I guess it’s finally been proven! Being overweight prolongs health.
Check out this blurb from the NY Times and please share your thoughts!!
“Being overweight won’t kill you — it may even help you live longer. That’s the latest from a study that analyzed data on 11,326 Canadian adults, ages 25 and older, who were followed over a 12-yearperiod.
The report, published online last week in the journal Obesity, found that overall, people who were overweight but not obese — defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 — were actually less likely to die than people of normal weight, defined as a B.M.I. of 18.5 to 24.9.
By contrast, people who were underweight, with a B.M.I. under 18.5, were more likely to die than those of average weight. Their risk of dying was 73 percent higher than that of normal weight people, while the risk of dying for those who were overweight was 17 percent lower than for people of normal weight.” Check out the full article from NY Times right here!
In addition, I’ve been reading an AWESOME book titled “Health at every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight” by PhD Linda Bacon. This book (is rated 5/5 stars on Amazon) scientifically backs up the idea that weight does NOT correlate to the state of your health. In fact, we were genetically built to weigh a certain range, though our lifestyle can change that “setpoint” (*warning* it isn’t easy).
The weight loss industry is SO “big” these days, and people have become brainwashed by the media, government, and food industry, that society has made it a social norm to HAVE to be thin. Overweight people have been discriminated against and seen in a negative light, when in reality, many of them eat LESS calories than people of normal weight.
This book is SO mind boggling and full of scientific research. Being someone who studied science (yup, bio, orgo, chem, physics…) I am ultra skeptical when I read articles, and this book has it DOWN. You gotta read it! (Or wait for my thoughts. hehehe)
That being said…I’ve prepared a feast for you all today. Here’s a day of yummy Chicago eats with little tips to help save you money and hopefully make some healthful and indulgent choices when eating out! 🙂
***
Kitsch’n
$-$$ Brunch, Comfort Food
Kitsch’n was pretty much made famous when Rachel Ray came here for her $40 a Day Food Network show. I decided to take the bf here because I like to see if Food Network stars have much crediblity. hehehehe…Read on to see what we think!
*$$$ TIP* At the Chicago Ribfest, the bf and I bought a stack of “coupon cards” for $20. This deck of cards has 52 X $10 OFF coupons for 52 famous restaurants in Chicago, and Kitsch’n was one of them. It made our brunch SUCH a great deal ($22 TOTAL, tax and tip for 2 people & 2.5 dishes, plus coffee!) Buy the a la card here!
Green Eggs & Ham ($7.99)
When she came here, Rachel got the “Green Eggs”, which my bf HAD to get because the eggs are made green by pesto. This is, 3 eggs scrambled with fresh basil pesto, scallion, & smoked ham; Served with Texas toast & crispy hash.
The bf called this dish “herbacious, tasty, good, but not blow my mind good!” (sorry it’s covered, he took the picture, and he’s not really a “food blogger”) He managed to pick out many sprigs of rosemary, which I found pretty entertaining because those things are STRONG. Hmmm I think he might have regretted getting this dish.
Tex-Mex Veggie Burger ($9.99)
I went for the veggie burger cuz the waitress said it was a “restauraunt veggie patty”, not the freezer crap. Instead of their burger bun (simply because I personally am not a fan of burger bun texture), I went for Texas toast. Its description is, “All-natural veggie burger, served on a sesame bun and granished with sliced tomato, avocado, red onion, mixed greens and a side of pico de gallo.”
I didn’t realize how thick the texas toast slices were, but the two were definitely very filling and nutty (I asked for wheat). The highlights of this dish were most definitely the spicy and fresh pico de gallo, as well as the creamy sliced avocado eaten with the patty. The veggie patty itself was VERY delicious and nutty, well-seasoned and flavorful. The downside of the dish was only that the greens wereren’t as fresh and were starting to wilt. I got a raspberry-champagne dressing, which was AWESOME.
Phat-Jacks with Blueberry
The bf and I shared a half order of the phat jacks with blueberries. They are 3 buttermilk pancakes with powdered sugar and whipped cream.
UM YUMMMMMMM??? This is everything a pancake should be – light, fluffy, and super moist inside. The edges were lightly crisp from a crust (which I love!!!). The best part of this pancake is that for $1 extra you can get banana/strawberry/blueberry. We got blueberries and the chef DOUSED these pancakes with blueberries, though they’re hidden on the bottom. nom nom nom…I love not feeling jipped of blueberries. heheheh
RATINGS:
Taste: 3.5/5 (Everything was yummy, but not as memorable as I had imagined from all the fuss over it)
Originality: 3.5/5 (There are some unique dishes, like the green eggs!)
