Vitamins

For those who have been regular readers of this blog, you know I prefer "real" food to products with unpronounceable names in them....It's why I have been taking a daily vitamin that is food based - and not one "made" in a lab with who-knows-what in it.

I was alerted to an article about vitamins - which you can read it here

In short it's an article about food-based vitamins v. synthetic ones and contained information I was not aware of concerning the synthetics and the idea of talking in terms of milligrams.

It's worth a read if you take vitamins and especially if you children take synthetic ones.

Happy Healthy New Year

Healthy parents make for healthy children.

Healthy living for the 21st Century

When we were young we heard what are called "old wives tales" about health and food...We rolled our eyes and looked at our mothers as if they were aliens...Now we are learning that our mothers were correct.

Maybe they knew what Hippocrates said:
"Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food."
"Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food."

Or maybe they read Maimonides:
"Let nothing which can be treated by diet be treated by other means."

Or maybe they knew this Chinese proverb:
“He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician.”

Whatever knowledge they had - those old wives - our parents and grandparents - they seemed to know a lot about nutrition.

My mother was adverse to seeing a physician unless absolutely necessary - something I took note of as she lived to 95. She believed in eating well and letting one's body take care of itself. She fed us well and grew most of the vegetables we ate. But - and it's a big BUT.... the soil was in better shape when I was a kid.... and that was in New York City!

Today we have depleted the soil and no matter how organic our food - it is missing what it used to have way back when - and what is missing are many essential nutrients. The environment is more toxic than it was, food is more processed, and it is usually picked before it is ripe and very often cooked to death.

If the soil and environment have worsened, is there anything we can do to grow older better? Yes - we can supplement our diets with glyconutritional products.

“Glyconutritional products will play a leading role in the 21st century's emerging wellness industry. The driving determinant will be the growing realization that optimal cell-to-cell communication is one of the most critical functions of the life process and is fundamental to immune system health."

And if our cells do a better job of talking to one another, who knows what they can start talking about! So listen to your body now - it talks to you and tells you what it needs - and it can do a lot more communicating if given the appropriate equipment.

Newer equipment

I'm a skier so let me use a ski analogy. Skiing can be tiring and it's even more so with older bodies and older equipment. When I first skied we had leather boots with laces and very heavy long skis with heavy bindings. But I was a lot younger then - in my 20's and I hardly noticed how tiring it was - it was too much fun. As I aged - into my 50's - I began to think there had to be a solution to all the work the skiing knees do and I fell in love with what were called shaped skis or parabolic skis. I was the first I knew to buy a pair and it made all the difference for my body. The skis do the work! I'm into a newer shorter pair these days and will continue to monitor newer models of skis as it makes more sense to let the equipment do the bulk of the hard work.

At the same time I learned of the new ski equipment, I also came across new inner body equipment - glyconutrients. For sports fans, think of glyconutrients as the nutritional version of shaped skis, lightweight bikes or titanium softball bats. It's all about that new equipment helping us do what we do better and to doing it as we age.

The ingredients in glyconutrients are not "new" - they have been around probably forever and used to be found in our daily food - but no more. The ingredients have been re-discovered and combined into products; products that protect and nourish our cells and regulate our organs and organ systems.

Way back when we were in school the up-to-date science of the time was adequate for then but it was missing a lot of information we now know about. I know from my own field of Developmental Psychology that advances in technology lead to advances in developmental knowledge. The same is true of all sciences, including glycobiology. In this new field, over 20,000 articles have been written in a few short years. Why so many and why so fast? "This breakthrough discovery exposed the missing link that has the scientific community, health researchers, and pharmaceutical companies scrambling to get up to speed on this incredible science. "

Science and medicine have long tried to break the code by which the cells of the body communicate with one another in order for its complex functions to occur. Just as biochemistry is the chemistry of life, this mysterious code is the language of life. For years, scientists focused on proteins as the primary communication molecules. Early in this century however, a theoretical mathematician at the Weisman Institute calculated the number of molecular configurations possible with protein molecules and the number of known chemical command signals needed to run the body. She concluded that there were not enough protein configurations possible to supply all the messages. Another code was required - a sugar code.

Of the 200 monosaccharides [sugars] that occur naturally in plants, eight are known to be components used in cell-to-cell communication. These eight sugars are glucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, N- acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid. Only two of these, glucose and galactose, are commonly found in the foods we eat. The others need to be put into our bodies in the form of nutritional supplements.

