Posts Tagged ‘good health’

Children’s packed lunches are a disaster. It is a failure to provide not just proper nutrition, but to pack know chemical poisons. The taste that kills is what we feed our children year in year out. 

Research that is going to be in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports that only one per cent of primary school children who brought lunches met the nutritional standards set for school meals in England.

What this means is that chips, sweets, and sugary drinks are preferred to vegetables, fruit, and milk based products. It also means children’s lunch disasters are in the lunch box they bring to school.

No Surprise

This is the trend in most industrialized nations. In the United States children are suffering from the same type of carbohydrate overload. Convenience is only one of the factors. The lethal effects of excess calories are known. Couple that with empty calories and we have the ingredients for a generation of obese and sickly children.

Formula for Lifelong Health Problems

A recent report from the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) states that excess body fat is now seen as a major cause of some cancers. There are newer studies that seem to find that excess body fat lowers immune function and increases oxidative stress. All this can lead to DNA damage.

All these lunches provide excess calories and turn off the longevity genes. The habits formed in early childhood, are the ones that persist throughout life. The most effective way to prevent disease and extend life is watching what goes in to children’s lunchboxes.

Childhood is when taste preferences are formed. The type lunch that is sent to school with children will either set them up for impaired glucose control or undermine their metabolic functions.

Example

The food in a child’s lunchbox can contain as much sugar as ten doughnuts research shows.

A snapshot survey by a consumer watchdog group found that a packed lunch made up of five seemingly healthy items, including cheese and biscuits and fruit juice, contained 60g of sugar. This may be a complaint in Britain, but it sure is not that different here. The results of our food supply shows health concerns seem to take back seat to the food industries goals.

The Children’s Food Campaign coordinator, Jackie Schneider, commented: “Although these findings are appalling, we are not surprised. A whole industry has grown up around producing foods for lunchboxes, which can contain high levels of salt, fat or sugar. Parents are often misled by marketing for these lunchbox products, which make health claims like ‘high in vitamins’ but also turn out to be high in salt, fat or sugar as well.”

Spoiling

Sometimes parents offer these delights in the lunch box and spoil their children with these so called treats. What they are spoiling is a chance for their children to remain disease free. 

“Junk foods are altering the structure and function of the human brain while increasing and decreasing insulin levels so quickly that junk food leaves students groggy in class. (Simontacchi, 2000) A child’s brain continues to develop through until adulthood; many of the foods that students eat affect the growth of critical areas of their brain. When growth is disrupted, it can cause negative behavior reactions in the classroom. Often times, doctors do not seek the root of the problem (food) but instead they mask the behavioral symptoms with drugs such as Ritalin or Prozac which have their own series of side effects, all while the brain development continues to be damaged. (Simontacchi, 2000)

Simotacchi is the author of the book The Crazy Maker: the Food Industry is Destroying our Brains and Harming our Children.

Performance analytics show that children who consume low-nutrient content junk food diets perform poorly in academics. Their cognitive skills are impaired and at the same time they become anxious and hyperactive. Concentration is down so they do not have the opportunity or capacity to learn as well.

Success vs. Failure

Most of the calories are not only empty, but are in a large part from sugar. It is a problem because it creates a roller coaster in the body, with highs of hyper energy followed by drowsiness. It takes anywhere from one to three hours to come down from a sugar high. Sugar addiction comes because of the need for the fix again.

This kind of eating is not due to the failure of the food industry. They are succeeding in making a profit at the expense of our children. Dominating the market is their goal and they are succeeding, better than all expectations. Their job from a business standpoint is not in providing health food, but to successfully market their products.

Biology is not the corporate board meetings topic when looking for ingredients, it is global business. Every document, and task is geared for growing a global market.

Convincing adults and children that their food meets their nutritional needs is easy. We are addicted to the taste, and they know that is key to their profit. Their job is to maintain their brand and they have done that brilliantly.

They succeeded at the expense of our children’s health. Our children’s health suffers, while the food industry prospers. This is not a good trade-off.

Over The Top Perhaps

Processed food can be the downfall of both our health and the health care system. Consumming processed food can lead to all types of health problems. Some of them we are experiencing now.

Processed Food Effects

The incidence of obesity among children and adolescents has increased worldwide.

The long-term effects of processed food, both with regards to ill-health and mortality rate, are insufficiently documented.

The risk has been underestimated; from coronary heart disease to cancer, the major cause is the over consumption of pretend food.

Food Technology

What it takes to navigate our food supply is a degree in food science and technology. Save time most answers are just a few clicks away. The dirty tricks surface online.

