Food Matters: Eat less meat, eat more veggies, whole grains

My growing interest in food politics has lead me to start reading authors like Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma is still on my to-read list), watch documentaries like Food, Inc., and learn more about biofuels and farm subsidies. One great book that I read recently was Food Matters by NYT Columnist and famed cookbook author Mark Bittman.

The book is half summary of the current state of food & health in America (we're up shit's creek). The second half is composed of guidelines and recipes to start to change the way we eat to help our health and the environment (this is where he gives us a paddle).

From the book that you can browse here at Google Books:

"Here's the summary: Eat less meat, and fewer animal products in general (I'll get to specifics on page 93). Eat fewer refined carbohydrates, like white bread, cookies, white rice, and pretzels. Eat way less junk food: soda, chips, snack food, candy, and so on. And eat far more vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains—as much as you can.

If you followed those general rules and read no farther, you'd be doing yourself and the earth a favor. And I'm by no means the only one who thinks so."

Bittman lost a lot of weight by sticking to "vegan until six" and then eating close to how he ate before, but with more vegetables and less meat. Little was off limits, and he indulged in the occasional hamburger and desserts. He lost 35 pounds and lowered his cholesterol and blood sugar and slept better at night.

None of this is brand new. I think Salon nailed it when they called this book "applied Pollan." Before I read the book, I had already incorporated most of the recommendations into my diet (except I am not always vigilant since I find it difficult to not order dessert when I go to a new restaurant). I highly recommend this book and think that the role of food in public policy is only going to become more important with obesity and environmental issues on the rise.

"Lose Weight! Save the Planet! Become a Lessmeatarian!"

Must Read on Health Care

I consider this article from the Economist's Democracy in America blog on our health care system required reading among my friends.

It is easy to get caught up in the politics and horse-trading of the current health care debate. Sometimes I force myself to take a step back and look at the big picture. The inclusion of the public option, covering the uninsured, federal funding of abortions... these are all important topics. But the most important issue in reforming our health care system is slowing the growth of health care expenditures. We spend too much in this country on health care (and the military). The public option and requiring or providing health insurance to all may be useful tools in reducing costs, but it is going to be necessary for our country to hold an honest and painful debate on end-of-life-care and our priorities. The current system is unsustainable.

"For one thing, it means that Medicare spent $50 billion last year to care for patients in the last two months of their lives. As "60 Minutes" pointed out on Sunday, "that's more than the budget of the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Education." It means we give liver transplants to the terminally ill, defibrillators to those with untreatable cancer. It means we use lots of money and resources, as if we have an endless supply of both, in order to briefly delay the reaper, or avoid looking him in the eye."

"...We condemn 'rationing' as if we don't already do it."

"For example, instead of buying some of those defibrillators and paying for some of those transplants, we could computerise America's medical records. At this time, someone holding up a placard might accuse me of "killing grandma". In reality, though, my decision would save many more grandmas—a study found that between 2002 and 2004 nearly a quarter of Medicaid beneficiaries died due to safety incidents, many of which were likely preventable with better record keeping. But improving record keeping doesn't quite have the emotional appeal of caring for the elderly. So we give grandma her procedure, whatever it may be, while ignoring the fact that more money spent in one place means less money spent in another. Ignoring that every excessive procedure comes with a cost, in terms of the nation's overall health."


Bonus reading: Ebert's funny review of Twilight: New Moon

When Political Aides Attack!

The fall of John Edwards has been an interesting story to follow. I tend to be quite disinterested when it comes to news of political infidelities. If there is hypocrisy involved, I pay a little more attention but still don't really care that much. However, the John Edwards story just keeps getting more interesting.

The part I find most interesting is that John Edwards still ran for the Democratic nomination in 2008 despite knowing that if he got the nomination and news of his affair with Rielle Hunter became public, it would do long-term damage to the Democratic party. If I was an Edwards donor, I would have been so pissed. I've also been curious about the strange book tour Elizabeth Edwards went on, but that's another story.

As much as I like to think that I'm above following stories that sound like they are straight out of a tabloid, sometimes I succumb. Guilty pleasure of the week: reading about Former Edwards Aide Andrew Young allegations in a proposal for a rare tell-all book.

