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!

• 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Devour veggies! People who eat more than two servings a day have brains that function as if they were five years younger!

So eat up to get younger & smarter!

• this generation of children being born is the FIRST generation of kids NOT expected to outlive their parents.  Can you believe this!?  Our diet & health as a nation (world?) has declined so much that our children aren’t expected to live as long as we will?
• The average American child eats:
  • 3/4 pounds of sugar a DAY
  • More than 2400 mg of sodium a DAY
  • Gets more than 30% of their daily caloric intake from TRANS and HYDROGENATED FATS.

These statistics make me ill. 

The solution is so simple and right in front of all of us.  More fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Small changes in diet can make profound life changes.

1. Corn
2. Soybean
3. Wheat
4. Rice
5. Cotton

Isn’t it crazy – no fresh fruits and vegetables?

Limit saturated fat and trans fat

Saturated fats are found in animal-based foods, including beef, butter, lard, whole-milk dairy products (including regular yogurt, cheese, and ice cream), fried foods, fatty marbled meats (including hamburgers, hot dogs, salami, pastrami, and spareribs), and poultry skin.

Trans fats, developed to improve the shelf life of processed foods, are found in most stick margarines, some packaged baked goods and snack foods, fried foods, and fast food dishes that use or create hydrogenated oils. (All food labels must now list the amount of trans fats, right after the amount of saturated fats—good news for consumers.).

The role of saturated and trans fats in cancer is not entirely clear – but they’re generally bad for your health and should be dramatically limited by everyone. A few studies have shown an increased risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer… and we know that these unhealthy fats can increase levels of inflammation throughout the body, which may cause cellular damage over time. In addition, a healthy body means a healthy, cancer-fighting immune system.