Grains

In May, we raided the nutritionally bankrupt pantry of Stephanie Jacobson, a Toluca Lake publicist whose meals were based on processed and frozen foods ? or fast food. She was so hard-core she had Chipotle and Pizza Hut apps on her phone. She did have an occasional stalk of broccoli or glass of milk, but registered dietitian Ruth Frechman obviously had her work cut out for her. Undaunted, the Burbank nutrition expert suggested that Jacobson, for starters, do more cooking at home and told her how to add more fruits and vegetables, lean protein, dairy foods and whole grains to her diet.

Re "The Erosion of Civilization," Opinion, June 15: Jared Diamond's proposed "ecological" interventions are touchingly idealistic but considerably less feasible than President Bush's military interventions, which he implicitly criticizes. And Bush's Iraqi intervention at least had the benefit of assuring the West a critical necessity -- future oil supplies. The only example of intervention Diamond offers, against AIDS and other diseases, would just add to the population pressure Third World countries face.

Regarding "Living Close to the Edge" (June 27): I admit I was shocked. It's disgraceful that a woman who has worked 16 years at a job makes only $4.75 an hour and that having enough to eat has become a privilege rather than a basic human right. However, people need to wake up and accept some responsibility for themselves. If you are truly worried about having enough to feed your family, how do you justify sinking them further into poverty by bearing 14 children? Parents must think of the quality of life they can provide their offspring.

In a recession-battered year that can't end soon enough for many businesses involved in international trade, Howard Wallace has an enviable set of problems. Wallace's business, the Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal, receives feed grains and byproducts from customers across the nation, which he transfers into cargo containers for shipment throughout Asia. When those economies are in a buying mood, Wallace is among the first to know. Right now, they are buying more exports than Wallace can handle.

For the first time in a decade, the "exchange lists" used for the past 36 years by diabetics as an aid to control their specialized diets have been revised. The American Dietetic Assn. announced the new revisions at its annual meeting in Las Vegas last week. Dietitians predict the changes will please not only diabetics but thousands of dieters and other nutrition-conscious people. The exchange system, first established by the American Diabetic Assn. and the American Dietetic Assn.

Philip Oliphant became a vegetarian for philosophical reasons, but he said it also doesn't hurt to think about eating flesh in terms of health. "I know that the leading cause of death is from cholesterol, and that comes from the animal world, not from the vegetable world," said the Tustin business consultant who two months ago helped form California Vegetarian Network in Tustin with 40 other county vegetarians. More importantly, Oliphant said, "I wanted to be involved in a group with other vegetarians.

What Scott Bruce did for lunch boxes, he intends to do for cereal. Namely, make cereal boxes hot collectibles. So what if the bright, goofy packages lack the snob appeal of czarist furniture or Sevres porcelain. Bruce isn't in it for aesthetics. He sees a market, pure and simple, and he's tapping into it. In 1985 Bruce paid $1 for a steel Jetsons lunch box made in 1963 and set out to corner the market on this one commodity. It worked. In 1988 the Cambridge, Mass.

Ancient grains may sound like something you'd find in a museum or at an archaeological site. But these days, they're turning up in the bread aisle. At markets from Whole Foods to Vons, shoppers can choose from a growing number of breads made with so-called ancient grains, including quinoa, amaranth, spelt and Kamut (a patented variety of wheat). Claims about the breads abound: They're said to be packed with whole grains, protein, omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, and they're supposedly safe for people with wheat allergies or gluten intolerance, also known as celiac disease.