The Best Field Trip Ever: The White House Garden

Sam Kass

I am compelled to share this slightly off-topic experience because I feel so honored to have had the opportunity yesterday to tour the first lady's garden with White House chef, Sam Cass. I was presenting on marketing healthy foods to adolescents to a conference of food service managers and a trip to the White House happened to be on our conference agenda. And it was the best field trip ever.


A baby papaya tree.



It was a beautiful September day and after a little shuffling around the White House because of a helicopter landing and issues at security, we made our way through the garden and had the opportunity to ask questions. According to Mr. Cass, the Obamas like simple, fresh foods; ingredients come from the garden every night; while organic practices are used while gardening, the garden is not certified organic; and the glamour of being the White House chef eventually wears off.

After the White House tour, we headed back to the hotel for more presentations. A woman named Corey, whose job title is urban farm coordinator, gave an amazing presentation about farming at her Job Corps center. The center was awarded an ARRA grant to develop an acre of farmland on their inner-city property. On the farm, Corey, a friendly San Francisco native, not only grows all of the standard fruits, vegetables, and flowers, she also has a fish pond and a chicken coup. Corey also provides a much bigger service to the at-risk youth at her center; she uses the farm to teach them about growing food, healthy eating, and opportunities to decrease health disparities, like food deserts, in poor communities.

Admittedly, I have a bit of a black thumb. In fact, I made a joke about it several years ago and touched a leaf on a plant. A few weeks later, that leaf was dead. I'm not even kidding. But my trip to the White House (even if I didn't get to meet Michelle) and Korey's presentation made me want to get out there and rent a piece of an urban farm. Any tips for those of us who aren't naturals in the botanical world?





Why do people choose healthy foods?

For our fifth anniversary, my husband and I went to Top Chef runner-up Mike Isabella’s new restaurant, Graffiato. In preparation of our big dinner, I read every Yelp review written about the place. I wanted to order just right. The restaurant serves small plates—a little bigger than tapas, a good bit smaller than a meal. A lot of the reviews were divided; many people loved the chicken thighs with pepperoni sauce that was called “orgasmic” by Top Chef judge Gail Simmons; others referred to it as overrated. The pizza was also polarizing; some called it perfect; others called it bland and overpriced. Nearly every dish has as many lovers as haters, except for the roasted cauliflower, that is.

Yelpers raved about the roasted cauliflower. Perfectly cooked so it was crisp on the outside and creamy in the middle in a good quality olive oil with pecorino romano cheese, lemon zest, and mint. I couldn’t wait to order this vegetable. It most certainly didn’t disappoint. I truly could have eaten 10 times the portion of this wonderful cauliflower. And, as an added bonus, it might possibly be the healthiest thing on the menu.

Graffiato is no Applebee’s. There’s no Weight Watcher’s menu and no little heart icon pointing people to the healthy dish, yet a lot of customers are noshing on this delight. So why is this $6 mini plate of cauliflower so popular?

For starters, it’s delicious. In order for people to choose a healthy dish it has to taste good. Vegetables aren’t cooked properly so much of the time. They are often over or undercooked and almost always under seasoned.

Second, people order this cauliflower because other people like this cauliflower. Yelp and the DC food blogs have seen to it that people know about this dish. People order it because others like it.

Mike Isabella’s intention wasn’t to convince people to eat their vegetables. His purpose is to sell food of all kinds that tastes good. It just happens that he makes a rocking cauliflower. But could the lack of a health claim be the reason why people fawn over the dish?

Companies market so many foods, from chips with whole grain to sugary cereals with immunity boosters to organic blueberries, with health claims. In this series of posts, I’m going to explore what makes people choose to eat a healthy food.


Stay tuned for part two "Do health claims on food make a difference?" 

Why are cigarettes legal and raw milk illegal?

After reading impassioned documents from the FDA about the potential harm of raw milk, equally passionate rebuttals from the Campaign for Real Milk, and somewhat-unbiased scientific-research articles, I have decided that unpasteurized milk has gotten a raw deal (pun intended). A classic tale of intrigue, unpasteurized milk is a victim of money, power, and politics.

In the briefest of summaries, raw milk carries some risk of food-borne illness, as do all foods, but also comes with health benefits. The potential risks are miniscule when compared to the risks of, say, cigarettes, yet still raw milk is illegal in many states. The rational behind the laws governing raw milk are convoluted, as are the answers to the following Q and A.

Question #1: Is raw milk safe?

Totally convoluted answer #1: For the most part. The FDA provides a good number of case studies describing the ill effects of raw milk, including serious food-borne illness and an occasional death. Proponents of raw milk find fault with each of these case studies and disagree that raw milk was the real culprit. After reading these studies, raw milk appears to be safer than lunchmeat (which I may never eat again).

