Proximity to fast food does not make kids fat

Despite what the government-as-nanny folks want us to believe, apparently, living in proximity to fast food makes no difference in the weight of children:

"Living near a fast-food outlet doesn't make children fat, nor does living near a supermarket stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables make them thin, new research shows.



The study by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis researchers examined a decade of data on more than 60,000 children aged 3 to 18. They compared the children's weights before and after fast-food outlets or supermarkets opened near their homes. The study found that living near a fast-food outlet had little effect on weight gain and living near a supermarket wasn't associated with lower weight."

Would anyone like to join me in a big ol' "DUH" here?

The restaurants and supermarkets have nothing to do with it. The PARENTS have everything to do with it.  You CAN choose to not go to a fast food joint.

When will folks acknowledge that your child's health is YOUR responsibility?  Parents cannot blame fast food, television, video games, advertisers, or the food industry.  No, you can't! 

YOU are in control of what your baby eats from birth. YOU have the ability to research food ingredients and NOT feed craptastic Frankenfoods like special 'kids meals' (the Kraft Lunchables chicken nuggets has 40g of sugars and a whopping 57g of carbs (!) and has enough hydrogenated soybean oil and corn syrup to bathe in). YOU have the ability to turn off the telly, to pull the plug on the video game.

Kids learn by example, too. Mom, how many of those death-by-carbs '100 calorie snacks' or 'nutrition bars' have you eaten this week?  How often have you and your kid gone out for a nice walk? YOU have the ability to take wee Emmah Ravyn or Noah Brayson to the park or the playground - NO , don't schedule a bloody playdate! Just take him to a nice park and turn him loose!  Preferably one that actually still has cool shit like the merry go round (remember those? Massive 12 feet across metal saucers of fun!  Complete w/ slick rails to cling to!  I got spun off a million times, scraped my knees and elbows and busted my chin!  FUN!)

C'mon, people. Mommy FAIL. When you were pregnant, most likely you watched everything you ate, didn't you?  You took your suppliments, paid attention to your doctor, you even read aloud to your baby in utero, I'll bet.

So why is he slouched on the sofa right now, dangerously overweight, mindlessly playing a video game with one hand and stuffing cheesy poofs into his face with the other?

I am NOT an ifaster

I slower?

Heh. No, I just wanted to report on my second attempt at the diet lifestyle (or diet technique) of Intermittant Fasting.

Let me preface this by saying that I totally agree that Intermittant Fasting is a wonderful thing. I think the random fast is v. good for you; it keeps your body on its toes, so to speak, and I don't know about you, but at 30lbs from my goal weight, the concept of missing a meal shouldn't bug me much, lol.  I also firmly believe that our ancestors didn't eat multiple times a day.  They were probably lucky to fill their bellies every other day.  I think that the concept of set mealtimes and multiple daily meals is a fallacy by society - and the intent was social not nutritional!  If more people simply slashed carbs and sugar then ate when they were hungry, obesity would lose it's death grip on America.

I also want to reiterate that while I obviously adore tweaking my own dieting attempts (just like I love adjusting my appearence with peircings, henna tattoos, and odd haircolours), I don't ever change my basic WOE.  I believe that low carb is the only way to be healthy and I adore my Lacto-Paleo lifestyle.

All that being said, I wanted to try the Intermittant Fasting because I only eat once a day, anyway.  (When you don't eat bread, cake, cookies, crackers, pitas, cereal, potatoes, sugar, bagels, soda, candybars, etc, etc, *gag* then, folks, you don't get hungry!)  The basic set up of IF is either doing 24 hour fasts a couple of times a week, or doing daily fasts - for example, the one I like: 18 hours fasting then an 6 hour 'eating' window. (There are many more variations that I won't go in to.)

The immediate problem I faced with IF was that, while I only eat once a day, between 11 and 2, my day is book-ended by two of my fave non Paleo indulgences: coffee with heavy cream in the morning, and alcohol at night.

