Posts Tagged ‘Berlin’

Should Santa Claus still be fat?

Pickler’s job as a professional Santa was a constant joke on the latest season of “The Biggest Loser.” With his long white beard and protruding stomach, the 63-year-old looked every bit the part he played.

By the time he was voted off the show, Pickler had lost 88 pounds. During his elimination interview, he donned a Santa hat and told viewers his toned physique wouldn’t stop him from bringing Christmas joy to children.

“The world is going to have to change their acceptance of what Santa looks like,” Pickler said. “Santa is a role model, and kids don’t want to have a role model that’s fat.”

Since 1980, obesity rates among children and adolescents have almost tripled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 12.5 million children age 2 to 19 are obese; that extra weight can lead to serious health problems, including type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and psychosocial issues such as peer discrimination or poor self-esteem.

The epidemic has gotten a lot of attention in the past few years. Everyone from first lady Michelle Obama to Shaquille O’Neal is trying to figure out the best way to inspire kids to get and stay fit.

Children learn healthy (or unhealthy) habits from those they admire. And Santa is one of the most recognizable figures in America.

For at least a month every year, he appears on billboards, storefronts and TV commercials. Millions of kids stand in line to sit on his comfortably padded lap and whisper secrets in his ear. They write letters to him, sing songs about him and read stories about him.

Photos: Santa over the years

We worry about the effect fast-food advertisements have on students in school. With all his free publicity, should Santa still be fat?

“Let’s put it this way,” registered dietician Beth Kitchin said with a laugh. “I don’t think Santa should be skinny.”

There are a lot of other markers to consider in measuring health. Research shows that people can have a higher body mass index and still be healthy, Kitchin said. One can assume Santa is pretty active, wrangling hundreds of elves and nine reindeer every year. And his cheery disposition says a lot about his stress level, which could relate to low blood pressure.

Of course, Santa does have a penchant for sugary treats. One fan estimated the big man eats more than 5,000 tons of cookies on Christmas Eve alone. If Santa isn’t diabetic, Christmas magic really does exist.

A 2009 study published in the British Medical Journal determined that Santa could very well be a “public health pariah.” The light-hearted research by Nathan Grills of Monash University in Australia found a correlation between countries that recognize Santa and a high rate of childhood obesity.

Santa’s weight is a longstanding tradition, said Tom Kliner, founder of Santas Across the Globe and the Fraternity of International Real Bearded Santas. The character originated with St. Nicholas, who lived in Turkey during the fourth century. Nicholas was a wealthy young bishop who started giving away all his gold after his parents died.

“Back in those days, extra weight was a sign of wealth and affluence,” Kliner said.

Hollywood used to have a set of numbers — waist circumference, face shape, beard length — that Santas were supposed to adhere to, Kliner said. But around the world, the legendary giver comes in all shapes and sizes. Coca-Cola’s Santa, whom many in America try to emulate, is very round: round face, round nose, round stomach. The Santa imitated in Europe is a thinner man with more squared-off features.

Kliner said he sees Santa as more of a public figure than a role model. “I’ve never seen anybody aspire to become Santa Claus.”

Changing Santa’s iconic image would be hard, said Meg Cox, author of “The Book of New Family Traditions.” Comfort and security come with seeing the same character year after year.

“We carry these traditions forward from our childhood,” she said. “Some of us are pretty emotional about them. And yet I think there’s nothing wrong with having a sense of play about it.”

If you want Santa to be skinny, Cox said, make it happen: Tell your kids Santa is tired of eating cookies, and leave an apple out instead.

“Having your own take on Santa might be the ultimate personalized Christmas.”

It’s possible our culture is already changing. Santa races are becoming as much of a tradition as candy canes and Christmas lights. Kids are finding active video games under the tree alongside step counters and organic cookbooks for Mom or Dad.

10 healthy gifts that keep giving

Pickler recently called a couple of companies he has contracts with and asked whether they were OK with a trim Santa.

