Kentucky Fried Chicken to abandon trans fats

In today's Toronto Star, there's an article about KFC's plans to abandon the use of transfat-bearing hydrogenated vegetable oils in the frying of their foods.

Hydrogenation is a process of impregnating a polyunsaturated vegetable oil with hydrogen for the purpose of making it more stable at room temperature. By making it more stable, it has a longer shelf life, and it also stays solid rather than turning into a liquid. This is ideal for industrial processes because a steady supply of oils can be held in the process due to the longevity of the oils and their tolerance for traveling long distances and sitting in inventory.

The problem with hydrogenation is that it produces transfats as a byproduct. These manufactured transfats enter your system and become part of your body's makeup, just as do other fats -- your internal tissues become partially composed of a manufactured product. They also raise bad cholesterol in your system and lower good cholesterol, theoretically raising your risk of heart disease (although, as I understand it, there's some chicken-and-egg discussion to be had about this -- does the presence of leading heart disease indicators themselves raise cholesterol levels in order to repair artery damage? Cholesterol, after all, is a tissue-repairing substance produced naturally by the body and will exist in larger quantities when there are tissues in the body in need of repair).

So, the trend nowadays is to shift away from transfats. Obviously, not a bad idea. But, what do we shift to? We shift to the next unknown substance whose problems will be revealed after a generation of use until their own problems become trendy things to avoid.

In the USA, for example, KFC is planning to substitute soybean oil for hydrogenated oils. Soybean oil is a polyunsaturated fat that is not heat stable. During heating, carcinogenic compounds form in the oil. Polyunsaturated oils also oxidize and go rancid easily. Neither are good for your health, but these problems don't come to the forefront until we expose a large audience to them.

In Canada, KFC is planning to use canola oil as the substitute. As a monounsaturated oil, this is probably not as bad as using soybean oil. But, what do we know about canola oil? It hasn't been used for very long, and it comes from a plant that is toxic to humans unless it is bred to remove the toxic substance. So, we remove the short-term toxicity, but what about the possibility of long-term toxicity? The answer is: we don't know.

The restaurants say that it's challenging to find an affordable alternative to hydrogenated oils. This is true. But, what price do you want to pay for your health? Here are some alternatives: palm oil, coconut oil, beef fat, and lard. Unfortunately, we've been tricked into thinking that these are bad for us because of their saturated fat content. As part of a healthy diet, they're not harmful. And, actually, your body needs saturated fats just as much as it needs other fats. Because the balance of fats in our diets has generally shifted so far over into those sourced from vegetable oils, we are probably now overloaded on vegetable oils, leading to the omega6 : omega3 imbalance that such a shift produces. Restoring the balance through the use of animal fats would not be a bad thing. The vegetarians can eat salad.

In the end, I believe that the only real answer to these problems is to shun processed food. When you eat processed food, you can be fairly sure that each individual ingredient in the product was also processed to some degree in order to make it suitable for an industrial process. You're eating a product made up of products, none of them resembling their natural form.

So, although the following suggestions aren't bulletproof, in most cases you're better off eating things that do actually go bad in short order, but eat them before they go bad. And, you're better off shopping from the shelves bordering the supermarket rather than those in the aisles in the middle. I doubt there's anything we'll be able to do in the space of our lifetime, regardless of how old you are, to produce a healthy processed food product.

You can't exercise your way out of these problems. Question anything that comes in a package. Learn about different types of oils and their uses. Learn how to cook. Re-learn to appreciate the taste of real food unmasked by artificial enhancers and sauces, or make your own sauces. It'll pay off in the long run, because any time saved today by ignoring advice like this will probably be taken back from you at a later date.

Technorati: industrial food, KFC, health, food, nutrition, transfat

Letting children be children and shielding them from the realities of the world

I've often heard the phrases "let kids be kids", and "don't make them grow up too fast". They're phrases of seemingly intrinsic truthfulness, but I've never really "felt" them until recently. By "felt", I'm referring to that feeling you get when you've internalized something to the extent that you actively believe it to be true, rather than just passively being in agreement with it whenever you hear it.

But, recently, having looked back on what it has meant to grow up as a part of Generation Y, it has a stronger meaning than it once did. Generation Y was the generation that had already lived everything once by the time they came to experience it for themselves. Massive media availability meant that, for any given situation, you've already seen it depicted in one form or another by the time you were confronted with the situation yourself. It probably had a soundtrack, too, and it was probably a whole lot more airbrushed in one way or another than the real thing. Reality, in comparison, looked pretty bland, and in many cases you were trying to live up to an impossible standard (or, worse, a "cool" standard).

"Cool" has probably been desirable for all of history, but not as pervasively as with this generation and the ones that follow it. At this level of media exposure, it creeps into every facet of your existence. It's why people of my generation are uncomfortable with candour. It's why they rarely have original opinions about anything. And, it's why they have problems with intimate, serious discussion of most topics imaginable. Media didn't prepare you for any of these things (and, in deference to Gatto, neither did the school system).

So, "don't make them grow up too fast" has new meaning to me now. It's about not letting children experience too much via the Internet, television, video games, and other forms of media before they have the opportunity to experience it first-hand. They should appreciate reality before appreciating virtuality via the media; it's the macro version of teaching your children to appreciate real food before the inevitable encounter with junk food: if you foster an appetite for what's real and whole, the lifelong preference will more likely be for what's real and whole.

You can't block everything out, but by making a conscious effort to do so, you'll likely do better than if you'd done nothing at all.

