Fat and Unemployed is No Way to Live
‘Galatea’ is a columnist writing about her experience looking for work after her recent downsizing. Previous entries in her series can be strong> read here
The Fat Diaries: It's a Struggle Keeping Out Bad Influences
My kids are finally reaching that age where I’m not involved in every aspect of their life. A few years ago I decided what they ate for breakfast lunch and dinner. I came up with, or at least supervised every activity they pursued. I enforced good manners from the moment they woke up to the …
When Did South Florida Become a Food Mecca?
I spend a lot of time--mostly on business--in South Florida. Tuesday night I was across the street from one of only six Skyline Chili locations outside of metropolitan Cincinnati (all of them in Florida). I ate some authentic St. Louis style BBQ ribs with onions that was just like what you'd get …
Eat, Pray, Eat Again
What's with Hollywood’s ongoing obsession with women and food? Do women find their identities not so much in spiritual or emotional revelations but in plates of linguine? In the film Bridesmaids , there is a scene in which Kristen Wiig, after snubbing a kind-hearted man vying for her romantic …The Fat Diaries: Can I Have That Downsized?
With food companies making packaged portions smaller many Americans are complaining that they just aren't getting their money's worth. But I couldn't be happier. Lately, people have been complaining that companies are cutting back on the size of food portions. The chips come in smaller bags, …
The Fat Diaries: Beware the Vending Machine Diet
Asking restaurants and theaters to post calorie counts seems like a good call, but targeting vending machines may be too much. New rules are being proposed by the FDA that could (if approved) make some changes in the world of vending machines. The feds want the calorie content of each item …
The Fat Diaries: Can You Sleep Your Way to Skinny?
It’s been pounded into our heads since we were old enough to whine, “but I’m not tired, Mom,” that sleep's important. But now, it's harder to get than ever. So how was your weekend? A doozy right? A royal wedding and the bad guy dies. Sounds like a Shakespeare play (or maybe a Disney movie). …
The Fat Diaries: The New Eating Disorders
Thanks to our crusade against obesity we know more about the science of why we eat. But as we learn more, we may have to shift our focus from weight to health. We’ve all heard of anorexia, bulimia, and even lately overeating described as a psychological mania in people. In fact thanks to …
The Fat Diaries: Let Me Have Cake
I'm turning thirty today, and just my luck: My birthday's falling on Good Friday, a fast day for Catholics. So I can’t even have the one thing I want, a huge chocolate cake. I’m thirty years old today. My birthday always falls on Earth Day, which has always annoyed me to no end. Not that …
The Fat Diaries: Boot the Brown Bag Lunch Ban
A public school in Chicago has instituted a ban on lunches from home. But is dissing parents really the way to push healthy eating? If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding, if you don't eat yer meat? - Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall …
The Fat Diaries: The 'Royal' Diet Hits America
A new French diet is all the rage in Europe and thanks to a rumored link with Prince William's future mother-in-law, the frenzy is about to hit our shores. Have you got your commemorative plate? Your William & Kate mug? Is your gigantic refrigerator bearing the likenesses of the …The Next Fake Hollywood Scare: Child Hunger
A new documentary Hungry in America hopes to launch a crusade to end child hunger. But if they don't their facts right, they may discredit a worthy cause. The current wave of partisan cinéma non-vérité has become every bit as formulaic and tiresome as Michael Moore's scruffy Common Man routine. …The Fat Diaries: Confessions of a Movie Snack Smuggler
A new mandate forcing movie theaters to share the calorie contents of their foods has concession stands worried they will lose more business. They lost mine years ago. Hope you all had a great St. Patrick’s Day. Mine was lamer than usual in that I was out of beer and forgot to buy something …A Conservative Case for Farmers’ Markets
So much of what we celebrate today as the “farm-to-table” movement is really just a modern re-imagining, or re-invention, of a less industrialized time. Every Thursday evening, around 7 p.m., I begin checking outside my side door to see if the elves have made their delivery yet. It’s quite …