“They both said, ‘We want you just the way you are. Your idea of a healthy Santa is the one we want to go with.’ “

Since “The Biggest Loser” finale, Pickler and his wife, Chris, have spoken to kids across the Midwest about nutrition and exercise. Pickler often walks in to schools dressed as Santa Claus and then takes off his suit, Superman-style, to reveal his new fit self.

In an upcoming documentary about Santas titled “They Wore a Red Suit,” Pickler implores his colleagues around the country to get fit.

“We cannot use (our role) as an excuse, because it influences kids in the wrong direction,” he said.

Maybe one day, instead of a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, Santa will have a six-pack. Maybe his cheeks will glow not from the cold but because he’s consuming the recommended doses of omega-3 fatty acids. Maybe Mrs. Claus will take up gardening. (Granted, that would be hard to do at the North Pole, but surely the elves can build a greenhouse or two.)

Eventually, in addition to being a role model for the Christmas spirit, our beloved St. Nick could become a healthy role model for kids.

Until then, save some cookies — Santa Claus is comin’ to town.

Lightbulb babies and fairytale castles: Your Christmas traditions

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/22/health/santa-claus-weight/index.html

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Atkins-type diets weigh heavily on heart

Women who eat a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet may be increasing their risk for heart disease and stroke, a new study suggests.

There were about four or five extra cases of cardiovascular problems per 10,000 women who were studied as they followed Atkins-type diets, say researchers. They called the findings directly relevant to young women who often resort to restricting carbohydrates and boosting protein.

Despite the popularity of low carb, high-protein diets, clinicians should probably advise against following them for lont-term control of weight. (Albert Gea/Reuters)

“Although low carbohydrate-high protein diets may be nutritionally acceptable if the protein is mainly of plant origin [such as nuts and soy] and the reduction of carbohydrates applies mainly to simple and refined ones, the general public do not always recognize and act on these qualifications,” Pagona Lagiou of the University of Athens Medical School and her co-authors said in this week’s issue of the British Medical Journal.

Lagiou’s team analyzed nutritional data on 43,396 Swedish women aged 30 to 49 who were followed for an average of 15 years.

In that time, 1,270 cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes were recorded.

The researchers estimated that every 20-gram decrease in daily carbohydrate intake, like a small bread roll, and five-gram increase in protein per day, such as a boiled egg, would increase overall risk of cardiovascular disease by five per cent.

Factors likely to influence the results were taken into account, including smoking, alcohol use, diagnosis of hypertension, overall level of activity and saturated unsaturated fat intake.

Investigators assessed participants’ diets when the study began and grouped them into tenths based on carbohydrate, protein and low carb plus high protein intake.

Cardiovascular disease risks

The possible benefits of low-carb diets for controlling weight or insulin resistance in the short term need to be investigated further, the study’s authors said.

In the context of previous research, the Swedish study further challenges the safety of following a low carb, high protein diet long term, Anna Floegel from the German Institute of Human Nutrition and Tobias Pischon from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin said in a journal editorial.

The observational findings seem biologically plausible in that low carb diets are usually low on wholegrain foods, fruits and starchy vegetables that offer fibre, vitamins and minerals. A high protein diet may include higher intake of red and processed meat with iron, cholesterol and saturated fat, the editors said.

Earlier this month, another study of Swedes suggested that low-carb, high-fat diets could be to blame for their high cholesterol levels.

“Despite the popularity of these diets, clinicians should probably advise against their use for long term control of body weight,” the editorial concluded.

“The short term benefits of low carbohydrate-high protein diets for weight loss that have made these diets appealing seem irrelevant in the face of increasing evidence of higher morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the long term.”

The study was funded by the Swedish Cancer Society and the Swedish Research Council.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/06/27/low-carb-high-fat-diet-heart-risks.html

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There’s Nothing More German Than a Big, Fat Juicy Döner Kebab

By JAMES ANGELOS

In fast food, Germany is better known for wurst. But few German street snacks are more appreciated than the Turkish döner kebab.

