Posted on 02/13/2005 1:43:27 PM PST by foolscap
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- When Becky Cleaveland is out with her girlfriends, they all pick at salads except for the petite Atlanta woman. She tackles "The Hamdog."
The dish, a specialty of Mulligan's, a suburban bar, is a hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries.
"The owner says I'm the only girl who can eat a whole one without flinching," Cleaveland said proudly.
Amid a national obesity epidemic and the South's infamous distinction as the "Stroke Belt," health officials have been trying to get diners to flinch, at least a little, at the region's trademark fried and fatty foods.
But nutritionists have found it's hard to teach an old region new tricks. How can Southerners give up delicious staples fried chicken, fried seafood, fried green tomatoes and cornbread slathered in butter?
Even at the Atlanta headquarters of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leader of the nation's anti-obesity campaign, the cafeteria serves up such artery-clogging regional favorites as biscuits and gravy.
CDC nutritionist Annie Carr said the agency is working to get its house in order by pushing the cafeteria to serve popular foods in healthy ways. The broader goals of the anti-obesity campaign are to educate people to cook with less fat and sugar and to promote the idea of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
And for the South, that doesn't mean vegetables and greens flavored with bacon and meat drippings
"I don't think anything is wrong with the kind of vegetables we eat in the South - it's the way they are prepared," said former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, the interim president of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, who grew up eating traditional Southern staples on a farm in Alabama. "We need more fruits and vegetables in our diet."
Health officials' concerns with healthy eating in the South date back to 1962, when the CDC noted a large concentration of counties with high stroke death rates in the coastal states of North and South Carolina and Georgia. More than three decades later, the high stroke rates in that region seem to have shifted west to counties along the Mississippi River Delta.
Health officials have spent thousands of dollars on grants to promote healthy eating, including sending nutritionists into community centers and churches. The food experts introduce healthier cooking practices, such as alternatives to frying and methods that reduce the fat in gravy and sauces. But those efforts have found resistance from some cooks who say the healthier recipes alter the taste of their dishes.
"Flavor is a big issue - when you modify Southern cooking, then you lose a lot of the flavor," said Laurita Burley, a clinical nutrition instructor at the Morehouse School of Medicine. "The reputation of the Southern cook is at risk when you begin to modify it."
Much of the South's traditional foods date back to the days of slavery. Frying was preferable in the region's hot climate, since it didn't take as long as baking and didn't heat up a house as much. Plus, Burley said, workers didn't have all day to prepare meals; they had to get back into the fields to work. Lard was also plentiful. Today, frying still is popular, especially in poor areas of the South, because it is also inexpensive.
While it's quick, easy and adds flavor, frying loads ordinarily healthy foods with calories and fat.
"One of the common things in the South is that you fry everything," said Dr. Nicholas Lang, chief of staff of the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System in Little Rock. "It's a major grease-transport mechanism - there's no idea how much calories you get when you get that."
Other research has found that frying, grilling and smoking certain foods can cause chemical reactions within the food that can increase the risk of cancer.
"The best advice is to fry less and to eat their meat medium rather than well-done - and do like their momma said and add vegetables," said Lang, also a professor of surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Back at Mulligan's in Decatur, owner Chandler Goff is quick to point out that the bar also offers healthy alternatives, such as salads and sandwiches that aren't deep-fried.
But he acknowledged that the "Hamdog" and the "Luther Burger," a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun, are what draw attention.
As for Cleaveland, she says she doesn't think about cholesterol. "I probably should, but I do not. I'm only 25, maybe later." For now, she's able to maintain her 5-foot-7, 115-pound physique without regular exercise.
Regardless of age, Lang doesn't recommend the Hamdog, even as a one-time snack.
"If you choke that down, you might as well find a heart surgeon because you are going to need one."
