'Feeding Kids Junk Food is Child Abuse'

Excerpt:


We headed toward frozen foods. No one recognized him. Six weeks from now he’d be mobbed doing this. “Or punched,” he said. “I’m a respectful person, and I’m going to try to do things in the nice way. But it’s almost as if parents here have stopped saying no. It’s as if the kids rule the roost.” We came upon a table of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. “They’re a treat, there to be loved,” he said. “But start having them every day, job done. It’s harsh to say, but these parents, when they’ve been to the doctor and keep feeding their kids inappropriate food, that is child abuse. Same as a cigarette burn or a bruise.”


Full Story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11Oliver-t.html

You will always find a cookie and/or a small piece of good quality chocolate, and once a week a few crisps, in my children's lunchbox (shock horror!). And no I am not lazy or irresponsible. I get up at 5:45 to make the lunches and I see nothing wrong with including a treat along with the fruit, cheese and sandwiches. I am not happy about the school telling me what I can and cannot put in my child's lunch box. One of my children is in the lowest 5 percentile for weight in his age group. If he eats an extra cookie or some of my (evil!) homebaking then I am happy.

Children nowadays are getting all the Lifestyle Diseases like Diabetes and Cancer at a very early age. These things didn't exist in this population in the past. Such diseases were only associated with people over 60 or 70. More such diseases will be coming their way if this trend continues. Parents need to understand that all processed snacks, whatever they say on the packet contain processed Sugar, or worse sweetners, and worse of all and which always there; additives and preservatives. These can halt a child immune system for over 24 hours, meaning that any virus surfacing around their environment will be happy to squeeze itself into their body. A can of coke contains 12 Tbsp of Sugar. I am only mentioning this one topic since it is easy to understand. It is by all means child abuse.


And the second part of it comes when you start giving them pills for their ailments. Please remember that doctors do not know about nutrition, unless you go to a homeopathic(some still might know little) doctor. Doctors only get to study nutrition courses a few hours only during their entire degree course. So they're unable to advise you on that front.


Seek 2 nutritionists, One that only advises Vegetarianism, and the other who is more open.


I will not give you the reason for that, because it will take too many words.

So just try and see for yourself.


Few things parents can do to help their little ones.


1. Give them a huge variety of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables.


2. Regulate their meals so they don't crave, and have good eating routines.


3. Do not ignore their symptoms, as part of their growing process. Investigate. And never settle with advice of one specialist.



4. Give them Adequate water. Advise them on water. And choose better water, Distilled not Mineralised.


5. Keep knowledge of their Bowel movements.


6. Good sleeping habits.


7. Good posture Habits. + Exercise.


8. Encourage them to learn about food and quiz them often, study about food. Food is something we can's survive without, so isn't it worth learning more about it?


9. Encourage them to help you in the kitchen.


10. Use peer pressure, to motivate them to eat more greens and no processed foods. For Example: Albert Einstein Was a Vegetarian, So was Carl Lewis and Bruce Lee. So the close we tend to a natural way the better off we are.


11. Demand good foods at school cafeterias.

Some good advice... personally I avoid anything that is pre-packaged because generally those foods are loaded with sodium and preservatives...


A very good reference for keeping healthy is the GI Diet... its not so much a diet as a guide to the types of foods that are good or bad for you. For the most part the recommended foods are probably what people were eating before corporations got their hands into things removing nutrients, adding chemicals and using marketing to convince us that sliced white bread that stays soft and 'fresh' for a month was progress....


Here's some info:


It seems every couple of years another diet finds favour amongst A-list celebs and creates a media storm. This time it's the turn of the Glycaemic Index or GI diet to jump into the spotlight.


But before dismissing it as just another 'celebrity slimming craze' only suitable for the rich and famous, there's some good news: this is a diet that most nutritionists and dieticians actually like, too. Here's the lowdown...

What exactly is the Glycaemic Index?


In 1981, professor of nutrition Dr David Jenkins was looking at how different carbohydrate-rich foods affected blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and discovered that, contrary to popular belief, many starchy foods affected blood sugar levels quite dramatically, while some sugary foods had little effect. From his research, he developed a scale called the Glycaemic Index, which quite simply ranked foods based on the effect they had on blood sugar levels.

