Dietary Guidelines for Americans, My Way

I just saw this on BoingBoing.  Simple but true. 

This image was created by Adam Fields. 

The people who design government dietary guidelines are gagged by the fact that politics and business are so tightly intertwined in this country.  Their advice will never directly target the primary source of obesity and metabolic dysfunction-- industrially processed food-- because that would hurt corporate profits in one of the country's biggest economic sectors.  You can only squeeze so much profit out of a carrot, so food engineers design "value-added" ultrapalatable/rewarding foods with a larger profit margin.

We don't even have the political will to regulate food advertisements directed at defenseless children, which are systematically training them from an early age to prefer foods that are fattening and unhealthy.  This is supposedly out of a "free market" spirit, but that justification is hollow because processed food manufacturers benefit from tax loopholes and major government subsidies, including programs supporting grain production and the employment of disadvantaged citizens (see Fast Food Nation).

sometimes it's the small things that get me most excited....like an impromptu date night on a wednesday-just b/c.....hope y'all have a wonderful day!!

Interview on Super Human Radio

Today, I did an audio interview with Carl Lanore of Super Human Radio.  Carl seems like a sharp guy who focuses on physical fitness, nutrition, health and aging.  We talked mostly about food reward and body fatness-- I think it went well.  Carl went from obese to fit, and his fat loss experience lines up well with the food reward concept.  As he was losing fat rapidly, he told friends that he had "divorced from flavor", eating plain chicken, sweet potatoes and oatmeal, yet he grew to enjoy simple food over time.

The interview is here.  It also includes an interview of Dr. Matthew Andry about Dr. Loren Cordain's position on dairy; my interview starts at about 57 minutes.  Just to warn you, the website and podcast are both full of ads.

Reviewer armchair psychology

Did I mention July is the month for reviews this summer? I must have reviewed 25 this month (one for every hot, humid day!)

After I review papers, if I have time I enjoy doing armchair psychology on my fellow reviewers. Some conferences / journals let you see the reviews others have submitted, and some even allow you to change your score based on what you read. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's interesting.

When there are 3-4 reviewers for a paper, the scores tend to regress to the mean. So on a 1-5 scale, the average score will be 3. There are also often repeats - so if I give it a '4', it's likely some one else will give it a 4 too. Really bad papers tend to have scores that cluster around 2, and really good papers cluster around 4.

So I'm always intrigued when I see the following:

Reviewer 1:  4
Reviewer 2:  5
Reviewer 3:  3
Reviewer 4:  1

As an nascent author, when you get a set of reviews back like the first one you tend to think, "Reviewer 4 is a jerk who Didn't Get It."

As a more seasoned author, you tend to think, "Oh no, what is my Fatal Flaw? (Reviewer 4 is a jerk who Didn't Get It.)"

And as a seasoned reviewer, you tend to think, "Who is Reviewer 4 and what is their beef?"

Occasionally Reviewer 4 has a valid point, and the other three reviewers really did miss something major. But more often than not Reviewer 4 is angry at the authors for taking too many liberties in their paper. Or for not citing Their Brilliant Work. Or it's the "Someone is WRONG on the internet" phenomenon.

In any case, when I'm an editor or paper chair I can ignore the outlier and life goes on. But when I'm a fellow reviewer I feel more vested in the outcome, particularly when I 'm Reviewer 2. I hate to see the possibility of good science getting squished because some reviewer was being thick, especially when it's someone else's science.

So sometimes, if a conference or journal offers a discussion period for reviewers, I occasionally have to confront Reviewer 4 head on, less they somehow manage to convince Reviewers 1 and 3 to change their scores.

Anyway, this is some of what goes on behind the scenes behind your favorite publication venue. As an author, try not to let the outliers get under your skin. If your other reviews are good, be persistent and try again somewhere else. There's an awful lot of randomness in this process.

The (d)evolution of the American Diet

"Uncle Sam says, Garden to Cut Food Costs."
National Archives, Records of the Office of War Information.

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine a time before the one we live in. When it comes to food, it seems hard to remember a time before large chain supermarkets, drive-through fast food, TV dinners and rampant obesity. But a couple of sites have great interactive timelines that remind us that not too long ago we did things differently.

Check 'em out and then leave us a comment. We'd love to hear thoughts on what the future of food could look like especially looking back at what it once was.

NY Times Timeline of a Standard American Diet
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/20110724_SAD_Timeline.html?ref=sunday

The Food Timeline
http://www.foodtimeline.org/


CNN Timeline of Obesity
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/fit.nation/obesity.map/

Washington Post - How we got Here - Obesity Epidemic Timeline
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/05/17/GR2008051700257.html

US News and World Report Food Timeline
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/050815/15timeline.htm

Other resources...
Reading Lists and Articles:
Diets and Dieting: A History of Weight Loss in America
Science Reference Section Science, Technology, and Business Division Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/SciRefGuides/dieting.html

Johnson and Wales Library Reading List
http://library.jwu.edu/research/websites/food_america.htm

Leite's Culinaria Website Article
http://leitesculinaria.com/10348/writings-dining-through-the-decades-american-food-history.html

Delish.com History of Fast Food
http://www.delish.com/food-fun/fast-food-history

Events, Videos and Exhibits:
....also an interesting event is going on at the National Archives on the US governments effect on the American Diet in case you are visiting DC between now and January.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/whats-cooking/index.html

Daily Motion Video Interviews with Ann Vileisis about her new book Kitchen Literacy
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeajnv_history-of-american-food_lifestyle
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgu36c_the-history-of-food-in-america_tech

NYC Museum of Food - How New York Ate 100 Years Ago
http://www.nyfoodmuseum.org/