The AD, ADD, ADHD, Autism, Aging… Inflammation and Nutrition Connection

“We live too short and we die too long!” …Dr. Myron Wentz

By Marion Algier – THITW and Ask Marion

The rate of occurrences of Alzheimer's-Dementia (AD), ADD, ADHD, Autism, and debilitating Aging symptoms are through the roof. Everyone I know either suffers from one of these conditions (themselves); has a child, grandchild, parent, or grandparent who is afflicted; or they know someone, if not several some-ones, within their close circle that suffers from one or more of these diseases and conditions.

We are drowning in epidemics…

Having become the caregiver for a father-in-law who suffers from Alzheimer’s as well as heart disease; a mother-in-law with RA and onset dementia, who is in complete denial about either of their conditions or her part in the development of those infirmities; and a husband who has developed several afflictions that are generally explained away as normal aging, this has all become very personal.  I have far too many friends and associates with children who suffer from ADD, ADHD, Autism… including Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and now I’m surrounded by the 80+ set, not to ponder the numbers and perhaps even the connection(s).

I have long believed that all these conditions and a lot more are related to a combination of diet, vaccines, too many meds, noise pollution and stress, etc…  a long list.  But we, who have become oblivious observers of our own lives have been sold ‘the official’ causes of these afflictions by Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, Big Business and a ruling class and their media minions who think they are smarter than we are or that we are ‘useless eaters’ just taking up space.

I recently went on the Adkins Diet to lose some weight I had slowly put on over several years and virtually over-night I noticed how much better I felt in general.  The Adkins diet had always worked for me when I needed to shed a few pounds, but this was the first time that I really took notice of how much better I felt while I was on it; perhaps it is my age or that I’m just more aware these days?  But I did a little more digging…

I am fairly stubborn!  My husband would say that is an understatement! So once I started my new eating regiment, I went 3+ months without ever cheating. But since, I have eaten carbs on a few special occasions and at a few events when I didn’t want to put anyone out.  Each time I noticed that I felt sluggish, tired or just a little out of sorts. Celiac Disease, requiring sufferers to eat gluten free, is also at epidemic proportions. And after Elizabeth Hasselbeck, formerly of The View and now co-host of Fox and Friends, appeared on The Factor as part of her book tour for The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide, Bill O’Reilly, not a Celiac sufferer, decided to give up wheat products to see if it would help him feel better in general.  He reported the same results that I had after going on Adkins.  He felt better and lost 20-pounds without changing anything else in his lifestyle… and he admits that since he doesn’t have a gluten allergy he does cheat once in awhile, but like me always feels a bit bloated or sluggish when he does.

Recently I watched a television program with Dr. Oz and then a day later I turned on PBS to find a special with Dr. David Perlmutter, a renowned neurologist, author and president of the Perlmutter Health Center. Perlmutter is known for advocating a functional and holistic approach toward treating brain disorders and is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and Mind Body Green.

At the Perlmutter Health Center, they deal with a variety of medical problems including arthritis, elevated cholesterol, bowel and digestive disorders, obesity, cardiovascular problems, respiratory disorders, including asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, allergies, environmental sensitivity, cancer and a wide variety of other illnesses as well as a long list of neurological problems including epilepsy, stroke, Parkinsonism, dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease), myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, dystonia, joint pain and inflammation, other movement disorders, and neuropathy.

Changing our dietary habits and the eating habits of our children could also help reduce the symptoms of ADD, ADHD and even Autism.

In the PBS special Dr. Perlmutter pulled together what I had discovered independently through my research and was actually feeling myself.  Bottomline: Wheat (gluten), carbs, and sugar are silently killing our brains, causing inflammation throughout our bodies and creating food induced hyperactivity thereby contributing to the “A“ epidemics:  Alzheimer’s-Dementia (AD), ADD, ADHD, Autism (ASD) and aging.

Dr. Perlmutter points out that most of what Americans have been told about eating from the food pyramid they taught us in school, to shifting everyone to low fat diets, to giving up eating eggs, and to putting half of America on cholesterol medicine is wrong.

We need to cut our carbs, gluten, and sugar and pay attention to the sources of our food, plus add more good fats into our diet. 

Shop the outside aisles of the market and with the exceptions of a few spices, etc., check out and go home. Read the labels of everything pre-prepared, frozen, boxed or canned that you do consider buying. Put in a garden, using non-GMO seeds, and create a compost heap for fertilizer. (There are some amazing options even for apartment dwellers, window box herbs, and many cities and towns now have community garden plots.)  Eat less but better quality meat; try to buy wild or range grazed meat and poultry (and eggs) and wild and stream caught fish… or consider taking up hunting, fishing and gathering.  You can supplement your protein needs with legumes and nuts.

The book Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (Cookbook) rightfully  blamed wheat for the American epidemic of obesity.  And Dr. Permutter’s book Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar -- Your Brain's Silent Killers deals specifically with the effects of too many carbs, wheat, and gluten on the brain.

 Looking at a Better Way

Dr. Perlmutter started looking at the role diet plays in brain health after he got tired of treating his patients’ symptoms with drugs, which at the time was the only tool in his arsenal. He describes it like trying to get rid of smoke while leaving the fire burning.

In the past decade he learned that the brain is extremely sensitive to the food we eat and that our diet plays a pivotal role in our brain health.

He also learned that brain cells do replace themselves, but once you have reached the Alzheimer’s stage it is too late.

Too Many Carbs, Too Little Fat

As we’ve moved towards a low-fat diet high in grains, the kind recommended in the USDA food pyramid below, we’ve traded in eating fat for eating more carbs. We have never before been exposed to this level of carbohydrate consumption in human history and this experiment is not going well.  Plus, much of the wheat, corn, and soy produced today has been genetically modified (GMO).

In a recent report on the 5-worst food companies there were 3 glaring occupants on the list: Monsanto, Nestle, and Coca Cola, that should jump out and cause everyone to both take note and do their homework.

High blood sugar levels correlate directly with brain shrinkage of the hippocampus, the seat of memory and the first target of Alzheimer’s. Perlmutter states quite emphatically that there is no treatment whatsoever for Alzheimer’s and that drugs flat-out don’t help.

If you begin to mentally lose it in your 60′s and 70′s, sometimes even earlier, it becomes very hard to reverse the trend, so it is much wiser to take steps to prevent mental decline sooner than later.

Excess carbs create inflammation and free radicals, two major causes of brain aging.

Perlmutter found in his practice that nothing is worse for your brain than a low-fat diet. It contains too many carbohydrates and too little brain-healthy fat. He promotes olive oil, coconut oil, butter, avocados, grass-fed meat, wild salmon, and eggs. (No margarine, trans fats or vegetable oil).  Have you ever thought about Canola Oil and asked yourself… what is a canola?

In his practice Dr. Permutter puts patients on a diet that is 50-60% good fats. The brain is 70% fat by dry weight and he finds this much fat is ideal. Glucose is considered the main fuel for the brain, but our brains are quite happy to burn fat which he refers to as a “super fuel” for the brain.

One of the biggest ongoing debates in nutrition is what are the best ratios of fat, carbs, and protein. Perlmutter cites a JAMA study that followed two groups for 12 months. One group was on the diet popularized by Dr. Atkins — a low carb/high fat/high protein diet. The second group followed Dr. Ornish’s low fat/low protein/high carbohydrate diet. This diet is identical to the ultra-low fat diet being promoted in the book Power Foods for the Brain.

