Food

Long John Silvers.

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Last autumn when I was working out in the field, one day I decided to get lunch at Long John Silvers. I am not one for fast food or even eating out, but I was getting reimbursed for meals, so I got lunch there. It was quick, easy, and gross. I’ve avoided fast food for years, as I hate all the packaging, and I was equally grossed out on what I got.

Fast food is fried food, and it’s just plain gross, a mass of hot congealed fat with some fish dipped into it. I guess if you enjoy eating melted lard, it’s good, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I just wished as much that I had packed a sandwitch in my reusable container and passed on the work reimbursement as I often do.

There are better sandwitch shops and other businesses out there then the local chain fast-food, but most of them still come with what I view as excess packaging. But that was the place my colleagues wanted to go. I certainly wouldn’t stop there again on my own, especially not at my own expense.

Bananas Have Died Out Once Before

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Bananas Have Died Out Once Before

"However, the banana that people ate in the early 20th century was not the one we know today. There are hundreds of edible banana varieties, but to standardise production, banana companies selected a single type to grow: the Gros Michel, a large, flavourful banana. Gros Michel did well up until the 1950s. But then a fungus known as Fusarium wilt, or Panama disease, rapidly infected entire plantations, and caused a global collapse in the banana trade. The industry quickly found a replacement, a banana resistant to Panama disease, called the Cavendish. But while these new bananas were filling a growing Western appetite, Cavendish suffered from the same flaw that brought down Gros Michel: monoculture."

The Sugar Industry’s Secret Science Is Being Exposed By Ex-Dentist Cristin Kearns

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The Sugar Industry’s Secret Science Is Being Exposed By Ex-Dentist Cristin Kearns

"At a dental conference in 2007, Kearns couldn’t help but notice that some things weren’t adding up. According to one handout she received, dentists should tell patients to improve their blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol by “increasing fiber and limiting saturated fats and salt.” What about sugar? she wondered. A pamphlet given out during another talk said that sweetened Lipton Brisk tea was as healthy as nonfat milk and coffee. Bewildered, Kearns cornered the speaker afterward. “He said, ‘There is no evidence linking sugar to chronic disease,’ and I had no comeback, because I was so shocked that he said that,” Kearns recalled." “That was the ‘aha’ moment for me,” she said, “that I needed to dig deeper.”