How it works


The Glycaemic Index runs from 0 to 100 and usually uses glucose - which has a GI value of 100 - as the reference. The effect other foods have on blood sugar levels are then compared with this. In simple terms, the GI index tells us whether a food raises blood sugar levels dramatically, moderately or a little bit. Foods that have only a slow, small effect on blood sugar have a low GI value, while those causing a rapid and massive rise in blood sugar have a high GI value.

So what's the link with weight loss?


The theory behind diets based on the Glycaemic Index is that foods with a low GI value slowly release sugar into the blood, providing you with a steady supply of energy, leaving you feeling satisfied longer so that you're less likely to snack. In contrast, foods with a high GI value cause a rapid - but short-lived - rise in blood sugar. This leaves you lacking in energy and feeling hungry within a short time, with the result that you end up reaching for a snack. If this pattern is frequently repeated, you're likely to gain weight as a result of constantly overeating.

Glycaemic Index of foods


There are many books and websites that list the GI index for different foods. Food values may vary slightly depending on the source, but in general, they should all be roughly the same.


Many lists divide the foods into low, medium/moderate and high categories. Foods in the low category usually have a GI value of 55 or less; in the medium category, a GI value of 56 to 69; and in the high category, a GI of 70 or more. This Glycaemic Index Table gives examples of the GI values of food. You might be surprised by some of the foods included in the low and high categories - for example, 'healthy' rice cakes and branflakes actually have a high GI whereas salted peanuts and milk chocolate have a low GI value!

How do GI diets work?


Diets based on GI index simply encourage you to eat plenty of foods with a low GI value and avoid those with a high GI value. This helps to prevent swings in blood sugar, helping you feel fuller for longer. However, most GI diets also recommend cutting down on fat, especially saturates. This means many of the foods which have a low GI value but are high in fat - whole milk, crisps and chocolate, for example - are still limited.

What affects the GI value of a food?


There are several things. Firstly, the overall nutrient content of a food will affect its GI. For example, fat and protein affect the absorption of carbohydrate. This helps to explain why chocolate, which is high in fat, has a low GI value. It also explains why high-fat crisps have a lower GI value than low-fat jacket potatoes. Whole milk also has a low GI value because it's packed with protein and fat.


How you cook a food, the degree of processing and the ripeness and variety of a fruit, for example, also affect its GI. Even the structure of the carbohydrate itself influences the GI. For example, processed instant oatmeal has a higher GI than traditional rolled oats used to make porridge. This is because, as a result of the processing, the starch in instant oats is more easily exposed to digestive enzymes, causing it to break down and enter the bloodstream more rapidly.


Meanwhile, some foods have low GI values because they are packed with fibre, which acts as a physical barrier, slowing down the absorption of carbohydrate into the blood.

So what happens when I eat a meal?


GI index charts only identify the effect different foods have on bloods sugar levels when they are eaten on their own and, consequently, many nutritionists believe this is one of the main problems with GI diets. Basically, when you eat a mixture of foods together as in a meal, the GI value of that whole meal changes. As a guideline though, the more low GI foods you include in a meal, the lower the overall GI value of that meal will be.

Are there any cons to the GI diet?


As outlined above, one of the main limitations to GI diets is the fact it's difficult to identify the GI value of a meal. Meanwhile, some foods with a low GI value are also packed with fat and/or salt and contain few nutrients. Chocolate and crisps, for example, are high in fat and contain few vitamins and minerals. Meanwhile, a 50g pack of salted peanuts contains around 5g of salt - that's almost the maximum amount recommended by nutrition experts for good health!


Consequently, it's possible to follow a GI diet that's packed with fat and lacking in many of the nutrients you need to stay healthy. However, most GI diet plans come with advice to cut down on the amount of fat you eat and recommend avoiding many of the high-fat, low GI foods. For example, they recommend choosing skimmed milk over whole milk.

What do the experts think?


In general, most nutritionists and dieticians are supportive of the basic principles of the GI diet. They do, however, believe that you shouldn't get too hung up about avoiding all high GI foods because when foods are eaten together in a meal, that meal can have a very different GI value to the individual foods it contains.

How much weight can I expect to lose?


Most GI diets suggest you will lose around 1-2lb a week, possibly with a slightly greater loss in the first few weeks when your body loses water as well as fat. This follows the guidelines recommended by nutrition experts.

How does it differ from the Atkins Diet?