For those of us who have been brainwashed into believing that low-fat is good, it may come as a shock that the people who followed the Atkins diet did better on all health markers including triglycerides, good cholesterol, and blood sugar levels.

Perlmutter reminds us to think of cholesterol as our brain’s friend. Low cholesterol levels increases the risk of suicide, depression, and dementia. The risk of dementia is reduced by 70% in those with high cholesterol. You read that right – high cholesterol reduces risk of dementia.

The Problem With Gluten

Perlmutter appreciates that the book Wheat Belly made the public aware of the profound modification of wheat itself.

In the past 50 years, wheat has been changed to contain up to 50 times more gluten than it did when our ancestors baked their first loaf of bread.

We are biologically unprepared to handle this big of a change in such a short period of time. For arguments sake, Dr. Perlmutter states that humans have been around for 2.6 million years yet didn’t start eating wheat and gluten in any form until about 10,000 years ago; a mere blip in our entire existence! Or .004% to be more precise.

Gluten is a protein most commonly associated with wheat but can also be found in other grains like rye, oats, and barley; prepared foods of all kinds; and even in medications.

It’s been known for decades that gluten can cause a long list of neurological problems including dementia, headaches, seizures, tremors, depression, memory loss, and epilepsy in those who are gluten-sensitive. But what hasn’t been realized until recently is how ubiquitous gluten sensitivity is. If eating gluten tears up your gut, you know you have a problem. But it turns out that most people have no obvious digestive upset from gluten, so this is not a reliable indicator of gluten sensitivity.

Grain Brain makes a solid case for how eating more grains and carbohydrates of all kinds, and less goods fats, is taking a toll on our collective brain health. And it offers suggestions for what you can do about it.

Additionally, Dr. Permutter points out the need for vitamin D in our diets and that when watching our diets, it is the glycemic index that we should be concerned with.  In an example, he points out that between the four foods: wheat bread, white bread, white sugar and a candy bar, that reality is quite different from what most people think. When looking at the glycemic index the worst choice of the four foods listed is the wheat bread, not the candy bar.  In fact, the candy bar, not that he is promoting eating candy, is the best choice out of that group which goes in this order: candy bar, white sugar, white bread, wheat bread… when looking at the glycemic index.

Perlmutter also talks about the worst breakfast choice, for anyone, being a glass of orange juice and a bowl of packaged cereal.  A glass of orange juice isn’t much different than having a coke for breakfast.  Then we add a bowl of additional sugar, gluten and preservatives = cereal, covered with milk (casein… see below) and sending our kids to school sugared and carbed up… And for children with ADD, ADHD or Autism (ASD) it is even worse, plus then we add drugs into the equation to theoretically calm them down, and we wonder why they can’t learn or why they act out.

Several recent studies published in the International Journal of Attention Disorders support a connection between ADD, ADHD and Autism and the broader eating patterns of a ‘Western-style’ diet as well. It has been know for quite some time that food coloring and dyes should be avoided by people with ADD and ADHD.  And according to Craig Kendall, author of The Asperger's Syndrome Survival Guide, gluten and casein free (GFCF) diets help overcome Asperger’s Syndrome symptoms, and symptoms of children suffering from any form of ASD, including improving their behavior. Casein is a protein found in milk. Proponents of a GFCF diet believe people with Autism have a "leaky gut," or intestine, which allows parts of gluten and casein to seep into the bloodstream and affect the brain and central nervous system. The belief is that this may actually lead to Autism or magnify its symptoms.

We need to cut our sugar levels by cutting out/down carbs, gluten and sugar and adding fat from good sources. (No margarine or vegetable oil). And we need to go back to a natural diet… vegetables, fruit (in moderation), seeds, nuts, natural fats, range raised meat and poultry, wild fish, and range-eggs.  And, the most important brain anti-oxidant is cholesterol.  That’s right… cholesterol.

Cholesterol, the most important brain anti-oxidant, has been taken out of our diets, like good fats.  It is imperative for natural brain function. Eggs are one of the best things we can eat and c-reactive protein causes inflammation and is a direct contributor to the development Alzheimer’s Disease, if you are pre-deposed or added to other factors. Yet the trends and diets that we have all been sold for decades now have us doing and consuming exactly the opposite says Dr. Permutter.

Dr. Oz, a former Oprah team-member… not sure of their present relationship, actually pointed out that with the coming of ObamaCare, if it is not ultimately scrapped or implodes on its own, there will be a need and a move toward more holistic and homeopathic treatments, alternative medicine and healthier eating; perhaps the only good thing that ObamaCare will bring. (Remember, Dr. Oz was a major part of the promotional team for the H1N1 vaccine, but his wife and daughters like the Obama girls, did not take that vaccine.) But now physicians like Dr. Oz with an array of featured guests and experts, plus others including Dr. Mercola, Dr. Sears, and Dr. Perlmutter, who have always looked for alternatives are activiely promoting natural solutions. People are increasingly looking to places like Sanoviv, an alternative, holistic and integrative health facility built in Rosarito, Mexico by Myron Wentz, Ph.D, a microbiologist and immunologist who invented the test kit for Epstein Barr and founded Gull Laboratories, USANA and Sanoviv, S.A. de C.V. (Sanoviv) …because the AMA wouldn’t allow it in the U.S.

Coffee is all of a sudden being promoted as a good thing, Oulong tea and peaches (without sugar) have anti-Cancer properties. Vinegar and pharmaceutical grade hydrogen peroxide have great healing powers. The list of natural cures and preventative remedies is endless and suddenly being promoted instead of destroyed or hidden. See Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice.

America, the winds of change are blowing; many of them not good but some offer some great possibilities amidst the destruction of what was the greatest healthcare system in the world at its core, at least before the Rockefellers and other corruptocrats got their hands on it.

I am not a health practitioner, but have explored alternative health solutions all my life and I definitely have spent more time studying nutrition than physicians do in Med School. I have also researched and sold several holistic health products and high-end all natural nutritionals.  And when my daughter developed ulcerative colitis we took her to Sanoviv, an alternative healthcare facility outside the United States, where I took every class and seminar they allowed me to attend during her treatment. There is a place for surgery and some medications, but because of Big Pharma, Big Business, Big Agriculture and corruption, Americans are over medicated and sicker than they should be… Why?  So that we ultimately can be put on drugs or sold an agenda.  It is all about money and control! The information is out there; we all have to become more proactive and use the common sense that God gave us.  If it feels or sounds wrong or questionable… it probably is!

About The Author:  I am 61-years-young and am in perfect health (and yes, I am knocking on wood as I say that).  I have never been admitted to a hospital; I was delivered by a mid-wife.  I, as well as my children… the two and four-legged ones, only received the immunizations and vaccines that they absolutely needed; I did my homework in depth long before there was an Internet.  I, as well as my children, never ate store bought, pre-fabed, commercial baby food (or commercial pet food), let alone the glue they call formula that is given to most American babies these days. (Nor did I use baby wipes, floor and rug cleaners with chemicals in them or pesticides… I used old school warm water and mild soap instead of wipes, and nontoxic natural-based vinegar and orange oil type  cleaners and for pest control.)  I also have always done the majority of my marketing from the outer aisles of the grocery store. And even though we were suburb dwellers, my dad and brother hunted and fished and much of our other meat (now and when I was a child) was purchased from a butcher or supplier who guaranteed antibiotic and steroid free meat… and money was an object through much of my life so I learned to be creative.

