Healthy Bytes

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30 million American kids are overweight – that’s 1 in 3.
In another 3 years (2010) if the trend holds – it will be 1 in 2.

With all these overweight kids, we’re now seeing a proliferation of adult diseases in kids too young to get a driver’s license – heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, sleep apnea.
Kids experiencing these lifestyle diseases 40-50 years earlier than their parents generation. And they’re being treated with made for adults pharmaceuticals, replete with side effects.

Here’s a few scary factoids:

A Harvard study found kids 10-15 years old who watched 5 hours of TV a day had a 500% (5 times) greater liklihood of being overweight than kids who watched 2 hours or less.

Every hour a day of TV correlates to 6 pounds of increased weight.

Another study found that kids over 15 who ate fast food 2 or more times a week gained 10 pounds.

For each sugar laden drink consumed by middle school kids a day, there was a 60% increase in the risk of obesity.

Looks like an extinction plan.

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Michael Pollan wrote an interesting article in Time about some research done by Adam Drewnowski from University of Washington.

His question – is wealth the most reliable predictor of obesity in America?
Throughout history peasants were always bone thin and the aristocrats a bit more “fluffy”

Off to the supermarket he went with his imaginary dollar.
He discovered he could get more calories for his dollar in the middle aisles as compared to the perimeter… 1,200 calories of potato chips compared to 250 calories of carrots. 875 calories of soda compared to 170 calories of OJ.

Hence, you will notice – and I don’t have the stats – lower income folks have a higher obesity rate than upper income folks.

And here’s something else about those foods in the middle aisles…
There are 5 crops that receive about $25 billion of subsidies a year:
Corn, soy, wheat, rice, cotton.
In addition to the unpronounceable ingredients, what you’ll find in those middle aisle products is a lot of sugar (derived from corn – high fructose corn syrup) and a lot of fat (derived from soy). And of course they generally strip the wheat leaving it nutrient lite.

So, how much would a bunch of carrots cost if they received subsidies?

Your tax dollars… cheapening your food and your health.

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I can’t believe we have 20 months until the presidential elections. With all the campaigning already you’d think it was at least next year.

We only vote for presidents every four years. But you vote everyday – multiple times – with your fork.
Would people change their vote if they watched a debate between packaged food products and real food. Maybe we could have a square off between Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisp Cereal and Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh blueberries. Or perhaps a quarter pounder with super sized fries and soda versus grilled chicken, cous cous, salad and water with a slice of lemon.

We know how people are voting now. Would an open debate change that?

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Most pets are like clockwork when it comes to meals… and mine are no different.

We got two kitties a couple months ago and they believed 4am was the best time for breakfast… with the human arousal process begining a half hour earlier.
Now I’m an early riser, but 3:30am is pushing it.
(Now that we’ve had that 1 hour daylight savings time adjustment, they don’t start jumping on my head until 4-4:30am).

Nevertheless, they instinctively understand a component of weight loss/weight control…
meal timing.

If you eat at approximately the same times daily, you’re telling your brain when more food is coming so turn up the metabolic rate.
When you eat haphazardly and skip meals, your brain isn’t sure when more food is coming so it instinctively conserves energy… i.e., doesn’t burn calories.

This is why it’s important to eat breakfast and try to eat your meals at approximately the same time everyday.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to adjust my sleep… so as not to gain weight – which we’ll talk about in the next post.

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…dinner. That’s right dinner.
Hippocrates wisely said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

And we can add to that:
Eat a rainbow.
Half your plate should be veggies. The more colors the better.
Veggies are low in calories, high in fiber and flush with phytonutrients – such good stuff.

Your reds (tomatoes, peppers, watermelon) excel in lycopene which smacks down free radicals.

Your oranges (carrots, sweet potatoes, squashes) score high in alpha- and beta-carotene. Buddies that bring you Vitamin A… helps the eyes and skin.

Your orange/yellow group (papaya, orange, peach, pineapple) get stars for Vitamin C and beta cryptothanxin. Immune system support.

Your yellow/green group (greens, corn, avocado, peas) are leaders in lutein which protects against cataracts and macular degeneration

Your white/green group (leeks, scallions, onions, garlic, celery). The onion family scores with anti-tumor allicin. Others in the group are high in anti-oxidant flavonoids quercetin and kaempferol.

Your greens (cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, bok choi, kale) are teeming with indoles, sulforaphane and isocyanate defenders against cancer

Your red/purple group (beets, eggplant, grapes, berries) are bursting with anti-oxidants defending the heart and slowing aging.

Combine that with relaxing conversation and sharing with people important in your life.
Blend in some laughter.

Beats purple pills in orange bottles.