Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

• The spinach-E. coli crisis is nearly put to bed, the only thing left to do is pinpoint the source of the outbreak and move on. But according to the Associated Press it may never happen, no matter how much poop investigators scare out of cows. Juliana Barbassa reports:

More than two dozen "food detectives" fanned out in the quest to determine where the contamination had occurred along the greens' journey from field to fork. They collected spinach leaves from processing plants. They frightened cows near fields of greens to induce defecation and collect their manure. They dipped beakers into water used to irrigate farms or wash the spinach.

• Wait, no more trans fat? Time to run out and eat Kentucky Fried Chicken—not! Well, I guess it’s still a good thing that KFC is switching to no-trans-fat soybean oil. But you still won’t find an Eat to Liver hanging with the colonel anytime soon. David B. Caruso of the Associated Press has more:

KFC's systemwide rollout is to be completed by April 2007, but the company said many of its approximately 5,500 restaurants already have switched to low linolenic soybean oil, replacing partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

• Why—since obesity is so bad—are there so many obese people in this country and abroad? That’s a complicated question, with probably no single answer, but one thing’s for sure there’s more than just one drawback to being obese—like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Robert Preidt of Healthday News explains:

Overweight and obese women are five times more likely than lean women to have polycystic ovary syndrome, a new Spanish study finds.

Polycystic ovary syndrome, which decreases fertility, occurs when the ovaries malfunction and levels of the hormone androgen in the body are unusually high. Symptoms include acne, excess hair growth, and irregular or no menstrual periods.

• Here’s a little more on obesity. Do fat people cause global warming, endangered species, and the destruction of Brazilian rainforests? Gina Kolata of The New York Times has an interesting piece that looks at obesity from many different angles—or should I say curves:

The idea of using economic incentives to help people shed pounds comes up in the periodic calls for taxes on junk food. Martin B. Schmidt, an economist at the College of William and Mary, suggests a tax on food bought at drive-through windows. Describing his theory in a recent Op-Ed article in The New York Times, Dr. Schmidt said people would expend more calories if they had to get out of their cars to pick up their food.

• I’m hardly trendy—text messaging, reality television, and the Atkins diet are all totally wasted on me. So it shouldn’t shock anyone that energy drinks don’t turn me on either. Although many doctors have taken notice because as Carla K. Johnson of the Associated Press reports caffeine overload is dangerous:

Nutritionists warn that the drinks, laden with caffeine and sugar, can hook kids on an unhealthy jolt-and-crash cycle. The caffeine comes from multiple sources, making it hard to tell how much the drinks contain. Some have B vitamins, which when taken in megadoses can cause rapid heartbeat, and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet.

• Halloween will be here soon—tomorrow in fact! Ever wonder what health professionals give out? You’d think the answer would be only fruits and veggies. Some do, but others prefer to leave Halloween’s natural appeal intact. Rosie Mestel of The Los Angeles Times explains:

Nuts and chocolate: Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. "They might be cashews or almonds or something like that," he says. Not peanuts, though, because of the issue with allergies. He doesn't think sugar candy is a better nutritional choice. "That sounds like a little bit of lingering fat phobia," he says. "Sugar candy has zero nutrition. Chocolate does seem to have some health benefits."

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When Chicago Bears wider-receiver Bernard Berrian isn’t torching defensive-backs—and my fantasy team—he occasionally shares dietary advice with school children. His number one recommendation? Bacon and maple syrup. I know what you’re thinking—what the? Yeah, I’m calling a foul on this one too.

Yesterday during ESPN’s Mayne Event he shared some dietary advice with bunch of school kids. Here’s how it went:

Bernard: Hello kids.


Classroom: Hello!

Bernard: Do any of you know what it takes to make it in the NFL?

Redhead freckle-faced ginger-kid: Four-three forty speed?

Kid-giggles.

Bernard: That always helps, but first you have to lay a foundation—make your body strong. Do any of you know how to do that?

Pretentious kid with overly dramatic delivery: Massive amounts of jumping-jacks?

Bernard: No, I’m talking about diet—the food you put in your body. Before ever game in college I used to eat bacon and syrup, and I brought some with me. Come on everybody let’s eat!

