Skipping Dessert … and taking the stairs

Ahhh, Monday.  A new work-week, fresh perspectives, bountiful opportunities, etc.  Or as most of us think of it, a desk-full of new crap you have to deal with.

Allow me to take you away from all that for a few minutes and refocus your thinking toward your health for a few minutes.

This week your reading assignments fall in two distinct categories:  Stuff That Shouldn’t Surprise You and Real Food.

First, under the “Stuff That Shouldn’t Surprise You” category, here’s a link about that perennial favorite, the McRib.  The Skipping Dessert research department turned this one up for me a few weeks ago (during the phantom November), back when the McRib was undergoing one of its occasional re-introductions.

When I first started seeing McRib ads I was a little sad about having given up fast food.  Because I LOVE me some McRib sandwiches.  Or at least I did.

As I’ve read more about them in the past few weeks, I’ve learned (and really, how was this not OBVIOUS to me before?) the McRib is pretty much the epitome of Frankenfood.  Even if you still eat at McDonald’s please don’t order this.  Please. You don’t want this stuff in your body.

Leaving the realm of Frankenfood behind, we move on to the  “Real Food” category.  Here’s a Michael Pollan New York Times piece chock-full of nutritious information.  As I’ve said before on this blog, if you have time to read me or Michael Pollan, read him.  He won’t help you learn how my personal struggle to live better is going, but he’ll help you live better.

There’s too much information in this article to pass on to you here, but I do want to call your attention to his comments on soy.  I’m distrustful of soy for all the reasons he delineates here.  It’s being sold to us as more healthful than the things it replaces, but I’m not sure it actually is … mostly because we’re not using it in traditional ways.  I think the jury’s still out on the long-term body-chemical responses to soy, so I think I’ll pass on the Silk for now, thanks.

Thanks for reading, as always!