Bottom line: The safety of raw milk depends on how cows are raised, a sanitary milking procedure, and frequent testing of milk for harmful bacteria. Every raw milk advocacy website strongly recommends that consumers “know their farmer.” Incidentally, if raw milk were made legal and regulated, it would be a lot safer than the current black market milk. There are valid and reliable bacteria testing procedures, that when uniformly applied, effectively screen out any contaminated raw milk samples.

Question #2: Why is raw milk illegal in some states?

Totally convoluted answer #2: On the surface, raw milk is illegal because of controversy surrounding the safety, but I don’t think that this is the real reason. Like big oil and big pharm, big dairy has a good deal of pull. Regional big dairy associations (the “Got Milk?” people) have launched ad campaigns under the guise of public service announcements to outline the hazards of raw milk, most notably in Texas where legislation supporting raw milk has been introduced. A rise in consumer confidence in raw milk translates to revenue loss for mainstream dairy farms. Laws tend to follow the money and obviously big, factory farms out earn your small, organic, free-range dairy farmer by about a zillion to one (citation needed).

Question #3: Is raw milk a magical health food?

Totally convoluted answer #3: We’ll probably never totally know. There are a good number of studies that show that kids who are raised on farms with lots of dirty farm animals and germs are healthier than their counterparts raised in Lysol-polluted homes on pasteurized skim milk. These kids suffer fewer allergies to pollen, animals, and food; less asthma; and are overwhelmingly healthier.

As for the other health claims…. There’s a good chance that we won’t know for some time as, like laws follow the money, so does scientific research. The FDA, the same agency that vehemently opposes raw milk, funds much of the research on health benefits of foods. It’s my guess that organic, free-range dairy farmers could write grant proposals until the cows come home (again, pun intended) without receiving funding.

Question #4: Can people with lactose intolerance drink raw milk?

Totally convoluted answer #4: Not people with true lactose intolerance, but a lot of people who get an upset stomach after drinking pasteurized milk who are not truly lactose intolerant can handle raw milk. Click here for a good summary.

Question #5: Would I buy a raw-milk product again?

Finally a straightforward answer: I would need to know about where it came from, bacteria testing procedures, and refrigeration and shipment processes. In short, I do not plan on buying retail raw milk again and feel that I would need to better know my farmer.

Coming back to my original question, why are cigarettes legal and raw milk illegal? Cigarettes with their extremely well documented cancer-causing properties are legal because of money. Raw milk, with its somewhat sketchy documentation of food-borne illness and potential health benefits is illegal because it is going against big money. And in our society, those with money win.

Raw Milk: Cuddly Disease Preventing Hero or Death Causing Uber Villain?

The yogurt in question.

A few weeks ago, I went grocery shopping at an Amish market. This market is a completely unique experience with all of the cute Amish 10 year olds breaking child labor laws serving up stuffed pork chops, fruits and veggies, baked goods, and this amazing pit roasted turkey, all while wearing their traditional attire. Vendors from various farms set up shop in the open-area building and the customer pays for his or her selections in each department. A section of the market is dedicated to breads, another section to meat, other sections to furniture and jewelry, etc. My story takes place in the dairy department.

Upon entering the market, a case of prepared salads, including my husband’s favorite, Amish macaroni salad, beckons. I knew that I might as well not return home if I forgot the Amish macaroni salad, so I made a beeline for the counter. The counter wraps around into the cheese and dairy section. I grabbed a few cheeses, paid for my goods and moved to the bread department. It was after I visited the produce and meat vendors that I realized that I missed my Saturday morning farmer’s market and didn’t have yogurt for breakfast. By that time, I was in a hurry and rushed back to the dairy department, grabbed a maple yogurt off the shelf and went on my merry way.

It wasn’t until a few days and half the yogurt container later when I was preparing my breakfast at work that I fully comprehended the label. I had bought yogurt made with raw, unpasteurized, fresh-from-the-farm milk. First, I sent an email to a coworker to inform him that if I suddenly died, he should point the investigators toward the yogurt in the fridge. Then I set about eating my breakfast. This maple, full-fat, unprocessed yogurt was admittedly pretty awesome. In fact, it was awesome enough that I threw food-borne illness caution to the wind and finished the container that day. It’s now a week later and my stomach is a-okay.

I first became interested in the raw milk controversy in May when a Facebook friend posted pictures from the Rally for Food and Farm Freedom on the National Mall. People gathered for this rally to protest the government’s regulation of raw milk. For the past two years the FDA has been organizing stings on Amish farms that illegally sell or ship unpasteurized milk. The rally was organized to help protect the small farms affected by these laws and the consumers who prefer to drink raw milk.

