WATCHING THE FOOD NETWORK MAKES YOU FAT

(March, 2015) A new study by researchers at Cornell University finds that people who watch food shows on television gain more weight than those who don’t. Lizzy Pope, one of the study’s authors, says, “There’s a pretty clear interaction between watching these types of shows and cooking less healthy foods. People who watch cooking shows are more likely to have a higher body mass index than any other group.” Pope and her colleagues surveyed more than 500 women of different heights and weights between the ages of 20 and 35. In all, the researchers noted 14 different ways in which the participants’ cooking habits were influenced, including health Web sites, YouTube, magazines, newspapers, cooking shows, cooking blogs, and dietitians. But no source of inspiration did more to add the weight than food television. What’s happening, says Pope, is that by non-stop watching of TV chefs cooking with pounds of butter and other fatty food, people grow to assume that that is normal, when it shouldn’t be. Pope points out that just because you’re cooking at home doesn’t mean you’re cooking healthy things and are going to lose weight. She says, “Restaurant quality meals really shouldn’t be eaten every day.”
* “Unless you binge and purge,” she added. “Then it’s okay.”
* One clue is how pudgy most of those TV chefs are.
* Speaking of cooking with pounds of butter, what’s Paula Deen been up to lately?
* How come watching ESPN doesn’t make me athletic?
* Yeah, and how about all these reality shows in Alaska? Shouldn’t we have all moved there by now?
* Actually, if you sit around watching ANY channel on TV you’re going to get fat.
* It’s the same old thing: Get grant money, get some data, and then misinterpret the hell out of it. Next.
* That reminds me: That one study I made fun of that said vasectomies spike during the NCAA tournament? It turns out they are related. Guys actually plan their vasectomies so they can stay home and watch the tournament. That one was real. But let’s get past that and back to making fun of this study.
* Maybe these people are into those kinds of foods first, and that’s why they like the shows. Ever think about that?
* Oh, I get it. That’s why we have an epidemic of obesity. Of course! It’s these darn cooking shows.