---
My mother will be 94 this July. She's in good health except for arthritis. She has eaten (and cooked) southern style food all her life. Her mother died at 95, and her grandmother at 102. My grand-dad usually ate his morning bacon, eggs, and grits with the bacon grease from the pan poured over the grits, then finished up with hot biscuits topped off with home made cane syrup and big globs of fresh skimmed cream. He died of emphysema at 81, but otherwise in good health. If he hadn't started smoking Prince Albert rolled into cigarettes at age 7 he might have lived much longer. When he was 71 and I was 12 he took me deer hunting in Big Cypress swamp. He could still carry a 4-point buck on his shoulders 5 miles to the camp without ever sitting down to rest.
On Dad's side of the family my grandparents ate pretty much the same type cooking as Mom's family. Dad lived to age 85 and died from Alzheimer's disease. He was in good health otherwise, but Alzheimer's patients usually die from pneumonia, nothing to do with what they eat. His Mom died at 84 from diabetes, and his Dad died at 75 from a heart attack after helping push a car out of a ditch.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't believe southern cooking kills people, I believe sitting around all day watching Judge Judy and Oprah kills people. All the people in my family history worked hard all their lives and ate southern cooking 3 times a day. AFAIK none of them died as a result of the type cooking they ate.
Is the recipe nailed to the front door?
Leni
I'd rather live my life eating "Hamdogs" (sounds delicious!) than any tofu-seaweed crap.
Note to nutritionists- I'm 30 years old, with 140/110 blood pressure (tall and slender, though) and I couldn't care any less as to your suggestions of what you want me to eat. If I'm headed for "Stroke City"- let me go there, and I promise you I'll die happy.
I kind of like Georgia crab stew. Made with real butter and whole milk.
Your blood pressure is somewhat high. Might want to have it checked out.
Both of my grammas, too.
The German one, especially.
Both lived into their ninetys and were of sound mind.
Once, one, in her eightys, couldn't reach my dad on the phone so she WALKED up to our house a couple of miles away!
Ate stuff like bacon grease in/on everything.
Hope I got their genes. But not sure that I could hold a candle to one of them for working either although I do help haul and stack our winter heat supply.
Well, you wanna come back to the negotiations table? :-))
Fat causes strokes folks.
That's an interesting assertion. I am not a doctor, and I don't know a blessed thing about biochemistry, but I decided to go make a Google search of "fatty food" and "stroke". To my surprise, there are a number of articles, both popular and scientific, that discount any undesirable correlation between the two; there is at least one popular article that has it that even fatty junk food is actually correlated with less strokes (the last one quoted in this post, from the Telegraph.)
An abstract from an article from the British Medical Journal:
1 Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA, 2 Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
Correspondence to: K He hpkhe@channing.harvard.edu
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Objective: To examine the association between intake of total fat, specific types of fat, and cholesterol and risk of stroke in men.
Design and setting Health professional follow up study with 14 year follow up.
Participants 43 732 men aged 40-75 years who were free from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in 1986.
Main outcome measure Relative risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke according to intake of total fat, cholesterol, and specific types of fat.
Results During the 14 year follow up 725 cases of stroke occurred, including 455 ischaemic strokes, 125 haemorrhagic stokes, and 145 strokes of unknown type. After adjustment for age, smoking, and other potential confounders, no evidence was found that the amount or type of dietary fat affects the risk of developing ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke. Comparing the highest fifth of intake with the lowest fifth, the multivariate relative risk of ischaemic stroke was 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.65 to 1.28; P for trend = 0.77) for total fat, 1.20 (0.84 to 1.70; P = 0.47) for animal fat, 1.07 (0.77 to 1.47; P = 0.66) for vegetable fat, 1.16 (0.81 to 1.65; P = 0.59) for saturated fat, 0.91 (0.65 to 1.28; P = 0.83) for monounsaturated fat, 0.88 (0.64 to 1.21; P = 0.25) for polyunsaturated fat, 0.87 (0.62 to 1.22; P = 0.42) for trans unsaturated fat, and 1.02 (0.75 to 1.39; P = 0.99) for dietary cholesterol. Intakes of red meats, high fat dairy products, nuts, and eggs were also not appreciably related to risk of stroke.
Conclusions: These findings do not support associations between intake of total fat, cholesterol, or specific types of fat and risk of stroke in men.
