American Horror Story

Now that the fall television season is well under way, I must say that my favorite new show so far is, American Horror Story. It is a classic haunted house story so far but I’ve only seen two episodes.  Jessica Lange is amazing and actually used this line: “don’t make me kill you….again.”

It is on FX and created by the same folks who brought us Glee.  While that may seem like two totally disparate topics, let’s keep in mind that many people thought high school was a horror story too.  And Falchuk and Murphy also brought us Nip/Tuck – one of the best if not twisted television shows to ever air.

Anyway, the true American horror story is how poorly we eat, AND how much we eat.  I have been eating more because my trainer is forcing me to and while I am getting better work-outs (not that I would admit it to him mind you) it takes up too much of my day to eat.  I used to go to the office and not eat all day because there wasn’t enough time – now I have a protein shake when I get there and around noon, I will have ten macadamia nuts.  That may not seem like a lot to you but for me, it keeps me pretty full.

But, it’s not me we have to worry about – it’s those of us who on average are consuming 860 more calories per day than in 1984. I know there is a bad 80’s joke in this somewhere but I just can’t access it yet.  Not only are we consuming more food, but the quality of that food has decreased significantly. Our genetics are just not ready for this onslaught and abuse.

I remember eating food when I was younger that I can now only reproduce the flavor if I buy organically.  It’s that much of a difference. Our food supply is more highly processed, travels thousands of miles to get to us and is almost universally higher in sugar, and trans fats and white flour, oh my!

Do you know what this leads to?  Two major things – obesity and a constant state of inflammation throughout our bodies, which are two of the major triggers for diabetes.

Diabetes is now the 7th leading cause of death in the United States.  Speaking of horror…It is an illness that strikes without warning and most people don’t know they have it.  However, it is for the most part, not an illness that strikes without a clue.  If you are eating too much sugar, are obese, obsessed with carbohydrates, don’t exercise, etc. it is only a matter of time before you become diabetic so as my mother always used to say: “you can do as bad as you want but never for as long as you want.”

Dexter is back and boy am I a happy camper. As long as we are talking about dark shows in this week’s blog, might as well include America’s favorite serial killer. He went to his 20th high school reunion to find someone to kill (kind of ironic as I am sure there is someone each of us would want to kill at our reunion) and they played the song “hammer time” and he didn’t know what it was.  Later when he was slaying his victim, he hit him with a hammer and said……. You guessed it “hammer time.”  I thought it was funny.

But it is hammer time in our society.  It is do-or-die time.  It is time we take a stand and time we stay away from the serious food offenders – there should be a list like they have with sex offenders. I don’t ever want to be within 1500 feet of these foods and if they are near me, I want to be notified: trans fats, sugar, grains, sweetened beverages and fruit juice.

I am sure I can come up with 10 but if you avoid these, your likelihood of increasing your sugar addiction, turning your pre-diabetes into adult onset diabetes and if you are already diabetic making your condition worse, will diminish greatly.

Do you know who my new idol is? Well, not really, maybe just the guy who has the job I want – Dr. Drew.  He is everywhere. He even showed up on an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. He has three of his own shows currently on the air. I kinda wanna be him. When I am famous, I am going to appear on everything – be a guest judge on Project Runway,America’s Next Top Model, heck – even Dancing with the Stars.  Who knows?

So while our food addiction and our national obsession with unhealthy foods has become our new classic horror story, it doesn’t have to be that way. Ordering healthy food from nearby farms is just a click away on the internet for most of us. Farmers markets are everywhere and cooking is just not that hard. Take a class, buy a cookbook – I’ve written several just waiting to be purchased. While American Horror Story may scare you, food, cooking and health shouldn’t. Embrace it! I know you’ll like it.

Oh, and before I sign off for this week, what’s up with the stilts? First it was on Project Runway which I thought was kinda cool and then it showed up onAmerica’s Next Top Model – All Star edition (which btw, you didn’t make it the first time – what makes you think we’ll like you any better this time? Tyra – did Harvard take away time for casting).  If the producers can’t come up with novel ideas, then maybe it is time for them to put me on TV.

Until next time……


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