Political Dirt

There was a political WWF (WWE these days?) smack-down on the Laura Ingraham Radio Show regarding childhood obesity. “Smack-down” may not be the correct term considering only one person was doing the quote on quote smack-talk but, none the less, this is politics and that’s how smack-downs are done.

The opponent wasn’t there to defend herself, most likely because she was on the move.

Politicians may not understand health, rightfully so, they studied politics, but one thing I am sure of is that they know money. Or at least know how to manage it. Let’s ignore the fact that Dr. U. S. America has done some serious overdraft spending lately.

Did you like how politically correct that was not to assign a gender to America? And I made America look smart! (2 smackdown points for Murph). 

America spent $147 billion last year on obesity related illness according to the U.S. government. Obese Americans spent 42 percent more per year for medical care than non-obese. 

Let’s break it [smack]down further. There are direct and indirect costs.

• Direct: hospitalization, medication by weight dosages, DM2, HTN, CAD, CHF, ESKD, OA?, the abbreviations could keep flowing.

• Indirect: low productivity due to sick days from work because of an obesity related abbreviation and larger cars to seat larger people so they can drive through the drive thru. I meant to say more accommodating wheelchairs in the hospital and back pain medication for the nursing staff. 
  

Or, you  know, paying shipping costs of pants ordered over the internet because sizes in the store aren’t what they used to be. I’m just saying. Just saying, it’s enabling. 

At Saint Louis University, I had the opportunity to help the H.E.L.P. Grant. The Healthy Eating with Local Produce Grant buys local, sustainable food from Missouri farmers and processes it to serve lunch at inner city schools. Vegetable gardens, set up at these schools, teach students about healthy, sustainable practices and nutrition educations from dietetic interns top it all off! It literally helps children get back to their “roots” while emphasizing nutrition, activity and sustainability. 

And speaking of sustainability, maybe Dr. America wouldn’t be doing so much over-drafting if we were buying from ourselves. And maybe we would have better nutrition education programs and healthier school lunch programs if we saved some money for ourselves and had it to spend on some glossy, new textbooks.We could make Dr. America smarter yet!

…But America just has to be the popular country at the lunch table. 

And, unfortunately, sometimes there are bullies at the lunch table. “Take her anti-obesity thing that she is on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat,” ...says the 46 year old grandma. 

Ding, Ding. Zing.  

I wash my hands of any political "dirt"

Vegetarian Turkey

Gobble Gobble

Maybe not the healthiest, non-processed choice but seriously how cute are these? 

And totally vegetarian friendly for those friends you are thankful for.

Britain: Losing Pounds=Gaining Pounds

The other morning I woke up to an NPR British correspondent talking about an “old, rotund contestant” on Strictly Come Dancing. I’m convinced that every popular US show (Dancing with the stars) is really just a glamorized version of some existing British show. I can say this with some certainty having lived in England for five months, obsessing over “Deal or No Deal,” and returning to the states to see how we managed to screw up our version. 

It goes something like this:

Common, compassionate British people in all of their unabashed rawness holding shoeboxes,

To…

Sequenced, spray tanned, plastic surgery patched up models holding leather, black brief cases. 

(At the round table on the 98^th floor: “…I’m picturing models! And they’ll all be blinding the audience with the sparkles form their teeth, eyes, outfits, and coins in those brief cases! Can’t you see it now?! It will be a great success! What do you say American Network? Do we have a Deal…or no deal?)

All of the character got sucked out of the show. The whole point I enjoyed the show. To see these drab-wearing British contestants show up day after day, patiently waiting for the random selection of their name so they could quit their box holding position for the chance to win 250,000 pounds was pure joy. I felt like I knew these people. Like they were my neighbors. Like we could have gone for a pint together.

Britain was the only place I managed to lose a lot of pounds while gaining a lot of pounds (it’s called the price of a pint…on both ends). But something about that culture made it easy for me to do so. No, not the giving away money, although that is easier after pints. And I can’t blame it on the lowered drinking age because, well, I can honestly say that the US college system has their own drinking age.

No, it was the judgment-free people and absence of stress accrued from un-attainability. I didn’t feel like I had to be tan, sparkly, or slightly augmented to have fun and feel good. Pretty British people conversed with British people. I mean…

And the interesting thing is that I never saw one obese British person. Nor did I see many, if any, obese people in Europe while I traveled (unless they were looking at a tour guide book on the euro rail wearing a Cowboys cap).  

Maybe it’s their good genes? Maybe it’s their use of public transportation and more physical activity? Maybe it’s their energy conservation frugality and refusal of centralized heating (or any heating) that cause an increased shiver/fidget factor? Maybe it was my “pint” goggles..?

