I will state for the record that black-eyed peas in a rice cooker make the kitchen smell amazing, and many thanks to commentor Stuckinred for recommending Camellia Brand, too also.
That taken care of, here’s an abstract from the Proceedings of the Royal Society on “Canaries in the coal mine: a cross-species analysis of the plurality of obesity epidemics“:
A dramatic rise in obesity has occurred among humans within the last several decades. Little is known about whether similar increases in obesity have occurred in animals inhabiting human-influenced environments. We examined samples collectively consisting of over 20,000 animals from 24 populations (12 divided separately into males and females) of animals representing eight species living with or around humans in industrialized societies. In all populations, the estimated coefficient for the trend of body weight over time was positive (i.e. increasing). The probability of all trends being in the same direction by chance is 1.2 × 10−7. Surprisingly, we find that over the past several decades, average mid-life body weights have risen among primates and rodents living in research colonies, as well as among feral rodents and domestic dogs and cats. The consistency of these findings among animals living in varying environments, suggests the intriguing possibility that the aetiology of increasing body weight may involve several as-of-yet unidentified and/or poorly understood factors (e.g. viral pathogens, epigenetic factors). This finding may eventually enhance the discovery and fuller elucidation of other factors that have contributed to the recent rise in obesity rates.
Full article in .pdf format at the link, and hat tip to Jezebel for it.
So, even our street rats are livin’ large( r ) in this modern world?
cathyx
I thought it was from high fructose corn syrup.
Yutsano
So HFCS is bat for rats too? Good to know.
cathyx
@Yutsano: It’s in the crumbs they eat.
stuckinred
Wow, I get’s press! We went to a brunch that had all the usual New Years fare. I just served my collards, smoked chicken, cornbread and blackeyed peas and my bride said. . .yours is way better than those other folks!
Gina
In before the Tunch jokes?
MTiffany
I remember reading a brief summary article on the same subject about a month ago in New Scientsist Why are we getting fatter?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101124073900.htm
It is slightly longer and more in-depth than the abstract of the paper.
AdamK
I hope and pray I get to blame it on a fucking virus some day.
Linda Featheringill
@AdamK:
Amen to that! And then we’ll get a vaccination against it and . . . . .
jl
@Gina:
Tunch clearly got into the sample somehow, skewing all of the results.
As for the study, I do not see why they need to hypothesize some factor other than there is a lot more food around places where people are getting fat, and a lot more waste with high density caloric food. Why should thrown away fries be any less fattening for rats and pigeons that they are to the human who wolfed down most of them.
It would be interesting to be able to go back in time, maybe just fifty years ago, and compare how much food and what kind, was available for purchase and consumption. And how many people spent their time, either sitting, or standing, or walking around, stuffing their faces full of junk food. Anyone have some info on that?
US civilization would benefit if there were as many places in public areas to go to the bathroom, as there are to buy a big hunk of junkfood to stuff down your throat. IMHO.
geg6
Tunch must have skewed the results.
Winter Classic, muthafuckahs! Hockey at Heinz Field rules!
Ross Hershberger
The US produces something like 20% more calories/person than it did in the ’70s. The Ag Dept and payments to producers strongly incentivize overproduction of food that continues to this day.
Cheap food is generally good for poor people because it means they don’t starve. But everything else is so costly at the poverty line that eating is the only affordable recreation.
Of course it would be immoral to just give food to people who need it, so the American way is to give taxpayer money to corporate producers so it trickles down to the needy in the form of lower prices just as Adam Smith intended.
/snark
J. Michael Neal
@Gina:
Question: Is Tunch larger than Inkblot over at Kevin Drum’s place? That would be a real battle of heavyweights.
alwhite
sorry if this is a duplicate or something but the site seems to have gone to hell again. opened it with IE, Opera, Firefox and chrome – in both windoze & unbutu but it always comes up running off the page & is unreadable.
I’m going through withdrawal without my Juice!
suzanne
I just want to lose all my baby weight ASAP. ‘Cause I apparently remind SOMEONE of a cow.
Bnut
The proper way to eat black eyed peas is in hoppin john.