Highlights:

• Edwards made a sex tape with Hunter

• "Hunter and Edwards talked of marriage should Elizabeth, who suffers from incurable cancer, die and that the former North Carolina senator was promised by Barack Obama the Attorney General's office"

• Elizabeth Edwards accuses Young of stealing her late son's baseball card collection

• Edwards convinced Young to claim responsibility for being the father of Edwards illegitimate son with Hunter

• Obama promised to make Edwards Attorney General if he wasn't picked as his running mate

Energy & Health Care: Use Less

One thing I've been working on lately is trying to figure out which public policy issues I am most passionate about. It's impossible to be an expert on all issues, and it would be easier for me to have a successful career if I dive into only one or two issues (and leave the rest for extra-curricular enjoyment).

Crime, international relations, national security, and transportation are just some of the issues that I've been passionate about at one time (not sure if I've actually stopped with any of them actually). Two more recent issues I've been researching are environmental policy and health care reform. I just came across an article by TIME attempting to link the two. It's so simple, but I just really liked the headline: "The Key to Fixing Health Care and Energy: Use Less"

A key passage:

"In medicine, the idea would be to reward quality rather than quantity, to give providers incentives to keep us healthy and reduce unnecessary treatments, to encourage doctors and hospitals to promote a culture of low-cost, high-quality care. One reason the Mayo Clinic already provides low-cost, high-quality care is that it keeps its doctors on salary, insulating them from fee-for-service inducements to overserve; unfortunately, Mayo is hemorrhaging cash on its Medicare patients, because the current system penalizes responsibly conservative care.

Doctors don't get paid for thinking about a case or returning a phone call or explaining why an MRI isn't necessary; hospitals don't get paid when their discharged patients don't have to go back to the hospital. Our goal for our health-care system is not more tests or more doctor's visits or longer stays in the hospital — it's better health. But that's not what gets paid for, so that's not what we get."

Election Day: Choosing the Least Painful Option

I was one of about 60 people in Dykstra/De Neve that went to the polls today. After a couple weeks of reading about the measures, some soul searching, and using what I've learned in my current class on California ballot propositions, I headed to the polls. I held my nose as I tried to choose between some pretty ugly choices (this includes the local candidates as well as propositions).

Today there was no feeling of as excitment like when I cast my vote for Obama in November. But I gritted my teeth and made my choices. And it looks like the only one that might pass is the one that is purely symbolic and doesn't really matter: 1F (elected official salaries). I am interested (and scared) to see where we are going to find the money to plug the deficit. Welcome to reality: you can't demand that we spend money on everything you want but refuse to raise taxes to pay for it.

From the LA Times:

"The public's contradictory impulses were laid bare by a recent Field Poll. It found that voters oppose cutbacks in 10 of 12 major categories of state spending, including the biggest, education and healthcare. Yet most voters were unwilling to have their own taxes increased, and they overwhelmingly favored keeping the two-thirds requirement for tax hikes."

Yes Pecan!

You've seen Ben & Jerry's Obama-inspired "Yes Pecan" ice cream. Now, a viral e-mail that I came across on my professor's blog suggests that it is only fair that a Bush-inspired flavor gets introduced. Here is a partial list of suggestions floating around: 

Mission Pecanplished
Abu Grape
Cluster Fudge
WireTapioca
Impeach Cobbler
ImPeachMint
Heckuvajob Brownie
NeoconPolitan
Grape Depression
Cookie D'oh!
Credit Crunch
Death by Chocolate... and Torture
Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
Nut'n Accomplished
Chokealot Pretzel
WMDelicious

Twitter

I've been interested about the role of Twitter in politics for a bit now. Whether it's stories about Congressmen twitting while meeting with President Obama or giving away their exact location in real time during secret trips to Iraq, I find it an exciting time to see Congressmen experiment with being hip and responsive. This latest story really gave me a chuckle:

YESTERDAY morning, Virginia politicos caught wind of a rumour that one of the Democrats in the state Senate was about to switch parties. Because the Democrats had a 21-19 majority, that shift would have flipped control over to the Republicans. Then Jeff Frederick, the chairman of the state Republicans picked up his smartphone and sent out a tweet.

Big news out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway.

And that's how the Democrats found about about the plot. They adjourned business, cornered the rogue senator, and browbeat him out of his big plan."Be authentic on Twitter," texted Patrick Ruffini, a Republican web guru. "But still keep a frickin' secret when you need to."

Political Ads

Example of a good political ad (will air during Super Bowl in Illinois)

"In a 15-candidate Democratic primary field for Rahm Emanuel’s Congressional seat, it can be tough to get noticed...The ad was produced by famed political adman Bill Hillsman, who is responsible for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone’s memorable ads that propelled him to an upset Senate victory in Minnesota."