Or maybe it was their lower level of judgment and stress?

 Yes this want-to-be-dancer is overweight but using the word “rotund” to describe her wasn’t even on the American “Rotund-ness” Scale. And if this 63 year old former British government minister exudes body confidence while being physically active, than she most likely has a better health status than the Americans who engage in harmful behaviors to remain stick thin under pressure or who use food as a coping mechanism under stress.

Maybe it was the lack of American picturesque perfectionist to match or the lack of a full length mirror that decreased my stress in England. Either way, I felt happy. Yes, I was a bit heavier but not unhealthily so. And happiness is health. Who knows, maybe if I had bought that mirror I would have changed my “view” point even if I was in Britain amongst British and their mentality. But after my enlightenment I have gained my own confidence, health, and happiness since returning.

Thanks for Giving me a Great Day

It was chilly in Saint Louis on Saturday. It dropped from upper 70s to lower 40s within two days. A real whip in the face to Matt, visiting from Chicago, who believed that “Saint Louis never got cold!” and had previously claimed never to believe my packing suggestions again.

Well it’s about time Saint Louis! The weather, as well as the visitor, reminded me of home. Of the windy city. Of the Murphs. It also caused my desire to grab coffee at a café, see a matinee, and sip on a glass of wine by a fire. So we did. 

The weather, like holidays, has this effect on me. It makes me crave certain foods or drinks. Or food or drink related activities. And it makes me miss home and family and friends. 

I’ve always believed that humans are very connected to the earth. When voiced, I usually hear the response “you’re such a hippie.” I’m actually really okay with that.

But it’s got to be true.

We exhale and eat plants that use our waste as fertilizer and make oxygen! What a beautiful cycle.

Also like that thing called the circadian rhythm and seasonal depression…I’m linking them all to low availability of vitamin D.  And I would care to bet that those in Seattle and Portland could back me up.   

So what’s the benefit to my weather related cravings?…seasonal eating and seasonal produce! The way earth and man intended. (And probably candy corn and conversation heart companies but that’s just pure American capitalism…also known as monopoly).

What made this holiday-seasonal-missing-family-craving even better was that my chosen café selection had the most delicious sandwich I had ever eaten. Literally called “Thanksgiving on Focaccia.” Basically America on a sandwich without the side of candy corn. 

It cured me of all my yearnings. 

Well most of them. 

It was like a really good preview for the main Murph event, seated around our table of seasonal, traditional food in sweet home Chicago. 

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

While working on my thesis, I became distracted with the concept of using foods as terms of endearment. If you know me, you know I have some interesting terms. One such term being “babycakes.” 

You can’t whip this one out on anyone. Believe me, I've tried. When the words “thanks babycakes!” instinctively poured out of my mouth after talking to my 25 year old brother, I decided to use caution. Especially before I thanked the 55 year old male, UPS delivery handler on impulse. It came out “thanks baa-okay, thanks!!” That could have been awkward. Even more so if I had stopped after babe…

• Sweet Pea
• Pumpkin (Pie)
• Sugar
• Honey Bun, shortened to Honey (not to be confused with Hunny)
• Sweetie Pie
• Babycakes..? What does that even mean? The thought of it really kind of creeps me out

They’re all sweets!

I think I genetically inherited this trait from mama murph. (Of course after my awkward endearment encounters I have to look to my parents as a source of blame).  But in all seriousness, she came home from work and recounted a conversation with an 80something year old that included several such terms of endearment only to be interrupted by the 80something year old saying “I’m confused, why are you calling me foods?”

Why? Because they’re all sweets! Translation: you’re sweet. ie: “Thanks sweetie!” 

It's interesting to me that sweets became associated with positive affirmations/positive pronouns. Or just positives in general, ie: “niiiiice, sweet deal!” 

Then somewhere in the 90s people started using “fatty or phat” to describe their “fatty deals” and “phat girlfriends.” You know that last one came about by some panicked boyfriend who was being interrogated by his girlfriend regarding a “not so sweet” comment he had made.

Anyways, back on track…So I think I’m going to test drive a vegetable as a term of endearment. Translation: You’re looking healthy and fabulous! I less than three (<3) your healthy heart. I hope your diet is reducing your chances of adverse cardiovascular events!

“Parsnip” and “turnip” came into my mind probably because they’re still starches (made of glucose=sugar=sweet) but I may have to opt for the really hardcore vegetables.  

This holiday season I’m going to approach my cousins with “Hey, broccoli! How are you?” If it works on them, I may have to include it into my appreciative "thank you" for my male, mail carrier in hopes that he will carry it on. Handling others hearts with care. 

Doesn't this idea just bROCKoli..?
Too far? Did I take it too far?

