AMERICANS ARE SUPERSIZED.
Over the last forty years, Americans have grown an inch taller and 24 pounds heavier. One third of American children and teens are overweight and 84% of parents in one study believed that their children were at a healthy weight. The average American man weighs 194 pounds and the average woman is 165 pounds. If the parents are larger then larger children appear to be in the norm. How did this expansion take place? Is the eater to blame? It's not just how much we eat; it's what we eat. The food industry has played a significant role in the obesity epidemic.
FACTS:
- Antibiotics are routinely used in animal feed to fatten up animals for market. It hasn't helped that doctors still over-prescribe antibiotics to children; up to 20 courses of antibiotics during childhood. For every 10 day course of antibiotics it can take up to 18 months to recolonize the intestinal microbiome. A Danish study found if babies were given antibiotics within the first six months they were more likely to be overweight by age seven. Meat and milk contain antibiotic residue.
- YOUR CHOICE: Eliminate all meat and milk that might have antibiotic residue. Find a probiotic friendly ND pediatrician who does not over prescribe antibiotics. Take Xymogen's ProbioMax DF and GlutAloeMine daily. I.V. Ozone is an alternative treatment to antibiotics.
- Ractopamine is a widely used livestock fattener in cattle, pigs and turkeys. This is a weight-producing drug. Hormones like oestradiol-17, trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol are powerful estrogens that stimulate growth in human breast tumor cells. These hormones are banned in many European countries. Why do we allow them to contaminate our food supply?
- YOUR CHOICE: Check your animal protein sources. Read labels. Ask questions. Call the distributor or farm. Support local organic sources.
- Pesticides, fire retardants, plastics, BPA, triclosan act as endocrine disrupters that cause genital deformities, infertility, diabetes and obesity.
- YOUR CHOICE: Don't buy fruits, vegetables or wine treated with pesticides. Use glass or stainless steel containers. Don't buy products with Triclosan like hand wipes and dish detergents. Buy natural materials in your home goods and clothing minus the flame retardants. Use essential oils in water to clean your house. Use our virtual pharmacy. Click EmersonEcologics Code:Second Order your essential oils from Emerson.
- Artificial sweeteners damage the pancreas, disrupt metabolism and create food addictions. Splenda is an endocrine-disrupting chemical. These chemicals cause diabetes, metabolic syndrome and hormone imbalances.
- YOUR CHOICE: Do not buy any products with artificial sweeteners.
- Marketing sells. Especially to small children with cartoon characters. If you've watched children's programming on TV the program 's characters move from the story right into the commercials. This makes an indelible visual imprint which prompts kids to recognize their favorite brands in the store. This kind of advertising has a sinister quality; gaining a false sense of trust of impressionable young children and offering them delicious things to eat that are highly addictive because the reward centers in the brain are never satisfied. Those addictive fast foods are the genesis of a future biochemical assault and body betrayal. The trusting child grows into a brain-altered teen pumped full of chemicals linked to cellulite, obesity, mood disorders, hormone imbalances and cognitive deficits. Fast food chains are part of the global market place. KFC, McDonald's, Wendy's and the like are everywhere. Each chain caters to the foreign consumer's particular taste and palette. This is a serious business that is well-studied. Our government subsidizes the processed food industry. You are literally up against a wall between your food values, your child and your goverment when it comes to food. It is not about good nutrition for your children it is about what sells and how they can sell more of it.
- YOUR CHOICE: Mute the commercials or turn it off completely. Have open family discussions about advertising. Find out what your children think and teach them how to critically think. What do your children like about a particular product or service? Talk about how you can make an alternative to the marketed item. Make a game out of not buying any marketed brands on TV. Teach them the difference between want and need. Watch a steady diet of commercial-free documentaries about the food industry (Forks over Knives, Food Inc., Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, SuperSize Me, etc.). Keep signing petitions against GMO's, call for full disclosure food labeling and call your legislators to hold them accountable for industry subsidies for corporate welfare.
