Week 3 - The other evil empire

Before I start a rant about the food industrial complex, I guess I should re-read the actual assignment. First I should address trans-fats. Trans fats are associated with both cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and the inflammatory process. See http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/149/6/531 ,
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/135/3/562 and
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/115/16/2231 .

It seems like old news today when we hear of transfats being banned in restaurants in various place. It wasn't always so. It has been known for a long time that saturated fats increased heart disease. So from the 1950 through the 1980's, doctors were recommending that their patients forego the butter and eat margarine. Some of those indoctrinated generations are still holding tight to their margarine even today. Long before transfats became a household name, people were fooled by the earlier labeling that suggested that there might have been some healthy unsaturated oils in margarine even if it was partially hydrogenated. But looking at the picture in our book, I can see that the transfat molecule is similar in appearance to the saturated fat molecule. It is straight. Straight objects can stack and, therefore, straight molecules lying together can be denser than objects that cannot stack. Thus saturated fats and transfats can both be solid at room temperature. Oils have a bend in them and thus don't stack easily and are liquid at room temperature or, more to the point, body temperature.

Next in the assignment, I am supposed to take something from my cabinet. Ok, I have been pretty religious about checking labels for corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oil. I don't buy anything hydrogenated. I don't buy anything with diet artificial sweeteners. I very rarely buy anything with corn syrup. BUT now I see a corn syrup product has snuck into my kitchen when I wasn't looking...

Boboli Pizza Sauce: water, tomato paste, high fructose corn syrup, salt, garlic powder, modified food starch, onion powder, citric acid, spices. How did that get in the house? I was trying to be corn syrup free. Oh well.

Do I want to be healthy? sure. Michael Pollan's prescription for diet is the best. Other rules might be 1) Try to avoid all the middle aisles of the grocery store where the packaged foods are. 2) hang out at farmer's markets and learn the seasons of when things are fresh and have not been waxed and placed in cold storage for months. 3) Don't buy peaches and grapes in February. They are only going to taste like wet cardboard anyway. Let the Chilean's eat their own fruit.

For more on food, read all of Michael Pollan's books.
http://www.michaelpollan.com/
 Read Fast Food Nation (the book not the movie, although the kill floor in the movie is interesting.)
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455
See the movie Food Inc.
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455
 For a real gross out see Our daily bread
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Our_Daily_Bread/70064385?trkid=496751
The movie King Corn is mildly amusing, but you will read all you need to know about corn in the book "Omnivores Dilemma".
http://www.kingcorn.net/
For inspiration, read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/
Lastly, for an indepth view of the agribusiness control of your life, listen to "Deconstructing Dinner" on your ipod
http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner/ .
Ok Rant off.

PS. I haven't seen it yet, but the movie Dirt looks good:
http://www.dirtthemovie.org/pages/about-the-film