This is why we are fat: sarah palin.

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131853675/why-food-should-be-on-the-white-house-agenda&sc=fb&cc=fp

December 6, 2010 It's holiday time and, if you are like me, you are probably enjoying a cookie or two or three and maybe, also because it's Chanukah, a jelly donut on the side.
And, I don't know, maybe all that sugar that so many of us are putting away is hyping up Obama critics, who, not content to seek a repeal of health care reform, are now taking a swipe at the Obamas’ healthy eating initiative.
I read about this in Judith Warner's column last week in the Sunday New York Times. She wrote about how former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin decided to bring some cookies to share at a private Christian school she was visiting to, as she  tweeted, "intro kids 2 beauty of laissez-faire."
Let's look past the fact that, as a private Christian school, the kids would not have had to follow the kind of guidelines for school lunch that the Obama administration, along with a lot of parent activists (it should be said), are attempting bring to the public schools, which are the schools that 90 percent of American children attend.
But as I said, never mind that. It's that laissez-faire thing I was interested in, because it turns out that billions of dollars in federal funds are delivered every year to support the kinds of crops used to make, well, cookies (and the milk to go with it).
The programs are part of what's called the farm safety net, and these are payments to farmers and landlords which are intended to protect the farming community against economic risk, and they typically go to major commodities like wheat and corn, which will end up in that corn syrup in your pecan pie, and sugar, as well as the milk to wash it all down … and let's not forget the cotton for your Christmas sweater.
According to a report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service published in July of this year, the combined outlays for farm safety net programs have averaged $15.7 billion a year during FY 2003 to 2010. And that's not expected to change much in the next ten years.
Don't get me wrong. Food security is important, so the economic well being of the farmers who grow food is important. But to imply that the government has nothing to do with what we eat and how much of what we eat is laughable
On top of that, the level of support for some crops, traditional commodities like wheat and corn, far outstrips the support available for most fresh fruits and vegetables, let alone the kind of specialty crops or organic foodstuffs that have recently made their way into many urban markets and become another thing for people who think they are real Americans to ridicule the smart set about.
I think it's worth mentioning that one of the reasons the Obamas, Mrs. Obama in particular, has taken on healthy eating is that so many Americans are not only overweight, they are obese. It is becoming a crisis in higher health costs and also in the alarming number of potential military service members who can't qualify for military service because they are physically unfit.
This administration's focus on healthy eating is, in some ways, going back to the future. Many people now forget that the school lunch program exists, in part, because too many kids in earlier generations were too under-nourished to get through basic training, now it's the opposite problem.
Anyway, it's good to talk about what we eat and how much, if for no other reason than it's not just a private matter. The food we get, its quality and availability is not just a matter of your own skill in the garden or with a shotgun. That makes a nice story, but that's not the world we live in.
And, yes, I'll take that last chocolate chip, if you don't mind.

Goddamnit health industry. we look away for 30 years and you go to shit.

6 Insane Conspiracies Hiding Behind Non-Profit Groups

http://www.cracked.com/article_18879_6-insane-conspiracies-hiding-behind-non-profit-groups.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=newarticle

Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science

 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/8269/

current events

new section!  current events!!
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/11/30/s-510-the-fda-food-safety-modernization-act-the-basics/

UPDATE: The Food Safety Modernization Act passes 73-25. Here is a list of how the Senators voted.
The US Senate is currently voting on the passage of S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, a long-stalled bill that would introduce enhanced governmental oversight of the nation's food producers' safety systems.
Some opponents to the bill assert that it imposes the same one-size-fits all set of legislation on small farmers and producers and giant food conglomerates and factory farms alike, placing a strain on those less equipped to comply with new regulations. They also fear it will raise food prices and all $1.5 billion to the deficit, and too extremely centralize and concentrate governmental control over food producers.
Supporters claim that these measures are necessary to protect the public from compromised food, such as the salmonella-tained eggs that sickened more than 1,600 people this past August.
Key points:
- The FDA would have the authority to issue direct recalls of foods that are suspected to be tainted, rather than relying on individual producers to voluntarily issue recalls.
CNN Radio's Jim Roope speaks with FDA's Associate Commissioner for Food Protection, Dr. Jeff Farrar about the measures the FDA can currently take.
- Food producers would be required to develop written food safety plans, accessible by the government in case of emergency. These would include hazard analysis and a plan for implementing corrective measures.
- The Secretary of Health and Human Services would be required to create a food tracing system that would streamline the process of finding the source of contamination, should an outbreak occur.
- Importers would be required to verify the safety of all imported foods to make sure it's in accordance with U.S. food safety guidelines.

moar cracked yay

http://www.cracked.com/article_18744_7-great-foods-that-were-created-thanks-to-dick-moves.html?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended

sweet potato

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pPxR0D-beukJ:www.momswhothink.com/pie-recipes/sweet-potato-pie-recipe.html+sweet+potato+pie&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

But that Jr. Frosty is so good.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/11/11/131243759/wendy-s-new-fries-add-sea-salt-gourmet-cachet-more-sodium?sc=fb&cc=fp

Fancy, flaky, sometimes funky-colored finishing salts are a big gourmet trend.

