diet


Alternate Current Radio Presents: BOILER ROOM – Uninterruptible Talk Radio

It’s likely that most Americans are well-versed when it comes to how unhealthy fast-food is, yet a survey published October 3 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than 1 in 3 Americans eat fast food on any given day. [1]
The survey, compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics, shows that between 2013 and 2016, more than 36% – more than 1 in 3 – hit up a fast-food joint every day.

You, dear readers, are intelligent people. It’s unlikely anyone has to tell you that fried food is unhealthy. Nobody bites into a deep-fried Oreo thinking it’s going to nourish their body. But if you’re like me, and deep-fried anything is hard to resist, there is something you should know. Eating too many of these fried foods … well, it may shorten your life.


Jay and Tristan return to cover the announcement that 2019 is the year of the vegan diet in the Economist, the Guardian and many other publications. We discuss previous debates with Vegan Gains, atheism and relativism and the impact on millennials. From there we dive into movies and pop culture, looking at Blade Runner, PKD, Bird Box, Under the Silver Lake, social engineering, and the rise of the AI smart city though Jacques Attali.

The holidays are officially over, and although you may still be picking at leftovers and what’s left in the office cookie tin, it’s time to start thinking about how to make THIS year a healthy year… again!
U.S. News & World Report, which calls itself “the global authority in rankings and consumer advice,” has just published its annual assessment of the year’s Best Diets. The platform offers pretty much all the information you could possibly ask for on more than 40 diets.

Low-carb diets are nothing new. If you haven’t tried the Keto diet or the Atkin’s diet, you’ve likely heard of them. Many people consider these “fad” diets, and they very well may be, but fad or not, research does suggest that cutting carbs could be an effective way for people who have lost weight to keep it off.
Click for larger version. Source: BMJ

Do a quick search for “Mediterranean diet” on our site and you will find oodles of articles espousing the health benefits of this eating lifestyle.  In December, yet another study showed that people who eat a Mediterranean-style diet have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease – possibly even as low as those taking statin drugs.
Let’s see why this diet can be so good for the heart.
Lead study author Shafqut Ahmad, Ph.D., a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said of the findings:

On December 7, the Trump administration relaxed rules aimed at making school lunches healthier, affecting 30 million children annually, many of them from low-income homes. Kid-friendly favorites like noodles, tortillas, biscuits, pasta, and an overall abundance of refined grains will be returning to school menus. [1]
The Obama-era school lunch program was championed by former First Lady Michelle Obama, but the meals received harsh criticism for being, in many cases, laughably small and generally pretty … ‘disgusting.’



In recent years, health experts have been warning about the health consequences of consuming energy drinks, which contain a mixture of caffeine, sugar, and other herbal ingredients, due to the beverages’ effect on the heart. In a recent study, researchers found that consuming just 1 energy drink leads to blood vessel damage, which can point toward other health ailments.