Evolved Deep Southerner
@stuckinred: Look, the Yankees here may not see you for what you are, but I do: The scion to some Faulkner-esque black-eyed-pea-plantation fortune. The world is full of your type. You, and Collard Queens and Cracklin Crackheads and … just pair your gross-sounding Southern foodstuff with some vaguely noble-sounding title.
Pathetic, pimping it online now. All of y’all.
stuckinred
@Evolved Deep Southerner: The pot luck was up on Pulaski Heights. Remember the house with the old water tower footings that looked like an Athens Stonehenge? It’s turned into quite the little hood up there.
Evolved Deep Southerner
@stuckinred: See, Bnut references hoppin john, but doesn’t even tell the Yankees how it got that name.
Terrible, terrible shucks y’all running on these people. I myself am a pee-can heir thrice-removed, but even I can’t bring myself to pimping them on here.
mem from somerville
I saw this the other day, but haven’t been able to figure out a couple of things:
1) Does this account for increases in height or length? If you have improved overall nutrition you may see larger bodies overall. This would increase the weight values.
2) Is it possible that improved nutrition adds bone density?
I remember having a roommate from a South American country at one point. She talked about the height of Americans compared to her general experience. She said she had been told there was improved nutrition including more calcium that was a factor.
I’m not saying this is wrong, I’m just not sure it’s all about obesity.
stuckinred
@Bnut: Dawg, if you ate mine you’d pop a nut, gauranttteeeeeddddd!
stuckinred
@Evolved Deep Southerner: A pea can is what you put under your bed.
Evolved Deep Southerner
@stuckinred: But you can’t put a can o’ pee over your bed, now, canya?
Metatron
@Bnut: A particularly good hoppin’ john
Linda Featheringill
@suzanne:
Relax, girl. Your body has just performed a miracle. Give it a chance to recover.
And try to stay away from people who say bad things. I don’t care what the familial relationship is.
Lysana
OK, the research colonies’ animals getting larger really intrigues me. Have they thought to check the feed the animals have been getting? Our consumption of corn and grain-based products really has been rising, and I’d be very curious to see if the animals’ feed has changed to reflect that. I mean, when the food pyramid matches what you feed pigs to fatten them up before slaughter, it makes you think.
freelancer
@suzanne:
She’s just homesick. You took her to the Walmart, so I don’t know what else you could do. Oh wait, is there a Casey’s General Store or a Piggly-Wiggly in the greater Phoenix area? You could always drive her by Bristol’s house, even though it’s way out in the middle of nowhere.
Alison
@suzanne: Hopefully that someone is a child; otherwise they deserve a smack upside the head for saying or thinking such a thing.
Go easy on yourself, you’ve earned it.
tBoy
Three words for you: purple hull peas.
khead
@J. Michael Neal:
My Sweet Pea would beat the shit out of both of them.
Heh.
suzanne
@freelancer: No. In fact, I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to never live somewhere where there is a Piggly-Wiggly. I don’t really want to take her to do anything. I want her to go and do something. Hell, take my car! Please! There’s gas in the tank! Enjoy yourself!
Alison, it was my mother-in-law that said it. I’m mostly over it, because (and yes, I’m TOTALLY whipping out my inner Mean Girl) she has absolutely NO room to talk about flaws in someone else’s personal appearance. It still chafes slightly.
Alison
@suzanne: Wow, what a…wow. Well, you can also take comfort in obviously being a better person.
Gina
@suzanne: Is it bad that I want your MIL to DIAF?
suzanne
@Gina: Absolutely not. LOL.
freelancer
@Gina:
Because the acronyms were so close together, I read that as
“I want your MILF to DIAF”.
Citizen_X
@suzanne: Oh my, that’s awful, but the next time she calls you a cow, jump up and say, “Dat’s ‘cuz I’M PROVIDING DA MILK, BEEYOTCH!” along with sundry comments like how ’bout she try to do the job wi’ her wrinkly ol’ titties, etc, etc.
(OK, preserving domestic tranquility might require that you not say these things, but you can think them, and that might help your mood.)
