Eating Fruit Could Save Your Life and Other Internet Old Wives Tales

Some friends of mine from the WIO gym insisted that I read this treatise that has been making its way around the Internet as fast as a viral YouTube video or some silly Nigerian money scam.

Basically, with no studies, footnotes, real physician quotes or scientific fact, this 7 page document claims, among other things, that you can't eat fruit unless you eat it on an empty stomach, otherwise you will get no nutrition from it at all, because it will sit atop any other food you might eat, such as bread, which will "ferment and rot" and cause the fruit to become nothing but worthless fiber.

Cold water, it also claims, will cause CANCER!!! said in exactly that way, all caps with exclamation points, as if those of us who have been drinking cold water on hot days and after exercise are just dodging bullets every time we rehydrate. Think of all the kids drinking cold water every summer who are just asking for cancer! Oh the horror! The document claims that drinking cold water (or any cold drink) during or after a meal solidifies "the oily stuff" you have just eaten, which slows your digestion, react with your intestinal acids, and will be absorbed faster than the solid food, causing fat to line the intestine which "lead(s) to cancer."

The pages also claim that you won't get gray hair, become bald, nervous, or have dark circles under your eyes if you eat fruits only on an empty stomach.
Then there is the part that claims that "there are no acidic fruits," like oranges or lemons, that all fruits become alkaline in your body, and cooked fruit is worthless, as is fruit juice, and if you want true health, you can go on a "3 day fruit fast" to "cleanse your body."

If you are ignorant enough to believe any of this, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.

I find it astonishing that women who are otherwise bright and savvy will read this crap and believe it to be true, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
To take the last point first, colon cleansing and intestinal detoxification are health scams that have been going on since the 19th century.
Ask any board certified gastroenterologist (one who has gotten his degrees from a reputable American college or university) about colon cleansing and they will tell you that, unless you have some intestinal disease or cancer, you do NOT need to "cleanse" your colon or your small intestine, because they are designed to cleanse themselves with a minimum amount of fuss. We do not "hold" feces in our colons for days, weeks or months, where they fester, nor do we have food sitting and fermenting or rotting in our small intestine.

Your guts are fairly simple--you chew food and saliva starts breaking it down in your mouth, you swallow and the food hits your stomach, which is full of acid that breaks the food down, from there it goes through your small intestine where nutrients are absorbed, and whatever is unusable/indigestible is sent in a slurry to the colon, or large intestine, where the water/liquid is wrung from it and the waste is sent down to the rectum where it is released into your toilet.
Fasting has been shown to be terrible for your metabolism, which shuts down when it doesn't get enough food and thinks you are in the middle of a famine. Your body will store fat more efficiently after such a 'fast' than it ever has before, because it is afraid it will need those calories.

And puuullllease, if cold water caused cancer, there would be many more people dead, especially children, than could be counted every summer. The human body is warm enough to heat whatever you drink long before it hits the lining of your intestines.
I am sure that Ghandi and many other bald men would have been gratified to know that they wouldn't have lost their hair had they only eaten fruit on an empty stomach! That one just makes me laugh. The bald gene is passed from mother to son, and gray hair is a matter of your body not making the melatonin that it used to as you age. Dark circles under the eyes can be a symptom of sleep apnea, certain vitamin deficiencies, certain diseases and it can even be genetic. It most certainly isn't caused by eating fruit with other foods.

And as anyone with GERD can tell you, there are, indeed, acidic fruits that do not become alkaline instantly upon consumption. I just don't see how the fruit acids that hit the acid in your gut could suddenly turn to the complete opposite side of the PH spectrum.

Please people, don't read this garbage and then send it to all your friends like it is some kind of gospel. Talk to your doctor, your gastroenterologist or a registered dietitian, about your diet and your fruit consumption if you are worried about it. But don't disseminate misinformation and outright falsehoods to all the people you know. It wastes everyone's time and stretches my credulity to the breaking point.

Plus Size Models in V Magazine

This is from MediaBistro's Fishbowl NY Blog:

V Magazine Saves Its Plus-Sized Issue With Actual Plus-Sized Models
By Drew Grant on Jan 05, 2010 02:00 PM
Two weeks ago, we were openly critical of Terry Richardson's photo shoot of "plus-sized" models for V magazine's Size Issue, saying that the skinny plus-sized model in the "Who Wears It Better" spread just proved that "even the term 'plus-size' doesn't really apply to most women in America."

Well, we spoke too soon. V has released more photos from its size issue, and this new crop of five models incorporate sexiness into a larger frame, something that's rarely been done with success in the fashion world.

But will the issue drive sales? Here's at least one: Meghan McCain wrote on her Twitter yesterday, "As a plus sized girl myself, I appreciate a magazine showing that sexy women aren't just size 0's. I am def buying this issue of V Magazine." And there has been an outpouring of well-wishes from the likes of Jezebel and Just Jared, two not-necessarily-fashion-mag-friendly blogs.

So does this count as a coup against fashion's skinny regime? Not necessarily. Much like the Glamour's spread last year, some critics have pointed out that "plus-sized" automatically means "mostly naked" to fashion photographers, and it's true that the V spread did incorporate nude/topless photos into its shoot. Then again, isn't fashion 90 percent about what you're not wearing? From Calvin Klein to Annie Leibovitz, the fashion world has always been saturated with a controversial stance of objectifying women's bodies. Incorporating models who more accurately represent the sizes of American women doesn't change that, it just helps us to redefine "sexy." And it's about time we did.

More pictures from the upcoming issue of V, after the jump.

Read More: V Magazine Preview --Models.com

It Wouldn't Be a 'Size' Issue If the Plus-Size Models Weren't Naked --NYMag.com

V Gives The World A Plus-Size Shoot Not Afraid To Flaunt Its Curves -- Jezebel

Curves Ahead In V Magazine -- Just Jared

Previously: V Magazine Navigates Minefield Of Plus-Sized Models