I had already steeled my resolve and decided to cut down my alcohol intake (I've reduced it by over half and am terribly proud of myself!) but when I want a cocktail, I want to be able to have one, and that would negate my fast for that day (if my 6 hour window included the morning coffee, it's be, say, 5am to 11am, then fast the rest of the day).

So what to do?  Well my solution was to drink my morning coffee black and train myself to eat my one meal later. That made my eating window 2pm to 8pm.

It wasn't hard. Well, pushing back my eating time wasn't hard. Neither was the actual 18 hour fast. No biggie.

So what was the problem?

Problem was, I wasn't happy.

See, the thing that I love most about the Low-carb / primal / Paleo way is that I am never hungry.  I get peckish around noon, eat whatever strikes my fancy that is fatty, meaty, cheesy, or of the crunchy veg variety and I'm stuffed full like a snake. I stay satisfied and satiated for the rest of the day.

With the IF I was, duh, fasting and so, despite still eating the one meal that I normally ate - and just a few hours later - I got ravenously hungry about 11am.  As a former food addict who weighed over 300lbs and who ate all day and consumed food simply because it was there, I have a LONG history of obsessing about food. Well those 3 hours between onset of hunger and the beginning of my eating window were a nightmare. I could get nothing done. I couldn't concentrate. I also tended to overeat once I reached 2pm.

Strangely, though, it wasn't all this that made me decide the IF wasn't for me. It was my coffee, of all things.

Like most working people and moms, I have a pretty rigid morning schedule. I get up at 4a.m. every day, start my coffee, put on a load of laundry, fold a basketfull and put it away, perhaps hang up a load I did late the night before. I do any dishes left over, do some of my strength training, check my email and Twitter, all of this while my coffee brews.

Then I sit down at the computer to actually work and do so with a steaming mug of half caff coffee w/ heavy cream.  I love the taste, it's a nice morning indulgence, plus it wakes me up (yes, I can do all the aformentioned whilst half-asleep, LOL). At 7am every day I get up from working and make a full breakfast for my family, so I have a limited window.

Drinking my coffee black was throwing off my groove as Kuzco would say. I hate black coffee. I tried various teas and other drinks, but it was an even worse experience.  Sure it was something I could have overcome with effort, but, again, I wasn't happy. And unhappy Blue made for NO work and snarling Morning Mommy.

Oh, and bizarrely, I gained several pounds whilst experimenting with fasting.

So I decided that while IF is a marvellous paleo/primal tool, it's not for me.  I like my routine, it works for me, I'm not hungry, plus I can lose weight pretty much effortlessly while doing it.

Have you tried Intermittant Fasting? What version do you do? How has it worked for you?

I TOLD everyone I had my reasons ...

... for not giving up dairy!

If you're a regular reader you'll 'get' this (I'm a rabid Zach Quinto fan plus I'm a Paleo who refused to give up dairy), if not, you'l at least find it ... weird.  Don't ask me to explain the video, I don't understand it either, but, hey, it's got Zachary Quinto in it!  ;)

I want to be around to see my grandkids!

Super good post by Rebecca over on Skinny Dreaming about how you owe it to your kids to get fit.

She doesn't pull punches and I agree 100%:

"I'm tired of seeing parents who can't be bothered to get fit. These people have children who need and depend on them, yet they still complain that dieting is too hard, they don't want to give up their favorite foods, and they can't find the time to exercise.

Now, before one of these parents who can't be bothered gets up in arms about my saying this, I will state that I was one of those parents! I gained a bit more weight with each child and became so completely obese that it was a struggle to get off of my fat ass and do anything."



I was this parent too!  After my last child, I weighed 322lbs and was largely (pun intended) responsible for keeping Krispy Kreme in business.

And you know what? It's pure self absorption and self indulgence. Two weeks after my last was born I looked down at my grotesque self and the huge plate of carb-of-the-moment CRAP I had in my hands and I thought: "Do you really care more about the brief moments of feel-good that this shit gives you than your own babies?"