And the crowd goes wild.

What ensued was a melee of animal fat drizzled in hearty helpings of liquid sugar. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t these the types of things school food reforms are trying to knock out? It gets worse, here’s my favorite—well not-so-favorite—quote from Bernard:

It’s the perfect combination, you should eat it everyday and you’ll be in the NFL too.

Now, I’m not so Fuhrman-ized that I don’t realize this piece is intended for humor. I know Bernard Berrian isn’t really campaigning to make bacon and syrup one of the food groups, but still, what kind of a message does it send?

Especially—as Dr. Fuhrman puts it—a lot animal products aren’t exactly longevity-promoting:

For athletes, as I explain in Eat to Live, I recommend much more nuts and seeds, and a diet mugh higher in fat. Because keep in mind that bulking up is dangerous to one's longevity and power lifters and football linebackers often eat in a way that radically shortens their lives. If you were a weightlifter, for instance, you might improve your chances of muscle growth with more animal products then I recommend, certainly. But my point is too much animal products is not conducive to longevity. But if size is your only goal, go for it.

NFL players aren't the only ones with twisted diets, take a look at what Detriot Pistons' shooting-guard Richard Hamilton is eating.

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I admit, I’m more than eager to trot this story out again-again, but do you remember last week’s post about England’s meat pie pushing mothers? You know. Those uber-moms who started selling hamburgers to students outside of schools in spite of the recent initiatives to improve school food. You got to appreciate that kind of caring—and degree of mental illness!

Well, here’s an example of some homegrown, good old-fashioned American dietary dopiness. How many of you remember the post-soccer-game orange slices? You do, good. But what about the post-game chips, juice-boxes, Ho Hos, and Hawaiian Punch? No? From The New York Times Op-Ed section, Harlan Coben tells us all about it—and he’s none to happy:

Are none of us reading about the obesity of our young people? Do you think it helps their well-being that after every sporting event our children gorge themselves Fall-of-Roman-Empire style on extra calories, extra sugar, extra hydrogenated fat? I recently sat down with Annette O’Neill, a registered dietitian and bona fide nutritionist, and asked her, “Do you think it’s a good idea for our kids to have Cheetos and Kool-Aid after a sporting event?” Her response: “Uh, no.”

Coben certainly is amazed with our cultures propensity to incorporate snacking into every facet of our lives. I guess that’s one reason why it can be so hard to teach kids the importance of healthy eating, especially since—as Coben puts it—every classroom celebration involves softball-sized cupcakes.

If you’re fed up like Coben, check out this podcast where Dr. Fuhrman offers up tips on getting children to eat well.

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In Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman says he considers cancer a disease resulting from fruit and vegetable deficiency. Here are his reasons:

• Vegetables and fruits protect against all types of cancers if consumed in large enough quantities. Hundreds of scientific studies document this. The most prevalent cancers in our country are mostly plant-food-deficiency disease.
• Raw vegetables have the most powerful anti-cancer properties of all foods.
• Studies on the cancer-reducing effects of vitamin pills containing various nutrients (such as folate, vitamin C and E) get mixed reviews; sometimes they show a slight benefit, but most show no benefit. Occasionally studies show that taking isolated nutrients is harmful, as was discussed earlier regarding beta-carotene.
• Beans, in general, not just soy, have additional anti-cancer benefits against reproductive cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer.1

I point this out because today there’s a video on CNN stating that fruits and vegetables just don’t offer the big-bang for cancer protection that researchers once thought. Now, I’ve watched the video a few times and I still don’t understand their claim.


They say fruits and vegetables aren’t the saviors many thought them to be, but the report still recommends people eat a diet heavy in diverse plant matter. Hard to know what to make of that.
Continue Reading...

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• Here’s a great way to get stubborn men to eat more fruits and veggies. Guess what guys? According to Jacqueline Stenson MSNBC eating fruits and vegetables can improve fertility:

Antioxidants, like those found in fruits and vegetables, may help prevent damage to sperm that causes them to become sluggish and lose the ability to fertilize an egg, Dr. Vivian Lewis, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. said.

