I JUST heard that this HBO documentary is airing tonight on… well… HBO, so this post is a bit late to gin up a tsunami of interest, at least from this tiny corner of the cyberworld.

The good news it that it’s a two four-part (whoops) series that will probably air again and/or be accessible online.

The HBO documentary, “The Weight of the Nation” is a clarion call for changing our eating habits and the government’s food and farm policies and subsidies.

Without some quick and dramatic changes, we will all soon have a problem, not just the 2/3rds of us that are overweight or obese, as well as 1/3 of children.

There’s the health problems for those overweight, and financial and social problems for everyone.

Here’s the web site: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films

Here are some soundbites from the trailer:

“1/3 of the people in this nation are obese, and 2/3rds are overweight”

“Obesity is the biggest threat to the welfare of this country.”

“This is probably first generation that will have a lower life expectancy than their parents’”

“It’s about the health and wealth of the U.S. as a nation.”

“All of us have to be part of the solution.”

“We will all pay a serious price.”

Yes, it might be an unsavory topic, one better left in the closet from the manufactured food industries point of view. And, the closet is where it’s been for nigh twenty years. Things need to change. The first step is to understand why “the weight of the nation is crushing America”.

Tune in, find out.

Yep.

Related posts:

1. Michelle Obama – Her Righteous Fat Fight
2. Sick Around the World… How Does America Compare? (Watch Frontline Video)
3. The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Obesity

All her life, Deborah Szekely, the “Godmother of the Wellness Movement” has been a thriving example of wellness.  Now 90, she still works tirelessly to illuminate the harmful actions of agri-business and Big Pharma, and the government’s support of programs that have fueled the country’s obesity epidemic.

Today’s post is a “shout out” to Deborah Szekely (pronounced SAY-Kay) on her 90^th birthday.

If you haven’t heard of Deborah Szekely, know that she has operated for 72 years the world-renowned Rancho La Puerta Spa in Mexico, and for 42 years the Golden Door Spa in Escondido California.

At those spas, she has been a tireless advocate of treating your body as a temple by conforming to these three dictates:

• Do not pollute yourself with processed food,
• Develop a lifestyle of physical activity, and
• Allow yourself to heal.

Ms. Szekely’s life itself has been a testimony to living the natural, holistic life, and the benefits thereby derived.  Despite entering her 10^th decade, her only “medication” are vitamins, some thyroid therapy and a B12 shot every month.

She does Pilates four times a week, has weighed within the same 118 to 122 pounds for decades, has 104/62 blood pressure, and a cholesterol count of 193 (not fasting).

Couldn’t be better.

Surely, the woman has admirably lived her truth, and has become a superlative example of how a long and strong life can be lived by making smart choices about diet, exercise and attitude.

Surely, at this point in life she would be satisfied with her accomplishments and the multiple thousands of people she has helped to slow down.

But no.

“My schedule is the same as it was when I was 60!”, she says.

Which is about to be busier, because this “Godmother of the Wellness Movement” is giving birth to yet another cause aimed at improving the lives of others: Wellness Spring.
 

The Wellness Spring Initiative

Ann Brenoff writes in this Huffington Post article:

About the only thing that raises [Deborah Szekely’s] blood pressure are the actions of agri-business and Big Pharma and the government’s support of programs that have fueled the country’s obesity epidemic. Her Wellness Spring initiative aims to raise $10 million by collecting $10 each from one million people. The money will be used to fund lobbying efforts to counter those of businesses that she argues are poisoning and killing Americans with fast food and a culture that “considers watching TV an activity.”

“How is pizza possibly a vegetable?” she asked incredulously of the congressional decision that deemed it so. “Americans are getting fatter and sicker by the day and the soft drink and fast-food companies are going merrily on their way while Big Pharma is happy to provide pills for all the diseases and health problems the bad food causes.”

Here is this fine and stately lady telling her story and the need for Wellness Spring:

We humans tend to accept what’s possible for us by examining what’s been done by others. May Deborah Szekely’s life and her work inspire us all.

