HoustonChronicle.com – Child taught America the joy of haute cuisine. Kudos to Julia Childs for living to be almost 92 while eating cheese, red meat, butter and cream while drinking a lot of beer. And bragging about it! Meanwhile, the health food nuts drop dead early. Health food pioneer Adele “eat healthy and live longer” Davis, for example, died at 69.
Just a thought. Someone is wrong. Has anyone noticed that it’s been since the health food movement began that Americans are getting fatter and less healthy. Coincidence?
My wife and I love her shows on PBS. I’ll miss her. I mean that too.
Americans ARE getting fatter and less healthy because of the hydrogenated oils in about everything we buy now. Just TRY and buy something without transfats in it. Cheez Its, saltines, you name it. It’s killing our kids in slo-mo. I am by no means some health nut but, I have researched this. Check it out yourselves. Julia Childs lived this long because she ate REAL butter, eggs, etc; NOT trans fats!! That is why our family eats butter, meats, etc;. We avoid trans fats at ALL costs!
Congrats on the blog too John!
I also think there is something about the emergence of soy and canola oil..both dubious products and hyped by health food nuts.
There is something to be said about grandparents and their diets. My grandparents ate butter, cheese, meat…..everything “they” say you shouldn’t eat today. Instead we are eating trans fats for the sake of time. People eat out and but foods that have been “prepared” for them.
My grandparents all lived well into their 80’s. I am taking the cue from them!
I would say the health food link is coincidence more than anything else. I’d wager that more of the “fatter less healthy” people are eating at McDonalds, et al, than eating rice cakes and salad. Although there are obviously many products that get by on being “healthy” and as such get overconsumed – “diet” sodas come to mind.
First Ray Charles and now this… The icons are falling.
Who didn’t like Julia Child? I never watched cooking shows, but I howled one time when I heard her say that she wouldn’t put “that nasty stuff” in her cooking, speaking of margarine. That was back when eating margarine was hyped as a “healthy” alternative to butter. Time proved her right: It’s always safer to eat real food.
When pondering the medical community’s advice on nutrition, always remember this: Doctors don’t make money unless you get sick….
It may be a coincidence but I shop at Whole Foods for the meat they sell (grass fed, good quality) and I notice that the vegetarians and especially the vegans who shop there look sick all the time. The vegans, in particular, have a weird patina to their skin (like fine cobwebbing) that is creepy and just doesn’t look right or healthy.
I can agree with some of it, John — we’ll be making our usual Sunday run into town, tomorrow morning, to Whole Foods. My choices, there, typically are based on the quality of food products, which, in turn, result in better flavor.
I disagree on trying to draw a conclusion by analogy. The growth in unadulterated foods has progressed well beyond vegans. It’s happened as a reaction to the chain reaction growth in crap masquerading as “instant” food that probably goes back to TV dinners!
The age comparison game isn’t worth too much, either. Being an old fart [even if my brain thinks I’m still 26], I check on age and health stats for both political reasons and basic self-concern. I’m overweight and 66. Statistically, if I can make it to 75 and overweight, I should keep on going for a number of years more. Being a poster child for not doing an intelligent job of de-training from an active life in competitive sports up to about age 45, I AM going to continue to work at sorting out the last decade or so of letting my earning-a-living overwhelm my good sense. Eating real food is part of that.
And, hey, haven’t you tried a yummy-flavored soy milk, yet? Wait till you develop the inevitable lactose intolerance in another 5-10 years. You’ll love soy, then.
GFahey states, “We avoid trans fats at ALL costs!”
“ALL costs”? What if you’re starving?