Satire Friday: Heart-shaped Dessert

Photo courtesy of Google

It’s two days before Valentine’s Day and it’s time to make my annual elegant Valentine’s Day dessert. Every year I have high hopes of making some elaborate, romantic dessert, despite the fact that everyone, including myself, knows that I’m more of a “drop-cookie” kind of girl. My pumpkin-shaped Thanksgiving cakes looked like over-grown melons, and I couldn’t get the cinnamon stick stems to stand up right, giving them the look of skewered heads. My Easter lamb cake was top-heavy and ended up looking like decapitated livestock on a tray. My Christmas cookies are not Christmas cookies at all, just the same cookies I make all year long, except with red and green sprinkles. So what comes over me every Valentine’s Day that makes me think I not only should, but can make an elegant dessert? Romance? Cupid? Forgetfulness? Hope springing eternal?

This year I ‘m going for the double whammy – I’ve planned “a delightful heart-shaped flourless chocolate torte, surrounded by a bed of heart-shaped cookies.” I decided to make the cookies first. I get out the Williams Sonoma cookie press, the same cookie press that I’ve put in and taken out of the give-away box at least three times before. I know it doesn’t work and it’s never worked, but gosh darn it, I too want to make festive cookies for every holiday except Hanukkah (sorry, no menorah shape included).

I made the dough according to the directions. It says to shape the dough into a tube and lightly drop it into the cookie press. The dough is all sticky – I can’t get it to shape, it’s sticking to my hands. Maybe if I add more flour. Now I’ve got flour in my hair and on the floor. The dough is no longer sticky – now it’s kind of thick. I try lightly dropping the shaped dough into the press. That’s not working so I start whacking it in with a spoon. Then I place the press on the cookie sheet, push the trigger, and voila – the end of the cookie press falls off on the floor. Now there’s flour and cookie dough on the floor. Okay, starting over. I’ve finally got the end of the cookie press back on. I press out the first heart-shaped cookie, and it’s – a blob. Well, I guess I could eat that one. But the next one’s a blob too, and if I eat all the bad ones…

While the blobs are baking, I start on the torte. The dough whipped up easy enough. I’m pouring it into the heart-shaped pan – this should be a cinch. But wait – it says the pan should have two-inch sides, and I’m

Photo courtesy of gadget.co.uk

 pretty sure my pan is only one-inch tall. I guess I could have one heart-shaped torte and one smaller torte - a torte with a satellite. I get out a little round pan and pour the excess dough in. But now both pans still look too full. I get out another little pan, and now I’m madly spooning the dough from the two pans to even out to the third. Meanwhile the timer is going off because the blobs are done. I’m supposed to clean off the cookie sheet before pressing out another batch of blobs, but that sounds like too much work while I’m up to my elbows in torte batter, so I just get out another cookie sheet.

There, another batch of blobs are in the oven, the three tortes are baking. Looks like they’re rising pretty high – will they make it? I watch the oven anxiously. Even though I have a semi self-cleaning oven, I don’t really want chocolate batter dripping all over it. The tortes rise - they’re poofing up above the pan – I open the oven to whisk them out before the dough pours over the sides. Well, no need to worry about the cakes rising too high any more.

It’s now day two. There is still flour on the floor. Every cookie sheet I own is waiting to be washed. The flourless pancakes, er tortes and the cookie blobs are waiting to be frosted. The heart-shaped torte broke when I took it out of the pan, so now it’s a broken heart. I’m hoping to glue it back together with the frosting.

For some reason the frosting turns out fine. My recipe is in my head and I just add things until it looks right. Why can’t all recipes be like that? But will frosting save this Valentines’ Day dessert debacle? It might if I color it a festive pink.

It’s Valentine’s Day. My kitchen is still a mess. There’s still flour on the floor. But the glued together heart-shaped torte is on the cake plate and doesn’t look too bad. The extra tortes are hidden away in the freezer. The cookie blobs look better now that they’re covered with festive pink frosting. But I’ve learned my lesson: no more fancy Valentine’s Day desserts. No flourless tortes, no heart-shaped anything, nada. And, I’m putting the cookie press in the give-away box.  Again.

