Brace yourself, people – Dr. Steven Bratman, a so-called medical doctor and author has written a book with an intention to medicalize a new mental disorder. He refers to it specifically as an eating disorder and has termed it Orthorexia Nervosa. The latin translation is “a strong conscious desire to eat health and nutritional foods.”  Absurd?  Tell me I am not on an island on this one!

If you are middle class, well educated, have the time and the money to find pure alternatives to genetically modified food, and you have a tendency to read about and research food scares in the media, then you may be at risk for this new eating disorder. …to keep reading this article

Today in the DailyMail paper from the UK, they show a McDonalds Happy Meal that is a year old side by side with one that is “fresh”.  The old happy meal does look a bit different; it looks like the meat could be a bit burnt.  That’s all.  No mold, no rot.  Yewwww.

The author says that she had the window’s in her house open  many times but the flies and other insects IGNORED the McDonalds Happy Meal.  I once read an experiment where a “scientist” left margarine sitting on his windowsill.  He says the ants ignored the margarine which was proof to him that the margarine wasn’t real food.  Anyway back to the McDonalds Happy Meal.

Another blogger, Snack Girl, is conducting a similar experiment.  She first purchased a Happy Meal and put it on a shelf.  Every week she posted new pictures.  After 35 days, the burger and fries still looked fine. She made an interesting observation: if the food simply dries up, then that might  explain why it didn’t rot.  She reminds us that when Egyptian mummies have been uncovered, bits of food have been found with them.

To conduct a more scientific experiment, she purchases a new McDonalds Happy Meal, prepares a homemade cheeseburger and zips the two up in a Ziploc bag.  She will post pictures every week.

People, what you eat every now and then, probably won’t make or break you.  In fact, our Metabolic Boost program has a guide to fast food.  We know you will be there occasionally.  It’s your habitual eating we need to change.  If Happy Meals and the like are your staple diet, we have reason to worry about your health.

Check out your Nutrition Score and see how you fare.

Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes.

The New York City health Department has decided to regulate another ingredient in packaged food and restaurant meals.  This time the city is going after salt.  The health department has asked for a 25% reduction in the amount of salt in packaged foods and restaurant meals over the next five years.  The reasoning behind this regulation is to prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods.

We consume roughly twice the recommended amount of salt every day and this overconsumption leads to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.  Research has shown that we are not getting that sodium in our diets because we are shaking salt on our own food.  Only 11% of the salt we ingest comes from salt we put in our own food; nearly 80% is added to foods before they are sold. So we are getting the sodium from restaurants and the freezer section of the grocery store.

As an example a half cup of Campbell’s low sodium soup contains 480 mg of sodium.  That 480 mg is the limit per serving for children.  When you get home tonight look at a 1/2 cup measuring cup and see just how small it is.

Of course the obvious answer is to eat more food at home. You know that is what I want you to do; I try to make it easy for you.  We don’t have much disagreement about the salt content of an apple. But I’m realistic and know many of you will eat “outside” food.  So..what do you think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If not, I’ll summarise it for you.

Remember a few months ago, when Ilana compared a Starbucks Frappuccino with a McDonalds hamburger?  The Center for Science in the Public Interest has published an article in their latest magazine titled ” Movie Theatres Fill Buckets and Bellies”.  The CPSI sent movie popcorn off to the lab to find out what damage movie popcorn could do to your diet.  They sent samples of popcorn and toppings from the three largest theatre chains to an independent lab for analysis.  Just to be thorough they chose popcorn from three different theatres for each chain.

The lab reported that at Regal Theatres, a medium and a large popcorn each has  1,200 calories and  three days’ worth of saturated fat. At Regal Theatres, a “small” popcorn  with no topping has 34 grams of saturated fat.  So even if you split it with a friend (unlikely as it is small), you each get nearly a day’s worth of saturated fat. A small popcorn has the same calories as a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza and each medium or large popcorn  has the same calories as two pizzas. But the two pizzas pack “only” a day’s worth of saturated fat— the  medium or large popcorn has three days’ worth.  (Now are you truly regretting skipping the pizza to “only” have popcorn at the movie?)

To add insult to injury,  at Regal the “medium” and the “large” hold the exact same amount of popcorn even though the large costs more.

The study concluded that a bucket of Regal movie popcorn has the same calories and saturated fat as “a Hamburger plus a Quarter Pounder plus a Big Mac at Mcdonald’s”.  AMC and Cinemark are the other two chains covered.

