That such a diet makes people sick and fat we have known for a long time. Early in the twentieth century, an intrepid group of doctors and medical workers stationed overseas observed that wherever in the world people gave up their traditional way of eating and adopted the Western diet, there soon followed a predictable series of Western diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. They called these the Western diseases and, though the precise causal mechanisms were (and remain) uncertain, these observers had no doubt these chronic diseases shared a common etiology: the Western diet.
As a college student I discovered this on hungry weekends late at night, or when the university stores were closed: as my food supply dwindled, the complexity in recipe and my overall willingness to experiment with new food pairings increased.
It’s come around again. I work from home, don’t have my car with me currently (it’s 3,000 miles away) and I’m doing my best to be thrifty. Therefore my food stores are limited to say the least. When there’s plenty of food around I find myself gravitating to the quick and substantial. Honestly I eat a burrito/taco (or some simple beans + meat + cheese) variation 5-7 days a week for at least one meal.
But as supplies dwindle I become a lot more adventuresome.
Special K with Berries and Tuna? Part of a complete breakfast/lunch!
No mayo? No worries: tuna-ranch salad.
Two slices of bread and no meat? Bacon bit sandwich to the rescue!
Cottage and Parmesan Cheese never tasted better together.
I know that some of these menu items sound gross, and I doubt I would voluntarily mix them with a fully stocked fridge and pantry. But I have created some tasty treats with limited supplies. For example here’s a great recipe I cooked up with 4 ingredients and an empty kitchen:
Lemon Pepper Shrimp and Spaghetti for 1-2
5-15 Shrimp, thawed in cold water
1/2 lemon or a few table spoons of lemon juice
1-2 servings of pasta, prepared
fresh ground pepper
Put the shrimp in a skillet with some butter or oil and start to saute, crack fresh pepper (a good amount) and squeeze or add the lemon. Cook until just before the shrimp are cooked and remove from the burner (otherwise the shrimp will overcook). Add to the prepared pasta, you’ll find that the lemon juice is a nice light acidic sauce for the noodles. Parm if you have it (but don’t add cottage cheese).
That’s not too riské, (shrimp and pasta are a good fit generally) but the point is that limiting resources can lead to some great outcomes in cuisine (and some unorthodox mixes, afterall how do you think someone figured out Vinegar Pie?
As an aside (somewhat related), in business I’ve often found myself able to do much more with less.
less programming power = better end product;
less money/time gets the focus on the right parts of the project;
Fewer resources aren’t always a negative. I am very surprised what simple aspirations and two guys can put together and produce (though it does help that one is an awesome programmer).
Eatertainment (noun): the art of cramming as much hedonistic pleasure–flavor, oil, saltiness and overall satisfaction–into a food without regard for the absurd amount of calories, fat or even carcinogens contained in the “food”.
You’ve seen the new Doritos commercial with the attractive girl eating a bag of “Late Night: Tacos at Midnight” which show her cruising through some unnamed metropolis in a taxi, eating these magical, triangular bits of manufactured corn crisps with neon cheese powder.
devil chips
It’s fancy marketing. But it’s a problem. I’ve struggled with my own weight since I was a kid. I’m not obese by any means, but apparently the proverbial chips (no pun intended) are stacked against me. I run a lot (more than any of my friends) but I still have a dozen or so pounds that just won’t come off. So I’m stuck in stalemate between where I want to be and where nature does.
According to a recent article in the New Yorker (and decades of research on the topic of American obesity) I’m not alone. Somewhere over 1/3 of Americans are now considered overweight. An many are extremely overweight to the point of physical endangerment. I do my best to eat healthy (no Doritos for me, mayo is a no-no, and I haven’t had a candy bar or non-diet soda in about 10 years). But the struggle is hard.
Some research suspects that our natural inclination is to pack away the pounds because our instincts are worried about being broadsided by a period of famine or scarce resources (like a 10-day meditation retreat or Ramadan…). Makes sense since it must have been really friggen hard to take down a woolly mammoth back in 10,000 BC (don’t go see the movie). I’ll believe that research, considering it’s damn hard to drop the pounds or forgo that next piece of Costc0 Pizza (come on, it’s seriously only $1.50!).
Anywho, in the New Yorker they go back and forth on what really the cause is. They also give some cool new terms to the US overeating issue like “craveability” and “eatertainment” and “conditioned hypereating”.
“conditioned hypereating”…describe[s] how people respond to these laboratory-designed concoctions. Foods like Cinnabons and Starbucks’ Strawberries & Crème Frappuccinos are…like drugs: “Conditioned hypereating works the same way as other ‘stimulus response’ disorders in which reward is involved, such as compulsive gambling and substance abuse.” – Elizabeth Kolbert, XXXL in the New Yorker(pg 2 online)
The sum is that it’s a huge problem. Like cripple our national health care plan huge. My take away is that there’s a strange convergence of factors that are making this issue balloon like a stomach after a chinese buffet. Human instinct, fancy marketing, low cost of processed foods (especially those that are corn-based) are making a crazy, delicious, edible layer cake of medical emergency.
Which brings me back to what was supposed to be the point of this post:
Dear Doritos,
We’re on to you. Stop making those ridiculously named snacks that entice our taste buds and enlarge our backsides.
It’s come around again. I work from home, don’t have my car with me currently (it’s 3,000 miles away) and I’m doing my best to be thrifty. Therefore my food stores are limited to say the least. When there’s plenty of food around I find myself gravitating to the quick and substantial. Honestly I eat a burrito/taco (or some simple beans + meat + cheese) variation 5-7 days a week for at least one meal.