Archive for November, 2008

A study presented to the American Heart Association revealed that many obese teenagers, pre-teenagers and children have stiff and thick arteries, the same condition found in 45 year olds.  This means that these young boys and girls could suffer from serious heart disease as early as in their 20′s and 30′s.  Nope, this is not natural.  Heart attacks and strokes at this age will not only shorten their life-spans, their productivity levels as living adults will be seriously altered.  In addition, the cost of caring for this generation of cardiovascular disease candidates will be staggering.  Why not just lose the weight instead of losing your life.  

This is serious stuff.  WIth over 16 percent of kids being obese and an additional almost 16 percent overweight, we are looking at about one in five kids with old sick arteries – maybe more.

There are simple solutions, beginning with giving up the white carbs, junk foods and bad fats, and, start moving.  Please, wake up and help reverse this trend.

… for the health of families,
ellen

Most do not know that there is a bill that has been passed which contributes to why food prices are higher. This bill is not going away so you can expect that this added expense passed on to you is here to stay.  Government intervention costs money, usually.

The newly accepted Farm Bill includes specific Country of Origin labeling.  As of Sept 30th of this year, all products that are not processed have to display a label that tells you where it came from.  When you buy meat, you will know whether it came from the US or not.  When you buy fruit and vegetables, you will know where they were grown and harvested.  I am looking at an acorn squash sitting in a basket on my kitchen table.  It has a label that says, “Acorn Squash, Product of Canada.” 

The cost of labeling every product is expensive, I have heard up to a half a billion per year for retailers.  They have to pay for paper, printing and application of these labels.  Someone has to be hired to manage this process. In addition, labeling programs have to be run to maintain and report this bill’s requirements  Before the retailer receives the products, there is an additional cost to the suppliers who have to monitor and verify the country of origin for each one. Alot of extra time and paperwork is involved; each costs money.  Who do you think pays for this new requirement?  You, the consumer.  Both the supplier and the retailer pass the added expenses on to you. 

Now I know it is fun to know where you food is coming from, and, it is important to know where imported foods were grown and harvested.   However, I cannot understand why those products with a United States of America origin have to be labeled.  Why couldn’t this requirement be limited to imports and save us consumers some money? This would also encourage consumers to buy US products – good for the economy.

The reason processed foods do not fall into the labeling requirement is that is too difficult to list the country of origins for all the ingredients.  They skate.  Now you are looking at frozen entrees that may contain imported produce, meat or fish, and you won’t know it.  If the fact that it came from a country such as China is a concern for you. .. well, you lose out here. 

Some where the balance between the need to know and common sense solutions has been lost here.  Still, you get more for your money when you buy fresh produce, meat and fish!

… for the health of your family,
ellen

I know Halloween is over, thank goodness, however I still want to introduce you to the “Switch Witch.”  Keri Marshall, ND, our recent guest on the Better Food Choices blog talk radio said the “Switch Witch” comes to her house on Halloween.  “Who is the ‘Switch Witch’?”, I asked. After her kids return from trick or treating carrying bags of candy, they are asked to pick out 5 candies that they want to keep.  Then they go to bed, leaving the remainder of the candy-filled bags out in a special place.  During the night the “Switch Witch” comes in and switches the bags of candy for a present for each child.  The “Switch Witch” gets to keep the candy - it disappears into the garbage, and the kids wake up in the morning to be surprised with their new gift, usually a toy.  Everyone is happy.  This is a win/win solution.  Kids get to have fun trick or treating, they get to have a little of their favorite candy, and they get a present.  What they don’t get is a belly-ache, a giant sugar rush, some mental chaos, added cavaties and fat-producing calories.  I love this idea!  Don’t you?

… for the health of your family,
Ellen