For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

The biggest news this week is that I defended my thesis on Tuesday and am now officially a PhD, but that didn’t stop the universe from producing a bunch of other important food and health stories. It might be time for a reality check on your pants size, as well as your understanding of fat and metabolic health. I also found a simple and delicious guide to cooking okra.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete reading list join me on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Clothing for Actual Waist Measurements <<I understand the value of having a healthy body image, but changing clothes sizes to distort reality isn’t the answer. Don’t kid yourself. (Lifehacker)
• Not enough, rather than too much fat, causes metabolic problems of obesity <<In science, few things are more important than questioning the status quo. There’s a good amount of data suggesting that the accumulation of body fat is a protective mechanism, which leads to interesting and slightly different treatments for metabolic diseases than doctors are currently recommending. (Obesity Panacea)
• Long-term weight loss may be harmful to health <<BS of the week. As the last article explains, we might very well be barking up the wrong tree on the obesity and health front, but this article doesn’t come close to proving that. A correlation based on flimsy data does not good science make. (Medline)
• THIS Is Why I Love the Mediterranean Diet <<Great review of the latest research on the advantages of following a Mediterranean diet. Makes me smile 🙂 (Advanced Mediterranean Diet)
• High doses of B vitamins can reduce brain shrinkage, memory loss, study finds <<I’m not holding my breath, but this is still encouraging. (Los Angeles Times)
• Why are there no nuts in Honey Nut Cheerios? <<Why is this the first time I’ve ever heard anyone ask this question? (Weighty Matters)
• Working Overtime Adds to Heart Risk for Out-of-Shape Men <<Do you use your tough work schedule to justify being physically lazy? New data suggests you should be doing the opposite. (Medline)
• Eat Like a Greek to Avoid Skin Cancer <<Interesting findings about the impact of diet on melanoma, the most deadly skin cancer. (Dr. Weil Blog)
• Appetite Hormones May Predict Weight Regain After Dieting <<More data that we are all different in how we respond to diets. Find your own healthstyle rather than relying on nutritional dogma. (ScienceDaily)
• How To Cook Okra <<I’m not into slimy okra, but it is a vegetable I’ve learned to love. Preparing it properly is simple and is explained here by Michael Ruhlman. (Ruhlman)

What inspired you this week?