Confusingly, both state and federal laws regulate raw milk sales. There are a myriad of baffling, ever changing state laws on the books about raw milk. (I have to disclose that the concept of state laws confuses me. I don’t grasp the purpose of different laws in different states, like why you can buy beer and wine in grocery stores in both the District and Virginia, but not in my current state of Maryland. That being said, my analysis of these state laws should be taken with a grain of salt.) Apparently cows, and their milk, are healthier and carry less bacteria in some states than others. It appears by this fancy color-coded map that cows are very dangerous in Maryland, West Virginia, Nevada, Louisiana, Montana, Michigan, the state southwest of Michigan, and New Jersey and cows in the other states are relatively safe. Unfortunately, I bought my apparently illicit raw-milk yogurt in Maryland. Damn! I can only hope that it was smuggled illegally (per FDA federal regulations) across state lines from Pennsylvania Amish country, where apparently the cows are happy and healthy. Of note, Ron Paul, an unlikely advocate for the hippie-base of raw milk consumers, recently introduced a bill in Congress to allow raw milk transport across state lines.

So, why go to all of the trouble to smuggle and protest to buy raw milk? Proponents of raw milk feel passionately that it prevents allergies, asthma, heart disease, cancer, and autism, and that it does not cause more food-borne illness than pasteurized milk, as long as it is handled correctly.

The FDA claims that raw milk is responsible for a lot of lost bodily fluids from outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli, listeria and campylobacter.

Both sides are passionate and throw journal articles and case studies around like it’s nobody’s business. Get ready for a throw down like no other!

Lessons in Artifical Sweeteners and Humility

Emerald nuts have
artifical sweeteners.

Last year, I went out for a run in the trails near my house. On the way back, about two miles from my home, I thought, “I feel great. I am a really good runner. I’m going to run even faster.” About 30 seconds later, I found myself splayed on the ground, leg scraped, elbows bleeding. I no longer felt quite as good about myself. The same thing happens to me every time I try to fix something with HTML code. I feel really good about my computer skills and then, when I preview my work and the font has suddenly increased to bold, italicized, 42 pt midparagraph, I realize that there’s a reason why I’m not a computer programmer.

Low and behold, I was feeling all proud of myself and superior about my general avoidance of artificial sweeteners last week. Then I visited my parents this weekend and they had the ginormous size of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds from Sam’s Club. (These’s almonds are nutastic, BTW.) I got out my trusty Fooducate app to see the nutritional report card while I was devouring the nuts. They got a B+. I felt even better about myself.

Then I looked at the Fooducate assessment. The dark-chocolate roasted delights contain “controversial artificial sweeteners and preservatives.” Upon closer inspection of the ingredient list, I found the culprit—the dreaded sucralose (codename Splenda). I had so many questions about this. Why would you add artificial sweetener to a product that isn’t marketed as diet? Are artifical sweeteners even cheaper than corn syrup? Why did Fooducate give this product a B+ if it contains artificial sweeteners? How much artificial sweetener do I eat without knowing?

There are really two morals to this story. First, if you avoid artificial sweeteners, make sure you check the label closely. Even if it’s not a “diet” food, it still might contain these brain-altering chemicals. Second (my personal lesson that I apparently will never learn no matter how many times I repeat it), the universe will always conspire to prove me wrong every time I think too highly of myself. Sorry universe. I am not a great runner, a computer programmer, or a perfect eater. Please stop tripping me.

This is Your Brain on Diet Soda

Can your brain be easily duped? Take this test. In the video below count how many times the team wearing white passes the ball. (Make sure you watch the whole thing).

Did you see it?

About 50% of people are fooled by this video. The brain is clearly susceptible to an occasional blond moment. In fact, the brain is a lot like Sarah Palin when asked a tough question about North Korea or Paul Revere’s ride—perpetually confused.

As it turns out, diet soda and other artificially sweetened “foods” aren’t diet after all. There are nearly 4,000 artificially sweetened products on the market right now and they are not doing a darn thing to help the obesity epidemic. In fact, obesity is increasing as fast as diet products can flood the marketplace. People who switch from regular soda to diet soda fail to lose weight, even though they remove 100s of calories from their diets. Why is this the case?

First, feeling that it has avoided calories in regular soda, the perplexed brain convinces Diet Cokeheads reward themselves with a treat. Diet soda drinkers tend to take in nearly as many calories as regular soda drinkers while they think they’re taking in less (Yang, 2010). There have been a few studies that have contradicted this (Stanner, 2010), but the majority show that people who drink diet soda eat the calories back (Yang, 2010).

