Yesterday, an old friend invited me for lunch.  The lunch consisted of a bowl of creamed cauliflower spiced with curry powder, a pickled herring rollmop on a slice of French baguette, and a tossed salad with lettuce, radishes, two kinds of olives, quartered tomatoes, and vinaigrette dressing.  Overall, it was a very tasty and healthy lunch.

And then came dessert… There were some chocolates and mini-cupcakes.  I ate half a cupcake, which was basically two small bites, and my friend ate the other half.  She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a container with individually wrapped ice cream bars covered with dark Dove chocolate.  I declined.

My friend, who is quite thin and survived World War II, cocked her head slightly to one side, and with a sly smile asked me “Do you think that you will live one extra day if you don’t eat this?”  Knowing that there are no guarantees in life, I took the ice cream bar and enjoyed it.

Many of the things that happen in life are highly improbable.  If you think about how you met your best friend, or how you met your wife or husband, you will find a long trail of events that had to coincide for things to be the way they are today.   The probability of each of those events is very minuscule, and the combination of all of them together could almost be regarded as a miracle.  By planning for the future, we feel that we are in control of our life, but undoubtedly along the way, circumstances beyond our control will arise that will change our whole life.  We will adapt, and we will continue planning.

Learn about Calorie Restriction

I just returned from a trip to Manhattan, New York.  The streets are packed with taxis, buses, and people walking.  Under the streets, you can hear the constant rumble of subway trains.  New Yorkers use public transportation and have to walk a lot more than other people in America.  Few New Yorkers seem to be excessively overweight.  Maybe this is a mistaken impression.  It is possible that New Yorkers who are overweight avoid going to Manhattan because then they would have to walk.

Over the last 20 years, Americans have become fatter.  Mississippi and Alabama lead the nation in the rates of obesity, but increased obesity is not only happening in the United States.  The obesity epidemic is engulfing the entire world.  Although obesity is a problem mainly in rich countries, the World Health Organization estimates that by 2010 the developing world will have caught up.  Overweight people now outnumber the undernourished.

Why is this happening?  The primary culprits are junk food and artificial foods, particularly sweetened soft drinks that provide only carbohydrate calories without any other nutrients, and hydrogenated fats that cannot be metabolized by the body.  Lack of exercise is a secondary reason.  Here is a list of some of the factors responsible for the increase in obesity.

• We drive to the grocery store because otherwise we cannot carry the big load of groceries home.
• We cannot walk to work or school because the distances are too great.
• We are too busy commuting to have time to exercise, so we don’t exercise.
• We drink too many sugary soft drinks with addictive ingredients like caffeine.
• We eat too many foods that have hydrogenated fats.
• Many staples are over-processed and refined so that they have less fiber and fewer nutrients.
• Food is glorified as a social celebration.  TV programs like the Food Channel describe food preparation without regard for its nutritional content.  Add more butter…, Deep fry it…, Add a cup of sugar…, etc.
• We snack too much and expect that every meal should have dessert.
• We eat too much fast food that is usually too greasy.
• We use food as celebration.  If you have a birthday, how do you celebrate?  You have to eat cake!

Food consumption is promoted very agressively.  Manufacturers cannot make much money from people who fast or eat small meals.  Calorie Restriction and moderate eating are not good for business.

Learn how to lose weight

Last night, I had a dream that my friend was going to participate in a musical competition with his guitar.  There were other guys dressed in western clothes with guitars who were also going to be in the contest.

My friend invited me to his house.  It was one of those stucco houses with a porch along the whole front of the house that were built during the 1950’s.  My friend’s family had gathered around a folding table on the porch where there was a tray of nicely grilled hamburgers, loaves of white bread, and dishes with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles.  I thought that it was curious that they were using sliced bread instead of buns.  As I went to the table to assemble a succulent juicy hamburger with mustard, I woke up feeling very hungry.

Two days ago, I was playing the guitar, and this is probably why the guitars got into my dream.  I also have been eating chicken for two weeks on a restricted calorie diet.  I miss a good burger.  I think I need to change my menu for a few days.  There is a McDonald’s restaurant across the street.  Their Angus Third Pounder Deluxe looks tempting.  The ingredients are[1]:

Angus Deluxe:
Angus Beef Patty, Premium Bun, Pasteurized Process American Cheese, Tomato Slice, Mayonnaise Dressing, Red Onions, Crinkle Cut Pickle Slices, Leaf Lettuce, and Mustard.

One thing that makes me hesitate about this big burger is that it has 760 Calories and 41 grams of fat, including 2 grams of trans fats.  I thought that the trans fats came from shortening used in the bread or the mayonnaise dressing, but I was wrong.  Unlike the Regular Buns which may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil, the Premium Bun of the Angus burger does not contain trans fats, but the Angus Beef Patty is not like the 100% Beef Patty seasoned with salt and pepper used in most of McDonald’s sandwiches.  It actually contains a lot of ingredients, including partially hydrogenated oils.  Here are the ingredients of the Angus Beef Patty[1]:

Angus Beef Patty:
100% Angus beef. Prepared with Grill Seasoning (salt, black pepper) and Angus Burger Seasoning: Salt, sugar, dextrose, onion powder, maltodextrin, natural butter flavor (dairy source), autolyzed yeast extract, spices, garlic powder, vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), natural (animal, plant and botanical source) and artificial flavors, dried beef broth, sunflower oil, caramel color, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oil, gum arabic, soy sauce solids (wheat, soybean, salt, maltodextrin, caramel color), palm oil, worcestershire sauce powder [distilled vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices, tamarind, natural flavor (fruit source)], beef fat, annatto and turmeric (color), calcium silicate and soybean oil (prevent caking).

If McDonald’s used the premium bun with the 100% beef patties, I could have a hamburger without added trans fats, but alas, that is not the case.  I remember the wonderful hamburgers that I used to eat in a diner during my sophomore year in college.  A large beef patty on a toasted bun with lettuce, onion, tomato, pickle, and a good dab of yellow mustard. No artificial ingredients.  Those were the good old days.

Learn about Trans Fats

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[1] McDonald’s USA Ingredients

Last July, Larry Haubner from Fredericksburg, Virginia celebrated his 107th birthday.  He credits his longevity to good nutrition and exercise.  Haubner exercises daily using some old equipment that he keeps in his room and he takes no medications.  The doctor who treats him for free says that he is in good health and that he will probably live a lot longer.

The only problem is that Haubner is broke.  The assisted living center where he lives costs $3,500 per month.  Two years ago, supporters raised $56,000 to help Haubner stay at the center, but the money has run out, and he is still alive.  Haubner never married and has no surviving family or friends who can help him financially.  He receives $1,200 in monthly pension and Social Security payments, but that is not enough to cover his expenses at the assisted living facility.  Without more help, he will have to apply for Medicaid and move to a nursing home.

Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition (CRON) has been shown to extend longevity in many species.  There are many people practicing caloric restriction with the objective of living longer lives in good health, but Social Security is also running out of money.  In recognition of the fact that people are living longer, the age for receiving Social Security has been progressively extended.  Retirement age used to be 65, but it is now 66 for persons born between 1943 and and 1954.  The retirement age will be 67 for those born after 1959.

As Americans get older, the number of people paying into Social Security is decreasing, and the Social Security trust fund will begin to spend more money than it takes in through tax revenue in 2016.  The trust fund from which Social Security payments are made will be unable to pay retirees full benefits by 2037, and the program that subsidizes disabled Americans will run out of money in 2020.

If you are planning to live a long life, you better save a lot of money to finance your old age.

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