• Gasoline consumption is a touchy subject in this country. So this next item is bound to infuriate a few people. Apparently overweight drivers and passengers are responsible for burning one billion extra gallons of gas each year. Jon Hilkevitch of The Chicago Tribune reports:

Some 1.7 million cars could be filled with gas for an entire year using the 938 million gallons of fuel that could be saved by trimming down the weight of drivers and passengers, Sheldon Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said.

• Since we live in a country with a significant obesity, it should surprise anyone that many of our pets are battling the bulge too. Surprise-surprise it’s not good for them either. Dawn Fallik of The Philadelphia Inquirer explains:

It's not so cute anymore. With 40 percent of animals over the age of 4 regarded as overweight, veterinarians say they are seeing more diabetes, joint problems and other health issues similar to those of their heavy humans. And they are calling on owners to step up to the plate, so to speak, and put their pets on a diet.

• Just this morning, I jumped out of bed and wondered out loud—we need purple tomatoes damn it! Well today must be my lucky day, because according to the Associated Press scientists have struck gold, purple gold:

Oregon State University researchers are fine-tuning a purple tomato -- a new blend of colors and nutrients. The skin is as dark as an eggplant. But it doesn't just look cool -- it could be better for you.

• Convincing kids that smoking isn’t cool has got to be a tall order. Heck, I grew up thinking it was cool. A new strategy aims at discouraging teens from picking up the habit—anti-smoking messages in DVDs. Reuters reports:

"These messages will fight false film images of healthy and hip smokers with the real hard truth of addiction and disease," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement Tuesday announcing the agreement.

• Soda is one of those junk foods you never hear anything good about. I think it has a real short list of redeeming qualities—if any. Nicholas Bakalar of The New York Times reports that cola has been linked to low bone density in older women:

After statistically adjusting for age, body mass index, physical activity, alcohol intake and other factors, they found that the more cola women drank, the lower their bone density. Compared with those who drank none, those who drank cola daily had reduced bone density at the hip ranging from 2.1 percent to 5.4 percent, depending on the exact site of the measurement.

• Hey man, pass the doobie, I’ve got a wicked bad stomach ache. Robert Preidt of HealthDay News reports a chemical in marijuana relaxes the colon and reduces stomach cramping:

The study found that dronabinol relaxes the colon and reduces post-eating contractions and cramping. The effect was most apparent in women.

• Remember that piece of marketing genius, the Cocaine energy drink? Gee, who would have thought that stores might pull it from their shelves? 7-Eleven is yanking the brew. The Associated Press reports:

This isn't the first time Cocaine has been yanked. Some stores in the New York area pulled the drink after local politicians complained. It's all part of the company's plan to stand out in the fast-growing energy drink market.

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• You remember last month’s post about the infamous “freshmen fifteen?” Well it turns out it might not be the fifteen after all. According to Marilyn Marchione of the Associated Press it’s more like the freshmen five or seven:

Doctors say it is good news that the number of pounds gained is less than the widely believed 15, but bad news that "Generation XL" kids seem to be learning patterns of gradual weight gain that could spell trouble way beyond graduation.

• Okay fellow gym rats, how many of you get stiff or sore from working out? It certainly happens to me from time to time. Jeannine Stein of The Los Angeles Times explains the right stretches can help get you right:

Your stiffness and soreness might be due to the fact that although weight-lifting increases the size of the muscle, it does nothing to make the muscles more flexible, according to Suzanne Martin, an Alameda-based physical therapist, Pilates instructor and author of the book "Stretching." For that, you need to stretch.

• Man, the PR people for trans fat got some work to do. The news is never good—rightfully so of course. Naila Moreira of The Boston Globe takes a look at the costly debate surrounding replacing trans fats:

But a now-ponderous stack of research has shown that trans fats raise heart disease risk four to five times more sharply than do saturated fats. Trans fats both raise "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, and cause "good" cholesterol, or HDL, to drop, while saturated fats only raise LDL. Moreover, trans fats are linked to ailments such as diabetes and dementia, said Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard University's School of Public Health.

• Wait, macaroni and cheese aren’t good for you? Virginie Montet of the AFP reports poor nutrition and lack of exercise are just two of the factors why U.S. children are overweight:

Scientists pointed to numerous factors that contribute to 32.7 percent of boys under 10 and 27.8 percent of girls being overweight: massive portions at meals, the "energy density" -- calories per gram -- of food eaten, children being drive rather than walking to school, and ethnic group, among others.