Gina
@freelancer: Funnier that way!
suzanne
@freelancer: LMMFAO.
@Citizen_X: I thought far worse things when she said it. Believe me. I’m not really a nice person. I remain in awe that I have, like, you know, friends.
That’s why I have a thing for Regis.
Lesley
may involve several as-of-yet unidentified and/or poorly understood factors (e.g. viral pathogens, epigenetic factors)
ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT.
Obesity in humans and domesticated animals – and rodents living among human populations – is rising because the human diet mostly consists of excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates.
If people want to believe viruses are responsible they are idiots. But this doesn’t surprise me.
Stop consuming zillions of calories in refined carbohydrates and grains – in fact, cut out refined carbs altogether; eat lean cuts of meat, eggs, healthy fats, vegetables, some fruits, seeds, and nuts and the excess fat will melt away.
You’ll have more energy for exercising, too.
The evidence for this is overwhelming.
At least try it, for God’s sake.
mr. whipple
@suzanne:
OMFG.
Lesley
P.S. Even whole grains and legumes should occupy a very small proportion of one’s daily intake, as they are loaded with calories. Whole grains have fiber, which refined grains do not, so they are better, but they are still very high in calories. If you’re not burning off those calories, you will gain weight.
Although meat and eggs are also high in calories, these protein foods provide satiety, i.e. they keep you full for a very long period of time. Grains do not. Eat grains and you’ll be hungry in an hour. Eat meat and you’ll stay full for hours. More bang for the calorie buck, as they say.
suzanne
@Lesley:
Sanctimonious asshole in Aisle #38…
General Stuck
It got to – 3 degrees last night. tonight a balmier 12 degrees is expected. Me shivers
Ross Hershberger
@Lesley:
Not always true. I live almost entirely on carbs and never eat meat. I’m 5′ 10″ and weigh 152 lbs without dieting. Have for 35 years.
khead
My cats – yes, we have adopted another stray, story coming soon – have plumped up quite nicely since bringing them inside.
I’m guessing it’s because they refuse to quit consuming the zillions of calories that they never had before, for God’s sake.
Khead +4
MikeJ
@Ross Hershberger: Most people throughout the history of mankind lived mostly on carbs. Bread has been the most important food for thousands of years.
Of course the people that survived on a loaf of bread a day didn’t had never heard of Herman Miller and didn’t sit in aeron chairs all day.
Cheryl from Maryland
Caps Win!
South of I-10
@suzanne: Are you serious? You just gave birth! Screw whoever said that.
Yutsano
@suzanne: Bizzaro argument like I get into with vegans. Now THAT is sanctimonious.
(Note to Ross: that wasn’t an anti-veggie swipe. Vegans just get my gourd for how pure they act because of their diets.)
Suck It Up!
Different strokes for different folks. I do way better with low sugar foods. I lost more than 50 pounds eating whole foods. No low fat crap unless it was “born” that way. When I stick to whole foods and very low sugar, the weight melts off and I don’t get cravings. I also don’t keep foods in the house that trigger my cravings. I don’t want to waste brain energy on trying to resist foods that have no business being in my fridge or cupboard. If I want it bad enough then I have to get dressed, gather up some change and go to the store. Took a lot of trial and error to find what works for me.
J. Michael Neal
@khead:
Almost ready for the butcher. Mmmmm.
Mark S.
Oklahoma–doing everything they can NOT to put this game away.
ETA: Fortunately, they’re not playing anyone very good.
Southern Beale
I’m sure all of the crap in the water and food has NOTHING to do with it. Honest.
Ruckus
@Ross Hershberger:
Lesley is actually correct for most people, mainly because most of us have changed our lifestyles from that of 40-50 years ago. What is most important is what mom told us long ago, get a balanced diet so that the supply of vitamins and minerals is enough, don’t eat too much (no more calories than necessary) and exercise.
We do two types of metabolic testing on athletes, to find the amount of calories necessary to sustain life and to maintain or lose weight based upon the level of activity per day. Many people would be surprised to find out how few calories it really takes to maintain health and weight.