Related posts:

1. Eat Fiber, Live Longer, Healthier too! Watch
2. Sugar is a Toxin, say Three Celebrity Doctors. Watch the Interviews.
3. Bill Maher’s New Rule on the American Rat Diet

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviews President Clinton and sugar expert, Dr. Robert Lustig to get behind the sugar, obesity and heart disease epidemics plaguing America.  Could they be related?  Dr. Hyman offers tips on how to reduce your sugar consumption.

Sugar is addictive. Is it also a toxin?

Are those who say sugar is a toxin lying, or simply confused?

Could it be that those MRI brain scans that show the same areas of the brain being equally stimulated by sugar and drugs, like cocaine, be wrong?

And those medical scientists who dedicate themselves to double bind studies designed to expunge bias or confusion, those who now say that sugar is the villain behind America’s obesity and diabetes epidemic… are they paranoid?

Functional medicine expert, Dr. Mark Hyman, author of the new best seller, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! is one of those medical types who say that the over consumption of sugar is the key culprit to an overweight America.

As reported in prweb.com:

“In The Blood Sugar Solution, Dr. Hyman tackles this worldwide health care crisis. He provides a revolutionary six-week healthy-living program that will help all individuals, whether or not they are obese or diabetic, to enable their bodies to function at maximum level. With advice on diet, green living, supplements and medication, exercise, and personalizing the plan for optimal results, he teaches readers how to maintain lifelong health. Dr. Hyman describes and explains his seven keys to treating diabesity and achieving peak wellness.”

Former President Bill Clinton says this about The Blood Sugar Solution:

“I hope Dr. Hyman’s new book will inspire you as he has inspired me.”

Remember, Mr. Clinton’s lifetime habit of eating poorly resulted in quadruple bypass heart surgery, after which he reinvented his eating habits, becoming a vegan in the process.

The conventional wisdom says that sugar and sugar byproducts have a causal relationship to obesity and obesity-related diseases, but heart disease?  Is there a connection there?

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta says “yes”.  He says that a person might think of cheeseburger as a fatty food that might increase one’s cholesterol leading to heart disease. But, it turns out, that’s what sugar is doing, maybe more so than fatty foods.

When a person consumes too much sugar, the liver gets overloaded with fructose and converts some of it into fat. That fat ends up in the bloodstream and generates the bad kind of cholesterol called “small dense LDL”. These particles are known to lodge in blood vessels, form plaque, which can contribute to heart attacks.

Dr. Kimber Stanhope, an Associate Project Scientist in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of California, Davis has said:

“We found that people who consumed high fructose corn syrup had increased blood levels of LDL cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”

Here’s Dr. Gupta’s interview with President Clinton on the topic:

Dr. Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco, is unequivocal in his assertion that sugar is a toxin. Lustig told Gupta that he believes sugar should be treated the same way as tobacco and alcohol, substances that are still legal, but regulated:

“Ultimately, this is a public health crisis, and when there’s a public health crisis you have to do big things and you have to do them across the board. Tobacco and alcohol are perfect examples … I think that sugar belongs in this exact same wastebasket,” said Lustig.

Dr. Lustig’s assertion shouldn’t be surprising given that:

• According to reports , the average American consumes over 130 pounds of sugar annually. This leads to increased diabetes and obesity, especially in children.

• The National Institute of Health states that diabetes affects 25.8 million Americans of all ages, and 215,000 people younger than 20 had diabetes in 2010.

Dr. Lustig is the principal expert interviewed by Dr. Gupta here (not commercial free):

Do You Have A Sugar Problem?

This shouldn’t be hard to assess.  It should be obvious.

Of course, if you are diabetic, you have a sugar problem, and I hope the information presented here will be helpful.

If you have high cholesterol or a cardiovascular disease, you may have a sugar problem.

If you are overweight and consistently eat packaged foods, fast foods, soda and/or add sugar and/or sugar substitutes to your food or drink, you may have a sugar problem.

If much of the food you eat is primarily derived from wheat (pasta, bread, snacks), you may have a sugar problem.

How to Stop Your Sugar Jones

First you need to discover if you have this problem.  If you do, it should be obvious, but we’re masters of self-deception. I advise that you ask those intimate with your eating and drinking habits.

Next, you need to make a plan.

To decide if you have a sugar problem, take a stroll through your kitchen cabinets and fridge.  Pull the packaged foodstuff out and read the labels.

See any of these?

