Michael Pollan’s – Food for Thought Festival – Keynote Address

Source: Uploaded by REAPFood on Nov 2, 2009 to YouTube

 

Michael Pollan was the keynote speaker for the 11th annual Food for Thought Festival held on September 26, 2009 in Madison, Wisconsin. Mr. Pollan is introduced by Claire Strader, who was elected to serve as the “White House Farmer” in a popular online poll.

The annual Food for Thought Festival is a fun, festive forum that explores and celebrates our many opportunities to eat more pleasurably, healthfully and sustainably.

Past festival speakers include Alice Waters, Mollie Katzen, José Bové, Frances Moore Lappé and several other accomplished cooks, writers and advocates for a sustainable food system.

Despite Obesity Crisis, Gov’t. Slow to Rein in Fast Food Industry

By Elizabeth Whitman

Inter Press Service / News Analysis

Published: Saturday 24 December 2011

 

 

In 2007, McDonald’s spent an estimated 1.74 billion dollars globally on advertising.

 

When the fast food chain Mc­Don­ald’s de­cided to add oat­meal to its menu in Jan­u­ary 2011, it lit­er­ally sugar-coated the of­fer­ing as a “portable, af­ford­able and bal­anced break­fast so­lu­tion… to help make it eas­ier and more invit­ing for our guests to eat more whole grains and fruits”.

Al­though a sin­gle serv­ing of plain oat­meal has one gram of sugar, one serv­ing (253 grams) of Mc­Don­ald’s fruit and maple oat­meal with brown sugar con­tains 32 grams of sugar. One serv­ing of the same oat­meal, with­out brown sugar, con­tains 18 grams of sugar, ac­cord­ing to the com­pany’s nu­tri­tion.

“Why would Mc­Don­ald’s… take a ven­er­a­ble in­gre­di­ent like oat­meal and turn it into ex­pen­sive junk food?” lamented New York Times colum­nist Mark Bittman in Feb­ru­ary 2011.

Mc­Don­ald’s oat­meal, he pointed out, “con­tains more sugar than a Snick­ers bar and (is) only 10 fewer calo­ries than a Mc­Don­ald’s cheese­burger or Egg Mc­Muf­fin”.

But crit­ics say Mc­Don­ald’s un­canny abil­ity to turn an in­her­ently healthy food into an un­nat­u­rally processed prod­uct (the oat­meal it­self con­tains seven in­gre­di­ents, in­clud­ing “nat­ural fla­vor”, ac­cord­ing to Bittman) is not even the most egre­gious of the stunts that large food cor­po­ra­tions man­age to pull.

A Nes­tle su­per­mar­ket that set sail in the form of a barge on the Ama­zon River in Brazil in June 2011 could be one of the more out­landish ef­forts by the food in­dus­try to offer an ex­pand­ing range of cus­tomers a plethora of processed and pack­aged foods. Even though processed food is in­ex­pen­sive, noted Bittman, “the costs aren’t seen at the cash reg­is­ter but in the form of high health care bills and en­vi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion”.

In the United States, food ac­tivists who are highly crit­i­cal of cor­po­ra­tions that mar­ket ag­gres­sively to at­tract and keep a steady con­sumer base are also crit­i­cal of the gov­ern­ment, which seems un­able or un­will­ing to reg­u­late these cor­po­ra­tions, whether through lim­it­ing their mar­ket­ing or re­quir­ing them to ad­here to spe­cific nu­tri­tion stan­dards.

Sys­tem over­load

As a re­sult, not only are in­di­vid­u­als and com­mu­ni­ties feel­ing the ef­fects of a con­sis­tent in­take of un­healthy processed foods laden with sugar and fat, but so­ci­eties around the world and the earth it­self are also forced to bear the heavy bur­den of the un­sus­tain­able agri­cul­tural sys­tem upon which the food in­dus­try re­lies.

Some 33.8 per­cent of adults in the United States are obese, ac­cord­ing to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol (CDC). Obese means hav­ing a body mass index (link) of more than 30. The World Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion (WHO) es­ti­mates that by 2015, 2.3 bil­lion adults will be obese.