Brought to Germany four decades ago, the döner is to Berlin what pizza is to New York: a transplanted food that has taken on a new life in its adopted land. Today, there are more döner stands in Berlin than in Istanbul. And about 720 million servings are sold nationally each year according to an industry association.

Enlarge Image

Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel sliced a döner in Berlin in 2009.

German-style döners are seasoned meat processed into a large cylindrical loaf, roasted on a vertical spit, then thinly sliced with a long knife and wrapped in flat bread with vegetable toppings and, sometimes, a spicy sauce.

As Germany recently marked the 50th anniversary of the guest worker treaty that brought hundreds of thousands of Turkish workers to fuel its booming postwar economy, the ubiquitous street snack is held up as a prominent symbol of the cultural and economic influence of Turkish immigration on German society.

But few events signal the food’s rise as did its own recent trade fair, attended by 4,000 döner aficionados, who consumed a ton of it. Döner industry suppliers in suits, hawking everything from spits to pita bread hashed out deals between seminars on quality standards and problems in the meat industry.

“Döner makes you pretty!” Remzi Kaplan, the owner of Kaplan Dönerproduktion GmbH, one of Europe’s largest döner meat producers, bellowed into a microphone as several young men devoured his product during an eating contest with a €500 prize ($655). “Döner makes you healthy!” he continued. “Clever! Slim!”

Thanks to its sheer size and an ethnic Turkish population of more than 2.5 million, Germany is the leader of a growing European döner industry, generating €3.5 billion in annual revenue and 200,000 jobs across Europe, according to the Berlin-based Association of Turkish Döner Producers in Europe. As with many goods, Germany has turned döner into an export advantage, producing about 400 tons of the meat daily and selling much of it to France, Poland and other European neighbors.

The fair lured big brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, eager to sell trucks to döner producers. French-fry giant Lamb Weston also attended.

Döner kebab

“It’s a fast-growing market,” said Dietmar Pagel, an account manager for Lamb Weston’s Germany and Austria operations, as he cleaned a deep fryer he had used to fry up samples. Mr. Pagel said he had just scored a deal to supply nearly 50 tons of fries a week to a major döner distributor.

The booming döner business is also spawning innovation. At one of the fair’s 100 exhibits, Sönke Puls, a representative for Kiesling Fahrzeugbau GmbH, a German maker of refrigerated truck bodies, showed off his company’s “Döner Streaker,” a vehicle customized for the transport of frozen döner. Its special feature: a “döner blocker,” or bar, built into the cargo door to keep the cylinders of meat from rolling out when the door is opened.

Without it, a frozen döner roll weighing between 70 and 220 pounds could tumble out just “like a stone,” said Mr. Puls, sliding the bar into place to demonstrate how it works.

A lamb version of the döner has long been a staple of Turkish cooking. Its German descendant, more likely to be beef, was developed by Turkish guest workers in Berlin in the early 1970s. Though the claim is disputed, Kadir Nurman, a 78-year-old who came to Germany from Turkey in the 1960s, was honored as its inventor at the fair.

Mr. Nurman’s restaurant at the time was located near the Zoologischer Garten train station, a main transport hub in West Berlin. Noticing how workers craved something to eat on the go, he decided one day to wrap döner meat in bread to make it portable.

“When Kadir Nurman gazes at a döner, it’s with the look of a father proud to behold his baby,” the fair organizers wrote of Mr. Nurman.

In a nation that incessantly discusses the role immigration has played in its society, the döner is often cast as a political symbol.

Recently, Thilo Sarrazin, a former Bundesbank official who ignited a simmering debate about immigration with his controversial best seller, “Germany Abolishes Itself,” visited Kreuzberg, a neighborhood in Berlin famous for its large Turkish population. Among Mr. Sarrazin’s many contentious claims was that immigration from Turkey and other Muslim-majority countries has harmed Germany culturally and economically.

With a public-television crew in tow to film his visit, Mr. Sarrazin was asked to leave a well-known Turkish restaurant because of angry reaction to his presence on the street. “No Döner for Sarrazin,” blared German newspaper headlines.

