First Lady On Obesity In America: 'Fast Food Has Become The Every Day Meal

First Lady On Obesity In America: 'Fast Food Has Become The Every Day Meal'
DARLENE SUPERVILLE 02/ 8/11 07:29 PM

WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama says she talks about her love of french fries so people won't get the idea that her anti-obesity and healthier eating campaign is all about "complete, utter deprivation."

"The message has always been about balance," she said Tuesday.

The first lady, who celebrates the first anniversary of her "Let's Move!" campaign on Wednesday, said she tells daughters Malia and Sasha that if they eat vegetables at every meal they'll "still be OK" when they're downing pizza and ice cream with friends on the weekend.

"The problem is when that fun stuff becomes the habit. And I think that's what's happened in our culture," Mrs. Obama said. "Fast food has become the everyday meal."

"We flipped the script. As opposed to pizza being the treat, it is the thing that kids eat every day because sometimes that's all they eat," she told reporters at the White House.

With the campaign, the first lady – who has said publicly several times that french fries are her favorite food – is trying to flip the script back in the opposite direction.

Memorial Day 2011 - Freedom Isn't Free

Alarming New Studies: 50% of U.S. Children Have Chronic Disease/Disorders, 21% Developmentally Disabled

by Augie

What can each of us do to change this?

American children are suffering more and more disorders—and are growing into even sicker adults—the worst of most major countries. Two studies were released this week underscore this alarming reality.

In a study published in Academic Pediatrics, an estimated 43% of US children (32 million) currently have at least 1 of 20 chronic health conditions assessed, increasing to 54.1% when overweight, obesity, or being at risk for developmental delays are included. The estimate is derived from 2007 data—4 years old. This tells us matters are much worse now–perhaps 50% are now chronically ill not counting obesity.

Another study in the June 2011 issue of Pediatrics says developmental disability is on the rise in the U.S. Between 1997 and 2008, the number of school-age children diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or another developmental disability rose by about 17 percent, a new study showed. It also said roughly 15 percent of kids – nearly 10 million – have such a disability. The numbers were based on information collected from parents, who were asked whether their kids had been diagnosed with a variety of developmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, seizures, stuttering or stammering, hearing loss, blindness, and learning disorders, as well as autism and ADHD. Note that these numbers are three years old. Applying the same rate of increase, today’s numbers would amount to 21% by simple arithmetic. Boys were twice as likely to have a developmental disability. It also found except for autism, developmental disabilities were more common among children from low-income families.

A third study I found was published by the Archives of Psychiatry in March and it found that the U.S. has the highest in the world lifetime rate of bipolar disorder at 4.4%, and India the lowest, with 0.1%, as reported by CNN. In other words, the U.S. has 44 times more bipolars (manic-depressives) than India. Bipolar disorder is characterized by cycles of depression and mania, a euphoric, high-energy state that can result in heightened levels of creativity or output as well as erratic or risky behavior. People with bipolar disorder are at high risk of substance abuse and suicide, and treatment includes psychiatric care and medication.

These rates will continue to increase, in my view, since nothing is really changing in terms of the amount of unhealthy, industrially processed foods families and children eat, the poor USDA dietary guidelines being promoted as healthy, the very high rate of vaccinations and their damages inflicted, a continuiing flow of pharmaceuticals, and of course, other environmental and lifestyle factors. So in five years we may be looking at 60-70% of American children being chronically ill and even more obesity and infertility.

Even if the rates were 100%, the public health authorities and their partners in health care and food/agriculture industry will accept no blame or liability for their policies that have help destroy so many families. They will be to busy planning for lucrative programs for their medicine and long-term care rather than real prevention.

All should take heed of telling others of the importance of taking control of their own health by getting more educated on nutrition and natural prevention and healing options.

What can each of us do to change this? One way right now is to spread the message by using the share buttons and SOUND THE ALARM.

STOP THE MASSACRES

Cartoon is a courtesy of Mike Adams’ Natural News

 

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Acne: Are Milk and Sugar the Causes?

It's confirmed. Dairy products and sugar cause acne.

As our sugar and dairy consumption has increased over the last 100 years so has the number of people with acne. We now have over 17 million acne sufferers, costing our health care system $1 billion a year, and 80-90 percent of teenagers suffer acne to varying degrees. The pimply millions rely on infomercial products hawked by celebrities or over-the-counter lotions, cleansers, and topical remedies. Recent research suggests that it's not what we slather on our skin that matters most but what we put in our mouth.

Many have suggested a diet-acne link, but until recently it has not been proven in large clinical studies. Instead dermatologists prescribe long-term antibiotics and Accutane, both of which may cause long-term harmful effects. In 2009, a systematic review of 21 observational studies and six clinical trials found clear links. Two large controlled trials found that cow's milk increased both the number of people who got acne and its severity. Other large randomized prospective controlled trials (the gold standard of medical research) found that people who had higher sugar intake and a high glycemic load diet (more bread, rice, cereal, pasta, sugar, and flour products of all kinds) had significantly more acne. The good news is that chocolate (dark chocolate that is) didn't seem to cause acne.

