Archive for August, 2009
Sugar Addicts Unite: Join Our New Stop SUGAR SHOCK! Social Network!!
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
I’m thrilled to announce that Connie Bennett, the author of SUGAR SHOCK!, and I have teamed up to bring you a new, robust, interactive Stop SUGAR SHOCK! social network over at Ning.com
In your supportive, nurturing Stop SUGAR SHOCK! community, you will have a chance:
- To share recipes
- To encourage each other
- To meet and befriend each other. (You can even create profiles and post photos, music, and videos.)
- To follow whichever topics most appeal to you
- To start your own discussions topics in our community forums
- To ask questions
- To share what you’ve done successfully when sugar cravings strike
- To talk about why and when you turn to sugar
- To tell your sugar-free success story — or read inspiring tales from other people.
- To learn about the dangers of sugar addiction.
- To learn what to eat to live a vibrant, healthy life
- To share tips and tactics with each other
- To learn about hypoglycemia and type 2 diabetes
- To watch cool videos
- And much more
This new Stop SUGAR SHOCK! social network had its origins in November 2002, when Connie founded the KickSugar support group at Yahoo. Now, nearly seven years later, KickSugar is moving to Ning, which offers many more features and gives you more opportunity to support and connect with each other.
Hurry up and join us now at Stop SUGAR SHOCK! to start sharing your thoughts, ideas, etc.
We want to build a strong, vibrant community, so tell your friends too!!
Tags: Freedom
Posted in Sugar Addiction | 1 Comment »
Soda, Does A Body Good!
Friday, August 28th, 2009
Once upon a time in a land called America, there was a huge money making crop known as tobacco. Its producers knew it created all kinds of diseases, but also knew if they paid the right people the right amount of money they would be able to keep selling their evil medicine for years to come. So tobacco propaganda spread throughout the entire land. They convinced Americans smoking was so healthy that children should start early. One company even featured a little boy smoking a pipe in their ad campaigns. But the American public eventually caught on and their children’s marketing went undercover. Rugged cowboys and cool camels enticed imaginative boys to picture themselves smoking when they grew up.
Just then, tobacco’s little brother soda started playing copycat and convinced Americans to get their kids drinking soda early. They also knew their products weren’t healthy, but saw the dollar signs and started to spread their message.
One add read, “How soon is too soon? Not soon enough. Laboratory tests over the past few years have proven that babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and ‘fitting in’ during those awkward pre-teen and teen years. So do yourself a favor. Do your child a favor. Start them on a strict regimen of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness.”
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Sugar Addiction | 1 Comment »
Food may be cheap, but is it a bargain?
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
For the longest time while I was growing up, I always wondered, “If the price of everything else goes up, why doesn’t food?” It’s ironic to me that today I spend a lot of time reading articles about the impact of those low prices.
In today’s LA Times Mary MacVean writes, “…Americans spend less of their disposable income on food, about 6%, than the citizens of other countries. Considered another way, we spent 18% less on food in 2007 than in the 1970s…” There’s no doubt I’m in the minority here, but does that seem odd to anyone else? Every time I see a Taco Bell commercial that asks, “Why pay more?” while screaming about their $0.79, $0.89, & $0.99 “food,” I think, “Because food should cost more than that.”
Plus, if you take into account the medical expenses that we all share because of that kind of “food,” $147 billion/year on obesity alone (not to mention heart disease & cancer), I think it becomes obvious that the cost of “cheap” food is MUCH higher than their advertisements let on.
So, the next time you feel like making a run for the border, do me a favor and just go for a run.
Posted in Fast Food, Public Policy, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
A HUGE Step in the Right Direction!
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
The Wall Street Journal has reported that, “The American Heart Association is taking aim at the nation’s sweet tooth, urging consumers to significantly cut back on the amount of sugar they get from such foods as soft drinks, cookies and ice cream.”
I never thought I’d live to see the day! Finally, a major association has addressed our nation’s sugar addiction and taken the first step in indicting the biggest contributor to our obesity problem.
