Free Republic

The American people have been given a lot of bad information about the link between saturated fat, cholesterol, and heart disease. This misinformation is slowly being corrected, and more research is being done in the area, but most medical organizations still recommend low-fat diets as “heart healthy.” We consume a lot less fats, and as a result, a lot more carbohydrates. (An unintended side effect: This diet has been blamed for the large increase in type 2 diabetes in our society over the last few decades.) I predict that in 10 years the medical profession will make yet another dietary...

In the media, the conflict is portrayed as being between Michelle Obama and the food companies. The poor customer wants to do the right thing, but the food companies make it hard. But that’s not how it really works. Sadly, the Wall Street Journal story is behind a pay wall, but a summary is posted at Newser.com: “Fast Food’s New Trend: ‘Stealth Health.’”

Isn’t it pretty, the cover of the latest issue of TIME? TIME: The truth about fatTIME: Ending the war on fat The paradigm shift continues and the outdated fear of fat is on its way out faster and faster.You’d wish that some old-school fat phobics subscribed to the magazine. Unfortunately, I think this is hoping for too much, so I just emailed the cover to some of them.Some people will still spread low-fat margarine on their bread as long as they live, as an old habit. But most people will soon realize that not only does it taste bad, but...

It’s just so confusing. Do you feed your kids bologna sandwiches or pieces of wet cardboard? Can you give them PlayDoh on a dead mackerel?Modern grads of Ivy League colleges don’t have the time to figure all this stuff out. That’s why there are government bureaucrats who tell schools what to feed kids so they don’t die of cardboard overdose.And there’s Michelle Obama who spends more time obsessed with what your kids eat than most major food conglomerates. In an interview with MSN.com, First Lady Michelle Obama explained she used to struggle to feed her kids right—even though she received...

In an interview with MSN.com, First Lady Michelle Obama explained she used to struggle to feed her kids right—even though she received an education from Harvard and Princeton. “Before coming to the White House, I struggled, as a working parent with a traveling, busy husband, to figure out how to feed my kids healthy, and I didn’t get it right,” she explained, sharing a story about her children’s doctor who pulled her aside to talk about her family diet.

Washington’s potato saga continues.While the House considers a bill to include the potato in the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) food nutrition program, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is echoing First Lady Michelle Obama’s claims that including the potato is an assault on science.“Republicans are even going after the nutrition for pregnant women and children, the WIC program. Mandating the WIC program include more white potatoes. You know, were talking about fruits, vegetables, whole grains and the rest, and they have an amendment that says more white potatoes than nutritionists recommend,” Pelosi said during her Thursday press conference.“These assaults...

A British medical journal announced a finding last month that might be the best news in the history of the world: Nearly one out of three people in the world is overweight. Members of the media responded to this thrilling discovery by lamenting the globe’s growing waistline. Pundits rushed to condemn widespread access to inexpensive food. Everyone seemed so excited to attack obesity that no one noticed the report’s incredible story of human achievement and hope. Throughout history, malnutrition and hunger-related health issues have killed more people than any other cause. Over the course of the past half-century, however, the...

As the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to consider the fiscal year 2015 agricultural appropriations bill, the White House threatened to veto the legislation due to opposition related to funding provisions related to school nutrition programs, potatoes in the Women, Infants and Children program and other policy issues.This is the first veto threat from the White House for fiscal year 2015 spending bills.“The bill undermines key investments in financial oversight, injects political decision-making into science-based nutrition standards, and includes objectionable language riders,” said the official Statement of Administration Policy. “If the President were presented with H.R. 4800, his senior advisors...

Coca-Cola is launching its first new drink in eight years: Coca-Cola Life. Sporting a green label, the new drink is said to contain a third less calories and sugar, according to the Daily Mail. It will be sweetened with sugar and stevia leaf extract and will only have 89 calories. Despite the reduction of sugar and the green label (because adding a green label means it’s natural), Coca-Cola Life will still contain 25 percent of the amount of sugar a person should consume in one day in just one can. Coca-Cola said this new drink is part of an initiative...

A new study by researchers at Stanford University is suggesting that making soda and other sugary drinks ineligible for purchase with SNAP funds could result in nearly a quarter million fewer diabetes cases in adults, and over 140,000 fewer obese children.