The dietary pimple producing culprits--diary and sugar (in all its blood sugar raising forms)--both cause spikes in certain pimple producing hormones. Dairy boosts male sex hormones (various forms of testosterone or androgens) and increases insulin levels just as foods that quickly raise blood sugar (sugar and starchy carbs) spike insulin.

Androgens and insulin both stimulate your skin to make those nasty, embarrassing pimples. One patient recently told me he would give a million dollars for a pill to cure acne. He doesn't need to. It seems that for many the cure to acne is at the end of their fork, not in a prescription pad.

While pimples are not as simple as too much milk or sugar in your diet, both have a significant impact. Nutritional deficiencies as well as excesses can worsen acne. Correcting common deficiencies including low levels of healthy omega-3 anti-inflammatory fats, low levels of antioxidants such as vitamin E, zinc, and vitamin A, and including an important anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat called evening primrose oil all may be helpful in preventing and treating unwanted pimples. I will explain how you can correct and incorporate all of these nutritional elements of your diet and outlines some supplements that will help you fight acne in a moment.

The Importance of Play

The Importance of Play, Long Walks and Outdoor Workouts, or Why the Optional Stuff Isn’t Actually Optional

Welcome Stumblers and all newcomers! If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, increase energy levels, reduce stress or just generally look and feel healthier you've come to the right place.

Get the 92-page Primal Blueprint Fitness eBook for FREE and also receive my weekly newsletter with tips, advice and special insider-only information.

Learn more about the Primal Lifestyle by visiting the Primal Blueprint 101 page. Thanks for visiting!

Before I get to today’s Monday Musings I wanted to give a shout out and big thanks to everyone that came out the inaugural PAST in Southern California this weekend. It was wonderful meeting each of you in person. And because of you the first event was a smashing success. So thank you!

Coming out of the gate, this event surpassed my expectations by a large margin. 30 devoted Primal enthusiasts trekked from all over SoCal and even as far as Phoenix to spend 7 hours immersed in all matters Primal. We convened at Karma Crossfit in Manhattan Beach thanks to our gracious hostess Katy Rickman. I was particularly impressed by the knowledge and passion from the audience about the Primal Blueprint, and how quickly they absorbed and appreciated the message. The guests added so much to the event and kept me excited and energized for 7 hours, which I must admit is about twice as long as I’ve ever talked in a single day.

Is the internet killing empathy?

By Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan, Special to CNN

February 18, 2011 1:12 p.m. EST

When we race to watch others fail, are we losing our humane response?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan say that video of reporter's on-air mental lapse went viral
• They say people sought out video like they gawk at car crashes
• They say young people learn, develop empathy; steady diet of lurid images may hinder this
• Writers: Human reason should work to override negative effect of video images on empathy

Editor's note: Gary Small, M.D., and Gigi Vorgan are the co-authors of iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind. Follow them on Twitter.

(CNN) -- A TV news reporter for a Los Angeles station was doing an on-camera report on the Grammy Awards Sunday night, and suddenly her speech became garbled. Was she having a stroke on the air?

The newscast quickly cut away when it became apparent that she was in trouble. But by the next morning, televised news reports were making it part of their Grammy coverage. (One AOL.com page featured the incident at the top of its five "memorable moments" from the Grammys.)

The video went viral on the internet. At the UK Telegraph website, where we caught up with the video showing her sudden slurred speech, 9,388 people noted they "liked" the video with a thumbs up signal and 6,027 recommended it to Facebook friends.

Doctor: Grammy reporter suffered migraine, is 'back to normal'

People couldn't turn away. They were drawn to it, watching the images over and over with the same kind of grim curiosity that compels drivers to slow down and gaze at a fatal car crash -- drawn often by a subconscious fear that the same thing could happen to us. By observing it in other people, we have our own experience of it, but at an emotional distance. The more we observe terrifying events happening to other people, the more they reinforce our sense of denial and detachment: It can't happen to us.

May 13th, 2011 10:19 AMET Share Comments (91 comments) Permalink Fit Friday: Cafeteria cams measure kids' calories Kids often toss the apple from their lunch trays and dive straight into the cookies. But, now cafeteria cameras can track what they’re really eating. Health officials are using a $2 million federal grant to install cameras that will track eating habits at five San Antonio, Texas elementary schools.  The camera program will analyze the food on the trays for kids whose parents give permission. Parents can get reports about what their kids ate in school. The cameras will record what the students put on their lunch tray.  A computer program analyzes the food to calculate the amount of food and calories.  Then it will also take an image of the students’ trays when they are done – this will enable calculation of the nutrition that the children consumed. "Let the picture tell us a thousand words about what they're eating,"  Dr. Roger Echon, who helped develop the initial computer program, told CNN affiliate KSAT. This could help officials measure the nutrition children are getting to better develop programs to prevent obesity and diabetes, San Antonio school and health officials told KSAT. Sound off below: Should we track what children eat to get a better sense of their overall nutrition, or is this nanny state gone amuck?

E.O.T.D.

Agility

E.O.T.D.

