Monday Food News

This week, we have a couple of items related to last week's posts about nutritionism and real food.

First, a column from Orlando that cites studies that eating whole dairy products instead of reduced-fat versions leads to long-term weight loss, plus lots more flavor.

Second, we have an opinion column that takes some issue with Michael Pollan's nutritionism essay. The author cites statistics that show that both France and Japan have longer average lifespans, and lower rates of heart disease than the U.S. The kicker is that the French eat more protein, more animal protein, and more saturated fat than Americans, while the Japanese eat less protein, animal protein, and animal fat. Plus both nations collectively smoke like chimneys. His conclusion is that the key factor is not protein (especially animal protein), but carbohydrates--especially sugars. We eat almost twice as much sugar every day as the next closest country, France. Once more, we should try to cut the corn syrup and eat real food.

I'm sure I look like a nut in the grocery store when I buy canned sauces or soups, because I read the labels to find the ones without corn syrup. That can be harder than it looks--most spaghetti sauces have corn syrup. (Because you know that every Italian grandma keeps a huge bottle of corn syrup in the pantry.)