I have only been to a doctor less than 20-times in my entire life if you do not count the well-baby checks and for the necessary shots I did get as a kid. I have only ever had one mammogram and 2 pap smears and I don’t get flu shots, nor have I ever been on any long-term medications and probably have taken no more than a few bottles of aspirin or the like in 60+ years… and I am just now going through menopause. The only (out-patient) surgery I have had was when I slipped on some black ice and broke my ankle.

My daughter was perfectly healthy as well, at least until she had to have what seemed like an endless batch of shots to travel around the world with the Semester at Sea (SAS) program and after getting one last shot on-board (from an unknown source) after a Japanese Encephalitis outbreak about halfway through the sail, she came back with severe ulcerative colitis.  Coincidence?  We took her to Sanoviv.

My husband, who pretty much beat up his body through sports… football, baseball, basketball, snow and water skiing, racquetball, competitive swimming, etc., has recently developed related health issues but it seems to be the inflammation that has attacked those previous injuries and weak spots.

I consider myself lucky in many ways and was blessed to be born healthy and to have parents who made all the right food and health choices for me and my siblings… at least until we were old enough to be able to follow their advice or choose to make our own wrong decisions.

My mother always cooked at home; going out to dinner was a rare treat.  We never drank soda.  And doctors & dentists were visited only as needed.  As a side job, my father even cleaned the office for our family doctor, an OD until forced to become an MD, who agreed with that philosophy; a pattern I carried through with my own children.  None of us kids smoked, we drank in moderation when we got old enough and nobody did drugs. I played softball, tennis and snow skied but never felt the need to over-tax my body or to fry my skin in the sun. We ate in moderation so although I love sweets, I have only been on a diet 4-times in my life (3 of which were on the Adkins diet after age 40), and I now plan to stay on a modified version of that diet for life.

*My in-laws on the other hand, even with their new found knowledge, fight me daily about eating margarine instead of butter; over-salting their food… even though my father-in-law suffers from heart disease and is suppose to be on a salt-free diet; they seemingly fell for every new campaign that came down the pike throughout their lives; and they refuse to entertain the idea of cutting down on the medications and number of doctor visits.  The system of eldercare has been an eye-opening journey in itself and the affect of the systematic brainwashing on that generation is both frightening and phenomenal.

Unless you are born with a serious defect or disease or are injured in later life, I truly believe that our choices and those we make for our children define our health, especially if we make the wrong choices or don’t do our homework!  And therefore I am writing a new book, “ The Common Sense Path to Good Health”.  Somewhere along the way we have lost our common sense in far too many areas!

Related and Sources: 

Eating antibiotic-fed animals can cause health problems in humans 

11 Food Ingredients Banned Outside the U.S. That Americans Eat 

Margarine Linked to Lower IQs in Kids 

The Drug Story 

Western Medicine - Forbidden Cures

Technorati Tags: Alzheimer's-Dementia,AD,ADD,ADHD,Autism,Aging,Debilitating Aging Symptoms,Alzheimer's,Dementia,Books,Inflammation,Nutrition,GFCF,Sanoviv,Choices,Healthy Eating,Joint Pain,Connecting the Dots,ObamaCare,Holistic Medicine,Common Sense,Neuropathy

Stop Junk Food Marketing to Kids

Video:  Stop Junk Food Marketing to Kids

By Dr. Mercola

Junk food is contributing to skyrocketing rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and even strokes -- and not just among adults.

Food and beverage companies spend $2 billion a year promoting unhealthy foods to kids, and while ultimately it's the parents' responsibility to feed their children healthy foods, junk food ads make this much more difficult than it should be.

A new campaign, We're Not Buying It, is now underway to help expose deceptive marketing to children, debunk industry claims, and highlight the latest research, in the hopes of ending this assault on today's youth, and I'll explain how you can get involved, too, below.

Does Your Child Recognize the "Golden Arches"?

Most toddlers recognize the sign of McDonald's "golden arches" long before they are speaking in full sentences.

Why?

Because they are often raised on French fries, fast-food hamburgers and orange soda, or if "raised" is a bit of a stretch, are taught that French fries, chicken fingers and soda is an acceptable meal. Have you noticed that even in "regular" restaurants the kids' menu options are almost always entirely junk food like pizza, macaroni and cheese or fried chicken strips?

Of course kids will probably prefer these foods if that's what they're offered; these foods are manufactured to taste good, and most kids aren't going to opt for a spear of broccoli over a French fry -- until they're old enough to understand the implications of the choice, and assuming you have taught them about the importance of eating healthy foods along the way.

In many ways society is set up against you on this one. As The Interagency Working Group on Foods Marketed to Children (IWG) reports:

• The fast-food industry spends more than $5 million every day marketing unhealthy foods to children.
• Kids watch an average of over 10 food-related ads every day (nearly 4,000/year).
• Nearly all (98 percent) of food advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium. Most (79 percent) are low in fiber.

So even under the best circumstances, your kids will probably be exposed to the latest "cool" kid foods, and this is what marketers are banking on. Then, when you go to the grocery store, your child will have a meltdown if you don't give in and buy the cereal with their favorite cartoon character on the box, or the cookies with brightly colored chips. If you're a parent, it's certainly easier to just give in, but it's imperative to be strong as shaping your child's eating habits starts very early on …

Your Child's Taste Preferences are Created by Age 3

Research shows when parents fed their preschool-aged children junk foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, it had a lasting impact on their taste preferences. All of the children tested showed preferences for junk foods, and all (even those who were just 3 years old!) were also able to recognize some soda, fast food and junk food brands.

The researchers concluded what you probably already suspect: kids who were exposed to junk food, soda and fast food, via advertising and also because their parents fed them these foods, learned to recognize and prefer these foods over healthier choices. This does have an impact on their health, as nutrients from quality foods are critical in helping your child reach his or her fullest potential!

One study from British researchers revealed that kids who ate a predominantly processed food diet at age 3 had lower IQ scores at age 8.5. For each measured increase in processed foods, participants had a 1.67-point decrease in IQ.

As you might suspect, the opposite also held true, with those eating healthier diets experiencing higher IQ levels. For each measured increase in dietary score, which meant the child was eating more fruits and vegetables for instance, there was a 1.2-point increase in IQ.

The reality is, the best time to shape your kids' eating habits is while they're still young. This means starting from birth with breast milk and then transitioning to solid foods that have valuable nutrients, like egg yolk, avocado and sweet potatoes. (You can easily cross any form of grain-based infant cereal off of this list.)

From there, ideally you will feed your child healthy foods that your family is also eating -- grass-fed meats, organic veggies, vegetable juice, raw dairy and nuts, and so on. These are the foods your child will thrive on, and it's important they learn what real, healthy food is right from the get-go. This way, when they become tweens and teenagers, they may eat junk food here and there at a friend's house, but they will return to real food as the foundation of their diet -- and that habit will continue on with them for a lifetime.

This is What Happens When You Let Marketers Dictate Your Kid's Diet …

The state of most kids' diets in the United States is not easy to swallow. As IWG reported:

• Nearly 40% of children's diets come from added sugars and unhealthy fats.
• Only 21% of youth age 6-19 eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day

This is a veritable recipe for disease, and is a primary reason why today's kids are arguably less healthy than many prior generations. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure -- these are diseases that once appeared only in middle-age and beyond, but are now impacting children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that by 2050, one in three U.S. adults will have diabetes -- one of them could be your child if you do not take steps to cancel out the messages junk-food marketers are sending and instead teach them healthy eating habits.

Make no mistake, the advertisers are doing all they can to lure your child in.