High fructose corn syrup

Splenda

Equal

Aspartame

Sugar

Could be a sign of sugar overindulgence.

Next, you need to ask yourself if you’re willing to do something about reducing your sugar intake.  If so, make a plan.  Let part of the plan be recruiting a friend to join you on the journey.

The “Plan” should be aimed at reducing and replacing.

Reduce your consumption on a gradual basis, week by week, so by the end of some period determined by you, your sugar consumption will be minimal.  As you do this, your taste buds will adjust and will no longer need to be overpowered by the sugar taste to be happy.

Along the way, replace sugar and sugary food and drink with healthier choices.  Eat whole fruit rather than fruit drinks.  Drink lemon water with a touch of honey, stevia or xlenoy rather than soda. (Or how ‘bout that strange drink called “water”?).

Choose yogurts, cereals and other packaged foods that don’t have sugar or sugar substitutes.  Replace the zero fat foods with moderate fat foods.  Within limits, the fat is better than the sugar, especially if it’s a “good fat” like omega-3 fatty acids contained in foods like chia seeds, flax seeds, fish and fish oil.

And, according to Dr. Hyman, a little brain reprogramming can help.

Three Ways to Reprogram Your Brain, says Hyman

There are ways to rewire the primitive parts of your brain by making good food choices. Here are three ways to get started:

• Balance blood sugar. Blood sugar highs and lows drive primitive food cravings. If you get famished between meals, that’s a sign that your blood sugar is crashing. When blood sugar is low, you’ll eat anything. To better balance blood sugar, eat a small meal or snack that includes healthy protein, like seeds or nuts, every 3 to 4 hours.

• Eliminate liquid calories and artificial sweeteners. Early humans didn’t reach for soda or fruit juices when they got thirsty. Sodas are full of chemicals and high fructose corn syrup. Processed fruit juices are awash in sugar. Try sticking with water and green tea. Green tea contains plant chemicals that are good for your health. And, last but not least, don’t succumb to the diet drink trap. The artificial sweeteners in diet drinks fool the body into thinking it is ingesting sugar, which creates the same insulin spike as regular sugar.

• Eat a high-quality protein at breakfast. Ideally, you’re eating quality protein at every meal, but, if you need to prioritize one meal, choose breakfast. Studies show that waking up to a healthy protein, such as eggs, nuts, seeds, nut butters or a protein shake (see “Joe’s Morning Tonic”) help people lose weight, reduce cravings and burn calories.

[For more suggestions on how to wrestle control from your reptilian brain, see Chapter 15 of The Blood Sugar Solution.]

Well, I’ve presented plenty of information in this post to help you decide if your consumption of sugar might be detrimental to your health.  As long as you’re on a roll, check out these other resources to help you better understand how harmful is sugar, as well as tips to get it out of your life.

Scan the list; surely, one of these is a good resource for you:

Sugar Lover? Which Type Are You?

Are You Getting Fat and Sick from Sugar?

Eating Fat is Good… Maybe…Could Be… Sometimes

How Sugary Is Your Blood?

Overfed and Under Nourished? Watch “Hungry for Change”

Artifical Sweeteners Make You Fat, Neotame Makes You Sick

Pump Up Your Metabolism: Eat Protein, Not Wheat

How Depressing is Your Food? And You?

The Diabesity Epidemic – It May Be Coming to You

1 Soda, 60 Minutes of Harm

Aspartame is Poison, a Neurotoxin, Actually

A Blueprint for Eating Right

Related posts:

1. 9 Ways to Fight Diabesity with The Blood Sugar Solution
2. A Mega-Pastor and Three Famous Doctors Hatch “The Daniel Plan”
3. Are You Getting Fat and Sick from Sugar?

Three famous doctors and one mega-Pastor have hatched a health plan.  It’s called “The Daniel Plan” and thousands at the Saddleback Church are losing weight and just plain getting healthier.  Here’s what’s happening at The Daniel Plan.

WHAT DO you get when you create a health team with a plan devoted to educating and encouraging people to improve their health, and the players are Dr. Oz, Dr. Hyman, Dr. Amen and Pastor Rick Warren, among others?

Answer:  The Daniel Plan.

Well, unless you’re a member Pastor Rick’s Saddleback Church, that answer begs the question:

“What’s the Daniel Plan?”

