Fooducate: 10 Reasons to Quit Soft Drinks (and diet soda too)

Fooducate Blog:

Let’s admit it. We’re a nation of junkies addicted to sugary soft drinks. Decades of clever advertising and cheap unlimited access have made us slaves to sugary pop. We must stop this nonsense. Here are 10 reminders why you should quit, right now!

1. You’ll lose weight. Regular consumption of soft drinks make you fat. Drinking just one 12 oz. Pepsi a day for a year will add 18 pounds to your body weight when compared to water consumption.

2. You’ll lose weight by quitting diet drinks too! When you consume calorie-less sweets, your body gets confused. It releases insulin to absorb the expected sugars in the blood stream, but those sugars never arrive. The result is increased fat cell production.

Read entire article Fooducate: 10 Reasons to Quit Soft Drinks (and diet too)

p.s. My comment:

Soda = candy-in-a-can

Diet soda = chemicals-in-a-can

Is this chemical-in-a-can really health smart?
Wonder how much $$ the American Heart Association received from...

Still Believe 'A Calorie Is a Calorie'?

Terrific article! Hope we can spread the word to parents that we are unknowingly hurting our children.

It's so strange: America (and her children) have never been fatter or sicker and we can't seem to figure out why....meanwhile we're told everything is fine with our highly processed, genetically engineered, factory farmed, chemically engineered, artificially flavored, sugar loaded, antibiotic administered, franken-fake food supply.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

BPA may increase asthma risk in kids...

"...experienced a dramatic rise in their BPA levels -- because of unexpectedly high levels of BPA in the milk and dried spices they were consuming."  One more reason why I avoid ALL dairy products since I had breast cancer over 12 years ago.

I had no idea about our highly processed, artifically flavored, chemically laden, clean room manufactured, factory farmed, genetically engineered, steroid injected, arsenic feed, antibiotic administered, high fructose corn syrup addicted, franken-food supply. ...and I thought I was eating healthy.

It's so strange, America (and her children) have never been fatter or sicker and we can't seem to figure out why.   

An "organic" apple a day helps keep the doctor a way. - Ben Franklin

p.s. Great article! Totally agree on glass storage suggestions and basically eliminating  "plastic" as a cooking/storage utensil.  Cans lined with BPA will become a thing of the past because (hopefully) consumers will purchase only those cans that state "no BPA" similar to HFCS and non GMO.    Thanks again for getting the word out there about BPA and its dangers.

See more at www.boston.com/dailydose

DIrect marketing piece handed out at our children's school picnic -
I added the red cross out

Mediterranean diet shown to reduce heart disease, landmark study finds

Mediterranean diet shown to reduce heart disease, landmark study finds

The work of Walter Willett and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health is terrific!  They have been focusing on diet and disease in America for some time.  Here's an article that reinforces why I avoid ALL dairy products:  Hormones in Milk Can Be Dangerous: the suspected role of cow's milk, cheese, and other dairy products in hormone-dependent cancers. (Those include cancers of the testes, prostate, and breast.)

Can Hormone's in Cow's Milk be Dangerous

Happiness Tips: 13 Experts Weigh In On The Pursuit Of Joy

"Count your blessings ... pray every day ... honor God by taking care of your body and mind ... remove all negative people from your life ... learn to forgive yourself and others ... watch as many sun rises and sunsets as you can." - Richard Simmons, American fitness personality and motivator

Great quote!   For over a year now, I try and catch a glimpse of every sunrise and sunset. I've been in meetings and could see the light changing behind a colleagues head and said, "excuse me" and turned to catch a glimpse of the setting sun.

Also suggest taking 15 minutes and watch The Happy Movie - if you don't like it - turn it off. Our 19 year old couldn't stop watching it...

Best health always....
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are America's children addicted to ....

New York Times article: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

Cheap processed food is the new crack

Federal panel: Don’t take vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent fractures

Federal panel: Don’t take vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent fractures

"My oncologist says the best way to get vitamin D is through 15 minutes of sunshine (even in the winter)  and to build strong bones is weight bearing exercises.  Hopefully, walking from the grocery store carrying groceries after a snow storm counts." - SuperMom101

The horsemeat scandal

This horesmeat scandal is similar to our "Pink Slime" 
Consumers feel duped

Just returned from the United Kingdom and this Horsemeat Scandal is HUGE.  I would liken it to our "pink slime" controversy last year.  Consumers feel duped that they have no idea what is really in their food supply, where it comes from and how badly it may be contaminated. Plus, you're paying for something entirely different than what you thought you were.  Social norms aside, doubt the healthiest horses are used for processing and they are administered drugs that are illegal for human consumption.  Plus, in this case, there is more than just a trace of pork in the beef products which is forbidden in the Jewish and Muslim communities.