Target Heart Rate: Part I

So what is target heart rate? Do a search on “target heart rate” and you’ll get a myriad of web sites to help you understand target heart rate. Some focus on using target heart rate for body building, others for weight loss, some for basic health, others for cardiovascular fitness. In part one I’ll try to drill down to the basics of what target heart rate is and why it’s important for exercise. If you want more information for your specific type of exercise you may want to do a more focused search, using key words of “target heart rate and body building”, or weight loss, or whatever your particular interest is. As always, if you are new to exercise you should consult your health care provider before beginning, start slow and build intensity gradually, and work within your ability and any age and physical limitations you might have.

Target heart rate measures the intensity of one’s workout by how hard your heart is working during exercise. Our hearts work at different levels of intensity depending on our activity level. If we’re sleeping or sitting idle, our heart does not have to work very hard. The measure of our heart rate at rest is called, naturally, resting heart rate (RHR). You can find your resting heart rate by counting your heart rate when you first awake in the morning (count your pulse for 30 seconds and multiply the number by two). Do this for three days, take the average of your results and you’ll have your baseline resting heart rate. How fast our heart beats at rest is determined by age, gender, health conditions, illness, some medications such as beta-blockers, and general level of fitness. Those who exercise regularly at intense levels, such as runners, cyclists, triathletes, and professional athletes generally will have a slow resting heart rate, perhaps as low as 40-60 beats per minute(bpm). This is because a very fit heart is able to beat so strongly that it does not need to beat as often to pump blood through the body. My excellent husband has a resting heart rate between 42-50 bpm and generally sets off alarms any time he’s been on a monitor for a medical procedure. Most people of average age and fitness will have a RHR between 60-80ish. Women tend to run a little higher than men because our hearts are smaller so therefore have to work a little harder.

Next, we need to understand maximum heart rate (MHR). This is the highest level of intensity at which your heart is able to work if needed, such as for running to rescue a child from a burning building. Most of us are only able to work at our maximum heart rate for short bursts of activity, and it is not recommended to try to sustain our maximum heart rate during routine exercise.

Recommendations vary, but for routine exercise, most people will aim for 50-80% of their maximum heart rate. This is the goal, or target heart rate zone (THR).

For most folks, exercise at 50-60% will be brisk, but not extremely challenging. A brisk walk where one is able to carry on a conversation, or a bike ride with kids or just tooling around the neighborhood will get you to 50-60%. At this level, you’ll maintain your level of health and reap the benefits of activity, but probably will not see significant weight loss, improvement in cardiovascular fitness, or increase your fitness to a competitive level. Those who are happy with their current weight and fitness level, or who are unable to exercise harder due to age or physical limitations, will probably want to exercise at 50-60% for 30-60 minutes most days of the week.

If you’re interested in reducing weight and improving your cardiovascular fitness, and are not already exercising vigorously, start by aiming for a THR of 60-70%, and work towards a goal of 60-80%, for 30-60 minutes at least 3-4 days a week, depending on what you hope to achieve. This level of exercise is more challenging – a brisk jog or speed walk, step aerobics, biking at a brisk pace, swimming laps. At this level of exercise you should be able to have a 3-4 word conversation, breath hard but not gasp for breath, and perspire enough to become fairly sweaty by the time you’re done. You might want to consult a trainer, join a training class (i.e. run camp or bike camp) or consult with experienced exercisers to develop an exercise program that will help you achieve this level. There are also plenty of web sites offering training information. For most people it is not necessary to work harder than 80% to achieve aerobic conditioning and weight loss.

For very fit persons interested in advanced conditioning, or for those training for advanced events such as marathons, triathlons, and iron-person competitions, you may need to include some training at a level above 80%. People interested in this kind of training would do well to consult with a trainer or join a training class.

