Morning Coffee Category Archive

Body Dysmorphia and Teen Suicidal Ideation

Suicide attempts linked to weight perception

By Lindsey Tanner, salon.com

June 7, 2005 | CHICAGO -- Suicidal impulses and attempts are much more common in teenagers who think they are too fat or too thin, regardless of how much they actually weigh, a study found.

Using actual body size based on teens' reports of their height and weight, the researchers found that overall, overweight or underweight teens were only slightly more likely than normal-weight teens to have suicidal tendencies.

But teens who perceived themselves at either weight extreme -- very fat or really skinny -- were more than twice as likely as normal-weight teens to attempt or think about suicide.

The study was based on a nationally representative 2001 survey involving 13,601 students in ninth through 12th grade. The findings appear in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, published Monday.

About 19 percent said they had considered suicide in the previous year and about 9 percent said they had attempted it.

About 65 percent of students were in the normal-weight range, but only about 54 percent perceived themselves as "about the right weight." Some thought they weighed too much; others thought they were too thin.

"Suicide ideation was more likely even among students whose perceptions of body size deviated only slightly from `about the right weight,"' said lead author Danice Eaton, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Because nearly half of the students perceived themselves as too thin or too heavy, "these results suggest that a sizable proportion of students may be at increased risk" for suicide, the researchers said.

Perceptions of being very overweight were linked with an increased risk for suicide attempts among whites. But black and Hispanic students who saw themselves as being very overweight were no more likely to say they had attempted suicide than blacks and Hispanics who thought they were about the right weight.

The link between perceptions of being very underweight and an increased risk for suicide attempts existed for whites, blacks and Hispanics alike.

The study did not determine which came first -- perceptions of extreme weight or suicidal tendencies. But the results suggest that extreme weight perceptions might be a suicide warning sign, the researchers said.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Alain Joffe of Johns Hopkins University said widespread media images of perfect bodies might help shape adolescent perceptions of normal.

But he said it is also possible that adolescents who are already concerned with body image pay more attention to media images.

reference

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Oleana!

2005 Dietary Guidelines

What's At Stake:

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) applauds the new “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005.” Released on January 12, 2005, the “Guidelines” has been published jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) every five years since 1980.

The new "Guidelines” is the most health-oriented ever. The guidelines provide stronger recommendations for consuming less sodium and trans fat and more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Importantly, the guidelines apply to the federal school lunch and breakfast programs. Under the “Guidelines,” schools will need to offer less-salty foods and more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. However the guidelines will not apply to foods sold outside of school meals through vending machines, cafeteria snack lines, fundraisers, and school stores.

As good as the “Dietary Guidelines” is, it will do little to improve the public's health without vigorous efforts to improve nutrition policy and the food environment. To support the guidelines' healthy-weight goals, CSPI calls on Congress to provide the Centers for Disease Control with greatly increased funding for programs that promote nutrition and activity and pass laws requiring calorie labeling on menus at chain restaurants, improving school foods, and shielding children from junk-food marketing.

Because industry has done little voluntarily to implement past “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” government regulatory agencies need to take such actions as limiting the salt content of processed foods, eliminating the use of partially hydrogenated oils, and lowering the current limits on fat in processed meats.

Visit http://www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/index.html for more information on nutrition policy.

Visit http://www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines/ to review the “Guidelines”.

CSPI v Quaker

To take the survey, please go to:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=89144797747

Thanks for your participation!

Michael Jacobson, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Center for Science in the Public Interest

Marketing Food to Children

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Villain of the Year 2004

Their heros? Fucking Jared Fogle and the woman who stopped people from getting overtime pay in the administrative layer of the food industry.

Broccoli Rabe

Purity Of Essence

From the "Bottom Line Daily Health Newsletter":

FRIEND OR FOE

The controversy over fluoridation of our water rages on. Fluoride is supposedly good for dental health. However, research continues to demonstrate that it is harmful to our general health. Is it worth the trade-off?

CSPI petition

Dear [George Bush -OR- John Kerry],

Unhealthy eating and physical inactivity are leading causes of death in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, unhealthy eating and inactivity cause at least 400,000 deaths each year by contributing to obesity, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Indeed, for non-smokers, poor diet and inactivity are the major causes of preventable death. With two-thirds of Americans overweight or obese, we need to give people a fighting chance at eating better and maintaining a healthy weight.

