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!

Random Rantings…..

Drive up window up selling….. Never MIND you have to deal with the totally annoying recorded monotone, sticky sweet  announcement…” Good Morning – would you like to try our Texas toast Breakfast?” before you get to talk to a live person!  Frigging gag – NO!  Then I order… A, as in  ONE, bacon egg & cheese biscuit and   a-l-w-a-y-s    add…”and that’s IT” (emphasis on the IT!) but they always ask “Would you like to make it a combo?”  Did I SAY I wanted a combo? No – I didn’t and I don’t feel like adding another thousand calories to my already fattening meal.

Pull ahead, please…. Sometimes there’s a snafu and you have to wait for your order so they ask you to pull up. Never fails….. some idiot thinks that pull up means to move up just far enough to get away from the drive up window.  Doesn’t matter that the guy behind you, or anyone else for that matter – can’t possibly get around you to get out.  This happened this morning.  The guy  two cars up, some old dude, just pulled forward about 5 feet and stopped.  The dumb ass in front of me obviously forgot that cars (usually)  come with HORNS.  A friendly tap would have let pops know he needs to move his Buick Roadmaster up another 10 feet.   The dude in front of me is just  sitting there and I’m ready to lean on the horn ’cause BOTH of these people left home without their brains!  ‘Course, Pops probably has an excuse – old age.  Could be stupidity, though!

WHY do we need 40 different kinds of Crest toothpaste? The next time you go down the toothpaste aisle, count how many different varieties of Crest there are.  Talk about trying to please everybody…. or -  trying to convince us that we NEED it.

We don’t.

It’s stupid!

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!

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

Food & Wacky, Uncontrollable Kids

I picked up a book in a used book  shop:  “Why You Child Is Hyperactive”  by Ben F. Feingold, M.D.

Dr. Feingold was an allergist, who, back in the 70′s proposed that hyperactivity in children could be traced to chemical additives in food colorings.  His ‘Feingold Diet’ advocated strict adherence to a fresh food, chemical free life.  Parents of ADD and ADHD children were encouraged to keep a food diary.  The results were amazing.

Now, 40 years later, diet and the link to all sorts of disorders, in adults as well as children is mainstream medicine…. well,  practically.  There are still some parents and physicians who barely admit that what goes into a kid’s mouth will result in their little darling turning into the  creature from the black lagoon or Mr. Hyde.

If your child, or one you know, is out of their tree after eating a Happy Meal, you might do well to investigate…, that is unless you have stock in the pharmaceutical company that makes Ritalin!  Or maybe you’re totally oblivious to what it’s really doing to your kid and figure it’s just easier to keep shoving pills down his throat! Hey – if you don’t give a damn…. then keep having those prescriptions filled!

We Are All LAB RATS

YOU and I are lab rats.  Your KIDS are lab rats, too. Unless you grow and consume all your food yourself, YOU are held hostage by the food companies.

Think about it.  Everything thing you eat -  e v e n   those so-called ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ foods probably are tainted in some way with something.

I know too much.  I have my roots in the local food movement, but they stretch way back to the environmental movement.  What I do here, and on my website an other blogs, is try to EDUCATE.

For the most part, the average consumer has their head up their butt when it comes to food and the environment.  They think it’s not their problem, that it doesn’t concern them and that it doesn’t affect them.

Do you send your kids to public  school? Do they play sports?  Do they eat school food?  Do you take them to fast food joints?  What do you buy for them at the  grocery store? Do you eat in restaurants? What DO you eat when you eat? What DO you drink when you drink?

What about your home life?  What products do you buy:  laundry detergent, body care products, beauty products, perfumes, lotions, hair dye, nail polish?  What do you paint your walls with?  Where did you get your furniture? Do you use any bug killing preparations?  What about your lawn?  Do you have a lawn care service and do you KNOW what they put on your lawn?  Have you had a pest company assure you their ‘chemicals’ are safe around kids and pets?  Do you go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy lawn care products to keep the nasty bugs away?  Do your KIDS PLAY ON YOUR LAWN?

Where do YOU choose to shop?  Is Wally-World your best buddy because you have fallen victim and been brainwashed by their  ‘save money, live better’  catchphrase?

