Links of interest

A couple of links of interest tonight...

First up, an interesting article in the New York Times says that, based on studies of the Hadza people of Tanzania, tribal cultures don't burn substantially more calories a day than "modern" people.  Even though hunters from the tribe may cover 15 to 20 miles a day searching for prey, their overall caloric burn rate per day was identical to typical adults in the United States and Europe.  So how come you never see a fat tribesman?  Well, like the article says, "if we want to end obesity, we need to focus on our diet and reduce the number of calories we eat, particularly the sugars our primate brains have evolved to love. We’re getting fat because we eat too much, not because we’re sedentary. Physical activity is very important for maintaining physical and mental health, but we aren't going to Jazzercise our way out of the obesity epidemic."

Not so sure about "reduce the number of calories we eat" - there are plenty of studies that say that all calories are not created equal.  Additionally, it would have been nice to see them go that extra mile and acknowledge that the 300 or so grams of carb that the average person eats a day pretty much all ends up as sugar in the blood, even if it doesn't start out that way.  Still, the study is interesting - another brick in the paleo wall, as it were.

Second, there's a yummy-looking recipe over at the blog of Tom Naughton (the guy who made the movie Fat Head) - zucchini stuffed with sausage, with cheese and salsa (scroll down to see it).  Personally, I'll leave out the mushrooms (not a fan of fungi), and I'd also like to try it with tomato sauce instead of salsa.  Still, if you've made the mistake of planting zucchini in your garden this year, it's something to do with the inevitable excess - you can only make ratatouille so many times, right?