Obamas Getting Tough On Obesity?
This week we learned, ”People who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87% increased risk — or nearly twice the risk — of pancreatic cancer compared to individuals consuming no soft drinks,” says Noel T. Mueller, MPH, lead research associate at the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center. This from the recently published study in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention?
The study was done to test a theory that high glycemic beverages like soft drinks and commercial grade fruit juices are a major contributor to pancreatic cancer. The study found that commercial grade juices, though extremely high on the glycemic scale, do not effect pancreatic cancer risk. So what could be the difference?
Oh yeah, juice contains a natural sugar. Soft drinks contain a synthetic one, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Coincidence?
HFCS of course is the brainchild of one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, Monsanto.
This week we also learned that the Obama’s have announced a new child obesity initiative with cheflebrity Jamie Oliver, Let’s Move. This would be exciting if it weren’t such an utter fraud. While Oliver is genuine, Mrs. Obama made her announcement with USDA chief Tom Vilsak (legendary Monsanto lobbyist) and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin (a Burger King consultant) at her side.
Also standing with the first lady was Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, a career politician with absolutely no experience or training in social services or nutrition. Ms. Sebelius has degrees in political science and public administration, the academic equivalents of basket weaving.
With a stroke of his mighty pen, President Obama signed an executive order that outlines the ever expanding federal government’s role in a problem that affects one-third of the school-age children in the country. An issue that he claims as, “one of the most urgent health issues we face in this country,” with all of the sincerity of a fox offering to guard the hen house.
While proper exercise is another key factor in childhood obesity the chief cause is diet. Between diet and exercise, diet is the most important. If children enjoy a proper diet then the amount of exercise they receive in an average school day would suffice. But a diet of processed foods containing HFCS and hydrogenated oils requires much more exercise to negate the negative effects of that diet.
That’s why the Obama’s Let’s Move serves as little more than a diversion from the real issue. The people the President has appointed to make the decisions about what is and is not healthy are not qualified to make these decisions. People like Sebelius, Benjamin, Vilsak and many others do not base their policies on what is best for the country but what is best for their corporate masters.
If President Obama were genuine he would not have traded our children’s well-being for campaign contributions. He likely did not chose his appointees because of careful examination of the facts but more likely to repay the people who financed the most expensive Presidential campaign in history. Clearly they where not chosen based on qualifications. Holding a press conference vowing to end the obesity epidemic while surrounded by the very people championing the chemicals causing that epidemic is at best hypocritical.
Cooking the Unthinkable: Squid Ink
Cooking the Unthinkable is a series that examines some of the more eccentric ingredients. Whether you are a fan of the bizarre or are preparing for the eminent collapse of Western society this series will help you better stomach weird food.
When I told a friend of mine that I had purchased a kit for making Arroz con Calamares en su tinta (rice with squid in its own ink) he was perplexed. An avid scuba diver he asked, “Isn’t the ink part of the squid’s natural defenses?” adding, “I’m not sure that’s something you should eat.”
With confidence I replied, “Sure, it’s fine. The government wouldn’t let them sell it if it was dangerous.”
So what do I really know about squid ink? Not much really aside from it’s popular use on Iron Chef where it’s flavor is always described as inky. Inky? What the hell does that mean?
I do not know where I can buy fresh squid ink in Mobile, Alabama so forgive me, my culinary brethren, for purchasing a meal-in-a-box from the international market. I followed the package directions, water boiling I emptied the bag of rice. Nothing abnormal so far. Then the can of squid in its own ink.
There it was! There was the strange odor. This was going to be different. 25 minutes later as I filled my plate I thought back to my friend’s words, “I’m not sure that’s something you should eat.” Then my own arrogance echoed through my mind as the first forkful approached my mouth, “Sure, it’s fine. The government wouldn’t let them sell it if it was dangerous.” Would they?
Then I thought of Burger King. There isn’t anything they sell that isn’t toxic to humans and the President just hired a Burger King employee as Surgeon General. Maybe the government would let them sell something that is dangerous. Why would squid ink be any different than tobacco or high fructose corn syrup of hydrogenated oils or farm-raised Asian shrimp?
Regardless I threw caution to the wind and took a bite. Jinkies! Alright, folks, you haven’t lived till you have tried squid ink. Our whole lives we’ve been taught that there are two things that are edible, animals and plants. Ink is neither. Sure it is an animal-product not unlike blood or milk. But blood and milk are different; they are life-bloods. One figuratively the other literally. Ink is just something animals use for self-defense, like nunchucks. It doesn’t feed it’s young or transport oxygen to various organs.
It’s organic but neither animal nor vegetable. And as if you needed anymore proof that we are supposed to eat animals this one comes with its own sauce. Squid has built-in gravy.
The flavor was so rich, so earthy, so savory. I have long known the Japanese term Umami (believed to be one of the basic tastes sensed by the human tongue). I always thought I understood it but I didn’t. Now, now I do. Now I get it. I grok its fullness.
So what did it taste like? In a word, Inky.