“In a scientific statement issued Monday, the organization says most women should limit their sugar intake to 100 calories, or about six teaspoons, a day; for men, the recommendation is 150 calories, or nine teaspoons.”
While they are still off the mark by focusing on calories, it is extremely encouraging to at least see them telling people to limit their sugar intake. Even more exciting is the fact that the recommendations are rather stringent. One can of Coke alone contains over nine teaspoons of sugar, so they are calling for a serious slow down in consumption.
Posted in Public Policy, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
Counting Calories is Modern Bloodletting
Monday, August 24th, 2009
According to Wikipedia, doctors drained blood from their patients trying cure them of diseases for well over 2,000 years. That’s right, for 2,000 years, the most “learned” men in the world took part in a practice which did nothing to improve their patient’s health. In fact, in most cases, it hurt them by opening them up to further infections by weakening their immune systems.
After reading this LA Times piece on the controversy surrounding a junk food tax, I finally came to the conclusion that our current obsession with calories is the modern equivalent to bloodletting. Much like our ancestors, we put blind faith in doctors and nutritionists who tell us this practice actually works. Yet year after year, we continue to count calories and we continue to get bigger and bigger. You would think that after a while people would wise up. In a country that counts calories with the same zeal as a small child counting days until their birthday, why are we all so overweight?
The answer lies throughout all of the conversation surrounding the obesity epidemic. For example, “A clinical trial of 810 adults in May found that reducing soda intake by 100 calories a day was linked to half a pound of weight loss after 18 months.” First of all, do we really need clinical trials to know that cutting back on soda will lead to weight loss? Secondly, who cares how many calories are in a can of soda when it’s the 10 teaspoons of sugar in the can that brings on the blood sugar spike and drop that leads to massive weight gain? Lastly, since studies like this rely on self-reported information, their findings are completely misleading.
Do you really think all 810 of those people cut their soda intake by exactly 100 calories every day for 18 months straight? What was their other food intake like? Did they exercise? How much sugar was in the rest of the food and drinks they consumed? Short of following all 810 people each and every day of their lives for 18 months straight, it’s impossible to answer these questions, so it’s impossible to put any credence in the study’s findings.
It is time to move the conversation away from individual nutrient information, like calories, and toward whole foods. Why waste time asking, “What happens when you drink 100 calories less of soda?” The real question is, “With all we know about sugar and artificial sweeteners, why is anyone drinking soda at all; diet or regular?” Again, they’re missing the point. Solving the epidemic is is not a question of mathematics, it’s a question of culture.
It’s really not that complicated, you don’t need to turn every meal into a science experiment.
Eat less, move more, and enjoy life.
Tags: Freedom
Posted in Sugar Addiction, The Life | No Comments »
How To Improve Your Mind
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Fulton Sheen is not only one of my heros, he’s also one of the greatest orators of the 20th century and a future Saint of the Catholic Church. Additionally, he was doing true personal development long before any of the stars of “The Secret” were out of diapers.
Here he is with a few tips on improving your mind. I’m definitely going to implement his method of making my own index in the back of my books after I read them through and highlight what jumps out at me.
Enjoy!
Posted in The Life | No Comments »
Which is worse, obesity or dancing in public?
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
In Googling around looking for stories to write about, I sometimes stumble upon a gem. The Brits have supplied this one.
Apparently, “The government has made Arlene Phillips its ‘dance tsar’ in the hope of improving the nation’s health.”
I certainly don’t know the definitive solution to the obesity epidemic, but I’m almost certain it’s not The Hustle.
Your thoughts?
Posted in Public Policy, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
You’re Fat; You’re Fired!
Saturday, August 15th, 2009
Delos M. Cosgrove, chief executive of the Cleveland Clinic, decided to stop hiring smokers two years. Now, he would like to take his hospital’s health initiative a step further and stop hiring obese people. However, legal issues have stopped him from making that decision.
