| Spring 2009 | Volume 24, Number 2 | Findings Magazine |  |
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Features: Food for the 21st Century Research News: Food & Transitions Observatory News |
New York Times science writer Gina Kolata discussed her new book, Rethinking Thin, at this year’s University of Michigan Motorola Lecture, presented by the UM Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Department of Women’s Studies and co-sponsored by SPH, among others. The following is excerpted from Kolata’s book, a provocative take on our national obsession with dieting and weight. “The saga of people’s unending attempts to control their weight is a tale of science and society, of social mores and social sanctions, of politics and power. It raises questions of money and class, and of whether there is such a thing as free will when it comes to eating and body weight. It raises questions of how and why the discoveries of science, which have slowly chipped away at the reasons for obesity and the real health effects of being overweight, have been shunted aside by marketing and hucksterism and politics. “And it is a story of the secret world of the overweight, who fantasize about finally, at long last, getting thin. What is it like to know the calorie count of every morsel of food you see and to worry that a single spoonful of ice cream or a cube of Swiss cheese can send your eating spiraling out of control? What is it like to face, as the National Academy of Sciences so bluntly put it, a ‘continuous lifelong struggle with no expectation that the struggle required will diminish with time’ (emphasis mine)? And how did our society, today, end up with what may be the greatest disconnect ever between the body weight ideals that are held up as obtainable if you really try and the body weight realities for most people?” < Excerpted from the prologue to Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss—and the Myths and Realities of Dieting by Gina Kolata. Copyright ©2009 by Gina Kolata. Reprinted by permission of Farrar Straus and Giroux, LLC. www.fsgbooks.com. Q&A with Jody Gray:
You’ve lost 165 pounds in the past five years. How did you do it? What did she tell you? It couldn’t have been that simple. What made you do it? Besides your dress size, what’s changed? If you could change one thing about the way Americans eat, what would it be? |
Getting Up to Speed on Slow Food The Slow Food Movement, a global, grassroots movement that’s all about taste “and about connecting ourselves with local food producers, and about regional and cultural food traditions that we’ve really lost touch with,” says K.T. Tomey, an assistant research scientist at UM SPH and secretary of the Huron Valley chapter of the movement. Slow Food is also about promoting sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, both of which are critical to our survival, Tomey notes. Unlike typical grocery-store apples, Chenango Strawberries and Black Krim tomatoes are not bred for appearance or ease of shipping. Look for them—and for other regionally produced, biologically diverse foods like honey, spinach, and peas—in your local farmer’s market or in restaurants and stores that support local farmers. To learn more visit www.slowfood.com. Slow Food Reading: 1. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Foods, by Michael Pollan 2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver 3. Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables, by Farmer John Peterson 4. The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution, by Alice Waters 5. Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food, ed. by Carlo Petrini
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