Glyconutritional products will play a leading role in the 21st century's wellness industry. The driving determinant will be the growing realization that optimal cell-to-cell communication is an important function for the life process and is fundamental to immune system health. And - it is what will allow us to be healthier as we age.

Childhood Obesity

What can be done about childhood obesity? It is a major health problem and one that many do not want to see. "Oh, it's just baby fat" says one person. Or "My child only eats sweet food, I can't him to eat anything else."

From the journal Pediatrics:

Nearly one in five American children grew big enough around the middle to be considered abdominally obese by 2004, a 65 percent increase in belly fat over just six years, according to a new study published Tuesday.

Although increases in Body Mass Index scores among children have been noted for more than a decade, the increase in children with significant belly fat appears to have been even greater, based on data from government health and nutrition surveys taken between 1999 and 2004.

And belly fat is more dangerous than fat in other parts.

What you can do is to keep healthy food around the house. Young children do not go shopping- the parents do - so they have control over what appears in the household food area. If there is no candy, no soda, no suage laden cereal - the kids will not be eating it.

As for those who say their kids only eat sweet stuff- do not worry your kids won't starve themselves - they will eat and they may even find they like the more natural foods.

And get some daily exercise - play with the kids - toss balls, chase each other, run around with the dog, take walks and limit the amount of time in front of the TV - a good TV rule is NO FOOD while watching TV. That works for adults too - we tend to munch mindlessly when we watch TV and we have food around.

Back to work

I took off from blogging a lot this summer and enjoyed doing things with my son who spent the summer here...

We are entering a new generation of obesity and now it's not just adults who are obese - it is expected that the number of children who are obese will hit 20% by the year 2010 - that's only FOUR years from now.

I heard or read somewhere that we are reaching that stage in obesity where this or the next generation of children will NOT have a longer life span than the parents...

Not only is obesity bad in and of itself, it makes all other medical problems worse....

I've been blogging about healthier children for a while now and hope the readers of this blog are among those who will not have obese children...It is something parents have control over during the child's early years...and good nutrition early on can never be a bad choice...

Please watch what your children eat and make sure they get exercise....

Summer

I have been reading of kids and water - the lake, pool and river types of water. They do not mix well. Please make sure your kids have PFD's on when near water - even shallow water can be dangerous. Also rivers are still pretty cold even though they are inviting as temperatures soar.

I grew up going to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and we were taught to have great respect for that water and we all had "rules" which we seemed to abide by....buddy systems, adult supervision and many well trained lifeguards. I think we all saw so many "others" pulled from the ocean - we knew it could be dangerous. Maybe rivers look less scary - but they too have strong currents and quirks that can pull even the best swimmers under.

So teach your children to swim, have respect for water of all sorts and have them wear PFD's just like they put seat belts and helmets on when in cars or on bikes.....

Childhood Problems

I went to a conference recently where I heard that heavy metal toxicity is related to autism, ADD and Alzheimers. This does not surprise me - we have made the air and soil and water toxic and if so- why should it escape our bodies? We are putting it in the system everyday.

We can change our culture and try to undo our errors but in the interim we can put better foods into our bodies in the form of supplements that deal with the toxins.

We have an increase in the numbers of children diagnosed as autistic and the researchers say they do not kow why. This from Reuters:

US survey shows autism very common

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

The first national surveys of autism show the condition is very common
among U.S. children -- with up to one in every 175 with the disorder,
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

This adds up to at least 300,000 U.S. schoolchildren with autism, a
condition that causes trouble with learning, socializing and behavior,
the CDC said.....

Laura Schieve, an epidemiologist at the National Center on Birth Defects
and Developmental Disabilities who helped conduct the study, said the
study could not answer many questions about autism.

Ask others about nutrition and you will get responses that show we do know why there is a problem and why it's a growing problem.

MSG - Monosodium Glutamate

I can't tolerate MSG and avoid it when I can read a label. It makes me dizzy and nauseous. Sometimes after I eat some foods I feel the same way and after reading an email this morning about MSG - I think I know what is going on. MSG or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein [another name or MSG] is in a lot of food we eat at home or eat in both fast and slow food places. Ask for the ingredient list and see if MSG or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein is listed in any of the foods on your plate. You might be surprised.

