Balance of Food

Finally, we have a new Surgeon General

Congratulations to Regina Benjamin, our newest Surgeon General. Over nine months after the new president was sworn in, we finally have a permanent Surgeon General.

Don't laugh. We haven't had a permanent Surgeon General in over 3 years. (Richard Carmona was the last permanent SG, leaving on the last day of July 2006). And Dr. Benjamin's nomination was held up over the last few months for political purposes that nothing to do with her qualifications.

Having a permanent Surgeon General makes it easier to implement programs that are designed to improve our collective health. Not that one person can cure everything, but with a First Couple that has spoken out on our need to do better to our own bodies in terms of food and health, there is a real opportunity to educate and improve the nation's overall health.

Good luck to Dr. Benjamin. She will need it because there is a lot of work ahead of her. But at least, she is on the job.

** In other "political" news, for those of you keeping track, the White House announced a second harvest from the organic garden on the White House grounds. Crops listed in the story were sweet potatoes, carrots, fennel, lettuces, and eggplant. The bounty was donated to a soup kitchen. Still love hearing the terms "White House" and "organic garden" together in the same sentence.

** One more politically related topic. Tuesday is Election Day, though not everywhere. But one place to keep your eye on Issue 2 in Ohio. Depending on your vantage point, Issue 2 in OH is trying to save family farms or hurt animal welfare.

Here is a pro Issue 2 stance and an anti Issue 2 take. We'll have more coverage next Wednesday after the election. Regardless of where Issue 2 falls, at least we are having a discussion about how our food is raised.

'Smart Choices' labels a dumb idea in theory and practice

Just as well that the powers-that-be pulled the plug on the Smart Choices food label system — I didn't understand why they thought labels would make a difference in how people shop.

When Froot Loops had a label that said "Smart Choice," you knew the program was dumb.

Having a huge corporate shadow over the program destroyed what little credibility the program might have had. The foods that really needed a label didn't have any corporate backing, such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

And too many labels confuse the shopper. The joy of seeing "0g trans fat" on a gallon of milk made the concept of labels more laughable than any other adjective.

Consumers need accurate information to make tough choices when going up and down supermarket aisles, yet companies try to legally deceive consumers into buying their products. Having government-sanctioned food had the charm of upsetting liberals and conservatives, not easy to do these days.

There are too many issues with what makes something good for you. Sodium, fiber, carbohydrates, fat, saturated fat, et al. But sugary cereals and foods with a lot of sodium don't belong in a group to get rewarded. According to this article, foods that had the "seal of approval" were Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Baked Cheese Crackers, Country Crock spread, and Froot Loops and Cocoa Krispies breakfast cereals.

If we are going to spend time and money on spotlighting healthy foods, let's do it right. Dump the corporate influence and promote unprocessed, naturally nutritious food. Those are the real "smart choices."

Notebook: 7-layer Whopper and other food news

Beat reporters often end up with odd fragments of material, more than a sentence or two but less than a story or a column. And so the Notebook was born. The Notebook usually consists of a few pithy segments that don't really connect to anything else, but they are short bursts of knowledge laced with humor.

** It was fun watching the media freak out over the Whopper 7, a Burger King parody tied into the Windows 7 launch this week. In Japan, Burger King offered a Whopper with 7 beef patties to honor the latest software from Microsoft.

Visually, it's very impressive, and since we do tend to judge foods on how they look (and not on practicality), the Whopper 7 is beautiful. In reality, it's messy and you would lose the sensation of the other ingredients, which truly makes the Whopper the Whopper.

Still, the CNN reporter in Japan who made it appear as if she ate one whole Whopper 7 certainly looked messy on bite one.

For those who freaked out over having such an item should realize that doing it only in Japan bought Burger King a lot of publicity worldwide. That's bang for the buck, or at least, the yen.

** The Onion scores again with this headline: "Television, Processed Foods Couldn't Be More Proud Of Child They Raised." TV and processed foods are seen as having a horrible effect in "raising" obese children.

Brand recognition is one of those areas where children really do learn fast, a trait displayed in the classic Onion style.

