Cookaholics Bulletin Board

From the land of food news:

First, the Russians have managed to grow vegetables in space:

http://chicagoist.com/2014/02/11/vegeta ... ning_a.php

No pictures, unfortunately; I'd love to see what some of the plants look like in zero gravity.

Down here on earth, 7-11 has decided to up the ante in its war with Taco Bell for "most unhealthful food available anywhere for under $2": http://dcist.com/2014/02/unholy_abomina ... itos_l.php

NPR is reporting that whole milk seems to present a lower risk of obesity than reduced fat milk.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/0 ... eep-us-lea

I'm curious. Why wouldn't the space-grown fruits and veggies be considered safe for human consumption until now?

One thing I definitely do not miss about "the real world," (aka anywhere but living in an isolated resort community) there is nothing like a Taco Bell or 7 Eleven within many, many miles. Those Doritos sound really vile, but I know there's an audience.

Amy

Pete,

Not having read all three of the underlying studies, I'm kind of wondering if they are making a correlation/causation mistake. That is, it seems possible to me that people (and families) with a tendency to overweight may be in the habit of buying lowfat/nonfat milk. Rather than the other way around.

http://xkcd.com/552/

In fact, one of the underlying studies would agree with me:

"Consumption of 1%/skim milk is more common among overweight/obese preschoolers, potentially reflecting the choice of parents to give overweight/obese children low-fat milk to drink."

So the only real news here is:

"... 1%/skim milk does not appear to restrain body weight gain ..."

That is, that lowfat milk doesn't make you fatter, it just fails to make you skinnier. I'd love to see a follow-up study about nonfat milk and blood cholesterol.

Josh,

There certainly could be a correlation/causation thing happening here.

But, I've certainly felt for years people can delude themselves that a low fat diet will automatically help them lose weight. Fat just makes you feel fuller, and for those who stop eating when full, well, then full fat isn't necessarily bad.

That, and if you eat any processed foods that are low fat, they surely have made up for the flavor loss from the fat in things like sugar. Pick your poison.

Amy

Amy,

Well, that's just part of a general fallacy that there are "magic foods" of which you can eat as much as you want, and still lose weight. There's a rather enormous industry devoted to inventing such foods, whether through lab work or creative lying.

OTOH, if I had to drink 1% or skim milk, I'd stop drinking it, cause that stuff is just vile. So it might work. Heh.

My anecdotal evidence in support of Fuzzy's hypothesis: I don't know any skinny people who drink diet soda in quantity. Almost everyone I know who is overweight drinks it in fair quantity (1+/day). So, if you did a study of my circle, it might appear that diet soda makes you fat. Of course, the skinny ones don't commonly drink soda at all. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions out there, but those are the rules for my circle.

Here's an alternative: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf9Lsd6uh-o

Apparently they don't like Americans. It is blocked for us.

Frank,

I was able to click through.

Wino,

This is one of my favorite renditions of this song.

Amy