In fact, even the original article made me think that it doesn't support any additional mortality to the consumption of southern cooking. Specifically it adduced no figures such as people who eat southern cooking live on average N years less than similiar folks who don't. In fact, strokes are correlated with older folks -- and if the assertion is that southerners are having more, maybe it's because they have more older folks in the South?
Here's another abstract on the same subject from the Journal of the American Medical Association:
Inverse association of dietary fat with development of ischemic stroke in men
M. W. Gillman, L. A. Cupples, B. E. Millen, R. C. Ellison and P. A. Wolf Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
CONTEXT: A few ecological and cohort studies in Asian populations suggest an inverse association of the intake of both fat and saturated fat with risk of stroke. However, data among western populations are scant. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of stroke incidence with intake of fat and type of fat among middle-aged US men during 20 years of follow-up. DESIGN AND SETTING: The Framingham Heart Study, a population-based cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 832 men, aged 45 through 65 years, who were free of cardiovascular disease at baseline (1966-1969). MEASUREMENTS AND DATA ANALYSIS: The diet of each subject was assessed at baseline by a single 24-hour dietary recall, from which intakes of energy and macronutrients were estimated. In Kaplan-Meier analyses, we calculated age-adjusted cumulative incidence rates of stroke. Using Cox regression, we estimated stroke incidence relative risks during 20 years of follow-up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence of ischemic stroke, which occurred in 61 subjects during the follow-up period. RESULTS: Mean intakes were 10975 kJ for energy; 114 g (39% of energy) for total fat; 44 g (15%) for saturated fat; 46 g (16%) for monounsaturated fat; and 16 g (5%) for polyunsaturated fat. Risk of ischemic stroke declined across the increasing quintile of total fat (log-rank trend P=.008), saturated fat (P=.002), and monounsaturated fat (P=.008) but not polyunsaturated fat (P=.33). The age- and energy-adjusted relative risk for each increment of 3% of energy from total fat was 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.78-0.94); for an increment of 1% from saturated fat, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.85-0.98); and for 1% from monounsaturated fat, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.83-0.96). Adjustment for cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, body mass index, blood pressure, blood cholesterol level, physical activity, and intake of vegetables and fruits and alcohol did not materially change the results. Too few cases of hemorrhagic stroke (n=14) occurred to draw inferences. CONCLUSION: Intakes of fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat were associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke in men.
From the Department of Public Health Medicine, Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki-ken (H.I., M.K.); Osaka Medical Center for Health Science and Promotion, Osaka (S.S., A.K., H.I., Y.N., T.O., T.S.); Tokyo Bunka Junior College, Tokyo (U.U.); and Center for Medical Science, Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Science, Ibaraki-ken (K.K.), Japan.
Correspondence to Dr Hiroyasu Iso, Department of Public Health Medicine, Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305-8575, Japan. E-mail fvgh5640@mb.infoweb.ne.jp
Background and Purpose— The role of serum fatty acids as a risk factor for stroke and stroke subtypes is largely unknown.
Methods— A prospective nested case-control study of Japanese 40 to 85 years of age was conducted through the use of frozen serum samples from 7450 participants in cardiovascular risk surveys collected from 1984 to 1989 for 1 community and 1989 to 1992 for the other 2 communities. By the end of 1998, we identified 197 incident strokes whose subtypes were confirmed by imaging studies. Three controls per case were selected by matching for sex, age, community, year of serum storage, and fasting status.
Results— Compared with controls, total (n=197), hemorrhagic (n=75), and ischemic (n=122) strokes had similar proportions of n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, lower proportions of linoleic and arachidonic acids, and higher proportions of saturated and monosaturated acids, determined by gas chromatography. The multivariate odds ratios associated with a 1-SD increase in linoleic acid (5%) after adjustment for hypertension, diabetes, serum total cholesterol, and other cardiovascular risk factors were 0.72 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.59 to 0.89] for total stroke, 0.66 (95% CI, 0.49 to 0.88) for ischemic stroke, 0.63 (95% CI, 0.46 to 0.88) for lacunar infarction, and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.59 to 1.12) for hemorrhagic stroke. The respective odds ratios for saturated fatty acids (4%) were 1.13 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.65), 1.35 (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.79), 1.44 (95% CI, 1.03 to 2.01), and 1.21 (95% CI, 0.82 to 1.80). Further adjustment for other fatty acids attenuated these relations, but the relation between linoleic acid and risk of ischemic stroke remained statistically significant.