• Last week the AFP reported that obesity has seriously fattened up Australia’s health budget. Well, surprise-surprise America’s budget isn’t faring to well either. Take a look at what the AFP is now reporting:

Obesity -- which affects one in every three Americans -- and the illnesses associated with it cost the United States some 90.7 billion dollars a year in health care costs, a University of Pennsylvania researcher said.

• I don’t think this will alarm too many Eat to Livers, but we have an egg salad crisis. The Associated Press reports suspected contamination caused a particular brand to be recalled from seventeen states:

Ballard's President David Ballard said the company has temporarily suspended producing egg salad while it investigates the contamination. Consumers can return the 12-ounce containers of egg salad for a refund.

• One thing’s for sure, news about obesity is never good. Research shows obese post-menopausal women have an increased risk of breast cancer. Virginie Montet of the AFP reports:

"There is an overwhelming number of studies that show a link between obesity and breast cancer," Cheryl Rock of the University of California, San Diego said at the annual conference of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO).

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Having worked at a hospital, I can tell you—the food is pretty iffy. But to be fair it wasn’t all that dissimilar from other cafeteria fare I’ve encountered. It looked a lot like the grub brooding lunch ladies used to ice-cream-scoop onto my tray in high school—probably the same half-life too!

Now, I’m not the only one to call into question the biology of hospital food. UroStream, the friendly urologist, was on call this weekend, meaning she was stranded at the hospital—and hungry! What did she do? The real question is what did she encounter? I’ll let her explain:

The soup today was something called "Chef Special Gumbo". After stirring the pot, I'm convinced it's an amalgamation of all the leftover soups that were prepared during that week. I'm seeing some chicken, beef, rice, beans, tomatoes, okra and other unidentifiable veggie parts swimming in a brownish broth. The main entree, labeled "Chef Surprise" looks like meat in a heavy sauce. I think the surprise is in guessing what this mystery meat is. At least the fries are fresh, and you can't really mess up coffee and sodas.

I’m a little concerned, aren’t you? Amalgam soup and meat with heavy sauce? Poor UroStream.

I point this out not only because it’s a funny story, but because the quality of hospital food never ceases to amaze me. The hospital, the place most people consider tabernacles of health—serving French fries, brownish broths, and mystery meat? I don’t get it. You’d think hospitals would be the strongest pushers of fruits and veggies.

Not so, at my old job I repeatedly saw coworkers flooding out of the cafeteria with lunch trays piled high with soft drinks, desserts, burgers, and just about every form of "al fredo" you can imagine. And to make matters worse, many of them were a little more than pleasantly plump!

To be honest, I don’t find stories like UroStream’s so surprising anymore, with so much obesity news out there it almost seems logical that hospitals would at least be partially responsible too. I guess in some respects they are just as guilty of working around obesity (that was a pun) than trying prevent it. Want an example?

Earlier this year the Associated Press reported that some hospitals are buying larger more heavy duty equipment to accommodate the needs of obese patients; items like bigger hospital beds and lifting contraptions. Like I said in April, more evidence of our band-aid approach to controlling obesity:

Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis [is] finding better ways to deal with the growing number of very obese patients, an issue for many U.S. hospitals. Barnes-Jewish is replacing beds and wheelchairs with bigger models, widening doorways, buying larger CT scan machines, even replacing slippers and gowns.


Last year, patient care director Colleen Becker decided to check the numbers. She looked at a daily hospital census — about one-third of the 900 patients weighed 350 pounds or more.

And as for UroStream, hopefully next time she ventures into the hospital cafeteria there will be at least a few desirable items for her to choose from—maybe some identifiable veggie parts!

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• It sure seems like world hunger is going to become a thing of the past because according to the World Health Organization for every four malnourished adults in the world, five more are overweight, and thirty percent of them are obese. AFP reports:

A billion people out of the world's six billion population are now considered overweight, compared with 800 million who do not have enough to eat.

