Happy Thanksgiving, but don't be a turkey

The holiday season is not my favorite time. There, I've said it. While those words will border on the blasphemous to some, others will no doubt nod in familiar agreement. Maybe I just approach the holidays the wrong way, but for me they have come to represent excess and stress. Much of the stress, I think, comes from the excess: too much eating and drinking, too many parties, too many worries about gifts, and too many Christmas songs played in public places.

But yesterday, as I thought about tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws, I had an epiphany, at least as far as the excessive eating is concerned. I DON'T HAVE TO eat so much that I just want to curl up on the sofa after dinner and take a nap. I CAN SAY NO to that giant helping of something-or-other that some well-meaning person is trying to drop onto my plate. I DON'T NEED dessert.

It struck me as almost funny when I thought about this annual ritual of giving thanks for our good fortunes by gorging ourselves on turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and green beans and buttered rolls and pumpkin pie. Obesity is a real problem in this country, with nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults considered overweight or obese. It seems to me that we do a pretty good job of giving thanks throughout the year.

This yearly license we seem to give ourselves to ratchet up our already poor habits a notch or two can outlast the holidays. While the typical holiday weight gain is not as high as you might think, about a pound, the problem is that the extra weight tends to stay on. Add that up over the course of a lifetime of Thanksgivings and Christmases and it's not a pretty picture.

I don't mean to be a killjoy, I just think maybe it's time to "lighten up" on the holidays. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow spent in the company of the people or activities with whom you find the greatest joy.

Home-state pride, KFC style

Just when you think the American diet can't get any worse, along comes this ...



As the report notes, it's being sold only in Rhode Island and Nebraska for now. Why? Who knows, but it sure makes me proud. Yes, little Rhody is for once in the vanguard of ... something.

I don't think I've visited a Kentucky Fried Chicken in 20 years, but I might just have to go soon to see who, if anyone, is ordering this concoction. I'm hoping it's all a hoax or a misunderstanding. It wouldn't be the first time that Fox News has — horrors! — reported something inaccurately.

The term "double down" has its roots in gambling. When you consider the extent of obesity and heart disease in this country, it seems a pretty appropriate name for this sandwich.

Sizing up the surgeon general nominee

Looks like another storm is brewing in Washington, this one over the girth of Dr. Regina Benjamin, President Obama's nominee for surgeon general. This storm, like so many before it, began forming in that tornado alley of popular opinion: talk radio, the blogosphere, and, of course, Fox News.

No one is questioning the credentials of Dr. Benjamin, whose career in medicine has been marked by philanthropy, and numerous achievements and accolades. What her critics are focusing on is Dr. Benjamin's weight: they say she is "too fat" to be surgeon general.

There was this priceless moment, for instance, when Fox's Neil Cavuto interviewed a critic who appeared on camera sporting a "No Chubbies" T-shirt. Talking Points Memo, which posted the video, went on to point out that Cavuto's guest was Michael Karolchyk, owner of an outfit in Denver called the Anti-Gym, a "fitness club" that promotes getting in shape for sex.

Bloggers were busy speculating about Dr. Benjamin's weight, guessing that she was 40 to 50 pounds overweight and probably a size 18 or 20. Some agreed with the likes of Karolchyk that her weight would send the wrong message, while others defended her and hinted that the criticism of her nomination had undercurrents of racism and sexism.

So what, exactly, does the surgeon general do that would make being overweight a disqualifier? According to the office's Web site, the U.S. surgeon general "serves as America's chief health educator by providing Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury."

So Dr. Benjamin's role would be that of an educator, not an aerobics instructor.

In that role, perhaps Dr. Benjamin's weight might prove an asset, allowing her to better connect with the American public as the surgeon general takes on the problem of obesity. That, I suppose, would all depend on how she approached the issue.

Meanwhile, I have to think that a lot of the criticism over her weight is just so much mean-spirited blather.

Wir brauchen mehr Fahrräder*

*Or, in English, We need more bicycles

Sorry, it's just that I've been attempting to learn German for the last three years and ever since I started this blog, I haven't been studying as much as I'd like to. So please pardon my slip of the tongue, so to speak, as well as this week's obsession with bicycling as a topic.

But there was a point here somewhere. Oh, yes, here it is: Germans eat what most of us would consider an obscene amount of meats and starches, and drink lots and lots of beer, but as a nation, they seem quite a bit trimmer than we Americans and I think bicycles are a big reason why.