Lifestyles that in­cor­po­rate lit­tle to no ex­er­cise and a processed diet high in fat and sugar are linked to obe­sity and being over­weight, which are con­nected to a mul­ti­tude of health is­sues, in­clud­ing heart dis­ease, type 2 di­a­betes and some can­cers.

Mar­ket­ing tac­tics

On Dec. 1, a law took ef­fect in San Fran­cisco, Cal­i­for­nia, known as the Health Meals In­cen­tive Or­di­nance, es­tab­lish­ing basic nu­tri­tional stan­dards for kids’ meals that come with free toys, a mar­ket­ing strat­egy used to at­tract kids.

Be­fore the law was passed, ac­cord­ing to Cor­po­rate Ac­count­abil­ity In­ter­na­tional, Mc­Don­ald’s threat­ened to sue San Fran­cisco on the grounds of the First Amend­ment.

Once the law went into ef­fect, in­stead of giv­ing away free toys with its Happy Meals, Mc­Don­ald’s de­cided to charge 10 cents per toy.

Still, “this law re­ally had a tremen­dous pub­lic health im­pact even be­fore it took ef­fect,” de­spite Mc­Don­ald’s ap­proach, said Sara Deon, Value [the] Meal cam­paign di­rec­tor.

South­ern Los An­ge­les passed a mora­to­rium lim­it­ing the de­vel­op­ment of new fast food restau­rants, for ex­am­ple, and Jack-in-the-Box elim­i­nated toys from meals al­to­gether.

Al­though pro­hibit­ing toys from ac­com­pa­ny­ing meals may change noth­ing about the ac­tual con­tent and nu­tri­tional value of the food, the changes do have an im­pact on who buys fast food meals, and how often.

“It’s re­ally about mar­ket­ing,” Deon told IPS. “Big food com­pa­nies cre­ate big de­mand for their prod­ucts through ag­gres­sive mar­ket­ing,” with some com­pa­nies, es­pe­cially Mc­Don­ald’s, mar­ket­ing es­pe­cially ag­gres­sively to­wards chil­dren, so elim­i­nat­ing toys does help re­duce de­mand.

In 2007, Mc­Don­ald’s spent an es­ti­mated 1.74 bil­lion dol­lars glob­ally on ad­ver­tis­ing, ac­cord­ing to a re­port by Con­sumers In­ter­na­tional. Yum Brands, the par­ent com­pany for Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, spent 1.23 bil­lion dol­lars.

Ad­di­tion­ally, “fed­eral agen­cies wield tremen­dous in­flu­ence over what types of foods we eat and the in­for­ma­tion we re­ceive about them,” wrote Michele Simon, a pub­lic health lawyer, on her blog, point­ing out that the gov­ern­ment sets food safety stan­dards gives nu­tri­tion ad­vice and sub­si­dizes agri­cul­ture.

How­ever, pow­er­ful food in­dus­try lob­bies are able to pres­sure rep­re­sen­ta­tives and sen­a­tors who hail from dis­tricts where peo­ple rely on food in­dus­try cor­po­ra­tions for jobs.

Con­flict of in­ter­est

Many food ac­tivists se­ri­ously doubt law­mak­ers’ com­mit­ment to en­sur­ing that peo­ple have ac­cess to healthy, af­ford­able food, cit­ing con­flicts of in­ter­est and a focus on pro­tect­ing cor­po­ra­tions rather than peo­ple.

In April, the In­ter­a­gency Work­ing Group (IWG), in­clud­ing the Fed­eral Trade Com­mis­sion, the Food and Drug Ad­min­is­tra­tion, the CDC and the U.S. De­part­ment of Agri­cul­ture, de­vel­oped and pro­posed rec­om­men­da­tions on both the nu­tri­tional qual­ity of food mar­keted to chil­dren and teenagers, and mar­ket­ing prac­tices.