What does MSG do? It makes food "taste better." This is from the The Glutamate Association

They tout it as a health benefit especially for older people as it causes them to eat more. I'm not sure I would equate eating more with better nutrition. And if they think it's good for adults - do they think it's good for children?

What the email I got showed, and which was a greater concern, is that MSG is addictive and is related to obesity. It is akin to nicotine - a known additive that creates an addiction but that no one wants to admit to. It would mean taking on the food industry.

Try this: Go here National Library of Medicine and type in the words "MSG Obese." You can then read a few of the over 100 medical studies that appear.

So is MSG a reason we have an obese population? I do not expect to get a truthful answer from the MSG lobbyists. But you might want to take a much more careful look at labels and ingredient lists when you are feeding your children.

And now this

LONDON (Reuters) - Childhood obesity rates will soar dramatically in most parts of the world by the end of the decade and raise the risk of diabetes in young people, health experts said on Monday.

By 2010 the number of overweight and obese youngsters in the European Union nations is expected to hit 26 million. An estimated 20,000 obese youngsters will have type 2 diabetes, a previously adult disease.

Over a million children will show signs of high blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels or early indicators for cardiovascular disease.

Please parents - it is not good for your child to be "chubby" or "fat." There are good foods that are available and they are mostly, in fact, cheaper than the fast food we let our kids eat.....2010 is FOUR [4] years away and it means that almost half the children will be obese at that time!

Exercise helps - as does better food - set an example for your family...be healthy - for everyone's sake - not just the kids.....

So what else is "new" news?

Fruits, vegetables not as nutritious as 50 years ago

By LANCE GAY
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

In spite of what Mother taught you about the benefits of eating broccoli, data collected by the U.S. government show that the nutritional content of America's vegetables and fruits has declined during the past 50 years -- in some cases dramatically.

Full article is here

Gee – I knew this years ago but I am glad the world is catching up with the fact that our growing crops for quick shipping to stores is not only killing the soil it is producing fruit and veggies that aren’t as nutritious.

So what do we do? Spend all day eating fruit and vegetable in order to get the nutrition we need? Or eat supplements?

Local organic produce is a good answer but it does not work if you live in a cold climate. If your “fresh” food is shipped to your local store – chances are that it ripened “en transit” - and the best nutrients come from vine/tree-ripened produce – not truck-ripened produce ☺

If you want information about phytonutrients [that’s the good stuff in your fruits and vegetables] go here then click "yes" when you see my picture.

For your children and grandchildren this product might taste better [again click yes under my photo]

Low fat "stuff"

I no longer get frustrated when the world caches up with me : )

For years I have said that the low fat and no fat foodstuffs [I have trouble calling that stuff food] were at best no help and at worst bad for you. Well the "no help" research has come out. Turns out that in a major research project it was found that low fat diets did not reduce the risk of breast cancer or colon cancer - nor did the diet high in fruit and grain prove to reduce risks.

My take is that the rate of obesity keeps pace with the number of low and no fat foods we have in the supermarket. Why? We need fat in our diets and taking it out means we eat more of the bad stuff in an attempt to appease our bodies - which seem to know they are lacking something - but our brain says NO NO NO to fat because the media has told us it is BAD BAD BAD and so we ignore our body's real message.

We all need a mix of carbs, fat and protein... I took a dietary assessment and I need to have 50% of any meal to be protein....others need 50 - 60 % to be carbs. There is never going to be one type of diet fits all - we all come from different types of ethnicities.

Many parents who themselves might be overweight or afraid of being overweight feed their children low fat and no fat foods. If adults need fat in their diet so do children. It's a human condition - not an adult - child thing.

A growing body needs ALL components - fat, carbs, protein - as well as fruits and veggies...

Food for thought

Are there foods that help your brain? There are some studies which indicate eating fish [omega-3] is good for the unborn child as well as good for the mother. All diets I have read about say eat fish....but I have read other reports that say be careful - some fish are filled with mercury and who know what else. Our oceans have become our toxic dumps and the fish food chain is not as healthy as it once was.

One has to make decisions about food for one's own family. Where you live, cost, overall budget, etc. are all factors that families weigh when making decisions about food. One factor that is important to know is that pre-packaged foods are more costly and if you read the ingredients - might be less healthy. For example macaroni and cheese, a family tradition for many, is much less expensive to make if you use cheese and pasta from your house and not from the cardboard box. Many foods can be prepared ahead and frozen... and now that we have microwaves, defrosting quickly for a hungry child [or adult :-)] is quicker than making the mix from a box.