General Stuck
I lost 20 pounds the last year mostly by retraining myself away from the 3 meals a day norm, to two meals a day and leaving off lunch. Where I snack, or graze on things like raw peanuts during the day. I found if I can make through the day without getting too hungry, and eat a late dinner, then I don’t eat as much before bedtime, just enough to not go to bed hungry. Plus concentrating of beans and legumes, boiled eggs, but no red cow meat. Haven’t had so much as a bite of that for about 8 years now. Fish mostly, occasional chicken or turkey meat. And shrimp. And having a dog that insists on taking a walk every single day, rain or shine, hot or cold.
suzanne
@Yutsano: I hear ya. I simply hate whenever anyone tells someone else what to eat. Seriously. Just STFU. No one here asked anyone else for advice, yanno?
You’re right, lots of vegans are obnoxious in this way, too.
suzanne
@Yutsano: I hear ya. I simply hate whenever anyone tells someone else what to eat. Seriously. Just STFU. No one here asked anyone else for advice, yanno?
You’re right, lots of vegans are obnoxious in this way, too.
Ruckus
Forgot to add, everyone is different.
It is harder to be fat on a veg diet because the food is generally higher in fiber, lower in calories per mass consumed. Fewer calories in means fewer needed to burn off to maintain weight. But it can be harder to get adequate proteins, depending on what degree of veg you stick to.
I say eat what you want as long as you get the minimums of the necessary nutrients to sustain health.
It boils down to:
For weight it’s calories in vs calories burned.
For health it’s minimum of the necessary nutrients.
Everything else sells diet books
Ross Hershberger
I have the ‘why don’t you eat meat?’ discussion thrust on me about once a month. It’s good sport to run them around in circles, but basically it pisses me off. I eat what I want to. What makes you think I have to answer your questions about that?
And I really don’t care what other people eat. I make a mean poached salmon for my wife now and then.
I live on far less food than most people. I don’t go hungry, I just eat what I need instead of what’s available.
Diet talk is boring.
sherifffruitfly
Thus confirming what anyone with half a brain already knew: that (cals in) > (cals out) –> (weight gain) is a matter of *physics*, and as such is not particular to human beings.
Ruckus
@Ross Hershberger:
I make a mean veg and poached salmon dish. It’s easy, tasty and fast.
Haven’t had it in a while and now my mouth is watering. Maybe tomorrow.
Yutsano
@Ross Hershberger: I work with a vegetarian. We had a potluck at work a couple of weeks back, so I made a roasted garlic and herb schmear with her specifically in mind. It was quite delicious and everyone ate it, but I’m sure she appreciated having her dietary preferences respected. I’d extend you the same courtesy, although I’d make a smoked salmon one for your wife too. :)
@Ruckus: Yeah. I may have to haul my butt to the store tomorrow and get me a hunk as well. A nice honey lime glaze with wild rice sounds like serious nom.
suzanne
@Ross Hershberger:
WORD.
When I was vegetarian, I had the same feeling as you: why do you give a fuck what I eat? I couldn’t give two shits about what YOU eat. So shut the hell up. I eat seafood and poultry in limited doses now, but still stick to a mostly veggie diet, and I *still* don’t care about what other people eat.
Ross Hershberger
@Ruckus:
I make a mean veg and poached salmon dish.
We’re lucky that way. My dad is an obsessive Lake Michigan fisherman and has been for 45 years. When I was a kid hamburgers were a welcome change from salmon and lake trout. Now we get big frozen blocks of it with every dad visit. He’s really good at tournament fishing but can’t eat it all.
slag
@suzanne: Yeah. But I find a lot of meat eaters to be just as bad. When they find out you’re a vegetarian, soon comes the lecture about how humans evolved to be carnivores, and you must be anemic, etc, etc. I usually tell them to save their argument for when they’re out roaming the land with nothing but their bare hands and an empty stomach. Assholes.
Also, along the lines of this study, I definitely see a direct relationship between my and my SO’s weight and that of our cats. When we go up, the cats are sure to follow. When we go down, cats tend to as well.
Ross Hershberger
@suzanne:
THANK YOU!
