I am glad I listened to my grandmothers!

Coconut trees cover the Kerala landscape, like the Douglas Fir here in Oregon.  Having grown up in the Travancore kingdom (now the state of Kerala), my mother and grandmothers and aunts used coconut oil in the cooking and in preparing the tasty savories.

As a kid, I always got excited with the unique and intense aroma of hot coconut oil, because it meant that there was magic happening in the kitchen.

Our taste buds were set.  Foods and snacks at other places--homes and restaurants alike--that did not use coconut oil or real ghee were, well, we did not care for them.  I grew up with such tastes ;)

Going to weddings and other social events, or even eating at restaurants, became increasingly a nightmare for us because of the rapid infusion of the dreaded dalda into the foods.  Not only did we hate with a passion the taste and smell of dalda--a hydrogenated vegetable oil--our systems also often reacted with upset stomachs and worse.

My mother worried about our long-term health when she read somewhere that coconut oil leads to cholesterol and heart problems.  So, she suspended using coconut oil and ... there was an uprising in the streets.  Words were said--about the replacement oil. Tears were shed. Order was restored when coconut oil was brought back.

Have there been cholesterol and heart problems in the extended family? Certainly.  But, a very low percentage compared to the global population.

More than a year ago, I spotted on the grocery store shelves potato chips that were fried in coconut oil.  It reminded me of the old country.  Of course, I had to buy that.  And I continue to get that every once in a while.

Coconut oil has been the rage for a while here as the next best miracle oil.  Is it superfood or poison?  What is the healthiest oil then?  My grandmothers would have laughed at such questions. 

And they would have laughed even more with reports like this:

According to the AHA, 82% of the fat in coconut oil is saturated. That's more than in butter (63%), beef fat (50%) and pork lard (39%). And, like other saturated fats, studies show it can increase "bad" cholesterol.
Some claim that the mixture of fats in coconut oil still make it a healthy option, but the AHA says there is no good-quality evidence for this.
It says people should limit how much saturated fat they eat, replacing some of it with unsaturated vegetable oils - olive oil and sunflower oil

If only people, including scientists, would understand that it is not about the sat-fat alone.  My grandmothers lived long lives for their generations despite coconut oil everyday--from cooking to using it on their hair.

It is all about how we consume anything.

The butter that I use is real butter, with the highest possible fat content.  But, I don't feast on butter.  It is not really about the coconut oil either.  It is all about moderation.  As my grandmothers often said அளவோட சாப்பிடு.    

Fat Tuesday!

Back when our ancestors were hunting and gathering, men did not have to worry about their women asking them the now cliched joke, "do I look fat in this?"  And men then could easily see their own penises because they did not have over-sized waists that blocked everything down.

Now, we don't have to worry about hunting and gathering.  We worry about fat though. A lot.  Abundance has become a problem.  A huge problem.  Even in the continent that has long been a poster-child for poverty and starvation!

In Africa, the world’s poorest continent, malnutrition is stubbornly widespread and millions of people are desperately hungry, with famine conditions looming in some war-torn countries.
But in many places, growing economies have led to growing waistlines. Obesity rates in sub-Saharan Africa are shooting up faster than in just about anywhere else in the world, causing a public health crisis that is catching Africa, and the world, by surprise.

Obesity is a not merely a public health issue, it now comes across as a pandemic!

The causes are the same:

Many Africans are eating more junk food, much of it imported. They are also getting much less exercise, as millions of people abandon a more active farming life to crowd into cities, where they tend to be more sedentary. More affordable cars and a wave of motorbike imports also mean that fewer Africans walk to work.

The older I get, the more I am pissed off that a whole bunch of smart and talented people spend their lives creating problems for humans.  "Food scientists" create newer and unhealthy junk foods. MBAs devise devilish marketing strategies to trap especially the young and the poor. And more.  Can't these talented devils use their brain power do something meaningful for humans, instead of being the glorified drug-dealers in lab coats and suits that they are, all in the name of "making money"?

