A friend who's highly, highly placed in the columnist universe and has written a number of books once told me, "There's only two good days when you write a book. The day it comes out and the day you get the dough." [I'd ID him/her, but it was a private comment.]

The Daily Mail reports from Hong Kong on the McWedding, in which 100 guests can enjoy an entire catered affair for only $400, at the local McDonald's.

I suppose it has the virtue of being unusual, at least until billions and billions decide to do it too, but it's not without drawbacks:

Walmart is a giant in the world of sustainability — well, it's the giant in any world in which it strides.

Last week, it raised its sustainability quotient, vowing to "put more locally grown food in Wal-Mart stores in the United States, invest in training and infrastructure for small and medium-size farmers, particularly in emerging markets, and begin to measure how efficiently large suppliers grow and get their produce into stores," the New York Times reported.

Some of you may recall that I engaged fellow blogger "VB" in a conversation about the existence of food addiction last week, and she has responded. In part, here's what she said: 

Here's an approximation of a letter I sent to the San Francisco city supervisor who is the swing vote in an effort to bar toys from being used as incentives to purchase food:

One in three children born today will develop Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Based on current rates of overweight and obesity, more will suffer a range of debilitating chronic diseases related to diet.

I don't have much to say about Shain's choice, which is to eat only raw foods. But one thing he said is that he's done it before, and every time he does, his constantly runny nose clears out in a day or two. Sounds like an allergy to something processed, though of course, I'm no doctor. I bet there are millions of people, literally, who would really benefit from doing this kind of foods exploration.

I happened across a well-written blog by "VB" this morning that had a couple of points of interest to me. The url is healthygumsandme.blogspot,com, which she explains in one of her first posts: The dental hygienist told her, at the end of a visit, that she'd reset the cleanliness in her mouth, and it was up to her to keep it up there. And unlike other times, she did, for more than a month, and then realized she could apply that same discipline to other habits, including her eating.

This goes back a few weeks, but it's also worth acknowledging: Glenn Beck declares: 

"Get away from my french fries, Mrs. Obama. First politician that comes up to me with a carrot stick, I’ve got a place for it," he said, adding: "And it’s not in my tummy.”

I'm not sure what to think of it, but worth noting: Disney "Magic of Healthy Living" page promotes movement, healthy snacks, and other wholesome activity.

I haven't recently visited the boneheads at the "Center for Consumer Freedom" (an intentionally misleading name for a bunch of restaurant and food-service industry interests) for a while, but not because they've stopped being boneheads. I just decided that it wasn't good for my soul to speak only negatively, and there is nothing (OK, very little that I'm aware of) else that can be said of these ... people.