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By Laura Stec
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About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and en...
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About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and environment pioneer, macrobiotic, Master Cleanser, ayurvedic, and officially-designated health-nut or party-girl (depending on the year). Professionally, I've worn many industry hats including: line cook, corporate chef, Food Coach, caterer, product developer, restaurant reviewer, culinary school teacher, corporate wellness educator, food co-op clerk, author, and even Cirque-du-Soleil lead popcorn concessioner! For years I managed an outdoor kitchen, deep in the bear-infested woods of Tahoe, and also for hospitals (the most unhealthy kitchen I ever worked in?), Singapore high-rises, mule-pack trips, Canadian catholic rectories, and more events than I could ever recall. Yet I still keep discovering. Actually, I adapt everyday by new lessons learned from teachers, customers and students. However there is one food truth I now hold sacrosanct: Eaters are motivated by pleasure. So no matter what we discuss here - recipes or restaurants, food politics or pairings, local events, food as art, or even as God, I will always come from a high-vibe, party perspective. Oh I do still long to change the world with great tasting food, but know in my heart, "If it ain't fun, it don't get done!" So - wanna come to the Food Party? By the way - it's a potluck.
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Death by Diet
Uploaded: Sep 24, 2016
So I went to the doctors this week for the general checkup. They ask so many more questions now than they ever used to.
There’s the ones we expect:
- Do you smoke?
- Do you drink and if so, how many days a week?
The one they added a couple years ago:
- Is anyone at home hurting you physically or emotionally?
And this time there was a whole slew of new ones:
- How many times a week do you drink more than 3 glasses of alcohol at a time?
- Do you smoke marijuana?
- In the past month have you felt depression, anxiety, fatigue, stress or insomnia?
- Do you have a health care agent?
I told the nurse it was good to hear the new questions, but how about a question asking what I eat?
- Ms. Stec, how many sugary beverages do you drink a week?
- Ms. Stec, do you eat processed foods every day?
- Ms. Stec, how many servings of vegetables do you consume daily?
She looked at me quizzically.
Isn’t it true that nearly 40% of all the deaths in the U.S. are caused by diseases directly related to our diet? The
Center for Science in the Public Interest tells us “unhealthy diet contributes to approximately 678,000 deaths each year in the U.S. (out of an approx 2.5 million deaths per year
per CDC), due to nutrition- and obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. In the last 30 years, obesity rates have doubled in adults, tripled in children, and quadrupled in adolescents.”
Same week, this silly but timely graphic made it’s way around social media.
And again I ask, where’s the beef?
Or for that matter, the sodium, processed foods, simple carbohydrates and overeating in general?
Isn’t that what we all should be dying to talk about?
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?
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