173 replies to this topic

[Anthony Bonner]

It sounds like Bonner used Saparmurat Niyazov's son.

not my scene.

[Stone]

(Just PM me the phone number.)

[Orik]

p.s. Amazing statistic of the day - with everything going on in Israel, in the middle east, and in the world right now, the latest episode of the local edition of Master Chef scored the highest rating of any TV show here since they started counting - over 35% - for a freakin' cooking show, with hundreds of channels available

Can you find me a nice, tall, Sabra lady who can cook? Bar Raphaeli or Esti Ginzburg come to mind.

They're a dime a dozen.

Like, this is the waitress at the coffee shop we use here:

http://www.tmu-na.or...s/2200May23.jpg

[squibble]

http://www.princeton...e/S26/91/22K07/

[g.johnson]

I can hardly believe that Princeton sent out a press release yesterday announcing the results of this rat study. The press release says: 'Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.' How they came to these conclusions is beyond me.

Marion Nestle

[Orik]

I've recently tried a diet of mostly offal and seafood.

You only gain about a pound a week.

[squibble]

I posted that link because I was hoping someone could shed more light on the subject, not that I am saying this one bit of research proves anything. I'm still kind of disappointed though. Isn't there more information, something that really refutes the claims made about HCFS being a factor in weight gain?

Orik, I'm not sure we are in disagreement, but it's hard to sort out what you're saying.

[Orik]

The study seems suspect.

Females that were given 12 hour access to sucrose vs hfcs didn't seem to show much difference in terms of weight gain.

In males, for some reason, they didn't compare 12 hour access to sucrose vs hfcs, just 12 vs 24 hour hfcs.

Additionally, males show much more weight gain in response to sugar than females, which I don't think is an effect anyone is observing or claiming in humans.

IF anything, their study seems to show that calories from sugar are more effective at causing weight gain that calories from rat chow.

Maybe I'm misreading it as an iPhone really isn't the right tool for the job.

[Orik]

A recent example of the problem with processed food that is made for evil reasons - in the 70s and 80s, there was a brand of crackers that you'd find in the kitchen of your slightly diabetic, constantly constipated, septuagenerian grandfather's aunt. These were large, about the surface of two slices of wonder bread, and quite thick. Tthey only contained whole wheat, bran, salt (there was also a no-salt version) and baking powder, and were about as appealing a food item as the kitchen cabinets (usually they were covered with liberal amounts of margarine and yellow cheese prior to consumption, which helped)

We ran into a band of Israeli mochileros the other day, and for whatever reason they gifted us a package of these crackers (called Lakhmitt). I was surprised to see the crackers have shrunk significantly, and now come 40 to the package, in packets of 10, but even more surprised when I bit into one of them and it was kind of sweet. Trying again, paying more attention, it became clear the surface of each cracker had been coated with a thin layer of sugar (glucose syrup, according to the ingredient list), salt, and maybe msg given the increased salivation. The amount of bran seems to have been reduced (apparently it now takes 30 of these small crackers to satisfy the daily fiber requirements of your aunt) and the product was made delicious enough (6% fat) that you want to eat the 10 crackers in each packet.

So, through the wonders of food engineering, a product that was once a probably reasonable bread-substitute is now just fattening junk food. Not just because of the additional fat and sugar, but because the previous clever design that discouraged overeating has been replaced with one that encourages it.