Answer: A health strategy with the medical input of heart surgeon Doctor Oz, functional medicine specialist Dr. Hyman and brain health expert Dr. Amen… and the spiritual guidance and community backing of Rick Warren, Pastor of one of the largest churches in the Nation, the Saddleback Church.

You may have heard about Rick Warren from his national best seller, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?.  Rick Warren has, and continues to sell, so many copies of this book that he not only does not take a salary from the church, but also donates most of his earnings to charity.

So, I would venture to suggest, that the man’s heart is in the right place, even if I can’t bend my mind to his religiosity.

(No, I don’t really think it’s “God’s Prescription for Your Health” as one particular byline states, nor do I think anything humans can do would “glorify God” as the byline on the web site suggests.  But, right down here on earth, The Daniel Plan sure could be your prescription to improve your health!)

Why The Daniel Plan?

The reason I’m writing about the Daniel Plan is because several thousand adherents to the plan are losing weight and getting healthier.

It’s obvious that the plan’s methodology is working, and that should be no surprise given the input of those aforementioned doctors, as well as the ability of Pastor Rick to exhort his flock to follow the righteous health path.

And it’s that last point, I think, that’s the real key to success – having a “flock” and a “path”.  The flock is a group of like-minded, connected individuals who support each other along a proven path that leads to health.

This approach has a statistically higher chance of success than trying any behavior modification program by yourself and of your own construction.

The Daniel Plan embraces “The Simple Six” Core Principles:

1. CONNECT for Success – Get in touch with your health and with others!
2. RELY on God’s Power – Willpower is not enough. You need God’s power.
3. EAT Delicious Whole Foods – Imagine the Garden of Eden as your food source.
4. MOVE Your Way to Health – Get going. The more exercise, the more energy!
5. THINK Sharper and Smarter – Better brain health = better life!
6. HEAL for Life – Make a game plan for permanent changes that heal.

Given that this plan speaks to church-going folks and is animated by a church pastor, the agnostics and atheists among you might allow the Plan its principle #2.  Certainly, it can’t hurt to believe that a power greater than yours is guiding you past the fridge at midnight.

Check out the success stories, and this video full of testimonials which looks like this —->

(Suggest you allow the stream to load before playing the video otherwise it may be choppy.)

And here’s a success story about Chef Jenny Ross.

UPDATE: Dr. Hyman in the HuffPost today (1/31/12) reports the following Daniel Plan results:

“Not only were there estimated weight reductions of 250,000 pounds but also equal reductions in medication use, hospitalizations and doctors visits. And it was free.

In a survey after 10 months of the program, participants reported the following:

An average weight loss of 13.5 pounds (and 18 pounds for those who said they followed the program closely)
72 percent of those who wanted to lose weight did
53 percent reported increased energy levels
34 percent reported better sleep
27 percent improvement in blood work
20 percent reported improvement in blood pressure
11 percent reported reduction in medications
31 percent reported improvement in mood

Those who did the plan together lost twice as much weight as those who did it alone.”

There’s a rich amount of information at The Daniel Plan site.  The program is comprised of Eat, Move, Think, Heal and Connect, each with all the component parts necessary to get healthy.

For example:

Eat delves into nutrition, recipes, budgets and Superfoods.

Move gets into motivation and fitness programs for an individual and family.

Think presents the information helpful to understand behavior modification and brain health.

Heal speaks to mental health, hormones, energy, weight, skin, etc.

Connect ties in success stories, God and community.

The search function also brings up lots of information for a particular query. For instance, I searched at the site for “weight loss” and got these results:

The Daniel Plan Conquer Your Cravings
Studies show that people who maintain weight loss eat a healthy breakfast. Add
a dash of cinnamon. This fragrant spice has been found to help regulate blood …

The Daniel Plan Eating Out Rules
I’m going to order a salad to lose weight and be healthy. Because I’m … Often we fool ourselves into thinking that, “if I eat a salad, I’ll lose weight and be healthy.

The Daniel Plan – Food Groups
Calories, Hyman · Calories Count, Amen · Get Dunked · Why Most Diets Don’t Work ·

The Daniel Plan Shopping List
National Weight Control Registry · Why Most Diets Don’t Work

The Daniel Plan Vitamin Supplements
Sleep more soundly, lose weight and improve your overall health and vitality.

