Fast Food Addiction=Sad Food Choices

I could only shake my head in astonishment at what I was hearing! I  had to keep remembering to close my mouth as I was sitting there with it just hanging open in disbelief! Here is an example of the food mentality all too common today with children.

A woman and her two adopted children:  she’s in her early 60′s, they are in their early teens. All are (no surprise) overweight, one of the girls who is quite short, probably under 5 feet, is well over 100 pounds over weight.  The other is a bit taller and probably close to 75 pounds heavier than she should be.

I listened in horror at this story.  Because their food is charged to a credit card, last month the food expenses were about $1800.00.  Four hundred dollars of that was spend at McDonald’s.  Some days they eat there 2 or 3 times a day. Their other favorites are Burger King, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s.  The girls eat no vegetables; the Mom doesn’t cook because she’s too busy.  Their beverage of choice is sweetened ice tea.  They buy 5 pounds of sugar a week for the tea.  Yes — you read correctly:  five POUNDS. With the exception of a Sunday dinner, there don’t seem to be any other homemade meals that are served.

The sad thing is they don’t seem to care.  THIS is food to them! They laughed at the whole thing;  howled as they told the story! The long-term consequences of this is absolutely frightening!  The Mom is compounding her medical problems by eating this diet.  The girls are surely headed (if not already) for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries and other ailments cause by fast food or a diet lacking in essential vitamins and minerals. They get no exercise at all.

Neither of the girls knows how to cook even a simple meal.  They aren’t inclined to learn, either.  Why should they… when McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King are so readily available?

Part of this is from advertising, part from convenience.  Mickey D’s (and others) with their campaigns and never ending product offerings have hoodwinked these woman, and millions like them. They’re TOLD it’s good food.  They’re promised that their fast food has gotten healthier, but HOW can this be healthy when the meat comes from animals treated with antibiotics, growth hormones, fed offal from dead chickens and processed in a way that could essentially make them sick from fecal contamination? Then there are the additives and chemicals used to make the buns, flavor the meat, breading and make up the ‘ice cream’ and flavor the shakes.  What about the pesticides that the cows and chickens have eaten on their grain or are in the vegetables (what little there are) on the sandwiches.  All ingredients in these meals undoubtedly come from fields treated with pesticides and herbicides such as Round-Up and are probably all made from GMO crops!

I later told the Mom and IF… for ONE MONTH… they ate real food, no fast food and used a sweetener such as stevia for their tea… that they all would lose weight, probably without exercising. Their calorie intake as it is right now must be thousands of calories a day…, never mind the salt, sugar and fat consumption! Of course, they’d have to be willing to TRY new food such as eggs, fruits, breads, grains, beans, salads and consume far less meat and processed food.  Their tastes at present are addicted to fast food and it’s a sad testimony.

Is it too much to make a simple breakfast between the three of them in the morning?  How difficult would it be, with all of them participating every evening, to make a home-cooked meal?  Is it so impossible to cook something beforehand, freeze it and have it on a night when they might be in a hurry to be elsewhere?

I still say it:  required reading in schools should be “Fast Food Nation”  by Eric Schlosser and Morton Spurlock’s “Don’t Eat This Book-The Supersizing of America”.  Required movies should be “Fresh, The Movie” and “Food, Inc”

Kids like these are heading toward health problems and an early death. Their generation is the first one that studies show,  that may not outlive their parents.  Already rampant are health issues never seen before in their age group.  These two girls are very likely to have a major health event such as a stroke, cancer of some kind or heart attack by their 40′s or 50′s.

It’s their food choices, bite at a time, that will doom them!

Heenes:Reality TV Wannabes: no profits!

Richard and Mayumi Heene are scheduled to go to court for their “Balloon Boy” hoax.  They face tens of thousands in possible fines and even jail time.

One investigator said that the judge should also prohibit them from profiting on the escapade in book,  movie or TV offers.

I agree.

If you read the article in the AP today, lead investigator, Bob Heffernan suggests the same.  These people not only exploited their own children, but the made false reports to law enforcement officials and the FAA. The U.S. Forest Service in Colorado got involved as did the National Guard, which sent helicopters to track the balloon.  Two adjoining counties had overtime expenses for their sheriff’s department.  In the skies over the area commercial aircraft had to be rerouted.

Never mind the anguish of Mr. Heffernan, who had to go tell the Heenes that their son was not in the balloon and presumed dead! To quote Mr. Heffernan in the AP article:

“I wish I could make you realize the anguish I had when I went into that room,” Heffernan said. “To have the Heenes start the grieving process with me trying to comfort them and give them some hope. Then to find out later they were just acting.”

The Heenes also caused anguish for all concerned:  the entire rescue team and everybody who watched it unfold on the internet or TV!