Big business, especially the likes of Wal-Mart, does NOT give a shit about you.  Look at the way they treat their own employees?  They’ve been convicted on a vast array of charges in recent years of labor violations.  Going waaaay back, and I have a copy of the article in my files here…. they even wanted to move a Native American cemetery because they wanted to build a store!  Do you think, in this day of corporate greed, that it’s gotten any better, that they’ve become a kinder, more gentler Wally?

There are numerous links detailing environmental disregard -and- total disregard for human life on this planet BY food companies and agricultural chemical companies.  You and I and this planet are being POISONED by thousands of chemicals a day because the likes of Monsanto and Bayer… those kindly aspirin people.

DO THE RESEARCH.  Do it for your kids, your friends, your family, your friends and if you care enough – our planet.

Pesticide Producers OWN Seed Companies

A recent article on Organic Consumer’s website details how much of the world is owned by the pesticide manufacturers.

THIS IS OUR FOOD, folks!  Companies like Monsanto, a chemical giant, pro-GMO,  is the world’s biggest seed company; fifth largest company in the world.  Bayer, yes the aspirin people, is the largest agrochemical corporation in the world.

One third of all pesticide use is weed killers (herbicides) and 80% of the genetically modified seeds are herbicide resistant.

That means that HERBICIDES CAN and WILL BE USED ON YOUR FOOD because it will not kill the plant, just the weeds.  This is what these companies are all about:  getting their agendas passed and up and running without concern for the human race!  Cross pollination is also possible between GM (genetically modified) and non-GMO plants.  Worldwide, 14 species of weeds have developed resistance to ‘Glyphosphate’, (Roundup) which required farmers to use heavier doses.

More bad news:  Monsanto’s Round-Up which has led the market in herbicides for over 10 years, the  “Roundup Ready” patent expires this year which will make it possible for other manufacturers to market a Round-Up clone.

That being said, the poison producers have the world market cornered on food.

THAT’S NOT a good thing!

Detox: Why It’s Important

We live in a world of toxins, which didn’t exist 50 or 100 years ago.  Since the advent of plastics, that “miracle substance”, we can find few things that aren’t either entirely composed of them or partially so. Consequently, because of things like plastics, pollution, food additives, pesticides, synthetic ingredients in furnishings, personal care items, and cleaning products, we need to help our bodies get rid of toxins.  This is where a good detox bath comes in.

Since ancient times, one of the most effective detox regimens has been the bath.  Soaking in hot mineral springs or a bath containing aromatic bath salts, oils and herbs, was a favorite past time of the Romans, Chinese and other civilizations. Aromatic bath salts serve a two-fold purpose:  their scent calms and relaxes the body and the salts, be it Dead Sea salts, Himalayan salts, Epsom salts or other natural bath salts, act as a detoxifying agent.  This helps the body rid itself of toxins, stave off illness and muscle strain and fatigue. If you remove dead skin with an exfoliating natural scrub, the results are even better.

Most people don’t realize that when you take a hot detox bath, you can even either prevent or lessen the effects of an oncoming illness.  A hot detox bath does the same thing as a fever does:  kills germs inside the body by raising the overall temperature.  That’s what a fever is for!  It is the body’s defense system against illness.

One of my favorite combinations is  mixing Epsom salts with bath salts. Epsom salts are wonderful!  We think of them only when we’ve sprained or strained something.  They have two other great benefits:  they will help you sleep after their detoxing properties in your bath, and they are a natural skin softener.

So, the next time you get that scratchy feeling in your throat, or have been around too many people who’re sick – and don’t want to come down with something, get in a  hot tub for an hour or two with some bath salts.  Your body will probably thank you!

ADD/HD & Diet?

An article appeared in Reuters on children on medication for ADD/HD having hallucinations. Why is this no surprise?

The use of Ritalin and its cousins, all nervous system excitants, became the drug of choice during the 80s and 90s.  Ritalin is one of the most over prescribed drugs on the market today.  Although certain criteria should be met before assuming a child truly is ADHD, many physicians and parents are too quick to assume their child truly is ADD/HD, when all that may be needed is a ‘cleaner’ diet.

We’ve all seen kids bounce off the walls after eating high doses of sugar, haven’t we?  Why is it so strange to some that FOOD may actually be the cause of supposed ADD/HD in your kid?