In fact, last year the food and beverage industry spent more than $40 billion, yes billion, lobbying congress against regulations that would decrease the marketing of unhealthy foods to kids. You can do a lot of persuading with $40 billion, which may explain why food manufacturers are allowed to get away with so much -- like putting pictures of fruit all over product packaging when the product actually contains no fruit.

A 2011 study by the Prevention Institute even found that 84 percent of food packages that contain symbols specifically intended to help people choose healthier foods did not meet even basic nutritional standards! In fact, 57 percent of these "Better-for-You" children's foods were high in sugar, 95 percent contained added sugar, and 21 percent contained artificial colors. So you need to be very wary when buying any processed foods for your kids, even the "healthy" ones, as they will most certainly contain large amounts of fructose with very little to offer in the way of healthy nutrition.

Help Fight Back Against Junk-Food Marketers and Stand Up for Kids' Health

The Prevention Institute's "We're Not Buying It" campaign is petitioning President Obama to put voluntary, science-based nutrition guidelines into place for companies that market foods to kids. You can sign this petition now, but I urge you to go a step further and stop supporting the companies that are marketing junk foods to your children today.

Ideally, you and your family will want to vote with your pocketbook and avoid as much processed food as possible and use unprocessed raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as much as possible. Your children should be eating the same wholesome foods you are -- they don't need bright-blue juice or deep-fried "nuggets" any more than you do.

If you and your kids are absolutely hooked on fast food and other processed foods, you're going to need some help and most likely some support from friends and family if you want to kick the junk-food lifestyle. Besides surrounding yourself with supportive, like-minded people, you can also review my article "How to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps" or read the book I wrote on the subject, called Generation XL: Raising Healthy, Intelligent Kids in a High-Tech, Junk-Food World.

Finally, my nutrition plan offers a step-by-step guide to feed your family right, and I encourage you to read through it now. You need to first educate yourself about proper nutrition and the dangers of junk food and processed foods in order to change the food culture of your entire family. To give your child the best start at life, and help instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime, you must lead by example. Children will simply not know which foods are healthy unless you, as a parent, teach it to them first.

Technorati Tags: junk food,healthy food choices,responsible food choices,responsible parenting,childrens health,healthy eating,healthier eating,parental rights,children,moderation in all things,junk food marketers,processed food

Heart Healthy Father’s Day Meals

Heart healthy dishes for Dad's special day

Celebrate dear old dad with a gift of a big meal instead of the usual tech gadget. Show him you care by cooking up a few heart-healthy dishes for his special day.

These recipes are tasty, using minimal and fresh ingredients. He'll surely be proud. And his heart will thank you!

Honor the world's greatest dad with a homemade meal that you prepare. Give him the gift of tasty, healthy eating that he will never forget!

Asian marinated salmon filets recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon filets
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon ginger, finely diced
• Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions:

1. In a baking dish, combine soy sauce, lemon juice, honey, garlic and ginger. Place the salmon in the dish, making sure all sides are coated with sauce, then place in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
2. When ready to cook, remove salmon filets from the marinade and place filets on a lightly greased baking pan. Brush the filets with some of the marinade. Broil each side for about 8 to 10 minutes, basting with marinade. Serve garnished with chopped parsley.

Or Chicken Sausage Skewers

Simply cut chunks of chicken sausage, sweet red peppers, onions and tomatoes, alternately place on skewer and bbq.  Baste to taste with a melted butter and garlic mixture and serve.

Vegetarian whole wheat pasta salad recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cooked whole wheat pasta
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1-2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, toss together bell pepper, onion, tomato, garlic, parsley and olive oil. Add the cooked pasta and grated cheese and toss until well combined. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Raspberry and lemon frozen yogurt recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 4 cups plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup honey or agave syrup
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1-2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together yogurt and lemon juice, then stir in honey. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker. Frozen yogurt will be finished in about 30 to 40 minutes.
2. In the meantime, in a bowl, stir raspberries with honey and let stand until berries are soft and juicy. Pour over finished frozen yogurt.

Serve with light beer, wine spritzers, Arnold Palmers made with unsweetened tea and light lemonade or mineral water.

h/t to Sheknows  & Food Network 

Technorati Tags: healthy choices,healthy diet,holidays,healthy eating

Mad moms to food police: We'll eat what we want

Protest to focus on state demands in fight with consumers

by Bob Unruh  - WND

Moms in Minnesota are preparing to defy state dictates over when and how they can access food supplies for their families, with a rally scheduled Monday to coincide with the beginning of the trial of the manager of a farm buying club, according to the Farm Food Freedom Coalition.

WND previously has reported on disputes between farmers and consumers on one side and federal regulators on the other. They have involved the purchase by consumers of raw milk, the rights of consumers to access milk from their own cows, a radio program that offered natural products and a blogger who wrote about his battle with diabetes and was threatened with jail.

The newest development comes from the Farm Food Freedom Coalition, which is assembling a protest at the Minneapolis trial of Alvin Schlangen, a farm buying club manager.

The group said that mothers in the state who act as hosts for “drop sites” for farm buying club members now have been threatened with criminal charges.

The May 14 protest will be at 7 a.m. outside the Minneapolis courthouse where Schlangen’s trial is scheduled, officials said.

“At the rally supporters will sign a ‘Declaration of Food Independence’ and demonstrate non-compliance against what they deem ‘unjust’ regulations,” the organization announced.

Another supporting organization, the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, said that Schlangen founded the Freedom Farms Coop, which simply connects people with the foods of their choice from local producers.

“Over the past two years the Minnesota Department of Agriculture has illegally raided Alvin’s van, warehouse, and farm. The state has now brought four charges against Alvin related to food distribution; all are misdemeanors counts. If convicted, Alvin faces up to a year in jail and hefty fines … just for helping to connect consumers to the producers and foods of their choice.”

Organizers confirm that “several Minnesota mothers who organize community access to local fresh farm foods plan to risk criminal charges by openly and publicly defying warnings from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.”

“The MDA has threatened several mothers, conducted investigations against them and sent them warning letters that if they continue helping provide fresh food to their friends and neighbors, they will be subject to criminal charges and prosecution. The MDA alleges the mothers are violating food-handling regulations.”

Hundreds are expected to join the rally, organizers estimate.

“It is absolutely outrageous that during this time of economic crisis our state government is investigating and sending warning letters to mothers and putting farmers on trial who are helping provide communities with fresh foods. It is my right to contract privately with a farmer for the food of my choice just as it is the right of every American,” said Melinda Olson, a mother and recipient of one of the MDA’s warnings.

“The MDA’s harassment against mothers will not work. We plan to ignore this warning and continue operating as we are. MDA should not waste taxpayer money investigating, prosecuting and jailing peaceful farmers and mothers for helping their communities secure fresh foods. Our time to stand up against this tyranny is now!” she said.

Pete Kennedy of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, who tracks such issues nationally, said, “Nowhere in the country at this time is state action against food freedom and consumer choice more oppressive than in the state of Minnesota.”

Plans posted online for the event explain that the court has allowed three days for Schlangen’s misdemeanor trial.

The Farm-to-Consumer Fund also confirmed that once the Minneapolis trial for Schlangen is over, he’ll face six more charges of food rule violations in Stearns County.

“While this is going on, there is a pending administrative hearing in which MDA is seeking an order to suspend any further food sales by Schlangen,” the fund reported.

“In addition to selling poultry and eggs produced on his farm, Schlangen manages the Freedom Farms Coop (a private food club formed in July 2010, serving more than 50 families) and delivers raw dairy products and other nutrient dense foods to club members, most of whom live in the Twin Cities.”

