The Whole Wheat

I thought I would kick off this American Thanksgiving week with a fun turkey fact I read in Gourmet’s November 2007 issue.

Did you know that wild turkeys can see 320 degrees without moving their heads?

Amazing isn’t it? I can see why it would be hard to sneak up on a wild turkey!

The July 2007 issue of Parents magazine has an article titled Sugar Shock. And shocking it is! Let me summarize some of the statistics:

• Based on an average 2,000-calorie diet, the recommendation is not to consume more than 40 grams of sugar. This is not specific to children but a general guideline for all of us.
• PB&J on whole wheat bread, maybe with a cup of apple sauce & fruit punch – that sounds like a pretty standard kid’s lunch, right? That lunch has 76 grams of sugar! That means in one small lunch, your child has eaten nearly double the sugar they should consume!
• The latest research shows that a 30-something adult is consuming 46 pounds of sugar a year. And children are consuming 49 pounds! More sugar in their smaller bodies.
• In 1994 less than 5% of children were diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Today the number ranges from 30-50%.

Sugar seems to be everywhere – so what can you do??? Here are a few tips that Parents Magazine provided in their article:

1. Think Small: When you dish out a dessert – use teacups instead of soup bowls.
2. Teach kids to be choosy: “Let children have a treat, but only one each day, says Margo Wootan, PhD, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. When Dr. Wootan and her daughter go out to dinner, her daughter knows she can have either soda or dessert — but not both. “You need to put sweets back in the proper place in your child’s diet,” she says.”
3. Avoid Processed Foods: “The more control you have over what your child eats, the better. For example, one packet of maple- and brown-sugar flavored oatmeal has 13 grams of sugar. You can add these ingredients to regular oatmeal yourself (which has no sugar), using half the sweetener.”
4. Make Compromises: Banning sugary cereal will just make your child want it more. Let him have it, but only if he mixes it with a whole-grain one with no added sugars.

The article is fantastic I would highly recommend reading it.  There are many more tips and ideas in the article as well.  Please find it on the Parents Magazine website here: Sugar Shock.

I’m currently reading The China Study, which is “the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted.” The book is phenomenal in its depth of research and the shear volume of statistics collected and correlated. I would highly encourage everyone to read it – but in the meantime, here is a shocking statistic I just stumbled across.

In 1996, 42% of Americans at cake, cookies, pastries or pie on any given day. Only 10% at a leafy green vegetable. In another ominous sign, only three vegetables accounted for half of the total vegetable servings [that year]:

1. potatoes, which were mostly consumed as fries and chips,
2. head lettuce, one of the least nutrient dense vegetables you can consume, and
3. canned tomatoes, which is probably only a reflection of pizza and pasta consumption.

Add to that the fact that the average American consumed thirty-two teaspoons of added sugars per day in 1996.

Here is my challenge to you. Try to include at least one vegetable not on that list in your diet each day this week. You might like it!

Source: Campbell, T. Colin, The China Study, p98, 2004.

Do you remember the fact of the day post: FOTD: Is that actually organic? The great news is that a lot of people paid attention to shocking revelation that Aurora Organic Farms was mistreating their cows and misrepresenting their organic products. Today the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) announced that “HORIZON ANNOUNCES FURTHER LOSSES AS OCA BOYCOTT CONTINUES.” The email I received from the OCA stated:

This week, Horizon, the largest organic dairy company in the U.S., announced, for the second time this year that its profits are decreasing. Horizon dairy is one of several brands being boycotted by the OCA and thousands of organic consumers due to the company’s practice of sourcing milk from giant dairy feedlots where the animals have little or no access to pasture. Gregg Engles, the CEO of Dean Foods (Horizon’s parent company) blamed recent profit losses on “considerable disruption” in the organic dairy marketplace. When OCA launched its boycott in 2006, Engles claimed factory farmed organics were necessary in order to produce enough organic milk to meet growing consumer demands. Ironically, this week Engles said part of the blame for the company’s profit losses is due to an oversupply of organic dairy in the marketplace.

I think this is fantastic news – to see consumers take a stand and demand that Organic be a meaningful title, not just a word to place on a label. I applaud everyone of you that helped in this effort!

But don’t start buying Aurora products just yet. Keep in mind that these are other labels that this fake organic milk shows up under:

1. Horizon
2. Costco’s “Kirkland Signature”
3. Safeway’s “O” organics brand
4. Publix’s “High Meadows”
5. Giant’s “Natures Promise”
6. Woodstock Farms
7. Wild Oats’ Organic milk

Please continue to stand up for your consumer rights by avoiding these brands! Additionally, you can send a message to the “Shameless Seven’s” CEOs by simply filling out this form.

Wild Oats grocery publishes a magazine each month. In this month’s magazine on page 65 they share the following statistic:

On average Americans chuck a quarter of all the produce they buy, mostly because it’s gone bad… [This is] about 470 lbs of food per year – at an annual cost of $600 per family or $43 billion worth of food every year!

I know I could do a better job of ensuring we eat the food and produce we buy, but it is shocking to realize what a large impact it is across the country!

Yesterday we learned that eating more veggies can help you feel five years younger! Today a way to feel even younger!

For the first time scientists have found something that not only halts brain shrinkage but actually reverses it. According to a new study, the brain’s long, slow decline may not be inevitable. Regular aerobic activity apparently increases blood flow to the brain and triggers biochemical changes that increase production of new brain neurons. Professor Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois says, “After only three months, the people who exercised had the brain volumes of people three years younger.” Studies have linked increased brain volume to improvements in thinking, remembering and the ability to ‘think outside the box.’
Source: Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences

There we have it – eat more veggies, feel five years younger! Get some aerobic activity and your brain age decreases three years. Now you can feel almost a decade younger in no time.