Fat Chance - What's Wrong With America's Food? Quantity or Quality: A must read on why America (and her children) have never been fatter or sicker

Thank you again to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and the life changing work you are doing.

What's Wrong with Our Food? Quantity or Quality? - This article is a must read.

Here's an excerpt:

Everyone thinks it’s about the calories. Overconsumption of total calories drives obesity. Yet we humans have a hormone called leptin, made by our fat cells, which is supposed to tell our brain to stop. But leptin now doesn’t work, which leads to “brain starvation”, and which is why 30% of Britain and 33% of America are obese. But why did leptin stop working? And why do some obese people get metabolic syndrome but others don’t; and why do normal weight people also get metabolic syndrome? Obesity prevalence is increasing worldwide by 1% per year, while diabetes prevalence is increasing by 4% per year. The quantity of calories — obesity — doesn’t explain diabetes. Rather, the quality of those calories determine whether you can suffer from metabolic syndrome — and the leptin disconnect, by the way.

1. Too little fiber
There are two kinds of fiber: soluble, which is what holds jelly together; and insoluble, like the stringy stuff in celery. When you consume both, it forms a gelatinous barrier along the intestinal wall, which delays the intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients — and that’s good. This limits the blood sugar rise, which limits the insulin response, which limits how much energy is stored in fat cells, and which does away with the leptin disconnect. When you consume fiber, you consume less.

To continue the article: What's Wrong With Our Food? Quantity or Quality

p.s. This article really made me reflect on the last time I was in the hospital (to visit a sick family member) and the only individuals that were not borderline obese were the surgeon and the man polishing the floors. Sadly, there were only a few nurses that were not (by most standards) way overweight. 

Dr. Lucy's Treats

Check out Dr. Lucy's "treats" from her dedicated bakery.  Tried the chocolate chip cookies and I'm spreading the word: delicious and vegan!  Who would think those two words could go together.

Perfect timing to talk about gluten free as the next episode is "in the can": SuperMom 101 Show: Epsiode 3 (please be patient - takes a few seconds to load the video).

Here's a link to the full line of Dr Lucy's Treats

Who is Lucy?

When Dr. Lucy Gibney discovered her child had severe food allergies, she got down to some serious medical research—in the kitchen. What began as a mother’s tasty recipe for her child has today developed into a delicious alternative for people with or without special dietary considerations.
Lucy's cookies and cakes are gluten free and made without milk, eggs, peanuts or tree nuts, but you'd never know it—they’re scrumptious. We employ the very best allergen control methods to help safeguard you and your family.

Best health always!

Fast and easy: Split Pea and Ham Soup - what to do with the leftover ham hock

Quick and Easy recipe that keeps the kitchen warm and smells great cooking  on a snowy New England morning.  (And it's bitter cold - so cold in fact that the pipes froze in the downstairs bathroom.)

1 (24oz) bag of organic split green peas. rinsed

1 hearty ham bone or 3 cups diced ham

1 chopped onion

3 ribs celery with leaves - chopped

3 garlic gloves, minced

2 cups sliced carrots

9 cups chicken broth

2 bay leaves

Layer ingredients in dutch oven in the order given above, adding the broth last.  Do not stir.  Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours at 300 degrees or lower for 8-10 hours until peas are very soft and ham falls off the bone.

Split Pea with Ham Hock before the Broth was added -
split peas are on the very bottom of the dutch oven