The organization documented Schlangen’s perspective, who said: “It must be legal to privately support farms that grow quality food and provide for the health of our growing children and seniors. This should be a model for today’s agriculture. Connecting kids with natural food production is vital to their future.”

He explains he believes private arrangements to purchase such food are not under the jurisdiction of the state.

It was nearly two years ago when the MDA raided warehouse space Schlangen leased. In the warrantless search, state officials seized food at the facility.

Then in 2011 deputies accompanied state agency officials when they impounded his truck and goods while he was delivering farm eggs to students at Macalester College in in St. Paul.

He has argued he doesn’t need a state “food handler’s permit” because he delivers only to members of the buying club through private contract, not the public.

The organization also reports the state agency “has tried” to put farmer Mike Hartmann out of business in recent years, bringing charges against him, his wife Diana and others.

WND reported several months ago when protesters distributed an estimated 100 gallons of raw milk in front of the offices of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration near Washington during a rally that prompted the federal agency to issue a statement defending its crackdown on the product.

The event was organized by the Farm Food Freedom Coalition. A spokesman for the rally, Max Kane, told WND that a caravan of vehicles collected the supplies of raw milk, then traveled to Silver Springs, Md., to the FDA offices for the protest.

The distribution there was in violation of a federal law that prevents people from moving raw milk across state lines for delivery to others. The rally participants were met by officers from the Department of Homeland Security and others.

But Kane said there were no conflicts, no arrests and no violence.

The FDA said there have been there have been reports of illnesses from raw milk, but a report from the Weston A. Price Foundation revealed that from 1980 to 2005 there were 10 times more illnesses from pasteurized milk than from raw milk.

Today, 30 states allow the sale of raw milk and 20 forbid it, but the federal government forbids it in interstate business.

In California, three people are facing trial following an investigation of the Rawesome buying club. In that case, one of the defense lawyers was stunned by the militancy of the prosecutor, declaring, “She doesn’t want raw milk. … She wants blood.”

The federal government has a long history of cracking down on those who produce raw milk and make it available to consumers – even when the consumers are the ones who own the cows and milk.

In that recent case in Wisconsin, a judge ruled that Americans do not have a right to choose their food, not even when they own the cows and the milk.

Kimberly Hartke of the Campaign for Real Milk, a project of The Weston A. Price Foundation, has told WND as the cases have developed the government’s “heavy-handed” tactics simply have gone too far.

“As more consumers seek greater access to local farm fresh milk to feed their families, our federal government is working overtime to curtail freedom to feed your family the way you deem necessary. Since most seek raw dairy for health reasons, this is a serious concern,” she said.

It was a ruling from Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Fiedler in Wisconsin that said the families who reported they were boarding their cows for a fee and then getting the milk instead were running a “dairy farm.”

“It’s always a surprise when a judge says you don’t have the fundamental right to consume the foods of your choice,” said Kennedy.

Fiedler’s decision said, “Plaintiffs argue that they have a fundamental right to possess, use and enjoy their property and therefore have a fundamental right to own a cow, or a heard (sic) of cows, and to use their cow(s) in a manner that does not cause harm to third parties. They argue that they have a fundamental right to privacy to consume the food of their choice for themselves and their families and therefore have a fundamental right to consume unpasteurized milk from their cows,” the judge wrote.

Bunk, he concluded.

“They do not simply own a cow that they board at a farm. Instead, plaintiffs operate a dairy farm. If plaintiffs want to continue to operate their dairy farm then they must do so in a way that complies with the laws of Wisconsin.”

He continued, “The court denied plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, which means the following:

“(1) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a diary (sic) herd;
“(2) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;
“(3) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer;
“(4) no, the Zinniker plaintiffs’ private contract does not fall outside the scope of the state’s police power;
“(5) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice; and
“(6) no, the DATCP did not act in an ultra vires manner because it had jurisdiction to regulate the Zinniker plaintiffs’ conduct.”

Technorati Tags: Moms,Minnesota,farming,food,food police,food choices,food Nazis,stand-up,farm buying clubs,Big Brother,Big Agri,Big Government,Agenda 21,natural food,raw milk

Americans Eat the Cheapest Food in the World, But What is It Really Costing?

Story at-a-glance

• In 2010, Americans spent just over 9 percent of their disposable income on food (5.5 percent at home and 3.9 percent eating out); this is less than half or more of most any other country on the planet
• The “faster, bigger, cheaper” approach to food production that the United States has mastered is unsustainable and is contributing to the destruction of our planet and your health
• Easy access to cheap, poor-quality food is contributing to the rising rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other chronic disease
• Nearly all cheap processed foods in the United States contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients and come from confined animal feeding operations, which contribute to environmental destruction, animal cruelty and the spread of antibiotic-resistant super-germs
• To protect your health and the environment, strive to make 90 percent of your diet non-processed, whole organic foods; it may cost more to eat this way initially, but the amount it will save you in the long run is immeasurable

By Dr. Mercola

In 2010, Americans spent just over 9 percent of their disposable income on food (5.5 percent at home and 3.9 percent eating out).ⁱ

This is a dramatically lower percentage spent just decades ago in the early 1960s, when over 17 percent was spent on food, and even more of a “bargain” compared to 1930, when Americans spent over 24 percent of their disposable income to feed their families.

When you compare what Americans spend to what people in other countries spend, you’ll also notice some great disparities.

On the surface, having cheaper food may seem like an advantage, but in reality while Americans may be saving a few dollars on their meals, they’re paying big time in terms of their health, and the health of the planet.

No Place on the Planet Has Cheaper Food Than the United States

As reported in TreeHugger, professor Mark J. Perry stated on his Carpe Diem blog:ⁱⁱ

“... compared to other countries, there's no other place on the planet that has cheaper food than the U.S. The 5.5% of disposable income that Americans spend on food at home is less than half the amount of income spent by Germans (11.4%), the French (13.6%), the Italians (14.4%), and less than one-third the amount of income spent by consumers in South Africa (20.1%), Mexico (24.1%), and Turkey (24.5%), which is about what Americans spent DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION, and far below what consumers spend in Kenya (45.9%) and Pakistan (45.6%).”

Unfortunately, the “faster, bigger, cheaper” approach to food production that the United States has mastered is unsustainable and contributing to the destruction of our planet and your health. Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and a number of other bestsellers, said it best:

"Cheap food is an illusion. There is no such thing as cheap food. The real cost of the food is paid somewhere. And if it isn't paid at the cash register, it's charged to the environment or to the public purse in the form of subsidies. And it's charged to your health."

In other words, pay now or pay later. American food may be cheap, but that’s about the only “compliment” it deserves, because when you rely on cheap food, you typically get what you pay for.

Why are So Many Americans Fat and Sick?

In many cases, easily the majority, it is due to dietary factors! Millions of Americans live in "food deserts" where fresh produce is hard to find but processed food and fast food is available everywhere. If your meals consist of $1 burgers and super-size drinks, your diet may be cheap, but it is also excessively high in grains, sugars, and factory-farmed meats. This is a recipe for obesity, diabetes and heart disease, just to name a few calamitous conditions that befall those who consume the standard American diet!

You have the U.S. government to thank for this cheap food, as farm subsidies bring you high-fructose corn syrup, fast food, animal factories, monoculture, and a host of other contributors to our unhealthful contemporary diet. A report comparing federal subsidies of fresh produce and junk food, prepared by U.S. PIRG, a non-profit organization that takes on special interests on behalf of the public, revealed where your tax dollars are really going, and it's quite shocking.