So if you are headed out to the movies this weekend, check out the full Movie Popcorn Equals Three McDonalds burgers here.  The study also analyzed movie soda and candy.

In fact, for a master’s project it was required as a credit to get something published in a peer-reviewed journal. Something like “The Journal of the American Dietetic Association,” or “Medical Journal of Sports Nutrition.” I personally had to submit a bunch of attempts before I got something accepted. Funnily enough, I have been commended many times on my chatty, newsy letters home, to friends and family that love to get the happenings of my exciting life and experiences with this second career of mine here in the US.

With all this said, I continue to write, as good practice for my career in this scientific field. And oh yes, I am continually trying to get my name in lights. I was so proud of myself today when my peer, and in a sense “boss,” paid me one of the best compliments yet to date. Before I reveal my honour, I have to disclaim why I say “boss.” I am on Matt Fitzgerald’s editorial board for http://www.Poweringmuscles.com (great resource, by the way – training and sports nutrition tips… and yes, you will even see “yours truly” regularly published there, with every attempt to keep up with my science).

Matt Fitzgerald is a journalist and author specializing in the topics of health, fitness, nutrition and endurance sports training. His work appears regularly in publications such as Runner’s World, Triathlete, Her Sports and Running Times. He has also authored and coauthored numerous books, including Triathlete Magazine’s Complete Triathlon Book, which has sold more than 60,000 copies since its publication in 2003. Matt has been a competitive runner since age 12 and competes in triathlons.

So, yes he is a peer, and yes he does edit much (or rather tear apart) of my stuff. Well today, I submitted one of my personal favourite topics. Metabolic Efficiency after all, is partly the reason sports nutrition interested me so much and why I chose to go into this second career. Not only was it posted right away on http://www.Poweringmuscles.com, but Matt also wrote me a complimentary email, and then went on to put my great article on http://runningCompetitor.com too (and yes, I get paid for this :-) ) – Maybe I should consider a third career change… freelance journalist….mmm… nah!!!

Here is Matt’s email to me on receiving my article – and hey, feel free to read this one, as well as last month’s feature called “fat loading” both now on poweringmuscles.com, and don’t forget to check out http://running.competitor.com/ while it’s still hot off the press.

Ilana,

Very interesting article. I like how you mix the personal and the scientific and tell a bit of a story. You’re getting pretty good at this writing thing. I’ve already posted it on Powering Muscles and I’d actually like to use it on Competitor Running (http://running.competitor.com) as well, with your permission, but first I’ll need to send you a form and a contract to fill out, as we do things a little more formally here at the Competitor Group!

Matt

• multiple chronic diseases,
• impaired cognitive function,
• impaired physical function and
• impaired mental health.

The biggest risk seem  to be women who were overweight at 18 and continued to gain.

You can read the entire article about how being overweight early in life leads to poor health later in life.

The researchers found the high-fat diet resulted in

• insulin resistance,
• large increases in fat mass and
• weight gain.

But it also led to initial adaptations in the muscle. Initially the muscle responded positively by increasing the size of the muscle fibres but when the high-fat diet continued, the muscles appeared to become overwhelmed.

In all cases analyzed, a high-fat diet decreased the ability of skeletal muscle to use fat or glucose as fuel.

When the researchers examined the maximum effort the muscles could generate, they discovered no difference between the
high-fat diet group and the control group which was eating a diet significantly lower in fat. However, if the muscles were fatigued and then were required to work, the high-fat diet group didn’t recover as quickly as the control group.

What does this mean to an endurance athlete?  If you continually eat a high-fat diet, then your muscles become less able to use fat or glucose as fuel.  During an endurance event if your muscles are unable to efficiently burn glucose, they will turn to protein.  Your body works much harder to convert protein to fuel than it does carbohydrate (glucose).  You will be diverting energy needed to propel you on the bike to converting protein for fuel.

Read the entire article about how a high fat diet  effects muscle growth and function.

McDonalds              Grilled Chicken Deluxe, Hold the Special Sauce
Hardee’s                  It’s Hardy Chicken Again; the Only Way Is Fillet
Taco Bell                The Chicken Burrito, but Have Just One
Burger King            BK Broiler Chicken, Just Say No to Mayo
Wendy’s                   Dave’s Grilled Chicken, or Try the Chicken Salad
Long John Silver’s  Baked Fish and a Potato With Salsa
KFC                         Tender Roast White Meat Without the Skin
Subway                    6” Roast Turkey on wheat, hold mayo and the Oil