Some day I’ll understand why eliminating this particular category of substances from my daily food intake provokes such fascination in people but right now I’m just baffled as to why they need to ask why my cheese sandwich hasn’t got ham on it.
Why aren’t you eating jellied eels over there? Well?
Ross Hershberger
I don’t want to eat meat but hospitality comes first. I eat what I’m served. This mostly happens on long plane flights or at Grandma’s house. A 93 year old woman just doesn’t need to have that conversation with anyone so I smile and tell her how moist the turkey is.
It never kills you to be polite.
General Stuck
Of course people telling other people what to do is always a foul ball. And everyone has different metabolism and for some of us it is more of a struggle to keep from getting fat. I don’t really eat the way I do for keeping weight under control, I do it because it makes me feel better. But at least for me, it is also important to keep the weight thingy under control because I am borderline, or pre diabetic, and would like to not suffer from that disease if possible. Therefore, it is of interest to me how to, and how others successfully do that, or diet. If talking about dieting makes some folks uncomfortable, then they don’t have to listen, or comment on such a thread. Other than that, I could give a less damn what others eat, or don’t eat, or about anything else so long as they stay out of my shit.
suzanne
@slag: You have a point. I remember one time when I was completely veggie being lectured while riding the fucking bus. I was snacking on a granola bar or something and some random person inquired why I wasn’t eating meat. When I replied that I didn’t, she berated me for the rest of my ride about how I didn’t get enough protein. Finally, I couldn’t fucking stand it anymore, and I turned to her and said, “DO I LOOK LIKE I’M STARVING TO YOU?!” God. Seriously. Just STFU.
Being pregnant seems to instigate food weirdness in people, too. A couple of weeks before the baby was born, I was in Trader Joe’s and they were giving away samples of French bread with brie and cranberries on it. Before I took one, I checked the ingredients of the brie to make sure it was pasteurized, which it was, so I took a sample. Immediately, another customer said, “You’re not supposed to be eating brie!” Had I not been so shocked that someone would be such a fucking dickhead in public, I would have given her a tongue-lashing.
Ruckus
@Ross Hershberger:
If you have too much I’ll bet there are any number of people here who’d like a big’ol chunk of salmon.
Hint Hint
@Ross Hershberger:
I once went to a chinese wedding. Was the guest of one of the family so had to sit on the stage by myself while the family went around to each table. (instead of a receiving line) They served 12 courses, not one of which I recognized but I had been told in no uncertain terms that I was to eat some of every course. At the end of the day, driving away I asked what I had eaten. For my own good I remain to this day unaware of what I ate and that was about 25 years ago.
Ross Hershberger
I used to sell clothes at Saks. I had one customer who was a Vegan. Super nice guy, and not difficult to deal with but do you know how hard it is to get vegan clothing? Everything of any quality has silk or wool in it somewhere. Armani makes some suits that met the standard and we got him some of those.
But nobody would guarantee their neckties. I had to have a custom shirtmaker make ties for him with different linings. A thousand bucks for 12 ties, which is a pretty good price for custom work, and they were gorgeous.
Suffern ACE
@suzanne: I have never heard about the brie ban for pregnant women. Is that supposed to be all cheeses? I would have told him that you needed the brie to get the taste of cigarette smoke out of your mouth….
THE
When I’m on my own l’m a Lacto-veggie.
Given the choice I mostly graze.
However, when I socialize, I just go with the flow.
Currently coming down from an ice cream addiction.
Some dysfunctional circuit in my brain thinks soft serve ice cream with chocolate fudge topping is crack.
Just snuck up on me.
Yutsano
@Suffern ACE: Brie can be made from unpasteurized milk, it usually is in Europe. If so it’s regarded as less safe. It’s why a lot of the really good French cheeses aren’t available in the US. If you go up RedKitten’s way however…
catclub
@Ross Hershberger: “I make a mean veg and poached salmon dish.”
Yeah, but does anyone make a mean girl and poached salmon dish?
(to get back to Suzanne’s problem.)