Jo Ann Smith, board member of the frozen meals conglomerate Tyson Foods, said she was equally delighted with the dangerously obese young man her company helped raise. According to the wistful executive, she still remembers the first time her "little darling Brian," then only 13 months old, took his first steps toward a plate of deep fried chicken strips, completely ignoring a bowl of fresh fruit as he toddled by.

Unlike children of generations past, today's children aren't getting the level of exercise they need to burn off the processed foods.

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods, agreed. "There's just so many great memories," Rosenfeld said. "The time Brian spent all afternoon eating Easy Mac when he could have been out hitting his first Little League home run, the family-size bag of marshmallows he slowly devoured while the rest of his graduating class attended prom. I'll treasure them all."

It's easy to laugh at The Onion but we know there are too many kernels of truth underneath. Mmmmm, kernels.

** Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle ripped into the smaller cans of Coca-Cola "Now with 36% less death!" Morford is not very subtle in his take on social trends.

The smaller portion sizes have been praised in a number of circles, theorizing that drinking less is better than drinking more, though of course, not as good as drinking none. Morford's take is that smaller sizes makes it easier to drink more than one, something I had not considered.

If you actually do the math, you'll find that you could drink an entire eight-pack of minis, and still be a full 12 ounces short of how much you'd consume if you drank a normal six-pack of 12-ouncers. This means, if you drink two per day, as you're more likely to do, you'll run out even more quickly, and will buy even more. See how that works? Christ, we should've thought of this years ago.

Is Morford correct? Coca-Cola might hope for that, but can the American mind be satisfied with only 7.5 ozs. of high-fructose corn syrup laden soft drinks?

picture from here

Helping Huntington, WV get on the road to better health: Jamie Oliver to the rescue

I have never been to Huntington, WV, though I have very distant relatives living in the state. But I do have some idea of the state of eating in that part of the country.

British chef Jamie Oliver, known for his work in his native country on school lunches, is starting a reality show set in the West Virginia city geared toward getting them to eat better.

The area is beset with a combination of poor residents and traditions that aren't always the healthiest. But there is legitimate dispute over the findings of labeling Huntington America's unhealthiest city. Despite this, Huntington is in bad enough shape that it could use the help, even from a chef known for being on TV.

The New York Times profiled Oliver's initial visit to Huntington, showing off some of the more colorful dining options in Huntington.

On his first day in Huntington, W. Va., Jamie Oliver spent the afternoon at Hillbilly Hot Dogs, pitching in to cook its signature 15-pound burger. That's 10 pounds of meat, 5 pounds of custom-made bun, American cheese, tomatoes, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard and mayo. Then he learned how to perfect the Home Wrecker, the eatery's famous 15-inch, one-pound hot dog (boil first, then grill in butter). For the Home Wrecker Challenge, the dog gets 11 toppings, including chili sauce, jalapeños, liquid nacho cheese and coleslaw. Finish it in 12 minutes or less and you get a T-shirt.On his first day in Huntington, W. Va., Jamie Oliver spent the afternoon at Hillbilly Hot Dogs, pitching in to cook its signature 15-pound burger. That's 10 pounds of meat, 5 pounds of custom-made bun, American cheese, tomatoes, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard and mayo. Then he learned how to perfect the Home Wrecker, the eatery's famous 15-inch, one-pound hot dog (boil first, then grill in butter). For the Home Wrecker Challenge, the dog gets 11 toppings, including chili sauce, jalapeños, liquid nacho cheese and coleslaw. Finish it in 12 minutes or less and you get a T-shirt.

This doesn't apply to every restaurant, but it's not a sign that there is a positive environment either.

Getting an individual to change habits, TV show or not, is rather difficult. But convincing a city to make a significant adjustment is a much more arduous task. Or is it?

As I wrote about in February 2008, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett tried to get his city (1.1 million metro area) to lose 1 million pounds. But those goals were pretty light, pardon the pun. If we have learned nothing else from watching people lose weight on TV on the "Biggest Loser," you must have visually noticeable weight loss.

