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Better Than Butternut: Roasted Delicata Squash Recipe
10 Simple Ways To Eat Less Without Noticing
Juicing: Stupid and Pretentious or Nourishing and Enlightening?
10 Tasty Carbs That Won’t Make You Fat
How To Start Working Out When You Don’t Like To Exercise
Focus More on Your Brain and Less on Your Diet if You’re Serious About Losing Weight
Home Court Habits: The Secret to Effortless Weight Control
10 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight When You Think You’re Doing Everything Right
How To Burn More Calories Without Breaking A Sweat
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Foodists
FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: The FDA manipulates the media, how to talk about health and weight, and sugar doesn’t make you hungrier
by Darya Rose | Sep 23, 2016
For the Love of Food
Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.
This week the FDA manipulates the media, how to talk about health and weight, and sugar doesn’t make you hungrier.
Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!
I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.
Links of the week
- How the FDA Manipulates the Media <<The use of close-hold embargoes by government and scientific institutions is disturbing, as it has the effect of turning news reporting into advertising for these agencies. Hopefully the news organizations start to take the high road here. (Scientific American)
- Plenty to Lose in Discussion of Weight and Self-Esteem <<Ever wonder how to talk to someone you care about about their health? Be very careful, you’re walking a fine line. (NY Times)
- Developing a More Flexible Mind <<Excellent advice. If you don’t know the concept of being mentally flexible, definitely give this a read. (Zen Habits)
- Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand Food <<Good summary of how both US presidential candidates stand on food issues. Neither is particularly strong in this regard, but Trump is far worse. Food regulation is incredibly important, as we’ve repeatedly seen that Big Food is incapable of regulating itself. (The Atlantic)
- Activity Trackers May Undermine Weight Loss Efforts <<Long-term use of activity trackers appear to be linked to decreased physical activity in people trying to lose weight. More research should be done on why this is, but I would guess that if the data is perceived as a form of judgment (i.e. I’ve failed) rather than a data point (i.e. I didn’t hit my target today) it could be very demotivating. What are your thoughts? (NY Times)
- Do Blood Glucose Levels Affect Hunger and Satiety? <<If you’re still married to the idea that carbs are bad because they make you want to eat more you may want to read this. (Whole Health Source)
- Does Sparkling Water Have a Downside? <<Not really, although personally I avoid water in cans and plastic bottles because of BPA. (NY Times)
- How to Clean and Maintain Cast Iron <<Soap is allowed! Woo hoo! (Serious Eats)
- Mouse Diet Studies Aren’t Conclusive For Mice Let Alone People <<Biology is complex and you need to be very careful in how you interpret studies making bold claims. (Weighty Matters)
- Thai chicken laksa <<One of the tastiest sounding recipes I’ve come across in awhile. (Jamie Oliver)
What inspired you this week?
great
Hi Darya! I read your blog like a bible and lately I’ve started listening to your podcast as well. I really liked the text you pointed out about blood glucose levels and anxiety. I have a question for you semi-related. I have PCOS and I’ve always managed to live with it. However, I’ve gained a bit of weight recently, an my symptoms got worse. My gyno tells me I should avoid blood glucose spikes, since insulin resistance is common in PCOS and insulin is a key hormone in regulating the other hormones involved. My diet is pretty much “foodist approved”, but I would love if you could give me some pointers, or even do a post about PCOS and food, since it’s a condition that affects many others. Thank you, Isa
Hi Isa,
I don’t comment on specific medical conditions, but in general to lose weight when you’re already eating Real Foods mindful eating (a pleasurable way to eat less) is often the key. Keep in mind that body fat itself produces a significant amount of hormones (especially estrogen). Also even though exercise isn’t very effective for weight loss it helps a lot with health in general and raises metabolism.
Wow. I just read the FDA embargo story in SA. Wow. “Violate the rules, even in spirit, and you’ll be left out in the cold with the rest.” FDA: eat our food, follow our rules, so you’ll need our drugs. All I could think here was (apologies to Mr. Pollan) “Read news. Not too much. Mostly Foodist.”
Hi Darya!
I’m beginning a brand new life, and have tons of plans. I am actually a psychologist, and know a bit about “Mindfulness” as a psychological approach to stay in the present and be happy. I am also a cook. I have my own restaurant. Can you help me get great info/articles to read about Mindful Eating/cooking?
All the help will be really appreciated! Thanks in advance and big hug from Colombia!
I find it significant that the hunger study was done on healthy males and not on diabetic or prediabetic subjects. I suspect that in some people, it’s the drop in the person’s blood sugar that triggers hunger more than a particular level. I am prediabetic and so got myself a meter and hunger doesn’t seem to correlate with particular blood sugar levels but with changes in the level. With a low carb diet, the hunger went away completely to the point where it was difficult to make myself eat. Concerned that my calorie level was too low, I finally broke down and increased carbs and suddenly felt hungry. It’s anecdotal I know, but I think a small study like that can be misleading. Perhaps there’s a malfunction in how hunger works some people (like me with diabetic genetics)?