The typical American diet is loaded with sugar and chemical additives. Browse any supermarket aisle containing lunch items and you will find a disturbing array of ‘food-like substances’ designed for convenience for Moms packing kids’ school lunches.  Food marketed as ‘healthy’ or a ‘good, nutritious lunch for your kids’ or ‘healthy snacks’ often contains more artificial ingredients than real, actual food.  Even so-called healthy yogurts:  low or no fat varieties of one popular brand, Yoplait, have a scary list of artificial ingredients.

Don’t fall for the claims of fast-food purveyors, either.  Every parent.., no.., make that every person, should read ‘Fast Food Nation’ by Eric Schlosser if you eat fast food.  Morgan Spurlock’s book, “Supersize Me”, which came out after the academy nominated movie, gives a behind-the-scenes look at McDonald’s and the fast food industry.  I guarantee, you’ll never feel the same about eating out after reading these two books.

ADD/HD is a real condition due to the brain’s neural transmissions and actual brain development. Rather than assuming your kid IS actually ADD/HD and is not just being a ‘normal’ kid with that kid energy, don’t automatically go for the doctor’s insistence on a drug regimen. Parents should consider a natural approach first.  What is your child eating during the day?  What IS IN their food that might be causing this?

Consulting with a licensed nutritionist or dietitian, having a chemical analysis done might be a good first step.  A cleaner diet, free of artificial chemicals, all sugars, no soda – might go a long way to helping the child.  Because studies have indicated that there are an average of 1,000 household  toxins in a child’s home  environment, eliminating these elements may also have some bearing.

As an old friend used to say:  “Start simple.”  It may be the most beneficial way to help your child.

Your KID’S Health Depends on YOU

I stand in the supermarket line in amazement. No wonder why our kids are so hyper, so sick and so fat. LOOK at what you’re FEEDING THEM!

My God, parents…, do you think you’re doing your kids a favor by letting them DRINK SODA?  Do any research on it as all and find that you are PREDISPOSING your children to a host of diseases. Soda leaches calcium from bones.  It contributes to acid reflux, the acid  in it erodes the enamel off their little teeth! I guess you enjoy taking your kids to the dentist because it is a major contributor of tooth decay.

I saw a parent at a restaurant pouring soda into a bottle of a toddler.  I wanted to scream!  The kid, though, happily sucked it down.

There is no such thing as a ‘healthy’ snack food.   As reported in the previous post, “POISONS IN YOUR FOOD” chips and junk food derive their flavor from chemicals!  Some so-called healthy yogurts are no better:  Yoplait has a scary list of chemicals.  Do you really want to eat that stuff?  I don’t.

Every parent should read: FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser.

I watch in dismay as the woman ahead of me in line stacks her ‘food’ on the conveyor belt to be scanned.  Microwaveable meals, stuff which – If you READ THE INGREDIENTS – have very little ‘real’ food.  What once was food has been processed, manipulated, dried and chemicalized.  Your children and family AREN’T EATING REAL FOOD! You might as well FEED THEM PLASTIC!  This is all because you don’t have the time – aka – are too lazy too cook a real meal.

Soft drinks, juice drinks with just a smidgen of so-called juice but mostly sugar (high fructose), sports drinks, Gator-Aid:  all loaded with artificial colorings and chemicals.

Those supposed healthy meals you’re getting like  Lean Cuisine, Stouffer’s and even the vegetarian ones by Morningstar:    READ THE INGREDIENTS!  Michael Pollen, in his book, “In Defense of Food – An Eater’s Manifesto” states that we should eat as our grandparents ate.  If a product contains more than 5 ingredients, or has words you can’t pronounce, don’t eat it!

With the rise in cancers, a prime culprit is what we eat and are exposed to.

Get the kids off the junk food.  Better yet, DON’T START THEM ON IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.  Case in point – I never got into the soda habit because, as a child, we weren’t allowed to have it except very infrequently.  Today, it isn’t in my house – ever – and IF I drink 6 sodas in a year – that’s a lot!  Same thing with the junk food.  It was a treat and hence, I can just walk but the potato chip aisle without a thought.

So parents, on your next trip to the store, you have a choice:  make your kids healthy or make them sick.  It all starts with their next meal.