Chris Christie announced that he did undergo lap-band surgery back in February to try and lose weight. This isn't news except that Christie is currently the governor of New Jersey and might be a presidential contender in 2016.
Now Christie might have been a presidential contender even without the surgery. After all, the country might have a backlash to a president who isn't as fit as Barack Obama.
The lap-band surgery isn't as extreme as other surgical options, so losing the weight slower, besides being healthier as a role, might look better in someone who could reasonably run for president in 2016.
Weight-loss surgeries aren't a guarantee. And Christie could lose some of his charm in being thinner. Or if he loses weight, but "not enough" for some, then the move could backfire politically.
Christie would be better off weighing less than he does now, and ideally, he can learn new ways to deal with food so the surgery will prove more effective.
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Ice cream is nice when you're hot and on vacation. Chances are ice cream isn't as nice when you pay 16 euros for the experience.
4 British tourists in Rome paid 64 euros for 4 ice creams at the Antica Roma bar and gelateria near the Spanish Steps.
The manager said the amount per person was more than 2 scoops. But even Italian ice cream isn't worth 16 euros.
There may have been some language issues, some places charge more if you stay and eat (they didn't), and they did leave with the cones and without their money.
I remember ordering 1 baguette in a bakery in Paris and the woman gave me two and charged me for two. That was a language issue. But if I really wanted one, I would have said so.
Yes, the gelateria overcharged. But you have to think a little even on vacation.
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The FDA is looking into possibly regulating caffeine. Yawn! Laudable that the FDA should look into this, but reality will prevent any difference making. One rule that would help is requiring any product that has caffeine to list how much caffeine is in that product.
The knowledge could backfire in that some people will find the most caffeine and consume those products. But knowledge is power and right now, most consumers are powerless.
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McDonald's decided to drop its Angus burger, and the implication was this was due to the "high" price of beef. When the vast majority of our cows is being fed GMO-corn subsidized by the government, one of the few problems with that beef is cost.
While Angus is more premium than regular beef, it doesn't stack up to grass-fed. With the unusual toppings on the Angus burger and McD's reluctant/refusal to market the burgers, no wonder that they will disappear from the menu almost as quietly as they appeared.
I mourned the loss of the McLean burger way back when. I never even thought to try the Angus burger.
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Alex Jamieson recently decided to stop being a vegan and once again eating meat. Jamieson is the long-time girlfriend of Morgan Spurlock that you might remember from "Super Size Me."
If life were a battle between eaters of animals and those who don't, this would be considered a victory for the animal eaters side.
In reality, she made a choice to go where her body said she wanted to go. In life, people will choose to be vegan or vegetarian, or go vegan before 6 (Mark Bittman), or only eat bacon for meat, or those who do weekend indulgences.
It's not like Jamieson turned into what Spurlock did in the film.
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Don't instantly trust studies, but liked this one that said teenagers were getting comparable calorie counts from ordering meals at McDonald's and Subway.
The average comparison was pretty close with 1,038 calories at McDonald's vs. 955 calories at Subway.
Subway notes that its meals have less fat, but people are getting plenty of calories and sodium from the "healthier" meals.
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With that spirit in mind, we will occasionally post notebooks, a non-fancy journalism term for thoughts about the beat in short, profound analysis between a tweet and an actual blog post. Fans of our sister blog, CanadianCrossing.com, know all about notebook columns.
Food Bites seemed cornier than normal, so I went with Slider Bites, because sliders are mockingly too small. A bite from a slider is hardly a bite at all.
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