Example of a terrible political ad

Shouldn't a former Lieutenant Governor have something better to run on than losing a few pounds?

The Emanuel Brothers

You should recognize the name Rahm Emanuel by now. He's about to be Obama's Chief of Staff. However, it wasn't until my friend Andrey started to tell me about his brother Ezekiel Emanuel that I realized how interesting of a family the Emanuel's are. 

Ezekiel Emanuel: Chair of the Department of Bioethics at The Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University, and often writes about reforming our current health care system.

Ari Emanuel: Inspiration for the Character of Ari Gold on the show Entourage and Bob Odenkirk's character, Stevie Grant, on The Larry Sanders Show.

He represents Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Reese Witherspoon, Larry David, Michael Moore, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Sacha Baron Cohen, Aaron Sorkin, Mark Wahlberg and many more. 

For Entourage Fans: "The fictional Ari Gold's renegade style is, at least, based on fact: In March 1995, Emanuel and three other International Creative Management agents were caught plotting to start their own agency. When an assistant was discovered removing company files, ICM Chairman Jeff Berg promptly fired Emanuel. In what could have ruined any promising career, Emanuel went on to create his own boutique agency, Endeavor, now considered of the most powerful in Hollywood, with an estimated $100 million in revenue each year."

Rahm Emanuel: Former advisor to Bill Clinton and led the Democrats to take over the House in 2006 as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Inspiration for Bradley Whitford's character Josh Lyman on The West Wing

Watch an interesting interview with all three brothers

2008 Election: My Thoughts As Said by the Economist

This Economist article pretty much says everything I have thought about this election. I highly recommend reading the whole article.

A few passages:

At the beginning of this election year, there were strong arguments against putting another Republican in the White House. A spell in opposition seemed apt punishment for the incompetence, cronyism and extremism of the Bush presidency. Conservative America also needs to recover its vim. Somehow Ronald Reagan’s party of western individualism and limited government has ended up not just increasing the size of the state but turning it into a tool of southern-fried moralism.

The selection of Mr McCain as the Republicans’ candidate was a powerful reason to reconsider. Mr McCain has his faults: he is an instinctive politician, quick to judge and with a sharp temper. And his age has long been a concern (how many global companies in distress would bring in a new 72-year-old boss?). Yet he has bravely taken unpopular positions—for free trade, immigration reform, the surge in Iraq, tackling climate change and campaign-finance reform. A western Republican in the Reagan mould, he has a long record of working with both Democrats and America’s allies.

...Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. Once he reaches the White House, runs this argument, he will put Mrs Palin back in her box, throw away his unrealistic tax plan and begin negotiations with the Democratic Congress. That is plausible; but it is a long way from the convincing case that Mr McCain could have made

Our main doubts about Mr Obama have to do with the damage a muddle-headed Democratic Congress might try to do to the economy. Despite the protectionist rhetoric that still sometimes seeps into his speeches, Mr Obama would not sponsor a China-bashing bill. But what happens if one appears out of Congress? Worryingly, he has a poor record of defying his party’s baronies, especially the unions. His advisers insist that Mr Obama is too clever to usher in a new age of over-regulation, that he will stop such nonsense getting out of Congress, that he is a political chameleon who would move to the centre in Washington. But the risk remains that on economic matters the centre that Mr Obama moves to would be that of his party, not that of the country as a whole.

I am very happy with the Obama victory (I'm currently sitting in one of my two Obama shirts as I type this). I supported him in the primaries and my support never wavered in the general election even though I used to be a big fan of McCain's. However, I can't help but be reserved about my optimism and reign in my excitement. I think our country needs to make some difficult decisions in the coming years. We can not continue to run such steep deficits. At the current tax base, we cannot afford to continue to fully-fund Social Security, and Medicare, let alone continue our high defense spending and take on the costs of universal health care.

We need to cut down on spending or raise taxes. Neither decision will be pain-free. It's time that our nation begins a serious discourse about who we are as a nation and who we want to be in the future. The label "socialism" has been thrown around cavalierly in the past couple weeks. It has been dismissed as a cheap attack and not given much thought. I believe what many Americans want in this country is the safety-net and services of a socialist nation, but do not want to pay the necessary taxes for that to be sustainable. Interesting and troubling times are ahead, but at least for the rest of the night, I'm going to sit back, finish my beer, and enjoy Obama's victory.