Plating: 2.5/5 (The dishes here are the ones I used in the dining halls in college, but pancakes looks awesome regardless of what plate it was on…meheheh)
Value: 4/5 (With our coupon, it was only $22 all inclusive!)
Service: 4/5
Last words?? I’d go back again to try their other comfort foods, just not anytime soon. There are plenty of places I prefer for brunch downtown.
***
Mity Nice Grill
$$-$$$ American
The restaurant is located conveniently downtown in Michigan Avenue’s shopping mall Water Tower Place. I live 1 minute away from the restaurant and have actually never been there! Mity Nice really surprised me with the tastiness of it’s entrees and makes for a semi-fancy meal. 🙂 I came here with Nick on a weekday night to “rate” the restaurant (we’re food “critics” for several Chicago restaurants…neat huh??)
We started with a bread basket of warm cheesy mini-popovers. And then we asked for another one because they were yummy. hehehe
Shrimp Cocktail ($10)
THIS was a dissappointment of an appetizer. There were 5 scanty pieces of shrimp that were overly chilled (possibly frozen) served with some also over-chillled cocktail sauce.
Luckily, the olives were plump and the cocktail sauce actually tasted really good. Save your money on this appetizer. *sigh*
Mexican Chicken Salad ($10)
This was a redeeming appetizer! It is: warm braised chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes, cheese, tortilla strips, and poblano dressing.
First of all. THANK GOD this is a much bigger appetizer than the shrimp. Second of all, it tasted DIVINE. The chicken was shredded rotisserie chicken, not that flavorless white meat you get everywhere else. Second of all, they tossed in some ripe avocado’s and tossed it with a tart poblano vinaigrette that united all the flavors of the dish. YUM. Yum. yum….
Simply Broiled Salmon ($19)
I ordered the salmon for my entree, and substituted roasted potatoes for a ginormous baked potato (I’m strange and I like the flavor of plain baked potato.) This salmon sits on top of a bed of sauteed garlic spinach, and the salmon is topped with a tomato relish.
The photo doesn’t do any of these ingredients justice, but I SWEAR the potato was the length and width of my hand. Not JUST by palm, my hand, including the finger nails (I’m 5’9 and have long fingers.)
Oh yes, salmon cooked to perfection! I love when the outside is slightly crisp and super well-seasoned while the meat inside is so soft and moist it melts in your mouth. The tomato relish really took the dish to another level and offered a wonderful tart contrast to the rich flavor of the fish itself. The spinach was super garlicy, just the way I like it. Of course, everything was bursting with flavor and went perfectly with the plain potato. It was so huge I had to bring more than half home. hahahah
Barbecue Babyback Ribs ($20)
Nick ordered a full order of hickory smoked baby-back ribs that came with a sorry little piece of corn and a big baked potato. On the side was sour cream and butter.
Nick shared two pieces with me first, and then he lost another 3. These ribs were SO DARN good!!! So much better than the ribs we got at the ribfest…juicy, fall-off-the-bone, smoky, bold, flavorful, and a little tart. Jeez….I dreamt about it at night. I swear!
Mity Sundae ($5)
Nick and I shared a 2 scoop ice-cream sundae! Simple, diner-style, straight-up good sundae.
This is just one of those traditional, fudgy, peanutty, super sweet vanilla sundae that brings you back to childhood. It was probably better than it looks in the picture…gawd, peanuts and hot fudge had a magical way of making dessert taste like…heaven.
RATINGS
Taste: 4/5 (Our entrees were a homerun, but that shrimp….disaster)
Originality: 4/5 (The menu doesn’t seem especially innovative, but the details in the dish really count – rotisserie chicken in salad? That tomato relish on the salmon?? YUM)
Plating: 3.5/5
Value: 3/5 (For a downtown American restaurant…it’s decent)
Service: 4/5 (The bartender was also our server…we have NO idea how he did both jobs considering he was an AWESOME, attentive server)
Final say? I’d definitely go back again..thought the menu isn’t especially interesting anymore since I got everything I wanted all at once already anyway.