Unlike the Atkins Diet, which bans most carbohydrates, especially in the early stages, GI diets actively encourage you to eat many carbohydrates and antioxidant-rich fruit and veg. The diet is also high in fibre which means you're less likely to get constipated and, because carbohydrate isn't restricted to any great degree, you won't get the other unpleasant side effects associated with the Atkins Diet, such as bad breath and headaches. GI diets also tend to follow healthy eating guidelines and are low in fat, especially saturates. And if that's not enough, GI diets are much easier to follow if you are a vegetarian!

Are there any other health benefits to the GI diet?


Following a diet that includes plenty of foods with a low GI index may have a role in helping to prevent or reduce the risk of getting Type 2 or maturity-onset diabetes, according to experts at Diabetes UK, the largest diabetes organisation in the UK. Research has also shown that lower GI diets can help improve levels of 'good' cholesterol and so may reduce the risk of heart disease.


Also check out this site: http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Ed, you got the real helpful hint in the middle somewhere. Regarding Fibre!

That's what i was saying, without going into expert details.

Natural Fruits and Vegetables are packed with Fibre which is essential and essential.


Apart from that, you can make sure you don't mix your fruits and vegetables together when you can avoid it. That is because these two have different digesting times.


Fruits take about 3 hours to digest and 1 hour to empty the stomach

Vegetables take 4 hours to digest and 1 hour to empty.


Different types of foods can vary.

Many people, ofcourse with good intentions combined the two. And the Fruits sit in the stomach and ferment while waiting for the vegetables to finish. To get the best effects eat more of these and avoid combining.


Practice Regularity and Tend towards the Natural


"Regularity in eating is very important for the health of body and serenity of mind. Never should a morsel of food pass the lips between meals" -Counsels on Health p.118


"Fruits and Vegetables taken at one meal produce acidity of the stomach, then impurity of the blood results and the mind is not clear because the digestion is imperfect. You should understand that every organ in the body is to be treated with respect. In the matter of diet, you must reason from cause to effect" -Counsels on Diet and Foods p.112


Good Bless

Another provocative story...


Should Morbidly Obese Kids Be Taken from Their Parents?


Should morbidly obese children be taken from their parents? That's the question an increasing number of countries are grappling with amid the Western world's obesity epidemic.


The latest case to make headlines concerns a Scottish couple who lost custody of two of their six children on the basis of what was, their lawyer claims, a failure to reduce the kids' weight following warnings from Scottish social services. The couple lost their Oct. 14 appeal in a case that is far from clear-cut — representatives of Dundee City say they would never remove children "just because of a weight issue." But obesity appears to be the primary reason South Carolina mom Jerri Gray lost custody of her 14-year-old, 555-lb. son in May. She was arrested after missing a court date to examine whether she should retain custody after doctors had expressed concern about her son's weight to social services. The boy is currently living with his aunt, and his mother is facing criminal child-neglect charges.


Several other cases in recent years — in California, New Mexico, Texas and New York, as well as Canada — have garnered attention because a child's obesity resulted in loss of custody. "It's happening more than the public is aware of, but because these cases are usually kept quiet [as a result of child-privacy laws], we have no record," says Dr. Matt Capehorn, who sits on the board of the U.K.'s National Obesity Forum. The issue of whether parents should lose custody of their obese children took center stage two years ago with a British television documentary about Connor McCreaddie, an 8-year-old who weighed more than 200 lbs. and was at risk of being taken from his mother by authorities. She eventually weaned him off processed foods and retained custody.


Removing children from their parents remains a last resort, but obesity experts are increasingly debating whether doing so can boost a child's chances for a healthier life. Childhood obesity can lead to a host of health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, which until recently was primarily a problem seen in adults. Overweight children can also develop insulin resistance, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea and orthopedic problems and go into early puberty. "Children are vulnerable. If they're given food and told to finish what's on the plate, they'll eat it, and without exercise get bigger and bigger," says Tam Fry, chairman of Britain's Child Growth Foundation, who is lobbying obesity experts to consider overnutrition a form of child abuse.


More: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1930772,00.html

Best bit of nutrition advice I've heard in a while is "Never Eat Anything You've seen Advertised" - think about it- ever see ads for fresh fruit, broccoli, wheatgerm, proper yoghurt etc etc? In that sense we're quite lucky in HK, our kids are not bombarded with the same messages they are in the west. But a lot of kids in my daughter's Y4 class are eating those horrible dried noodles for lunch - dry! Called Maman or something?? Eee-yuuu....

Sugar: The Bitter Truth


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM&feature=player_embedded