I had had 5 kids because I wanted them. Some days it's all I can do to keep from screaming in annoyance and frustration, but I soldier on because I adore them and they're really good kids and tomorrow will be a better day. I breastfed 5 babies because I chose to. At first it wasn't fun or easy and I suffered through thrush, bad latches, and all, but I stuck with it because it was best for my children (and if you work on through the tough first weeks its infinately easier than bottles). I quit my job and halved our family income. It was bloody hard (and still is) to rely on my own Thrift, but it was that important to me to raise my own children.

I made all these big, hard decisions and yet I couldn't stop myself from eating yet another 100 calorie pack of death-by-carbs crisps?!  I was eating myself into the grave.

So I gave it all up. All the grains, all the sugars, all the refined foods.  And, yeah, it was bloody rough. Rebecca puts it this way:

"Yes, exercise is hard work. And resisting the opportunities to binge on sweets and junk food can be challenging. Losing weight and getting fit is definitely not easy! But it is worth it. I am doing this for myself, but I am also doing this for my family. Remaining fat and not doing anything about my deteriorating weight would just be selfish of me."

When my mates talk about baking cakes, noshing on chocolates, sipping latte grandes at coffee houses, I just think about the last time I stepped into a Wal Mart and watched the obese parents shuffle up to the check out with their bread and cookies and pasta and crisps and sugary sodas, their carb-packed 'diet' stuff, and 'low-fat' FrankenFood horrors.

And then I look at my sweet children.

Why do you wear your seatbelt in the car?  Why do you not smoke?  Why do you look both ways before crossing a street?  Because if you don't wear your seatbelt, smoke, or fail to watch where you're going, you have an excellent chance of dying.  And if you die, who's gonna take care of your children?

It doesn't matter how you do it: low fat, low carb, counting calories, insane workouts. It doesn't matter how you look: getting into a size 4 is NOT the point. It's not even just about what you eat. DO buckle that seatbelt, DO put down those cigarettes, DO move your body, Do get outside and get some sunshine.

The point is that you need to be around as long as possible for your kids. And that means taking care of yourself rather than indulging your selfish whims. And you can, but you have to stop all the excuses.  You have to finally do it.

What have YOU done to get healthy for yourself and your family? Do you have any tips on how to get started?

Review: Emerald's 100 calorie pack nuts

So, I'm having a shufti over the nut section of my local (v. v. high priced) Bi-Lo,(the upside of this posh-neighbourhood store is the wide selection,) and I spy these:



After I got done cringing over the '100 calorie' crap (those poor poor hungry people who are still counting calories!), I just had to check it out more closely.

One was "Natural walnuts and almonds" ingredients: walnuts, almonds. Hmm. So far so good. Fat 9g, carbs 3g, protein 3g. Lookin' pretty damned good! I tossed these in my cart.

I checked the other out, just for comparison: "Cocoa roast almonds". Now, I don't like chocolate, but I know of a LOT of low-carbers and Paleo people who eat everything from tiny bits of regular chocolate to the unsweetened baking chocolate (The thought of which, frankly, makes me gag) because they just have to have their chocolate fix.

The ingredient list was bad:



The almonds are dry roasted and there's non paleo potato starch plus some frankenfood chemicals. Fat 8g, carbs 4g, protein 3g. Obviously not the healthier choice, but, out of curiosity and for the sake of comparison, I decided to try it. (I can pass them on to my chocolate loving mother.)

I started with the plain nuts. Here's the wee packages inside the box (there are 7):



And here are the actual nuts. The walnuts were broken up quite a bit, but not pulverised. There wasn't any dust or teensy pieces and both types of nuts seemed to be good quality.



I honestly enjoyed them and they made a good small snack. If I can fit them into my budget, I'll probably keep a box around as a grab-and-go quick low-carb / paleo snack.

"OK. Yeah. But what about those chocolate ones?" you ask (a bit too eagerly).

Well ... if you are dieting to lose weight, I'd recommend you NOT, repeat NOT, buy these. Don't even push your trolly down the nut aisle, ok?

Srsly. This product is exactly what is typical of the food industry today. You take a basic, wholesome food (almonds), add some chemicals, some starch, some ... SUGAR, and toss in a substance (chocolate) that has millions of Americans already addicted, and you have a recipe for repeat sales and obese customers.

