Dr. Kessler (former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration) Delves Into the Mysteries of Food Cravings and Overeating

Health correspondent Betty Ann Bowser
talks to author Dr. David Kessler about overeating and what is behind people’s cravings, the subject of his new book, “The End of Overeating”

On Tuesday evening’s Newshour, Dr. Kessler made some very interesting observations regarding the food industry’s neurological manipulations of people who eat their products.

The food industry has been able to figure out the bliss point, the optimal combinations of fat and salt, fat and sugar, fat, sugar and salt that you think tastes good, but when you look at the science, we now know that those ingredients stimulate, they activate the brain’s circuitry.

To find out what the ONE simple thing people can do to lose weight, hop in a barrel and follow me over the fa-a-a-a-alls…

It’s Sunday – the proverbial day of rest. Do you really want to work today? – to trouble your mind with all the up-to-the-minute national and world events and developments? Or would you rather take it easy, slow down a little bit, and contemplate a few other issues in your life?

Let it go.

I know I kinda left readers hanging at the end of yesterday’s short diary A Trip Down the Memory Hole which ended with this:

At this point, I have to stop writing. It’s late, I’m tired, and I want to watch the end of the movie and go to sleep. I can continue this tomorrow.

Let it go.

I had intended to continue that thought in today’s diary, but a whole new set of “compulsive” writing has arisen, as you will see below.

Let it go.

Rather than working today, wouldn’t it be much more pleasant to take a waltz with me down Memory Lane?

(As you read this diary, please try to remember that this is all about memory.)

I have started writing compulsively again. In the past, I have had periods of time when I was consumed by an idea, or more likely, by a whole set of ideas, and I would write obsessively, but it has been quite some time since the last episode.

Over the course of the past month or so, I have been living through extended periods of lucid thought, recalling past experiences in great detail, essentially reliving the times and moments and places and people from various periods of my life. Often, the memories cut across time, linked not by time or place, but by the flow of thematic connections and relations. Also, there is a strong kinship with the concept expressed in the title of (1) Borge’s short story “The Garden of Forking Paths,” if you can imagine.

This stream-of-consciousness can be triggered by almost anything: a picture, a word, a phrase, a bit of music. I have let these memories flow, twist, and turn and only when they have subsided did I sit down to write a few notes, with the notation “DKos” on the top, providing just enough information for me to re-trigger the flow at a later time. I have twenty or thirty of these short notes stacked on my desk, none of which have actually become diaries.

The following diary, a nearly verbatim transcription from last night (Friday), started out as one of those short notes subsequent to an overwhelming series of detailed memories. As usual, I got my 5×8 yellow legal notepad and was about to start writing a note when I realized I couldn’t remember the initiating thought which had launched the thread. Oh well. I restarted the DVD I had been watching before this event triggered…and immediately put it on pause. One flash view of the first image on the screen brought it all back in all its flooding glory.

There was an article in today’s local newspaper about a “Green Freeway” stretching from Canada to Mexico. It would pass through only three states, all led by progressive Governors and Legislatures (or at least two of the governors.) There are only a few places in America where you can drive from Canada to Mexico and cross only three states. (But how progressive is Utah?)

As the plan stands, motorists eventually would be able to pull off at I-5 rest stops for more than a cup of coffee and roadside relief: They also would be able to charge, or swap out, their electric-vehicle batteries or fill their tanks with biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen or compressed natural gas.

There are, of course, hurdles, challenges, and obstacles which must be confronted before any of this becomes a reality.

Hop in a barrel and follow me over the fa-a-a-a-alls.

This is in response to Granny Doc’s diary “This is going to be hard to write…” over at the “Big Orange.” It started out as a comment and ballooned into a full-blown diary.

If you are not familiar with Granny Doc’s writing, check her out. If nothing else at least read “This is going to be hard to write…”

DISCLAIMER: I have no idea if Granny Doc would ever agree to meet with you in a bar (or even if she visits bars on occasion.)

Hop in a barrel and follow me over the fa-a-a-a-lls.

If you search Wikipedia or on-line dictionaries for “liveblog” or any of the word’s variations, nothing turns up. Yet, if you google it, over 17,000,000 hits show up. It is obviously a word and its use is widespread. But what does it mean?

There have been many liveblogging events over on dailykos and every time I’ve clicked on one to check it out, it has been an utterly useless waste of my time. I don’t have cable TV, so my hope, when I log in to a liveblog, is to get information and perspectives on events that I can’t witness as they happen. Maybe even direct quotes from (or paraphrases of) the substance of the dialog. Or summaries! Instead, I get tons of irrelevant comments and sidebar debates that do absolutely nothing to illuminate me on the event. So many comments such as – “Obama’s reponse was great!” – and when I click on it, nothing – neither the question, nor the response is provided. Plus, the commenter didn’t even have the courtesy of amending their comment with n/t (no text) or eom (end of message.)

Does anyone else here think that liveblogging could be a much more effective tool than it has been in its recent manifestations? If so, hop in a barrel and follow me over the fa-a-a-a-alls.

FAQ:

POTUS – WYFP!?

SCOTUS – WTF!

FYI:

AG – FUBAR

DNI – SNAFU

VPOTUS – SNAFUBAR

BTW:

IOKIYAR

LOL/BFF/STFU