The House Com­mit­tee on En­ergy and Com­merce, how­ever, wrote a let­ter to the IWG, say­ing, “the real causes of child­hood obe­sity have more to do with in­ad­e­quate phys­i­cal ac­tiv­ity and ex­cess calo­rie con­sump­tion than with the ad­ver­tis­ing and pack­ag­ing of food.”

It ig­nored ev­i­dence of a con­nec­tion be­tween mar­ket­ing and the pur­chase and eat­ing of fast food, which in turn con­tributes to ex­cess calo­rie con­sump­tion.

The let­ter asked the IWG to “with­draw the cur­rent pro­posal and start afresh”.

“Cor­po­ra­tions sim­ply throw their money around and threaten politi­cians if they try to get in their way,” Simon told IPS. “Even when reg­u­la­tory agen­cies try to do the right thing they’re beat back by con­gres­sional mem­bers that over­see them.”

Simon is not con­vinced that reg­u­la­tions and guide­lines are the most vi­able so­lu­tions to a host of re­lated is­sues in­clud­ing but not lim­ited to poor nu­tri­tion, obe­sity, and an un­sus­tain­able food sys­tem that ex­ploits labor and harms an­i­mals.

What Simon con­sid­ers truly nec­es­sary is com­plete sys­tem over­haul. Her call for an end to cor­po­rate and in­dus­try con­trol has a fa­mil­iar ring.

“We need to build a po­lit­i­cal move­ment,” she said.

Still, de­spite “a lot of lo­cal­ized re­struc­tur­ing” and al­ter­na­tives such as farm­ers’ mar­kets, such op­tions are in­suf­fi­cient, she in­sisted, be­cause they fail to strike at the core of a flaw.

Source: Nation of Change

ABOUT Elizabeth Whitman

Elizabeth Whitman is a journalist writing for the International Press Service.

Drinking This “Popular Poison” is Worse than Smoking

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 21 2011 | 206,111views | Disponible en Español

 

Story at-a-glance

• The soda industry engages in many of the same marketing tactics as Big Tobacco, including forming “independent” front groups, funding research to discredit links to health problems, and making large donations to health organizations
• Soda is linked to numerous health problems among children and adults, including obesity, liver disease and even violent behavior; frequent soft drink consumption is associated with a 9-15% increase in aggressive behavior, according to new research
• Processed foods and junk foods are heavily marketed to kids and promoted to schools; manufacturers of sugar-laden processed foods pay “rebates” (aka “kickbacks”) to food service companies that serve school districts across the United States
• You can fight back against soda and junk-food giants by purchasing healthy, locally grown organic foods instead of processed foods and beverages

By Dr. Mercola

Soda, which is loaded with sugar primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup, is a leading contributor to the rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases facing Americans.

So when I say that drinking a can of soda is just as bad for you as smoking a cigarette (and maybe even worse) it is not an exaggeration.

Drinking soda is in many ways worse for you than smoking, and it is only because of massive marketing campaigns from the industry that these sugary beverages are deemed acceptable for our most vulnerable members of society – our kids.

In the 21st century there would indeed be an uproar if tobacco companies attempted to target our kids, but the soda companies do it everyday.

It’s time to wake up and face the facts: the soda industry is out for your children, and the message they send is every bit as damaging (and manipulative) as the one spewed by Big Tobacco.

Striking Similarities Between the Soda Industry and Big Tobacco

 

If I asked you to quickly recall a commercial or slogan from leading soda companies, like Coca-Cola or Pepsi, could you do it?

Chances are you’d have no trouble recalling the friendly polar bear commercials or “the real thing” logo, and if you asked your kids, they’d probably come up with a few too.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for how beverage big-wigs have gotten their products firmly embedded into the homes of millions of Americans and others worldwide. Coca-Cola, for instance, spends close to $3 billion a year on advertising. With that amount of money it’s no wonder the company has managed to hold on to its wholesome reputation.

