popular culture
What’s a person have to do to be a nutritionist, a wellness counselor, or a therapist?
How many times have you heard a person say, “My wellness counselor . . . “ or “My nutritionist . . . “ and then inform you that s/he can’t eat dairy, or gluten, or some other harmless-unless-you-have-a-diagnosed-condition substance? Quite a few, I’d guess. So you might ask, “What does a nutritionist actually know about nutrition? Or a wellness counselor about health? Are there any qualifications that these people are required to have?”
Would Daniel Recognize the “21-Day Challenge” Named for Him? No.
Yesterday I looked at the actual story in the Old Testament book of Daniel chapter one, in which the Israelite Daniel and his three friends refused to eat the food offered to them at the Babylonian court, not for health reasons but because of their determination to adhere to Jewish ceremonial law even in a pagan culture. But there’s a further passage in this book that’s being used as the basis for several diet plans, and it comes in chapter ten, verses two and three:
At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. (NIV)
Other translations say that Daniel neither bathed nor shaved during the 21 days; it’s fair to say that none of the modern versions of this short-term diet plan includes that idea!
The Daniel Diet, Part 3–What Does the Bible Actually Say?
The whole idea of the Old Testament prophet’s being a health and wellness guru was given a bit of juice in January of this year when the superstar actor Chris Pratt announced on Instagram that he was going on a 21-day “Daniel Fast” (which is only slightly different from the original 40-day Daniel Diet Plan). Today I want to take a look at the initial Scripture passage that has given rise to this whole craze. First, though, some historical background:
Although some Bible scholars want to give the writing of this prophetic book a later date, according to the actual events described it dates to sometime around 600 BC and takes place beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s successful siege of Jerusalem in which he captures the city, burning much of it down, and carries off both inhabitants and sacred vessels from Solomon’s temple, which he destroys. During the siege the inhabitants of Jerusalem run out of food, and then perhaps ten thousand of them are taken into exile by being marched off to Susa, the capital of Babylon, a distance of almost 850 miles. So believe me when I say that Daniel and his friends had no need of a weight-loss diet! They were probably skin and bones by the time they finally arrived in Babylon. (There are actually multiple sieges of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army, but I’m not getting into all those details here.)
The Daniel Diet, Part 2: Evolution of a Fad Diet
Here’s what happened, as Monk used to say on the old TV show:
As I explained in the previous post, Rick Warren realized that he was fat and out of shape, as were many people in his congregation, in late 2010. According to the NYT article I linked to yesterday, he told his congregation the next Sunday that he needed to lose about 90 pounds (having gained weight at the rate of 2-3 pounds a year for the 30 years he’d been pastor of the church) and that others could join him if they wished. The article doesn’t say what the reaction was on that Sunday. Then we’re told that shortly after Warren’s announcement he was “in Lenox, Mass., for a personal medical visit with Dr. Mark Hyman, a prominent metabolism expert and author of several best-selling books on avoiding chronic disease through healthier living.” I’d like to get some clarification as to why Warren was seeing Hyman, traveling all the way across the country from his home in Lake Forest, California.
Resist the Call of the “Purchase Justification Machine”
I’ve mentioned this blog before, having stumbled upon it by accident several years ago. While MMM has gone through some upheaval in his personal life, and while he also isn’t writing very frequent posts these days, I check in periodically to see what he’s up to. His most recent article concerns his back-and-forth inner debate about whether or not to buy a Tesla, about which I could not possibly care less, but he’s actually onto a bigger principle:
Are You Missing Out on What I Offer?
A short post today in which I publicize my other blogs and platforms and encourage you to subscribe. Here goes:
1. Are you subscribed to this blog? You may have stumbled upon it in a Google search. If so, and you’d like to get e-mailed updates, be sure to use the signup form on the sidebar. Whenever I post something new you’ll get a brief e-mail with a link to the actual post. This happens 3-4 times a week at most, and the posts themselves are fairly brief. I try to keep things no longer than about 1,000 words. You’ll get the title and the first line or so. If that doesn’t grab you, just delete that e-mail, and another one will show up in a few days that you may like better.
Listen to Michelle Obama’s Memoir as You Cook!
Becoming by Michelle Obama
I’ve always had a soft spot for Michelle Obama. A First Lady with sass and class, I thought. I never voted for her husband, but that’s okay. You don’t have to agree with someone politically to like that person. So when I started hearing about the tremendous buzz that her new memoir, Becoming, was generating, I decided to use my Audible.com credit for the month to get it right away. (As of the very moment I’m writing this post, there are 332 holds on 15 copies of the downloadable audiobook in the Arapahoe Library system.) She reads it herself, so I got an extra layer of exposure to her as I listened.
Food As Fuel, Part I–Is It Real Food?
There are two proper rules for food in our lives.
First, fuel. We know this. We know that, given enough time without food, we’ll die of starvation, and we also know that there are plenty of people in the world right now who risk experiencing exactly that.
But we live in a society of abundance, indeed over-abundance. While there are certainly people in the US who go hungry every day, the experience for most of us veers in entirely the opposite direction: Not only is food readily available to us at all times, we are also constantly urged to eat by means of advertising.
In Which I Give the Green Light to “The Green Book”
As I’ve said a number of times, this website is switching over to an emphasis on food and hospitality. But I plan to still include book and movie reviews in some way, and since we haven’t made the complete switch yet I’m just writing a regular post on a movie I think you should see. Jim and I had been very intrigued with a segment on the PBS NewsHour about the film, and after our rousing success at our voice recital we found a location and time that worked for us. Jim was a little doubtful about it as there’s been some backlash, especially from the brother of one of the main characters portrayed in it, but I was all gung-ho and he was willing to be a good sport. Honestly, we just sat laughing in pure delight throughout most of the two-hour running time. The interplay between two award-winning actors, Viggo Mortenson and Mahershala Ali, is brilliant. One of my big tests for a movie is, Would I want to see it again? The answer is YES. Maybe we’ll go see it with our son when he gets home for his college break.