Many of you have already heard my emphatic praise for a book I received nearly a year ago called Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger. The book follows your run-of-the-mill package of everybody's favorite American processed delight, the twinkie. The author breaks the book down so that each chapter focuses on only one of the ingredients beginning with the most prevalent. I found it to be incredibly interesting as the author seems to find every tiny detail about the ingredients and follows them until said ingredient cannot be broken down anymore. He then provides further incite into the actual making of the ingredients (not just where they came from but how they got to the end). Plus, he seems to have my view that the FDA has gotten considerably out of hand allowing some of the crap that gets into our food supply.
Side note: Ashlee, do you still have my book? I keep forgetting to ask you about it because I will definitely have to reread it when we get back.
During my mid-morning internet excavation, I decided to check out Amazon for any other nutritional / agricultural books having just read an article about that very thing and some of the random chemicals that the typical American will eat on an average day in your regular city that is supported by your basic government that is bought by your common big corporation that has your standard (read: large) influence over what you eat.
So, I was checking Amazon out and found that my beloved Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger was a bargain book for only $5.99 plus s+h and a little bit of leeway with your soul as you will undoubtedly feel both deceived and nauseous when you realize that the fudge round you ate last night gave you cancer.
So, check it out here and your soul will thank you.
This is Greg... out.
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3 comments:
I still have it :) I need to get the last chapter read before you get back! I do recommend the book as well. Although, there are a few points and scare tactics that I wouldn't exactly endorse with a RD behind my name. The book does get you thinking though. I read the article as well. I can't wait until my two favorite foodies return to me!
Also, have you looked into what's in baby foods? Now that is an interesting topic.
Last side note: If anyone would like to accompany Sean and I to Forks and Corks, let one of us know. It is a wonderful food/wine/beer tasting event that supports Harvesters Food Network (feeding the hungry). 100% of the ticket price goes to Harvesters and the food and wine is awesome! They have live music this year as well. Suzy and Greg can attest to its delightfulness. :D
Suzy and I have looked a little bit into the baby food thing (Suzy more than I) but we have decided to make a lot of the baby food ourselves. It just seems like a scam to spend a buck on a mashed banana in a jar... Any thoughts on this, Ashlee? Any vitamins, etc. that we would want to make sure the kid will get?
The Forks and Corks thing is great. Like Ashlee alluded to, we went with her last year and it was a lot of fun. All of the big restaurants from KC are there: Lidia's, JP's Wine Bar, Fiorella's, among many others. Last year, they also had Boulevard there with unlimited amounts of three or four different brews. So go, eat, drink, merry yourself!
Commercial baby food doesn't technically contain harmful substances (if they follow federal guidelines--that's another story), but the problem is that they often contain more of the safe ingredients than an infant needs. For example, baby food desserts. These contain much more sugar than is necessary, to a point that current research is testing the hypothesis that a significant consumption of these foods may be contributing to Type I or Type II Diabetes. There is already evidence that if infants are genetically predisposed to either type of DM, that maternal nutrition (whether or not the mom had DM or gestational DM) has an impact on the likelihood and age at which the child will be diagnosed with the diabetes. Infants' kidneys are still in a stage of development when they are first being introduced to solids. Thus, a meal high in concentrated vitamins, minerals, AND sugar produces what is called a large renal solute load. This in turn, impacts many metabolic cycles.
Because Suzy has made the wise decision to breast feed, the most important focus of your supplemental food should be iron content. Most infant cereals are fortified with iron. Of course, the foods with meat sources are also a good source, and those contain zinc as well. Breast milk becomes a less than ideal source of iron around 4 or 5 months of age. In all honesty though, introducing solids around 6 months is more for oral motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and other parts of development than it is for nutrition. I'm sure Sarah may know something about this. From what I've been taught, and from my experience with kids at the hospital, infants that are not exposed to solids by 9 months of age tend to have food adversions and developmental delay. They're past the age where learning to eat is biological, and at a point where they literally have to be taught how to swallow. Some of these kids have to be tube fed in the process. It's really sad. Children are expected to be weaned by 15 months according to American Academy of Pediatrics and 18 months by WIC. The "Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges" for children (1-3 yrs) are:
Macronutrient AMDR for 1-3 yrs
Carbohydrates 45-65% of total energy
Protein 5-20% of total energy
Fat 30-40% of total energy
The key here is where those macronutrients come from. But they are general guidelines.
And the cost of baby food...now that's crazy!!!
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