Chile, which was ruined by the Chicago Boys who advised the strongman Pinochet, is on a hyperdrive against obesity:

They killed Tony the Tiger. They did away with Cheetos’ Chester Cheetah. They banned Kinder Surprise, the chocolate eggs with a hidden toy.
The Chilean government, facing skyrocketing rates of obesity, is waging war on unhealthy foods with a phalanx of marketing restrictions, mandatory packaging redesigns and labeling rules aimed at transforming the eating habits of 18 million people.
Nutrition experts say the measures are the world’s most ambitious attempt to remake a country’s food culture, and could be a model for how to turn the tide on a global obesity epidemic that researchers say contributes to four million premature deaths a year.

The modern (junk) food industry goes after kids with all kinds of marketing gimmicks.  They are powerful child abusers, against whom most parents are simply powerless.  I agree with the Chilean politician, Guido Girardi, who "publicly assailed big food companies as “21st century pedophiles.”  Pedophiles in suits!

A growth that is of the bad kind

My cousin-in-law, who was born and raised in the US, often comments that India is the only country where he has seen signs and posters advertising the services of diabetologists.  Even freakier for him: Centers that specialize in diabetes care.

It might shock him even more if he were to read this NY Times report on diabetes in India.  In short, we ain't seen nothin' yet!

The International Diabetes Federation projects that the number of Indians with diabetes will soar to 123 million by 2040 as diets rich in carbohydrates and fat spread to less affluent rural areas.

During my childhood, diabetes was referred to as a rich person's disease.  Because, only those who were affluent could afford to eat the wrong foods and then sit and do nothing.  The poor, on the other hand, barely had anything to eat and were constantly physically working in order to earn that meager food. Now, the country is immensely more prosperous than when I was a kid.  Which means, yes, if the old habits continued, then the country is headed towards a diabetic explosion!

Dr. Yajnik said he believes Indians’ susceptibility to diabetes may have emerged as their diets changed with rising affluence — and that their bodies, attuned to scarcity, couldn’t handle an overload of food.

The overload has been almost instantaneous, in the larger temporal context.

So, how is this overload beginning to show up even before the arrival of diabetes?

Since 1990, the percent of children and adults in India who are overweight or obese has almost tripled to 18.8 percent from 6.4 percent, according to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Interesting coincidence, if you think about it. India opened up its economy to the world in 1991.  Junk food was among other goods that came in.

One does not have to look fat or obese in order to have diabetes.  They can be relatively thin too.  But, there is a big symptom that typically juts out: The fat that collects around the abdomen.  The spare tire.

In my boring regimented life, when people ask me for suggestions, I tell them it is a question of healthy calories in versus calories out.  Mere reduction in intake won't help--the calories out depends on physical activity.  Which is what a cousin in the extended family found out.  After years of reducing his intake alone and getting frustrated that he still continued to gain weight, he took up running and exercising.  Within months he lost quite some pounds.  And he continued with that and built up the success.  So successful that he was profiled in the newspaper a few months ago.  "You should see him now," his mother gloated a few days ago.

Life is a procession of “frustrations and irritations”.  The best we can do is to at least do our part to make sure that it is a short procession!  So, get up and do twenty push-ups in order to reduce that abdominal fat that you have been fondly rubbing while reading through this post! ;)

I blame my grandmothers!

Coconut trees cover the Kerala landscape, like the Douglas Fir here in Oregon.

Having grown up in the Travancore kingdom (now the state of Kerala), my mother and grandmothers and aunts used coconut oil in the cooking and in preparing the tasty savories.

As a kid, I always got excited with the unique and intense aroma of hot coconut oil, because it meant that there was magic happening in the kitchen.

Our taste buds were set.  Foods and snacks at other places--homes and restaurants alike--that did not use coconut oil or real ghee were, well, we did not care for them.  I grew up with such spoilt tastes ;)

Going to weddings and other social events, or even eating at restaurants, became increasingly a nightmare for us because of the rapid infusion of the dreaded dalda into the foods.  Not only did we hate with a passion the taste and smell of dalda--a hydrogenated vegetable oil--our systems also often reacted with upset stomachs and worse.

A few months ago, I spotted on the grocery store shelves potato chips that were fried in coconut oil.  Of course, I had to buy that.  And I continue to get that every once in a while.

Source

Recently, when my peeps were visiting, I offered them those chips.  They are way younger than me, and were not raised on coconut oil, which is why I warned them that most people not used to coconut oil are put off by its taste and aroma. Turned out that they liked it!