Wendy's

Now Wendy's, whose also-ran fries lag behind McDonald's for flavor, is trying a sprinkle of sea salt to liven things up.
But the taste upgrade comes at a health cost. The fast-food chain's new fries actually have a lot more sodium than the old ones. That's despite the fact sea salt sold in this country typically has larger grains than regular table salt and can deliver more flavor with less shaking.
Wendy's new fries are called "natural-cut fries with sea salt." According to a company announcement, today marks the launch of the first redesign of its fries in 41 years.
  But the sodium amounts ought to set off a few alarms for the millions of us who already go overboard on the salt. Wendy's confirmed to us that the new medium sized fry goes from 350 milligrams to 500 milligrams. Young, healthy people shouldn't be putting more than about 1 teaspoon of salt, or 2,300 milligrams of sodium, into their bodies each day, the CDC reminds us.
But let's be real. Nobody we know is walking into a fast-food joint looking for health food. And the differences between sea salt and America table salt (rock salt) are minor.
"Basically this is all marketing," Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt: A World History, tells Shots in an e-mail. "Sea sounds a lot better than rock [salt]. But if the product is pure, it is the same," he says.
Wendy's is clearly aiming for taste and coolness here. The chain has launched a Facebook campaign to promote the new fry today, calling it "Fry For All."
"Wendy's has never had the best french fry," marketing chief Ken Calwell admits to USA Today. "If it's not your strength, you can start with a clean sheet."
The new fries are supposed to be better tasting because they leave a bit of the skin on and, of course, have a sexier salt.
Ocala, Fla., food blogger Rick Allen, who tasted the fries back in August when they popped up in the state, gives them an enthusiastic thumbs-up: "These fries are very much like Mom used to make; or better yet, like they used to make and sell at the county fair!"
But as more products feature sea salt, is the trend about to wash up?
Lynn Dornblaser, new products guru at Mintel, tells USA Today. "Sea salt has the potential to grow as fast as low-carb did.... Hopefully, it won't decline as fast."
UPDATE: A Wendy's spokesman confirmed that the sea salt granules the company uses for the new product are larger than table salt. "Although less sea salt is needed, we used an independent lab for testing and found the sodium level increases," he said.

i love it when religion and nutrition overlap

 "Clarified: Religious dietary restrictions"

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1uWHoe/eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/07/20/clarified-religious-dietary-restrictions%253Fcid%253Dmkt_air_eat

the consumerist

Don't read The Consumerist?  Maybe you should.  Dont know what im talking about?

"Students at two high schools -- one in Cincinnati, OH, the other in Syracuse, NY -- are guinea pigs for a new program that's trying to change the way young people look at veggies, by marketing and selling carrots like they're junk food."
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/ohio-school-puts-carrot-only-vending-machine-in-cafeteria.html

"Last week, we wrote a group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that had produced an ad that made a direct link between McDonald's food and heart disease by showing a corpse in a morgue clutching a partially eaten Big Mac. Believe it or not, McDonald's was not pleased with the TV spot."
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/mcdonalds-slams-ad-equating-big-macs-with-heart-disease.html

"Drinking two cups of water before eating results in consuming 75 to 90 fewer calories per meal on average, a new study finds."
http://consumerist.com/2010/08/drink-water-before-eating-and-consume-fewer-calories.html

"Medical attention does not come from a Cheerios box," Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, told Forbes. See, one of the biggest trends in the food industry are these so-called "functional foods," water that helps you sleep, yogurt that regulates your digestion, pomegranate juice that cures cancer, etc. But most of the claims are bogus, or at best, misleading, and the FDA is cracking down.
http://consumerist.com/2010/08/foods-pretending-to-be-drugs.html

pic update

what i plan to do with my extra pumpkin

 pumpkin fudge, yo

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
½ cup pureed cooked pumpkin
½ cup evaporated milk
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ cup butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
¼ teaspoon cornstarch

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, pumpkin, milk, and spice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water, or until reaches 236°F. Remove from heat

2. Add the nuts, butter, and vanilla; beat until mixture is creamy.

3. Pour into a buttered plate and allow to cool. Cut into small chunks and serve.

Tim minchin, fat children

pics semi-related

THIS A THOUSAND TIMES THIS

Organic food is like a controlling boyfriend: You love how it makes you feel, but you hate how it keeps pushing you away from your family and friends.

http://www.cracked.com/funny-5412-organic-food/

canning salsa

I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, but this is what i did:

6 cups diced tomatoes from garden/farmers market
2.5 cups diced onions
2 cups sliced jalapeño peppers, red peppers, and green peppers
3 tbs lemon extract
couple pinches salt
3 tbs olive oil
1.5 bunches of cilantro
couple spoonfuls tomato paste


combine everything but tomatoes and tomato paste and food process it.
Then add it to tomatoes (they may need to be drained) and simmer in pan for 5 min.  add paste as needed for consistency.  then boil in sterilized jars for 20 min according to canning principles.  voila.

we will see how it goes.