Read entire post at Food Politics.

Side note:  had the pleasure of staying with a lovely Muslim family that follows the practice of consuming only Halal meat - fascinating how the "food rules" are similar to kosher:

Guarantee that the animal has been raised and butchered humanely.
No factory farmed meat here!

What is Halal?

According to the U.S. Halal Chamber of Commmerce:
In Arabic, the word halal means permitted or lawful. Halal foods are foods that are allowed under Islamic dietary guidelines. According to these guidelines gathered from the Qu'ran, Muslim followers cannot consume the following:

• pork or pork by products
• animals that were dead prior to slaughtering
• animals not slaughtered properly or not slaughtered in the name of Allah
•  blood and blood by products
• alcohol
• carnivorous animals
• birds of prey
• land animals without external ears 

Find the following post discussing the methods of butchering interesting as well and far more humane than factory farming.

Recent post at www.thekitchn.com:

My boyfriend owns a large Halal slaughter house in New York. Each animal is taken away from the other animals when it is slaughtered. It is given water to drink beforehand, and each animal is killed with one cut to the throat while ritual prayers are recited. The knives are re-sharpened before and after each killing. The animals are not kept in cages. The chickens are not piled on top of each other in crates. His poultry comes from Amish farms, and his lamb and goats are free range from Texas. The animals are fed all natural feed, and they are never given drugs or fed any animal by-products. 

The Halal laws are very similar to the Kosher laws. It is about respecting the creature whose life you are taking, and acting with reverent accordance. Two-thirds of my boyfriend's customers are not Muslim. They are just people looking for responsibly raised and slaughtered meat. I have lamb chops in my freezer right now, and I know exactly where and how they were produced. And I get the freshest eggs of anyone I know!

Recent college grad lives off $7 per day for food

My woeful budget

Good luck Anna!  These skills will take you far.  Have a pound of "organic" black beans soaking for chili  - you can buy them in bulk for far less than cans without the added salt. Completely intimitated at first to buy in bulk and had to look at a dry bean package to get the directions on how to soak - none of the cookbooks gave great details.  Entire countries live off rice and beans (with barely any meat and zero dairy)  and have a fraction of the health issues we Americans experience and they're thin too.

Great ideas for Kale - will give them a try.

Wishing you continued success,

SuperMom101

Overnight soak: add 6- 8 cups cold water to 1lb dried beans (approx. 2 1/4 cups.)
Let stand overnight - at least 6-8 hours.
Drain soak water and rinse beans. Cook as desired.*

*To cook: add 6 cups water to drained and rinsed beans.  Simmer gently with lid tilted until desired tenderness is reached, about 45 minutes - 1 1/2 hours.  Stir occasionally and add water to cover beans as needed.  Acidic ingredients such as tomatoes, vinegar, wine or citrus juices should only be added at the end of cooking once beans are tender.  Thank you to Whole Foods Market for providing the directions.

Fooducate leads the way...no more artificial food dyes for our children

Fooducate leads the way...

In honor of my sister, who tragically passed away unexpectedly last January 2012 - I signed the  petition.  As a mother of four - nursery school teacher - friend to the developmentally challenged and story listener of the elderly - Susan believed food dyes, diet sodas, chemical additives, etc. "screwed up the wiring in our children's brains"...

America's children deserve better - sign here

Hmmm..are these kid's sticking out their artificially dyed tongues at us?

To:
John Bryant, CEO, Kellogg's
Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo
Tony Vernon, President, Kraft Foods
and all American Food Manufacturers 

Please stop using artificial colors in your food products. They are unnecessary and potentially hazardous to our health:

* Artificial colors are a petroleum industry derivative, not a food product.

* Artificial colors have been linked to cancer in lab animals

* Artificial colors may cause allergic reactions

* Artificial colors cause hyperactivity in some children

* Food products with Artificial dyes require warning labels in the UK

* Artificial colors are banned in several European countries

* Artificial colors provide absolutely no nutritional benefit

* Artificial colors are easily replaceable by natural coloring such as paprika and turmeric.

So why keep using them?

Companies like yours have shown that natural colorings can be used in products for the European market. Those very same products use artificial colors when manufactured for the US. Don't American kids deserve better?

In summary: Please remove Red #40, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, and Blue #2 from ALL foods you manufacture.

Sincerely,
SuperMom101 (via Fooducate)
America's children deserve better