Coconut oil has been the rage for a while here as the next best miracle oil.  My grandmothers would have laughed at this fad.

And they would have laughed even more with news reports like this:

According to the AHA, 82% of the fat in coconut oil is saturated. That's more than in butter (63%), beef fat (50%) and pork lard (39%). And, like other saturated fats, studies show it can increase "bad" cholesterol.
Some claim that the mixture of fats in coconut oil still make it a healthy option, but the AHA says there is no good-quality evidence for this.
It says people should limit how much saturated fat they eat, replacing some of it with unsaturated vegetable oils - olive oil and sunflower oil

If only people, including scientists, would understand that it is not about the sat-fat alone.  My grandmothers lived long lives for their generations despite coconut oil everyday--not only in the cooking but even on their hair.   Instead, it is all about how we consume anything.

The butter that I use is real butter, with the highest possible fat content.  But, I am not feasting on butter.  It is not really about the coconut oil.  It is all about moderation.  As my grandmothers often said அளவோட சாப்பிடு.    

Uncle Sam wants you to be obese!

The other day, I went with the friend to eat at Chipotle.  Hey, the term is underway and I do not have the time anymore to cook every meal at home, and the friend is getting tired of cooking and baking for me ;)  Sanitas per escam is, thus, sometimes put to test, not because I am worried that the restaurant staff might not have washed their hands, but because restaurant foods are not really intended to be healthy.

"Just because of their marketing gimmick about GMOs, do not be fooled that this is healthy food" I warned the friend.  I tell ya, I know how to be a party-pooper! ;)  But then I am not merely opining, especially when I read pieces like this in the New Yorker:

Chipotle, with nineteen hundred locations, is the most successful of the new chains. The company has admirable goals, but, more often than not, meals from Chipotle are high in both saturated fat and calories, and often exceed the recommended daily allowance of sodium.

Calories, fat, and sodium.  No wonder that restaurant foods are way tastier.  As my grandmother used to say, restaurants want to serve you tasty foods, while mothers want to serve you healthy food.  Of course, in my case I lucked out with my mother, grandmothers, and aunts, all making healthy food that was also wonderfully tasty.  When I spoke with my parents yesterday, my father said that mother had just finished making பொரிச்ச குழம்பு (Porichcha Kuzhambu) and I started drooling here ... hmmm, where was I?

Ah, yes, even a Chipotle often serves foods high in fat and calories, and one meal can deliver more than the salt that you body ever needs in a day.

“Chipotle has a health halo”—a term Wansink and a colleague coined several years ago to describe the general aura of eating at places that advertise themselves as healthy. “They are organic and use the word sustainable a lot. That’s not a bad thing, but it doesn’t make the food healthier.”

I know what you are thinking: just who the hell does Wansink think he is?

Brian Wansink is the director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Laboratory, and more:

Wansink has also served as the executive director of the U.S.D.A.’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. (In addition, he is a member of McDonald’s Global Advisory Council, which makes nutritional recommendations to the company’s leadership.) His book “Mindless Eating” demonstrated the gulf between what we think we are eating and what we actually eat.

So, if Chipotle's food is not all healthy, then you can imagine calories, fat, sodium, and sugar at the likes of McDonald's.  But, and this is a big butt--er, but--the food at those fast-food places are way less expensive too.  What gives?

[Taxpayers] heavily subsidize corn and soybeans, two crops that feed livestock and help create the processed food that public health officials have warned us for years to stop eating. Few federal incentives exist for farmers to grow a more varied selection of vegetables or to motivate consumers to eat them. And at least half of our calories come from food that is subsidized by the government, a figure that has held steady for years.
“A value meal at these places is a big burger, some fries, and a sugary beverage,’’ Kelly Brownell said. “Every time you buy one of those meals, Uncle Sam is standing there with his wallet open. The grain that feeds the cows is subsidized. The oil used to cook the fries is subsidized, and the high-fructose corn syrup used in sodas is subsidized, too. But if you walk in the next day and order a salad, a piece of fruit, and some tea you will be on your own. Uncle Sam will not be there to help you.”