Ruckus
I like beef, pork, chicken, buffalo not so much, liver not at all, seafood (and see food), veg (although some veg not so much, brussel sprouts do not pass my lips), pasta, rice, white, brown, wild, whatever, oats, bread, cheese, silk soy milk, chocolate, most fruits and melons, George Dickel 14 yr old whiskey
Hey, I just realized, I like food.
suzanne
@Suffern ACE: Pregnant women aren’t supposed to eat cheese from unpasteurized milk. Or cold cuts. Or sushi. Or any number of really delicious things.
Ruckus
@suzanne:
It’s a good thing the results are worth far more than the don’ts
TooManyJens
Whenever I see anyone talking about the One True Diet that we all must eat to be healthy, I freak out. It’s almost always coming from some carbohydrates-are-poison person, too. (I don’t like to say “carbs”, because it sounds stupid and it seemed to become popular during the last carbohydrates-are-poison fad, so I associate the two.)
I am perfectly willing to believe that some people’s bodies don’t handle carbohydrates very well, and these people are healthiest on an Atkins-type diet. Some of us, on the other hand, do well on an AHA-type diet (about 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat, 20% protein). I’m kind of tired of being told that that’s not possible, and it’s “unnatural” to eat that way. (Don’t get me started on the paleo diet — evolution doesn’t work the way a lot of people think it does.) Guess what? BODIES ARE DIFFERENT. GET OVER IT. Evangelizing for your way of eating is no less annoying than evangelizing for your way of praying.
TooManyJens
@jl:
Because they found the same results in lab animals that are fed a controlled diet.
frosty
Pretty simple, really, it’s all about energy balance. Once humans tapped into fossil fuels, we started dropping 400 years worth of stored sunlight onto the planet each year we’ve been digging and drilling.
Add the nitrate production from the Haber-Bosch process and we’ve flooded the planet with nutrients. I’d be not surprised the rats and other critters picked up their share.
Silver
@suzanne:
A good response to that is something along the lines of, “I don’t think it’ll matter after all the RU-486 I took an hour ago.”
Anne Laurie
@Silver: Hee! I like the way you think.
Svensker
@Ross Hershberger:
This is what makes me nuts about veganism: it is totally artificial. You HAVE to be rich to be a true vegan, or live on a different planet. Vegetarianism is different — you can live a modest life as a vegetarianism and not bother anybody. But vegan? Seems to me strictly for the rich holier-than-thous. Am I wrong about this?
befuggled
I’m way too late to the party, but what I think we’ll find is that different people thrive on different types of diets. I seem to do very well on Lesley’s suggested diet, for instance, but others will not.
Shocking, I know.
Rome Again
@TooManyJens:
Here, here! And really, doesn’t the gluttony of our avaricious viciousness only validate the story in The Revelation anyway? With no gluttonous fat people, what good would that story be? ;)
Mnemosyne
It’s true that the latest research shows that protein keeps you full longer and makes your body work harder to break it down. But the interesting thing is that your body doesn’t care whether the protein comes from plant or animal sources — protein is protein is protein as far as your body is concerned — so you can get the same benefit from tofu or quinoa as from meat.
So Atkins was kinda/sorta on to something, but by focusing solely on meat, that diet encourages people to malnourish themselves, because you still need those whole grains, fruits and veggies, and healthy oils in addition to protein.
MTiffany
@TooManyJens:
The carbohydrates-are-poison types are sanctimonious assholes. Anything is poisonous if you ingest too much of it.
jl
@TooManyJens: Late reply, but I remember the links saying that they could not verify whether all the constituents of the controlled diets remained the same over the sample period. I remember that being specifically mentioned as a weak link in the study. The official characterization of the diets may have appeared to be the same, but they could not check whether all aspects of the feed were the same.
There could have been a slow drift in the nature of the diets, that would not be apparent.
WhyKnot241
Well, there you go…
“This finding may eventually enhance the discovery and fuller elucidation of other factors that have contributed to the recent rise in obesity rates.”
…translates too “We were noodling around with some data, found a correlation we can’t explain, but we needed a journal article for our CV, so we are throwing the pasta against the wall, and hope another researcher can ‘elucidate’ what it all means”
Also, too…the authors should call for explication rather than mere elucidation!