Saturday Posts: You Are What You Eat

What we read, watched and wasted time with this week.  

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Fad Watch: All The Cool Kids Are Doing Activated Charcoal 

Because cold-pressed is just not enough, now juice bars are adding activated charcoal to drinks for its detoxifying properties. Makes sense, kind of, since charcoal has long been used to stop the absorption of toxins. But the use case has historically been in emergencies, like when you're a kid and suddenly get a craving for laundry detergent. Before you order your green drink boosted with panacea, consider this perspective offered by Vice:

"In too-large doses, charcoal can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation—the latter being particularly likely, especially when it’s mixed with certain medications. In addition, it also prevents the absorption of a lot more than just “toxins”—including nutrients from your food."

via Vice

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McDonald's Limiting Chickens That Take The Same Antibiotics You Do 

Well, finally. McDonald's announced this week that over the next two years they'll "begin using chickens that are not raised with antibiotics used to treat humans." This is great news for anyone concerned about getting an antibiotic-resistant infection because everyone's consuming animals that pop the same prescriptions we do. In the past when McDonald's makes a move, competitors and the industry follow. Here's hoping they do.

via the New York Times

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Photo Credit: CC BY 2.0, By Andreas Kambanis