Putting it all together: next we’ll use resting heart rate and maximum heart rate to calculate target heart rate. If you can’t wait until then, do a search on “calculate target heart rate” and you’ll find plenty of advice.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4736

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001941.htm

http://www.livestrong.com/article/88354-importance-exercise-heart-rate/

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=24521&sc=806

Random Thoughts: Three Minute Fiction

Maybe some of you have heard of the writing contest on NPR called “Three Minute Fiction.” (TMF) Readers submit an original short story based on a required theme. The story must be 600 words or fewer, and be able to be read aloud in three minutes or less. I missed round one of TMF. For round two of TMF the story had to start with “The nurse left work at five-o’clock.” I thought about that one; even began formulating a story in my head, but I had heard about it while in the car, and didn’t get back to it once I got home. This time, round three, the story had to be inspired by a picture posted on the TMF website. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105660765 The picture showed a newspaper lying open on a table in a café, and a man walking by on the street, visible through the café window. This time I entered my story.

 Well, no surprise – I did NOT win the TMF contest. Many talented writers entered and I didn’t have a chance. But, it was great practice and fun to try. I’ll try again when round four rolls around. Meanwhile, If you like, you can read my submission for TMF below, titled “The Reader.”

 “Doesn’t anyone believe in recycling anymore?” Abby looked down in disgust at the recently abandoned table. The newspaper lay open; the last dregs of coffee spilled across the page, before the cup had crashed to the floor.  Why had he been in such a hurry? The man had been lingering at the table over coffee and the paper for hours while other customers came and left, clicking away on laptops and playing with their phone apps. Now it was late, the diner deserted. Jake the cook, having abandoned the kitchen, sat slumped in the alley, chain-smoking, watching the clock for closing time. Abby allowed herself to flop down at the man’s abandoned seat, and let her eyes skim over the paper. Her shift was almost done, her feet ached. The thought of the empty house waiting, no one to rub her neck and feet and make her tea, was depressing. Not much better here; no one appreciated servers any more – this man hadn’t even left a tip. She swiped her towel over the damp coffee spill and started to fold the paper for the recycle bin. Then she saw it. Was this what the man had been looking at so intently before abruptly taking his leave? “Suspect sought in armed robbery” There was a blurry surveillance camera photo – why did these photos always look so bad? She peered closer. The man in the photo was wearing the predictable hoodie, baseball cap pulled low over his face. What had her man looked like? “We never really see people any more, what they’re wearing, how tall they are,” thought Abby. A slight cough startled Abby from her reverie, then the voice saying “I think you’re in my seat.” As Abby slowly looked up, she instinctively slid her arm over to cover the blurry photo.

Satire Friday: Canoe Nazis

Last summer my family and I returned to a certain northern Michigan canoe livery for a fun canoe trip down the Platte River. This canoe livery has been in existence for decades. My excellent husband, who by some standards is ancient, remembers canoeing down the Platte from the very same livery in the 1960’s. The place remains largely unchanged. Its log-cabinesque building is the same – absolutely no visible remodeling or improvements in the last 40-some years. The “convenience store” is still crammed with every convenience and non-convenience item imaginable, from beef jerky to laxatives. Tacky T-shirts, cedar plaques that boast “Sleeping Bear Dunes” or “Platte River”, its all there. Handicap accessible? Forget about it. Restrooms? Still only one tiny room for each gender, crammed into the back of the store, hard to find among the shelves of tacky items. Despite the fact that hundreds of people have passed through this place daily for more than 40 years, it appears no money has been spent on updating or modernization. So on what are they spending their what must be considerable profits? Certainly not on customer service. My family’s recent experience there led us all to the same conclusion: these people are the canoe Nazis.

The canoe livery has had the same routine for hopeful canoeing candidates for as long back as anyone can remember. Park your car. Go up to the friendly check in desk. Give the number of canoeists in your party. If you haven’t been there before, they make your stand by the sign and wait for the next “orientation” before you can canoe. At one time this orientation was largely about safety and helpful canoeing information. Three of the four of us in our group had been there before. I thought seriously about fibbing and answering “yes” to the “has EVERYONE in your party been here before” question. But I wanted to set a good example of honesty for the kids, even though they’re now grown up kids. And what if there was some crucial safety information of which our new party member would be deprived, had I not answered honestly. So we patiently “waited by the sign” for the “orientation” before embarking on our trip.