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As a sidebar to the above, I'm starting to lose respect for the "show them everything; they'll encounter it anyway at some point" approach to parenting. In most cases, it's lazy parenting done by people who don't have the confidence in themselves to do the job adequately. If it doesn't work out, you can always fall back on the socially-acceptable "blame the media" excuse, and everyone will pass you a tissue and cry alongside you.

Wrong answer, I'm afraid. You and everyone you know have an inherent ability to raise children, and you just need to peel away the strata of mass media calcification and find out what's underneath.

Technorati: parenting, media, Generation X, Generation Y

Jorge Miguel injects some soul into Georgetown

I had the pleasure of seeing a very talented flamenco guitarist by the name of Jorge Miguel at Georgetown's John Elliot Theatre last week.

Living in Georgetown, it can sometimes feel like you're stuck in an episode of Last Of The Summer Wine: it's not the most vibrant place on the planet. But, hopefully Miguel's appearance is a sign of change to come.

I've been to see a number of other flamenco guitarists in the past, but Jorge's was much more traditional than the others (a good thing -- the guitar and palmas come to the foreground, and there's a lot more "air" in the sound). Some other artists in this genre have one or two songs done in this style (or in an approximation of it), but it was refreshing to see an entire performance done that way. The performance style reminded me of Teye, and that is a strong compliment.

The other flamenco artists that I've seen live -- Jesse Cook, Robert Michaels, Johannes Linstead -- are all very talented in their own ways, but I prefer the traditional sound, and Jorge Miguel's performance was very satisfying. It was also the first performance I've seen with some genuine flamenco dancing, where the dancing took centre-stage and contributed to the musicality rather than being a sidelined flourish.

I hope Georgetown warms up fast to this type of music so that we can see more like it: the initial response was disappointing, although the people that turned up seemed to enjoy it very much. Until then, the Oakville Centre and Living Arts Centre are good nearby places to see other live music like this. But, again, if Jorge Miguel comes to your area, it's incredibly worthwhile to go and see him and his band perform.

You can sample his music and buy his CD from CDBaby. I picked the CD up from his concert for $15.

Technorati: Jorge Miguel, flamenco, John Elliot theatre, Georgetown

Banning schoolyard games: why not just cut off their arms?

An elementary school in Boston has banned the schoolyard game of tag because of fears that children may become injured, resulting in parents suing the school.

Here's a thought: why not just cut off the childrens' arms? They won't get into as much trouble that way, although they'd still be kids and they'd still find things to get up to that would make their caregivers' heart race. They'd probably fall over a lot more often, too; there are side effects to every course of action.

Banning tag nor cutting off arms will stop children from being children. For that, you need Ritalin, or one of its slippery, deformed half-brothers.

Technorati: Ritalin, subduing children, recess

The scene framing and visual art in Pearl Harbor (2001)

Say what you will about Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor, but it's one of the most visually impressive movies I've ever seen. Every single scene is like a well-framed photograph. The level of detail in the sets, costumes, and props is incredible. And, it has a near-perfect score.

Prior to this, the movie I was most impressed by in this regard was James Cameron's Titanic; a movie that has all of the above except for the framing talent.

If you ever watch Pearl Harbor again, pay attention to the framing of the shots and how they begin and end. It's excellent work.

Technorati: Pearl Harbor, Michael Bay, movies

Movies filmed or made in Georgetown, Ontario

You could always look this up yourself, but why bother?

Here's a list of movies filmed in Georgetown, Ontario.

Technorati: movies, Georgetown, Ontario, film

Oil prices and the Canadian housing boom

I'm going to refer to another Toronto Star article today.

As the booming housing markets in the oil-rich provinces of the West keep Canada's housing figures looking good, I have to wonder what will happen if oil prices take a dive due to demand destruction, world recession, or something else, will the oil sands continue to pump out their oil products? Or, will we see auto sector-style layoffs and "right-sizing" that drop a bomb on these Western housing markets? Obviously, in the long term, it's reasonable to expect that oil prices will continue to rise. In the short term, however, there will be price fluctuations. As far as I remember, there's a rather high price point at which oil sands production ceases to be profitable. Oil prices need to be high in order to make money from the endeavour.

This housing market story is also, by the way, another example of why "averages" as a standalone tool are not up to the job. We have an "average" figure that doesn't represent anyone in particular. It has no meaning to most people because each region is different. It has meaning to economists and decision makers, but that's about all. And it only has meaning to them because they also have all of the other data that go along with it.

Technorati: housing, real estate, Canada

The boomers' boomerangs

There's a great article by Rosie DiManno in today's Toronto Star about the tendency of boomer offspring to move back in with their parents for rather trivial reasons. I've writted a couple of posts about this before, but it somehow never gets old for me. Most of the classic excuses are listed, so it's a good summary of the problem.

I enjoyed this quote, too:

Not enough [money] and a pining for the there-there ministrations of [Mommy]. (By Mommy, one can just as easily say Daddy, except most burdens of Parenting Without Borders tend to fall upon the shoulders of mothers.)

It might have been nice to see the "returning home due to breakup of a relationship" angle explored a bit further. The article made it sound like a flowery, falling-on-your-sword kind of affair, when the truth in many cases might really be that many younger people just can't afford to live on their own and need two incomes to sustain an independent roof over their head. When the second income disappears, so does the roof.

Technorati: Rosie DiManno, baby boomers, Generation X, boomerang