Ditto bread. I once read a comment about the preservatives in bread which went something like this: I don't know why there are so many preservatives in bread; did you ever see a newly baked loaf of bread hang around your family for 3 weeks? I like to bake bread but do it rarely. No good reason. But when I buy store bread I buy what is fresh baked on the premises and with no preservatives. I cut all loves in half and freeze them.. when defrosted, they taste as good as the half I started on when bought.

Maybe I'll bake some bread today while I am watching football!

Are you what you eat?

I watched Supersize Me on TV the other night. If you have not seen this documentary I really suggest you get it from your library or elsewhere and see it. It's no wonder obesity and health problems are on the increase!

When my son was younger and I was busy with school and work, I admit we did McDonald's and Wendy's more than I knew was good for either of us. But at least on most days, we ate well at home. Given that we are both still healthy, I guess not much long term damage was done but after watching the movie I wonder why parents take kids there so frequently.

Childhood obesity is a triple whammy for kids:
One - they are made fun of by others.
Two - they tend to stay away from sports and physical activity - further isolating them from peers.
Three - it's a path to serious health issues.

What can parents do?
Provide good modeling. If you have food around that is full of what are known as empty calories - throw it out. Get rid of the soft drinks - they are just sugar water. Eat at home more often. And believe it or not, kids will eat vegetable and yogurt - or peanut butter.

Do you know why baby food has added sweeteners? For the parents! Marketers know that parents will taste test the food so they sweeten it. Does your baby need that sweetener? Nope. Will baby eat unsweetened food. Yup.

And - if you would like a free sample of a product that is good for your kids - one that is designed to package the nutritional goodness of 12 different fruits and vegetables, green tea powder, vitamins, and glyconutritionals into a delicious gummy-bear like snack - send an email to me at glycopdx@gmail.com with your name and phone number and I'll call you and tell you more.

Big apologies

Happy 2006...

I got very side tracked the last few months of 2005 and neglected my blogs :(

They all got together and said "either keep posting or give us up - we can't sit here without updates - it's not good for us."

So I listened to them and got back to posting...

Let's start 2006 with healthier everybody... especially you and your children

Most people start a new year with the resolution of being healthier...they promise to eat well lose weight, exercise and they start off with a bang. The health club I go to was jam packed yesterday I was told. I did not go until today. But why don't people stick with the plan they promise themselves? Mainly because the plan they set out to do is unrealistic. We are all creatures of the immediacy issue. I want it now!

Good health is a lifestyle - not a fad or irregular activity. And is has to be enjoyable because if it feels like a chore - we don't do it...And it helps if it is a social activity as we do better when we are with someone and feel accountable.

So for you and your family I suggest you write out realistic health goals for all and put the goal list on the refrigerator or wherever you post family messages. Everyone should have input into these goals because by taking part everyone feels more responsible for sticking with them.

Make sure some are family activities like walking the dog, taking a leisurely walk, playing physically active games etc. And many will be activities geared toward the individuals. The important thing is to make the goals, make them fun, and STICK with them for at least 3 months - without complaining and they will probably become part of your life. Kids will do what their parents do - so if you exercise, so will your children. If you play sports, so will they. If you eat well, they will too [until they hit their teens)]

Til next time.

The good stuff

The first liquid the mother produces after the birth of a child is called colostrum and is high in carbohydrates, proteins and antibodies. It actually works as a vaccine and is full of immune factors.

Colostrum is so good that everyone can benefit from it and colustrum is one of the ingredients in a glyconutritional product that one can now buy for adults and older children.

After a few days the mother begins to produce milk and it also contains antibodies and is still the best immunizer for babies...

Breast milk is a complete meal for babies and is the best meal for all the above reasons -

On top of all the good stuff in breast milk, breast feeding gives the mother and baby a chance to get to know each other in a most personal way and for overall psychological development that too is a great thing - call it bonding or attachment or whatever- it's a basis for a person to person relationship.

Some argue against breast feeding as it is seen as an impediment to either working or for having the father involved. I'm lost at the father aspect - can't he sit and hold the baby for an equal amount of time? And why should a baby not get all the immunity possible just to keep some sort of "equal" sharing happening? Seems to me that when you use that argument as one against breast feeding- oops- there another issue going on in that family...

