Randomness

[Faust]

haha, I meant this

oh!

[Mail-Moth]

In America, exactly what you describe is called The French Diet.

Unless you were being sarcastic...

Oh no, not sarcastic at all. My friends love eating, as they love wine - but they avoid everything considered as unhealthy and eat respectable amounts of food - at least respectable from my point of view, I have no idea of the size of dishes in the US.

But as I think of it I realize that I'm actually eating quite objectively unealthy things all the time : I add cream to everything, put a lot of butter and marmelade on my fresh bread every morning, buy pastries almost each afternoon... And I'd damn myself for tartare and black pudding with apples.

Well. Not so healthy, I presume. But there's an interesting point in that article that could make all the difference : I actually love what I eat. I savour it. I can't eat something that doesn't make me salivate, in fact (but I salivate quite easily). I never think of food as of a physiological obligation.

[galia]

I said fatty not transfat prepackaged garbage
I just have a small apetite, but I made it this way, there were times where I could eat like a horse. I didn't like it, even though I do enjoy eating most of the time

also, tartare is the best thing ever

[Faust]

The difference between American and European food is plain and simple = American food is pumped with chemicals and highly processed, which in turn pumps and highly processes you. It's as simple as that and no one wants to talk about it because there is too much lobbying power involved (hooray at least for Michael Pollan). Therefore we have to battle much harder than the Europeans (and others) to keep weight off. There is plenty of medical research to show how immigrants to the US get diabetes and heart disease. It's not like they don't eat fatty food in their own countries.

Anyway, this day and age, in a place like NYC (or any other major city, I'd think) American dietary habits can easily be avoided by buying high quality ingredients and cooking for yourself. It's not rocket science.

[munch]

And then there are those with godlike metabolisms.

hello to you too!

[laika]

i dunno how you guys can go on eating so much meat
after reading Michael Pollan...

zam, galia is absolutely right--taking such drastic (but temporary) measures isn't going to help you in the long run, and it's not really
good for you anyway.
why don't you try having meat just once a day for awhile?
Like Mark Bittman's "vegan until dinner" regime....

[lowrey]

I agree, you may have pondered over this already of course, but in case you haven't, most cases that I know of where someone has taken any sort of a big step at once have failed. instead of making yourself miserable by dropping meat altogether, I'd try to shift towards generally healthier eating habits. just a thought!

[Faust]

.

i dunno how you guys can go on eating so much meat
after reading Michael Pollan..

I am an insensitive bastard.

[genevieveryoko]

either that or you're just hungry. It's not rocket science.

[casem]

I say go for vegetarianism if you have strong moral reasons to avoid meat, but I wouldn't do it as a diet. You can eat just as poorly as a vegetarian loading up on carbs/fat (donuts and fries are still game).

That said, I think once you try it, it's quite easy to be vegetarian. I have been for about 8 years now, it's gotten to the point where even the thought of meat in my mouth makes me feel queasy so I have no desire to go back. I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with humans eating meat, but the way agribusiness treats animals today is something I can't live with. Unfortunately, I now rely on the soy bean, a product which Monsanto virtually owns, and corporations don't get any more evil than Monsanto.

The one-two punch of reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" a couple years ago and seeing "Food Inc" to confirm everything he says, has me totally avoiding all processed foods and making sure vegetables are the center of every meal. It sounds like a pain in the ass, but if you can change your lifestyle it's quite easy. I feel much better now and everything I eat tastes much better this way.

I think it's different in France, where I imagine there is more access to locally farmed meat/produce. If I lived in France, I might even go back to eating meat, French cuisine isn't the most vegetarian friendly and who can resist a well cooked duck?

[Faust]

you should see what they do to those ducks in France!

[Faust]

Was going to watch a serious film tonight, but switching to 30 Rock. I am getting soft. it's alarming.

[Vanna]

The idea of life without meat makes my hair fall out.

Also, saw "Paranormal Activity" last week and keep thinking about that fucking ostrich demon.

[genevieveryoko]

I certainly don't eat meat everyday, but I actually try to avoid dairy more than anything else, I believe it's bad for my complexion and too much milk makes me bloated. Agreed, soy is definitely not the best alternative and recently I've been addicted to soy yogurt (probiotics ) but I try to mix it up with a little coconut milk yogurt or rice milk yogurt though it is more expensive.

Another thing that is of concern to me is MSG. I want to know if anyone can actually provide me with the facts of why it's bad for you?

[lowrey]

Another thing that is of concern to me is MSG. I want to know if anyone can actually provide me with the facts of why it's bad for you?

I'm not a scientist or an expert by any means, but as far as I know, no such facts exist. if you read about it on some propaganda websites, you can probably find a huge list of "effects" that for example glutamates have within the human body, which have nothing to do with digesting glutamic acid. so unless you are actually injecting heavily seasoned food into yourself, you should be fine. it has been tested all over the world with no significant findings, I think it just happens to fall into the pool of additives that are classified as "bad for ya".

Was going to watch a serious film tonight, but switching to 30 Rock. I am getting soft. it's alarming.

coincidentally what I was watching last night while trying to endure a nasty flu. no brainer television all the way.