Processed beef becomes a mashed substance that is frozen into blocks or chips, is used in a majority of the hamburger sold nationwide. But it has remained little known outside industry and government circles. Federal officials agreed to the company’s request that the ammonia used be classified as a “processing agent” and not an ingredient that would be listed on labels. The use is to kill pathogens by raising the level of alkalinity in the beef product. School lunch officials and customers have complained about the odor and taste of treated beef.

A pizza chain has used patented manufacturing processes that added lots of water, salt, and food starch to granules of so-called pizza cheese before flash-freezing. Food starch is a profit making component, it holds ten times its weight in water. For shelf-life water with a little antifoam is sprayed on the cheese granulates. The antifoam FG10 is known as polydimethylsiloxane. It is an anti-foaming agent for boiler water in plants processing procedures.

Consequences

This unfavorable consequences of a processed food diet will be a future of poor health for us and the nation. This technology and the overeating that ensues, increase the likelihood of childhood obesity. It is now found that those who are overweight in adolescence have an increased mortality rate from most causes. We see it across the board in the children, adults, and seniors as a continual decline in health. This is propelling the nation’s health crises.

 On The Record

It is expected that the purchase of processed food will increase, at this time it makes up 90% of our groceries. Just because we can build it doesn’t mean we should be using it.

While we communicate the pitfalls of this type marketplace, we have yet to motivate enough people to share this mission and passion. The lack of high quality food is going to change our lives. Our children can’t afford to wait it out. There is an option and it starts when we open our pocketbooks. We go on the record for or against something by the lifestyle we choose.

Living longer enjoying it less sums up the high price of medical advances. The problem is with our reliance on pharmaceuticals, and procedures, instead of a healthy lifestyle.

Old Age

Old age isn’t the problem; it is the way we age. We are told thanks to the marvels of modern science we are living longer than ever. Adults over 80 are the fastest growing segment of the population. Also, this group will spend their years needing help from others, and suffer from loss of independence. This is called the new old age, because the generations before did not have this opportunity to reach their eighties.

The Truth

These are fabrications of the truth. In the past generations there were strong and independent robust elderly citizens. What really has happened is we cut down on infections and disease by increased sanitation. We can operate and save lives, and have antibiotics for acute infections.

However, these procedures and drugs do not make robust health. Life extension is the product of some of the technological advances we have made. The formula for a healthy old age is really unchanged. A good lifestyle, faith, social contacts, and a optimistic view. What is different, those with a poor lifestyle and lots of blocked arteries are offered procedures that weren’t available until now. 

Taking advantage of these procedures doesn’t mean we obtained better health. Better health through technology really means that what you are missing diet wise is made up thought medical intervention.

Breakthroughs

With all the breakthroughs in diagnostic tools, we seem to just find more wrong. Rates for all so called diseases have escalated. Yet, we are not any nearer to solving the problems. Handing out drugs, chemo, dialysis, stents, stomach stapling, laxatives, sleep aids, and tranquilizers are not health aids, they are band aids.

Our breakthroughs are shockingly short termed and are missing the point. What’s inside us is not so insufficient that at every turn it needs to be resuscitated. It comes with an implicit warranty, which states under normal use everything should perform well.

Aging

Aging brings with it a sub-total of everything we put in and exposed our bodies to including nutrition, thoughts, stress, and medications. Genetics are reflected in the lifestyle choices we made. Aging is like a bank account, what you put in is what you can withdraw. These are not randomized experiences. It is well known if you are obese than you will have a higher rate of disability as you age.

Chronic conditions of aging are tied to lifestyle, and the sooner that fact is realized the less medical intervention will be needed. Most symptoms that are blamed on aging are lifestyle issues. It is not uncommon for someone in their 40’s to be told what they are experiencing is normal aging.

With this amount of misinformation it is no surprise that people expect a decline in health with age. It is ignorant to think of the 40’s, 50’s and beyond as anything but prime time.

Conclusion

Living longer enjoying it less seems to be an outcome of our medical mentality. The national pastime among seniors seems to be running to doctors. From one specialist to another, it is a never ending cycle. The one thing to get straight is in a few instances it is necessary,  For most a lifestyle change, more nutrition, activity, less prescriptions, more outdoors, and weight management will go a long way in producing favorable gene expression.

Research shows that lifestyle has a synergistic effect on biological activity and the functioning of human cells. To optimize energy output as you age it is necessary to have access to optimal nutrition, sunlight, and activities that are health promoting. Health care providers do not prevent diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular problems; they can only try to inhibit the process from causing havoc. Examining the results of intervention only shows it’s weakness in producing real long term benefits, without numerous side effects.