FoodSpook Comments: “The Devil’s Advocate”
GET YOUR KIDS INTO THE KITCHEN!
By FoodSpook, publisher of “DiabetesResourceSpot.com”
Recently one of my readers commented that he thought I should play the role of “The Devil’s Advocate” more often in my blog. I read the comment and thought it was very interesting.
As I have written before, my blogsite is dedicated to re-posting information about the prevention of diabetes and other serious medical conditions that are on the rise and unequivacally out of control in our society. Two examples of “out of control” medical conditions are, childhood obesity and autism. This post is not is not going to address these two medical conditons today. This post is dedicated to my readers that want to hear my opinions.
I may not support a particular article or video that I post. That is not the purpose of this blog. I try to re-post written articles and videos that I find interesting and thought-provoking and therefore hope my audience will find them likewise. When I do contribute a opinion, usually it will be titled “FoodSpook Comments”. As far as the information posted here, I know you will decide what you think. The main purpose of this blog is to present health information developed by many authors to try to derail the rapid approach of a health train wreck looming in this country.
I am dedicated to posting information about how most adverse health issues in this country can be linked to the foods we consume. Also, corporate greed and duplicity and the seemingly massive lack of education of the American public of nutrition are major co-conspiritors behind the “Perfect Storm” of diseases and illnesses that are consuming children and adults in the USA at a unprecedented rate.
With new technologies and medical breakthroughs we now live a few years longer than our relatives 100 years ago. But, are we as healthy as they were? Were 40% to 70% of their children and adults obese? Were thousands of parents worried if their children had developed autism due to one or more vaccinations? Did their kids have to handle ADHD? What has happened to health in America?
Food has happened to this country. Tony The Tiger, Ronald MacDonald, and the Flintstones have changed our image of food to suit the corporate desires of food companies (profits), and in the process have changed the image we have of ourselves. It seems we don’t expect to be healthy. Our people were healthier 30 years ago than we are now. Today, Tony The Tiger and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun has trained our children how and what to eat. We as parents have NOT!
The reason we can’t train our kids is because we have not been trained ourselves about the differences between processed and real food and how important that difference is to our children’s health. Studies show that many chemicals and sweeteners that are included in processed foods are negatively affecting the developing brains of our children. Who do you think benefits in the long run from from brains that are not fully capable of critical thinking?
We have been serving our children up as fodder to the pharmaceutical companies as they create a unlimited selection of drugs to treat ADHD, autism, schzophrenia, depression and you name it. These companies reap incredible profits as we continue to go to the grocery store and NOT read the lables and hope that things will get better.
We have a daunting task ahead if we want to change this downward spiral of health in this country. Many people are discussing , networking, and helping to change how we view food. Authors like Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle are writing books, Alice Waters is bringing nutrition to nation’s schools through her “Edible Schoolyard” concept and First Lady Michelle Obama not only has a White House garden for D.C. kids, but has also established her “Exercise 60″ program to encourage children to get out and excercise at least 60 minutes a day. Ordinary people like myself are writing blogs, publishing articles, making videos and using every media available to persuade our readers that you personally can make changes in your lives and your children’s lives. The health problems that have exploded in this country during the past 30 years did not just happen, they have been caused.
I know many of you are involved with good nutrition and are training your children. This is not an easy task. It will take some research and self education. But if each of us can figure out our own way to battle crafty food corporations, and their deceptive advertising practices, we will change the status quo.
As I have written before, I am not a doctor nor a specialist in any field related to health or any other medical condition. I am just a concerned citizen. I look for articles produced by dedicated authors that I think my readers may find informative and hopefully inspiring.
So, in answer to my reader, I thank you for your comment. I become the “Devil’s Advocate” de facto because you have read my blog and decided to contact me. That’s what this blog is about.
FoodSpook
Note from FoodSpook – What is Food?
Hello to my readers. I am FoodSpook, the publisher of this blog. If you have followed this location the past couple of years, you are already aware that I am totally consumed with catastrophic health problems we are experiencing in this country due to the lack of food education. We are not a dumb people. We are a very uninformed people in terms of buying, cooking and consuming food.