The Daniel Plan Recommended Foods
Calories Count, Amen · Get Dunked · National Weight Control Registry · Why Most Diets Don’t Work

The Daniel Plan – Get Your Kids Involved Early
7 Tips to Lose Weight · Calories, Hyman · Calories Count, Amen · Get Dunked · National Weight Control Registry · Why Most Diets Don’t Work

The Daniel Plan Main Dishes
Two bricks, individually wrapped in aluminum foil, make the best heavy weight for pressing …

If you’ve gotten this far without clicking over to The Daniel Plan, might as well fulfill your curiosity now.  Here’s the link.

Related posts:

1. Sugar is a Toxin, say Three Celebrity Doctors. Watch the Interviews.
2. Dr Oz and the 14-Day Reboot Diet Plan
3. The Problem with Dr. Oz’s 4-Step Butt-Blasting Plan

Do you know which foods you eat contain genetically modified substances?  No, you don’t, because unlike in Europe – where GMO foods are banned — the Monsanto-friendly FDA in America says “no labeling required”.  Should you be concerned?

WHAT DO you think of a large, rich, strong, politically connected company that seems to be hell bent on controlling the world’s food supply?

Wonder how such a company could do this?

How ‘bout by creating their own patented seeds that appeal to large corporate farmers because they are disease and pest resistant.  This angle takes care of market demand because the farmers produce greater yield and save on pesticides.  (A short-sighted benefit given that under this model, farmers can not save their own seeds, but must buy from Monsanto each year.)

At the same time, a company bent on controlling food production needs to ensure it’s got the legal and political cover to protect its rights to the seed, so that when such seeds pollinate the land of farmers who have not purchased it, the company can demand payment and threaten legal action. Which Monsanto has done. Goliath against David, although this time Goliath usually wins.

Diabolical strategy.  Unfortunately, this is not fiction.

This is the story by the reviled Monsanto and its GMO venture.  “GMO” – genetically modified organism, which in this case are the seeds that have genetically altered, but which, nonetheless, have been declared by America’s FDA (“Food and Drug Administration”) to not be materially different from non-GMO seeds. The FDA says GMO is safe.

How did the FDA come to that conclusion?

Well, apparently they didn’t.  Recently, thousands of memos have been uncovered that show ample evidence for a contrary conclusion, but this information was hidden. 

Why? 

Could be that the then head of the FDA’s policy was a former Monsanto attorney, who – after his stint with the FDA – jumped on the revolving door back to Monsanto as a Vice President.  A job well rewarded.

What makes the FDA’s position stranger is that Europe has banned GMO foods, and that many animals won’t eat it, including rats.  But Americas do, usually without knowing it, because in this country food labels need not specify that GMO ingredients are used.

There are many people and organizations devoted to bringing this matter to the public’s attention.  If just a small percentage of consumers refused to buy GMO foods, the food manufactures would not use them, and the farmers would not grow them, and – most sweet of all – Monsanto’s plan for world-wide food domination would be terminally pissed upon.

Monsanto would no longer have reason to sue farmers that did not buy their GMO seeds, but whose farms were so pollinated.  Monsanto could go back to producing and selling seeds as Nature made them.

The Institute for Responsible Technology and the Organic Consumers Association are two of many organizations fighting against the Goliath Monsanto and  GMOs in the US.

The Institute for Responsible Technology’s web site will get you up to speed on this issue and suggest how you can do your part to ensure that no one company dominates our food chain with a product that not only may be inferior and harmful to Nature’s seeds, but could eventually overtake them.

Organic Consumers Association has a very informative newsletter that you can subscribe to.  The recent article is entitled: Monsanto Nation: Taking Down Goliath.

If you have a creative bent, how about participating in the No GMO T-shirt Design Challenge? Design an inspirational t-shirt around the theme of “food fight”. There are eight more days left to submit your design and/or vote on one you like.  You can learn about this, and check out the design submissions at the Food Fight Challenge.

