Eating Better

Many years ago, and I can say that, because I'm old enough, parents and homeowners and families had pantries or larders, filled to the brim. Bad weather and uncertain transportation made it a necessity, because families couldn't always get out to the store to purchase food. So pantries were filled with things like dry rice, pasta, flour and yeast to make bread, dry beans, canned fish, and canned vegetables. Here it is, 2020, and we're in a time of crisis. A trip to the store will show you shelves that are empty. But empty of what? Aside from the obvious cleaning products and paper products, some of the biggest deficiencies are areas such as canned soups and frozen pizzas. At the age of 74, I'm old enough to remember the days when a pot of soup was one of the easiest things to whip up, from things in one's pantry. The famous Italian dish pasta e fagioli was a standard, right out of the pantry. A can of broth, dried beans, canned tomatoes, and some pasta. All househol...

Looking at news reports recently, make me wonder what year this is. The world is significantly affected buy a disease, a contagious one. Meetings all around the world are hunkered down in their homes, afraid to come out, or told not to come out. Shelves in the grocery stores can be empty. People wear masks and sometimes gloves to do everyday tasks such as grocery shopping. Most stores and businesses are shuttered. It says to me, that I'm in some sort of Time Warp. It's either centuries earlier, and we are protecting ourselves from the plague. Or, it's far into the future, with a different reality than the one I remember. Either way, this whole covid 19 experience and it's a company in pandemic are certainly a culture and time shock to everyone.

When I look back, over the last few months, I see nothing but a global screwup, of astronomical proportions.  If the world's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic isn't the quintessential example of  Murphy's Law, I don't know what is.  From the early mischaracterization of the virus as not being a global threat, to nations and local areas not having the resources, it's been a mess. To make all this worse, it's clear that no one has set a long term communications plan, to report updates.  For example, here in the NY-NJ area, we typically get three, lengthy press conference style updates every day.  Each lasts anywhere from an hour, to an hour and a half.  Much of it is meant to be gracious, thanking the almost endless list of front-line personnel, to other government agencies, to individual patients.  A truly effective, long term communications plan would do three things: Set a reasonable, bite-size time limit, for each daily presser. Set standard ...

In our efforts to get more healthy - and stay healthy - we look to many avenues, to make this very worthwhile endeavor a bit easier.  But while we're doing this, marketers are taking to the air waves, to get us to "buy into" their products. . . literally.  Not sold on something, yet?  Well, don't be. As I write this, some sales-y MD is droning on, about a popular diet (I won't mention which one, because it's not WHICH diet but HOW it's being "sold") and which foods to include.  As he natters on, I'm hearing the KA-CHING of the cash register (You know, they really used to make that sound) at the supermarket and health food stores, as people ring up their purchases of avocado oil, coconut oil, grass-fed bison and bone broth products.  In the little time it's taken for me to write the two paragraphs so far, it's cost viewers potential hundreds of dollars, if they want to buy into this trendy diet. Before we think of trendy diets, let...

You know, as a biochemist, I see things at a different level than most people do.  At the molecular level.  Now, don't get me wrong. . . I view the body as a collection of organs and systems, like you do.  But there's a whole level of activity going on, behind that "bag of guts" that we are.  Metabolism. Energy production.  Storage.  And more. Recently, I heard of another trendy diet (biochemists, like doctors and dieticians, keep their ears to the ground, on such things).  It was a type of fad diet in the "intermittent fasting" category.  In other words, there's an 8 hour eating window, followed by varying periods of fasting, lasting from 12-16 hours.  No problem here.  After all, the word "breakfast" was coined, to describe the meal that BREAKS the FAST, between dinner and morning.  The problem I have, is with the science behind it. The "authors" of this diet say that, during the fasting period, the body switches from using gl...

The title here is meant to be a bit deceiving.  No one is bored of health.  We're all grateful for our good health and wish good health for everyone.  What I am bored of, is the TERM "health," in its various forms. . . especially when used to promote better eating habits.  Every day, we're barraged with urgings to "eat healthy," have "healthy snacks," prepare "healthy meals," and practice "healthy exercise."  With VERY, VERY few exceptions, there is no mention of how delicious these snacks and meals can be. . . or how good it can feel, to exercise.  Using the label "healthy" seems to justify to the users and marketers, that they've done due diligence.  They haven't. Want some examples?  I know you probably don't, but because you opened my blog, you're about to see them.   SALMON:  Healthy fats, healthy protein.  But sadly, the word "healthy" just encourages people to eat it, without...

Let me begin by saying that this is NOT a justification, but an EXPLANATION. Stress i sn't a THING . . . it's a REACTION to a thing (called a stressor).  Stress is one of the most primitive of emotions, related to what some call "fight or flight."  It prepares our bodies to get us out of trouble.  To offer the example used in my grad school physiology class, if we were confronted by a huge bear, our bodies would have to respond, to enable us to survive.  Our heart rate would increase (get that blood to all organs), capillaries would constrict (lessens bleeding), our mouth would be dry (prevent any unneeded loss of body fluid), and so on.  Stress isn't something enjoyable.  It's survival. For most people, stress is also accompanied by a loss of appetite.  Before a critical exam, most students aren't thinking of eating.  Nor are candidates for a job, waiting their turn for the interview of their lives.  Or someone who's just been given...