I've been to Germany twice within the past year, and among the aspects of life there that I envied was that Germans seem to travel everywhere by bicycle. City sidewalks have bicycle lanes painted on them (I learned this the hard way), train stations have parking areas for bicycling commuters, and even out in the countryside, I noticed that running parallel to the highways were bicycle paths full of happy, active Germans, on their way to who-knows-where. Well, all right, I have no idea whether they were happy, but they sure did look fit.

I only wish we had it so easy here. Sure, we have bike paths here and there, but not really much of a practical network that lets us ride from Point A to Point B. We often have to drive to get to the bike path. And bicycling in our cities? Well, just make sure your life insurance policy is paid up.

I suppose it's not really fair to compare the two countries in this respect. Our country is vast, our sprawling cities have ample parking, and our public transportation system is lacking. Our infrastructure encourages people to drive and Americans have always had a love affair with the automobile — you'll have to pry that steering wheel out of our cold, dead hands.

Germany, by contrast, is small, its cities compact and parking-deficient, and its public transportation system highly efficient. It would be quite easy to live there without a car. So many Germans bicycle and walk, and stay fit and trim without even thinking about it.

OK, maybe not so trim. It seems that German waistlines have been expanding over the years, too, but obesity is still not the problem that it is here. According to a 2005 comparison of nations, 30.6 percent of U.S. residents were obese (defined as a body mass index of greater than 30), compared with only 12.9% of Germans.

Those clever Germans have even managed to combine bicycling with their love of beer, as seen at left on the streets of Bamberg in May. Yes, that's a pedal-powered bar. The "riders" were casually drinking their beer while pedaling away (the driver was not drinking).

Now that's German engineering at its finest!

Caution: Headlines ahead

Ever notice how one week you'll see a headline like Red Wine Prevents Heart Disease, Study Says and then two weeks later, as you sip a glass of Cabernet while enjoying the Sunday paper, you'll see Study: Red Wine Leads to Growth of Third Eye, or some such horrible thing?

I'm a fan of science — it's improved our lives in innumerable ways. But the reporting of it? Not so much ...

Take the New York Times headline I came across this weekend: Excess Pounds, but Not Too Many, May Lead to Longer Life.

It piqued my interest, and apparently caught the attention of a lot of others, because it was among the most-frequently e-mailed health stories of the week, according to the newspaper's Web site. Spread the word, overweight is good!

The story goes on to explain that the study's headline-worthy finding applied to people who were "overweight but not obese — defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9."

I wondered just how many readers would know what BMI means, or how to calculate it. A little explanation would have been nice, to help put the information in context.

You can find a BMI calculator here, in case you're curious what yours is.

The study found that people in that 25-to-29.9 BMI range had a 17 percent lower risk of dying than people of normal weight (defined as a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9). Those who were underweight (a BMI under 18.5) were found to have a 73 percent greater chance of dying than those of normal weight.

Call me self-absorbed, but my usual reaction to such stories is: what does this mean for me? So I tried out that BMI calculator. I'm 5'6" and weigh 136, for a BMI of 21.9.

It turns out that to reach a BMI of 25 to 25.9, I would need to weigh from 155 to 185 pounds.

Would I want to gain 19 to 49 pounds, even if I thought it would buy me a few extra years? Nah, I think I'll pass, thanks.

The study was said to have taken such factors as physical activity and age into account. The data came from 11,326 Canadian adults (sometimes what happens in Canada stays in Canada) who were tracked over 12 years.

Something about it all just didn't sit right with me and I wanted to know more about how the study was conducted and what the actual findings were, not just a quick summary as filtered through a reporter. I clicked on the link that was supposed to take me to the journal Obesity, where the study was said to have first been published, but that link redirected me back to the New York Times Web site.

Other links in the story proved equally unhelpful in finding out more information about the study itself. This story wasn't making it easy for me to draw an informed conclusion.

Even if far more information had been available, how many readers would want to sift through it?

My point is, it's far too easy to seize on a headline and run with it. I also think that when we're bombarded with conflicting information — and there's a cacophony of health and fitness news these days — we eventually lose interest and tune it all out.

And that's too bad, because there's a lot of good information out there that we could use to improve our lives. So please, keep on reading, but with a sense of curiosity and a sharp eye, and take some of those study findings with a grain of salt.

But only one grain, please. Excess Sodium Intake Can Raise Blood Pressure, Studies Say