Aug
28
2010
I think that I have had enough! Yes, my friends, I am throwing in the towel. I was staying up late, watching some of my favorite reruns of NCIS, Law and Order and James Bond when the munchies hit. You all know what I am talking about. Those feelings that strike, out of no where-“I’ve got to have something! Anything. I’m hungry. At least I think I am. Maybe I am. Not really but I want something to eat.” Where do these sensations come from? Who is that talking in my head? I had a good dinner just three hours earlier. Sure, could be the carbohydrates being digested and the insulin levels rising. Scientifically that makes sense. As your food digests and is broken down into tiny matter, the individual elements like fats, proteins and sugars are released and start to travel. The sugar level rising triggers a release of insulin from your pancreas. Subsequently, the insulin manages to get the sugar back into the cells and lowers the levels. But the insulin levels remain high. This may trigger additional reactions which include hunger. So there, I rationalized my late night eating. Wait a minute. Let’s get back to the reason for this article-those attractive and seductive food commercials, those DQ Blizzards, those new dark chocolate peanut butter cups, those new crust Domino’s Pizzas, those five dollar Subway sandwiches, it’s ...
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Aug
23
2010
My friends, we are back to school. Summer has come to an end and the fall school schedule quickly approaches. In many parts of the country, school has either started or is about to today! That’s right, those yellow Thomas school buses will be crowding the streets. The slow speed school zones are in force and kids are crossing the streets-so watch out! Lunches and snacks are being prepared at home. Please make them healthy! After school activities are being scheduled. And parents, the driving begins again! OMG! Another season is upon us. It seems that this summer went quicker than most. I guess it was because it was filled with so many activities. There was barely enough time to enjoy the peaceful time off the road. Oh well, here we go again.
So I begin my new season with another issue that has caught many by surprise as we all go back to school-there is a new push to eliminate “unstructured” playtime-also called recess and morph it into structured time-like physical exercise (PE). The reason-from the “more exercise time will help stop childhood obesity” side-is just that. These advocates feel that our children need to burn off more calories in a structured exercise program to balance the calories/food being consumed. There is a good point there-balance. Remember as I have said in many articles, the calories-as food that are consumed must ...
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Aug
11
2010
This seems like a no brainer-but I will ask you anyway-when we take our kids to the supermarket-how many times do they chose a particular item on the basis of their prior knowledge of the brand and or characters on the packaging? Dah! As my daughter would politely say. Of course they do. Kids are sponges for the thousands of advertisements they hear, see and read. I hear my daughter reciting those ads in the car with her friends when I take them to dance class. They laugh about the ads. But it shows that these ads stick. And when they go into an environment like a market or mall, these colorful, sometimes celebrity driven, musical and rhythmic ads have their way of influencing their shopping decisions and eating decisions. So it is not unusual to discover that ads can influence even a younger age group-which we know spends a lot of time in front of the TV and are starting to spend even more time on the computer. Even at the age of three, kids food choices are being manipulated by what they are viewing-which is then is passed along to the purchasing selection by their parents. A study from 2007, Effect of Fast Food Branding on Young Children’s Taste Preference, demonstrated that, “By the early age of 3 to 5 years, low-income preschool children preferred the tastes of foods ...
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Jul
31
2010
Okay, so I guess all of you that have been reading my columns know by now that my emphasis is on eating less. Cut down on the portion sizes. Yes, to some, diet is a four letter word. Let's talk lifestyle! Eating less and exercising will help you maintain a healthy weight, improves the quality of your health and is anti-aging. As I explained in prior columns, calorie restriction (CR)-the term used for low calorie meal plans, has been associated with many benefits. Both in human experiments and in animal research, the data has been confirmed-CR subjects outlive their normal and over fed counterparts. Researchers in Japan discovered that short term calorie restriction can improve the performance of the heart. Now comes further research showing that low calorie meal plans can actually enhance the immune response. What? Eating less can make my immune system stronger? Well, Simin Nikbin Meydani, Director at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University studied 46 overweight men and women, 20 to 40 years old and had them consume either a 30% or 10% calorie restricted diet for six months. The results: “short-term calorie restriction for six months in humans improves the function of T-cells*.” That means, our immune systems can improve with less food consumed. What is your immune system? Well, its the system of your body that ...
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May
19
2010
First Lady Michelle Obama, in a press conference with members of the Food and Beverage Industry, announced that the Partnership for a Healthier America has signed an agreement with The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) whose members are pledging to take actions aimed at reducing 1.5 trillion product calories by the end of 2015. As an interim step to this goal, HWCF will seek to reduce calories by 1 trillion in 2012.
“Solving the obesity epidemic requires far more than anything government can do alone and today’s announcement represents an important step forward to providing Americans with healthier choices so that they can choose to lead healthier lives,” said Mrs. Obama, who also serves as honorary chair of the Partnership. “This is precisely the kind of private sector commitment we need. I want to thank the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation for stepping up to the plate and I hope this encourages others to do the same.”