In a Beat

Technology continues to boggle my mind. 

You know when your father is staring at his phone and saying “What is this envelope on my phone?  And how do I make it go away without getting charged for opening it?” There were some choice expletive deleted-s in that quote, mainly targeted at phone service companies, but I chose to save you all. 

…Yea, I’m kind of like that. I’m a premature version of “wait wait, slow down. Remind me, what does that button do again?” Probably a huge reason why I never got Zotero working on my computer the other day…

In my own defense: 1) Why bother concerning myself when I have ten people around me that could name and locate the number of petting zoos within a 100 mile radius in 30 seconds flat, and 2) Something tells me that technology and obesity are positively correlated. Throw in a growing sense of entitlement and you’ve got an American.

During my nutrition education lesson today I touched on this concept. Show of hands out there, (I’m dead serious, I figured out what that button does so I can see you and your hand!) how many of you would go through the trouble of milling wheat, milking cows, collecting eggs, and baking a pie  from scratch?  Now, how many of you would pick an apple off of a tree? How many of you would choose a pie if it took about a minute, and about a dollar, and you didn’t even have to set foot on the ground (I’m totally not referring to a certain fast food’s apple pie here).

I know exactly what happened to that apple I picked off the tree. .

Get the message?

The kicker to this whole convenience/technology standpoint was that I was teaching valuable lessons to Canadian high school students today in Saint Louis Missouri. How you ask?

Live over the internet of course, silly. 

It’s an interactive lesson. So when I asked “show of hands” I really was dead serious. And speaking about dead, Ray Vollmer, the Adventures in Medicine and Science coordinator, displays my nutrition lessons’ consequences by showing the students healthy and diseased hearts from people who have donated their bodies to science.  Pretty wild, huh? 

 
At the “heart” of my power point lesson we discuss the categories of fat, the types of fat that make up those categories, the food that makes up the type of fat, and the impact of those food/fat on your health. Then at the end we play games like “which are healthier choices?” and “True or false questions.” 

I’ll give you a feel of it.

True or False, eating late at night will cause you to gain weight? 

False! Yes, our metabolisms are subject to timing of eating but the bottom line is that if you exceed the amount of calories, regardless of time, that you need to support your weight (no matter if it is coming from excess carbohydrate, protein, or fat) you will gain weight.

The reason behind the myth? People probably make poorer choices and have lower energy to prepare healthier meals at the end of the day. They also have fewer opportunities to burn calories if they’re home bound and bed bound.

Thanks for playing along! I hope you believed in my ability to use technology so much that you verbalized your answer to your computer screen. Classic example: mama murph compensating her own technology knowledge deficit by puffing out her chest and loudly and very articulately verbalizing “yes” to the credit card screen at the grocery store checkout lane rather than verifying the amount  by pushing the green button on the screen. Even though the checkout woman was politely choking her laughter when she corrected my mother, you’ve got to hand it to the lady…this is the way of future. 

But no matter the way of the technology future, our bodies rely on good ole balance, variety, and moderation.

Divide and Conquer

Why is it that when people are asked to change they have these slight internal freak out moments? 

I’m not talking catastrophic change like move to England for a semester change…cause I’ve done that and loved it. Or embark on a scary thing they call the Saint Louis Dietetic Internship, done that. Survived it. Barely. 

I’m talking about the silly change. 

With all the uncertainty coming from graduation, the future, and my day to day graduate assistantship tasks, I have dug my heels in with the minor changes in my life. This minor change being (ding ding ding moment revealed) moving graduate assistant desks in the department office..! 

Humans are such animals disguised in dress, except if you eat a human you’re called something other than carnivore. We are programmed to settle. Make homes. And then we grow attachments to our homes. Even homes that are disguised as desks at work, which unfortunately become home (away from home). Just because I stuck a giant bubble lettered “MEG” on my desk bulletin board back in May ’09 does not a home make.

..And so I took the plunge to move from my hot spot GA desk to the desk next door with a wall divider and spacious drawers! A real sign that I was moving up and out into the world. I re-posted my “MEG” sign on my new bulletin board, flipped open my laptop and attempted to get Zotero reference manager working for my thesis. One point five hours later and I realized I wasn’t moving up in the world. I was just in my own world. My wall divider divided me so much that it was 8p until I gave up on Zotero and realized the whole office had left. And not just left but left when normal office people leave. I think that’s around 5p? 
 

So around my corner (of the divider) is that thing people refer to as the “real world.” Maybe if I got my reference manager working I would have a better idea of how to refer to the questions “what are you going to do with your masters?”  

“duh, be the master of something..!!?”

  

Still working on that part of course but I figure things will fall into place. And until then, there’s this little thing called blogging that seems to keep people preoccupied.