LAUSD turns down Jamie Oliver

You probably caught an episode or two of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution last season in which he successfully changed the school lunch program in West Virginia.  We watched him slowly and methodically change the heart and soul of a small town where obesity and health issues saddened even the most stoic.

This morning’s Los Angeles Times reports the show approached the Los Angeles Unified School District for this season and they were turned down.  They basically said “thanks but it could be too time-consuming.”

Half of my clients are children and adolescents who are struggling with their weight and health issues.  Statistics show this is the first generation of children who will live shorter lives than their parents.

When discussing how my young clients can change their eating, the most challenging meal is lunch at school.  Finding a healthy option is practically impossible when the choices are chicken nuggets, French fries, hamburgers, pasta and pizza.  A fruit or vegetable or even a salad is a rare find.

I analyzed a school lunch menu for a private school in Los Angeles a few years back.  The average lunch contained 1500 calories coming predominantly from fat and starchy carbohydrates.  I was flabbergasted and upon showing the analysis to the school they were as well…and their program was healthier than most.

Children will eat what you feed them.  Even if they rebel initially over time they will eat what is given to them.  How amazing an opportunity Los Angeles has been given to have Jamie Oliver overseeing and training employees how to make healthful delicious food. 

Hopefully the district will reconsider and allow this program, despite the industry glamour, to help create a change.  Our children and their health should be the priority – even if it is too “time-consuming.”  Our children’s time may run short and then who is to blame?

Childhood Obesity starts with Formulas?

Last week’s blog regarding the New York Times article citing bypass surgery for children set off a raw nerve with readers.  Childhood obesity is multi-factorial but can it actually start with the first bottle of formula?

One ingredient to avoid on food labels is high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup.  Many infant formulas list this ingredient as second or third.  Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF, gave an elaborate lecture on you-tube regarding the consequences of sugar and high fructose corn syrup.  He blew the whistle on the obesity epidemic starting with corn syrup in infant formulas.

Many women are unable to breastfeed for multiple reasons.  A few years ago some of my female clients turned to me for help in selecting an appropriate formula.  After spending many hours online and in the store I only found one or two formulas that came close to something I would recommend.

Besides corn syrup in cow-based formulas there even more issues with soy formulas since they are made with soy protein isolate (SPI).  To make SPI, manufactures take soybeans that are about 90 percent genetically modified, and mix them with a solution to remove the fiber.  This fiber-less soybean is then dried at high temperatures which denature the quality of the protein.  In addition, soy acts like a pseudo-estrogen in the body and it is estimated that an infant fed soy formula receives the amount of estrogen per day in at least 5 birth control pills – not such a great start to life.

Formula makers are now supplementing with the important omega-3 fats DHA and EPA to help the baby’s brain development.  However, the sources of these essential fats can be poor or contain inadequate amounts.

It might be time to demand infant formula makers to make a change-maybe the first step needed in Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity.  Women receive cases of these formulas free in the hospital to encourage usage, unknowingly feeding their babies something which could influence their future health.  It’s time we started preventing obesity from the beginning – rather than prescriptions later.

Obesity or Childhood Obesity in America - What is the Cause?

We all want to know- what is the cause of obesity in America?  Many years ago I heard a brilliant researcher Rick Mattes, Ph.D, R.D. speak to this subject.  He asked the audience “Is it fat in our diet, inactivity or something else?”  Since we have always had fat in our diet and people throughout the ages have been inactive it is neither one.  So what did Dr. Mattes think was the culprit?  Beverages.

If you look at the graphs of beverage consumption in America, it closely follows the rise in obesity.  When I was growing up all there was to drink was milk, water and the occasional soda at a party.  Now the industry has exploded with every kind of beverage imaginable and unimaginable.  Vitamin water, recovery drinks, sports drinks, mochas, sweet coffee drinks.  You name it – it exists.  And what do they use to sweeten these drinks to cut the price points – high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and other cheap forms of sugar.  Are our bodies supposed to compensate for all this extra sugar?

In fat, our bodies were made to handle natural sugars attached to the form they were found in, according to Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California-San Francisco.  A good example is fruit:  a natural form of fructose that has fiber built into it.  Nature made a way to help us handle the sugar in a food.  In fact, sugar cane is one of the most fibrous foods you can find and would be impossible to eat a large quantity of.

Dr. Lustig recommends the only beverages we drink are the ones I did when I was a child:  water and milk.  Drinking sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon, lime or orange can be quite satisfying and feel like a treat after your body gets used to natural sweetness, a process that can take several weeks and well worth the effort.

In an elaborate video of the cause of obesity in America and beverage consumption (and well worth your hour of watching) Dr. Lustig clearly outlines why fat is not the culprit.  He elaborately shows how manufactured fructose (a process that takes genetically modified corn to produce a cheap form of sugar for manufacturers to use in their products) in the diet actually causes obesity, heart disease and other diagnosis’ you would rather avoid in your lifetime.

Since the government subsidizes corn, wheat and other products, these manufactured fake foods and beverages are inexpensive to make and buy.  A family can feed themselves inexpensively on these “foods” versus eating fruits and vegetables which have become more costly.  Then, to treat the symptom of putting these manufactured foods in our body, we are prescribed expensive drugs for diabetes, high cholesterol, gout, and arthritis just to name a few.

Why treat the symptom, not the cause?  Why not STOP eating or drinking anything with these manufactured sugars and instead consume natural sweet foods of fruits, vegetables, and foods you find in the farmer’s market, or on the periphery of the grocery store?  Staying away from processed foods can make a huge impact on your health.  Remember, it’s prevention, not prescription!

Selling Obesity at Schools?

This morning’s New York Times had an article on “Selling Obesity at Schools.” With the obesity rates of children and adolescents tripling over the last four decades, legislators may be waking up.

The government is subsidizing crops such as corn and soy which comprise much of the food supply, and foods children eat in the cafeterias and buy in vending machines. What might happen if fruits and vegetables were subsidized?

School meals in both private and public schools are typically high calorie foods low in protein and healthy fats and high in refined carbohydrates. Vending machines and snack bars sell cookies, candy bars, and chips. Few sell healthy snacks like nuts, cheese or fresh fruit. Most of the snacks contain high fructose corn syrup (see entry on HFCS, Leptin and Weight 4/3/09) which increase carbohydrate cravings and hunger levels.

Education at home is very helpful, but if schools do not provide healthy choices, children are receiving unhealthy meals 5 meals a week. Organic, healthy food does cost more but what is the cost to our younger generation? Obesity, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure 20-30 years prematurely.

Change for healthy options starts with planning at home - providing a bag lunch – so a school lunch is not the only option. Bring your children with healthy snacks after school so the fast food drive through is not enticing. Challenge the schools to start providing healthy meals to children – otherwise the upcoming generation will be in trouble – with a burden to their health and our medical system.