In the past there have been rulings on potential profits made from book or movie deals from other crimes.  With the fascination of reality TV and a ‘get rich quick’ and the ability for one to have the ’15 minutes of fame’, judges might do well to prohibit profiteering.

Just like the Salahis, the White House gate crashers – whose reputation and financial stability is in question – let’s not let these two crimes start a wave of ‘Reality TV Wannabes’ making money just because they got some attention!

More Toxic Imports From China

Indoor environments are thought to be safe, right?  Not so if you have a house constructed with Chinese wallboard and ceiling tiles

Following the devastating hurricanes in the south in 2005,  and building supply shortages, millions of pounds of Chinese wallboard was imported.  It has been found to give off fumes ( strontium sulfide)  which corrode copper pipes,  emits a rotten egg stench, tarnish silver and make people sick.  Researchers have identified highly toxic compounds in the drywall, including hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon disulphide.   Investigators have found that the components, unlike U.S. manufactured wallboard, contained a coal product, fly ash, and have fumigants sprayed on the ingredients inside it.

This is just the latest in the round of contaminated Chinese products.  From baby formula to pet food ingredients, toys and cough syrup, U.S. officials are wondering ‘what’s next?’

What IS next?

The level of GREED and TOTAL DISREGARD for HUMAN LIFE from not only corporations here in America but overseas, has reached epidemic proportions.  Shortcuts are taken in secret to save money with no concern for  the potential for deaths and illness.  Chinese officials in the baby formula debacle purposely laced it with melamine to boost protein content.

Is nothing safe?

Tellin’ It Like It Is

I’m just tellin’ it like it is for me and maybe for a lot of other folks, too.  THANKS for the cudos to those who have written saying they like the post.

As I said in ‘About’ – I’m not going to pull punches.  If I want to rant on the slugs who collect welfare, who have no right to, or spread the knowledge I’ve gained on the food industry – hey – I’m just writing here.  Hopefully somebody will listen.

If what I write   b-o-t-h-e-r-s you, well then maybe you need to look at yourself.

If the stuff about food or chemicals upsets you, perhaps it’s time you learned something.  I sincerely HOPE that I can get you to put down that diet soda, and toss that microwaveable meal in the trash.  Maybe the next time you want to eat out you’ll opt for a healthier choice than the drive thru at Wendy’s, KFC, Hardees, McDonald’s or Burger King! When you’re thirsty you’ll realize your body wants water – not - poison-in-a-can: SODA!

I hope I’ve rattled your cage about pesticides and chemicals.  It ain’t pretty, but YOU PEOPLE have to GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR BUTTS about pesticides.  We ALL have to do our part.

If you go to blame someone else for something that’s happened, you might remember my post on stupid lawsuits.  Slap yourself one upside the head  because you’ve probably been a dumb ass anyway. The world does NOT revolve around you and as Mick Jagger once said…, “You can’t always get what you want.”  Here in the U.S. you’d never know it, though!

So – off to another rant.

Rock on, fellow ranters!

L-O-V-E Those ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS? Things You Should Know!

What does DDT, FORMALDEHYDE, CHLORINE and a host of other chemicals have in common with artificial sweeteners?

Plenty!

How about the fact that Splenda more closely resembles the DDT molecule and that CHLORINE molecules are added to make the sweetener. The folks who make it will tell you that it’s made from sugar.  Well, it IS, initially, but the chemical changes that make it into SUCRALOSE  – which is a chemical formation and NOT real sugar is NOT FOUND IN NATURE!  Don’t be fooled by the name.  Additionally, your body does not have the ability to metabolize this chemical because it is artificial!  It is a CHLOROCARBON,  which causes shrinkage in the thymus, calcification in the kidneys.  If you get kidney pain after using this product, STOP using it at once. Nice, huh? It is also a fat soluble substance and remains in the body for a long time.

Did you know that scientists were creating an INSECTICIDE when Splenda was ‘discovered?’

People gobble Splenda ridden products and think nothing of it.  THIS IS NOT FOOD YOU ARE EATING - it is ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS something your body CANNOT PROCESS.

For more history of artificial sweeteners read this.

Personal note:

I ran the gamut of artificial sweetener use.  Grandma was into healthy eating and – we didn’t know any better then – she used saccarine.  I used that till the 70′s.  Then I used Sweet-N-Low… but…  when I started getting severe pain in my kidneys after using it, I started to wonder.  A friend who was an editor, and was currently on the health editing desk – alerted me to the dangers of S&L waaaay back then.  I stopped using ALL artificial sweeteners and have not had any pain since then.

Moms-to-be:  Please, PLEASE do NOT eat foods with artificial sweeteners.  Do not think you are doing your baby a favor by trying to ‘diet’ while you are pregnant.  EAT REAL FOOD – not ‘plastic, poison, artificial’  food!

