Affection or Confection: which would you choose?Can an omnivoracious eater find love with a vegangelical? Such is the question posed by this article in the New York Times, which profiles a handful of "interdietary" couples, including vegetarian Jewcy friend Leah Koenig and her kosher beau. Just in time for Valentine's Day, the article, which is guilty of a few gross generalizations (vegans shiver at the thought of kissing someone who has so much as sipped honey-sweetened tea? Please, spare me), actually does raise an interesting point: Food has a strong subconscious link to love.

Seeing as how preparing, providing, and sharing food is often an act of affection and intimacy, do couples with conflicting diets stand a chance? From those profiled, the answer to that question seems to be a resounding...maybe. Assuming the relationship is built on tolerance and compromise, then sure, you're golden. But if your vegan boyfriend or carnivorous girlfriend disapproves, or worse yet, tries to change you, you're screwed.

The article also looks at other dietary issues. One gluten-free goddess recounted a story of being dumped by a guy who "liked bread too much" to date her. Ouch.

Related: No Death, No Dinner

Too Many Treats: too few walks. sound familiar?As Americans get fatter and fatter, their pets are expanding with them: an estimated 50 percent of America's total pet population is apparently dangerously overweight. Unsurprisingly, many pet owners are dealing with their furry friends' fatness much in the same way they deal with their own: diet pills or, in the case of Slentrol, liquid prescription weight-loss meds.

If, like me, you think that giving an otherwise healthy dog weight-loss meds sounds dim-witted and lazy, then perhaps you'll be more enthused about this novel idea: exercise videos for dogs and cats. Yup: if you log on to PetFit.com, you'll find tips and videos demonstrating workouts like "Fetch Races" and "Light Cardio," which involves jumping "an invisible rope while holding flashlights in your hands." Your fat cat will frantically chase the light beam while you get your heart rate up. Hell, it sounds entertaining--advertise it as a show and charge for tickets.

The Infamous Founder of Kimkins: clearly not a Russian mail order brideReplacing fiber with laxatives. Severely limiting caloric intake. Tricking your body into not feeling hungry. These are some of the controversial techniques touted by an online dieting program called Kimkins, which is currently facing a possible class action lawsuit due to what former users are calling "false advertising" and "alarming side effects."

ABC News accused Kimkins of being a "dangerous anorexic nutritional scheme" run by a "morbidly obese" woman. Users have complained of chest pains, hair loss, and the cessation of menstrual cycles. Christin Sherburne, a former Kimkins employee and member, is now at the forefront of the investigation and suit. She lost 100 lbs in 5 months on Kimkins, but was fired from her job with the company after raising concerns about the diet's safety. Sherburne claims (and it seems obvious enough) that the diet can "cause severe damage beginning with slow, unrecognized starvation and malnutrition." Doctors are inclined to agree (shocker).

Other skeptical members hired a private investigator and discovered that not only were some of the site's testimonials fake, but that the image of Kimkins' founder had actually been pulled from a Russian mail order bride site. Genius!

So what are the lessons learned here, other than 'for fuck's sake, don't replace fiber with laxatives' and 'Crystal Light is not a food group'? If it sounds nutso and unhealthy, it is, most likely, nutso and unhealthy.

Got the belly fat blues? You'll be pleased to hear that new research in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association identifies a handful of foods that can help banish belly fat--and all you have to do is eat more of them. Rich in MUFA’s (AKA monounsaturated fatty acids, AKA "good" fats), these miraculous nibbles include almonds, walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, as well as avocados and black or green olives. While you're at it, remember to eat your brain food and you'll be a svelte genius by June.

Looking to build muscle in '08? Men's Health columnist and certified physical trainer Gregg Avedon's new book, Muscle Chow, emphasizes high-protein foods, carbs at the low end of the glycemic index, and alternative sweeteners such as stevia.  AM New York says the book "has an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tone that is easy to get caught up in," though suggestions like "find an image such as an inspiring cutout from a magazine or a high school yearbook photo" sound cheesy. 

Finally, a reader responds to a WSJ Taste Commentary from earlier this month with the reminder that if you're not hungry, you're eating too much. The article in question was titled "Dieting for Dollars" and described economist and author Richard B. McKenzie's success in pitting pounds against dollars.

The Vending Machine of the Future: organic, kosher, natural, vegetarian, healthy, and oh-so-deliciousAdmit it: those pre-peeled baby carrots you begrudgingly bring to work every day are inevitably trumped by the irresistible seductions of a vending machine stocked with salty, cheesy, chocolaty evils. Lately, though, a new breeze is blowing through the vending industry -- and it's not just flatulence! (Har).