They, and other beverage giants, are also in the habit of forming strategic alliances with health organizations that make it appear as though they are looking out for your health, which is about as laughable as Big Tobacco sponsoring a marathon. And like Big Tobacco, they also create front groups to fight anti-soda legislation and science.

For instance, as Time magazine reported:

• The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other soft drink producers, has attacked suggestions to tax soda as “discriminatory.” Their organization is touted as a “neutral forum,” but in reality is devoted to discrediting negative press against soft drinks. For instance, in relation to obesity, ABA states, “All of our industry’s beverages can be enjoyed as part of a balanced lifestlye.”
• The soda industry has created the front group Americans Against Food Taxes, which runs anti-tax campaigns. As Kelly Brownell wrote in Time:
  

  “The name of the group implies a patriotic, grass roots movement, not a highly financed entity initiated and organized by industry.”

• Another industry-created front group, Foundation for a Healthy America, recently donated $10 million to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to research and prevent childhood obesity! Diet Coke has also teamed up with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to raise awareness for women’s heart health programs and was the official “Beverage of Choice” for the 2010 winter Olympics.
• The soda industry funds research to discredit links between soda drinking and health problems. Brownwell writes:
  

  “The tobacco industry paid scientists who did research disputing links between smoking and lung cancer, the addictive nature of nicotine, and the dangers of second-hand smoke. The soda industry funds scientists who reliably produce research showing no link between SSB [sugar-sweetened beverage] consumption and health. The tobacco industry bought favor from community and national organizations by giving large donations. In an ironic twist, Coca Cola and PepsiCo are corporate sponsors of the American Dietetic Association.”

The Coca-Cola Company Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness (isn’t that name an oxymoron?) even creates continuing education courses for registered dietitians!

The Top Reason to Give Soda the Boot …

 

Some of you reading this are undoubtedly thinking, how bad could soda really be? From my perspective, there is absolutely NO REASON you or your kids should ever drink soda. If you were stranded in the middle of a desert with no other fluid available, then maybe, but other than that … none, nada, zip, zero. No excuses.

From a health perspective, drinking Coke or any soft drink is a disaster. Just one extra can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year, not to mention increase your risk of diabetes by 85 percent. The primary reason why soda is so dangerous to your health?

Fructose.

The fructose content of the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) used in many popular soda brands has been sorely underestimated. Around 100 years ago the average American consumed a mere 15 grams of fructose a day, primarily in the form of fruit. One hundred years later, one fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams per day, largely in the form of soda.

Fructose at 15 grams a day is harmless (unless you suffer from high uric acid levels). However, at nearly 10 times that amount it becomes a major cause of obesity and nearly all chronic degenerative diseases. Instead of consisting of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose, many soda brands, including Coke, Pepsi and Sprite, contain as much as 65 percent fructose, nearly 20 percent higher than originally believed.

According to one study, the mean fructose content of all 23 sodas tested was 59 percent — higher than claimed by the industry. When you consider that Americans drink an average of 53 to 57 gallons of soda per year (depending on the source of your statistics), this difference in actual fructose content could make a huge difference in your health.

The Down and Dirty About Fructose

 

The American Beverage Association and other front groups will try to persuade you that fructose in high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than sugar, but this is not true. ABA also claims there is “no association between high fructose corn syrup and obesity,” but a long lineup of scientific studies suggest otherwise.

For example:

• Dr. David Ludwig of Boston Children’s Hospital did a study of the effects of sugar-sweetened drinks on obesity in children. He found that for each additional serving of a sugar-sweetened drink, both body mass index and odds of obesity increased.
• The Fizzy Drink Study in Christchurch, England explored the effects on obesity when soda machines were removed from schools for one year. In the schools where the machines were removed, obesity stayed constant. In the schools where soda machines remained, obesity rates continued to rise.
• In a 2009 study, 16 volunteers were fed a controlled diet including high levels of fructose. Ten weeks later, the volunteers had produced new fat cells around their hearts, livers and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. A second group of volunteers who were fed a similar diet, but with glucose replacing fructose, did not have these problems.