We have created a system thanks to which foods that are high in calories, fat, sodium, and sugar, are less expensive than the healthier options.  Should we then be shocked at the ever growing obesity rate in these United States?

fatty, salty meals remain far cheaper to produce, distribute, and buy than healthier alternatives. For that to change, America’s agricultural priorities will need to fall in line with its health priorities.

Don't you hold your breath and suck in your tummy waiting for those policy changes to happen.  Definitely not with this dysfunctional Congress.  

Ich bin ein ... Obese?

In the summer of 1963, JFK rallied up the spirits of the people in Berlin and West Germany with some of the best lines ever:

Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum ["I am a Roman citizen"]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"

As always, being far more interested in the trivial than in the profound, we humans descended into a frivolous debate on whether or not JFK ended up referring to the residents of Berlin or to the jelly doughnut when he said "Berliner."

For all I know, JFK ended up making jelly doughnuts popular.  So popular that obesity, fueled by those delicious doughnuts and other fat- and calorie-rich foods and snacks, is not only an American problem anymore but a worldwide trend:

The percentage of adults who are overweight or obese has swelled from 29% in 1980 to 37% in 2013, according to a new study in the Lancet. People in virtually all nations got larger

Apparently Weird Al was a few years ahead of this development!

And, even in this obesity, China has overtaken the US:

China is home to the largest number anywhere—335m, more than the population of America. This is not just because of its sheer size, but also because economic growth led to cellulite growth: a quarter of adults are now overweight compared with one in ten in 1980

Damn, no more chanting of USA! USA! USA! when we are not numero uno.

There is good news in this global obesity trend (yes, of course I am being sarcastic. But, it is real news):

obese men and women who live in U.S. counties with high levels of obesity are much happier than obese men and women who live in slenderer areas. Nor do people of “normal weight” enjoy much of an affective advantage in neighborhoods with more flesh per capita. “This illustrates the importance of looking like the people around you when it comes to satisfaction with life,”

So, in a world of fat people, only the lean and hungry will be unhappy?  Get me a few truckloads of jelly doughnuts, please. Pronto!  And get me one of those feedbags.

McDonald's food doesn't decay. So, eat it and live forever? :)

From Salon and the LA Times:

New York photographer Sally Davies left a McDonald's hamburger Happy Meal, complete with a small side order of french fries, siting on a shelf in her home for more than 130 days. Every three days, Davies took a photo of the food. By day 137, the food looked pretty much the same.

Some were quick to blame McDonald's for using preservatives to elicit the appearance of "fresh" food. But scientists now say it's preservatives aren't the reason why the Golden Arch's food won't break down..

Yes, it did not decay even four-and-a-half months after it was purchased :)  Explain away, scientists:

Marion Nestle, chairwoman of New York University’s food studies program, told us over e-mail that McDonald’s would have to use "really a lot of" sodium propionate to prevent bacterial or mold growth. McDonald's French fries, for example, which have repeatedly proven their hardiness to spoilage, contain citric acid as a preservative. But a bigger factor might be the fat content of the fries. About 50 percent of the total 250 calories contained in a small order of fries come from fat. "Anything that is high in fat will be low in moisture," says Barry Swanson, a professor at the Washington State University department of food science. And low moisture means less room for mold to grow.

BTW, isn't it neat that "Nestle" is the last name of the food studies program's chairwoman?  (editor: yes, you are the billionth person to find this funny. Don't you have a class to teach?)

However, don't load up on those burgers and fries to achieve immortality:

For better or for worse, McDonald’s is no more a chemical laboratory of secret compounds designed to embalm us from the inside than any other processed food maker. A Happy Meal manages to stay unspoiled because it is fatty, salty and practically empty of nutrients -- which, really, are all good reasons to avoid it anyway.

Why are we fat? Let me count the ways ....

Over at the Atlantic:

One in five US teenagers has unhealthy cholesterol levels, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two stats that stick out from this study are: (1) 1/3 of teens are sufficiently overweight to qualify for cholesterol screening and (2) 14% of normal weight teens have unhealthy cholesterol levels.

How does this happen, you ask?  Well, images like the ones below are worth a gazillion words, don't you think?  Warning: do not look at them if you ate only a couple of minutes ago; after all, you don't want to taste that food again, do you? :)

And here is that classic scene where Jack Nicholson orders a toast at a diner :)