Affordability often comes with a price somewhere in the supply chain. In the case of instant noodles, it could be deforestation for ingredients and oil extraction for packaging long before the noodles hit the store and/or adverse health outcomes long after they hit the stomach. Nevertheless, this invention was an unexpected marvel that buoyed the Japanese economy and still supports disaster relief efforts worldwide.
The hateful phrase “good enough” always feels like a cop-out to someone who strives for perfection in all aspects of her life, but I’m learning to live with it during what has been a very difficult year. Knowing I wouldn’t achieve a perfect Thanksgiving dinner, even if I tried, my goal shifted to something far more important: spending time with my dad.
Many people associate monosodium glutamate (MSG) with Chinese food, but it’s actually in a lot of what we eat, whether it is added to processed foods or naturally occurring in more umami foods, like cheese, fish, and mushrooms. While it gets a bad rap, recent studies indicate that it’s probably not the villain it has been painted to be over the years.
It’s been a long year, and I was feeling too burned out for resolutions (of which I usually make at least 10). But what if I made a resolution to have more fun… and backed it up with my own data on how to do that… and employed a color-coded spreadsheet? I’m embarking on something I’ve never done before: committing to one single resolution.
The growing use of semaglutide drugs for people who don’t medically need them is causing harm to people who do but also ripples across the business world, with risks and surprising benefits projected in different sectors. Ultimately we need to ask ourselves why weight loss is the goal – and whether thinness is worth the cost: our money, our health, or someone else’s health.
I’ve had several friends comment on this series (publicly and privately), reminding me that body image issues are more widespread than many of us realize. In our quest for thinness over health, we turn to fad diets and products to help us feel better about ourselves. And that desperation among people who don’t really need to lose weight is causing problems for people who really do.
I wrestled with some negative feelings when reading the book Fat Talk, and I wanted to understand the source of those reactions. I’ve since participated in a group discussion, some supplementary research, and a lot of reflection and writing. In the end, I think my disconnect is ultimately related less to my own biases and more to some of the concepts being presented in absolutes.
It goes without saying that parents want what’s best for their kids, but who decides what “best” is or the best way of achieving it? Mealtimes are dreaded in many households because of the potential for fights over what and how much needs to be consumed. And even the healthiest home environments don’t make kids immune to external standards and value judgments related to weight.
The more uncomfortable the topic, the less it tends to be discussed, and – chances are – the more likely it needs to be. One issue with which I’ve struggled over the years is weight and fat-phobia. Fortunately I had a great opportunity to tease apart my own baggage in the safe space of book club with “Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture”
Years of backyard composting has biased me toward aerobic compost, so when I had the opportunity to tour an anaerobic digester, I jumped at the chance. I knew very little about the process other than the fact that it created a lot of methane, which was a concern of mine. Fortunately, the team at Ecotone Renewables was patient with my multiple questions on the tour.