That diet soda as an afternoon treat may also be responsible for a future brownie craving. Sugar works a lot like drugs—the more we eat, the more we want. The brain recognizes artificial sweeteners as sugar (dumb, dumb brain) and craves more sweetness as a result (Yang, 2010).

On the rare occasion when I have a diet soda, I feel like there’s Grand Canyon-size hole in my stomach. While the brain perceives artificial sweetener like sugar when it comes to increasing sugar cravings, the brain gets confused by the calorie void that comes with the diet drink. Diet soda activates the brain’s reward center, and then when the brain can’t find the calories, it gets confused. The brain sends a memo to the stomach about the lack of calories. In response, the stomach growls and sends the body on a quest to fill the calorie void, bringing us full circle to fact that diet-soda drinkers eat more than regular soda drinkers (Yang, 2010).

On a side note, as if the weight causing effects of both diet and regular soda aren’t enough, most self-service soda machines carry nasty bacteria. The recent study found that the majority of soda fountains contained harmful bacteria like e-coli, staph, candida (yeast) or coliform (White, 2010).

Long story short, diet soda is no better than regular soda. Go water!

Sources:

Stanner, S. (2010). The science of low-calorie sweeteners—separating fact from fiction. Nutrition Bulletin. 35; 357-362.

White, A.S., et al. (2010). Beverages obtained from soda fountain machines in the US contain microorganisms, including coliform bacteria. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 137(1); 61-66.

Yang, Q. (2010). Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 83; 101-108.

Losing Weight is Like Falling in Love

After my last blog post, my friend, Monica, emailed to share her weight-loss story. Monica had a similar three-step experience as that which was outlined in the post: a general contemplation of change, a negative a-ha moment that served as a catalyst (seeing her college graduation photo), and then a series of positive reinforcements. In looking back at her experience, she wrote:

I found that the negative experience is very random and uncontrollable. I had plenty of equally negative experiences before this one that did not influence me to change behavior. I believe you can't stimulate such an experience any more than you can make someone have chemistry and fall in love with another person. That spark is uncontrollable. You can lay the groundwork with an openness to the experience, an examination of what works and doesn't work for you, etc., but that spark in love is the best analogy that I have to offer to the spark that stimulates weight loss. Once you have that spark, there are things you can do to keep the flame of weight loss alive, just like keeping a relationship in the healthy and happy zone takes some work and attention as well.

I am definitely not relationship-expert extraordinaire Carrie Bradshaw, but Monica’s email made me think about my dating experiences prior to meeting my husband. (Earmuffs, honey.) I remember going out on this blind date. Our matchmaker introduced us because he was a PE teacher, I worked at a gym, and (probably the number one reason) we were both short. This guy, whose name I don’t remember, insisted on meeting at the ESPN Zone, arrived 20 minutes late, and then informed me that we didn’t have time to eat dinner because we were going to meet his friends at a basketball game. I really don’t like basketball and I find dinner to be a very important part of the day, but went along with this super-boring date anyway. At the end of the date, he said, “We should do this again.” I actually burst out laughing. As much as we looked good on paper, I doubt either one of us felt anything that resembled a spark and both of us knew that we wouldn’t be going out again.

What if, like a blind date with an arrogant little PE teacher, all of the time we spend trying to force weight loss is a colossal waste of time? Could dieting without this perfect storm of readiness, an a-ha moment, and a supportive environment do more harm than good?

If losing weight is like falling in love, dieting is like dating a guy with no job, seven kids from four different women, and a drinking problem. (If that’s not an SAT-worthy analogy, I don’t know what is.) Across the board, people who weight cycle (repeatedly gain and lose weight) weigh more and carry more fat in their abdominal area (Cereda, 2011). Diet books, magazines, and websites push us to seek out new magical low-fat, low-carb, cabbage soup, cave man, blood type, raw food, baby food, French, Mediterranean diets. Sadly, this miraculous diet doesn’t exist, and our diet-du-jour society is actually causing weight gain.

Like finding a mate, living healthy needs to feel good, be enjoyable most of the time, and come together easily. Try finding enjoyment in an activity, be it running, dancing, or eating broccoli. It also helps to start contemplating and planning for long-term weight loss by figuring out how to fit healthy eating habits and exercise into almost every day for the rest of your life. At some point when you’re ready, that a-ha moment will come. If you don’t feel that you are 100% on board and that eating healthy and exercising is a struggle, take a step back and reevaluate your plan. Like a good relationship, a healthy lifestyle shouldn’t feel like a great effort.

Cereda, E., et al. (2011). Weight cycling is associated with body weight excess and abdominal fat accumulation: A cross-sectional study. Clinical Nutrition. Epub ahead of print.