Conclusions— A higher intake of linoleic acid may protect against ischemic stroke, possibly through potential mechanisms of decreased blood pressure, reduced platelet aggregation, and enhanced deformability of erythrocyte cells.
Key Words: fatty acids • fatty acids, unsaturated • follow-up studies • linoleic acid • stroke
EDITOR—The finding of He et al that intake of total fat, cholesterol, or specific types of fat are not associated with stroke does not surprise those who have followed the scientific literature about the diet-heart idea from the very beginning.1 What surprises me is their statement that there is strong evidence that type of dietary fat predicts risk of coronary heart disease.
Except for trans fat there is no such evidence at all. In a review2 of the relevant ecological, dynamic population, cross sectional, case-control, and cohort studies almost all of them were inconclusive or, most often, contradictive, and in two meta-analyses of the dietary trials2-4 the number of deaths in treatment and control groups were identical.
There is no support either from the study used as evidence by He et al because the weak association found between intake of saturated fat and coronary heart disease in that study disappeared after adjustment for other risk factors.5
To be fair, I did also find one article that suggested that there might be a correlation, especially if you throw in smoking, overconsumption of salt, and alcohol consumption. But it appears to me that there is at least some question as to be any role of southern food as a cause of strokes -- and as I said before, the strong correlation between age and strokes could easily mean that seeing more strokes in a population might just mean that people are just living longer in that population.
And for some popular articles:
A stroke of luck for fatty food lovers
Take heart, eating fatty food may cut strokes
And here's the text from that last article:
Take heart, eating fatty food may cut strokes
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
EATING fatty junk food might lower the risk of having a stroke, American scientists claimed yesterday.
A team from Harvard Medical School found that a three per cent rise in total fat consumption reduced the risk of a stroke by 15 per cent.
Their findings come from new analysis of the data in the Framingham Heart Study, a renowned 20-year project involving nearly 1,000 men aged 45 to 65.
Although Dr Matthew Gillman, of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in Boston, Massachusetts, warned that follow-up studies were needed to confirm the findings, he said: "Nonetheless, the results of this study raise the possibility that restriction of fat intake among residents of Western societies. . . does not decrease and could increase overall risk of ischaemic stroke."
The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association says increased amounts of saturated fat (animal fat) and of monosaturated fat (olive and nut oils) had this effect while polyunsaturated fat, found in fish and vegetable oils and said to be healthier than animal fat, did not.
Saturated fat, found in meat and dairy products, is usually thought to be the least healthy type of fat to eat because of a link with heart disease. A spokesman for the British Stroke Association said yesterday that the new research confused an already complicated message to consumers: "There is very good evidence that obesity increases a person's risk of developing a stroke.
"However, at present the evidence of any link between the risk of stroke and intake of individual dietary components is unclear. The message from the various studies which have taken place is very confused.
"There are a number of on-going studies which may provide clarification on this. In the meantime, there is no reason to change the general dietary advice which forms part of many health education programmes."
The British Heart Foundation said it was surprised by the findings and needed to see the full details before making a proper comment. A spokesman said: "It's very curious, because what we have here is an apparent paradox. There are on-going trials of drugs called statins which lower cholesterol, and use of those drugs is associated with a reduced risk of strokes. More follow-up work has to be carried out."
Frankly, I don't understand why these blue state communist elites are getting their panties in a twist over what we Southerners eat. They ought to be ecstatic that we eat such "unhealthy" food - all it means is that we'll die off sooner and then start voting for democrats.
>>>Besides, maybe this food and early stroke allows them to die happy rather than live to 103 with no eyesight, no hair, no solid food and no memory.
No, no...the reason the food police ought to STFU is so enough people die before they collect Social Security...
That's it in a nutshell.
