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Archive for January 5th, 2012

Almost 500 years ago someone said “extremis malis extrema remedia”…desperate times call for desperate measures! The epidemic of obesity qualifies as a desperate time with more than 2/3 of Americans and half of our children are considered overweight or even obese!

We have discussed in the past many health conditions which are developed or worsened by obesity. The times do indeed call for desperate measures!

You will be encouraged to know that the “desperate measures” are actually not all that desperate. That is, they are not desperate unless you decide to starve yourself or embark on a dead-end, destined-to-fail fad diet. A fad diet, for purposes of this discussion, is one that requires the use of pills or drinks, necessitates you eating separate from your family, or advocates cutting out entire food groups or consuming only foods from one or two food groups.

Avoid fad diets, and, do what?

Learn a healthy style of eating and teach your kids to do the same. And how do you do that? Here are some specific recommendations:

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
2. Choose vegetables that are bright in color because they contain a broader variety of vitamins and minerals.
3. Increase your intake of beans and peas.
4. Switch from refined grain products to those made with “whole grains” (read the label for information).
5. Use fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
6. Add variety to protein foods by choosing from lean meats and poultry, seafood, soy products, nuts and seeds (unsalted), eggs, beans, peas.
7. Eat less meat and eat more seafood and poultry. Select oils over solid fats.
8. Read labels and select foods that offer ample amounts of fiber, calcium, potassium, and vitamins (especially D).

The worldwide diet, particularly the American diet, has changed over the past decades to one that includes too much saturated fat, too much salt, and too many calories. Many of them are “empty calories”, because they are totally devoid of nutritional value.

Study after study has shown that many of our nutritional habits are killing us because of what they “bring to the party”: calories, saturated fat, sodium. While others are causing sickness and disease for what they fail to “bring to the party”: potassium, fiber, calcium, and vitamin D.

We can choose to continue along these unhealthy paths (and teach our children to do the same). Or, we can draw a line in the sand with the toe of our boot and say, “enough, already”! Our health and that of our children is at stake!

Until next time!