This is where the first canoe Nazi showed herself. Instead of a treatise on canoeing safety or fun canoeing trips, we had a stern lecture about the canoe route, and the monetary penalties that would occur should we choose to deviate from the plan. Canoe out into the big lake? Don’t even think about it. This deviation could make your trip take longer, and there was a $20 penalty for any canoeists who took more than the 2.5 hours allotted to us for our $39 per canoe.   In fact, your canoe receipt is time-stamped the moment you set your toes into the aluminum bottomed boat, starting the clock ticking on your canoeing afternoon of fun. Want an extra person in your canoe? This will cost an additional $10, and if you want a child safety seat for your extra loved one, another $1 for that. Once you navigate your trip under the allotted 2.5 hours, your must turn your canoe in to the canoe guys at the river beach site. The guys will take the canoe off your hands for free, but if you want to give them your cushions and paddles, that costs an extra $5. “Gee kids, I remember back in the good old days when the guys took our paddles for free.” Five dollars. To return something that belongs to them. Our canoe Nazi delivered all this news in a clipped and dictatorial fashion. We were scared. Only 2.5 hours to navigate the slow-moving Platte, or we would incur severe financial penalties. Were we up for it? Our fun canoe trip was quickly turning into a canoe death march.

After our indoctrination and waiting while one person in our group drove our car to the end and got a ride back (you get one free ticket for the return ride, and if you lose it, surprise, you have to pay extra) we approached our canoes. I’m sure these are the same canoes my husband used in the good old days. Aluminum seems to be fairly indestructible. The cushions and paddles are well-worn too. I wanted a lifejacket and a cushion, but, you have to pay extra if you want both. So I threw caution and safety to the winds, hoping that in the event of capsizing, my cushion would save me before the kids let me go under. This was all very rash behavior, considering there is a hefty fee for not returning all our rented equipment.

The day was sunny and pleasant, the trip itself uneventful. We kept a brisk pace, not wanting to be charged extra for an extended trip. After all, we might want to buy gas or food on the way home so we couldn’t afford any late fees. When we reached the end of the trip, we hauled our canoes out of the water and gave them to the fit-looking canoe guys. I’m sure they used to haul them out for you, but now this must cost extra. Then, instead of lingering at the beach to enjoy the pleasant day, we hurried back to return our paddles, because in addition to having to pay to give them to the canoe guys, there was an extra charge if we brought them back late. At least we finished our trip in under 2.5 hours and didn’t have to pay the extended trip fee.

Back at the livery, we were “encouraged” to buy a delicious hot dog or hamburger combo meal for only $5, but by that time, we’d had enough of the canoe Nazis. Will we canoe there again? Maybe. There’s no other canoe rental place around. But we’re gonna need a bigger wallet.

People-watching on the Number 66

We’re on the #66 bus to downtown Chicago. We’re trying to be cool and pretend that we do this all the time, but we’re still pretty new at it. We have a borrowed bus pass – we know we have to run it under the scanner when we get on the bus, but we’re not sure how. “You go first”, “No, YOU go first.” We don’t want the driver to yell at us if we do it wrong. Finally my excellent husband takes one for the team and gets on first.

We make it through the scanner and find seats. At the next stop the driver lowers the handicap ramp, and a lady drives on the bus in her Amigo cart. Without prompting, two riders jump up, flip up their seats and suddenly there’s room. She backs her cart into the spot like a pro. She chats on her cell phone and tells her friends to order her breakfast, then gets off a few stops later. We silently marvel at how 10 years ago this woman would have been out of luck – most buses did not have handicap ramps then. A group of 60-something women get on at the next stop. A couple riders get up to offer their seats – the women defer to each until finally the two with the most gray hair take the seats. They all look pretty spry – I think today’s 60 and older group don’t like to be singled out as “old” by having someone offer them a seat.