For God’s sake (your BABY’S sake – really)  don’t drink soda, either.  That is one of the MOST poisonious things you can ingest and your baby is getting it, too.

Find out what IN your food, folks – because it probably is making you sick!

Why NOT Drug Tests For Welfare?

I think it’s a great idea.  Hey – if your primary purpose every day is to get stoned instead of getting a job…. and you get assistance….YEAH!

Welfare was never intended to be a way of life.  It was supposed to get people up and going then out to get a job.  It was a HAND UP….. not….. a HAND OUT.

Generations of people have been on welfare…… G E N E R A T I O N S…. folks!  They know exactly how to work the system. Some have never known life OFF welfare!  Their parents, grandparents and great grandparents have lived on the dole…. and why shouldn’t they?

There are far too many employable people:  physically able TO work who collect welfare.

Stop having babies to stay on welfare!!!!!  Does New Jersey still have the ’2 child’ limit?  I think the whole country should ave a ‘child limit.’  That would keep some of these women from having baby after baby just to get benefits. GET OFF YOUR BACKS, women!  You are BETTER than just being a baby machine!

There IS such thing as BIRTH CONTROL;  many different ways.  USE IT.

Yes…. we are in an economic crisis and jobs for everyone are hard to come by.  Surely somebody in government could figure out how to revamp it.

No…. better yet – make that…. someone in the private sector, because the government would just screw it up!

Breaking The Cycle of Poverty

I am inspired!  A wonderful man named Geoffrey Canada and his Harlem Children’s Zone is concentrated on getting kids off to a good start.  This Good Morning America video just blew me away, with a fantastic blurb on his ‘Baby College’.

I see this not only as a value to inner city children, but to all children.  Many Hispanic, as well as Black children, can benefit from something like this.  For that matter, any child born into poverty here in the United States or abroad would do well to be in a program such at this.

Although not a sociologist, with not even a college education, I see certain trends.  I once attended a family function of my ‘adopted’ black family.  A group of about 5  young black girls, all under the age of 18;  some closer to 15 – ALL pregnant or with infants, disturbed me.  What is the motivation to get pregnant at 14 or 15?  It stems from generational conditioning and acceptance of children having children. It also shows a lack of self-esteem for herself and a need for love.  False promises by the father to ‘be there’ justifies the pregnancy in her mind.  We all know that words are cheap;  actions speak.

To keep kids out of this endless cycle, this program teaches parents ‘parenting’.  Sadly, many of these moms-to-be were never parented themselves.  From single parent homes, or having been raised by their grandparents or others, they never learned the responsibility of parenting.  Being a parent is not just having a baby, it is accepting the entire responsibility.

Having a baby is not like buying a couch!  You can’t return it if you don’t like it! You can’t put it out on the curb if you’re tired of it!

As it says in the video, children’s minds are like sponges.  Fill them with happiness, love, respect, knowledge, responsibility and self esteem, then you’re on the way to molding a successful child and responsible adult. Ignore them, establish no guidelines and boundaries of respect and responsibility, beat and punish them…, then you’ve instilled anger, resentment, lack of regard for others and a propensity for abuse and crime.  In short, they’ll repeat the cycle all over again because children learn what they are taught.

Check out the above links and see what YOU THINK.

I bet that you too, will be inspired!

WHY We’re So Messed Up = CHEMICALS

Thank you MONSANTO!  Thank you ORTHO!  Thank you to ALL those wonderful scientists who  thought they were helping this world when some of this stuff was invented.

OK…, OK…, I know about the miracle of plastics and synthetic compounds  and how they have revolutionized life on this planet.

Let’s also remember that as we are finding out, ‘fake’ isn’t better.  Synthetic isn’t necessarily better.  Why?  Because it’s killing us.

Modern science is gathering evidence that artificial ingredients are making us sick.  Decades have passed since this stuff was first introduced into our food.  Look at us now?  We’re fat and sick… some of us are dying from cancer BECAUSE of the stuff.

Our bodies cannot metabolize those fake ingredients.  They cause all sorts of havoc in our bodies as they try to deal with them.  The result:  cancer, hormonal disruptions, illness, allergies and mysterious diseases.

Pesticides are endocrine disruptors, carcinogenic and weaken the immune system.  They are also NEUROTOXINS.  How do you think they kill bugs?  The chemical makes their systems shut down – BANG !  Little by little, with enough exposure, humans suffer a different reaction.  These insidious compounds lodge in fat cells and organs and sit there for decades.  By then – there may be other factors, coupled with the weakened immune system and the whole body goes nuts and says “I GIVE UP!”  Result:  cancer.