Lateral shuffle

The Benefits of Exercise and Sports Participation for Kids

Any child in America today that decides to participate in sports usually does so for one simple reason. FUN. Yeah, that pretty much covers it. The trouble-free innocence of youth can be fascinating, can't it? Now, if only the decision was that elementary for parents, who are often unsure of the impact that exercise and sports may have on their child's physical development and academic achievement. Fortunately for parents, as research can attest, exercise and sports are rare institutions that offer tremendous social relationships, physical challenges, and honest competition. There is even evidence that sports can increase a child's self-esteem and academic performance while decreasing the likelihood of disease and drug use. Then again, to a child, all of these attributes equal just one desirable characteristic - fun. While the desire for fun reigns supreme in a child's decision to participate in sports, the present day migration of young athletes into the professional arena has forever distorted the perceived innocence of gamesmanship. The dream to one day compete professionally, though ever-present in the minds of children, has taken an unprecedented grasp on the preparation and development of America's youth. In fact, the dream is now being realized at younger ages than ever before, leaving parents with tremendously difficult decisions. Only in recent times have parents been forced to decide, at ages as early as eight, if their child should specialize in one sport, join a club team, or attend specialty camps. At one end of the spectrum sits the possibility of enhancing their skills and athletic ability to the point of receiving a college scholarship or professional offer. At the other is the more likely scenario - that their athletic careers may end in high school (or before) and that specialization may, in addition to the stress of a lengthy time commitment and travel burdens, exact a hefty financial toll. Regardless of these uncertainties present in the amateur sports world, one thing is certain. Athletic participation and training for sports provide a myriad of benefits that few, if any, organizations can offer. As it turns out, the kids had it right all along. Focus on fun, and they excel in all facets of life.

May 4, 2011, 12:01 AM

How Sugar Affects the Body in Motion

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Gary John Norman/Getty Images

Sugar is getting a bad reputation. A cover article in The New York Times Magazine several weeks ago persuasively reported that our national overindulgence in fructose and other sugars is driving the epidemics of obesity, diabetes and other illnesses. But that much-discussed article, by the writer Gary Taubes, focused on how sugars like fructose affect the body in general. It had little opportunity to examine the related issue of how sugar affects the body in motion. Do sweeteners like fructose — the sweetest of the simple sugars, found abundantly in fruits and honey — have the same effect on active people as on the slothful?

A cluster of new studies suggests that people who regularly work out don’t need to worry unduly about consuming fructose or other sugars. In certain circumstances, they may even find the sweet stuff beneficial.

The unique role that the various sugars play in exercise is well illustrated by anew study published in March in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. It involved a group of highly trained cyclists and their livers. For the experiment, Swiss and British researchers directed the cyclists, all men, to ride to exhaustion on several different occasions. After each ride, they swallowed drinks sweetened with fructose or glucose, another simple sugar often identified as dextrose on ingredient labels. (Some also drank a milk-sugar sweetener.)

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The liver is often overlooked when we consider organs integral to exercise, but it is an important reservoir of glycogen, the body’s stored form of glucose. All sugars, including sucrose, or table sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup, which usually consists of almost equal portions of glucose and fructose, are converted into glucose, and stored as glycogen, in the body. Strenuous exercise diminishes or exhausts this liver glycogen, and until those stores are replenished, the body isn’t fully ready for another exercise bout.

About Nutrition for Kids & Teens

Our goal with kids isn't to get them on the zone, but to get them to think and make good choices about what they eat. Our goal is to teach them very basic concepts, sugar is bad, protein is good and you need to eat some in every meal. Nuts and seeds are good fats. Eat them, don't avoid them. Pasta, white bread, and white rice are not that good for you, stuff that's red, yellow, green and found in the fruit and vegetable aisle is good for you. Eat a lot of it.


Look at your plate, make a fist, eat that much meat every meal; turn your hand over and fill it with nuts and seeds, eat that much good fat, fill the rest of your plate with stuff you found in the fruit and vegetable aisle. Fill your plate this way at every meal, don't eat more.

Why Exercise Is Wise

You've probably heard countless times how exercise is "good for you." But did you know that it can actually help you feel good, too? Getting the right amount of exercise can rev up your energy levels and even help improve your mood.

Rewards and Benefits

Experts recommend that teens get 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. Here are some of the reasons:

Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy

Kids exercise all the time without even thinking of it. Just being active, like when you run around outside or play kickball at school, is a kind of exercise. What else counts as exercise? Playing sports, dancing, doing push-ups, and even reaching down to touch your toes.

When you exercise, you're helping build a strong body that will be able to move around and do all the stuff you need it to do. Try to be active every day and your body will thank you later!

Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy

You may know that your heart is a muscle. It works hard, pumping blood every day of your life. You can help this important muscle get stronger by doing aerobic (say: air-o-bik) exercise.

Aerobic means "with air," so aerobic exercise is a kind of activity that requires oxygen. When you breathe, you take in oxygen, and, if you're doing aerobic exercise, you may notice you're breathing faster than normal. Aerobic activity can get your heart pumping, make you sweaty, and quicken your breathing.

When you give your heart this kind of workout on a regular basis, your heart will get even better at its main job — delivering oxygen (in the form of oxygen-carrying blood cells) to all parts of your body.