If you were to receive an annual federal subsidy directly, you would receive $7.36 to spend on junk food and just 11 cents to buy apples. In other words, every year, your tax dollars pay for enough corn syrup and other junk food additives to buy 19 Twinkies, but only enough fresh fruit to buy less than a quarter of one red delicious apple.

Heart disease is a direct reflection of poor dietary choices. Heart disease costs us $189.4 billion per year. However, statistics show that by 2030, these costs will triple, resulting in a mind-bending $818 billion!ⁱⁱⁱ Meanwhile, as TreeHugger reported:

“If Americans continue to pack on pounds, obesity will cost us about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018, eating up about 21 percent of healthcare spending, according to an article in USA Today.^iv Not to mention the unseen health issues associated with a genetically modified and pesticide-bathed food system.”

What's the "Cost" of a Food System Based on Genetically Modified Foods?

The damage is quite simply immeasurable. Nearly all processed foods in the United States contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, particularly Bt corn and Roundup Ready soy. These crops and other GM varieties are now planted on nearly 4 billion acres of land throughout 29 countries, as their makers (primarily Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta) continue to praise their worth. These companies, which have created patents and intellectual property rights so that they now control close to 70 percent of global seed sales, extol the virtues of GM crops as though they are a panacea for ending world hunger and solving the food crisis.

But in fact, as a report coordinated by Navdanya and Navdanya International, the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, The Center for Food Safety (CFS) and others, has stated, GM crops are surrounded by false promises and failed yields, to the extent that they are now destroying the food system with superweeds, superpests and more.

Scientists have discovered a number of health problems -- like changes in reproductive hormones, testicular changes and damage to the pituitary gland -- related to genetically modified foods, however these studies have been repeatedly ignored by both the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). GM foods are typically regarded as equivalent to their conventional counterparts. This, however, is flawed logic because GM foods contain foreign genes that have never before been introduced into the food supply, and are universally contaminated with toxic GMO-specific herbicide residues.

Behind Virtually Every Cheap Burger is a CAFO

It cannot be ignored that the animals raised on confined animal feed operations (CAFOs) pay one of the highest prices for Americans’ cheap food. The typical CAFO can house tens of thousands of animals (and in the case of chickens, 100,000) under one roof, in nightmarish, unsanitary, disease-ridden conditions.

Animals raised at CAFOs are treated like objects, not animals -- stuck in cages, overcrowded, often covered in feces -- which is not only hard to watch, but also hard to stomach. It is not at all unusual for animals to be abused in these circumstances; the very conditions in which they live are abuse in their own right. For those who aren't aware, about 80 percent of all the antibiotics produced are used in agriculture -- not only to fight infection, but to promote unhealthy (though profitable) weight gain in animals. Unfortunately, this practice is also contributing to the alarming spread of antibiotic-resistant disease -- a serious problem that is costing tens of thousands of Americans their lives.

CAFOs have been highly promoted as the best way to produce food for the masses, but the only reason CAFOs are able to remain so "efficient," bringing in massive profits while selling their food for bottom-barrel prices, is because they substitute subsidized crops for pasture grazing.

Factory farms use massive quantities of corn, soy and grain in their animal feed, all crops that they are often able to purchase at below cost because of government subsidies. Because of these subsidies, U.S. farmers produce massive amounts of soy, corn, wheat, etc. -- rather than vegetables -- leading to a monoculture of foods that contribute to a fast food diet. As written in "CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories":^v

"Thanks to U.S. government subsidies, between 1997 and 2005, factory farms saved an estimated $3.9 billion per year because they were able to purchase corn and soybeans at prices below what it cost to grow the crops. Without these feed discounts, amounting to a 5 to 15 percent reduction in operating costs, it is unlikely that many of these industrial factory farms could remain profitable.

By contrast, many small farms that produce much of their own forage receive no government money. Yet they are expected somehow to match the efficiency claims of the large, subsidized megafactory farms. On this uneven playing field, CAFOs may falsely appear to "outcompete" their smaller, diversified counterparts."

As it stands, the book notes that "grazing and growing feed for livestock now occupy 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet. If present trends continue, meat production is predicted to double between the turn of the 21st century and 2050." Does this sound like a good deal to you?

Allocating More Money to Your Food is Investing in Your Most Valuable Asset...

You... and your family (including those who are yet to be born)! If you want to optimize your health, you simply must return to the basics of healthy food choices. And, as more and more people begin to grasp this concept and demand healthy, unadulterated foods, the more must be produced, one way or another. There is just no way around it -- if you want your family to be healthy, someone in your household, or someone you pay, must invest some time in the kitchen preparing your food from scratch, using fresh, whole ingredients.

Avoiding processed food requires a change in mindset, which is not always an easy task. It CAN be done, however. Rather than looking at processed foods as a convenience that tastes good or saves money, try thinking of it as:

• Extra calories that will harm your body
• A toxic concoction of foreign chemicals and artificial flavors that will lead to disease
• A waste of your money
• Likely to lead to increased health care bills for you and your family
• Not something to give to children, whose bodies are still developing and in great need of nutrients

Your goal should be to strive for 90 percent non-processed, whole food. Not only will you enjoy the health benefits—especially if you buy mostly organic—but you’ll also get the satisfaction of knowing exactly what you’re putting into your body, and that in and of itself can be a great feeling. It may cost more to eat this way, but then again it might not. (And in the long run the amount it will save you in the long run is immeasurable.)

You may be surprised to find out that by going directly to the source you can get amazingly healthy, locally grown, organic food for less than you can find at your supermarket. This gives you the best of both worlds: food that is grown near to you and sold with minimal packaging, cutting down on its carbon footprint and giving you optimal freshness, as well as grown without chemicals, genetically modified (GM) seeds, and other potential toxins.

Restaurants are able to keep their costs down by getting food directly from a supplier. You, too, can take advantage of a direct farm-to-consumer relationship, either on an individual basis by visiting a small local farm or by joining a food coop in your area. To find these types of real foods, grown by real farmers who are eager to serve their communities, visit LocalHarvest.org.

Simple Strategies to Eat Well Without Spending More

There are many strategies available to stretch your food dollars while feeding your family healthy foods. Rather than wasting money on expensive cereal boxes and bags of chips, put your money toward foods that will serve your health well, such as raw organic dairy, cage-free organic eggs, fresh vegetables and fermented foods you make at home (fermented foods are incredibly economical because you can use a portion of one batch to start the next).

The following strategies will also make it easier to eat well on a tight budget:

• Identify someone to prepare meals. Someone has to invest time in the kitchen to prepare your meals, or else you will succumb to costly and unhealthy fast food and convenience foods. So it will be necessary for either you, your spouse, another family member or someone you pay to prepare your family's meals from locally grown healthful foods.
• Become resourceful: This is an area where your grandmother can be a wealth of information, as how to use up every morsel of food and stretch out a good meal was common knowledge to generations past. Seek to get back to the basics of cooking -- using the bones from a roast chicken to make stock for a pot of soup, extending a Sunday roast to use for weekday dinners, learning how to make hearty stews from inexpensive cuts of meat, using up leftovers and so on.
• Plan your meals: If you fail to plan you are planning to fail. This is essential, as you will need to be prepared for mealtimes in advance to be successful. Ideally this will involve scouting out your local farmer's markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly. But, you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales or, even better, produce from your own vegetable garden.