The whole purpose of this blog is to present enough information to make one THINK about what you are putting into your body and to drive home the point, there are food consequences in your life. If you are a reader under the age of forty, this blog will probably seem not relevant to your life. That’s understandable. You were born into the “fast food” age, you could not know about life before the fast food drive-thru and mega-supermarket chains.
Your life was changed while you were a baby, and you are passing these changes on to your babies. There is a reason why this country has the highest rate of obesity per population in the entire world. There is a reason why heart attacks, strokes and diabetes are causing more people to die or become crippled and disabled in numbers unprecedented. That reason is the almost total uneducation of our children about food and nutrition
The main common denominator causing this havoc is food. The main problem with our people is the lack of understanding of what is food. It’s complicated. It is complicated by design. The food corporations profit greatly because of our confusion about what is food and what foods can ruin your health. They will make their money. The doctors and hospitals will make their money. The food industry is not your enemy but they have no real interest in your education about food. True, 40 to 50 years ago this education didn’t seem to be warranted. Today it should be mandatory!
This blog is one of many, published by concerned citizens trying to spread the messege that we can change the way we treat our bodies. We can stop allowing the food industry to tell us how good manufactured food is. Many people can’t tell you if a Dorito is a real food or not.
Times are changing. I was in Costco this week, which is the American version of IKEA. I was so pleasantly surprised to see that the store is now selling a quality Ground Flaxseed in a very attractive package size and price. I am a flaxseed disciple and believe in its health benefits. The important thing here that a major player in the food distribution system in this country is becoming aware that it can effect beneficial changes in the food consumption of our people.
When people become aware of what real food is and the health benefits afforded, they will buy it. Look at the sales of truly 100% whole wheat products. We must become educated and the food industry will be more than willing to meet our demand for healthy foods.
FoodSpook
The Demise of “Mrs. Jay”- Comments By FoodSpook
I used to own a house in the suburbs. It was in a cul-de-sac with only four other homes. It was very quiet and civilized. The hillside across from my driveway was rustic. The bottom part of the hill was covered with wild blackberry thickets and the top half with oak trees in various stages of maturation. In the summer the colors were all shades of green and deep purple. In the fall, the shades of the trees on the hillside turned to browns, burnt umber and gold. I met Mr. Jay one summer morning around 6:00 AM. He was Loud!
I had studied Eastern customs and entered a Zen phase of life at that time. I trained my brain to ignore and to zone out the noise that Mr. Jay was cawing into my existence every morning, seven days a week. Still Mr. Jay was still very annoying. But, I told myself to be cool. He deserves to live, even if it’s on my property. We all have to get along.
Mr. Blue Jay and I got to know each other. He was a bird. I was a property owner. I had a bird feeder in my back yard. Mr. Jay was too big to perch on the feeder but he was able to harvest some seed from it everyday anyway. The squirrels were much more aggressive and successful at liberating the birdseed than the birds.
I thought I was the “Dr. Doolittle” of my domain. Whenever I was working my yard all kinds of animals would show up. Humming Birds would fly up and drink right from the end of my garden hose. Raccoons came at night. When I arrived home late at night, deer would be all over my yard and in the field behind my property. Well, early one morning while out in my yard, I noticed that Mr. Jay sounded different. His squawking had changed into a loud and raucous high pitched monologue.
When I looked into Mr. Jay’s tree I got a big surprise! Mr. Jay was sitting on his limb and quiet as a mouse. There was another Jay besides him making all the noise. Mr. Jay had found his Lady Jay! I was very happy for Mr. Jay. He had been living in my backyard for two years and because we were both bachelors, I felt a special comraderie towards Mr. Jay. The only problem I could perceive was, Mrs. Jay NEVER shut up. She fussed with her high pitched cackling from sunrise to sunset, everyday. I never really got used to her noise and found her presence outright irritating. However I learned to tune her out and to appreciate the fact that she is now Mr. Jay’s wife and we all must get along.
