Quit Yer Yelping

I recently read an “I, Anonymous” in the Stranger that I could really relate to. It is about people who “Yelp” about restaurants. I may offend some of you, because I do know many yelpers and I will say that not all use Yelp for evil. However, this article (which I will not post here due to a lot of inappropriate language – but you can link to it here) is right on.

“Service slow? Order wrong? Waitperson’s shoes too ugly? Would you like these things changed? Probably best to semi-anonymously post nasty things online that we’ll read, like, four days later, right? Wrong….If you come to our restaurants and something goes wrong, and you tell us TO OUR FACES, we’ll either fix the problem or give you free stuff.”

i AGREE with this article. I have read Yelps that are SO nit-picky and so obviously written by someone who doesn’t know how to behave in a restaurant. So your drinks took 6 minutes when you thought they should take 5. The server forgot to bring you an extra lemon. Does the general public really need to know about these things? If you are upset about something that happens, don’t go slam them behind their backs – give them the opportunity to fix it right away. Sometimes there is a miscommunication, a misunderstanding, or the server is so busy that it might have momentarily slipped their minds. Generally, any problem at a restaurant can be fixed quickly and easily. Most managers are more than happy to help an honest customer in need.


Before you Yelp, please stop and think – was this just a personal experience or would it REALLY benefit others to know? Also, this is the way I balance my life, but if I vocalize a negative experience, I will also vocalize a positive one. If you slam a restaurant on Yelp, why not write your next review on somewhere you love and deserves some good publicity?

A Lesson from the Great Depression

Being an English major as well as nutrition student, I am a huge George Orwell fan. I came across something he wrote during the Great Depression regarding the English working class:


“The basis of their diet is white bread and margarine, corned beef, sugared tea and potato – an appalling diet. Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread?...Yes it would, but the point is, no human being would ever do such a thing…A millionaire may enjoy breakfasting off orange juice and Ryvita biscuits; an unemployed man does not…When you are underfed, harassed, bored, and miserable, you don’t want to eat dull wholesome food. You want to eat something a bit tasty.”

Tasty like Cheetos, George? Like donuts, fast food, soda, and trans-fat goodness? Do you realize we aren’t dealing with a new problem in this country? It seems people have been asking the same questions for nearly 100 years. These “working class” during a downturn in the economy were going through the same frustrations many working families in our country are today. I can’t help connecting this to a book a great friend of mine from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology leant me - How People Change by Allen Wheels. Wheels takes a more pessimistic view of the human condition than I choose to, but I find his views fascinating and highly relevant to Orwell’s observation about the dietary choices of the population during his time.

“Created suffering…affects us all. Poets tell the truth…It’s part of being human, we differ from one another only in more or less. A few tranquil ones, with little conflict, suffer less; at the other extreme, stretched by despair to some dreadful cracking point, one goes berserk. In between are the rest of us, not miserable enough to go mad or jump off the bridge, yet never able if we are honest to say that we have come to terms with life, are at peace with ourselves, that we are happy”.

It may sound depressing, but strangely relevant across time. Are we eating “tasty” food that we know isn’t good for us because we are suffering or unhappy? Is it possible that we are a culture of emotional eaters covering our discontent with life? Further, if we recognize this is happening, can we do anything to stop it? What do you think?

Supplements - who do you trust?

I don’t want to get all political on you right now, but I have recently learned more about a truly fascinating and vastly misunderstood topic. The topic: DSHEA (Dietary Health and Supplementation Education Act).

DSHEA was a 1994 act passed which put dietary supplements in the category of “food” instead of “medicine” like other drugs (antibiotics, aspirin, etc.). By making supplements “food” it consequently removed the FDA from being able to regulate them and instead left the responsibility in the hands of the manufacturer to make sure their consumers are safe. This is not the way it is in all countries by any means and there are many pro’s and con’s to the current situation.

Right now, manufacturers do not register their products with the FDA and are also responsible for their own labels being accurate and not misleading. There are some consumer reports and third party certification organizations who check supplements out and make sure they contain what they say they do and are not contaminated, but this is not mandatory or even the norm.

We had a debate in class last quarter: for or against DSHEA.
Here are the two sides in a nutshell and in my opinion:

Pro DSHEA
• Because of the freedom surrounding supplementation, more people have affordable access to the health benefits of these products. You can buy any product you like off the shelf in a drug store and gain the benefit without prescription.
• The coalition to preserve DSHEA claim some want to “impose unnecessary and burdensome regulations” that may pose risk to consumers and limit access to supplements.
• Advocates of DSHEA also argue that this act empowers the consumer and gives them the right to make their own choices regarding their health. This is a nice power to have when access to health care is not available to all and/or very expensive.

ANTI-DSHEA
• Post-DSHEA, dietary supplements are considered safe until proven otherwise. The FDA is under no authority to require safety evaluations before supplements are released to the market, though they can intervene when a supplement is proven dangerous (eg. Ephedra). This process can take years.
• The FDA now has no control over the additives found in supplements. Additives include potential allergens, bulking agents/fillers, or preservatives (among others).
• Bioactive compounds and even hormones that have powerful effects on the body, many of which are regulated in other countries, are protected under DSHEA and are free for any person to purchase and consume as much as they like. Are consumers educated and aware enough to prescribe themselves these types of powerful compounds?

This is a huge topic! There have even been books written about it.

Let me leave you with a question: do you think the average consumer is educated and informed enough to make a decision about consuming supplements? Do you trust the people selling you their products to be truthful and trustworthy? Further, do you know WHY you are taking the supplements you are taking? Did you do your homework?

I don’t have the answers to these questions myself, but it does start to make me wonder…can we trust our supplements?