PS
1 pound whole tomatoes
2 or 3 Chilies (serranos are my favorite, but jalapenos work, too)
3 or 4 cloves of unpeeled garlic
1 small onion, sliced into rings
cilantro, lime juice, and salt

Broil the tomatoes, chilies, and garlic until their skins are blackened. Broil the onion rings, too, but only until they brown.

Peel the charred skin off of the tomatoes, chilies, and garlic. Process everything in a food processor, then add cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste.

zucchini bread

This is going to introduce a new type of recipe, a kind for times you want to get rid of an ingredient before it spoils.  They will be called "Recipes to eliminate excess." Today i had excessive zuccini, so I made bread.  I have also recently made banana bread in a similar way.

http://www.squidoo.com/zucchini-bread-recipe

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil *substitute apple sauce for oil!
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 cups pure white sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups multi purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Crunchy Crust Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup multi-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
Crunchy Topping Directions
Mix it all together really well and crumble on top of the batter prior to baking. The topping cooks crisp and adds just what the bread needs.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.
4. Sprinkle crunchy topping mixture over top
5. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done

SIDE NOTE: i baked both at once and it took twice as long, even upped to 350.  Also i didnt have walnuts so i just did it without them.

Jam and toast

Complicated things are easy when you follow the instructions on the ingredients packets.

for instance, following the recipe on bread flower gets you excellent home made bread.  Use the regular yeast, not the dry kind.

following the recipe from the Ball company can get you great jam.  use dry pectin versus the liquid kind.

ice cream to end world hunger

1. can low fat sweetened condensed milk
2. can low fat evaporated milk
3. 2% milk
4. vanilla
5.  mashed up fruit

put all ingredients in ice cream machine (turn it on) and wait.  store it in the freezer in the metal container its made in, preferably removing the mixer first.

onion health

http://www.theonion.com/audio/allnatural-food-preservative-causes-allnatural-can,17639/

"all natural food preservative causes all natural cancer"

8 foods

http://www.cracked.com/article_18549_8-health-foods-that-are-bad-your-health.html


vitamin water
bran muffins
cereal bars and granola
chewable vitamins
fish
fast food salads
protein shakes
herbal supplements

nuts

Ingredients

• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 pound pecan halves
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Grease one baking sheet.
2. In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake at 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 328 | Total Fat: 27.2g | Cholesterol: 0mg

NOTES: i add vanilla

lasagna to end world hunger

2 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 medium carrot, diced

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp oregano or mixed Italian herbs

Freshly ground black pepper

2 handfuls baby spinach salad leaves, roughly chopped

1 15-ounce tub fat-free or low fat ricotta

8-ounces no-cook lasagna noodles

3/4 cup reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and coat an 11 X 7-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Sauté garlic for 1 minute, followed by onion, mushrooms, celery, carrots, zucchini and squash. Gently sauté for 10 minutes until vegetables are softened. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and some black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in spinach.

Spread a cup of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Top with noodles, followed by half the ricotta cheese; add another layer of sauce, followed by noodles and remaining ricotta cheese. Continue with remaining noodles and sauce, ending with sauce. Top with mozzarella and bake for 30 minutes. Serves 8.

Per Serving: Calories 303, Calories from Fat 37, Total Fat 4.1g (sat 1.5g), Cholesterol 42mg, Sodium 461mg, Carbohydrate 50.6g, Fiber 4.6g, Protein 15.8g

NOW

i switched chopped peppers for celery and doubled the ricotta cheese

oh frabjous day

Today KFC introduced its now "double down" sandwich composed of 2 fried chicken breasts instead of buns to hold the bacon and cheese together. boasting over 500 calories and 30g fat, this is actually not the worst thing to hit the fast food market. Regardless, it is still quite a fascinating marker on Americas journey to nationwide obesity.

oh george

man up

Food, Inc

>watch food, inc

>feel self righteous about being vegetarian

>read food labels on food in pantry

>high fructose corn syrup

>FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

Area Dad Suffers Massive Nothing To Worry About

STEVENS POINT, WI—In a no big deal that barely even took place, area factory worker and father of four Walt Koepke suffered a massive nothing to worry about late Thursday afternoon. According to sources, the 58-year-old Koepke had been shopping at a nearby grocery store when he clutched his chest, fell over, and was incapacitated by a very sudden and very painful everything will be just fine. Doctors are currently keeping Koepke under observation at Mount Sinai Hospital in case he requires another emergency quadruple sweetheart, there's no need for you to fret over such a small matter, honestly.

MARCH 2, 2010 | ISSUE 46•09

foods in daniel 1 of the bible

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+1&version=NIV

 ⁸ But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. ⁹ Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, ¹⁰ but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your ^[c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."

 ¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ¹² "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." ¹⁴ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

 ¹⁵ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

 ¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

 ¹⁸ At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. ²⁰ In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

 ²¹ And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

lulz

dairy to end world hunger

you are now aware that greek yogurt has 14g protein per serving. and its tasty. especially with fruit. or if you are feeling naughty, ovaltine.

good day.

snorg tees