The Dirty Little Secrets Hiding Behind Our Pretty Little Processed Food

If the thought of servingup a three-course meal every night makes you sweat with anxiety like I do, we’renot alone. Rates of home cooking in the U.S. have fallen to half what theyused to be. So why does that matter? Because as this awesomely hearty chatreveals, there’s way too much that we don’t know about food we grab on the go. The info spilled at 2:43 will makeyou wanna know more before biting into those fries from the GoldenArches. At 4:19, listen to the best health secret ever. And at 8:35, find out who's been trying to wiggletheir way into your kitchen for years.

 Chie Davis
08.01.14

FACT CHECK TIME:

So about those Mickey D’s potatoesmentioned at 2:43 ... yep, farmers don’t go into fields for days after spraying,but that’s actually an EPAmandate for lots of pesticides. Our fact checkers couldn’t find info to support the claim that those veggies need to chill for six weeks after spraying,but they did see that all potatoes need a “curing” period of about two weeks.

I’m also calling out our friend Michael at 5:25, when he mentions that “poor women who cook have a healthier diet than wealthy women who don’t.”Obviously that's pretty controversial, given how fresh food is not always accessible in low-income areas. Our fact checkers couldn’t find info supporting this one either. Despite all of this, I still think what he says abouthome cooking in general is pretty solid. But hey, you be the judge. Holler at me on Twitter and let me know your thoughts.

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Heroes

To the 1 in 8 deeply misguided men who think they could score on Serena Williams

Overconfident dudes, be humbled.

Miss Representation/Facebook, @miri_iron/Twitter

Some people apparently don't understand just how unbelievably good Serena Williams is on the tennis court.

Why they don't understand this is unclear. She holds more open era Grand Slam titles than any other tennis player, male or female. She's set Olympic records, ranking records, age records, prize money earnings records—the woman is a record-breaking machine. (Fun fact: Williams is the highest paid female athlete of all time, having earned $86 million in prize money during her career. The next highest is Maria Sharipova, with $38 million in prize money. If that's not total dominance, I don't know what is.)

Her list of tennis championships is a mile long. You don't even have to follow tennis to know that Serena Williams is a freaking powerhouse of a tennis player, not to mention one of the greatest athletes of all time.

And yet, there are dudes who believe they could take her on.

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Culture

Macy's pulls plates from their stores for sending a 'toxic message'

Alie Ward

Your dinner plate shouldn't shame you for eating off of it. But that's exactly what a set being sold at Macy's did.

The retailer has since removed the dinnerware from their concept shop, Story, after facing social media backlash for the "toxic message" they were sending.

The plates, made by Pourtions, have circles on them to indicate what a proper portion should look like, along with "helpful — and hilarious — visual cues" to keep people from "overindulging."

There are serval different styles, with one version labeling the largest portion as "mom jeans," the medium portion as "favorite jeans," and the smallest portion as "skinny jeans."

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Well Being

Joe Rogan called out SeaWorld’s treatment of dolphins and whales and he makes a great point.

The 2013 documentary "Blackfish" shined a light on the cruelty that orcas face in captivity and created a sea change in the public's perception of SeaWorld and other marine life parks.

This "Blackfish" backlash nearly deep-sixed SeaWorld and led Canada to pass a law that bans oceanariums from breeding whales and dolphins or holding them in captivity. Animals currently being held in Canada's marine parks are allowed to remain as well as those taken in for rehabilitation.

Podcaster and MMA announcer Joe Rogan saluted Canada's decision on a recent episode.

"First of all, what assholes are we that we have those goddman things in captivity? A big fucking shout out to Canada because Canada, mostly probably through the noise that my friend Phil Demers has created in trying to get MarineLand shut down, Canada has banned all dolphin and all whale captivity. It's amazing. I hope the United States does it well, I hope it goes worldwide," Rogan told his guest, economist and mathematician Eric Weinstein.

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Planet

Florida city forecloses on man's home after fining him $30,000 for not mowing his lawn.

Youtube

Should a man lose his home because the grass in his yard grew higher than 10 inches? The city of Dunedin, Florida seems to think so.

According to the Institute of Justice, which is representing Jim Ficken, he had a very good reason for not mowing his lawn – and tried to rectify the situation as best he could.

In 2014, Jim's mom became ill and he visited her often in South Carolina to help her out. When he was away, his grass grew too long and he was cited by a code office; he cut the grass and wasn't fined.

France has started forcing supermarkets to donate food instead of throwing it away.

But several years later, this one infraction would come back to haunt him after he left to take care of him's mom's affairs after she died. The arrangements he made to have his grass cut fell through (his friend who he asked to help him out passed away unexpectedly) and that set off a chain reaction that may result in him losing his home.

The 69-year-old retiree now faces a $29,833.50 fine plus interest. Watch the video to find out just what Jim is having to deal with.

Mow Your Lawn or Lose Your House! www.youtube.com

Cities