The TIME Magazine cover article from December 5, 2011, by Alice Park titled The Two Faces of Anxiety has raised a bit of a ruckus online. Mostly, bloggers have questioned the choice to make Why Anxiety Is Good For You the cover art in the United States, while a graphic image of the Egyptian revolution was published in Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific editions. It has been questioned whether TIME believes Americans do not care about world events or are simply that self-focused. It seems to me that the editors of TIME simply believe “anxiety” is a buzzword that will sell in America, and apparently more than an uprising in Egypt. This seemed even more likely after watching the interview the senior editor of TIME did with CNN to discuss the problem of anxiety that they claim 18 percent of American adults suffer from.
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For veterans of the organic food debate, the cover story of Time Magazine offers few new insights into the question of eating cleanly and sustainably. Any general discussion of the food industry in America is rife with rhetorical potholes, and the debate is as massive and complex as our food production systems themselves.
The Time article, written by Jefferey Kluger, makes a judicious attempt at outlining some of the biggest points of contention in the great food debate: cost, nutritional value of organics vs. conventional food, treatment of livestock, fertilizers and pesticides. He also oddly tries to extricate himself from the debate in which he is participating, referring to “food purists” and “the shouting of the food partisans.” If Kluger is trying to mount a non-partisan argument, he ends by leap-frogging from issue to issue without settling for a conclusion. While Kluger ultimately appears to be in support of organic food and the consumption of less meat, he seems dismissive of the practicality of feeding the nation with organic food.
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Nature v. nurture is an important debate in both psychology and adoption, my two careers. I think it can be pretty big in discussing weight gain and weight loss as well. Is our body shape pre-determined by our genes or a result of the environment in which we are raised? I have generally taken the stance that we have certain genetic pre-dispositions; however, those can be altered through our behavior and environment. Apparently the relationship between genetics and environment is even more complicated than that.
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Are you looking for a new book to jump start your diet efforts? Time Magazine has an informative review of the latest diet books and the ones you shouldn’t glance over at the bookstore. Among them are the latest from the “Skinny Bitches” and one that’s a not-so-subtly rip, I mean, homage to the Skinny Bitch sensation.
Others on the top ten list include:
How to eat like a Hot Chick
The Genotype Diet
The All-New Atkins Advantage
