The “six french fries” rule is infamous, says Mirel Zaman in Refinery29. Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard, once told The New York Times that Americans are addicted to “starch bombs” (fries, wedges or chips), and should limit themselves to the tastiest-looking six from any side order. When I ask him about it today, he stands by it – salty chips are terrible for you and plates should be smaller. “I think restaurants could probably make more money on a per-fry basis.”
Quite right, says Christopher Mele in The New York Times. Potatoes lack the compounds and nutrients found in green leafy vegetables. Americans typically eat about 115lb of white potatoes a year, of which two-thirds are french fries. And if you take a potato, remove its skin (where at least some nutrients are found), cut it, deep-fry the pieces in oil and top it all off with salt, cheese, chilli or gravy, that starch bomb can be turned into “a weapon of dietary destruction”.
Mr Fitbit’s 10-minute workouts
Fitbit CEO James Park, 44, swears by workouts that last no more than 10 minutes, says Austin Murphy in Men’s Health. And adopting this high-intensity regime in lockdown lowered his body fat by nearly 4%.
“He’ll take a few minutes to crush his push-ups, then, hours later, return for a short ab session.” Inspired by TikTok’s #airwalk challenge – slow pullups while pretending to climb stairs in midair – he now does 30 to 40 pull-ups on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. What’s more, he can do more than 100 push-ups in two minutes. Five days a week, Park heads out for a more leisurely run or an “on-brand walk”, and he claims the regime is not about vanity and appearance. “But I look good, and what I’m doing is working.”