It’s been a while since I ranted about carbohydrates and our misplaced fear of fat. But there’s been a rip-tide of press lately confirming what some of us already knew: it’s not the fat in our diet that’s making Americans obese, but the way we gorge on carbohydrates, and especially refined carbohydrates like bread and [...]
Entries Tagged as 'carbohydrates'
Making America Fat: It’s Not the Burger, it’s the Bun
July 6th, 2010 · 7 Comments · food news
Tags: carbohydrates·fat·obesity
Is Marion Barry My Soul Mate?
March 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment · kids
Testifying before the D.C. Council on “Healthy Schools” legislation yesterday, I found an unexpected ally in Councilmember and former Mayor Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who went out of his way to criticize the food in D.C. schools
I was there to tell the author of the legislation, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), that she had left [...]
School Lunch: Glycemic Bomb
March 10th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Tales, kids
Originally posted at the Better D.C. School Food blog.
Cheap carbohydrates are the favorite foods of school districts across the country. What’s wrong with carbs? Unlike protein and fat, carbohydrates turn into sugar (glucose) when you eat them, which signals the body to produce insulin. A powerful hormone, insulin is responsible for storing fat in the [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·insulin·school food
Is Fat Back?
March 4th, 2010 · 3 Comments · food news
Even the Washington Post is climbing onto the recent media trend toward a reconsideration of fat. A column in today’s paper says the Atkins diet is making a resurgence, and cites a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that found no significant link between saturated fat and heart disease. A second [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·fat·heart disease
It’s Not the Burgers, Mr. President, It’s the Buns
March 2nd, 2010 · 4 Comments · Wellness
It must have come as a surprise to many that a president as young and vigorous as Barack Obama could be experiencing cholesterol issues, as reported this week. But even more surprising is the misinformation being doled out by the people around him about the likely causes. “Too many burgers,” came the ready explanation. More likely, [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·cholesterol·fat·Obama
School Food Solutions: Sugar-Free or Half-Baked?
October 5th, 2009 · No Comments · Wellness, food news, kids
With ever increasing buzz around the idea of feeding kids real food at school, some local jurisdictions are actually taking steps in the right direction. Here in the District of Columbia, the food providor for public schools, Chartwells, a division of the international conglomerate Compass Group, plans to introduce fresh-made meals to replace the re-warmed [...]
Eat Like A Monkey?
July 10th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Wellness, food news
It’s fairly well accepted that eating less leads to longer life. An ongoing study of rhesus monkeys reinforces the idea that restricting calories means less chance of disease and extended lifespan.
The results come from a study of 76 monkeys underway at the University of Wisconsin, soon to be published in Science magazine. Researchers allowed half of [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·disease·food studies
Health Food Junk
July 3rd, 2009 · 11 Comments · Wellness, kids
The other morning as I was walking my 9-year-old daughter to summer camp at the local recreation center she begged me to stop and buy her something to eat. She was hungry, she complained. Since she had refused the smoothie of fresh berries and homemade yogurt I’d made for her that morning, I wasn’t in [...]
Who’s The Fattest?
July 1st, 2009 · 4 Comments · Wellness, kids
For the fifth year in a row, Mississippi lumbers in as the fattest state in the nation, but Alabama is closing in fast, according to a new survey by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. In Mississippi, 32.5 percent of adults–that’s one in three–are obese. In Alabama, the figure is [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·fat·obesity
Carbs To Die For
June 28th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Wellness
We’ve written lots about how carbohydrates–not fats–are behind the so-called diseases of civilization: obesity, diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis. The problem is, plant foods, especially refined starches and grains, trigger an insulin response in the body. Besides being the hormone primarily responsible for fat storage, insulin has a corrosive effect on the body. Too many Americans are [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·heart disease
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
