FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: Real Food trumps macronutrient hacking, plastic in bottled water, and the downfall of a scientist

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Hey guess what? I’m back! I’m going to try my best to start up FTLOF again and start posting new content. I’m making no promises about consistency, but I’m excited to jump back into ST. I’ve missed you guys!

These are some of my favorite articles from while I was away. We’ll get back to a newsier schedule next week.

Real Food trumps macronutrient hacking, plastic in bottled water, and the downfall of a scientist.

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Links of the past few dozen weeks

• What We Know (and Don’t Know) About How to Lose Weight – One of the better analyses I’ve read about the landmark new study showing that low-carb and low-fat diets work about equally well if you’re focused on Real Food. (NY Times)
• Microplastic Contamination Is Found in Most Bottled Water, a New Study Says – I don’t trust plastic at all. Yes, even the kind labeled “BPA-free.” I only drink from plastic water bottles when desperate and instead prefer my refillable glass BKR bottle. I also avoid drinking from cans, since they are lined with plastic. This is even more important when pregnant and breastfeeding. I use glass Lifefactory baby bottles to feed Zelda. (TIME)
• The Last Conversation You’ll Ever Need to Have About Eating Right  – Solid advice. And also amusing. This stuff really isn’t so complicated. It’s the doing it part that’s hard. (Grub Street)
• The Strange, Uplifting Tale of “Joy of Cooking” Versus the Food Scientist – I’m so bummed to learn that Brian Wansink is a p-hacker. There are other labs that have found conclusions similar to his about how your environment can nudge you toward eating more or less than you realize, so I’m not worried on that front. I just liked the guy. Womp womp. (New Yorker)
• Why the British soda tax might work better than any of the soda taxes that came before – Interesting model that seems to be impacting real products. Will be interesting to see how this experiment turns out. (Washington Post)
• The Secret to a Longer Life? Don’t Ask These Dead Longevity Researchers – LOL. Don’t forget to live. (NY Times)
• Hearts Get ‘Younger,’ Even At Middle Age, With Exercise – You guys all exercise by now, right? Because you know it’s the most important thing you can do for your health and it makes you feel awesome. Of course. Nice work. (NY Times)
• Dan Barber’s Seed Company Seeks to Sow the ‘Democratization of Flavor’ – How amazing is this?! And if you haven’t tried a honeynut squash yet, you absolutely should try to find one next winter. (Civil Eats)
• Lift Weights, Eat More Protein, Especially if You’re Over 40 – Your protein needs change as you age. (NY Times)
• The Mysterious Interior World of Exercise – Interesting new discovery about how exercise communicates with your liver. (NY Times)
• Sichuan Fish Stew (Shui Zhu Yu) – Gimme gimme gimme. (Not Eating Out in New York)

What inspires you these days?