The "Natural walnuts and almonds" are wholesome, convenient, and good. The "Cocoa roast almonds" are insane. I dislike chocolate but when I opened the pack that candy bar smell burst out, bringing memories of my days of eating Snickers, Kit-Kats, and Almond Joys in twos and threes. The nuts themselves are very sweet and crunchy, immediately triggering shoveling behaviour.

I had to snap out of it after the first nut and get hold of myself. Memories of myself at 300+ lbs and my 52 inch waist helped, but it was tough.  And remember: this from a person who hates chocolate!

So, again, if you are low carbing or Paleo, the plain nuts are a quick convenient snack. As for the dark chocolate healthy-disguised nutty sugar bombs? Run. Run v. far away. You'll be doing your heart AND your backside a favour.

Cake or Death?*

Two of my v. fave bloggers: Vin Miller at Natural Bias and Tom Naughton of Fat Head both happened to post about the one simple reason why Americans have been steadily getting fatter and fatter (and sicker and sicker) since the 1960s: sugar and carbs.

Vin talks about regular sugar: "Particularly in America, the modern diet is very high in sugar, and this is one of the primary reasons why obesity, poor health and disease have become so prevalent. Did you know that the average American eats over 100 pounds of sugar a year? One. Hundred. Pounds.

A large bag of dogfood generally weighs 40lbs. Over 2 of those. Of sugar. Per year. go to your pet food supplier of choice and take a look at 2 of those bags.  It will nauseate you.

And if you are saying to yourself: "Oh not me ... I hardly eat sweets!" Yes. Yes, you do. It's not just candy bars and cake. look at the ingredient lable for your katsup, your mayonnaise, your BBQ sauce, your spaghetti sauce. Hell, check out the lable of your Campbell's Tomato Soup!

Did you kow that the first ingredient of KFC's new "healthy" grilled chicken that you just congratulated yourslef on choosing over the fried is SUGAR?

Remember that refined grain products, like flours and high fructose corn syrup, are sugars, too.

"If you take a moment to consider how much processed food most people are consuming on a regular basis, the reason why so many of them suffer from obesity and poor health should be obvious. Sugar and refined carbohydrates are a major ingredient in nearly all modern foods and are being consumed in record proportions. Many people are unaware of the associated risks and even believe that highly refined foods such as bread and pasta are healthy choices! "

Sugars, starches, and carbs all do the same dreadful thing to our bodies.They spike our blood sugar, get stored as fat, trigger an insulin response, THEN, when your blood sugar bottoms out an hour later, you become ravenously hungry again ... starting the cycle anew.

Don't forget that your fat cells are not like jars of marbles. It's not like if you eat a second helping of Red Velvet cake only then will your body store it as fat - drop some marbles into the fat jar.

NO!  Your body constantly all day and night, no matter if you're fat or thin, moves those glucose marbles into and out of your fat cell jars. They are little dynamic systems, constantly gathering fat and releasing it. Your body cells don't wait until mealtimes to get their energy, they get it all the time. Energy is freed up one way or another - from the low-fat, organic, whole grain vegan snack bar you just choked down with a cup of soy 'milk', from the fat in your fat cells, even from the protein in your own muscles - to 'feed' all your body's cells.  All day and all night. No matter if you're Kiera Knightly or Michael Moore.

So how is it that some of us get fat?

Vin says: "Sugar is our primary source of energy, and when consumed, it can be converted to glycogen and stored for future use. However, many people consume an excessive amount of carbohydrates that significantly exceeds their storage capacity for glycogen, and when this happens, the sugar resulting from carbohydrate digestion is stored as body fat. The large amount of sugar and refined carbohydrates that exist in processed food is the primary reason for this excess and the people who consume it on a regular basis are often significantly overweight. "

But it's not that they're eating carbs, right?  I mean all that whole grain bread and low-fat wraps and lean meats are good for us, right?  It's because fat people just eat too much. America is fatter cuz modern Americans can't be trusted not to supersize, right?

NO!  Diet understanding FAIL.

