Alan Bradford

I want someone to build this for my kitchen

I hate throwing away food from my refrigerator that has gone bad. The humidity-controlled fruit and vegetable drawers are out of sight, and thus, out of mind. I go grocery shopping without a list, and I cannot for the life of me remember if we have eggs. I haven't the foggiest whether I should get a half gallon of milk, or if I should splurge for the entire 4 quarts. I don't know if I have any pasta in my pantry. I can't remember if my box of Cheerios is half empty or half full.

So here I present my idea for the refrigerator and pantry of the future. If you know anyone who can make this happen, please forward them a link to this post.

The Food

Each package, box, banana bunch, and 2-liter bottle of Schwepp's Seltzer Water will contain a sticker or bar code or whatever that has been encoded with information about that product. Expiration date, quantity, brand, how much I paid for it, when I purchased it, where I purchased it and so forth.

The Refrigerator

When my purchased food passes through the door of my refrigerator, the sticker or bar code or whatever will be read by a sensor in the refrigerator. The encoded information will be transfered to some sort of application that keeps track of my foods. This information will be displayed on a touch-screen monitor on the outside door of the refrigerator. I will be able to pinch, swipe, and zoom through the contents of my refrigerator. I will be alerted when my milk is about to expire. I will be prompted to assemble a meal based on the contents of my refrigerator.

The Pantry

See above, replacing any mention of "refrigerator" with "pantry." The contents of my pantry will also be displayed on the monitor on my fridge.

The Grocery Store

Instead of scratching out a shopping list on the back of an envelope, I will take out my phone at the grocery store. I will open a mobile version of the application mentioned above. I will see what I have at home. I will know what I need. I will know what I paid for eggs during my last shopping spree. If eggs are cheaper at a different store, I will be prompted with this information on my phone. I will purchase the appropriate quantity of milk.

The Result

I will still be fat. I will still throw away my asparagus. I will be mildly concerned that my purchasing habits and eating behavior are now being meticulously tracked by grocery stores, app developers, Apple, Google, Yahoo!,* and Groupon. I will turn off the location-awareness of my smart phone before. Then I'll turn it back on because it's just a box of donuts, right? Then I'll wonder if my insurance company the Government knows about my recent blood tests and if maybe they'll raise my co-pay because I shouldn't be buying donuts with those kind of cholesterol numbers. But they're TRANS-FAT FREE, I'll whimper to myself. Tears will fall onto my smart phone, and I'll wipe them off on my sleeve because I don't want to trigger the moisture sensor under the battery because then it will void my warranty.

Does anyone want to build this for me? Pretty please?

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*Yahoo! will not exist by the time something like this is developed.

I want to know who thought a Cheese Muffin would be a good idea.

This tasted as good as it looks. I stopped after one bite.

Yes, Sugar is Toxic. Many thanks to @gruber, @garytaubes, and Robert Lustig from @UCSFMedicine for helping expose this

Put down your can of Coke and watch this 2009 lecture entitled Sugar: The Bitter Truth, given by Robert Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. Lustig explains in detail the poisonous biochemical pathways of sugar. The lecture approximately 90 minutes long. If you don't have time to watch, at least read the following points copied from Lustig's summary slide: 

• Fructose (sucrose vs. HFCS) consumption has increased in the past 30 years, coinciding with the obesity epidemic
• A calorie is not a calorie, and fructose is not glucose
• You are NOT WHAT you eat; you are WHAT YOU DO with what you eat
• Hepatic fructose metabolism leads to all the manifestations of the Metabolic Syndrome:
  • Hypertension
  • De novo lipogenesis, dyslipidemia, and hepatic steatosis inflammation
  • Hepatic insulin resistance
  • Obesity
  • CNS leptin resistance, promoting continuous consumption
• Fructose consumption interferes with obesity intervention
• Fructose is a chronic hepatotoxin (it's "alcohol without the buzz"), but the FDA won't regulate it

This is scary stuff. The science he presents in this lecture is true. The fact is, sugar - specifically fructose - is a toxin to our system. It does not matter if this sugar comes from sucrose or from the recently villified High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Chemically, these two substances are nearly identical. Sucrose, or common table sugar, is a molecule comprised of 50% glucose, and 50% fructose. HFCS is typically 45% glucose, and 55% fructose. The important thing to learn is how the body metabolizes fructose.

Like other toxins introduced to the body, fructose is metabolized in the liver. In his lecture, Lustig explores the metabolic pathways of both fructose and ethanol, another popular carbohydrate. It is no secret that ethanol (drinking alcohol) is widely regarded as a poison. There are laws, regulations and organizations specifically created to enforce the restriction of its consumption.