If you are elected president, I urge you to implement policies that make it easier for people to eat well. I am particularly interested in how you stand on the following three issues:

Methyl Bromide not going away

Si se puede!

Pesticide Persisting Beyond Scheduled Elimination Date

WATSONVILLE, Calif. - Planting time is near in John Steinbeck's old haunts. A fork on the back of a tanker-tractor dips 12 inches down into the soil and emits a gaseous cocktail to kill any fungus or micro-organism that could threaten next spring's strawberries. Mexican workers, wearing antiseptic white suits but no face masks, follow close behind, tamping down the white plastic sheeting that covers the loamy fields.

They are fumigating Will Garroutte's strawberry fields with methyl bromide, a pesticide so witheringly effective it is a farmer's dream. But it is not an environmentalist's.

Methyl bromide is considered more destructive to the protective ozone layer in the stratosphere than some banned chemicals and has been linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer in farm workers.

After a decade in which the use of the fumigant decreased by more than 70 percent among developed nations, consumption of methyl bromide is poised to rise next year. That has environmentalists worried

OPA!

FAGE Company to open yogurt factory in United States

The FAGE Company intends to open a yogurt factory in the United States and it will become the first European company registered to sell its products in all of the country's states.

The decision was taken by the company as a result of the great acceptance of its yogurt in the United States, after it began to export its products to the U.S. four years ago, achieving great success and receiving many awards for the quality of its products, which prompted it to establish the FAGE U.S.A. company.

Increased demand for FAGE's products and the company's intention to meet increased needs in all states in the United States, together with special legislation in the U.S. on imported goods, led to the decision to open the factory.

Source: Athens News Agency

Super-size THIS

And YES! just as we had hoped, there will be a kid-friendly edit of the film so they can show it in schools. It should be out in a week or two and begind distribution shortly thereafter. HOOORAY!

BTW, if you haven't been following, the film reached the $10 mil in July and is currently the fourth-highest grossing documentary OF ALL TIME, (hey, The Corporation is doing pretty well too), toured around Europe all summer, and won at Edinborough.

There may be some small hope for the world yet.

Stupid Subway commercials

That Jared Fogel guy is annoying enough on his own, but this latest ad campaign is infuriating.

They have been pulling that mindfuck on their nutrition information for over a decade. Not that they are worse than other companies, but they are advertising incessantly right now.

And look, their are now more Subway Franchises than McD's in the US (Those Subway/Texaco as stations all across US80 coast-to-coast can't hurt. They did save me driving to Boston, though, i must admit.) And screw their F.R.E.S.H. Steps plan, too ("Feel Responsible Energized Satisfied and Happy!")

Post-Punk Kitchen

Hola!

Welcome to the Post Punk Kitchen.

We are a vegetarian cooking show on public access, airing in Brooklyn via BCAT (Brooklyn Community Access Television).

We've always loved cooking shows but they tend to be gross. So we thought it would be nice if there was something watchable for vegetarians. And people who may not have fancy accoutrement. (Please say that word in a french canadian accent because it's funnier that way)

A Ray of Hope

Low-Carb Losing Steam

Demand May Not Be Keeping Up With Supply of Products

The nation's appetite for low-carbohydrate foods seems bottomless, judging by the many low-carb products showing up in supermarkets and the new menu items at restaurants and fast-food chains. And when Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. recently announced slowing sales, it put part of the blame on low-carb diets.

Yet the mood at a recent Washington conference on the business was bleak. Sales of low-carb products have fallen sharply at independent and health food stores, and some longtime industry insiders say a shakeout has begun.

Bliss

www.panna.org

Many U.S. residents carry toxic pesticides in their bodies above government assessed "acceptable" levels, [...]

"None of us choose to have hazardous pesticides in our bodies," said Kristin Schafer of PANNA and lead author of the report. "Yet CDC found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person in this group carried a toxic cocktail of 13 of the 23 pesticides we analyzed."

i am going to be less lazy about washing, no, scrubbing my veggies in hot water from now on!