• A hyperactive kid might be annoying, but you don’t want them to be a hobbit, do you? Denise Gellene of The Los Angeles Times explains the dangers of using Ritalin on preschoolers is significant, one side effect appears to be slower growth rate. Here’s more:

Researchers said the drug appeared to slow children's growth rates. They grew about a half-inch less in height and weighed 3 pounds less than expected, based on estimates of their growth.

• You ever wonder where all the garbage goes? Todd Pittman of The Seattle Times explains a lot of waste, specifically discarded electronics, is being dumped on third world nations. As you can imagine this is not having a positive effect on the inhabitants’ health:
  

"Hazardous electronic waste is flowing to Africa on container ships every day. It's not as dramatic as was what happened in Ivory Coast, but over the long run it will have more of an environmental impact," Jim Puckett, founder of the Seattle-based environmental watchdog, Basel Action Network, told The Associated Press by telephone from London.

• If surviving cancer wasn’t enough, new research indicates female cancer survivors have an increased risk of premature birth. Randy Dotinga of HealthDay News reports:

Women who underwent high-dose radiation therapy to their uterus seem to be the most likely to have problems. The authors of the study, published in the Oct. 18 issue of the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, found that half of babies born to a sampling of these women were premature, compared to roughly 20 percent among their sisters.

• Going outside a bar for a smoke might not seem cool, but for the workers inside, it’s a lifesaver. Alan Cowell of The New York Times explains the smoking ban in Scotland is already yielding remarkable results:

In an article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on Oct. 11, Dr. Daniel Menzies, a clinical research fellow in the Asthma and Allergy Research Group at the University of Dundee, said the study showed that the smoking ban “has led to a rapid and marked improvement in the health of bar workers.”

• Do your children sleepwalk? Have you tried duct taping them to their bed? No? Here HealthDay News provides some serious tips to help you deal with it:

• Keep all windows and doors to the house locked to keep her from wandering outside.
• Don't let her sleep in a bunk bed, and put baby gates in front of stairs.

• I’m not sure how practical this is going to be, but according to Reuters a new study suggests sufferers of arthritis should go barefoot more often because contemporary footwear might worsen abnormal biomechanics:

The researchers assessed the effects of modern shoes on gait and lower extremity joint loads in 75 patients with knee OA [osteoarthritis]. Their mean age was 59, their mean body mass index was 28.4, and 59 of the 75 were women.

• A new study claims elderly people with diabetes are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease than non-diabetics. Reuters reporter Deborah Charles explains:

Researchers also found that participants who were taking insulin were six times more likely to die from infectious diseases or kidney failure than non-diabetic participants. Women treated with insulin had a particularly high mortality risk.

• I’d sooner wrestle an angry polar bear than get my tongue pierced, and here’s a reason why.  An Italian women reported stabbing pains in her face diagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia (also called the suicide disease) resulting from her recent tongue piercing. Carla K. Johnson of the Associated Press reports:

"There are people who have been dropped to their knees" by trigeminal neuralgia, said Alana Greca, a registered nurse and director of patient support for the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association. "That's how intense and how horrendous the pain can be."

• Got bread? Well, you might want to lose it because according to an Italian study a diet rich in bread may boost the risk of kidney cancer. Kathleen Doheny of HealthDay News reports:

Researchers say those consuming the highest amounts of bread doubled the risk for kidney malignancy, compared to those eating the smallest amounts.

• Moms need their sleep, but new research found that fifty-four percent of surveyed mothers feel they are not getting enough shuteye. Reuters explains:

Full-time working mothers were suffering the most with 59 percent saying they were not getting enough sleep. Half of the working mothers said they were getting six or fewer hours sleep a night.

• Hong Kong butts out smoking. The Marlboro man is ticked! The AFP reports that Hong Kong has voted to ban smoking in public places by next year:

Smoking will be banned in government offices, shops and halls from January. But the ban will not be applied to bars and other places of entertainment until 2009 to give them time to adjust.