The danger is that Oliver and ABC get caught up in the television part and not on helping these people learn new and better habits on how to eat. More often, people just need to know that there are other ways to eat besides what they traditionally know. Oliver has had good experiences in his native England, but America requires a different approach. If Oliver isn't familiar with this part of the United States, he will become acquainted rather soon.

If sincerity reigns supreme, it may not matter too much whether the project is successful. Giving people such as this, as well as the audience on television, exposure to a healthier way of eating is success in itself. After all, the way of eating in certain parts of the United States has been well-established for multiple generations. One TV show over a few weeks can only do so much good.

Too much worry over taxing 'juice drinks and soda'

This Candorville cartoon reminds me of something that has been bugging me for awhile:

The commercial referenced in the cartoon is from an organization fighting back against proposed taxes on juice drinks and soft drinks. The organization has the innocuous name of Americans Against Food Taxes. But there is still a debate as to whether juice drinks and soft drinks count as "food."

Let's be blunt: AAFT is an organization of beverage producers that wants people to buy its "drinks." Now, you see the word "juice" in juice drinks, but don't be fooled. These are not 100% juice or anything even close to that. They consist of water, high fructose corn syrup (almost exclusively), and eventually juice. They are sold right next to real juice and the labels are meant to deceive.

The commercials have the fake mom being concerned about having to pay a few pennies more for juice drinks and soft drinks. We are literally talking about pennies.

And juice drinks, in trying to accomplish something at the dinner table, are rather expensive. If you made your own juice drink — since after all, real juice isn't being taxed extra, sugar is inexpensive, water is free — you would come out ahead financially. And if you created a juice drink that was, for example, 50% juice and 50% water, you save even more since you don't add sugar.

But as Lemont in Candorville put it so well, "get your fat kids some water."

Oh, and to the companies behind the ads who are complaining about a proposed tax, maybe we should stop the government from subsidizing the high-fructose corn syrup in your products, so your products more accurately reflect their true cost. We'd get more of that than any proposed tax.

Using a variety of media sources to learn about food

Besides the Balance of Food (of course), where else do you get your food information?

I'm certainly not asking out of jealousy, but my curiosity is enhanced, given the news that Gourmet magazine was being shut down after 68 years.

You would think that Gourmet magazine would thrive in this era. We're more gourmet than we've been in years. Yet, so many struggle to put food on the table that perhaps gourmet was too high a standard. Or "fresh" and "local" and "organic" replaced gourmet as a buzzword.

But do people read magazines to get food information anymore? Waiting a whole month for a few recipes when the Internet is filled with them seems charming.

Anecdotally, it seems that people trust each other about the latest diet or a cool recipe. Word of mouth means something. True, people get the original source from somewhere, so a friend may like what a friend has to say, but the original source might have been a magazine article.

In a social setting over the weekend, my conversation with two young women turned to the Food Network. These women were obsessed over the shows, the restaurants, and the food involved with the cable TV channel. They were talking about a trip to New York City where they went to celebrity-owned restaurants. They weren't likely getting their food ideas from magazines.

But not everyone can do that, or wants to do so. Most current settings involve harried parents (usually the mom) rushing around, trying to gather what could be called dinner provided the preparation was quick and reasonably nutritious. But do they even have time to read from magazines?

Regardless of the subject matter, media outlets compete for your attention. Internet sites work alongside TV, magazines, other Internet outlets trying to get you, the reader, to look over here. But how people absorb news is changing as well. Friends of mine can read this blog with an iPhone.

The key is finding information that is entertaining yet precise and, oh yeah, correct. Having news that sounds good to the reader doesn't serve the readership unless it's true. People literally don't have the time to absorb lies or deceptions.

Unfortunately for readers of Gourmet magazine, soon they won't be able to have that choice. But there are plenty that want to take its place.

Colbert takes on competitive eating

A "celebration" of competitive eating courtesy of the "Colbert Report." Brad Sciullo's quest to go past competitive eating and eat a 15-pound hamburger called "The Belly Buster."

Given Colbert's ironic takes on our food supply, there are intriguing humor bits scattered throughout the bit. Though, the second part airs next week. Yes, we'll post video of that as well.

UPDATED: Here is the conclusion from the "Colbert Report."