“On behalf of the Partnership, I am pleased to acknowledge this major first step by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. Pledges like this one – with targeted and achievable results that are meaningful and measurable – will help us reach our goal of curbing childhood obesity within a generation,” said Dr. James R. Gavin III, chairman of the Partnership’s board of directors.
So how will these companies do it? Here is their plan:
growing and introducing lower-calorie options
changing ...
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May
08
2010
I wonder if many of you feel like I do when I go out to a restaurant for dinner that having a large main course is not exactly what I really am in the mood for ? I guess this started recently for me. I look at the menu and can’t quite find the right choice. Then I look back at the appetizers and say-hey how about if I order two appetizers. They look much more appetizing anyway-maybe a salad and soup or a shrimp cocktail. But then the guilt hits-I say to myself-how will everyone react when I don’t order a main course? Will they be upset that I went against the grain? Will the waiter be upset? I just don’t want a big, bulky main course-I don’t! So there! So I wait until the person taking my order gets to me and I lower my voice to a whisper and say,” I’ll have the salad and the vegetable soup.” Then I hear the response in a booming loud voice so all at the table can hear,” is that all you want?” “ Yes, that’s it.” I realize that this becomes a complicated order for the staff. What do they bring first? Do they bring one of the appetizers for the main course or both at the same time? I try to make it easy and tell them exactly ...
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Apr
21
2010
I spend a lot of time trying to tell my daughter and her friends the benefits of eating healthy. I do this when we eat at home as well as when we go out to a restaurant. Sometimes, I think that I must sound like a broken record. “What about a salad,” I spout out, when I hear the chicken parmigiana or pizza being ordered. “Try the salmon, have some walnuts, what about blueberries, forget the soda, do you really want ice cream?” “Do you know how many calories is in that whatever you call it?” Yes, I am an ogre. I admit it. But I do it because I believe in eating healthy and also so my daughter will learn and eat healthy as well. Well that comes to my article of the week-which comes to us from Ayelet Fishback, and Stacey R. Finkelstein of the University of Chicago- “When Healthy Food Makes You Hungry,” and published on line in the Journal of Consumer Research. These authors examined healthy foods in the context of personal choice and freedom, commitment to a goal or target and “forced or external control” and the effect on appetite afterwards. To do this they looked at three groups of people: those given an item to eat labeled as “healthy foods”; the second group given the same exact item labeled as “tasty foods” and the ...
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Mar
10
2010
Okay, stay with me on this one. School budgets are being cut. The economy stinks-let’s face it. Recovery? Where Mr. President? Maybe on Wall Street-yep the stock market seems to have rebounded. Banks are paying back our stimulus money. Great! Wall Street executives are getting fat bonuses, again. Also great! General Motors is re-upping about 600 dealers. Life is super great! What! Give me a break. Housing foreclosures are still among the highest levels in years. More single family homes and apartments are for sale. Prices are dropping. More people are giving up their homes, cars and possessions. The jobs wanted market is flooded with people looking. And now the latest misery, School Boards across the country, stretched to the max with money problems are cutting PE (Physical Education), Music and Art classes. Who needs more artists and musicians anyway? Culture-blah humbug-don’t need it. And as for PE-well that’s a no brainer-let’s have our kids keep eating and eating, consuming more and more calories and not burning anything off. What does that equal? Say it with me-More Obesity in our children! Now wait a minute! You read in The Nerdel News that First Lady Michelle Obama is targeting Childhood Obesity with her “Let’s Move” campaign. It’s a fantastic effort-getting our kids to move and exercise. And we already know that our kids are not physically active enough. But-Ahm-hello-now the ...
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Feb
23
2010
Okay, let’s review: what do we know so far? A. We know that obesity is an extra accumulation of fat. B. We know that the problem is coming from an imbalance-more energy in the form of calories (food) coming into the body-our children are eating more and not enough energy (calories) being burned off-not enough exercise. C. We know that a pediatrician and researcher uses the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a way to identify weight problems in children-a way to measure your child’s weight against other children of the same age and sex and tell us whether he or she is at risk; D. We know that there are lots of consequences from being obese-heart disease, arthritis, sleep apnea and psychological problems and finally, E. We know that President Obama said that 30 percent of our children are either overweight or obese .So what’s next? Are we all sure we know whether our children are obese or just overweight? And what do we do to solve this problem? Class, let’s continue our journey-now Part two:
Overweight vs. Obese: (CDC) These are terms used to classify kids and adults and based on Body Mass Index (BMI-height and weight). BMI for kids and teens takes into account growth changes, differences in body fat between boys and girls. BMI calculator for Child and Teen. So go to your pediatrician’s (or primary ...
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