Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/07/469571114/the-forgotten-history-of-fat-men-s-clubs?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Members of the Fat Men’s Club of New York gather at a meeting, circa 1930.

General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

In 1903, in a cheery local tavern tucked away in Wells River, Vt., one of America’s most successful fat men’s clubs was launched.

“We’re fat and we’re making the most of it!” was their mantra. “I’ve got to be good-natured; I can’t fight and I can’t run,” was their motto. Members had to be at least 200 pounds, pay a $1 fee to enter and learn a secret handshake and password. Twice a year, members gathered, with meetings announced in advance to allow the men to stuff up in order to meet the minimum weight requirement. A 1904 Boston Globe article described the biannual meetings colorfully:

“This village is full of bulbous and overhanging abdomens and double chins tonight, for the New England Fat Men’s Club is in session at Hale’s Tavern. The natives, who are mostly bony and angular, have stared with envy at the portly forms and rubicund faces which have arrived on every train.”

The fat men’s clubs of the late 19th an…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/11/469543237/the-gastronomy-of-genius-food-and-drink-that-inspired-great-minds?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Isaac Newton, Gandhi, Pythagoras, Balzac, Marie Curie — scanning history’s greatest minds, we find many were inspired by certain food or drink, repulsed by others, or had some very peculiar dining habits.

Katherine Du/NPR

Genius and food have a lot in common. Both nurture, inspire and occasionally intimidate. Some appeal to almost everyone instantly. Others are acquired tastes. So perhaps it’s not surprising that, scanning history’s greatest minds, we find many were inspired by certain food or drink, repulsed by others —or had some very peculiar dining habits.

Thomas Edison used soup as an interviewing tool. He had prospective job applicants taste while he observed them carefully. Those who seaso…

Source: http://summertomato.com/for-the-love-of-food-the-pros-and-cons-of-fasting-body-fat-trumps-bmi-and-water-cuts-calories/

For the Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup. 

This week the pros and cons of fasting, body fat trumps BMI, and how water cuts calories.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

What’s wrong with the American diet? More than half our calories come from ‘ultra-processed’ foods <<It’s really not more complicated than this. (LA Times)
Should You Be Getting More B Vitamins? <<Great primer on the nuances of B vitamins. Read this, especially if you avoid animal products. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
Fasting Diets Are Gaining Acceptance <<I know intermittent and other forms of fasting are gaining in popularity, and I can certainly see the appeal. My biggest concern is that people who have a tendency to diet and moralize foods often binge after fast…

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/03/superannuated-chardonnay-socialist-moi/

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sarah Whyte of ABC 7:30 interviewed me and others for a 6-minute segment on Coca-Cola’s funding of health researchers.  Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:

TIM OLDS, UNI. OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: I’ve got about $26 million worth of funding, and of that, probably less than $2 million would have come from industry sources. Most of it comes from government schemes such as the NHMRC and the ARC, a lot from government departments.

SARAH WHYTE: So when you take that funding, do you get other academics saying you shouldn’t be taking funding from that?

TIM OLDS: We get a lot of academics saying that.

SARAH WHYTE: He disagrees with people like Marion Nestle who says his work is compromised.

TIM OLDS: I think frankly this is an example old-style, superannuated chardonnay socialism.

Oh.

Here’s what he’s referring to (the dates are Australian).

February 17  Marcus Strom, a business reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald, invites me to lunch to discuss issues related to Soda Politics.

February 24  Strom publishes an article based on our conversation: “What Coca-Cola isn’t telling you about its health funding in Australia” (the video tells the story).

February 26  The Sydney Morning Herald publishes Strom’s account of our lunch interview.

March 1  I give a lecture on Soda Politics at the University of Sydney.

Mar…

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/03/11/half-marathon-ready-fitness-week-in-review/

Hi friends! I’m getting pumped because tomorrow is the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC half marathon (<—last year’s recap)! This is one of my favorite DC races – I first started running it in 2011 when it was still the National Half Marathon, then ran it again in 2013 and 2014 and 2015 when it became a Rock ‘n’ Roll series race! Hard to believe this will be my 5th time doing the race. The only year I’ve missed since I started running it was 2012, and that was because I was doing the Tobacco Road Half Marathon down in North Carolina during grad school instead. I love DC Rock ‘n’ Roll because it has some pretty monument views but also goes through a lot of the neighborhoods in DC, so there are a ton of people out cheering you on. Always fun to run through my favorite city with 30,000 fellow runners.

I hit up the race expo yesterday afternoon to snag my bib before the crowds got crazy –…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/11/470084215/canine-or-cuisine-this-photo-meme-is-fetching?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

chihuahua or muffin ? pic.twitter.com/LzZ1lwoVrP

— karen zack (@teenybiscuit) March 10, 2016

We here at The Salt like to bring you bring serious journalistic tails from the world of food. But hey, we like to unleash our silly side, too — and like the rest of the world, we’ve got a soft spot for man’s (and woman’s) best friend.