A handful of companies are beginning to offer those with special dietary needs better options, from kosher and organic to vegetarian and "allergy-friendly."

Kosher Vending Industries is making sure that Jews on the run can get a kashrut snack where options are scarce. Organic Vending only stocks items that are free of artificial flavor, artificial color, preservatives, and trans fats, and a large majority of their products meet the USDA standard for Organics. YoNaturals Inc. stocks their vending machines with a wide range of products, from fresh juices to organic pita chips.

Screwing the Pooch: is a trendy drink really worth his suffering?You'd never guess it, but the refreshing beverage that's infused with herbal supplements and marketed as an earth-friendly, organic, and/or socially conscious "ancient remedy" for something-or-other might mean hell for man's best friend. The London Times reports that the demand for health foods has resulted in a huge surge in animal testing, and our canine companions are included among the ranks of the rodents, rabbits, and guinea pigs that populate the laboratories.

The trend for healthier eating has led to an increase of more than 300% in the number of laboratory experiments conducted on animals for food additives, sweeteners and health supplements over the past year.

Home Office figures showed an increase from 862 to 4,038 experiments from 2005 to 2006.

Often involving painful procedures and artificially induced injuries, many of these experiments focus on inanities such as the "cabbage diet."

At Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, rats were fed a diet containing 20% raw, lightly cooked or fully cooked cabbage for two weeks. The animals were killed to examine the effects of the diet on their liver and colon. The researchers had already carried out a human study on the effects on the gut of eating cooked cabbage.

Is It Me: or does the Teavigo logo resemble an "anti" sign? It's as if they are subconsciously trying to say, "Boycott us, we test on Fido!"Perhaps the most horrific experiment covered in the Times article was conducted by a company called DSM Nutritional Products, which is described as "the world's leading supplier of vitamins, carotenoids and other fine chemicals to the feed, food, pharmaceutical and personal care industries." In testing a product called Teavigo, a green tea extract, DSM force-fed huge doses to dogs who ultimately either died or had to be put down.

American products that contain Teavigo include Kinerase, a "dietary supplement for beautiful skin and wellness," and NUI Kid Water, a flavored, bottled "health" drink marketed to children. The official Teavigo website can be found here.

Whatever your general stance on animal testing might be, doesn't it seem incredibly cruel and wasteful to conduct painful experiments for such inane, passing fancies, especially when there are so many proven, reliable, humane alternatives? I mean, really: Johns Hopkins has a whole center dedicated to finding and using alternatives to animal testing. At this point, testing on animals is just bad science.

As consumers, our power is in our wallets. If you'd rather feed Sparky a dog treat than a lethal dose of Teavigo et al, then do your research and vote NO by boycotting products that unnecessarily test on our buddies in the animal kingdom.

Look who's coming to dinner?I had every intention of blogging about the Sephardic tradition today, but the comments from earlier are better than my post would be, so now I'm posting about why you should be a good Jew and (not) eat a hamburger.

See, recently I was hanging out with an Orthodox Rabbi, and I mentioned that I'd discovered there are Jewish thoughts on vegetarianism, observant Jews who feel that vegetarianism fulfills the commandments.

But my bearded friend disagreed strongly, and said that in particular, we are supposed to eat both meat and fish on Shabbat. He made a reference to the Talmud, though I can't find it now.

So I thought I'd ask if any of you know the reference and can hook me up? Anyone know where it says we should all eat a fish/meat medly on Friday night?

And I thought I'd direct you all to this site, which I've not seen before, but which seems to provide a nicely evenhanded approach to the issue, and summarizes:

Judaism accepts the idea of a vegetarian diet, though dependent on one's intention:

Vegetarianism based on the idea that we have no moral right to kill animals is not an acceptable Jewish view.

Vegetarianism for aesthetic or health reasons is acceptable; indeed, the Torah's mandate to "guard yourselves carefully" (Deut. 4:15) requires that we pay attention to health issues related to a meat-centered diet. Some points to consider include the contemporary increase in sickness in animals created by factory farm conditions, and the administration of growth hormones, antibiotics and other drugs given to animals. All of these may be possible health risks to humans.

In addition, there is the possible violation of tzaar baalai chaim (causing pain to animals) resulting from mass production methods of raising, transporting and slaughtering animals.

Basically, it suggests that all extremes are icky. Which makes a kind of sense sense to me. But then I'm not a wingnut vegan, nor do I like to slaughter things in my backyard and eat ribs every night for dinner.

You?