Fructose is also a likely culprit behind the millions of U.S. children struggling with non-alcoholic liver disease, which is caused by a build-up of fat within liver cells. Fructose is very hard on your liver, in much the same way as drinking alcohol.

• Liver burden number one: After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver—ONLY your liver can break it down. This is much different than consuming glucose, in which your liver has to break down only 20 percent, and the remaining 80 percent is immediately metabolized and used by the rest of the cells in your body.
• Liver burden number two: Fructose is converted into fat that gets stored in your liver and other tissues as body fat. Part of what makes fructose so bad for your health is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. For example, if you eat 120 calories of fructose, 40 calories are stored as fat. But if you eat the same amount of glucose, less than one calorie gets stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!

Fructose metabolism is very similar to the way alcohol is metabolized, which has a multitude of toxic metabolites that, if consumed in excess, can lead to non-alcoholic liver disease. For a complete discussion of fructose metabolism, see my comprehensive article about this.

Diet Soda is NOT a Safe Alternative to Regular Soda

 

If you think you’re better off drinking diet soda, think again. In fact, if I had to choose between the two, I’d take regular soda over diet. Instead of fructose, diet soda contains artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame or sucralose (Splenda). With all the research now available on aspartame and its various ingredients, it’s hard to believe such a chemical would even be allowed into the food supply, but it is, and it’s been silently wreaking havoc with people’s health for the past 30 years.

Just to refresh your memory, aspartame has been linked to the following health concerns, and Splenda is associated with many similar problems:

Lymphomas, leukemias, and brain cancer
Asthma

Neurological symptoms including headaches, depressed and anxious mood, seizures, memory loss, hallucinations, and dizziness
Visual changes

Weakness and fatigue
Joint pain

Sleep disorders
Weight gain and diabetes

Abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
Rashes and hives

Does Soda Actually Cause Violence?

 

It’s a well-known fact that poor diet, particularly one high in sugar, exacts a toll on your emotional health.

For example, one recent study published in the journal Psychology Today found a strong link between high sugar consumption and the risk of both depression and schizophrenia. It’s also a well-known fact that chronic inflammation plays a major role in heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. So consuming excessive amounts of sugary beverages can truly set off an avalanche of negative health events — both mental and physical.

A diet high in sugar, fructose and sweetened beverages like soda also causes excessive insulin release, which can lead to falling blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia, in turn, causes your brain to secrete glutamate in levels that can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety and panic attacks.

One 1985 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that reducing sugar intake had a positive impact on emotions. And another, the Los Angeles Probation Department Diet-Behavior Program: An Empirical Analysis of Six Institutional Settings, published in 1983, documented the results when juvenile delinquents were given a reduced-sugar diet. They saw a 44 percent reduction in the incidence of antisocial behavior during the subsequent 3 months, after the implementation of the revised diet.

So can drinking soda affect your child’s behavior?

Yes, it can.

A new study further supported this point, and revealed that frequent soft drink consumption was associated with a 9-15% point increase in the probability of engaging in aggressive actions, even after controlling for gender, age, race, body mass index, typical sleep patterns, tobacco use, alcohol use and having family dinners.

Researchers concluded:

“There was a significant and strong association between soft drinks and violence. There may be a direct cause-and-effect relationship, perhaps due to the sugar or caffeine content of soft drinks, or there may be other factors, unaccounted for in our analyses, that cause both high soft drink consumption and aggression.”

The effect is not a new finding, as in 1979 the now notorious “Twinkie Defense” was used in a murder trial for the first time.

As Discovery News reported:

“In a notorious 1979 San Francisco murder trial, lawyers blamed the killer’s actions on his recent switch from a health-food diet to one filled with Coca-Cola and other junk food. Their argument worked. Instead of a homicide ruling, the defendant was convicted of a lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. The legal strategy became known as the “Twinkie Defense,” and the precedent raised a number of questions that persist, despite years of research on the subject.”

