Randomly Noted

It’s early, but here’s my nomination for quote of the day:

“People will be able to see that the order of chili cheese fries they are considering will be 3,000 calories.”

So said Margo Wootan, a nutrition advocate, as quoted in today’s Los Angeles Times.

The subject is a little-known provision (at least little known to this blogger) in the just-passed massive federal health care reform bill: a requirement throughout the U.S. for chain restaurants, vending machines and some other venues to post the amount of calories contained in every item they sell.

Continue reading…

A sweet NYT story documents the disappearance of college cafeteria trays. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/nyregion/29tray.html?_r=1&hp

For me, memories of college, cafeterias, weight, body image,  stress and exercise are all intermixed, as they surely are for so many women who are or once were in their late teens or early twenties; living on their own for the first time; contending with social and academic pressures; and confronting gustatory temptations on- and off-campus day and night. In the autumn of my freshman year, I lost the 15 or so pounds I’d been battling throughout high school – only to gain about 40 pounds that spring, gorging on late-night pizza during late nights at the campus newspaper. Junior year saw substantial weight loss to the point where a campus doctor warned she’d diagnose me as “borderline anorexic” if I didn’t start gaining pounds. Continue reading…