For many Turkish immigrants, the döner has come to represent both opportunity and the limited chances of earlier generations to expand into other fields.

“Many immigrants live from this,” said Levent Cibik, an engineer who was attending the döner trade fair with his father, Mehti, a 50-year-old who came to Germany from east Anatolia 36 years ago and worked as a metal worker in a chocolate factory in Berlin. They were there to promote a product the father had developed, an energy-efficient rotating spit called a Universal Döner Motor.

With his laborer’s rough hands, the elder Mr. Cibik showed off the benefits of his creation, particularly a ball-bearing system that allows one to bring the skewer closer to the flame as the roll of meat gets thinner.

The family, the son said, hoped to profit from the expanding döner industry. He then pointed to a group of döner-industry moguls in suits who were chatting in Turkish. “See those people over there,” he said. “They’re all millionaires.”

A version of this article appeared April 19, 2012, on page A1 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: There’s Nothing More German Than a Big, Fat Juicy Döner Kebab.

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432704577350194262835880.html

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|FAT| Focus Germany Presented by the Goethe-Institut

TORONTO, Apr 5, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) –
|FAT| Arts Fashion Week and the Goethe-Institut Toronto have teamed up this year to present |FAT|’s FOCUS GERMANY. Curated in collaboration with internationally recognized Designer Scouts Berlin, |FAT| spotlights Germany to celebrate its rich cultural scene and strong approach to art and fashion. Four festival days will present Germany’s creative influencers to Toronto audiences through a gallery-style photography exhibit, a multi-media art installation, fashion films, and runway collections. This year’s festival is proud to highlight Germany’s long-standing reputation as a driving force in the creative industries of film, art and fashion.

“|FAT| was launched with the idea to expose Canadian culture to the world, and to make Canadian fashion and art more visible internationally,” says |FAT| Executive Director, Vanja Vasic. “The festival aims to connect with creative hotspots like Germany, in order to exchange ideas and be more informed about world trends and the international arts and fashion community as a whole.”

“We love to work with |FAT| for the second time. Their multidisciplinary mix of art and design creates a powerful platform to engage Canadian and German talents,” _says Sonja Griegoschewski, Director of the Goethe-Institut Toronto.

“Germany – Berlin in particular – is one of the most influential cultural centres in the world at the moment,” adds |FAT| Artistic Director, Vessna Perunovich. “We’re interested in their conceptual approach to fashion, which mirrors lFATl’s mandate to present fashion through many art forms.”

|FAT| FOCUS GERMANY features:

        
          --   * On-site photography exhibit - a collaboration between fourteen
              contemporary German designers  photographers
 
http://fashionarttoronto.ca/2012-schedule/german-focus-photoexhibit              --  3 fashion film about Berlin's vibrant arts scene  emerging designers
          --  Multi-media art exhibits featuring jewellery, film  fashion
          --  F/W 2012/13 fashion collections from Berlin-based designers Esther
              Perbandt  Von Bardonitz
        
        
        

Event Calendar |FAT| Focus Germany:

24-27 April: Dressing Room Project – Katrin Spranger’s _”Best Before” _ installation of conceptual jewellery, photos clothing
24-27 April: Photography Exhibit – 14 German designers photographers
24 April 8pm: Fashion on Film – “The Gardener” by Katja Hentschel
25 April 9pm: Runway Showcase – Esther Perbandt
25 April 9pm: Fashion on Film – Designer Scouts Berlin
27 April 9pm: Fashion on Film – “Format – Esther Perbandt” _ by Christian Straub
27 April 9pm: Runway Showcase – Designer Nicole Roscher’s line Von Bardonitz

|FAT| FOCUS GERMANY FEATURED ARTISTS:

Katrin Spranger is a Hamburg jewellery artist, who has won numerous awards for her work.

www.katrinspranger.de

Esther Perbandt is a sustainable fashion label distributed in Japan, Canada, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, the USA, Cyprus, Greece Hong Kong.

