SubscribeNews Roundup
A round-up of interesting news to browse through.
Health
- A city on a diet
One year results of a fascinating study that implemented a broad amount of changes to a whole community. The results: the children failed to gain the weight that their control-group peers did. Study abstract here. - Eating disorders tend to be undiagnosed in boys
Most boys with eating disorders are undiagnosed because their body with is on or just below "ideal". Current guidelines state that patients 85% or less of their ideal weight before being diagnosed. - Fat workers cost more
Heavy employees had twice the rate of workers' compensation claims as their fit co-workers. The fattest workers had 13 times more lost workdays. Strangely, this news appeared about the same time as a British entrepreneur came under fire for not wanting to employ fat people.
Food
- Poisonous Popcorn
Workers in a flavoring factory are getting sick. They make the artificial butter flavoring for microwave popcorn. Not much of an incentive to eat microwave popcorn. - Baskin-Robbins fined $500,000 for shorting Ice-cream
Apparently their "hand-packed" pints turned out to be 4oz short of a pint. - Burger King hit by trans fat lawsuit
CSPI go after the King for taking so long to remove trans fats from their fare.
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I can't help but wonder if companies will start to charge more for health insurance coverage for overweight people like they are starting to do for smokers.
Brian
ReplyUh oh, I eat that lowfat fakey popcorn crap sometimes and kind of like it. Is there any evidence that it's bad to eat the 'butter flavoring' or is it just a problem to work with tons of it? 'Cause dry popcorn is just too, well, dry, and I can't really spare the fat or calories for butter. I'm hoping it's still ok for an occasional snack.
ReplyMy life insurance one already does. The health insurance one doesn't, though. I had to be weighed for a new life insurance policy, and also state that I had not been obese within the past 3 years. Luckily they didn't ask 5 years...
ReplyI loved the city on a diet article. It really showed what happens when a whole community decides to change. I wonder if the adults in that city experienced any weight loss as well.
ReplyYou can air pop or pop them dry in the microwave, then spray with a pat of melted *real* butter. It will be just as low cal, and have no weird chemicals in it.
ReplyBK and Trans Fat ! Well.. I would rather say, FAST GOOD and Trans Fat !
ReplyFrom the WP article:
Asking companies to make this investment isn't a great idea...ReplySuing Burger King for using trans fats is silly. Just don't eat there. And if you're looking for health foods, why would you be in a Burger King in the first place? Now the part about Baskin-Robbins shorting their ice cream... that I could get upset about, especially if it's mint chocolate chip.
ReplyCSPI would sue their own mother for serving them a cheeseburger. I appreciate their sentiments, but they've really gone beyond the beyonds.
ReplyThanks Jan!
But, um, how do you spray butter? Is there some little gizmo that makes this possible?
I've lately been using the land 'o lakes light kind of butter with some canola oil in it. It's already kind of soft--but it would take a lot melted to flavor a serving of popcorn. So spraying sounds like a great idea.
ReplyThey have these small spray devices for you to put oil or vinegar. I got mine at a Japanese grocer, but I've seen them at kitchen ware stores as well.
Before I had that, I'd melt one pat of butter, or 2 if I'm making it for me and my husband, on a big cookie sheet and spread it around evenly. Then I'd roll the popcorn in it. It would all get flavored pretty evenly. Of course, there is the matter of washing the cookie sheet later, but minor stuff, hehe.
ReplyI agree with the worker discrimination,is it fair? No but that doesn't means it's not true.I recently lost more than 100 pounds and I'm reluctant to admit that I was very lazy...who wants to hire a lazy person.
about the ice-cream fiasco,I was reading the comments on that news site..."When I worked at Baskin-Robbins we weighed everything!"...it seems that none of those people realize that a pint is a measurement of VOLUME not WEIGHT.
ReplyIs it discrimination to make an obese person pay for two seats on an airline if he or she does not fit fully into the seat?
ReplyI still occasionally eat popcorn too, and I also pop plain popcorn in the microwave with no fat- I have a special microwave dish for popcorn but I don't know if they sell them anymore, mine is ancient. I also have popped it in a brown paper bag in the microwave, although it takes a little experimenting to figure out how long it takes your microwave to pop it without under or overdoing it.
I can give up a fat serving somewhere else during the day to put a little butter on it (I have the lighter canola oil butter combo too) but I stretch the flavor by adding other things into the butter - a little worchestershire sauce, some chili powder, some garlic powder, any kind of spice you like really, and it intensifies the flavour and makes the butter go further. It's just a matter of getting your head around the idea that butter doesn't need to provide the flavour, you can do that with other things, the butter is just sort of a medium that helps the flavor cling to the popcorn. It might also work if you lightly spray the popcorn with canola oil and then shake some different spices onto it.
My kids call this "secret recipe popcorn".
ReplyThe rates of childhood obesity are soaring. I think what the town of Sommerville, Massachusetts did was great. It goes to show that something can be done about childhood obesity. I hope more cities can implement changes like this.
ReplyI like the city on a diet idea. But, people have to start looking in the mirror and taking care of themselves bec its the right thing to do. Good health is priceless.
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