Category Archives: Food

Blizzard and Pepsi Announce Plans for WoW Themed Soft Drinks

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Horde RedOne of the things that I have to struggle with here at ShrinkGeek is the fact that healthy living is, quite frankly, not a fundamental aspect of the geek culture.  As a matter of fact, it’s fairly safe to say that geeks tend to revel in their love of deliciously unhealthy food and drink.  Stereotypes exist for a reason, and the truth is that most “normal” people wouldn’t picture the overweight slob sitting on his couch with a cheese powder stained controller in one hand and a two liter of Jolt Cola in the other if it weren’t for the fact that a good number of us really do treat ourselves that way.  I can recall countless evenings growing up where the most intense physical activity involved seeing how many times I could get my hand from the Doritos bag to my mouth.

Mind you, it’s that kind of “conscientious living” that contributed to my weighing 420 pounds and having two strokes before I turned 30.  Eating like crap and never exercising may very well be a fun, and possibly even integral, part of the geek lifestyle, but it certainly doesn’t lead to long and healthy lives.  Unfortunately, getting that across to the geek crowd is a difficult task.  To many it seems like the idea of being healthy is a form of “selling out”; That in order to maintain their edge they have to have a diet full of caffeine, sugar, and questionably “safe” chemicals.

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[Insert Fish Related Pun Here]

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The selection of an image with two blowfish next to each other is completely coincidental. Honest.

Image by fischerhuder

Sometimes you have to find witty ways to write about a subject and other times the stories just kinda write themselves.  Case in point?  The following headline from an article over at The Guardian.

Blowfish Testicles poison seven in Japanese restaurant

You know, I get that there is a certain amount of appeal in eating food that is kind of edgy, and blowfish certainly falls into that category.  You’re talking about a “delicacy” that, if not prepared properly, is about 100 times more deadly than cyanide.  There comes a point, however, when even those who like eating on the wild side have to stop and say “is this really a good idea?”

For me that line just happens to be poisonous testicles.

Retro Dieting – The Bad Old Days

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It has been often said that being optimistic is incredibly helpful when you are struggling to lose weight.  Admittedly, it is hard to be optimistic when you are faced with choking down that eighth glass of water for the day or you are trying to learn to love vegetables, but the fact of the matter is that modern dieters have it easy.  Not only do we have a plethora of products that are packaged to help us with portion control, but many diets these days are loaded with foods that are, quite frankly, delicious.

It wasn’t always this way, my friends.

I grew up in a dieting household.  When I was growing up my Mother (and, by extension, her children) took part in just about every diet craze that was out there.  I can recall tuna fish diets, grape fruit diets, diets that involved granular shakes, and diets that with daily calorie intakes that would have the Olsen Twins duking it out in a cage match over a Snickers at the end of the day.

But what I remember the most is the liver.

A lot has been said over the years about the medical benefits of eating liver.  From a health perspective, it is one of the best sources of Vitamin A, a compound that promotes healthy vision, bone growth, and assists in fighting off infections.  It is also thought to help regulate blood sugar and aid weight loss efforts.

It is also…well…liver.

Please understand – I don’t want to take anything away from those of you who actually like eating liver, but you have to admit that for a large number of people even the thought of eating liver is enough to bring on a serious case of the DO NOT WANTS.  That being said, there was a time when it was a regular staple in our household.  You see, back in the early 70’s the folks over at Weight Watchers decided it was so important to eat liver that it was REQUIRED that you do so at least once a week.  My Mother cleverly disguised it of course.  She never told us we were eating liver, but that we were eating braunschweiger.  It worked for a while, too, but eventually one of us actually read the packaging when she brought it in from the store and the jig was up.

The other day my Mom gave me a Weight Watchers cookbook from the early 80’s.  By this point in the program history they had moved away from requiring liver, but it was still a pretty big focus of the recipe book – so much so that Liver has its very own section.  Now I’m all for trying new things, but some of these recipes sound downright revolting, but my “favorite” has to be the Fruit ‘N’ Rice-Filled Liver.

In fact, I’m so grossed out by this particular recipe I’m gonna share the love.

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NY Governor Proposes 15% “Obesity Tax” On Soda

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Image by sallyvan

One of the biggest obstacles that many of us in the geek subculture have to overcome when trying to be healthy is our love of caffeinated beverages.  While many a light night gaming session has been powered by a case of Jolt Cola, the “empty calories” in those jittery all-nighters are brutal on the waist line.  One can of Mountain Dew has 110 calories alone!

Well, residents of New York will soon have more motivation to cut a few extra cans out of their diet.  Governor David Patterson has added an item to the 2009 state budget that would add a 15% “obesity tax” on non-diet sodas.  According to the New York Daily News this plan will raise an estimated $404 million dollars a year for the State of New York.  Unlike similar tax increases on luxury items such as cigarettes and alcohol, the money raised by these taxes do not appear to be earmarked for heatlh care purposes.  In fact, Governor Davis is reportedly proposing a $3.5 billion cut in health care spending.

On the whole we could all probably stand to have a few less sodas in our lives, but whether or not a tax increase will have a noticeable impact on sugary cola consumption remains to be seen.  The $404 million dollar number seems like it is based on current soda purchases, so if Governor Davis is counting on those dollars it doesn’t seem very likely that he believes the new tax is going to be much of a deterrent either.  Sadly, it appears as though he is counting on the soda drinkers in New York to continue their sugary ways.