Expanding food

I just got back from four days with the nephews and have some blogging to catch up on. My first day there we climbed to the top of Multnomah Falls on the Columbia River. Here's me in front of the falls with my youngest nephew.


It was one of a series of weekly "challenges" my brother, his wife and her family are doing as part of a group diet. At the end of the climb, they did a weigh in. The winner of the weekly weight in wins the pot of money they all put in. I thought it was very inspiring, a great way to support each other.

At home, their refrigerator was stocked with fruits and vegetables. We packed lunches every day to avoid eating fatty food out. My sister-in-law said, "it's not so much that we eat bad food, it's that we eat too much." Americans have long enjoyed a varied bounty of inexpensive food. When I got back from India ten years ago and made a trip to the grocery store, I was floored by the enormous fruits and vegetables in the store. After two months in another country looking at normal-sized produce, these genetically-modified, chemically-enhanced monstrosities seemed cartoon-like, blown way out of proportion.

I felt for my brother and his wife. What an uphill battle they're fighting. Everything about our culture encourages people to eat more. I've done a couple of cleanses/fasts and learned that you can't watch television on one. Every few minutes there's a commercial for fast food. I don't even notice them normally but on a diet, juicy burgers dripping with cheese and bacon suddenly become the most delicious-looking thing I've ever seen.

On the plane back to LA, there was an column in Southwest's Spirit Magazine called The Numbers. "The bagel has grown three inches since 1987" was the headline. I thought something was amiss! Our food has been expanding at such a steady rate that we hardly notice we're suddenly eating three times as much. "But I only ate one!" Up from 140 calories, the new bagel has 350. The muffin has increased from 1.5 oz to 4 oz since 1987. The cookie has grown 2 inches in diameter from 1.5 to 3.5. The 2.4 oz portion of French fries is now 6.9 oz (and has 8g of trans-fats.)

One of our picnics included smallish turkey sandwiches with tomato and sprouts, carrots and hummous, a single serving each of a potato salad with olive oil and orzo rice salad to share, a green salad and almonds. My brother felt like he ate a lot, "I just kept eating and eating but I didn't feel full," he said. I told him that the body can function without ever feeling full and in fact the feeling indicates that we've eaten too much. Because of the giant portions we're served in restaurants these days, we have come to believe we shouldn't stop eating until it hurts.

My sister-in-law lost eight pounds that week but didn't win the pool. Someone else lost twelve. Keep up the good work y'all!