We’re getting off the bus now. We walk by the old water tower. Usually you can count on seeing some performance artists there – a guy dressed as the tin man standing on an overturned plastic bucket or “Marcel Marceau” doing the moon walk, but it’s a blustery day so no one’s out yet. We’re seeing lots of groups of 20-somethings wearing green T-shirts and no coats, despite the rainy, cold weather. It’s St. Patty’s day here, and Chicagoans take it pretty seriously. A girl with leggings, a sweater cape and no socks saunters by – again seemingly impervious to the cold. A man stops every passerby and asks for $2 for the train, but everyone knows the train costs $2.25, so he’s not getting any takers. The water tower is not open yet – there’s usually a photo exhibit inside and a chance to peek through the grate up the stairs where the alleged ghost lives. Last time we saw photos of downtown carriage horses; before that, pictures of the abandoned Michael Reese Hospital.

We stop at the American Girl store because I’ve always wanted to see what these dolls are about.  It’s a veritable doll Disneyland inside – at least 20 different dolls (although if you look closely you can see they all have the same body and pretty much the same face – only the hair and clothes are different.) Each doll has a name, a book with her story, a wardrobe and accessories. You can buy an outfit for your child that matches the doll’s outfit. You can take your doll to tea, or to the doll hair salon. “Who are these people,” I wonder, “who buy $100 dolls that need wardrobes and accessories?” Shoppers here are well-dressed, moms and grandmas with little girls, mostly white folks I’m sorry to say, although the doll selection represents all ethnic groups.

We’ve seen enough of the doll store for a lifetime. Back outside we pass a street musician wailing on a bright yellow clarinet. A homeless man sits motionless with his back against the Newberry Library fence, holding the inevitable cardboard sign. In front of the Cartier store, a Greenpeace activist muscles his way into our space, trying to convince us to sign a petition.

We clatter down the steps of the Red Line station to buy a fare card for the bus ride home. While my husband ponders the directions on the machine, I throw caution to the winds and just insert our card. Turns out our card is expired and a helpful transit guard appears out of nowhere to tell us to buy a new card. Very patient Chicagoans wait in line while we figure out which slot for the money, which buttons to push. Probably Chicago children have mastered this by the age of three, but we live where we never need to navigate public transportation.

Back on the street we wait for the bus. Many groups of St. Patty’s day revelers pass, none of them dressed for the weather, and all seem to be feeling no pain. When the bus arrives we step on and are immediately hit with an overwhelming stench of urine. Drunken revelry aside, what kind of person does that? We pass by seated passengers holding their noses and covering their faces (this odor really IS bad). There’s a seat open next to a black gentleman, but after smelling the urine, I’m wary of sitting on anything. But I’m afraid of giving the impression that I don’t want to sit with him, so after cautiously feeling the seat for wetness, I take it. Others on the bus are having a rousing and gross discussion about the urine stench, which escalates into a treatise of other disgusting bodily smells. I’m thinking that this is worse than putting up with the odor; finally after several blocks this talk becomes old news.

A woman wearing what seems to be men’s clothing, although looking very dapper I must say, gets on the bus. She seems to know the group talking about the smell and starts up a new topic of conversation. The man next to me asks to get off so I stand up to let him out. Now my husband thinks that I’m trying to get off at the wrong stop. Momentary confusion ensues. We start talking about the movie “The Fugitive” and the great line that Harrison Ford says after he knocks out the bad guy – “You missed your stop” and everyone’s favorite “You find this man!”

Finally, we make it back to our stop, gladly exit the stench-laden bus, and end our day of people-watching on the # 66.

Satire Friday: Set For Life

I just found out some wonderful news – it turns out I’m about to inherit a large sum of money from a long-lost relative. Eighteen-million dollars genuine US cash, to be exact. How did I become so lucky?

Turns out I have a relative I didn’t even know I had, in Sumatra, Indonesia. I know we are related because we have THE SAME LAST NAME. What is the chance of that? Somehow my relative miraculously escaped the tsunami in 2004, but unfortunately his entire family perished. His distress after the loss of his family was so great that he later died of a heart attack. His attorney has been working tirelessly since then to find a relative to whom he could leave the estate. Since my last name is so uncommon, I can see why it took five years.

But, I’ve finally been found, and now I just have to agree to a few legal technicalities, then I can receive the $18 million. Sounds simple enough. According to the attorney, who I’m sure is genuine, because he has “law house” in his email address, and he signed his email “attorney at law”, this is all I have to do:

1. Send my full name, address, telephone number, gender, and occupation. Hmmm – since he said I have the same last name as the deceased, seems like he should already know this. Oh well.