 
Finally, if you need an extra push to get concerned, at minimum, or – better yet – get into gear and take action, then watch this short video that lays out the problem and the solution:

IT’S TIME FOR A FOOD FIGHT from NO GMO on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 – Food to Live By (Watch)
2. Sunday Special: An Inconvenient Truth about Our Food — Watch
3. Easily Avoid Cancerous Plastics and Food Containers (Bisphenol A) — Watch

The Food Plate is in, and the Food Pyramid is history.  The healthy diet is simpler now, is better, and comes with a host of interactive tools that aim to suggest a diet that will work for you.  But there are a few issues I have with these tools.  If you’re muscular, you won’t get the correct advice.  And what’s with the milk!?

THE USDA released today their new food plate that replaces the old food pyramid.  As I wrote in The New Food Pyramid is a Plate, the Obama administration, in part lead by Michelle Obama, has been studying how to remake the food pyramid so that information about diet is more relevant, useful and true.

This is the job of the new “Plate” which is divided into four sections – fruits, grains, proteins and vegetables, with a side of diary.  The statements alongside the Plate at ChooseMyPlate.gov are these:

Balancing Calories

● Enjoy your food, but eat less.

● Avoid over-sized portions.

Foods to Increase

● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.

● Make at least half your grains whole grains.

● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce

● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.

● Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Gone are any references to sugars, fats or oils, and what was once a category called “meat and beans” is now simply “proteins.” Next to the plate is a blue circle for dairy, which could be a glass of milk or a food such as cheese or yogurt.

Doesn’t seem like rocket science, does it?  But there’s a few things that are new and good to know, such as specifying that the grains you eat are “whole” grains, not the decimated white variety that constitutes the typical bread, bagel, pasta and pizza.  Or that half the Plate should be fruits and veggies, not white grains.

There’s more, much more at the site that might be useful to people not well versed in what constitutes healthy diets, such as information for specific audiences (pregnant women, preschoolers, kids, weight loss), information for professionals, multimedia presentations, and interactive tools.

I jumped into Interactive Tools.

Interactive Tools

Here’s what’s presented in Interactive Tools:

Daily Food Plan – Get a personalized plan just for you.  Quick access to food info – food groups, calories & comparisons.

Daily Food Plans for Preschoolers – Get your child’s Plan today.

Food Tracker – Feedback on your food and physical activity.

Daily Food Plans for Moms – Start out right as a new mom or mom-to-be.

Food Planner – Plan what to eat to help reach your personal goals.

I decided to try the Daily Food Plan. I entered my stats, age, gender, weight, amount of daily physical activity and came up with this warning:

“The weight you entered is above the healthy range for your height. This may increase your risk for health problems. Some people who are overweight should consider weight loss. Click here (new window) for more information about health risks and whether you should try to lose weight, or talk with your health care provider.”

This is the long-winded version of what I usually get when using the BMI calculation, which truncates the above message into something like, “You’re Overweight”.

That’s because neither of these systems accounts for muscle mass.  Muscle weighs about 40% more than fat and if you have more than the average bear, the extra pounds associated with the muscle is measured as fat.

I’m not being delusional.  At 6’4”, I have a 36” waist and 46” chest – not the data sample for someone who needs to “talk with your health provider.”  But according to the BMI calculation and that used to determine the Daily Food Plan, 215 pounds is too heavy for me.

Why Milk?

My next pet peeve is this American love affair with milk.  People, the milk referred to here is made by cows.  Cows make the milk for calves, not people.  OK, maybe 1% or 2% milk will help you avoid growing the three pounds a day that a calf does, but why is it so valuable to one’s diet that it’s included in the new Food Plate?  Is it simply a matter of the diary lobby?

Diets for Kids

For some reason, the individually created diet plans for kids still uses the now jettisoned pyramid symbol.  I inputted data for my niece, Isa, when she was five years old for the pre-schooler diet plan.

The inputs are age, gender, and amount of daily physical activity.  This is the result for Isa:

Note that at the bottom of the pyramid are the amounts by weight of each of the new Plate food categories that are thought to be correct for Isa.  (Again, just don’t get the milk thing.)  What you can’t read is that statement at the bottom, which says:

“This Plan is a 1600 calorie food pattern. It is based on average needs for a 5 year old girl who is active more than 60 minutes a day. Your preschooler’s food needs also depend on how fast she is growing and other factors. Your child’s doctor can track her height and weight over time to identify specific needs. A preschooler should not be urged to eat these exact amounts — their needs may differ from the average.”