***
So we still wonder why we’re an overweight popluation huh? Well, I think it’s totally ok to eat out, but MAKE SURE you get what you want…and don’t splurge too often, I still don’t think MOST restaurant food is all that worth it!
Care to share your thoughts on the NY Times article? Wanna hear more about “Health at Every Size”?? Leave a comment!! 🙂
Lucky Taste Buds! 
Did you have fun at the Taste? Ive actually never been but am considering going this year if the weather is decent! Anything good you tried that you would recommend?
I had heard about that article, and I think there are alot fo factors that one has to take into account before just saying “overweight people live longer”. How overweight are we talking – 5 lbs is different than 20. Do these people just happen to lead healtier lifestyles than those “healthy weight” people? Are they using BMI as the only index? What about waist circumference – there is alot of evidence that it is more indicative than BMI. There are so many variables that contribute to a persons’ health, weight isn’t the only factor. I’m not saying that the findings are wrong, but as with any scientific paper, you have to look at all the variables they did or didn’t control in their study to form a true opinion.
I find this article confusing in some ways – first, it mentions that “weight does not correlate to the state of your health” and on the other hand, it talks about BMI (which we all know takes weight into account) … what’s up with that? BMI, to be frank is a lot of bull, it doesn’t take bone density, and all the other factors into account.
Also, I think there’s no certain BMI range that is ‘optimal’ for great health – if you are eating right, feel well, then your quality of your life will be great.
being overweight make u live longeR???? oh… I’m really skeptical about that and for many reasons. 1) as I do research I know how sometimes experiments are biased and there is so many problems that in order to know the result is valid or not I need to know all the details of the experiment. 2) being overweight don’t make us to die, it’s the side effect of being overweight the problem ,like high cholesterol, diabetes, more prone to heart attack etc.
And yes, please more your thoughts about the book.
I’ll need a list of must go restaurants in Chicago from you.. hahhah!! you’re such a foodie! 🙂
Hmm, I’m not sure if I believe that article. The argument sounds too simplistic. There are so many factors that need to be taken into account.
Good eats, especially the ice cream sundae!
my friend and I are going to chicago for a weekend in august where should me and her eatttttt!??
Mmm Texas toast – so thick and delicious! Perfect for a carby fiend!! Have you had garlic Texas toast? Oh my, it’s fantastic!
Great post. I’ve heard about that before, being overweight and living longer. Perhaps it has something to do with better recovery when being sick or in the hospital. When your body goes into “sick” mode, it needs those extra calories and fat to survive! If you are underweight it can be really dangerous.
I’ve also heard that overweight people eat less. It makes sense really. I think often times people who are overweight don’t workout as much so they aren’t as hungry as those who do. Plus, when you are overweight a lot of times you just store more fat. So, you could eat less but more gets stored as fat. Whereas I may eat more, but it isn’t all stored as fat, ya know? It’s pathetic how we view people who are overweight as “pigs” or “lazy” when in reality that is normally NOT THE CASE!
OMG! 2 of my favorite spots!!! I love Mity Nice! Next time, you’ve GOT to try FoodLife…you’d love it!
hmm very interesting — i guess it certainly proves that “skinny” doesn’t necessarily equate health.. thanks for sharing!
Wow…that is very interesting!! I suppose people who are very underweight could have weaker immune systems…maybe that has something to do with it?
I agree with you about restaurant food, too. If I’m gonna splurge, it better be worth it!
I’d love to hear more about it! What an interesting topic! I get why underweight people would live less, but overweight people longer? Hmm, definitely worth reading into!
I LOVE your restaurant reviews!!
❤ jess
xoxo
That’s so interesting to hear that overweight people live longer–I definitely think it’s possible to beoverweight yet still very fit, which is probably healthier than being underweight but not active.
Really interesting article. I’m not completely convinced that being overweight is more healthy than being normal weight, but I agree that overweight people may be able to better recover from injuries, diseases, etc. since these conditions require more calories for healing (and they have built-in calories). I want to look up the actual study to see how many overweight people died of diseases relating to being overweight versus the normal weight people.
I don’t think skinny equals being healthy. I think weight is a just number and body fat percentage is more important. I hate how our society is so focused on reaching a certain number on the scale because it’s usually unrealistic.
Actually, I do kinda believe that. But it depends on HOW overweight you are. A bit is ok, and I find that my “plump” friends usually have the most energy and life in them!
