wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

On Demand

Program Schedule

Topics


The Brian Lehrer Show

Hunting and Gathering Our Fast Food

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Deirdre Barrett, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, looks at where humans came from to understand how we got so fat. She is the author of Waistland: The (R)evolutionary Science Behind Our Weight and Fitness Crisis (W. W. Norton, 2007).


Comments

  • [1] ad from SOMERSET CNTY NJ February 21, 2008 - 11:24AM

    (posted this on previous segment but it is quite relevant here)

    Just got a recorded call from my kid's grammar school principal. "Until you hear differently, please replace hot dogs on the lunch menu with mozzarella sticks." Dominoes pizza is tomorrow's "SPECIAL FRIDAY" lunch.

    Meanwhile at least half the kids at this school -- made up of at least 40% Spanish Speaking immigrants and near 50% government-subsidized meals -- appear to be at least 20% "overweight" ie trouble running normally etc.
  • [2] chestine from NY February 21, 2008 - 11:27AM

    Ask her what she thinks of the work of Weston Price? thanks
  • [3] chestine from NY February 21, 2008 - 11:29AM

    According to Weston Price they ate 10 times more fat soluble vitamins than we do
  • [4] chestine from NY February 21, 2008 - 11:32AM

    to make teh midset switch, find out what is really nutritious and eat it - you won't eat empty calories, it will evolve naturally - it takes time - ditch the body image business - it is fascist with your body to focus like that.
  • [5] Kevin from Brooklyn February 21, 2008 - 11:33AM

    Two things:

    1. Get out of your car and WALK. BIKE. DO SOMETHING.

    2. Eat proper Japanese food (washoku). It's a great blend of what you actually need, and if you keep the proportions right, you won't be hungry.

    That's it.


  • [6] Bentley from Manhattan February 21, 2008 - 11:34AM

    Chestine - why do you think that we need dairy? Personally - not Weston Price - but from your own words, please tell me why you think we need it. I have read numerous reports on why dairy is harmful to us and completely unneccesary, and I have also read Weston Price.
  • [7] John February 21, 2008 - 11:35AM

    This sounds very similar to the points Daniel Quinn makes in Ishmael and his other books. I wonder if she's read him.
  • [8] Chris O from New York February 21, 2008 - 11:35AM

    I don't like Japanese food that much. I will eat if but I don't think that is a required element of good health even though some people may prefer that.
  • [9] Chris O from New York February 21, 2008 - 11:36AM

    This does not seem to be about instinct. I wonder what the role of marketing is in the overweigh epidemic in the US.

    Europeans are similarly wealthy with a somewhat comparable socio-economic status, but they are not nearly as fat, generally speaking. How come?


  • [10] chestine from NY February 21, 2008 - 11:41AM

    I don't eat meat, I do need animal fats, I reversed my bone with drinking cultured dairy - and all raw - I think there's a huge difference between raw and processed milk. Plus it's really yummy.
  • [11] MichaelB from UWS of Manhattan February 21, 2008 - 11:43AM

    We not only no longert hunt & gather or grow our own food, in NYC so many people don't even COOK their own food. We sit on our butts and order take out.

    Cooking most of one's own meals is somehow regarded as quaint by many in our society.

    The delivery guys on the bicycles are the ones getting all the exercise.


  • [12] chestine from NY February 21, 2008 - 11:44AM

    I think Europeans will get fat with the standardized regulations happening with corporate interference. I thought of die of delicious food when i lived in the alps as a young person and ate such heavenly dairy - mmmm - but now their yogurt is full of additives just like ours.
  • [13] Bentley from Manhattan February 21, 2008 - 11:46AM

    No, but I will check it out! Thanks Chestine.
  • [14] chestine from NY February 21, 2008 - 11:46AM

    oops - i reversed my bone LOSS with dairy...
  • [15] Joe from New Haven CT February 21, 2008 - 02:55PM

    Wow!!!

    Could hunting become the next diet fad? The "hook and bullet" industry may be really missing a big opportunity. Think "Amarican Sportsman" meets "Oprah".
  • [16] Joe E February 27, 2008 - 01:46AM

    Certain claims by your guest were outrageous. This depiction that life amongst the hunter/gatherer's was 'playful', was comical. I checked the calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st. I can't take her seriously.

    "The delivery guys on the bicycles are the ones getting all the exercise." - that was funny. But this is a walking city. You can eat all the great food you want so long as you walk to your destination. NYC isn't Kansas (sorry, Kansas...).

This thread is closed.


Back to Episode