So of course, we’re howling with delight at the latest food images charming the Internet: Meme-meister Karen Zack’s clever Twitter photos highlighting the eerie resemblance between mutts and meals. In some cases, it takes dogged determination to separate the canines from the cuisine.

Puppy or bagel? Chihuahua or muffin? These are the gnawing questions raised by Zack, who tweets from @teenybiscuit. She’s a freelance assistant director in media production who splits her time between Portland, Ore., and Seattle. But she tells us she’s looking to get into advertising strategy (we hear she’s good with the puparazzi.)

Previously, she’s pointered out the similarities between other animals and foods (duck or plantain?), but it’s the dogs that have sunk their teeth into the Internet’s funny bone. Zack says her image comparing Labradoodles to fried chicken got things going — call it the bark heard round the world.

And her fetching work has imitators nipping at her heels. (See Dalmatian or chocolate chip ice cream? Pug or loaf? Shar Pei or croissant?)

…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/yoga/tree-pose/

According ancient texts, mula bandha, or the root lock, is a contraction and lifting of the area between the anus and navel, and is one of the most elusive practices in hatha yoga. When engaged, it stops the downward flow of prana, or vital energy, and provides support to the organs resting on the pelvic floor. The contracting and lifting of this musculature also assists in stabilizing the sacroiliac joint, which is otherwise prone to injury if the practitioner has hyper-mobile hips. Traditionally, yogis would practice mula bandha by placing the heel of one foot just in front of the anus and sitting on it so the pelvic floor had an upward pressure. The current trend in hatha yoga, however, is to spend a large percentage of the class practicing standing poses. In fact, with the amount of standing and “hip opener” poses practiced in contemporary yoga classes, the muscles that engage to create mula bandha may be over-stretched and lose their tone, making it more difficult to utilize this important technique.ShareTweetPlusPin

We can, however, use a concept that is currently getting some attention from physical therapists and other movement professionals called “tensegrity” in certain standing poses to engage mula bandha. Tensegrity is a principle based on th…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/10/469960576/florida-tomato-pickers-become-part-of-democratic-debate?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Florida tomato pickers’ fight for fair wages and better working conditions became a topic at Wednesday night’s Democratic debate in Miami between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The fight to improve wages for Florida’s tomato pickers hit the national stage over the past week, as part of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Last Saturday, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign released a five-minute documentary highlighting the struggles — and successes — of tomato pickers in Immokalee, Fla. As Barry Estabrook documented in his 2011 book Tomatoland, these workers faced poverty wages and were subjected to pesticide-laden fields, abusive bosses and slave-like working conditions.

…

Source: http://greatist.com/move/bodyweight-workout-upper-body-moves-you-can-do-anywhere?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Doing a perfect push-up works nearly all of the major muscle groups in your body, but it’s your chest, shoulders, and arms that do the, er, heavy lifting. And it’s your upper body that gets some much-needed attention in this week’s Grokker video.

In less than 20 minutes, you’ll combine several push-up variations for the ultimate no-equipment upper-body workout. The instructor offers moves at three difficulty levels, so whether you’re doing a kneeling push-up or a plyometric push-up, there’s a way to make this routine suit your needs.

A warm-up is not included, so we suggest a quick dynamic one to get your muscles primed. You’ll only need a mat and some space, so once you’re warm, press play to start.

To recap, do 8 to 10 reps of each exercise in order, unless otherwise noted. Rest as little as possible between moves.

One Arm Push-Up Variation (both sides) Push-Up Kneeling Archer Push-Up Diamond Press-Up Hindu Push-Up Dragon Walk Bodyweight Triceps Extension Plank Side Walks Half Push-Up Hold (20 seconds) Pike Hold (20 seconds) Stagger Push-Up and Squat Jump Clap Push-Up Half Push-Up to Full Push-Up Circular Archer Push-Up Uneven Push-Up …

Source: http://www.sonima.com/meditation/meditation-positions/

As a meditation newbie, I crave the clear, focused mind that sitting still can bring to one’s life. My head is all in, but my body isn’t. Sitting cross-legged, let alone in half-lotus is excruciating. (The thought of full lotus makes my hips, knees and back scream.) While I realize part of the practice is to simply notice a sensation—for instance, my knees feel so achy—then let it go, the physical pain in traditional meditation postures dominated my thoughts so intensely that I felt I was missing the point and getting no mental benefits. Post-meditation, all I could think about was how much relief my knees felt, so that’s something.

“Meditation is the process of being relaxed and aware at the time,” says Ventkat Srinivasan, Ph.D., the facility manager and teacher at the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, North Carolina. “In order to facilitate that state you have to be relatively comfortable.”

Related: Don’t Think Meditation Works? Keep Meditating

Eventually, I found my comfort lying on a large foam roller. The roller supports the length of my spine and head, and is tippy enough that dozing off isn’t an option. There are myriad other alternative meditation positions, like these five options recommended by experts. Test drive them all and see which one works best for you.

1. Chair Sitting

“A chair is an easy alternative to sitting on the floor,” says Srinivasan.

…