Build Up Catch Up - 10/20/23
The Oprah Effect, Anti-Beef Petition, Dollar Store Food Shopping, Podcast Pick, Things You May Have Missed...and more
Maybe We All Need a Bit More LOVE
These are tough times for many and for a variety of reasons.
The Oprah Effect
Over the years some have watched with dismay as Oprah elevated and gave a platform to the questionable, the outright quacks and self-appointed “experts”. Journalist and author Rina Raphael wrote about it in this piece (for paid subscribers), showing how Oprah has a reputation for “…megaphoning misinformation and legitimizing quacks. The longest-reigning queen of daytime television promoted New Age scams, pushed unsustainable fad diets, and anointed problematic faith healers...”. From the anti-vax ramblings of Jenny McCarthy to the unsubstantiated hormone replacement therapy claims of Suzanne Somers; Oprah has hosted some of the worst of the worst. For a look at how Oprah helped promote Suzanne Somers, see this post by gynecologist, Dr. Jen Gunter,”…she (Somers) was essentially given a free platform to promote medical disinformation about “bioidentical hormones” to Oprah’s following.” Overall, Oprah has a reputation for not having had filters or guardrails when it came to an ability to recognize pseudoscience…and we are paying the price for how she enabled quackery as some of her favorite guests went on to bigger and better things.
Bottom Line: It may feel uncomfortable to acknowledge Oprah’s role in the spread of misinformation about health, false claims of vaccines causing autism, unsafe hormone therapy and even the promotion of certain diets. Afterall, Oprah herself had a traumatic childhood, she’s championed women, encouraged reading books and even given away great gifts to her studio audience…but all of these things don’t replace or repair the damage she’s done by giving pseudoscience a platform.
Don’t Forget the Dollar Discount Stores
How to create a well-balanced meal from dollar store groceries - YouTube
(Dietitian Kéra Nyemb-Diop, Ph.D. quoted)
If your customers/clients/patients live in a rural area with few grocery stores or in an urban area that’s a food desert; their only option for buying food for meals may be a discount store like a Dollar General, Dollar Store or Family Dollar.
Before you dismiss these types of budget/dollar stores for food shopping options or assume they only sell highly processed or packaged foods; it may be worth a trip to see what’s available. Increasingly, “dollar”-style discount stores offer fresh produce, fresh meats and refrigerated dairy items in addition to canned, packaged and frozen foods. Can you advise people on what to look for in these stores and how to make easy, economical and nutritious meals using these ingredients? Hope so!
Attempts at Culinary Censorship & Recipe Restriction
Apparently, there’s a petition going around (being promoted by the likes of self-professed vegetarian, Dr. David Katz) demanding that the NY Times “stop publishing beef recipes and promote plant-based foods”. This is not the first time we’ve seen this sort of culinary censorship. Back in 2021, Epicurious announced they wouldn’t be publishing new beef recipes. This of course didn’t mean that there still weren’t hundreds, oh, hold up - “2,250 beef recipes” available on the Epicurious website. How does that compare to recipes on their website for: tofu (567) or “plant-based” (246) …by the way, there are (and were) already thousands of vegan and vegetarian recipes on Epicurious, just like there already are on the NY Times website.
Bottom Line: You can’t make beef cattle or those that farm them disappear through this type of culinary censorship and recipe restriction. Come on, anyone with internet access can find thousands of beef-centric recipes on-line! Is this really just another form of vegan and anti-animal agriculture activism(one that’s not especially effective), under the guise of being on the right-side of climate concerns?
3 Things You May Have Missed
Bean-less Espresso?
Coffee bean-less coffee…Sounds intriguing, right? Atomo Coffee has introduced a coffee-tasting/like(?) beverage made with upcycled date pits…and just a few other ingredients:
“…ramon seeds, sunflower seed extract, fructose, pea protein, millet, lemon, guava, defatted fenugreek seeds, caffeine from green tea, and baking soda…”. This might be a bit challenging for individuals with food allergies or issues with FODMAPs.
Question of the Day
This question generated quite a few (>200) responses that ranged from thoughts about margarine vs butter and even to using the word “diet”. One thing you may have learned and said frequently (or even recently) was that HDL (high density lipoprotein) is the “good” cholesterol and serves a protective function…but what if that’s not necessarily the case?
Researchers November Journal of the American College of Cardiology:
“Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides modestly predicted CHD risk in Black and White adults. Low HDL-C was associated with increased CHD risk in White but not Black adults, and high HDL-C was not protective in either group. Current high-density lipoprotein cholesterol–based risk calculations could lead to inaccurate risk assessment in Black adults.”
What’s something YOU used to say — but don’t say any longer — about food or nutrition?
Podcast Pick: The Fantastic History of Food
episode 49 - Charles Domery Ate Cats, Grass & A Fellow Soldier's Leg
https://www.spreaker.com/user/foodhistorypod/charles-domery
This is the bizarre story of a man with an insatiable appetite who pretty much ate anything…and everything.