Given the negative PR that could result from a story like that, I find it fascinating that Cosgrove is so public about his opinion. But, that is exactly what we need in this country.
We need journalists to take politicians to task for their poor policies, bold executives who aren’t afraid to generate meaningful discussion, and (most of all) we need to hold each other accountable for what we’re doing to our bodies and our future.
This New York Times piece offers a few interesting angles on this multi-tiered issue. One of the most intriguing statistics sited is, “The real price of soda has fallen 33 percent over the last three decades. The real price of fruit and vegetables has risen more than 40 percent.” With prices like that, it’s no wonder we’ve all got sugar addictions!
From personal responsibility to public policy, whatever your role, please do everything you can to help us reverse this epidemic today!
Tags: Freedom
Posted in Public Policy, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
In The Year 2,000…Scientists Will Conquer Heart Disease
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
I don’t know much about Connie Howard, but she apparently knows a lot more about nutrition than most doctors in the world. I absolutely love this article posted today in the Vue Weekly challenging the “conventional wisdom” about heart disease. She had me at the introduction when she described a group of kids she saw at a convenience store who were clearly feeding a nasty sugar addiction.
She goes on to say, ”The president of the American Heart Association in 1984, Anthony Gotto, predicted that we’d conquer heart disease by the year 2000 by going low fat. But we’ve been low-fat crazy for decades and haven’t even remotely conquered heart disease. Too many of us can identify with president Dwight D. Eisenhower as described by Gary Taubes in Good Calories, Bad Calories, and know well the frustration of shunning eggs and butter and cheese and all things cholesterol and fat in exchange for all things fat-free while watching our weight and cholesterol climb.”
It’s difficult not to quote the entire article here because she does such a fantastic job in demonstrating that the path we’ve been on since the early 80’s just isn’t working.
“But though we know that our bodies store excess carbs as saturated fat, and that they are inextricably tied to excess weight, fluid retention, elevated triglycerides, arterial plaque and high blood pressure, high-carb low-fat diets likely to over-stimulate insulin production are still the recommended ones. Go figure.”
On top of that, we’re all told we have to do everything we can to lower our cholesterol, yet, “that the majority of heart attacks happen in those with normal cholesterol.”
Check out the article, you’ll save yourself from wasting time listening to the “conventional wisdom.”
Posted in Sugar Addiction, The Life | No Comments »
Detroit Ice Cream Man’s New Competition
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
I was happy to get some good conversation going recently when I posted “Childhood Obesity = Child Abuse?” In the post, I mentioned that obesity statistics fall largely along racial and income lines, so I was hesitant about arresting parents who can’t afford to feed their children anything besides what is available at the corner store. As a result, some people accused me of leaning toward blaming the government and society, instead of asking parents to take responsibility for their children’s health.
I would like to categorically say, as I have said numerous times in the past, that the only path to freedom is personal responsibility (and Jesus, of course).
At the same time, reading this Associated Press story about a produce truck winding through the streets of Detroit reinforced my belief that it is nearly impossible for some people to access healthy food.
In 2006, I lived on in West Detroit at epicenter of the riots of 1967. When I wanted food, I got in my car, got on the highway, and drove 13 miles to the nearest grocery story in the suburbs. Sure, I could have made my way over to that great bastion of sugar addiction, the gas station, but I wanted real food. Making the drive was easy enough for me, but what if you’re a single mother on welfare who is already working two jobs and doesn’t have enough money to afford a car payment, let alone have the time (or money) to take a cab all the way into the suburbs to buy your children fresh vegetables?
I know, the short answer in personal development is take responsibility for your life, upgrade your skills, and get out of that environment as quickly as you can. But, even if you’re on the road to a better life, how can you feed your children better on that road if the options simply aren’t available to you?
The produce truck in Detroit is one way to provide that option and, as Lisa Johanon says in the story, once you make better options available, people make better choices, “We’ve seen the stereotype that urban communities won’t eat healthy, and we’re seeing that isn’t true.”
Posted in Fast Food, Food Marketing | No Comments »