My 2 Cents

Overall, I’m pleased with the new Plate given the supporting material at ChooseMyPlate, the government site from which I’ve been getting the above information.  If people are willing to be guided by it, this country may divert the mounting health catastrophe that lies before us.  (If you think I exaggerate, read my five-part series on obesity staring with, The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity.)

My two nits have already been mentioned:

1. The tool for determining if you’re overweight and thus what your diet should be does not take into account those who are muscular; and
2. Milk is not some panacea food… some people do not well digest milk sugars, and there are many healthy alternatives, such as almond milk, hemp milk (if you’re the milky type) or simply water.

Do let your friends know about the The New Food Plate, particularly those who could use a nudge in a healthy direction, and most certainly for those who have overweight children who make the rules about what gets bought at the grocery store.

Yep.

Related posts:

1. The New Food Pyramid is a Plate
2. On a Budget? Good, Healthy Food is Often Cheaper (Watch)
3. Six Best of 2010 — Food, Diet and Nutrition

As the New York Times puts it: “Goodbye to the Food Pyramid, Hello to the Dinner Plate”.

This pyramid is on its way out.

UPDATE:  Yes, it’s Thursday, June 2, 2011, and as the USDA promised, the new Food Plate has launched in all its glory, which you can read about (after getting prepped below) at Yes, Choose My Plate!.

THE OBAMA administration is about to bury the food pyramid and launch a more relevant, instructive and simpler food plate, to be revealed in all its glory on Thursday, May 2, 2011.

Nutritionists by and large will not mourn the end of the pyramid, for although it has been recognized by millions of American kids and parents, it’s been considered to be too confusing and woefully flawed.  Flawed because it did not distinguish between healthy foods like whole grains and fish and the rather unhealthy foods such as white bread (white anything, really, foodwise!) and bacon.

Could the new food "plate" to replace the "pyramid" look like this?

The detail of this new plate icon will not be revealed till Thursday, but I for one am eagerly awaiting it with the hope that it will, indeed, be clearer and more instructive than the pyramid.

But it might not matter much.

I don’t want to be negative about this, but are Americans’ diets really guided by any food pyramid, plate or even the exhortations of their doctors?

Empiricism suggests not; rather the real influencers seem to be price, convenience and marketing.  The new “plate” will not overcome such powerful instigators.

I hope I’m wrong.

(If you just can’t wait till Thursday to find out what’s good to eat, check out my posts, Diet 101 and A Blueprint for Eating Right.)

Related posts:

1. Yes, Choose My Food Plate!
2. Mind Over Food — 7 Steps for Food Control
3. Six Best of 2010 — Food, Diet and Nutrition

Consumer Reports has added another service – Consumer Reports Health – to help demystify what is good and not so good for your health.  Take a look at what they’re offering.

I’M NOT in the business of hawking other people’s stuff, but I’d like to share an email from Consumer Reports with you that my sister just forwarded to me.

Consumer Reports declares itself to be an unbiased reviewer of many things that we buy.  For some, it’s the consumer bible about effectiveness, durability, quality, etc., particularly from a comparative perspective – one product vs another.

Consumer Reports is now offering ConsumerReportsHealth.org for $9 per year (first year).  As they say in the email:

“ConsumerReportsHealth.org provides objective, evidence-based Ratings for medical treatments, drugs and natural medicines. We rate health products and services with the same expertise and independence we use to rate cars, electronics and appliances for more than 70 years. And as long as you remain 100% satisfied you will receive the benefits of automatic renewal with continuous access to ConsumerReportsHealth.org”

Here are examples of the information that would be made available:

As someone who blogs about health matters, I can tell you first-hand that there’s a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there in the marketplace.  This might be helpful.  Know that I haven’t used the service, yet, and would not be compensated in any way by Consumer Reports if you subscribed.

If you have used this service, please let us know what you think in the Comments section below.

Related posts:

1. Newsweek’s Ms. Begley’s Five Health Care Lies
2. Debunking Health Care Mythmaking with Healthcare Journalist J.R. Reid
3. Health Advice for Women (and men) – A Sauvignon Tale

Aubrey de Grey says we can avoid aging.  OK… well… who is Aubrey de Grey, and why does he think that humans can avoid aging?

