS CRAP IN YOUR BODY!!!

“When fructose was present in the sweet drink, whether it was at 50 percent of its concentration, or 75 percent, we found that the fat synthesis rate was more than twice, almost three times the rate as when we just fed glucose alone. In a nutshell, high-fructose corn syrup produces fat in your body at more than double the rate of sugar.”

Do not believe the commercials, the ads, nor the AMA… HFCS does not, and will never, equal sugar.

** excerpt from www.grist.org, full article here.

***my articles about HFCS can be found HERE and HERE.

mm, mm good

I just want to direct you all to GOOD Magazine. This is from their website:

“GOOD is the integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good. We are a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward. GOOD’s mission is to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community.”

Recently, they started creating GOOD sheets, which you may have seen at Starbucks. click HERE. They have done one on CO2, health, and their latest is on immigration. They are concise, informative, and worth the time.