First lady Michelle Obama and school lunch ladies used to be on the same team, but now they’re locked in a political war against each other. For the first three years of Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, the School Nutrition Association, a powerful group that represents 55,000 cafeteria professionals, was a close ally in the White House push to get kids to eat healthier. The group helped lobby for the legislation at the center of the debate: the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, a law championed by the first lady that mandates more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and less sodium...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is creating a $2 million research center to study how the government can “nudge” Americans toward making healthier eating habits.The agency is currently accepting grant applications to establish a “Center for Behavioral Economics and Healthy Food Choice Research,” which will facilitate studies such as how breaking up combo meals at fast food restaurants would influence customers.“The USDA Center will facilitate new and innovative research on the application of behavioral economics theory to healthy food choice behaviors that would contribute to enhancing the nutrition, food security, and health of American consumers,” the USDA’s grant announcement...

The Soylent Revolution Will Not Be Pleasurable I just spent more than a week experiencing Soylent, the most joyless new technology to hit the world since we first laid eyes on MS-DOS. Soylent is a drink mix invented by a group of engineers who harbor ambitions of shaking up the global food business. Robert Rhinehart, the 25-year-old co-founder and chief executive of the firm selling the drink, hit upon the idea when he found himself spending too much time and money searching for nutritious meals while he was working on a wireless-tech start-up in San Francisco. Using a process Mr....

British women are officially the fattest in Europe. Well, hoorah for us. Of all the labels we could have picked up – the drunkest, the laziest, the most promiscuous – this one can't be that bad, can it? And what about those people who actually choose to be fat? A growing group of overweight activists claim it's OK and healthy to be overweight. Fat activism, as they call it – yes that's a thing now – is about recognising that all bodies are fine. Nowadays, the 'fat movement' is all about challenging prejudices. Except, we should be worried. Accepting obesity...

Brian and Kim Criley operate their farm business Slow Grown in Virginia from the Spring Hill Farm in Caroline County, Va. The Crileys are on a mission to preserve Virginia’s historical small family farming practices, as they produce natural herbal products (including teas), organic seasonal produce, bath and body care products, homemade baked goods, and crafts and home décor products, as well as pasture-raised pork, poultry and eggs. They do not use any herbicides, pesticides, hormones, chemical growth enhancers or genetically modified organisms. They also operate a farm store, where they offer community-supported agriculture and co-op programs. Brian, a former...

(CNN) -- Vermont's governor on Thursday signed a bill into law that will require the labeling of genetically modified foods -- hailing it as the first such law in the nation. Under the new law, food offered for retail sale that is entirely or partially produced with genetic engineering must be labeled as such by July 2016. "Vermonters take our food and how it is produced seriously, and we believe we have a right to know what's in the food we buy," said Gov. Peter Shumlin. "More than 60 countries have already restricted or labeled these foods, and now one...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Becky Domokos-Bays of Alexandria City Public Schools has served her students whole-grain pasta 20 times. Each time, she said, they rejected it. Starting next school year, pasta and other grain products in schools will have to be whole-grain rich, or more than half whole grain.

Hide your Big Gulps again, New York. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week his administration will pick up where former Mayor Michael Bloomberg left off and will continue the battle to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces. The city will appeal a state court ruling that pulled the plug on the ban last year. City lawyers will argue the case at the Court of Appeals on June 4, the New York Daily News reported this week. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg got plenty of headlines in 2012 when he declared war on Big Gulps and other large sugary drinks. The...

A trip to almost any bookstore or a cruise around the Internet might leave the impression that avoiding cancer is mostly a matter of watching what you eat. One source after another promotes the protective powers of “superfoods,” rich in antioxidants and other phytochemicals, or advises readers to emulate the diets of Chinese peasants or Paleolithic cave dwellers. But there is a yawning divide between this nutritional folklore and science. During the last two decades the connection between the foods we eat and the cellular anarchy called cancer has been unraveling string by string. This month at the annual meeting...

Rob Rhinehart invented Soylent—a beverage that he claims contains all necessary nutrients—as a food replacement. The first batch is shipping this month.“I was 6 or 7,” Rob Rhinehart began, “and I guess my mother was serving salad. I was looking down at a plate with these leaves on it. I could look outside and see leaves on the trees, and it just seemed a little weird. It seemed a little primitive - like something an animal would do. On this nice plate, in this nice house, why would I eat this thing that grows on trees? I thought, ‘We can...