I heard a story of a woman who worked at a company where she was in contact chemicals on a regular basis.  I don’t know what the extent OF the exposure was; direct, indirect, exposure to fumes,  or what chemical.  I do know that her hair started falling out, she had terrible pain and many other symptoms.  Doctor after doctor dismissed her as a hypochondriac because their standard blood & urine tests revealed nothing.

Finally she went to a doctor who was inquisitive enough to run some different tests which evidenced that this poor woman was slowly being poisoned!

This is how insidious these things can be.  If you or someone you know has been diagnosed as a hypochondriac, tell them to get a different doctor who will do some extensive tests for poisonings.

It could save their life!

Workplace Terms: The Gag Reflex

Certain terms have become commonplace in the workplace & they make me want to throw up! Why do we have to be a TEAM MEMBER? Why do we have to like to WORK UNDER PRESSURE?  How come it is mandatory that we are ENERGETIC, or that we can HANDLE STRESS?

I guess ‘team member’ is supposed to connect us.  What it really means is that, like a dog, you’re expected to be totally enthusiastic, slobbering all over to BE the BEST – suck up, that is. RAH, RAH, SISS BOOM BAH !  Where are the cheerleaders?  Team members are to be blindly devoted completely to the company.  Ask no questions and we’ll tell you no truths.

Yeah, I’m a ‘team member’ – to a point.  I’ll do what my job requires me to do:  show up every day, try to do my best, do it on time and to the specifications to the job.  I draw the line, however, when it becomes obvious that I am being used or lied to or mistreated -OR- if I am expected TO lie and mislead.

WORK UNDER PRESSURE means, “How much can you take before you crack?” How much can we get OUT of you? How far will you go for this company?  How much of yourself, your needs and life outside the company will you give up? How far can we push you?

ENERGETIC means: work like the Energizer Bunny.  That’s GREAT if you’re 25 and just out of college wanting to prove yourself.  When you get to your mid-50′s, forget it.  The bunny needs a recharge!  I’m past killing myself for a job.  Been there, done that when I was in my early 20′s.  Worked 50-70 hour weeks.

WHY ARE WE EXPECTED TO WORK THIS WAY?  Aaaahhhh….. the old GREED factor.  Workers are disposable (see previous post on this) and this has become the new American corporate way.  Like paper towels, we are meant to be thrown away when we’ve been used up.  There are a thousand others waiting in line if we aren’t a team member.

WAKE UP, People!

I am AMAZED every time I go to the grocery store or (infrequently) out to eat.  I watch what others are buying on the grocery line and eating in restaurants.  It’s SCARY !

Yo —-  300 pound woman over there on the checkout line;  her groceries consist of – CASES of DIET soda (yeah.., like that’s gonna make a difference!) bags of chips, frozen this, frozen that, canned goods, ‘flavored’ coffee and (oh gag…) the flavored cream stuff for coffee. Then she’s got SPLENDA, which she may as well be injecting friggin’ anti freeze or something because that stuff is POISON… literally!  She’s trying to get SKINNY eating this CRAP?????

The woman with the kids:  I want to smack the shit out of her for buying  garbage to feed them!

Again – SODA…. what the hell IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?????  Do you wonder why your kids teeth are rotting, why they’re so hyper, and why they – at such a young age – have gastrological problems like ACID REFLUX?  Not to mention these kids look like little blubber people!  This is why!

Here’s some info on ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS:

Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners Nutra-Sweet, Equal and Splenda in diet sodas and low calorie foods are ‘excitotoxins’, causing neurons to fire spasmodically. They are linked to headaches and allergic reactions. “Splenda” has no sugar compound in it rather its molecules are bound with chlorine. Researchers in Britain were looking for a new pesticide formulation when they ‘discovered’ it.  Aspartame metabolizes into formaldehyde.

There are many side effects associated with artificial sweeteners which include: mood swings, anxiety, headaches, increased incidents of hyperactivity, itching, cancers, ringing in the ears, fibromyalgia, dizziness, and as recently discovered, tendency to overeat.

Isn’t THAT lovely?  Isn’t this what you want to eat?

Make sure you’re giving them the recommended dose of CHEMICALS in their food.  Did you know that over 3,000 chemicals are added to our food?  Over 10,000 chemicals, solvents, emulsifiers and preservatives are put into the food we eat.  Is it any wonder why cancer is so rampant?

Parents: Please, PLEASE LOOK at what you are feeding your kids.  Look at what you are feeding yourselves.

Mothers-to-be: You are harming your unborn child with every mouthful of chemicalized, preservative-laden, pesticide coated food.  If you are eating JUNK food – STOP!  Your baby is at risk!  If you still drink soda while pregnant you are, in effect – slowly poisoning your child even before it’s born.

WAKE UP, PEOPLE!  Every day you have another choice!

What will YOU CHOOSE TODAY – especially for your children – who cannot choose!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/02/19/common-toxins.aspx