Why aren't you fat?

I realized I haven't added any pithy food commentary since I began my blog. So here it goes.

People, family, friends, etc. often ask me why I'm not fat since I love food, am always around food, talk about food, or always seem to be eating food. Now allow me to explain. I eat food. Real food. And not "foodlike substances" to borrow the words from Michael Pollan. If you know Cheez-Its aren't good for you, then chances are the low-fat version isn't a miracle health food, allowing you to indulge at every whim. It's common sense, people. I'm not saying you're going to get fat on Cheez-Its--the low-fat version or the original. What I am saying is that it characterizes a mentality all too common in the Western diet:

You can eat whatever you want as long as it's labeled low-fat.

Wrong. I eat food. Tomatoes, freshly made bread without additives, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup, real meat, fruits, vegetables, pasta, real butter (NOT margarine), cream, natural cheeses, etc. Are you following me here? Nowhere in there is HFCS, preservatives, aspartame, MSG, etc. Natural food doesn't need additives to improve its flavor. It's just, well, good. The flavor comes from the healthy soil it was grown in, the simplicity in its preparation.

My latest nemesis has been the yogurt aisle. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but finding a good yogurt is difficult. I don't want low-fat, reduced calorie yogurt. I want naturally sweetened-- no HFCS, no aspartame. They do exist; but they are few and far between. Stonyfield Farms organic yogurt is good, as well as Wegmans Probiotic Super Yogurt and Dannon's All Natural. Navigating seemingly 'healthy' aisles should not be this frustrating.

Thus the confusion of the Western diet.

A Foe by Many Names

Monosodium glutamate. Nice to meet you. Oh, you go by MSG for short. Sure, no problem. Hmm, and Yeast Extract? Natural Flavor as well? Well, now, that's confusing, don't you think? How do you know when you're being addressed? Oh, okay, you have friends in high places. Where exactly? And how do they help with your little nomenclature problem? Okay, so it's not actually a problem, per se, but a windfall? So you're a little bit of a masked man, now aren't you? Your friends enable you to have as many names so as to avoid detection. Well, MSG-Yeast Extract-Natural Flavor-whomever you truly are, this doesn't make much sense to me anymore...