What I definitely DON’T believe in is that skinny = healthy. hell NO!!
Very interesting. I’m not 100% convinced, but I would have to read the book first 😉 You are always reading something interesting, Miss Michelle!
I love your restaurant reviews, but they always make me hungry, and jealous that I am not there to enjoy the food, too!
Very interesting article–thanks for posting! I think that there shouldn’t be a label for overweight or underweight because it really depends on the person, their body, etc. But I can definitely see how having some extra meat on your bones is a need for survival vs having a skeletal frame. Take care my dear!
ooohhh girl…that plain ol’ broiled salmon looks ah-may-zing and those pancakes look bangin!
p.s. i’ve heard the overweight argument before – i do believe that having more fat on the body does help in living longer! it’s definitely hard to generalize though – there are so many factors!
Thanks for your nice words on my blog. My whole life I always said that if the world ever experienced a famine, everyone else would die before me because I’d been storing fat for years… lol.
Those articles are tough to really prove because it depends on what factors they’re talking about. For example, its rare for a heavy person to get osteoporosis (spelling?) because they have a higher bone density from carrying their weight. However, they have a higher risk of heart disease. Two sides of every coin. So, we all need to just be the best that we can be and quit frettin’ over our beautiful bodies. 🙂
Thanks for the post. 🙂
heres the reason that article is misleading…there is a VERY important distinction between being overweight and being obese. without getting too into it, because i have a tendency to get really riled up over this sort of thing (must be an RN thing), there are risk factors with all bodt types, so any study can be done to prove one is better than the next…its all about what biases are accounted for and which are overlooked. i have to doubt the article has scientific claims and licensed professionals backing it, but how many times have those been proven wrong in the past…anyways, the important thing to get out of this, is that everything in moderation is never a bad choice.
way to get a good discussion going!! love it 🙂
**oops, i meant to say “i have NO doubt”
well that certainly takes the pressure off to be the ‘perfect’ weight!
omg… texas toast and green eggs… yum!
that is NOT shrimp cocktail… blech but that salad sounds amazing and the salmon looks fab!
I feel like this article is “letting people off the hook.” I understand everyone has their own healthy weight, but if you look at this from an evolutionary perspective, society’s weight has not always been this high. Our average weight has continued to climb over the years as the food industry has increased. This means that people are overweight simply because they are eating too much…you can’t tell me people who are overweight are at their healthy weight. People’s portions are larger and the food is more packaged. I guess if you’re overweight simply because you eat big portions of salad, fruit, oatmeal and sweet potatoes, that’s not as bad as being overweight due to consuming chicken fingers, french fries and steak. There are many, many, MANY more studies which link waist circumference to disease, and if your bmi is over 25, i’m guessing your waist circumference is not in the optimal range. I guess it may not be overweight it self that causes the many health problems per se, but the food people consume which makes them overweight, like fatty, high-sugar foods, which causes the problems. Controversial articles like this remind me why I’m pre-med…so I can figure all this stuff out and help people feel their best!
One more thing…I think your title may be giving some people permission to continue to ignore there weight, and over eat. One study does not equal fact. As a person who has studied science, I’m assuming you are aware of this.
wow I find that so interesting that they found overweight people live longer! It seems like for years we have been told that slimmer people live longer…really makes you realize how important it is just to eat healthy and get exercise despite how much you weigh 🙂
mmm great eats!
what great restaurant reviews! i am getting hungry just reading your posts. your descriptions make me want to take a restaurant tour with you and you can just order a million things to make me try, it all just sounds soooooo gooooooood 🙂
Be wary of correlation research where they do not take into account other factors that may correlate with thinness. Smokers and Drug addicts tend to be underweight or thinner than the general population in our car-driven, high cal. food everywhere society. So may be people who are obsessive-compulsive about what they eat (who may have high levels of stress hormones etc.). I recently saw a study that showed a tendency for people with gastric surgery for obesity to take up a new addiction after they can no longer over-eat…..like cigarettes or alcohol. It may be that “normal” people are usually a little bit overweight in our society. It is also likely that doctors are more likely to monitor and treat the overweight. At any rate, they have found that physical fitness and the waist to hip measurement is much more predictive of health. Be wary of brain health too…..having too high body fat in the belly increases your risk of senile dementia. Consider regular daily exercise, and a balanced diet.
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