forks for thought

Some interesting scientific facts to let simmer in your brain (borrowed from the above link!)

Six good points that prove human beings are herbivores. See which dietary class you associate with.

1. Carnivores have claws for shredding flesh. Herbivores do not.
2. Carnivores perspire through their tongues. Herbivores perspire through sudoriferous glands (skin pores).
3. Carnivores have sharp front teeth for tearing and no rear molars for grinding. Herbivores have the molars accompanied by flat front teeth.
4. Carnivores have an intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so rapidly decaying food can pass through quickly. Both herbivores and humans have a tract of about 10-12 times the size of their body length.
5. The stomach acid of herbivores and humans is 20 times weaker than the hydrochloric acid of a meat eater.
6. Herbivores and humans have well-developed salivary glands carrying alkaline and ptyalin in the mouth for the pre-digestion of plants. Carnivores do not.

Check out this great article, Ten Things You Should Know About Losing Weight The Right Way, over at Best Self Magazine.  It includes a remarkable success story about a couple who lost a total of 185lbs in one year after participating in a GEICO’s intervention study with Dr. Neal Barnard.

Here’s a highlight of the top 10 list

1) Forget the Diet, Change Your Lifestyle

2) Make Exercise a Priority

3) Keep a Food Journal

4) Ask for Help When Needed

5) Set Reasonable Goals

6) Allow Yourself to Cheat

8) Know Your Medical History

9) Fill Up on Smart Foods

10) Don’t Give Up

Important article.   

“The single state of North Carolina uses more antibiotics for livestock than the entire United States uses for humans.”

“Every year in the United States,325,000 people are hospitalized because of food-borne illnesses and 5,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s right: food kills one person every two hours.”

Even the vegetables aren’t safe anymore…

thebikenerd:

FROM: suzannaseyes:

We will realize, he predicts, that the consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less. “How many people,” Gilding asks, “lie on their death bed and say, ‘I wish I had worked harder or built more shareholder value,’ and how many say, ‘I wish I had gone to more ballgames, read more books to my kids, taken more walks?’ To do that, you need a growth model based on giving people more time to enjoy life, but with less stuff.”

wtlossfoodblog:

Wanna redesign the US nutrition facts food label?

You know this thing you see on food in stores… Well there’s an open contest being run to submit your own ideas. Keep in mind as Marion Nestle observes:

This [complexity] is understandable.  The Nutrition Facts label is the result of regulations in response to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990.  When the FDA started writing regulations to implement the Act, it tested consumer understanding of a bunch of potential designs.

The result?  Nobody understood any of them.  The FDA, under pressure to complete the regulations by the congressional deadline, chose the option that was least poorly understood–the best of a bad lot.

(Hat tip to Marion Nestle for pointing this out on her blog.)

(via food-forthought)

Steve-O (made famous by the MTV show Jackass), recently walked out of a charity event for the American Diabetes Association. 

“I came here because I thought this was about promoting a plant-based diet as diabetes prevention and they’re serving MEAT in there … so I’m outta here…. It’s like serving alcohol at an AA meeting.” 

Agreed.  Thanks Steve-O!