Welcome to 2011!

Another year has come and gone. So what can we look forward to this New year? We have heard a lot of recent info about obesity and kids. If we believe the current news briefs,  babies are  obese before they ever get their first taste of food. I wonder if they are obese in utero too? There seems to be so much focus on  weight, and almost no focus on wellness. Everywhere you look you see weight loss  info.. either some new pill ,new diet, crazy basic training type exercise programs, the latest greatest combination of foods to super charge your fat loss.  All this info about weight. How about health? Is there are truth to the supposition that what we weight is not as important as how healthy we are overall? How about what we choose to put in our mouths as opposed to how much? If any of you out there have ever struggles with weight issues, either too much or too little, you know how horrible a life focused on weight can be. Either you have to weigh every morsel you put in your mouth, or simply  cut out enitre groups of foods. Then add the fact that we are told our food supply is dereft of nutrients; our soil is bankrupt, so our veggies cannot be as nutrient dense as they once were. We must supplement! We must spend countless hours in a gym on a treadmill like a hamster on a  wheel. We must drink the right kind of water, the right kind of coffee, and most assuredly the right types of vegetables. Plain ordinary potatoes and  broccoli are no longer good enough for good health. Kids cannot be allowed to have a soda, any candy or ice cream at all, because  no one knows just what the recipe is for healthy kids. Somewhere along the line, we lost what makes us healthy. Kids used to play outside in the sunshine, sans sunscreen, until dark. Baseball games sprang up anywhere there was a  space and  a few kids to play. Tag was big fun. Freeze tag was even better. Hide and seek was an art form. Kids hated eating vegetables just like they do now. The difference is there was not a place you could just drive up and get food without a wait for it to be cooked. Dinner was prepared not brought home in a paper bag or delivered to your door in a box. People  cooked and  peeled and grew their own foods. Parents could say no a child without having to go to therapy as a result. And the kids didn't need therapy either because they didn't get eveything they wanted. We knew what went into our food because we controlled it for the most part.  There were no such things as supermarkets. There were grocery stores. You knew where the veggies came from... your neighbors. You knew where the water came from that  nourished the farm animals and the vegetables that graced your table. There was only one sweetener... sugar and it grew in fields not in labs. So what will 2011 bring with it? Will there be more fat kids than ever before? Will more Americans die of weight related illnesses than any other type?  Perhaps. One thing  is for sure. Unless we start paying attention to how healthy we are instead of how skinny we are, nothing will change for the better. Girls will continue to  have their first period at age 7 and have breasts  by 10. Boys will  have full beards by the age of 12, and will be able to father children by 11. Pay attention to the ingredient list on your next food item that goes into your grocery cart. Chances are the list will contain about 30 items most of which you can't pronounce. My challenge to you for this new year is to stop  gambling with the health of you and your family. Don't eat anything that is not  100% identifiable as a natural food. If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it . Forget convenience and actually put some thought into a meal at home, cooked from scratch, not from a box. Teach your kids how to cook, and where their food comes from...no kid should be shocked to find out their Happy Meal comes from a live animal. So Welcome to the New Year!  Make it the best it can be by being the best you can be. Be healthy and be happy. It makes all the difference to those you care about.
Related articles

• Baby Fat May Predict Early Obesity (webmd.com)
• France and their crazy new approach to combat obesity. (weightymatters.ca)
• Breastfeeding May Help Prevent Childhood Obesity (fyiliving.com)
• In U.S., Obesity Afflicts Even Some of the Tiniest Tots (nlm.nih.gov)
• Lose the Diet (psychologytoday.com)
• Food Rules to Live By (psychologytoday.com)
• Raw Food and Weight Loss (beinghealthyhomeandaway.blogspot.com)
• Stomach Stapling Weight Loss Surgery for Frustrated Dieters (justslimming.com)
• Weight Watchers: 9-Year-Olds Personae Non Gratin (tmz.com)
• What's the Best Diet? Eating Less Food (time.com)
• Is Natural Sugar a Diet Saboteur? (everydayhealth.com)
• What is the number one Nutrient for Fat Loss? (e-prescribe.biz)
• Healthy Weight Loss Through Proper Mastication of Food (weight-loss-methods.suite101.com)
• How to "Eat Your Cake and Have it Too" and Still Lose Weight! (psychologytoday.com)
• Obesity in 2011 (drsharma.ca)

Related articles

• Food Rules to Live By (psychologytoday.com)
• Raw Food and Weight Loss (beinghealthyhomeandaway.blogspot.com)
• Stomach Stapling Weight Loss Surgery for Frustrated Dieters (justslimming.com)
• Weight Watchers: 9-Year-Olds Personae Non Gratin (tmz.com)
• What's the Best Diet? Eating Less Food (time.com)
• Is Natural Sugar a Diet Saboteur? (everydayhealth.com)
• What is the number one Nutrient for Fat Loss? (e-prescribe.biz)
• Healthy Weight Loss Through Proper Mastication of Food (weight-loss-methods.suite101.com)
• How to "Eat Your Cake and Have it Too" and Still Lose Weight! (psychologytoday.com)
• Obesity in 2011 (drsharma.ca)