Organic veggies are better

ACS journal: Organic foods higher in cancer-fighting compounds

According to a Mar. 3, 2003 American Chemical Society press release posted to EurekAlert! a news site by the American Association for the Advancement of Science:

Fruits and veggies grown organically show significantly higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants than conventionally grown foods, according to a new study of corn, strawberries and marionberries. The research suggests that pesticides and herbicides actually thwart the production of phenolics — chemicals that act as a plant's natural defense and also happen to be good for our health. Fertilizers, however, seem to boost the levels of anti-cancer compounds.

Super-sized Ritalin, please

Food additives and hyperactivity -- widely reported around world, but not in U.S.

According to a June, 2004 Archives of Disease in Childhood article:

There is a general adverse effect of artificial food colouring and benzoate preservatives on the behaviour of 3 year old children which is detectable by parents but not by a simple clinic assessment.

Save the carb!

Tomorrow is THURSDAY, MAY 20TH, NATIONAL CARB AWARENESS DAY.

Today i saw Low-carb bread at Trader Joe's. WHAT THE HELL IS IN IT, THEN? IT'S BREAD!!!

i hereby vow to punch the next person that seriously uses the word "carb" in conversation, right in the nose. For their own good, of course.

Science is abused yet again

http://www.ageyourwine.com/ & http://www.thewineclip.com/

At least the first site keeps their mouth shut. The explanation on that second site is painful bullshit. Besides they misuse "effects", i hate that.

When a conductive fluid (in this case wine) passes through a magnetic field, an electrical charge is created. That charge effects the molecules that are suspended in the fluid. These loosely bonded and larger molecules are broken down into smaller molecules.

With The Wine Clip, a wine’s impurities and tannins are broken down during the pouring process. There is absolutely no chemical change and nothing is introduced or taken away from the wine. It’s the physical change which accounts for the enhanced flavor and bouquet. The taste of many small molecules is smoother than the taste of fewer large molecules.

Cahill Porter Cheddar

i finally managed to be at Cardullo's when they had this in stock. It lived up to everything i had heard about it. And it is so beautiful! Look here for a close-up view of this gorgeous cheese.

Now i am interested in trying from Durrus and Cashel Blue Irish cheeses for comparison. Artisanal Cheese sells them in a sampler pack.

After that, perhaps the Red Wine version of the Cahill, and this Windsor Red. Gorgeous.

Brookline Farmers' Market

Crème Brulée, encore

Funnest kitchen toy EVER

MoS Brunch

The view was stunning and the food was tasty, if not the most amazing ever on Earth.

And the service was great! Ask for Ed. He hooked me up with a mimosa that was mostly champagne, since the OJ flows freely. Good ol' Ed.

Ooh, tickets go on sale June 1st for the LotR exhibit.

Coffee is important

According to Turkish law, a woman who does not get her daily quota of coffee from her husband has grounds for divorce, instead.

Now they had their priorities straight.

Domesticity

Green Line Dining Guide

http://www.greenlinemenus.com/ This could be nice if it develops.

Ravioli recipe

This recipe for Wild Mushroom Ravioli could be modified to get close to the appetizer we had today; you would need to add some sherry when sautéeing the mushrooms, and top it with a nice Béchamel sauce and some grated Parrano, and you would not be too far off. i would probably not go with the wonton wrappers to make them (as much as i adore that trick) since the pasta we had was far more delicate. Mmmmm.

Still addicted

i was hoping i would be sick of it by now, but it is apparently not going to happen. Seriously, at $4 per, i need a second job to support my habit. i am getting really antsy to comparison shop, maybe find something more affordable. Damn you Joe, whoever you are.

Cassius

My friend Tina came over last night, and under my guidance she made her first lasagna ever. (Her first anything ever, really, it was a Big Deal.) She named him Cassius. We danced with joy and drank to his glory.

AND HE WAS DELICIOUS. He was even better as left-overs this morning.

She took pictures to show her mom; i will post them once they are developed (yes, i am the only person on earth who still uses film outside of a professional context, apparently).

Sad, but True

You just cannot reheat pancakes. Heartbreaking.