Pass The Cabernet Sauvignon

I predict we'll soon be hearing about The Wine Diet everywhere. A researcher believes he has identified the chemical in red wine that can provide significant health benefits (and it's not resveratrol):

"Essentially, drinking wine that was high in procyanidins improves the function of the linings of blood vessels, protecting against the danger of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, dementia and possibly some cancers...His nutrition plan leans heavily towards fruit, vegetables, nuts and berries, and away from sugar and saturated fats."

He recommends two glasses of wine a day for women, and three for men. Can I get a HELL YEAH?

Another Manifesto

How could I not link to a blog named Tiny Cat Pants? But it's also an eye-opening entry, and well worth reading.

"The whole diet and beauty industry thrives on our willingness to suffer, our willingness to accept that suffering is an acceptable everyday state for women to be in... the whole point seems to be to look as if you're thin and hairless with perky boobs and a perky bottom and long legs effortlessly. Or almost effortlessly, because lord knows that women who just naturally meet the beauty standard can be met with some cruelty, because, of course, they haven't suffered."

Like I said, the whole entry is a fabulous manifesto, and well worth reading. Thanks to Rosemary for the link.

Too Fat To Adopt

Due to the large number of foreign individuals wanting to adopt babies from China, the Chinese government is tightening the adoption rules.

"Those who qualify under the new rules are parents aged between 30 and 50 years, who are married and have had no more than two divorces between them, US adoption agencies said. Gay couples, people taking medication for anxiety and depression, and those with a body mass index (BMI)... of more than 40 will be excluded."

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm sure this criteria will exclude a lot of people who would make great parents--whether it be a single parent, a couple who has had bad luck with divorces, a person on Prozac, or what have you. Still, as for the weight thing, a BMI of 40 is not super low. It makes sense that they will want the people who are reasonably young ("under 50" is not exactly unreasonable) and healthy, all other things being equal. So... I don't know. What do you think?

Your Body Is A Wonderland

Of all the "bad" things that I can find to eat or drink, the one thing that makes me feel the most guilt is a can of Coke. I guess because there are no real redeeming qualities. At least a caramel macchiato has milk. At least a chocolate-chip cookie is in solid form. A can of Coke is just perfect, frosty, good, bubbly sugar. But now my guilt has been validated by this article, which asks the question "What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now?"

"10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down. "

My guilty feelings have increased exponentially, yet I kind of want a Coke now anyway. Via Pop Culture Junk Mail.

Tidbit

I love this model at the Jahqoi website. Yet somehow she looks very unhappy in that winged bolero jacket.

A Poached Chicken Breast in Every Pot

Branching off of the comments on Mo's last post, how much are taxpayers willing to pay to prevent kids from getting fat? According to a Cornell study, a LOT. New York taxpayers surveyed are willing to put their money where their mouth is, to the tune of $700 million or $50 per taxpayer, in order to reduce the incidences of childhood obesity by half.

The reasoning from the survey is that taxpayers are driven by the avoidance of potential cost of obesity-related health problems in the future. However, according to a report by economist Susan Lee on NPR's Marketplace, this is twice the amount of money actually spent by taxpayers on obesity-related health problems. From the commentary,

One explanation is that people wildly overestimate the cost of eliminating childhood obesity. Or they grossly overestimate the amount of savings in lower health care costs. Or maybe, as the study argues, they are driven by the spirit of altruism.

I would think it would be enough to understand that the status quo of fried chicken sandwiches and milkshakes in our school lunches is not acceptable and that we want our kids to be healthy by making sure they have low fat nutritious lunches, healthy snacks and lots of physical activities, but apparently not. Maybe the answer to why really comes down to Lee's closing statement, where she sneers "Why else would people be willing to pay extra to make sure that no kid looks like a tub of lard."

Tub of lard? Really? We're going there? Just...wow.

I Bet Michael Richards Hates Us Too

Prejudice against fat people affects their wealth, says researchers. Overweight people have an average of half the assets of people with normal BMIs, and that includes everything from increased health care costs to having a harder time getting jobs to an inability to "marry up" the social ladder (which was the most interesting one to me; I really hadn't thought about that before).

"[T]est results showed that bias against blacks and the overweight was about equal, but that while people rarely admit to race bias, they freely admit to weight bias. 'There is no social sanction against saying you don’t like fat people.'"

There is also a test you can take to measure your race bias and your weight bias. I scored as "a moderate automatic preference for Fat People compared to Thin People." and for "European American compared to African American." So I'm a thinnist and a racist. Great!