Mothership Meals and Satellite Saucers: The Low-Fat Scam, Then the Milk Debacle

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Low-Fat Scam, Then the Milk Debacle

Actually, first the milk debacle: When I started this blog, I briefly thought about the Milk Issue, and then decided I'd just leave it alone. I'm not a nutritionist, after all, and I don't need to open up that pissy opinion trunk of mine. Plus, I occupy such a weird sliver of thought in the milk debate that I can sound like I'm talking about UFO's, especially among the Low-fat Milk People, who tend to be a stolid and almost evangelical crowd.

But then I heard Gary Taubes on NPR the other day, and Michael Pollan today. And I feel like doing a little evangelizing myself, because it seems the low-fat tower is finally crumbling. In both books -- Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories, and Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food -- the low-fat theory is being debunked. On WNYC today, Michael Pollan said that public health officials of the last few decades might actually owe us an apology. I'll say, and I never even really totally cut out the bacon or the butter. But think of all the people who did.

Basically, they're saying that a low-fat diet has never been proven to be healthier than a full-fat diet. It does not help you lose weight. It does not prevent heart disease. At the same time, saturated fats do not lead to heart disease or make you fat. In fact, some of these guys are not even all that sure that trans fats are the real evil. Could it be the refined carbs that are always palling around with the trans fats?

I'm not ready personally to let trans fats off the hook, but what the hell do I know? But I'm more than willing to point accusatory fingers at refined carbs. And I'm beyond thrilled to hear that my good friend saturated fat has been finally released from the slammer.

So here's how it relates to my milk thing:

I'm not against milk. Yes, there was a time when I didn't eat dairy, but these days I've given into my hedonism; I eat yogurt, I put milk in my coffee; I take my kids out for ice cream once in a while. I'll even make a cream-based soup now and then.

It's more that I'm against low-fat milk. But I don't care if people fill their own fridges with a lesser version of a liquid that god made to nourish baby cows and so that things like cream of watercress soup and creme brulee could exist. As long as they don't try to get me to use their fat-free half-and-half in my coffee, I don't care what percentage of fat works for them. I really don't.

What I'm against is public policies that try to get vast groups of people to drink low-fat and no-fat milk products.

Even more, I'm against public policies that are so maniacal about getting vast groups of people to drink reduced-fat dairy products that they will add things like high-fructose corn syrup so that the reduced fat dairy products taste good, thus turning a dubiously well-intentioned effort into a truly retarded and backward scheme to keep everyone fat and sick as long as the corn and dairy industries thrive.

And this is the kind of thing that truly gets me: that it is currently part of standard public health policy to push low fat milk on children and poor people. It's on school lunch trays all across the country, for instance (with ultra-refined carb sweeteners added to it to make it palatable), and a couple of years ago the NYC health dept sent workers out into the field to try to convince people in the outer boroughs -- people on the lower end of the economic scale, in other words, who are often more susceptible to the worst of the civilization diseases (heart disease, diabetes, obesity and the like) -- to switch to low-fat milk.

(Forget for a second the fact that it was sketchy science -- what about the fact that the vast majority of people of Latin, African and Asian descent are lactose intolerant? Like 75% of African-Africans, 75% of Mexicans and at least 90% of Asians? Well hey, what better use of its resources could the health dept come up with than to go out to bodegas in East New York and peddle 2% milk to 10-year-old black girls?

And hey, guess who's not so lactose intolerant? White people of Northern European descent. So weird, huh?

Okay, I'll stop now. Except to wonder how long it will take for the de-bunking of the low-fat myth to make its torturous way through the labrythinths that must connect (right?) the nutritional science part of the country to the school foods part of the country, and change the policy of forcing low-fat dairy products onto the trays of millions of kids every day.

Here's the link to the Gary Taubes interview.

Recipes and calmness returning shortly, I promise!

2 comments:

Courtney said...: I feel so shallow. I like my non-fat milk, but only because it makes for better cappuccino froth than whole fat milk ;); January 11, 2008 at 6:25 PM
Larissa said...: I lost the cappucino-froth argument a long time ago, when my father's wife proved to me that low-fat milk makes a better froth. (Why is that, though, when heavier fat cream holds air better and makes better whipped cream? Ahh, the mysteries of fat.)
Don't feel shallow. I probably like mint milano cookies and rice krispies more than you.; January 15, 2008 at 8:55 AM

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The Mothership Method

(Or, how to sit down for dinner with your family without completely losing your mind)

It would be great if kids AND parents wanted boiled chicken and baby carrots every night for dinner. But, too bad, we picky parents want spicy, exotic, fun foods, and our kids want, well, sorta lame foods.
Here's the solution: break it down. Serve the dish deconstructed, and let everyone put their own dish together at the table. Sort of like tapas, or smorgasbord, or tacos. Or how in some parts of China you get a bowl of rice, and everything else is in the middle of the table and you take what you want for your own little bowl of rice. That way everyone gets to eat what they want, parents don't have to nag their kids, and kids get to feels some ownership over their meals. Plus, kids get exposed to the look and taste of the foods you hope they will one day love. But it's not just tacos. You'll be amazed at what can be served with the Mothership Method.

Ten Tips to Get Through Dinner Without Having A Nervous Breakdown

1. Accept That Kids Are Picky. No need to freak out on your cooking ability, or look at your kids like there is something wrong with them. It's called "neo-phobia", and it's just how they are, especially from ages 3-6.

2. Serve Meals Broken Down. Even grown-up meals like coconut curry or linguine with clams can be served in their elements, making them more appealing to kids. Grown ups can assemble their own jumble of deliciousness at their own plate while kids take on the pared-down elements.

3. Push if it Works, But Don't Nag If It Doesn't. Some kids are okay with being expected to taste everything on their plate. Others aren't. I think it's okay to push kids -- but not if you're turning dinner into a battlefield.

4. Suggest a Smell. Smelling a new food is easier than tasting it, and can sometimes provide a kid with the information needed to take that scary first bite. But don't confine smelling to new foods. Smell favorites, too, and help them develop their sense of smell by making a game out of it.

5. Don't Ask "Do You Like It?" Instead, try, "What does this remind you of?" or, "Would your cousins like this?" or, "Does this taste salty or sweet?". Asking if they like it or not gives kids too much power and ends the conversation. Besides, we don't care if they like it! We just want them to keep tasting it until it is familiar.

6. Don't Get Frustrated. Imagine being in Taiwan, or Nairobi, or Rome for the first time. Would you eat everything on the local menu? New foods are scary and gross. Our kids need time to learn about the foods that we eat.

7. No SubstitutionsThis is family dinner, not a diner. You, in all your wisdom, have provided foods that are healthy and delicious and appropriate for your children. There is something on the table for them to eat. Period.

8. No Snacks Before Dinner. This can be the hardest with our hectic schedules and hungry kids. But children who come to the table hungry are more likely to eat than cause trouble.

9. Put Peer Pressure To Your Advantage. School children are more likely to accept new foods if the alpha girls in their group accept them. Swap healthy food ideas on playdates.

10. Involve Your Kids In Cooking, Shopping, and Gardening. The more experience kids have handling and preparing a variety of foods, the more likely they are to eventually accept the foods. (But don't get upset if they help you make a complicated wonderful meal, and then refuse to eat it.)