Processed Food “Rebates” Dominate School Cafeterias

 

Soda manufacturers are not the only ones scheming for a permanent share of your child’s diet. In an article published on La Vida Locavore, Ed Bruske revealed, possibly for the first time, that manufacturers of sugar-laden processed foods pay “rebates” (aka “kickbacks”) to food service companies that serve school districts across the United States.

Bruske obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act that revealed more than 100 companies paid rebates to Chartwells, a food service management company hired by D.C. Public Schools. As you might suspect, the “rebates” present a conflict of interest that could prompt Chartwells to order food for your children based on the amount of rebate it will receive, versus the food’s nutritional value.

The end result?

School lunches that contain heavily processed foods like muffins, pizza, tator tots and flavored milk in lieu of fresh produce.

According to Bruske:

“Manufacturers pay rebates based on large volume purchases — literally, cash for placing an order. Rebates are said to be worth billions of dollars to the nation’s food industry, although manufacturers as well as the food service companies who feed millions of the nation’s school children every day — Chartwells, Sodexo and Aramark — treat them as a closely-guarded secret.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that food service companies engaged in “cost reimbursable” contracts with schools credit any rebates they receive to their school clients. For more than a year, attorneys for D.C. Public Schools refused to make public an itemized list of rebates collected by Chartwells, claiming the information constituted “trade secrets.” The schools were overruled by Mayor Vincent Gray’s legal counsel after I filed an administrative appeal.

John Carroll, an assistant New York State attorney general investigating rebating practices there, has said rebates pose “an inherent conflict of interest” in school feeding programs because they favor highly processed industrial foods. In cases where schools pay a food service company a flat rate to provide meals, the companies are not required to disclose the rebates they collect. In those cases, Carroll recently told a U.S. Senate Panel, rebates tend to drive up the cost of food, cheating children out of nutrition they might otherwise have on their lunch trays.

Carroll also described cases where rebates discouraged the use of local farm products in school meals. Produce vendors can’t afford to pay a rebate for local apples. But in at least one case, a produce distributor raised the prices of his goods so that he could pay a rebate to a food service company. A Homeland Security sub-committee in the U.S. Senate is investigating possible rebate fraud in contracts across the entire federal government.”

The top contributors to Chatwells’ rebate dollars included Performance Food Group, which paid more than $400,000 over the last three years, followed by General Mills, Kraft Foods, Country Pure Foods and Jenny-O Turkey. Other companies who made the list include:

ConAgra
Otis Spunkmeyer
Kellog’s

Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up
FritoLay
Tyson

Nestle
Cargill Meat Solutions
Campbell’s Foodservice

Raising a Life-Long Healthy Eater

 

Food and beverage companies spend $2 billion a year promoting unhealthy foods to kids, and while ultimately it’s the parents’ responsibility to feed their children healthy foods, junk food ads make this much more difficult than it should be. As a result, the state of most kids’ diets in the United States is not easy to swallow.

As The Interagency Working Group on Foods Marketed to Children (IWG) reported:

• Nearly 40% of children’s diets come from added sugars and unhealthy fats
• Only 21% of youth age 6-19 eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day

This is a veritable recipe for disease, and is a primary reason why today’s kids are arguably less healthy than many prior generations. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure — these are diseases that once appeared only in middle-age and beyond, but are now impacting children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that by 2050, one in three U.S. adults will have diabetes — one of them could be your child if you do not take steps to cancel out the messages junk-food marketers are sending and instead teach them healthy eating habits.

Make no mistake, the advertisers are doing all they can to lure your child in, just as Big Tobacco did generations ago.

So you need to first educate yourself about proper nutrition and the dangers of junk food and processed foods in order to change the food culture of your entire family. To give your child the best start at life, and help instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime, you must lead by example. Children will simply not know which foods are healthy unless you, as a parent, teach it to them first.

My nutrition plan offers a step-by-step guide to feed your family right, and I encourage you to read through it now to learn how to make healthy eating decisions for you and your children.