2. Send my “international” passport. Is there any other kind?

Once Mr. Teo Wang receives and processes the legal documents, the money will be transferred via telegram. Mr. Wang stipulates that all correspondence must be kept confidential for security purposes, so we are only to communicate via email. That makes sense because everyone knows that email is VERY secure.

I’m ready to send him my information – I just better read the email one more time to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I certainly wouldn’t want to miss out on the $18 million dollars genuine US cash. Wait, there may be a small problem. Apparently, I was supposed to keep the whole deal secret “FOREVER.” Oops.

Well, too bad about the money. I’m feeling quite dejected, but there is still hope. I just got an email from a Nigerian businessman.

Target Heart Rate: Turn’s out it IS important!

I confess – I knew about target heart rate, and did not pay any attention to it for years. It seemed like something for athletes, and frankly, for men. (I don’t know how I got that idea, except that the only people I knew who paid any attention to it were men.) Now thanks to my excellent husband and bike guru friend, I’ve become a convert.  In the past month or so I’ve been monitoring my target heart rate, and made the amazing discovery that I’ve gotten more benefit from the past month’s exercise than I have from all the exercise I’ve done in the past several years. I’ll share more next week on the why’s and how’s, and share my personal experiment in “The Target Heart Rate Diaries.”

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4736

http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html

Why America is Overweight, Part IV: Other

We all know people who say “No matter how hard I try I can’t lose weight,” and they’re probably right. Besides the obvious things like calorie intake, the kinds of foods we eat, activity levels and exercise, there are other factors which influence our weight. These factors alone or in combination, contribute to our ability to maintain a normal weight. Some are listed here, in no particular order of importance.

Socioeconomic: Not everyone has the means to buy so-called healthy food. Let’s face it – when you’re concerned about feeding a hungry family, your food dollars may go farther buying mac and cheese and hot dogs instead of apples and a head of Romaine. Almost any food can be “good” food in the right amounts (i.e cheese in moderation), but if your budget only allows you to buy McDonald’s value meals, then it’s going to be difficult to keep a normal weight. Economics influences one’s ability to exercise as well. If your neighborhood is not a safe place to walk or bike, and you can’t afford a gym membership or exercise equipment, then it’s difficult to exercise.

Time: Committing to an exercise program requires a certain amount of time each day. Besides the time spent in the exercise itself (maybe 30-60 minutes) there may be travel time to get to a gym, or drop the kids off at daycare. Don’t forget the time it takes to change into exercise clothes, warm-up, cool-down, shower, and put away your equipment and sweaty clothes. All this, plus you still have to do all the other things each day that are good for you, like flossing, working, doing household chores, reading to your kids, calling your mom, and scheduling your colonoscopy. For time-crunched people, fitting in that 30-60+ minutes for exercise every day may just be the last straw.

Genetics: There is a large body of literature regarding genetic factors that may contribute to weight gain. Much of this is technical literature which some readers may choose to explore. Some explore genetic predisposition to obesity, obtained by studying overweight families, twins raised separately, and adopted children. Some we’ve heard about in the news – leptin deficiency for one, which at first seemed to be a promising answer to weight loss, but not necessarily borne out in research. Genetics factors also influence how our bodies store fat. Those who tend to store fat around their waist rather than hips often seem to have a harder time losing weight. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/e_txtbk/txgd/4112.htm

Plenty of information is available online.

Disease conditions: Obesity goes hand in hand with conditions such as metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome. These conditions not only contribute to obesity, but also make it harder to lose weight. Readers who want more information can find plenty online.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4756

http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/polycystic-ovary-syndrome.cfm

Medication: Some medications contribute to weight gain or weight loss. Major common culprits are medicine for depression and serious mental illnesses. Minor culprits are sedating antihistamines (Benadryl, maybe Zyrtec) amitryptiline (Elavil), muscle relaxants, hormones/birth control, prednisone. Sometimes the benefit received from the medication is so vital that it outweighs the risk of being overweight. Sometimes an alternative medication may work just as well, but have less weight gain. If you think your medication is causing weight gain, do not stop taking it on your own, but consult your health care provider.

