Our children are suffering – are governments doing ANYTHING to fix it?
Week 1
Abject disappointment! 85.4kg!
Darn, got on the scales this morning. Put on another kilo! And I was being so GOOD! I can’t understand it.
Ummm! – yes I can. Last 3 weeks, I’ve had a big -0 birthday celebration with family and friends, tootled around, even down to Auckland, and not watched my food intake. Also, apart from dog sitting my friend’s dog and walking her 3 times per day, (she is only tiny so walks are pretty slow), I have eaten all the chocolate birthday cake (in the shape of an H, filled and coated with pink icing and lollies), made by my wonderful granddaughter. I was going to walk first thing today, but the rain was so heavy it was hard to even see through it, let alone walk in it. But then half an hour before I had to leave for my volunteer stint, the skies began to clear. It has stayed clear so will walk after dinner – BRISKLY. Will plan meals for the week and weigh again next Saturday.
Lovely. 84.4kg this morning. An encouragement to me to keep fighting.
Following on with my vegetable plans, I replenished the soil in my large planter boxes on the back deck and planted my Broccoli, Cauliflower, Curly Kale and Brussel Sprouts, all vegetable favourites of mine. Only to have one of the stray cats I feed daily demolish the whole lot using the veggies as a toilet!!!!! Will have to buy more next pension day, but have bought a heavy plastic sheet which, when I have sized it and staked it, will keep the darn thing out of there when I plant my replacement veggies.
Now, back to business. From all the evidence I have found, mostly only I admit, but I have also read many reports and it is sadly clear that many Western governments are so besotted with the money the Ultra Processed Food manufacturers are distributing through their profits to those in positions of power, that they are instead, apparently seeing how far and how much, they can make before there is an actual outcry. It will take something like that I believe to work on them before they actually DO something to save our children and young people from the sickness laden life of obesity lying in wait for them as they age.
Leaving the general population to manage a situation of which most people are completely unaware. Especially in this Covid world we now live in. In countries such as Korea and Japan, they have taken the worry over the Obesity epidemic in their children and managed to reduce the overall rate of 25% obese, down to 4% in Japan and Korea, 12% in Norway, and 14% in Denmark. Contrast that with 40% adult rate and 41.5% children and young people rate, which is showing no signs of any reduction in USA. In fact, the latest figures from the UK show 57% of adults, 64% children and 68% teens are obese, there.
This is horrifying! And as other Western nations are heading in that direction too, incredibly troubling.
As I mentioned in a previous article, Brazil has taken real steps toward protecting its citizens. Although many of them have already become addicted, especially their children. But WHO ELSE cares more for the health of their people than the profits generated by the Ultra Processed Foods Manufacturers are generating. Those mentioned above are doing what they can and it seems they are having some success. Unfortunately I think that those other countries who are ruled by their love of profits may well leave it too late to achieve any success themselves. So, looks like we will have to do it ourselves.
By the way, did you know that you may find it hard to stop eating some foods even when you’re full – Because studies have found that some items are designed to be that way.
Studies suggest that foods with 2 or more ingredients linked to palatability – specifically sugar, salt, fat or carbohydrates, can activate brain reward the neurocircuits, (physiology. Any control mechanism that regulates neural activity), similar to the effect of drugs like cocaine or opioids.
They may also be able to bypass mechanisms in our bodies that make us feel full and tell us to stop eating. And also that we consume more calories per mouthful. When tested it was found that regular minimally processed food – against UPF those consuming UPFs ate on average an extra 500 calories per day, leading to the gain of 1 kilo per week. This was discovered during a small experiment which found that consuming more UPFoods than every day unprocessed or minimally processed foods actually changed the brain’s activities, increasing the hunger hormones there and decreasing the fullness hormones.
Dr Chris van Tulleken discovered at the end of his experiment with an 80% UPF 20% regular food regime that he had put on 6.5 kilos and by the end of the month long trial, found it hard to revert to his normal eating pattern and even after more than a month, that the parts of his brain that had been changed by his dietary regime during the experiment above, had still not returned to normal.
If this type of diet regime can have this effect on an adult brain, what in heck is it doing to our children’s brains?
So the take home from this, for me at least is that I am now checking all the ingredients noted on the packaged foods I buy, but also has also sent me back to researching these products for alternatives and recipes that take less time to prepare and cook. Thought you might like this, yummy new recipe I found online
Broccoli pasta bake (200c in oven). It took only, broccoli florets, chopped leek, cooked for 2-4 minutes, elbow pasta (for me), cooked, cheese, (I used cheddar and Parmesan grated)garlic, a little butter, flour, milk & fresh spinach. I didn’t follow all the instructions just cooked it to suit me. Which it did. BUT, the big plus in my mind was that overall, once florets & leek were chopped, putting it all together and baking took about 30-40 minutes in total. Perfect after a long day at work, especially if you can prepare your veggies before leaving in the morning or the night before. For me, this meal was big enough to feed me for at least 4-5 days, so I froze 4 days worth for a day when I don’t even have 40 mins to spare.
Second day, I just cooked and added a few chopped carrots for the colour and a chicken thigh to some of the remains. The rest is in the freezer bagged in single meal size.