For the Love of Food

So obesity and food seem to be the new hot topics taking over the media. I feel like I am overwhelmed by all of the messages presented to me; but I feel like I never really receive the important information that will actually help anyone. I have never really followed any set diet or been interested in the shows about obesity basically because I am not over-weight and I feel that I can not really relate to the people.

But I can relate to loving food. And I can relate to loving cooking. And it wasn’t until I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution that I realized that so many people don’t know how to cook. So even though the show is not done yet, I think there will be fairly good results with teaching people to cook and changing the types of food they are choosing to eat and give their children.

So then it got me thinking that if it was that easy to change the way an entire town thinks about food and cooking, then why the hell hadn’t anyone tried this before? And if the information that I learned as a child about food and now think is common knowledge (ie. meat that does not have to be refrigerated is probably not that good for you) really isn’t common knowledge, what kind of information are people receiving about food?

The answer I found kind of sad. There seems to be far more advertising on television for restaurants, fast and processed foods, diets, weight loss pills and surgeries. There are definitely ads out there for whole foods as well, but food doesn’t have celebrities endorsing it or bikini clad girls with six-packs. Food goes on its merit, and in our current generation that doesn’t seem to be enough to help people change us from being a fast-food generation.

So if people are not choosing the correct foods to eat and cannot cook, what are they eating? Then I remembered the documentary Supersize Me, and it all came back. Although it took place in the States I don’t see it being that different here. Processed and fast foods are becoming the norm in today’s society and if that’s all our children are learning from us, our grandchildren will probably not even know how to cook. Maybe that’s blown a little out of proportion, but how far is it going to go before more people in our society have type 2 diabetes (caused by obesity) than do not?

Obviously the damage from making these poor choices is showing in our society, since the percentage of obese and extremely obese people and children with major other health issues is rising rapidly. So what are we doing to fix it? As any other person would do, I followed the advertising.

Living in a capitalist society, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that everyone is out there to make as much money as they can and take their piece of the “weight-loss pie”. The number one moneymaker from obesity is the insurance companies. The amount of money they must make from insulin, test strips, needles and pumps alone, but be astronomical! Then to try and battle the weight, they will often try many different things. Usually starting with whatever promises to be the easiest with the least amount of work or commitment.

My first category is self-serve diets (diet fads) which may (or may not) depending on how much you want it and how strong your willpower is. Good for the people who can say no for the greater good and attaining a goal. BUT if you choose to follow one of these diets, do you really have good willpower? In this category we have the Cabbage Soup diet (good for giving lots of gas and not too much else), the Subway diet (not sure what this one is good for), South Beach Diet, The Zone (involves lots of math and food ratios which can be very complicated)

Then there are supervised diet programs. This type of diet is kind of like having a personal trainer, it works while they are monitoring you but there are several conditions:
1. you have to keep paying them
2. they do most of the work for you – prepare your food and your meal plans
3. they keep track of your progress and hound you if you start falling behind
This category has big advertising budgets and often gets celebrities to endorse their method of losing weight. These diets include Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers and Dr. Bernstein.

Then there are thousands of websites and books you can also read that will tell you how to lose weight quickly, or over periods of time.

There has always been the “magic” weight loss pill. These diet pills are often advertised as the “quick solution” to weight loss. There are several categories including herbal pills, appetite suppressants, carb-blockers, fat burners, fat-blockers, diuretics, hoodia, and ephedra to name a few. I also feel that diet cleanses belong in this category as well. They are advertised as ways to clean out your internal system and lose 5 to 10 pounds while your doing it.

Recently, in the new era of reality television, weight loss shows have become all the new fad. There’s nothing more powerful than putting obese people on television for the rest of the world to see. We can then see how and (more importantly) if they lose weight. We can also see how many people eat as a way to cover up some deeper issues they may have. What they don’t ever show is if these people kept the weight off in the future. They do give a more realistic (in a much shorter and slightly unrealistic time period) of how losing weight should be. It’s not living life through fad diets, but through lifestyle changes. Most of these shows involve implementing an exercise routine and changing unhealthy eating habits. Some of the more popular shows are The Biggest Loser, X-Weighted, Supersize vs Superskinny and The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp.

And now doctors are getting their piece through gastric bypass surgery. Not only are many obese adults turning to this surgery to help control their weight and/or diabetes, it is now very popular among teens. I read an article in the LA Times about a study that was done where obese teens that had type 2 diabetes were given gastric by-pass surgery. It stated that the teens were immediately relieved of their diabetes, and had improvements in cholesterol and blood pressure. Of course it does! After the surgery, the amount of food and the type of food you eat is drastically reduced. And if they do consume any type sugar or fat, you can get “dumping syndrome” .

Dumping syndrome = uncontrolled, oily and foul smelling bowel movements

And since this surgery should not be reversed, even when you do get skinny you can’t ever enjoy a chocolate bar or bacon and eggs again without having to worry about “dumping” in my car or at the mall.

Now we know about ways we can “fix” the obesity. And since every company and nutrition professional will also have their own agenda, it’s up to us to decide what we think it best for us.

Why don’t we just prevent it? Sounds easy, right? It is very hard to change adult’s behavior once they are set, but our future lies with our kids. Unfortunately many parents either don’t have the time to teach or don’t know how to cook, since we were brought up with microwaves and lots of food processing.

So then why don’t we teach kids to cook in school anymore? If we are worried about parents not be able to teach their children how to cook, why don’t we implement it where we can. As a parent who loves to cook, I involve my infant son when I cook. I bring him into the kitchen, we put music on and we have a great time.

As a teacher I know that there is a finite amount of things you can cover in a day. And cooking is a huge endeavor with students and very time consuming. But if it means those children will grow up to be healthier and live longer than their parents, then shouldn’t we try and make time to teach them? Even if they don’t ever put anything in the oven, they should at least know where hamburger meat comes from and that french fries are made from potatoes that grow in the ground, not in the kitchen at McDonalds!

There has to be a way for us to reach kids and stop this growing trend of obesity in our society! Unfortunately the power (and the money) don't seem to lie with the farmers, but with those that prosper from people being unhealthy and overweight. So I guess until they want to help, or we find another way to educate people, its going to be an uphill battle.

I found some websites that I thought were interesting. Some of them are based on information and statistics from the states, but they generally give pretty good information.

http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/health/Obesity-in-Canada.html
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ch-se/obesity/obesity-eng.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diets
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2008-06-09-obese-medical-costs_N.htm

Will I ever sleep again??

So little Mr. Hudson Hawk (that's my son) has not been sleeping at all lately. I'm not sure what has him waking up every hour (if i'm lucky 2 hours) all night long. It could be his teeth, his insistence on being held all the time or his need to be the centre of attention. All I know is that I'm exhausted and I wish I was 10 years younger.

I feel like my body, mind and my sanity would've been able to cope with parenting stresses much better in my 20s. I used to think people were nuts when they were married and starting families in their late teens/early 20s.

I was a very self-involoved person and then I became very career oriented. I had goals to finish school (all 7 years of college & university), party with my friends, travel and of course find a well paying job to support myself and my future family.

I met my husband toward the end of my quest "to find myself", fell in love, moved to Collingwood and we started our family. And now, although I love my life and it seems to be going pretty much the way I want, I'm exhausted and I don't feel like I am enjoying it like I am suppose to. I love being a mother and I would love to have a whole bunch of kids, but as I get older it seems like its going to get infinately harder.

Now I look back at my mom, grandmothers and friends who started their families earlier in their lives and I envy them, and the amount of sleep they are getting!!