So, what’s a person to do? If you are overweight, take a hard look at what may be contributing to it in your life. Change what you can, ask for help with what you can’t. Partner with your health care provider and don’t lose hope. Post your comments on what works for you.

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/causes/index.html

http://www.phgfoundation.org/news/4427/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17016614

http://www.medicalmoment.org/_content/risks/jan05/286751.asp

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10875

Why America is Overweight, Part III: Liquid Calories

Which came first, the cup holder or the cup? America’s consumption of liquids has become ubiquitous. Seldom do we see anyone anymore walking around without carrying some kind of drink. Sometimes it’s water, but often it’s a fancy coffee drink, soda, diet or regular, energy drink, Gatorade, or the ever popular Mountain Dew.

I’m not sure how Americans became so obsessed with consuming liquids. In the “good old days when I was a kid” (sorry, I hate to keep bringing this up) one did not see people walking around carrying drinks. People drank milk, coffee or water with meals, not soda, which was for special treats. They only drinks that came in individual serving bottles were soda and beer, which were packaged in glass bottles with a  metal cap that could only be opened with a bottle opener. It was difficult to carry around this kind of bottle because it was not reclosable, so people tended to drink it where they were, like at a movie, ball park or bar, and then were done with it. Coffee was served in porcelain cups in restaurants and was not available in disposable cups “to go.” If you wanted to carry a liquid with you, it would have to be in a canteen, which meant you were a boy or girl scout, and were on a camping trip. If people needed drinks while they were out, they used a drinking fountain. Cars, strollers and grocery carts did not have cup holders.

Somehow Americans went from this to the today’s model, where almost everyone is carrying around something to drink. I suspect the marketing of drink products is a large contributor to this paradigm shift, as well as a change in sales models, with increased access to beverage products through vending machines, self-serve soda counters in restaurants and grocery stores, “free” refills, Starbucks and the like on every corner, and individually packaged everything from juice boxes to Gatorade. If beverages are vigorously marketed, convenient to obtain, and easy to carry, then Americans are likely to drink up. 

So what’s wrong with consuming beverages? We’ve all heard the old adage that we should drink eight glasses of water daily. The problem is, for the most part, it’s not only water that we’re drinking. The relationship between weight gain and liquid calories has been rigorously studied. Some conclude that liquids, while providing calories, do not trigger a sensation of satiety (fullness) to the body, so we remain hungry, despite having ingested calories. Others have shown a relationship between weight gain and sugar-laden beverage consumption, whether the sugar source is high fructose corn syrup or sucrose, just from the sheer increase in calorie consumption. Others note that we have increased the calorie content of our meals by adding soda instead of water, and in larger portions with aka big gulp size cups and free refills. 

In short, we are consuming more calories but not satisfying our hunger, we are finding it easier to buy and carry liquids with us, and are consuming larger portions than in previous times.  All factors together contribute to more weight. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30070941/

So what about diet soda? While diet soda has few calories, the sweet taste triggers a desire for more food. http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Diet_Soda_Weight_Gain In addition, others have found that diet soda  confuses our body’s regulatory system between hunger and weight gain, changes our taste sensation, making other foods taste bland in comparison to the taste of diet soda, and seems to affect weight gain in ways that remain unexplained http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/01/03/three-reasons-to-rethink-that-diet-coke-youre-about-to-drink/

Popular culture and strong sales and marketing influences encourages us to over-consume beverages. Super-thin Rachel on Friends was always drinking Diet Coke. Elaine couldn’t enter Jerry’s apartment on Seinfeld without going to the fridge for a bottle of something. Our celebrities and favorite TV characters  are drinking giant flavored coffees (they don’t even come in “small”) at (gasp) 710 calories a pop. 

“A large Starbucks Mocha Coconut Frappuccino with whipped cream adds a whopping 710 calories and
26 grams of fat” http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56554

Think about your liquid consumption. If you’re drinking more than water and not liking what you see on the scale, think again. If you’ve been able to lose weight but cutting liquid calories, share your results.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/3/651

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56554