It’s interesting that I can’t remember Mr. Jay ever speaking again for the next 18 months. I must assume he was happy. They stayed together faithfully until the “incident”. It was a beautiful summer evening, headed towards dusk. I was in my back yard with my garden hose, watering and enjoying nature’s evening sound effects. Suddenly a dark gray shadow streaked into my yard from out of the sky like a cruise missile programmed to my front door. I was speechless. There was a burst of feathers left floating in the air. Then it became clear to me what had happened.
I have read that frequently our eyes see much more than we are conscious of. However, our brain stores all kinds crap that we see, whether we need it or not. In that millisecond I saw Mrs. Jay’s panicked face and ruffled blue and white body clutched in the deadly grasp of a Red Tailed Hawk. I realized it was case closed. She was cackeling her last high pitched squawks as the hawk carried her to a big nest high atop a 100 ft. Eucalyptus tree in the field behind my house. Baby hawks have to eat too.
I was saddened at Mrs. Jays demise. I had actually almost gotten use to her being around. In fact, that day she was taken, I hadn’t even noticed her flying to her nest a few feet away. I know Mr. Jay loved her. No other bird would have put up with her yammering. Mr. Jay lived in my backyard for another year but it was not the same. True, we were both bachelors again but the arrival of Mrs. Jay had changed us. One day Mr. Jay was gone. I know he had decided to move on and I wished him luck.
My experiences living with the Jay family were enlightning. Maybe there were some psychic parallels between Mr. Jay’s life and my own. The main thing I learned is, I really need to get a life!
Foodspook
Pork Chop Sandwich and Bread Pudding
May 24, 2009
I often wonder how children’s health today would compare to children back in the 1950′s when mothers used to fix your lunch for school everyday. In the 1950′s obesity and type 2 diabetes was very rare for children in grade school, (K-12). We had two recesses each school day and a 45 minute lunch period. We had plenty of time to PLAY. That was the time before schools had cafeterias. Our moms prepared a lumch for us most times using leftovers from a home cooked dinner served the evening before. I remember the day my lunch prepared by my mother was a pork chop between two pieces of white bread and a slice of bread pudding wrapped in tin foil.
I traded my sandwich with another kid or his peanut butter and jam sandwich. This went on every school day. A long time ago food used to be real! You young people today must pay
attention to your nutrition. The food industry in this country is extremely dangerous. It will kill you. When I was a kid we traded lunches all the time. That food our mothers prepared for us was natural. We were all healthy. In the 1960′s “super markets” began to appear. And that was the beginning of the mass marketing of faux foods. We have two generations of children below the the age of 12 that are becoming type 2 diabetics. In their 30′s and 40′s they will start going blind and start having amputations. Those will be the lucky individuals. Many will die early from strokes and heart disease caused by diabetes.
Waymon Tisdale a world reknown pro-basketball player and saxaphone player died in his 40′s from conditions brought on from diabetes last week. THIS IS NO JOKE! I am not a doctor. I have no medical degree. I am one of thousands of people on the internet trying to help change this health disaster that is happening in this country as I write this article. If you think you don’t feel good, go to a doctor or clinic. Trust your instincts. God gave you the tools to watch out for yourself and your loved ones. The alternative is physical and mental destruction.
Men and women, ALWAYS get your annual physical. You can help to save your own life.
FoodSpook
My Own Advice
Did you exercise for at least 15 minutes today? Good for you! I didn’t. Got on my computer this morning and have been here for almost 8 hours. No excuses. That’s how time gets by you. Tomorrow I will get back to what I Preach. Good nutrition and exercise can prevent type 2 Diabetes. There is no If’s and But’s. Just DO it.
FoodSpook
‘Lil FoodSpook in the 1950′s
Many of you reading this blog were not on this planet in the 1950′s. In other words, the stork hadn’t brought you yet.