  You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you're short on time in the evening.

  It is no mystery that you will be eating lunch around noon every day so rather than rely on fast food at work, before you go to bed make a plan as to what you are going to take to work for lunch the next day. This is a simple strategy that will let you eat healthier and save money, especially it you take healthy food from home in with you to work.

• Avoid food waste: According to a study published in the journal PloS One, Americans waste an estimated 1,400 calories of food per person, each and every day.^vi The two steps above will help you to mitigate food waste in your home, and you may also have seen my article titled 14 Ways to Save Money on Groceries. Among those tips are suggestions for keeping your groceries fresher, longer, and I suggest reviewing those tips now.
• Buy organic animal foods. The most important foods to buy organic are animal, not vegetable, products (meat, eggs, butter, etc.), because animal foods tend to concentrate pesticides in higher amounts. If you cannot afford to buy all of your food organic, opt for organic animal foods first.

References:

---

• ⁱ USDA Economic Research Service, Food CPI and Expenditures
• ⁱⁱ Carpe Diem July 3, 2010
• ⁱⁱⁱ Huffington Post April 21, 2011
• ^iv USA Today November 17, 2009
• ^v CAFO - The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories
• ^vi PLoS ONE 4(11): e7940

Source: Treehugger March 24, 2012

Related Links:

How to Save Up to 89% on Your Organic Food

Why is it Suddenly Cheaper to Eat Out?

The Drug Industry May Be Bad, But THIS Industry May Be Even Worse for Your Health

Food Fights and Class Warfare

There was a time when full tables signified prosperity and thick waistlines were considered attractive. The ability to eat one's fill was what separated the gentry from the peasant making do with a few crusts and salted leftovers. Fat was in because it represented leisure and wealth. Thin meant you were on the road to the poorhouse or to consumption, which meant your body was being consumed, not that you were the one doing the consuming.

Then feudalism went the way of the dodo, agriculture was revolutionized and starvation went extinct in the West. Between the widespread availability of cheap food and social welfare programs covering everything from soup kitchens to food stamps, it became hard to starve. Not only was the availability of food no longer associated with prosperity, but even the poor had begun to eat so well that fat began to carry working class and lower class associations.

Fat was no longer wealth, instead conscientious fitness became a mark of prosperity. The laden table made way for micro portions and exotic but barely edible foods. Thin was in on the plate and the waistline.

In Third World countries where feudalism never ended and the agriculture revolution never mattered, the values often never flipped. Instead of anorexia, teenage girls suffer from being force fed to make them more marriageable. The wealthy are fat and the feasts at the top never end.

In the West, weight stands in for class, at a time when explicit classism has become politically incorrect. When Europeans sneer at how fat Americans are, and American coastal elites sneer at the rest of the country for being fat, it's a class putdown that dressed up longstanding contempt in the colors of the welfare state.

Just because the left and its class warfare worldview, which pretends to be concerned about the plight of the underclass, dominates Western societies does not mean that it is not classist. The left is elitist and its underclass protectionism creates a new wave feudalism with a vast government funded upper and middle class dedicated to caring for the underclass, subsidizing it, caring for it and taxing it to pay for all those services.

The obesity concern trolling is a combination of classism and nanny statism that brings to mind the days when their ideological forebears thought that the way to deal with the poor was to sterilize those who seemed less capable than the rest to improve the breed. There is something equally Darwinian in the sneers aimed at Paula Deen. The breed being culled while the elites try to teach their less evolved cousins to survive by eating their arugula.

The nanny state is built on a technocratic confidence in the ability to create one size fits all solutions, overlaying that on a map of the current medical wisdom leads to the creation of single standards, which often have less to do with health than they do with the status symbols of the leisure class. 19th century popularized medicine created so many of these fads that some of them are still around today. The 20th century created even more.

Death though is not only inevitable, but it cannot be dodged with a one size fits all standard. Fitness guru Jim Fixx who helped kickstart the running craze died in his early fifties of a heart attack. Fixx had quit smoking and lost weight, and still died at an early age. Jackie Gleason who spent his life looking like a walking health attack, smoking and drinking, outlived him by nearly twenty years.

Medicine is individual and the collectivization of medicine is a technocratic solution that leads nowhere except to few doctors and ranks of unionized medical personnel nudging patients into following the script handed down to them by professors who have never actually practiced medicine a day in their life. This is the outcome of a nanny state outlook that sees individuals as dispensable, that is concerned only with group outcomes.

This view requires seeing all people as endowed with certain problems that require broad stroke solutions, like adding calories to menus and other rats in a maze tactics designed to modify human behavior on a national level. The targeting of fast food restaurants, public school meals and food stamps reeks of the same elitist arrogance that drives the nanny state.

The politicization of food by the elites of the left always comes down to class, no matter how it may be disguised in liberal colors. From exotic to locally grown, the trajectory of food politics follows the upselling of food prices The only difference is that the dominance of the left has wrapped the added cost with no added value in their own politics. The more affordable food becomes, the more the left finds ways to add cost to food, without adding value.

But the politicization of food goes beyond the fair trade and locally grown fetishes of the politically correct elites, the more politics ends up on your plate, the more the elites are driven to involve everyone else in their food fights. What begins as a way of raising prices while diminishing value to assert wealth and privilege becomes imposed on everyone in the name of their political morality. Once everyone else is paying more and getting less, then the classist left demands new ways to set its superior moral eating habits apart. Instead of everyone ending up with more food, everyone ends up with less.

The cultural ascendance of the left has meant that instead of conspicuous consumption, the consumption has to be disguised with conspicuous political pieties. The food may cost twice as much, but it's locally grown on a farm run by handicapped union workers who visit Cuba to receive free health care or by the indigenous peoples of Tuba-Tuba with the proceeds going to a complete sonic library of their chants and ceremonies. The entire thing is meaningfully meaningless, but it disguises the consumption in a hairshirt, which is the entire point.

Conspicuous consumption is now for the poor while conspicuous conservation is for liberal elites. Al Gore may live in a mansion but he still has the carbon footprint of a mouse. The problem is the truck driver whose vehicle emissions are killing the planet. Whole Foods is just fine, but we need to do something about McDonald's.

Conspicuous conservationism has made America a poorer country, destroyed millions of jobs and outsourced them overseas. Now it's beginning to make America a hungrier country. In a moment of horrifying tone deafness that makes Marie Antoinette seem enlightened, the left is cheering that fewer Americans are eating meat, without seeming to understand that it's because fewer Americans are able to afford it because of their economic policies.
What the left's food police can't accomplish with nudges and shaming, they can finish off with policies and regulations that end up raising the price of food or by making it too difficult to sell. As the left tries and fails to sell the general public on conservation as a status symbol, it moves in the heavy bureaucratic artillery.

It isn't unusual for elites to use the legal system to enforce their own values on the general public, though it was the kind of thing that the universal franchise was supposed to put a leash on, but there is something grim about their growing preoccupation with the habits and mortality of the population. It's the kind of concern that has a habit of ending in eugenics and the more medicine is universalized, the easier it is to start cutting off access to medical treatment for those who haven't been nudged far enough in the right direction.

Social medicine politicizes food consumption and a globalized economy politicizes food production. And the politicized American plate has less on it and at a higher price. While the left obsessively pursues its mission of destroying fast food in the name of lowering social medicine costs and being fairer to farmers, what they are truly accomplishing is to take affordable and filling food off the shelves, as they have done with countless other products that they have targeted.

