But seriously, did we really expect anything different from the food industry? Once they worked out the magic formula (salt+sugar+fat) they are going to ride it for all it’s worth.

Ultimately it is our own personal decisions to take it or leave it. We are not slaves to our genes.

What I think is more problematic, is that vast swaths of the population have no access to anything but this low grade, fat/sugar/salt enriched food. It’s ironic but the heavily processed food is far less expensive than fresh food straight out of a farm.

All this nonsense about “don’t use oil,” “don’t use lard,” “butter is bad”… We didn’t have serious weight problems until we gave up our traditional diets (i.e. home-cooked, delicious foods) for packaged or restaurant crap. For millenia, we have been safely eating lard and butter without everyone turning into lard and butter.

Indeed, not to mention that for example geese lard is 70 % unsaturated fatty acids. Even saturated fatty acids aren’t created the same – some are bad others harmless as recent research in Germany has shown. Even transfatty acids aren’t all bad – there are many natural ones that are harmless.

Just make sure you don’t overeat and eat a diverse diet and you should be ok, regardless what you eat, even junk food now and then isn’t a problem if you keep that simple thing in mind.

Stop eating meat. Kill all farm animals. And we will no longer have swine-flu, bird-flu, BSE, etc. Steam everything (no fat).

I have a serious question though. I live in an area where the staple food is rice. Given that rice is nearly 100% pure starch, and that it has a higher glycaemic index than table sugar. Would it be OK to replace all the rice in my daily diet with sugar?

He also is the only reason I watch Iron Chef (occasionally).

Free your stomach, and your ass will follow.

Stimulate the brain directly.

Feeling hungry? Zap. Craving chicken? Zap.

In this coming world, we would all eat a bland tasteless paste that contains all the nutrients we need. It comes in giant 20kg bags of powder that you mix with hot water. There’s only 1 kind, but it costs $1 per bag. Using our own personal portable brain zapping device, it would taste like anything you want it to be.

I love you, Alton Brown.

All this nonsense about “don’t use oil,” “don’t use lard,” “butter is bad”… We didn’t have serious weight problems until we gave up our traditional diets (i.e. home-cooked, delicious foods) for packaged or restaurant crap. For millenia, we have been safely eating lard and butter without everyone turning into lard and butter.

Cook at home. Don’t eat packaged/processed shit. Make your food by hand, and you can make it brain-explodingly delicious and still not get fat. Also, you will find that you don’t eat things like fried chicken very often. Why? It’s frickin’ hard to make. Your own laziness will keep you healthy and fit.

All that being said, Chili’s is my favorite American chain store. That doesn’t mean I eat there every day though.

Carbs make you hungry. However, protein in the morning may help to reduce your appetite all day long. It needn’t be from meat. Try eggs, yogurt, beans, and so on.

A bit about that at WSJ: Why That Big Meal You Just Ate Made You Hungry

Also the watching Food Network for recipes? Wha? Like watching MTV for relationship advice – don’t bother.

I recommend Marion Nestle’s book “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health” – I believe it was in this book that I learnt that the official food pyramid is very much influenced by food lobby groups – you don’t need that much red meat.

I also recommend Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen’s “Food Fight: The Inside Story of The Food Industry, America’s Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It”.

In New Zealand our new right-wing government repealed recently implemented rules to withdraw unhealthy foods from school shops (most kids in NZ schools bring lunch from home, but many buy lunch regularly and even more buy sweets etc). The percentage of schools selling high fat and sugar foods increased (duh). The reason they took away the rule – parents are responsible for what kids eat, it is not the responsibility of the school to “interfere”. *sigh*

Now cats (I have three) are a different matter. Unlike dogs, they’re obligate carnivores, which means dog food is seriously lacking in protein, and will cause your cats problems.

You know, that sort of thing.

In summary: McDonalds is a sometimes food!

If I remember correctly most canines require a fairly high level of fat in their diet, especially if they are in the wild. You also have to think most animals, like dogs, poop fairly quickly after eating… (indicating a short digestive track).

I also love when people go off and condemn real foods like butter. ZOMG it’s butter, it’s SO bad 4 U… Good grief, butter has been around 10x longer than factory made margarine. The same thing with milk. Whole vs skim, really it’s about 40 calories or so and a couple grams of fat.

My grandfather has consumed this stuff most of his life, eggs, bacon, butter, grits, fat back, and even lard. He’s 93 and still kicking.

There is a reason why some cooks use only real ingredients, the taste. Ever make Hollandaise sauce with margarine? It’s certainly different than if made with real butter. Or pastry? Or home made ice cream with skim milk? If you are serious about learning the facts about food and cooking check out the book On Food and Cooking by Harold Mcgee. Right next to Alton Brown it’s the written word.