Aubrey de Grey

FAMOUS BRITISH researcher on aging, Aubrey de Grey, claims he has drawn a road map to defeat biological aging.  He provocatively proposes that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born.

His plan (watch below) calls for identifying all the components that cause human tissue to age, and designing remedies for each of them — forestalling disease and eventually pushing back death. He calls the approach Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS).

As MIT puts it:

“Aubrey de Grey is a man of ideas, and he has set himself toward the goal of transforming the basis of what it means to be human.”  MIT Technology Review

Over the years, I’ve been bumping into Aubrey de Grey all over the Internet, particularly at TED.com.  The man is obviously brilliant and has compelling research to affirm his claims, which in part, boil down to the following explanation.

Aging begins before birth and happens as a side effect of metabolism, Aubrey claims.  Metabolism causes damage, but the damage is relatively minor for much of our lives until it accumulates sufficiently to manifest as some pathology (the scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences).  So, it goes like this:

Metabolism –> Damage –> Pathology

During the last 20 years of research, scientists have not found any other examples of, or reasons for aging other than these:

-          Cell loss/atrophy

-          Death-resistant cells

-          Nuclear mutations and epimutations

-          mtDNA mutations

-          Protein crosslinks

-          Junk inside cells

-          Junk outside cells

And thus these (above) are the very finite areas that must be controlled or extinguished in order for leap in longevity to occur.

What does all this mean to you?

Right now, not much… but if you want even a slim chance of living an extended lifespan, you must last long enough for age-reducing remedies to be developed for humans. (They’re already being tested on mice and other animals.)  That means, cleanse yourself, eat right, exercise and clean out the garbage in your head.

Watch a very bright and entertaining Aubrey de Grey hold court:

Some posts that will help flesh out this one:

Ray Kurzweil’s March to Extend Life

It’s Detox Time

Diet 101

The 4 Addictions – Which 1 is Yours?

The Homestead Workout — Watch

Related posts:

1. “How To Live Forever”, a new film by Mark Wexler
2. Watch: Aging… Let’s Slow it Down! (Barbara Walters)
3. Top 10 Health Posts of 2011

KEEPING WITH the week-long tradition of making Sunday’s post a billboard for interesting stuff written by others that I’d like highlight, today I submit for your delight:

– Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald’s take on the perturbing information about our food industry brought to national attention by the movie, Food, Inc.,

– Author Kathy Freston’s report on meat: Is it really that natural for us to eat?

– A rather unappetizing, but truthful video about how Pork Rinds are made.

An “inconvenient truth” about our food.

If you haven’t already seen Academy Award nominee, Food Inc., the startling and insightful documentary about how food is made in America, you owe it to yourself to go rent the DVD and then proceed to get outraged.

Go ahead… let it all out.  Catharsis is good!

Learn about  bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad… which sounds pretty good until you consider the new strains of e coli (the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually), the widespread obesity (66% of us overweight or obese) and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults and children.

Check out the trailer for Food, Inc., and then read Dr. Patrica Fitzgerald’s insights about this important documentary:

Shattering the meat myth

Think that humans always ate meat and thus it’s as natural as breathing and shouldn’t be altered?  Well, there’s strong evidence contrary to that view.

Author Kathy Freston reports in this post, Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians, that through most of our history human beings had diets very much like great apes – mostly a plant-based diet, drawing on foods picked with our hands. Research suggests that meat-eating probably began by scavenging the leftovers that carnivores had left behind.  This dramatically changed when humans began raising their own food: animals, fruits, vegetables and cereals.

Pork Rinds

They contain the three food ingredients we love – fat, sugar and salt – and when you add the crunch, pork rinds can be pretty irresistible to some palettes.

Wanna see how one company converts about 120 million pounds of pork skin into 40 million pounds of pork rind?

Well, in case you haven’t seen Food, Inc. and thereby have gotten enough behind-the-scenes industrial food production footage to last a lifetime, here’s a video for you:

Related posts:

1. Six Best of 2010 — Food, Diet and Nutrition
2. Sunday Summary: Lifespan, Superfoods and Happiness
3. Monsanto, GMOs and the Food Fight Challenge — Watch