If you want to get involved on a larger scale, the Prevention Institute’s “We’re Not Buying It” campaign is petitioning President Obama to put voluntary, science-based nutrition guidelines into place for companies that market foods to kids. You can sign this petition now. I also urge you to go a step further and stop supporting the companies that are marketing junk foods and beverages to your children today.

Ideally, you and your family will want to vote with your pocketbook and avoid processed food and sugary sodas while instead choosing unprocessed raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as much as possible. These are the foods your child will thrive on, and it’s important they learn what real, healthy food is right from the get-go.

This way, when they become tweens and teenagers, they may eat junk food here and there at a friend’s house, but they will return to real food as the foundation of their diet — and that habit will continue on with them for a lifetime.

 

Source: Dr. Mercola, Organic Consumers Association (OCA)

Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Stroke

Education Programs

• National Diabetes Education Program
• National Kidney Disease Education Program

 

 

On this page:

• • What is diabetes?
  • What is pre-diabetes?
  • What is the connection between diabetes, heart disease, and stroke?
  • What are the risk factors for heart disease and stroke in people with diabetes?
  • What is metabolic syndrome and how is it linked to heart disease?
  • What can I do to prevent or delay heart disease and stroke?
  • How will I know whether my diabetes treatment is working?
  • What types of heart and blood vessel disease occur in people with diabetes?
  • How will I know whether I have heart disease?
  • What are the treatment options for heart disease?
  • How will I know whether I have had a stroke?
  • What are the treatment options for stroke?
  • Points to Remember
  • Hope through Research
  • For More Information

Having diabetes or pre-diabetes puts you at increased risk for heart disease and stroke. You can lower your risk by keeping your blood glucose (also called blood sugar), blood pressure, and blood cholesterol close to the recommended target numbers-the levels suggested by diabetes experts for good health. (For more information about target numbers for people with diabetes, see “How will I know whether I have heart disease?”.) Reaching your targets also can help prevent narrowing or blockage of the blood vessels in your legs, a condition called peripheral arterial disease. You can reach your targets by:

• choosing foods wisely
• being physically active
• taking medications if needed

If you have already had a heart attack or a stroke, taking care of yourself can help prevent future health problems. 

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism-the way our bodies use digested food for energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, the form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the body’s main source of fuel.

After digestion, glucose enters the bloodstream. Then glucose goes to cells throughout the body where it is used for energy. However, a hormone called insulin must be present to allow glucose to enter the cells. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.

In people who do not have diabetes, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into the cells. However, diabetes develops when the pancreas does not make enough insulin, or the cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly, or both. As a result, the amount of glucose in the blood increases while the cells are starved of energy.

Over time, high blood glucose levels damage nerves and blood vessels, leading to complications such as heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death among people with diabetes. Uncontrolled diabetes can eventually lead to other health problems as well, such as vision loss, kidney failure, and amputations.

Diabetes can lead to heart and blood vessel disease. 

What is pre-diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. Pre-diabetes is also called impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance. Many people with pre-diabetes develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years. In addition, they are at risk for heart disease and stroke. With modest weight loss and moderate physical activity, people with pre-diabetes can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes and lower their risk of heart disease and stroke. 

What is the connection between diabetes, heart disease, and stroke?

If you have diabetes, you are at least twice as likely as someone who does not have diabetes to have heart disease or a stroke. People with diabetes also tend to develop heart disease or have strokes at an earlier age than other people. If you are middle-aged and have type 2 diabetes, some studies suggest that your chance of having a heart attack is as high as someone without diabetes who has already had one heart attack. Women who have not gone through menopause usually have less risk of heart disease than men of the same age. But women of all ages with diabetes have an increased risk of heart disease because diabetes cancels out the protective effects of being a woman in her child-bearing years.

People with diabetes who have already had one heart attack run an even greater risk of having a second one. In addition, heart attacks in people with diabetes are more serious and more likely to result in death. High blood glucose levels over time can lead to increased deposits of fatty materials on the insides of the blood vessel walls. These deposits may affect blood flow, increasing the chance of clogging and hardening of blood vessels (atherosclerosis).

