Georgie Kovacs tries to live healthy. The thirty-four-year-old works out five to six times a week in midtown. She also recently started paying more attention to what she eats.

“I am trying to be much more aware of what the calories are in foods,” Georgie said. “Sometimes it is hard to tell what the calories are in foods and we might make assumptions.”

But since July, Georgie and other consumers don’t always have to guess. The New York City Health Department began enforcing a regulation requiring chain restaurants with more than fifteen locations to post calorie information on their menu boards. The regulation is part of an effort by the city to curb the nationwide obesity epidemic.

“We like to think of New Yorkers needing 1,800 calories a day,” said Arlene Sparks, a nutrition professor at Hunter College.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Health Department surveys found people consume one hundred fewer calories per meal when they have access to calorie information. The department estimates this could reduce the number of obese people by one hundred and fifty thousand in the next five years, and prevent thirty thousand cases of diabetes.

“What we do know is there’s a lot of obesity in New York and certainly other places as well,” Sparks said. “Health-wise probably the first problem is diabetes.”

• People in New York drink from soda cans with a straw.

• They also fold their pizza slices.

Folded?

I admire this convenience but I can’t bring myself to convert. The pizza’s so beautiful you want to see the toppings. Also, the diversity of texture found in the cheese, sauce, vegetables and meat is far more pleasant than the monotony of bread. So for now, I’m going to eat with one eye on my toppings and another on the 6’3” construction worker who keeps staring at me.

• In New York restaurants (and in other busy places) people wait “on line” not “in line.” This is confusing.

• Every fast food Chinese restaurant serves a very popular condiment called duck sauce. Apparently they have duck sauce in other places, but I had never heard of it. I wasn’t prepared for the outpouring of love New Yorkers have for duck sauce.

• In New York people get their food “To stay or to go,” while in California they get their food “For here or to go.” New Yorkers are much more logical. Should I stay or go? Makes sense. This must be a commentary on the nature of Californians. They had to develop a system of restaurant speak that emphasized the here, the now. Enjoying the moment.

Enjoy your post-Thanksgiving.

This week a film that I’ve had a hand in for years finally premiered – and it was worth the wait. In November 2005, my friend Ellen Frankenstein invited me to help her with an ambitious project called “Open Arms,” a documentary about women hunters in Alaska. Thus began a three-year odyssey, which for her is a testament to the value of following a story, and for me is a good lesson in patience.

Ellen Frankenstein films on remote Kruzoff Island.

We went out to Kruzoff Island with two friends and filmed a winter hunting trip in a seriously remote neck of the woods. (Think – no electricity and LOTS of spare batteries.) That trip affected me so deeply that I transformed my diary scrawlings into a piece for the Alaska Public Radio Network program “AK.”

After a while, Ellen felt that the film was moving away from the “women” angle and was more about ethical eating in remote and rural areas, so she re-titled it “Eating Alaska.” She went all over Alaska learning about the way people eat, from Native Alaskans to New York transplants. And she explored what all those terms like “food miles” and “locavore” really mean to communities that have to fly milk and butter up from the Lower 48 at a crazy expense (a gallon of milk in the village of Barrow typically goes for about $9).

Ellen and her colleagues in the documentary world passed different cuts of the film back and forth, commenting and philosophizing about the way it was evolving. After I moved to New York I’d sometimes get a new DVD in the mail and would eagerly pop it in and phone her with my feedback. I have yet to see the final cut, but it premiered in Fairbanks and Sitka last week, and it was received very well. I was credited as an associate producer. Here’s a trailer:

The moral of this story is; if you have a good idea, pursue it like crazy. Too often we give up on sparks of inspiration because the road ahead looks so long. But what makes us good journalists is the tenacity to follow through on issues, and the flexibility to let the story take us where it may.

Most mornings I pass my 50-minute ride on the F train sipping my can’t-live-without-it morning cup of coffee and eating a piece of fruit.  And I’m not alone.  All around me I see travel mugs- in hands, strapped on bags, resting on a knee.   Fellow travelers munch on bagels or donuts while reading the morning news.

And no one seems bothered.

Last night, desperate for sustenance after a long day without lunch, I stopped at a vendor on 40th Street and grabbed a lamb gyro for the ride home.  But as soon as I stepped on train, I realized this trip would be an uncomfortable one.  People stared, not even trying to be discreet, and sat far away from me and my dinner.  My stomach began to ache, not from a lack a food, but from the distinct feeling that I wasn’t wanted on the train.

When did this happen???  Five years ago when I moved to the city, it was a rare evening ride that didn’t present someone eating chicken wings, pizza or a McDonalds meal.  I came to love the subway for all the things you could do while riding it.  Hadn’t finished grading those exams?  Do it on the train.  Dying to read the last chapter of a great book?  Read it on the train.  Missed breakfast?  Eat it on the train, right??

A few years back the MTA considered banning food and drinks on the trains, but the measure didn’t pass.  Still, it seems that attitudes about food on the train are changing.

I’m curious, do you eat on the subway?  If so, how do people around you react?

Finally the New York Times has published what psychologists have long known to be true: forcing kids to clean their plates ISN’T going to make them like new foods.

Nowadays parents seem to subscribe to one of two camps: the you’re-not-leaving-the-table-til-that-plate’s-clean group or the one where parents buy every imaginable sugary, chocolaty substitute for vegetables in a last-resort attempt at getting their picky kids to eat something.  Anything.

With the nation’s childhood obesity statistics rising at a staggering rate, something must be done about parents who lack the proper training in how to teach their children healthy eating habits.

One of the six mistakes parents make, says the NY Times, is making certain foods off limits.  Basically if you tell kids they can’t eat something, they want it more and will binge on the food when they do get access.  I can personally vouch for this one.  My mom adamantly opposed that classically-chemical, Kraft Mac & Cheese that most kids I knew ate from time to time when they had a babysitter.  And Kool-Aid?  Forget about it.  That was strictly forbidden.

Not surprisingly, as soon as I went to college and had total control of my diet, I went CRAZY with those two products.  I ate Mac & Cheese almost every night (in addition to dinner) and drank multiple pitchers of Kool-Aid everyday.  When that got boring I started eating spoonfuls of Kool-Aid drink mix, not even bothering to mix it with water.

Gross, right?  I know.  The most shocking thing is that I’m an adventurous eater who loves vegetables and whole wheat grains.  It wasn’t that my mom failed to introduce me to nutritious foods, but rather that she made the bad ones so appealing I couldn’t resist them.  I gained 30 pounds freshman year without drinking beer.  How’s that for disgusting?

Another major threat to childhood healthy eating is school lunches.  You know what I’m talking about.  Potatoes galore (often fried), greasy pizza (without vegetable toppings) and chocolate milk at every meal.  Yes, there are vegetables, but they’re generally way overcooked and rarely served in an appetizing manner.  As adults we know that salads are more fun when jazzed up with cheese cubes or dried fruit, but school kids are expected to eagerly consume steamed carrots and peas sans spices or garnish.

So, what can we do to fix this nutrition nightmare?  For one thing, we can use research findings to inform our parenting styles, rather than traditions passed down from the Depression era.  Also, we can get involved in community organizations like the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food that work to make positive changes.  Do it.  New York City kids need your help. ]]> http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactivefundamentals/2008/09/18/no-more-clean-plates/feed/ 0