And working - nowadays some companies allow babies at work or have an onsite nursery so the mothers can go feed the babies - and most mothers take off some amount of time after the birth. But if one needs to go to work, there are breast pumps so that you can express the milk and store it for bottle use by others - the dads or the sitters or care takers...

Eat well when pregnant

Ok so why eat well when you are pregnant - and even before you are pregnant? As I mentioned in the last entry - poor fetal nourishment creates all sorts of problems..

Babies get off to a better start when they are full-term and of "normal" weight.... Babies under 5 lbs are considered at risk as are many babies born before term - which is around 40 weeks. Yes there are many babies who "make it" who are early and under weight.. and modern medicine will increase most babies chances of surviving... and many will be fine in the long run.. but my usual question is "how much different would their lives be if they were of weight and full term?" Of course we'll never know - but please think about it..A lot of how your baby starts life is in your choices when you are pregnant...Anything that leads to a premature birth and/or low weight birth has the potential to be harmful to the baby for no other reason that the baby is early and/or underweight.

So now you have a newborn.. Congratulations and now what do you feed the baby? That's not a trick question. You feed a baby breast milk - your breast milk is the ideal food for your baby.. Forget what the TV and stores tell you about the wonderful stuff in powder and liquid forms - "just like mother's milk" - right - and as we used to say when I was a kid "There's a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in." Nothing is like mother's milk - mother's milk is filled with all sorts of wonderful food substances that are great for growing bodies...especially new bodies : ) I know some women say they can't breast feed- but unless you have some physical ailment that keeps you from breast feeding - do it!

Actually I am not sure why all women do not breast feed- It's the easiest way to feed a baby. No bottles to wash, no formulas to "get ready," and absolutely nothing to prepare. As a tired parent - breast feeding can be relaxing, and is less stressful and time consuming than all the other options.

What's in breast milk that makes it so good? that's the next topic....

Prenatal nourishment

The best time to start eating well is BEFORE you even consider getting pregnant. Opps- what happens if you did not? well as soon as you think you are pregnant start getting good nutrition then...Immediately.

In the USA we have a long history of not taking care of pregnant women. Good nutrition during pregnancy would help solve many of the problems that newborns come into the world with. Decades ago I saw a film about the high costs associated with early prenatal care of infants born to malnourished mothers. Intensive care nurseries are very expensive - yet the cost of feeding a pregnant woman with good food is minimal...and it hasn't changed much in the ensuing years except that the hospitals charge more for the intensive care - so why do we still not feed pregnant women? Answer: Politics.....

Sometimes I think that the men who run this country really dislike most women and absolutely hate pregnant women. Yes there are women in congress these days but the ones who make it up the political ladder tend to copy the behaviors of their male counterparts. And of late the situation is even worse as the current administration keeps cutting back on money for real people in order to give more and more money to corporations... But enough of politics - we have to learn to care for ourselves while we wait for those in D.C. to understand.

A growing fetus needs protein - so the mother must eat that protein or the fetus does not get it. A long held myth is that babies will take what they need from the mother's body. Not true. The mother needs to ingest the nourishment while she is pregnant or it is not there for the fetus. Long term effects of poor nutrition during pregnant are problematic births, delayed physical and cognitive growth and ongoing illnesses. This is worsened if the child continues to be malnourished after it is born. And malnourishment, while found more often in poorer homes, is not absent from homes of the wealthy.

What is good nourishment? Protein is important as is a balanced diet. Junk food is not nutritious for anyone! Diet sodas and chemically doctored food that supposedly tastes good is not nourishing....Prepackaged "stuff" [I dare not call it food] is not nourishing. Look at the labels on the food you are buying next time you in a store. You might find words there that you cannot pronounce. I tend to use the reading/saying test when buying food - if I can't read the small print or I can't even pronounce the name of the ingredient - I don't want it in my body...and I'm past child bearing age : )

stay tuned

Lynn

Growing Children

Years ago I wrote a text book titled Growing Children. I liked the name as it has many levels of meaning....and that was before I was a parent....Growing Children is about early development and though I have been an advocate of nutrition for many years, nutrition never got into the book.

I am working on a newer edition of that book and this time around will include a chapter about nutrition - for the pregnant mom-to-be and children. Why? Because if you don't get good nutrition you start off with a less than optimal environment in which to develop. Growing children actually do a lot of work - mental and physical - and they need the fuel to do the work....

coming next - what's wrong with today's foods