Well the stork brought me to San Francisco in April 1948. What a joyous occasion that must have been. My parents had arrived here from Texas and Louisiana to build Liberty Ships in the local shipyards. They bought their first house for $8500 in 1950. Eighteen months later we had a TV with three channels that went off at midnight. My father was also a preacher besides working at least two or three jobs during the week. Mother was a house mom except during the summer months when she worked at Del Monte Canneries canning fruit from the luscious San Joaquin Valley.
By 1956 I was in the third grade. Elvis had recorded “HoundDog” and was becoming a major star. All of the little boys in the neighborhood were trying to twerle their hair to be kool like the Everley Bros. Their first big hit was “Peggy Sue” followed by “Bye Bye Love”. Of course I did’nt realize at the time that my hair was of the Negroid persuasion and could never curl down over my forehead like the Everley Brothers. But, I tried. By the way, ‘Lil FoodSpook is yours truly, the author, T. Jeffery. That name is retroactive to my youth as a precursor to what I would become in my later years, FoodSpook.
I want to warn people about FOOD. There is a connection between what we eat and contracting Type 2 Diabetes. Their are concrete reasons why our young children are in jeopardy of becoming Diabetic. Foodspook grew up a lttle colored boy in San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond, CA. Life moved at a slower pace than now. My family became Black in the mid 1960′s. We became African Americans in the 1970′s. This is what we considered as “progress”. We was ‘moving on up’! However, some things didn’t change. In the 1960′s there were massive nationwide protests against the Viet Nam War. My college military deferment card disappeared in my 2nd year at San Jose State so, I got drafted. But that’s another story. The 1950′s was a time when Americans trusted our government. Actually we trusted almost everybody of authority in this country. It was inconceivable that our government (FDA) would allow restaurants to exist to sell you garbage! Well, that’s what has happened. You have NO ONE looking out for your welfare when comes to your choices of food being sold in your neighborhood.
I have become FoodSpook in my middle age because I am outraged that this epedimic of Diabetes is consumming millions of Americans and the silence from from our national media is deafening. Type 2 Diabetes is preventable and we have people that are becoming Diabetic without knowing what they did in life to bring on this condition. Diabetes is a killer if you do not understand its nature. It can destroy your body by increments over a period of time. I have become FoodSpook to try to do something in my own way to scream to people, just because you may be Black or another minority without access to great medical information, you must become aware that if you are overweight you are at risk of becoming Diabetic. You must know that the consumption of sugar by itself is not the cause of Diabetes. Ingestion of too much sugar for your body to process to energy can cause obesity. When don’t exercise that much and you like to eat fast (processed foods) that contain a high percentage of disguised carbohydrates (sugars), eventually your pancreas will not be able to produce enough insulin to break down the SUGARS in your blood stream for energy and necessary nutrients. Thus, you become a Diabetic.
When “lil FoodSpook was a young boy, it was NORMAL for most of the senior ladies in my father’s church would eventually have a lower leg or foot amputated. Growing up as a child this was NORMAL and expected. It was expected that our older men would go blind or wind up on a dialysis machine to stay alive because Diabetes was ravishing their bodies. Today, children as young as 2 years old are becoming type 2 Diabetics. Basically that means their Pancreas is not producing enough Insulin to break doiw the sugars they are ingesting in so many forms of our manufactured foods, (processed foods). They results in 25 to 30 years from now for our children will be CATASTROPHIC.
What ‘Lil FoodSpook saw in the 1950′s was the natural assumption the life is good and protecting. In reality life as we knew it, ( that is us coloured folks) was destroying us. BBQ, Ham Hocks and Pigs Feet and not to mention the Heavenly homemade Flakey Biscuits was clogging up our arteries as my parents would sit around after dinner and talk about how Pres. Roosevelt has helped us all. We were dying then and still are today. FoodSpook is hollering WAKE UP! Type 2 diabetes is so unnessesary.
