Myths & Facts

Cooking

• Searing meat does not “seal in” moisture, and in fact may actually cause meat to lose moisture. However in some infra red grills, the cooked meat retains more moisture than meat cooked with other methods. In most cases, meat is seared to create a brown crust and to add a rich flavor via the Maillard reaction.
• Mussels that do not open when cooked may still be fully cooked and safe to eat.
• Some cooks believe alcohol evaporates quickly when heated, and thus that food items cooked with wine or liquor are non-alcoholic. No matter how long alcohol in food is cooked, at least some small percentage still remains.
• Sushi does not mean raw fish, and not all sushi includes raw fish. The usual Japanese term for raw fish is sashimi. The term sushi actually refers to the rice used, which is gently folded with a vinegar and salt and sugar dressing. Toppings for the rice may traditionally include raw fish—but also cooked seafood, fish roe, egg, or vegetables such as cucumber, daikon radish, or ume plum. The dish constituting sushi and other fillings wrapped in a seaweed is referred to as makizushi, a type of sushi.
• While putting metal in a microwave can damage the magnetron by causing an impedance mismatch, it depends on the shape and size of the metal and the time it is in the microwave. Electrical arcing may also occur on pieces of metal that are not smooth, or have points (e.g. a fork). Distributed metallic surfaces that are not subject to arcing and do not appreciably alter the magnetron’s RF load can be used in a microwave with no danger; examples include the metalized surfaces used in browning sleeves and pizza-cooking platforms

Body Image & Eating Disorders

• Byron, Kafka, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Uri Geller and John Prescott all suffered from eating disorders
• In Hollywood, women are under pressure to stay so slender it’s often unhealthy. Of course, there are exceptions. Interestingly though, when a woman gains or loses weight for a role it’s a much bigger news item than when a man does the same
• Anorexia and bulimia are more common in men than the media and some eating disorder groups would have you believe. It’s not a “girl’s disease”
• Symptoms of anorexia include worrying about weight, exercising more, and being unable to stop losing weight. Males might experience erectile dysfunction and/or shrinking testicles
• Studies show that there is actually no correlation between media images of thin “ideal” figures and the development of eating disorders. if that were true, given the number of thin-is-in images we’re bombarded with in the media, we wouldn’t have a population with 10% undernourished eating disorder sufferers and 66% overweight people

Obesity

• 2/3rds of American adults are now overweight
• Child obesity rates have tripled in the past 30 years
• $125 billion is spent each year in the US alone on indirect and direct costs due to obesity-related diseases
• You don’t just get fat on the outside. As you gain weight, fat builds up in your muscles and even in some organs like your heart
• Being as little as 20 lbs overweight triggers a drop in testosterone for 40% of men

Nutrition & Dieting

• ‘Negative Calorie’ diets don’t work – they’re a misunderstanding of the difference between a calorie and a Calorie
• High Fructose Corn Syrup is now in more than half of the food products eaten in North America. Even some brands of mustard, hamburger buns, etc. HFCS is also a poison
• Fibre in your diet can prevent a lot of diseases, but most people eating a Western diet get about 1% of the fibre that our ancestors ate
• There’s nothing wrong with drinking milk, but if stronger bones are your goal eat lots of fruits and veggies
• There are 2 types of essential fatty acids (EFAs): Omega-3 (found in foods like fish, flax and pumpkin seeds, and walnuts) and Omega-6 (found in things like corn oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil) EFAs have been shown to protect against heart disease, but but our bodies can’t make them so we must consume them in food. Ideally, these should be balanced in the diet at a ratio of 2-to-1; in most Western diets, that ratio is 20-to-1.

World Food Distribution

• 80% of harvested corn, grains, and soy beans are fed to animals in Europe and North America
• 78% of malnourished children live in countries with food surpluses, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• 90% of the hungriest nations on earth are net exporters of food to rich nations
• In the past few decades, food production has become so efficient that there is enough to go around. However, food sent as aid to starving nations often rots at shipping centers while politicials, dictators, and other interested parties squabble over who controls the distribution to those who need it