• Now, I’m not sure you’ll find kids passing around a sandwich in a dark alley behind their school, but researchers have determined that food makes us feel good similarly to recreational drugs and sex. Reuters has more:

"In mice and rats ghrelin triggers the same neurons as delicious food, sexual experience, and many recreational drugs; that is, neurons that provide the sensation of pleasure and the expectation of reward," the researchers write in Friday's issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, being overweight or obese takes a costly toll on your health, but its costs aren’t only biological. According to the AFP the obese living in Australia cost their health system 21 billion dollars last year. Not exactly a g'day mate:

"What the figures show is that it should make all of us review our lifestyle choices, and it also shows that these costs are getting bigger, not smaller," government senator Guy Barnett told Channel Nine television.


"We've got a tsunami coming towards Australia in terms of a health crisis, and it's going to swamp us if we stay the same course."

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Did you know on the average we make well over 200 hundred food decisions everyday? I would have thought no more than ten. Not so according to Prof. Brian Wansink director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab. His elaborate research has shown people are seduced by food more than you might think. Kim Severson of The New York Times reports:

“We don’t have any idea what the normal amount to eat is, so we look around for clues or signals,” he said. “When all you see is that big portions of food cost less than small ones, it can be confusing.”


Although people think they make 15 food decisions a day on average, his research shows the number is well over 200. Some are obvious, some are subtle. The bigger the plate, the larger the spoon, the deeper the bag, the more we eat. But sometimes we decide how much to eat based on how much the person next to us is eating, sometimes moderating our intake by more than 20 percent up or down to match our dining companion.

It kind of makes sense when you consider that eating for many people is also a social event. I know, I grew up in an Italian family—“You full? You no full? Eat’a more! You skinny.” Wansink’s research, which has included a bottomless bowl of soup and tubs of five-day-old popcorn, really illustrates that many people just don’t know much to eat.

This concept sound familiar? It does to me. Dr. Fuhrman refers to this phenomenon as people’s inability to recognize true hunger. A common problem discussed in his book Disease-Proof Your Child:

We teach our children to eat when not hungry. We encourage it. Many parents actually think it looks health for their kids to be plump and bigger than average. They continually encourage them to ignore their bodies and eat when not hungry. The children learn to eat for a taste thrill; it is recreational eating, akin to recreational drug use. They do it for a thrill and pay a price for it later. These children and adults have overeaten their whole lives, so that they have no recollection of what true hunger feels like.

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Few would argue that our nation’s obesity epidemic is not wreaking havoc on public health. In fact, just this month numerous articles hit the wire illustrating the consequences and complications of being obese. Don’t believe me? Check out DiseaseProof's obesity archive for posts like these:

• Obesity and Back Surgery
• More Western Diet Woes
• Health Points: Monday (9/18/06)
• A Global Ban On Junk-Food?
• Health Points: Wednesday (9/06/06)

All this worrying about obesity has brought prevention of childhood obesity to the forefront. Prompting many schools to overhaul the food they serve to their students. Gone are the potato chips, ice cream, and white bread; replaced by things like baked chicken nuggets, whole wheat bread, and stir-fried veggies. Marcelle S. Fischler of The New York Times examines some of menu changes occurring in tri-state area schools:

In many lunchrooms, school food directors have taken up the challenge. French fries are baked, if they haven’t disappeared entirely. Vending machines are being restocked with bottled water and juice instead of Gatorade. Snacks like baked soy and fruit chips are replacing deep-fried potato chips. Soft pretzels are shrinking; frozen-fruit bars fill the Chipwich racks.

Some of the students interviewed in Fischler’s article appear optimistic about the changes, they themselves are cognizant of the obesity epidemic, but others miss their deep-fried goodies or complain that smaller portion sizes aren’t enough to satisfy them—and some avoid the changes altogether by brown-bagging food from home.

Now you have to applaud the efforts of the school system, even though Dr. Fuhrman would hardly call baked chicken nuggets and stir-fried veggies the pinnacle of healthiness, but it sure seems like a step in the right direction. How many of us can recall classmates wolfing down trays of fries five days a week? Heck, I knew kids in college that still did that.