FoodSpook
Diabetes – Ambushed In America
My Fellow Americans,
Would you believe we have been Ambushed? How so? By our food industry. Period. When I say food industry I’m talking about producers and sellers. For example, why do we now have the choice of whole grain cereal at the grocery store in the 2000′s when food companies like General Mills for example, could have been making whole grain cereals 40 years ago? The 1960′s was the beginning of the “healthy living” revolution in America, especially on the west coast. There was the free speech demonstrations/riots at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State, and thousands of self annointed hippies
staging “love ins” and “be ins” in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The spectacular forests and meadows of Northern California was the home of many communes of free living people. Young soldiers were being sacrificed in the Viet Nam war. I was at the Senator John Kennedy’s campaign speech at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theater when he said those famous words “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”. The 1960′s spawned the Peace Corp. The 60′s was a time of a fundamental change of attitude and trust of many Americans toward our government and our corporations. I’ll give you the example of the Black Panthers headquartered in Oakland, CA. Like their counterparts throughout the country, they were protesting the “status quo”. With all of this awareness happening and our new found enlightenment, we were being Ambushed!
Think about it. With all of the medical breakthroughs and discoveries during the past 40 years, why is obesity the number one health problem in the whole country? Why are our two year olds developing Type 2 Diabetes? Because during the mid 1950′s and 60′s we were being Ambushed by the fast food army. Two of the generals in this army were the Colonel and Ronald MacDonald. They slipped into our lives and changed the eating habits of a entire nation. The Ambush was not typical. It probably one of the slowest Ambushes in history. Ray Croc, the founder of MacDonalds, opened his first burger outlet in the early 1950′s after the Korean War. America was on the rebound after two wars. Real estate was being developed cookie cutter style, design one box house and sell it over and over. The beginning of tract homes. The future was wide open and for the taking. There were many great sci-fi movies produced during this time. Two of my favorites were “War of the Worlds” starring the great Gene Barry and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” starring the magnificent Micheal Rennie and his sidekick, Mort the Robot. In 1957 Russia put a satellite into outer space. America was Shocked. The new president, John F. Kennedy promised the country that we would have a man on the moon within the next 10 years. We did. First man walked on the moon in 1969, the same year my first daughter was born. So, let me tell you how we’ve Ambushed.
In the early 1960′s there was a transition in the Hollywood cartoon industry. Remember “Popeye” and “Bugs Bunny”? Please don’t forget “Donald Duck” and “Pluto”. I was here when TV’s first went on sale. My love affair with TV and movies has been a lifetime. In the 1950′s when there was only 3 national TV stations, they went off at midnight and you would see a bulls-eye sign-off on the screen. I was 7 years old and highly disappointed when the programming stopped. I would wait to my parents went to sleep and sneak back into the living room to watch TV. One late Saturday night I viewed the original “Godzilla” the wonderful Japanese destruction film. My father was a preacher and out of town that weekend. About 5:00 AM that Sunday morning a gigantic beak broke through my bedroom window. Godzilla had flown to Oakland, CA and was trying to EAT me! My screams brought my mother to my bedroom and she clutched my face against her breasts. It took me 40 minutes to finally calm down. The Ambush is coming.
I will often refer to TV programs because it or not, they actually chronicle and sometimes predict real life. Can you recall the cartoon series “The Jetsons”. This series of cartoons portrayed a middle class family of the future. Everything was a their fingertips with the touch of a button. This cartoon was a reflection of America’s power and lust for modern things. Thus, the Ambush! When MacDonalds started showing up in minority neighborhoods we thought that Martin Luther King’s vision for Black People and all People in America might be happening. After President John Kennedy came President Lyndon B. Johnson, one of the most Honourable Presidents to serve the country since Uncle Abe. President Johnson also had a dream about a single America not being divided by race, wealth and contacts. His “Great Society” programs were magnificent and some of the finest legislation from our Executive Branch since Mr. Roosevelt. The Ambush is coming.