Personal ( empirical ) observation? I live in the deep South, and most of my older friends and relatives smoked, drank, and ate fried foods, beans cooked in bacon, eggs- all the "bad" stuff.
Most lived into their eighties, and a few into their nineties-- and they all did well until they stopped moving and working- that's when they fell apart.
Well said. These pompous b*stards should concern themselves more with saving those tiny innocent victems of abortion that are murdered before they even get a chance to taste healthful Mother's milk, rather than the eating habits of full grown adults.
Next thing ya know is, they'll be taking kids to remedial speaking classes so the little ones won't have that rebel twang.
The lords that know best for you and I demand we eat the right foods, read the right books, speak the right words, think the right thoughts, spend our money the right way, follow the right party lines, listen to the right music, drive the right vehicles, exercise the right way.......
For my part, those who 'know best' can go to H&ck, bite me and drop 'daid'.
Yum!
Don't get me wrong, I couldn't pick a more broken state to live in but I grew up here. My business is here and I love the Ocean so I can't really leave. Where would I scuba dive?
For old-school New Englanders, the ocean is in our blood. Ironically enough, I have bought a lot of scuba gear from Houston, Texas. I do know you guys have a huge coast line but Texas is a BIG state and most of it is very far from the sea.
There are some of us Yankees that are normal presumably like your teo friends, LOL!
As for the old Southern Dems, I agree. The DNC left them long ago though. It is funny how Tennesse got a new Democrat Governor to replace the old one. The Republican gov wanted to pass an income tax. The new Dem Gov ran on a no income tax platform and has cut spending and brought the state into the black.
That Republican former Governor should be ashamed of himself IMHO.
As for the Yankee bashing, I like it. It's funny, I have been attacked in the past for making fun of yankees because as they put it "Some of us are cool" (Which I stated above.), they were shocked when they found out I was a Yankee. I'm not sure if you have ver travelled up North but it is a whole different ball game up here.
It cracks me up, I am like a minority in Mass. I don't have political conversations with my customers. Put it this way, most folks here really love Castro and the Cuban government. After two of these conversations, I stopped having them. It's not worth the loss of business.
As for the food thing, it is out of control. I remember when the Tobacco war's were being waged I told my Leftist friends that "Big Food" was next. They laughed and said I was crazy. See how stupid they are? I smoke cigs. Not much but I do. I probably would have quit by now but I like the hostile stares of the Bostonians as I light up at the beach before a dive (I dispose of the smokes of course, unlike the hippy environmentalists. Ironic, eh?). Seriously, one of my dive partners and I light up all the time at the beaches just to see the hatred in their eyes, LOL! The other one smokes but actually HIDES this fact from fellow divers and beachgoers.
To hell with that. Mass banned all smoking in businesses. I spit on this law and smoke anything I damn want in MY OWN PROPERTY. I am sure this will be coming your way in the near future.
Sorry for making a long post but it is therapeutic for me to talk to Texans. :D
Arioch7 out.
This was written by a damned yankee.....
I learned you don't need an egg to roll the chicken in. YOu just roll the chicken in flour (with your favorite seasonings)and put the chicken in the fridge for 20-30 min. That way the flour sticks to the chicken and when you put it in the fat, it "seals" the chicken so its more like a steamed chicken, instead of fried.
My husband's grandpa (from Alabama) lived to 99 years old. Drank two whisky sours every night, smoked until age 90, and LOVED fried chicken & gravy. The man ate everything the food police say is bad....and he lived a good long life. Perhaps it had something to do with all of the exercise and activity...he played golf regularly until about 96. My grandpa (from Oklahoma) was overweight & smoked. One day, he just dropped dead at 98. Go figure.
I get sick and tired of hearing the food police tell us yet another food is bad. Obviously, they look down on southern cooking. Screw 'em.
sw
Here in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, we have one of the highest rates of death by heart disease. Some people think it's because of our eating habits, but I have an alternate theory.
We have elected coroners here and they don't have to be MDs. So, unless there are obvious bullet holes or tire tracks on the body, the cause of death is usually listed as "Heart Failure".
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