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by Stewart Truelsen

Fast food is under attack. Fat is under attack. Even Oreo cookies are under attack as Americans struggle to decide what and how much to eat.

Recently, a lawyer in California received widespread publicity when he filed a suit against Kraft Foods to stop the sale of Oreo cookies. He later withdrew the suit saying he had achieved his purpose in pointing out that cookies contain fat. A simpler solution would be to keep your hand out of the cookie jar and accept some personal responsibility.

McDonald's has been sued many times and is fighting back. The regional McDonald's headquarters in Italy is suing an Italian food critic for $25 million. The food critic said McDonald's "symbolized oppression of the palate." He also said the potatoes were "obscene." The Italian food critic happens to be the leader of a "slow food" anti-globalization movement. According to news reports, he wants people to dine in a more "gracious" manner.

A New York attorney sued McDonald's on behalf of his clients, two overweight teenagers. Undoubtedly, some trial lawyers are seeing big dollar signs in front of their eyes when it comes to food lawsuits. If food companies can be blamed for the rise in obesity and health problems, the sky is the limit for damages, or so it seems.

Whether you like the Atkins diet or not, it now appears to prove that fat is overrated as the cause of weight problems. The Atkins diet preaches a low carbohydrate, high fat, high protein approach to weight loss. The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported on a study that confirms that subjects on a low carbohydrate diet lost more weight than dieters on a conventional, low fat diet.

In his book, "The Fat Fallacy," Will Clower says the French have low rates of obesity and heart disease and their diet typically includes more high fat dairy foods, high carbohydrate breads and wine than our American diet. Clower says it is actually the absence of fat in a low fat diet that makes us hungrier, and therefore we actually eat more food. He also says Americans eat so fast that our stomachs don't react in time to warn us when we are full. Clower has a point. Reduced fat and low fat foods have been around for many years. They don't seem to be making much of a difference. His advice is to eat real foods – like the food you get at a farmers market. He says to avoid what we might call junk foods.

Americans are blessed with many food options and almost as many diets and opinions about nutrition. We are blessed with choices. If we lived in some other countries, we'd be happy to have fast food, slow food or any food for that matter. Perhaps all the money spent on food lawsuits could be better spent on feeding the hungry.