www.estherperbandt.com

Von Bardonitz is a fashion label designed by Nicole Roscher, whose style adopts classic gents cuts into various gender concepts.

www.vonbardonitz.net

Christian Straub is a film director artist, with works shown awarded internationally.

www.cristianstraub.com

Katja Hentschel is a photographer filmmaker in Berlin, chronicling people with a sense of style.

www.katjahentschel.com

Lisa Shahno is an avantgarde fashion designer. Recently took part of a fashion exhibit curated by Mode Museum of Hasselt, Belgium.

www.lisashahno.com/the-iteration

Valquire Veljkovic is a photographer multi-media artist based in Berlin.

www.valquire.de

howitzweissbach is an international fashion label from Leipzig designed by Eva Howitz Frieder Weissbach.

www.howitzweissbach.com

Tata Christiane is a fashion label by Julie Bourgeois Hanrigabriel.

www.tatachristiane.com

Juliaandben is a menswear/womenswear label by Julia Heuse Ben Klunker, graduates of the prestigious Berlin design school ESMOD.

www.juliaandben.com

Sadak is a Berlin-based fashion label created by Serbian designer Sasa Kovacevic.

www.sadak.de

Isabel Vollrath is a Berlin-based fashion designer awarded the “Baltic Fashion Award 2011.”

www.isabelvollrath.com

Moga E Mago is a Berlin-based label creating extravagant accessories.

www.mogaemago.com

Daniel Bolliger is an art director, photographer, graphic designer artist based in Berlin, Zurich, London New York.

www.danielbolliger.com

Thomas Dachs is an artist photographer living working in Leipzig.

www.thomasdachs.de

Valeria Mitelman is a professional dreamer photographer.

www.mitelman.de

Magnus Ragnvid Chammom

www.ragnvid.com

Madame Peripetie is a surrealist photographer based in Germany U.K.

www.madameperipetie.com/

About the Goethe-Institut

For 50 years, the Goethe-Institut Toronto has been promoting an ongoing dialogue and exchange between Canadian and German artists and experts in order to present German culture abroad and help shape a current understanding of Germany today.

www.goethe.de/toronto

About Designer Scouts

Designer Scouts is a Berlin-based platform for extraordinary and upcoming designers that aims to capture the spirit of the creative fashion scene bringing it closer into the context of the international fashion world. Their mission is to educate the world about the importance of avant-garde design.

www.designerscouts.com

About |FAT|

|FAT| Arts Fashion Week is a platform for inventive, pioneering and contemporary expression. This annual multi-arts event delivers a packed schedule of runway shows, live performances, music, photography exhibits, video screenings and installation exhibits, to celebrate leaders in a wide range of art forms.

www.fashionarttoronto.ca

|FAT| Arts Fashion Week 2012

April 24-27, 2012
Event venue: 213 Sterling Road. Toronto
8pm-12am daily
Tickets: $30 online in advance, $35 at the door

Sonja Andic
Media Manager
|FAT| Arts Fashion Week

|FAT|Twitter

http://twitter.com/fatoronto

|FAT|Blog

http://fashionarttoronto.ca/category/blog/

|FAT|Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/groups/fashion.art.toronto/

|FAT|Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alternativeartsandfashionweek/

|FAT|Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/FashionArtToronto

Jutta Brendem¸hl
Program Coordinator
Goethe-Institut Toronto
Tel. +1 416 5935257-205

arts@toronto.goethe.org

www.goethe.de/toronto
www.facebook.com/GoetheToronto
www.twitter.com/GoetheToronto

This information was brought to you by Cision

http://www.cisionwire.com

http://www.cisionwire.com/fashion-art-toronto/r/fat–focus-germany-presented-by-the-goethe-institut ,c9244021

The following pictures are available for download:

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire,
www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Fashion Art Toronto

        
          [Image]  |FAT|'s FOCUS GERMANY
        
        

(C) Copyright 2010 GlobeNewswire, Inc. All rights reserved.

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fat-focus-germany-presented-by-the-goethe-institut-2012-04-05

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