As Tom says: "We don’t eat too much because we’re more gluttonous than our grandparents. We eat too much because in the 1970s the McGovern committee convinced us we need to live primarily on low-fat grains and other starches. We eat too much because our insulin levels are too high. We eat too much because we’re storing too many calories as fat.

In other words, we eat too much because we’re too damned hungry."

But you can't tell Carb Addicts that can you?  How many of you low carbers have seen people's eyes glaze over when you say : "no bread"?  I confess that I am just astonished that people just REFUSE to listen and believe all the proof that their cookies, cakes, crisps, crackers, bagels, pasta, wraps, crusts, rolls, and bread are not only making them obese, but damaging their health.

But they will look at those of us who have lost startling amounts of weight, see that we are thinner, healthier, have more energy  - but most of all are not hungry! - but they refuse to give up their Carb Crutch. From Vin:

"Minimizing the consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates is truly one of the easiest ways to lose weight, but many people are unwilling to give up processed foods and choose to compromise their health even further by overexercising instead. "

It's sad, and what's worse is that the FDA could be helping rather than hurting the health of Americans, but won't. Vin pointed out: "As the food industry enjoys incredible profits from sugar, and the pharmaceutical industry benefits from all the health problems that it causes, the rest of us are stuck in a never ending cycle of wanting more sugar, gaining more weight, and becoming less healthy."

Tom summed it up best: "from a public policy perspective, emphasis should be shifted toward encouraging people to drastically reduce their consumption of carbohydrates; do that, and the “eating less” will take care of itself. But in a country where sugar, wheat and corn are all subsidized by the taxpayers, I don’t expect this kind of policy shift to happen anytime soon."

Unfortunately, I believe this is true. :(

Here, again, are the links to the posts of Vin Miller at Natural Bias and Tom Naughton of Fat Head that I quoted here. Check them out. They rawk.


*Thank you to the fabulous Eddie Izzard for this line which I snarked. It made the perfect blog title and he's an amazing person who deserves the linky love!

Does Jillian Michaels have the right attitude?

Jillian Michaels on weight loss. I  don't watch television, so I have never seen this show, and I don't agree with everything she says (I don't think bunches of cardio is nessessary AT ALL for good health or weight loss - much less intense uber-workouts), but I confess that I love the "quit whining and bitching and get on with it" notion.

(Note: Remember, I don't watch television, so I've never seen the show they mention. Several people say she's a real bitch with a mean streak.  I'm basing this post on that interview.)

"You were overweight as a teenager. Does this make you more sympathetic to the contestants on The Biggest Loser?



I'm not sympathetic. I have zero sympathy. I understand about emotional eating, I understand how painful the process can be, but I also understand that change is possible. In my experience, honesty is the best policy. And being a friend to somebody is not always the best way to help them."
 
Right on!  I am empathetic to anyone struggling to lose weight - been there, done that - but I have no sympathy for any excuses. I've heard (and spouted) them all.
 
"You recently said that by the time The Biggest Loser contestants come to you they're half dead. What did you mean by that?



Yes, I said "half-dead" And everybody was like, "oh, I can't believe she said that." Are people just not tuning into the show? We've got 30-year-olds whose internal organs are 60. If we were having this conversation about somebody who was a drug addict or somebody who had anorexia or bulimia, we would openly admit that it was suicide. "

Agree! Why is overweight not viewed as the horrible health hazard that it is?

"So what do you think is the number one worst thing people are doing to their bodies right now?



Oh my God, they eat processed food and it is horrifying to me! You look at people, they'll be having a sandwich on white bread with turkey. Okay, well, the turkey's probably processed, meaning it's got nitrates in it. And of course white bread doesn't grow white. It's stripped of all its nutrients and all its fiber. High fructose corn syrup: poison. Artificial sweeteners: poison. Artificial coloring: poison. MSG: poison. Nitrates: poison. Unload all those things and you're off to a good start."
 
I don't care if she's the biggest bitch on the planet, she's totally nailed this one. America is killing itself one forkfull at a time. Refined carbs, chemicals, HFCS, and soy products are knocking us out like flies.  How many people died of diabetes or heart disease yesterday?