Some of these are very good, and are rules (of sort) that I use in the kitchen too. For example, never eat something that pretends to be something else. We use butter, not margarine. Whipped cream, not cool whip. Maple syrup, not pancake syrup.
I loved the expression “don’t yuck someone’s yum”. We tell the kids all the time: you don’t have to like it, you don’t have to eat it, but never sneer at or insult someone else’s meal.
One of my own, that’s not in the NY Times piece: when it comes to feeding my family, I don’t “count” fat, salt, or carbs-- I “count” ingredient lists. Whole foods like butter, meat, whole grains (rice, real oatmeal, etc) milk, fruit, and vegetables seem so much more self-limiting. The stuff with ingredients lists like chips, cereal, juice drinks, soda, etc. are the things I portion more carefully, especially with the kids.
Do you have any favorite bumper sticker type rules by which you eat?
This mentality also might be one of the causing factors of the rising obesity rate in our country. Obviously the real deal tastes better, but it is not always better for you.
This is a great thing to teach children. Never insult someone’s personal tastes or dislikes.
One of my ideas to live by……… “Don’t formulate an opinion on a particular food until you have tried it.”
We try to say that consistently, too. We never force the kids to eat things they truly dislike, but we do ask them to at least taste everything. And the corollary to this is “if you don’t like it, keep an open mind and try it again”.
This has paid off enormously with my kids. For the first six years or so of his life, my son disliked pasta. It’s still not his favorite, but he kept trying it and discovered he likes spaghetti and meatballs. My daughter disliked cucumbers for a while, but now she eats them as fast as I can peel them. They both still hate mushrooms, but they’re totally open to the idea that they’ll like them eventually.
Butter and stick margarine are very similar in terms of calories. I think soft-tub margarine has fewer, but it seems exceptionally unnatural to me. The original margarines were loaded with transfats, not up on the latest. Neither butter nor margarine are health foods, but I use butter and try to exercise some moderation. I don’t think the choices mentioned in the original post have much effect on obesity rates.
I like this one better: Don’t harsh my mellows Man
As far as real vs. processed, no contest. Obesity isn’t an issue for the general population because of butter vs. magarine or any other comparison of that ilk. Obesity has more to do with the way we evolved our eating patterns. Too much, too fast, too processed, all sold to us by big marketing/advertising budgets which in the end make the giant food conglomerates CEOs the real fatties. Take any one of Martin Barz’s recipes and prepare it but make a portion 5 or 6ozs. instead of 8. We are gluttons. In my house we go back for seconds on green salad, not lasagne. You don’t see that mindset very much.
That being said, we all can handle a little indulgence now and then, but for too many overeating is the rule not the exception.
Two of the things I make fairly often can’t even be made with things that don’t rot. I’ve been making about 80 ounces of yogurt a week for the past three weeks, and most commercial yogurts are so loaded with thickeners and preservatives that they can’t even be used as starter cultures. Nancy’s and Stonyfield are noteworthy exceptions, but i found it easier (and mildly amusing) to mail order bacteria so I’d always have a live starter on hand.
The other thing that needs to rot is bread. We usually eat fairly light breakfasts (like the aforementioned homemade yogurt) but if we want to indulge on a Saturday morning, Steve and I have french toast. The very best french toast comes from stale artisanal breads. The commercial whole grain loaves I buy for my kids’ weekday lunches are too perpetually soft (even if you toast them) to hold up to a soak in custard.
I choose to define yums as real foods and wines, though. If it’s made with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil, or oak chips, it’s more of a chemistry experiment than a food or wine.
The rot comment came up at work recently when I was looking at some pre-packaged pastries with a dull sheen and remarked about them being chock-full of preservatives. A secretary admitted she’d found some similar pastries from a party last December and they didn’t look like they had aged a day.
I eat yogurt basically every day and only buy the stuff that’s alive. Nancy’s is one brand, but generally buy the whole milk yogurt from Brown Cow.
As far as obesity, the change in exercise patterns has also contributed to the problem.
While changes in food are certainly at fault for some of the obesity problem, another major problem is the lack of exercise, or even moving off the couch. When I was growing up, my parents bumper sticker was Go outside and play. They were either looking out for my health or just did not want to see my face all day.
The McDonald’s hamburger on the right is from 2008; the one on the left is from 1996> . And they both look fairly edible.
Wellness educator and nutrition consultant Karen Hanrahan has kept a McDonald’s hamburger since 1996 to illustrate its nonexistent ability to decay. Aside from drying out and bit and having “the oddest smell,” it apparently hasn’t changed much in the past 12 years.
This isn’t the first time someone kept an uneaten McDonald’s hamburger for an extended period of time for the sake of science. Or in the case of the Bionic Burger Museum, multiple burgers for over 19 years. There are even instructions on how to start your own collection of old, self-preserving burgers.
Anyone else have experience with Fast Food That Just Won’t Rot?
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