According to Dr. Fuhrman the best way to ensure your children are eating healthfully and getting the proper nutrition, might be to send them to school with a bagged lunch full of nutrient-rich food. He talks about it in this post from a couple of months ago: Packing A Lunch For School

Some children are happy to eat healthfully, but when it comes to school lunch they don’t want to look different from the other kids. Packing fresh fruit and a healthy bread with some nut butter and unsweetened fruit spread can be a quick option. My children love raw cashew nut butter. If using peanut butter, purchase a brand without salt and other additives. My daughters also like to take peeled orange or apple slices with their lunch. We cut the apple into four sections around the core, most of the way through, keeping the apple intact, and then wrap it in silver foil. This way it stays fresh, without discoloration, and they can easily separate it into slices.

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This seems like a no-brainer to me, but new research shows obesity increases the risk that patients will endure complications during spinal surgery. Robert Preidt of HealthDay News reports:

Extremely overweight and obese patients were much more likely to suffer complications such as blood clots, wound infections, heart problems, and deep vein thrombosis, according to study author Dr. John Ratliff, assistant professor of neurological surgery and orthopedic surgery at Jefferson Medical College.

Dr. Ratliff thinks this study should be a message for obese individuals planning to undergo elective spinal surgery to put off surgery and lose weight first.

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Apparently this happens every year, as the temperature begins to drop and our clothes get bulkier, so do our meals. Susan Yara of Forbes explains restaurants hone in on this annual trend—meaning the weather gets crisper and foods get fattier:

"In the fall, we get into more of the game meats, squash and the root vegetables. And we're usually using sweeter ingredients," says John Greeley, executive chef at the ' 21' Club. "It's what the season is all about--you're starting to pack on the pounds because you're wearing sweaters."

Yara warns that even though these foods pack extra flavor and richness, they’ll also do a pretty good job of packing on the pounds. On the bright side, that baggy sweater will fit better—kidding.

This article made me think of a previous post, A Life Plan for The New Year, in it Dr. Fuhrman talks about the importance of making strong dietary changes in your life. And that minor alterations will only thrust you back into the dreaded diet yo-yo effect:

Many health authorities and diet advisors recommend only small changes; they are afraid that if the change is too radical, dieters will give the whole thing up and gain nothing. I strongly disagree. My work over the past ten years has shown that those who have jumped in with full effort the first six weeks have been the individuals most likely to stick with the plan and achieve results, month after month. Those who try to get into it gradually are the ones most likely to revert back their former way of eating. Under the gradual approach, they “yo-yo” back and forth between their old bad behaviors and good ones. Change is hard. Why not do more and glean the results you have always been after quickly and permanently? Be realistic and flexible; changing your behavior is the key to success.

Check out the link at the bottom of Yara’s article for pictures of the Fall’s Most Fattening Foods. I think they're there as a deterrent.

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I think this has happened to everyone. Have you ever felt stuffed after a big meal, and for some reason you’re compelled to eat more? A new study claims this response is the same thing that occurs in the minds of drug addicts when they think about drugs. Maggie Fox of Reuters reports:

"We saw a lot of activity in all areas of the brain, especially in the hippocampus. That region is related to learning, memory and is also related to a lot of things such as sensory and motor impulse and emotional behavior," Dr. Gene-Jack Wang of Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York said.

Wang believes this information will help researchers learn more about the connection between emotions and the desire to eat.

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Last month the Associated Press reported that obesity is rapidly becoming the marquee problem threatening global health. The report cited Thailand as an example:

Thailand's Public Health Ministry, for instance, announced Sunday that nearly one in three Thais over age 35 is at risk of obesity-related diseases.


"We are not dealing with a scientific or medical problem. We're dealing with an enormous economic problem that, it is already accepted, is going to overwhelm every medical system in the world," said Dr. Philip James, the British chairman of the International Obesity Task Force.

So here we are close to a month later and now the AFP is reporting another nation is joining the battle of the bulge. The number of obese people in Malaysia has doubled over the past ten years. Researchers attribute the earmarks of the Western diet to the increase:

The doctors, who said it was the first formal study to show obesity was rising in Malaysia, attributed the change to sedentary lifestyles, overeating and a fondness for fast food and carbonated drinks.

The report points out that Malaysian officials are concerned this lifestyle shift will usher in the woes of Western living; i.e. heart disease, cancer and diabetes.


This phenomenon has happened before. In his book Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman talks about the people  of Crete. And how their “healthy” Mediterranean diet was pushed aside.

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