Archive for September, 2008
Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Alright kids, today’s assignment; watch Sweet Misery and write a 500 word essay on Aspartame’s affects on the brain…You may also leave comments for extra credit.
Enjoy!
Posted in Artificial Sweeteners, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
“Let The Children Come To Me”
Friday, September 19th, 2008
“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
I recently linked to a story by Peg Tyre from Newsweek which reported the unfortunate statistic that 1 in 5 American parents are worried about the mental health of their sons. The article asks why so many of our youngest boys are struggling emotionally. Tyre ponders, “…could some of those changes we have embraced in our families, our communities and our schools be driving our sons crazy?” She then goes on to theorize that overly structured schedules and excessively demanding academics could be to blame for the slumping feelings of many boys.
Tyre finally concludes, “But when nearly one in five boys has such serious behavioral and emotional issues that their parents are talking it over with their pediatrician, you can bet we are facing a problem that requires a more fundamental change in our society than medication or weekly therapy.”
I couldn’t agree more; however, I believe the issue we are facing here is even more fundamental than too many soccer games and math problems. In my estimation, the root cause of the emotional issues among the majority of children simply comes down to diet; specifically, you guessed it, the amount of sugar and other caloric sweeteners the average child consumes.
As I’ve often pointed out, the USDA reported the average American consumed 143 lbs. of caloric sweeteners in 2005. If we consider that 143 lbs. was just an average, and take into account the amount of sugar in one bowl of breakfast cereal, it’s not unreasonable to assume many kids could be consuming in excess of 170-180 lbs. of sugar and other sweeteners per year. That breaks down to just under ½ pound per day!
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Diabetes, Fast Food, Food Marketing, Sugar Addiction | 1 Comment »
The Truth Will Make You Free
Friday, September 12th, 2008
(sorry guys, busy week at the office)
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)
Yesterday, CNN.com reported, “Diabetics who tightly control their blood sugar — even if only for the first decade after their condition is diagnosed — have lower risks of heart attack, death and other complications 10 or more years later, a large follow-up study has found.”
It’s amazing that the medical establishment is just now “discovering” the long term effects of keeping your blood sugar in check. In my estimation, natural intuition should tell you that if your patient has diabetes, they should do everything they can to regulate their blood sugar, since their body can’t do it on its own. And the most effective way of regulating blood sugar is eliminating all refined sugar and processed food from your diet as quickly as possible.
Sadly, though, diabetics receive as much faulty advice regarding what they should and should not eat as the rest of us.
On a recent trip to Barnes & Noble, I ran across a book titled “Tell Me What To Eat If I Have Diabetes.” The first line in this book should read something like, “Stop eating refined sugar and flour immediately.” However, upon opening the book, one finds just the opposite. Believe it or not, this laughable tome contains recipes for cookies, cafe mochas with syrup, and even donuts (!?). If that’s not enough, none of the nutritional tables contain a column for grams of sugar. A more appropriate name would have been, “Tell Me The Fastest Way To Die Of Diabetes Complications.”
Tags: Freedom
Posted in Diabetes, Sugar Addiction, The Life | No Comments »
Kiddie Cocaine
Monday, September 8th, 2008
The UK based Times Online recently reported, “Schoolchildren show addiction to caffeine.”.
As I’ve stated in the past, I don’t think legislation is the answer to this growing problem, but it’s definitely time to act.
“Children will drink them on the walk to school, at break and lunch time. If you have got a child who is worked up on an energy drink, they are going to be agitated during lesson time,” stated Bob Tait of Drugs Education UK.
330 millionliters of energy drinks were consumed in the UK last year alone. That’s equal to 87,176,777.3 gallons, or just over 145 Olympic size swimming pools worth of raw sugar and caffeine.
A Red Bull spokesperson is quoted in the article as stating they do not recommend their product for children; however, in comparing their approach to marketing, can any of us doubt there’s a little Joe Camel in those adorable little angles and their “wiiiings!!”?
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Food Marketing, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
Natural Sugar Misconceptions
Friday, September 5th, 2008
Today I stumbled upon an article titled Nectar of the Gods by a man named Monideepa Sahu and decided it was high time to set the record straight regarding natural sugars found outside of fruit, such as raw organic cane sugar, molasses, and honey.
A simple Google search will yield several articles much like the one listed above which claim these natural sugars are healthier for you than refined sugars; this is simply not true.
Honey, molasses, and the like are no better than refined sugars because they raise glucose levels exactly like any other sugar. As I have said over and over in this blog, one of the keys to overcoming our Sugar Addictions and successfully living The Life is maintaining steady blood sugar. We will not accomplish this if we continue to consume foods that spike our glucose levels.
It’s amazing to me that Sahu does not pick up on this problem. Just after talking about honey’s ability to “sustain blood sugar levels during periods of heavy exercise,” he states, “Refined sugar and starches must undergo a process of inversion during digestion to change them into a form which the body can absorb. Honey has been already pre-digested by the bees, and its sugar already converted into levulose and dextrose.”
Did you catch that? Honey is absorbed into your system faster than refined sugar because it has already been “pre-digested.” This is exactly why we want to steer clear of it.
Most people touting the virtues of natural sweeteners like honey will talk about their nutritional value, juxtaposing its inherent caloric content against the “empty calories” found in refined sugars. While I have as much zeal as the next guy for spreading the message about the evils of refined sugar, I also know that, unlike fiber in fruit, caloric content does not offset sugar content.
Having said that, it must be noted that, as Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of Lick the Sugar Habit points out in Connie Bennett’s fantastic book Sugar Shock!, “…honey is even more concentrated than table sugar. It has 5 grams of sugar per teaspoon versus 4 grams of sugar per teaspoon for sucrose or table sugar.”
So, once again, stick to fruit; it’s your friend.
Tags: Dead Wrong
Posted in Sugar Addiction, The Life | No Comments »
Family Matters
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Ok, my trip to West Virginia took a slight detour when I totalled my car, so we might as well just get right back to it.
Here’s a great article on the difficulties of changing eating habits within the family.
As someone who struggled with his weight even back in high school, I find the tips here extremely helpful. The one that sticks out the most to me is, “Make your dietary changes about the whole family, not just an individual.” I can remember how difficult it was to stick with anything I tried in High School, let alone eating right. I can only assume things would have been a lot easier if I would have had more than just the moral support of my family.
Having parents that are completely “bought in” seems to be another key factor in the success of any child trying to change their lifestyle, “Moms and dads have to be the models and captains of the team, so to speak — there’s nothing more hypocritical than parents doing something different than what they’re saying.”
Amen Sister Hendel, Amen.
Tags: Family
Posted in The Life | No Comments »