As I mentioned before, after WWII and the Korean War, America was giddy with gusto and energy. Let’s do it was the motto. A very subtle changed during the great changes of the 1960′s. Women came out. I’m talking about sexually, professionally and capable of thriving in any working environment. It was OK to have children and send them to day care. The country had changed! It s okfor women to work. I remember my wife and I both marveled fact that after a long days work, we didn’t have to worry about cooking on many days. At 6:30 in the evening we just went to Kentucky Fried and let Colonel take care of us. We new that we are part of the new wave of young progressives. When they started putting MacDonalds franchises in minority neighborhoods we said thank God! Somebody likes us. MacDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried, Wendys and so many more franchises showing up in minority neighborhoods we thought Oh Lord, our time has come. Business to where WE live. Thus, the Ambush began. Withboth parents working our butts off to achieve the American dream, we thank God for the Golden Arches where we could take our children to not only be be fed cheaply but also entertained. Wow! One stop shopping! The 1960′s was a time of change and a new awareness about life in general. Food corporations were far ahead of us in planning strategy and still are.
I quote from Marion Nestle, world renowned Professor of Nutrition and activist,”Food companies will make and market any product thar sells, regardless of its nutritional value or its effect on health. In this regard, food companies hardly differ from cigarette companies. They lobby Congress to eliminate regulations percieved as unfavorable; they press federal regulatory agencies not to enforce such regulations: and when they don’t like regulatory decisions, they file lawsuits” Understand, food companies demand the right to sell you crap! Your government not only condones this attitude toward feeding Americans garbage, the government is an ally with the food machine in this country that is screwing millions of people.
I am not anti-business. The free enterprise system has worked since the beginning of history. For example, Black Slavery. This enterprise was not limited to Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Washington, it was worldwide among white populations. Little countries like Denmark and Portugal became big international stars by kidnapping and selling African families. Slavery built the economy of the United States and our country has been the dominant economy in the entire world. The entire purpose of business is to achieve a PROFIT. That’s the absolute bottom line. Our government regulates the food industry like your family would condone your cousin that likes to break into houses and also sells drugs. We know he’s bad but he’s family. The food industry is the black sheep in the United States that is allowed to sleep in the Big White House and whose cousins are the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of our government. Thus the Diabetes epidemic was not only able to begin, today as I write it has been allowed to continue. Why are 2 year olds becoming Type 2 Diabetics? When the child first started speaking, were her words “mama I want to be a Diabetic when I grow up”? Did the mother talk to her husband in bed that night and say ” I sure hope that our little girl becomes Diabetic, maybe she’ll DIE before she’s 40. MacDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell and all the rest are not evil franchises. Good people from all walks of life own them and believe in them. These people are in business to make a profit, not to improve your health. If their products are making thousands of people obese and subject to Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke its not a problem. They just wait until the next generation of customers to born that night. Most children by the age of 2 recognize the MacDonald logo, the golden arches. Most children will recognize the Wendy’s big head. These same children will grow to adulthood without knowing how to read a food lable. This is by design. There is NO education to young children about healthy foods. There is unlimited education on TV and now online about food products that are absolutely not good for our children. The child buys into this hype. The parents buy into the ads. Hence, the Great American Ambush, Diabetes.
My first daughter was born in 1969. Her mother an I were both career people and worked 40 to 60 hours a week. Remember the cartoon “The Jetsons”. This futuristic family had everything at their fingertips, including meals. When MacDonalds hit our neighborhoods in the 1960′s we thought how wonderful. Almost like the Jetsons, we could drive up to this little box and order a happy meal for each child and each meal came with a toy! Absolutely brilliant marketing. Thus the 40 year Ambush was unleashed. The majority of Americans are blissfully unaware of the significance “processed foods”. When you pick a packet of sausage if you read the lable you might see ” 5% celloulose filler as allowed by th USDA”. This means each sausage is 5% sawdust and 95% of who knows what. Hidden ingredients and disguised names of substances in foods are the norm. Sugar is one of the main ingredient in thousands of food products. They food industry is aware that the public is becoming more educated about reading labels. Sugar is now listed as “dehydrated cane juice”. Now that’s a hoot. There are about 20 separate names being used to disguise sugar. The consumption of sugar is probably the main precursor to becoming Diabetic. The number of children and adults becoming Diabetes in the United States is at a all time high and still growing. The Diabetes Ambush is still happening today.
FoodSpook
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