According to Lustig:

Fructose is a chronic hepatotoxin for the same reason that alcohol is. The only difference is, alcohol is metabolized by the brain so you get alcohol effects. Fructose is not metabolized by the brain so you don't get those effects, but everything else it does is the same. But the FDA can't and won't regulate it.

And why not? Where are the laws to regulate sugar consumption? Where is the political, scientific, and social outcry against this syrupy, crystaline destroyer? Dr. Lustig sums up his lecture with the following:

...Although there is no existing regulatory framework permitting FDA to restrict a consumer's choice to consume high fat foods, such products are, like all food products, subject to general FDA requirements regarding adulteration and misbranding. See e.g. 21 U.S.C. Sec 402(a) "A food shall be deemed to be adulterated if it bears or contains any poisonous or deletarious substance which may render it injurous to health"...Thus, under existing law the agency is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that consumption of high fat (and all other) food products does not result in acute injuries such as poisoning, and with preventing consumers from being misled, but not with the prevention of chronic diseases even though its own regulations explicitly postulate the connection between such products and diseases. (Source: Design, Manufacturing and Marketing of Tobacco Products: Towards a Sensible Regulatory Framework. Bates Number: 2065346777/6799, Page 3)

The FDA will only regulate acute toxins, not a chronic toxin. Fructose is a chronic toxin. Acute fructose exposure [does] nothing because the brain doesn't metabolize fructose, the liver does, and the liver doesn't get sick after one fructose meal. It gets sick after a thousand fructose meals, but that's how many we eat. So the FDA isn't touching this. The USDA isn't touching this because if the USDA touched this, what would that mean? That would mean an admission to the world that our food is a problem.

So what do you think that would do? There are three things in this country that we can still sell overseas: weapons, entertainment, and food. The USDA doesn't want to know about this, because this is bad news.

So who runs the food pyramid? The USDA. It's the fox in charge of the hen house, because it's their job to sell food, and who's eating it?

We are.

As a member of the LDS church, I have long been taught about the Word of Wisdom (read in entirety here). For those of you not familiar with this, it is a law of health which is followed by members of the church. If you have a friend who is Mormon, the Word of Wisdom is the reason he or she doesn't smoke. It is the reason he or she doesn't drink alcohol or coffee. In addition to restricting these toxic substances, a major portion of the Word of Wisdom explains what we should be eating. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, limited consumption of meat and animal products. At the beginning of the revelation, there is a section that perhaps is often overlooked. It says:

Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of the evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation. (D&C 89:4)

There is no doubt in my mind that there are conspiring men (and women) who are making decisions that impact how and what we eat. These decisions have a direct effect on our health and well-being. As I prepare to enter medical school in January, this information will weigh heavily on my mind. I plan to make this a priority in my medical studies. I hope that I will be given some opportunities to further research in this area of concern.

Dr. Lustig - you may consider me recruited.

Note: Thank you to John Gruber who wrote about this on his blog, Daring Fireball. He linked to an excellent New York Times article by Gary Taubes entitled Is Sugar Toxic?, where Mr. Taubes references the above video.

The sad fate of tomatoes at our home

Taken with picplz at The Bradford's in North Pinal, AZ.

Sorry Grecians. I love your Gyro meats, but your Yogurts is awful.

Fear This Giant Banana

There is nothing worse than the pasty sound of someone snacking on a banana. The next time you want to annoy a close friend, try masticating a mealy banana right next to their ear canal.

You won't be close friends for long.

(download)

Click here to download:

Fear_This_Giant_Banana_tags_fo.zip (1.24 MB)

Do Not Fear This Banana

There is nothing worse than the pasty sound of someone snacking on a banana. The next time you want to annoy a close friend, try masticating a mealy banana right next to their ear. You won't be close friends for long.

(download)

Click here to download:

Do_Not_Fear_This_Banana_tags_f.zip (1.24 MB)

Just applied for a nutritionist job with @PinalCounty WIC. Wish me luck.

Well kids, it's official. I've been thrown into the real world. No more pencils, no more books. No more teacher's dirty looks.

Restaurants Use Menu Psychology to Entice Diners - NYTimes.com

Teachin' The Kiddies How To Be Healthy

(download)

Click here to download:

teachin-the-kiddies-how-to-be-healthy-iACFheavnjcJqmqDufes.zip (1.19 MB)

This is how I've been spending my Thursday mornings for the past three weeks. Playing "Chef Alan" for the Kids Club at the Superstition Springs Mall in Mesa, AZ. I'm teaching them about food and good nutrition. It's a lot of fun. My nephew, Brody is in the first picture. Kudos to meine Mutter for making my Chef Alan hat.