The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

*Warning: I get a little political in this article, and more than a little philosophical.*

I had to steal my blog title from the children's book of the same name, simply because it was too appropriate to this article in the New York Times, which a friend pointed out. I'll sum it up thus:

The US Dept of Agriculture (read: our government) created a "Dairy Management" organization to boost cheese sales. Their big client: Dominoes, which was encouraged to create a pizza with 40 percent more cheese to boost sales. It worked. People like cheese on their pizza.

Does it bother anyone else that there is an entire part of our government devoted to promoting dairy? I mean, really? And that they PAID FOR A $12 MILLION DOLLAR MARKETING CAMPAIGN for Dominoes? (Their annual budget is a whopping $140 million.)

This is where our taxpayer dollars are going.

If you think about it, the whole idea of marketing food is ridiculous. We have to eat. We'll die if we don't. Nobody has to convince us we need food. But when government subsidizes an entire food produce industry in return for that industry's financial backing, marketing becomes a little more understandable.

All that aside, I want to take issue with a couple of points:

Point 1: "One slice [of Dominoes cheesier pizza] contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat."
If you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know I don't think much of government recommendations for daily intake of anything. They are highly influenced by industry concerns, which are very different from health concerns. Saturated fat is an area of contention for the USDA and FDA. In their desperate attempt to appear concerned for the health of the American public, which is decidedly at odds with the food industry making any money, they have vilified saturated fat due to some dubious studies.

While processed cheese slathered on pizza is not a great source of saturated fat, the fat is not really the issue. Nor is the cheese. It's the processing. And the fact that $12 million is being spent to convince Americans to eat more fast-food pizza, which essentially has zero nutritional value.

Let's take a look at another side of this issue:

Point 2: "Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat."

Cheese is now the number one source of saturated fat in this country. This is because we've all been conditioned to be afraid of fat in milk and beef.

Again, this is a fallacious fear, and not only that, but it is hurting us. Saturated fat in animal products allows for the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K, which cannot be absorbed without fat. Saturated fat greatly increases the absorbability of calcium, magnesium, and other essential minerals for healthy bones. Drinking skim milk is not the same in terms of nutrients as drinking whole.

Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health and a former member of the federal government’s nutrition advisory committee, says it better than I can:

“The U.S.D.A. should not be involved in these programs that are promoting foods that we are consuming too much of already. A small amount of good-flavored cheese can be compatible with a healthy diet, but consumption in the U.S. is enormous and way beyond what is optimally healthy.”

Point 3: “When eaten in moderation and with attention to portion size, cheese can fit into a low-fat, healthy diet,” the [Agriculture] department said.

Why yes, it can. However, a low-fat diet isn't necessarily healthy. It's often full of sugar and processed vegetable oils. Also, beef and dairy that isn't organic and grass fed isn't good for us whether it's lean or not. Finally, saturated fat isn't bad for us! Humans have been eating it for thousands of years. It's highly nutritious and contains vitamin D and antibiotic and antimicrobial properties (which support immune function) in healthy, grass-fed or wild-caught animals.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a great resource for information about fats and other nutrients. Co-founder and president Sally Fallon's cookbook, Nourishing Traditions, is available online.

Point 4: "While warning about fat, U.S. pushes cheese sales."

This is the title of the article itself, and kudos to the NYT for calling the U.S. government to task. We are getting mixed messages from our government, which is trying to promote itself as a concerned parent while behaving like a money-hungry corporation. As I've said in recent posts about the egg recall, GMOs and Frankensalmon, and McDonald's, we have to take full responsibility for our own health. Asking the government to do it for us is not only irresponsible, it's dangerous.

Don't let the government dictate what you eat! Their concerns, as in the health care/pharmaceutical industry, are widely swayed by money, not your health.

Celebrate Non-GMO Month!

In addition to being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October is also Non-GMO Month. GMOs are genetically modified foods. You may have heard a lot about them in the news lately, especially with regard to the "Frankensalmon." I remember when the issue of GMO first came up around the turn of the millennium. I thought, No big deal. It's just science.
And that's exactly what Psychology Today wants us to think. According to writer David Ropeik, fear of GMOs is nothing more than a psychological perception of risk. We fear what we can't control. And because the government won't tell us the details of genetic modification (for the financial safety of the companies making money off of it), we fear GMO corn, soy, and now salmon. By this argument, genetic modification is just a "secret recipe" like the combination of ingredients for Heinz or Coke.
By contrast, there are arguments made based on a history of irresponsible governmental decisions when it comes to food. After all, high fructose corn syrup is made from corn and is therefore "natural," yet it still wreaks havoc on the body. As for trans fats, they are made from vegetables, and what could be better for you? However, now even the infamously mainstream Mayo Clinic is now calling "double trouble for your heart health." (The USDA's replacement for the Food Pyramid, now called MyPlate, still recommends vegetable oils, which are not much better than trans fats; in one study of several thousand men, men asked to reduce saturated fat by consuming vegetable oils had 100% more deaths than those who ate "bad" diets containing saturated fat and cholesterol).
So we have a reason to be suspicious of the government's blanket approval of a new way to mess with our food. Other concerns are animal and environmental health, moral and ethical concerns, and the fact that nobody wants to label GMOs, just like they want to rename high-fructose corn syrup.
What do you think about GMO? A blessing or a curse? Is technology like this safe when it comes to food? Should we trust multinational food corporations and the ever-compliant FDA?