By the time the left was done with Russia, it had gone from a wheat producer to a wheat importer and many basic food staples were hard to come by even in a country filled with collective farms. Finding modern day examples of that isn't hard. We only have to look as far south as Venezuela to see empty store shelves under the weight of government food policies. But one day that may be the local grocery store if the left gets its way.

By Daniel Greenfield at Sultan Knish

UCLA on Alzheimer's Disease - young or old should read

Interesting study on Alzheimers.

UCLA on Alzheimer's Disease - young or old should read Food for Thought "The idea that Alzheimer's is entirely genetic and unpreventable is perhaps the greatest misconception about the disease," says Gary Small, M.D., director of the UCLA Center on Aging. Researchers now know that Alzheimer's, like heart disease and cancer, develops over decades and can be influenced by lifestyle factors including cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, depression, education, nutrition, sleep and mental, physical and social activity.The big news: Mountains of research reveals that simple things you do every day might cut your odds of losing your mind to Alzheimer's.In search of scientific ways to delay and outlive Alzheimer's and other dementias, I tracked down thousands of studies and interviewed dozens of experts. The results in a new book: 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss Here are 10 strategies I found most surprising. 1.  Have coffee.   In an amazing flip-flop, coffee is the new brain tonic. A large European study showed that drinking three to five cups of coffee a day in midlife cut Alzheimer's risk 65% in late life. University of South Florida researcher Gary Arendash credits caffeine: He says it reduces dementia-causing amyloid in animal brains. Others credit coffee's antioxidants. So drink up, Arendash advises, unless your doctor says you shouldn't. 2.  Floss.  Oddly, the health of your teeth and gums can help predict dementia. University of Southern California research found that having periodontal disease before age 35 quadrupled the odds of dementia years later. Older people with tooth and gum disease score lower on memory and cognition tests, other studies show. Experts speculate that inflammation in diseased mouths migrates to the brain. 3.  Google. Doing an online search can stimulate your aging brain even more than reading a book, says UCLA's Gary Small, who used brain MRIs to prove it. The biggest surprise: Novice Internet surfers, ages 55 to 78, activated key memory and learning centers in the brain after only a week of Web surfing for an hour a day. 4. Grow new brain cells. Impossible, scientists used to say. Now it's believed that thousands of brain cells are born daily. The trick is to keep the newborns alive. What works: aerobic exercise (such as a brisk 30-minute walk every day), strenuous mental activity, eating salmon and other fatty fish, and avoiding obesity, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, heavy drinking and vitamin B deficiency. 5. Drink apple juice.  Apple juice can push production of the "memory chemical" acetylcholine; that's the way the popular Alzheimer's drug Aricept works, says Thomas Shea, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts. He was surprised that old mice given apple juice did better on learning and memory tests than mice that received water. A dose for humans: 16 ounces, or two to three apples a day. 6. Protect your head. Blows to the head, even mild ones early in life, increase odds of dementia years later. Pro football players have 19 times the typical rate of memory-related diseases. Alzheimer's is four times more common in elderly who suffer a head injury, Columbia University finds. Accidental falls doubled an older person's odds of dementia five years later in another study. Wear seat belts and helmets, fall-proof your house, and don't take risks. 7. Meditate. Brain scans show that people who meditate regularly have less cognitive decline and brain shrinkage - a classic sign of Alzheimer's - as they age. Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says yoga meditation of 12 minutes a day for two months improved blood flow and cognitive functioning in seniors with memory problems. 8. Take Vitamin D.   A "severe deficiency" of vitamin D boosts older Americans' risk of cognitive impairment 394%, an alarming study by England's University of Exeter finds. And most Americans lack vitamin D. Experts recommend a daily dose of 800 IU to 2,000 IU of vitamin D3. 9. Fill your brain. It's called "cognitive reserve." A rich accumulation of life experiences - education, marriage, socializing, a stimulating job, language skills, having a purpose in life, physical activity and mentally demanding leisure activities - makes your brain better able to tolerate plaques and tangles. You can even have significant Alzheimer's pathology and no symptoms of dementia if you have high cognitive reserve, says David Bennett, M.D., of Chicago's Rush University Medical Center. 10. Avoid infection. Astonishing new evidence ties Alzheimer's to cold sores, gastric ulcers, Lyme disease, pneumonia and the flu. Ruth Itzhaki, Ph.D., of the University of Manchester in England estimates the cold-sore herpes simplex virus is incriminated in 60% of Alzheimer's cases. The theory: Infections trigger excessive beta amyloid "gunk" that kills brain cells. Proof is still lacking, but why not avoid common infections and take appropriate vaccines, antibiotics and antiviral agents? What to Drink for Good Memory A great way to keep your aging memory sharp and avoid Alzheimer's is to drink the right stuff. a. Tops: Juice. A glass of any fruit or vegetable juice three times a week slashed Alzheimer's odds 76% in Vanderbilt University research. Especially protective:blueberry, grape and apple juice, say other studies. b. Tea: Only a cup of black or green tea a week cut rates of cognitive decline in older people by 37%, reports the Alzheimer's Association. Only brewed tea works. Skip bottled tea, which is devoid of antioxidants. c. Caffeine beverages. Surprisingly, caffeine fights memory loss and Alzheimer's, suggest dozens of studies. Best sources: coffee (one Alzheimer's researcher drinks five cups a day), tea and chocolate. Beware caffeine if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure, insomnia or anxiety. d. Red wine:  If you drink alcohol, a little red wine is most apt to benefit your aging brain. It's high in antioxidants. Limit it to one daily glass for women, two for men. Excessive alcohol, notably binge drinking, brings on Alzheimer's. e. Two to avoid:  Sugary soft drinks, especially those sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. They make lab animals dumb. Water with high copper content also can up your odds of Alzheimer's. Use a water filter that removes excess minerals. 5 Ways to Save Your Kids from Alzheimer's Now, Alzheimer's isn't just a disease that starts in old age. What happens to your child's brain seems to have a dramatic impact on his or her likelihood of Alzheimer's many decades later. Here are five things you can do now to help save your child from Alzheimer's and memory loss later in life, according to the latest research. 1. Prevent head blows: Insist your child wear a helmet during biking, skating, skiing, baseball, football, hockey, and all contact sports. A major blow as well as tiny repetitive unnoticed concussions can cause damage, leading to memory loss and Alzheimer's years later. 2 Encourage language skills:  A teenage girl who is a superior writer is eight times more likely to escape Alzheimer's in late life than a teen with poor linguistic skills. Teaching young children to be fluent in two or more languages makes them less vulnerable to Alzheimer's. 3. Insist your child go to college:  Education is a powerful Alzheimer's deterrent . The more years of formal schooling, the lower the odds. Most Alzheimer's prone: teenage drop outs. For each year of education, your risk of dementia drops 11%, says a recent University of Cambridge study. 4. Provide stimulation: Keep your child's brain busy with physical, mental and social activities and novel experiences. All these contribute to a bigger, better functioning brain with more so-called 'cognitive reserve.' High cognitive reserve protects against memory decline and Alzheimer's. 5. Spare the junk food: Lab animals raised on berries, spinach and high omega-3 fish have great memories in old age. Those overfed sugar, especially high fructose in soft drinks, saturated fat and trans fats become overweight and diabetic, with smaller brains and impaired memories as they age, a prelude to Alzheimer's.                                                ------- Excerpted from Jean Carper's newest book: "100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss"  -  John Carper M.D. is a family physician in Alameda CA with more than 20 years experience.