 

What are the risk factors for heart disease and stroke in people with diabetes? 

Diabetes itself is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Also, many people with diabetes have other conditions that increase their chance of developing heart disease and stroke. These conditions are called risk factors. One risk factor for heart disease and stroke is having a family history of heart disease. If one or more members of your family had a heart attack at an early age (before age 55 for men or 65 for women), you may be at increased risk.

You can’t change whether heart disease runs in your family, but you can take steps to control the other risk factors for heart disease listed here:

• Having central obesity.
• Central obesity means carrying extra weight around the waist, as opposed to the hips. A waist measurement of more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women means you have central obesity. Your risk of heart disease is higher because abdominal fat can increase the production of LDL (bad) cholesterol, the type of blood fat that can be deposited on the inside of blood vessel walls.
• Having abnormal blood fat (cholesterol) levels.
•  
  - LDL cholesterol can build up inside your blood vessels, leading to narrowing and hardening of your arteries-the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Arteries can then become blocked. Therefore, high levels of LDL cholesterol raise your risk of getting heart disease.
  - Triglycerides are another type of blood fat that can raise your risk of heart disease when the levels are high.
  - HDL (good) cholesterol removes deposits from inside your blood vessels and takes them to the liver for removal. Low levels of HDL cholesterol increase your risk for heart disease.
• Having high blood pressure.
• If you have high blood pressure, also called hypertension, your heart must work harder to pump blood. High blood pressure can strain the heart, damage blood vessels, and increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, eye problems, and kidney problems.
• Smoking.
• Smoking doubles your risk of getting heart disease. Stopping smoking is especially important for people with diabetes because both smoking and diabetes narrow blood vessels. Smoking also increases the risk of other long-term complications, such as eye problems. In addition, smoking can damage the blood vessels in your legs and increase the risk of amputation.

 

What is metabolic syndrome and how is it linked to heart disease?

 

Metabolic syndrome is a grouping of traits and medical conditions that puts people at risk for both heart disease and type 2 diabetes. It is defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program as having any three of the following five traits and medical conditions:

Traits and Medical Conditions
Definition

Elevated waist circumference
Waist measurement of

• 40 inches or more in men
• 35 inches or more in women

Elevated levels of triglycerides

• 150 mg/dL or higher
  or
• Taking medication for elevated triglyceride levels

Low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol

• Below 40 mg/dL in men
• Below 50 mg/dL in women
  or
  Taking medication for low HDL cholesterol levels

Elevated blood pressure levels

• 130 mm Hg or higher for systolic blood pressure or
• 85 mm Hg or higher for diastolic blood pressure
  or
  Taking medication for elevated blood pressure levels

Elevated fasting blood glucose levels

• 100 mg/dL or higher
  or
• Taking medication for elevated blood glucose levels

What can I do to prevent or delay heart disease and stroke?

Even if you are at high risk for heart disease and stroke, you can help keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. You can do so by taking the following steps:

• Make sure that your diet is “heart-healthy.”Meet with a registered dietitian to plan a diet that meets these goals:
  • Include at least 14 grams of fiber daily for every 1,000 calories consumed. Foods high in fiber may help lower blood cholesterol. Oat bran, oatmeal, whole-grain breads and cereals, dried beans and peas (such as kidney beans, pinto beans, and black-eyed peas), fruits, and vegetables are all good sources of fiber. Increase the amount of fiber in your diet gradually to avoid digestive problems.
  • Cut down on saturated fat. It raises your blood cholesterol level. Saturated fat is found in meats, poultry skin, butter, dairy products with fat, shortening, lard, and tropical oils such as palm and coconut oil. Your dietitian can figure out how many grams of saturated fat should be your daily maximum amount.
  • Keep the cholesterol in your diet to less than 300 milligrams a day. Cholesterol is found in meat, dairy products, and eggs.
  • Keep the amount of trans fat in your diet to a minimum. It’s a type of fat in foods that raises blood cholesterol. Limit your intake of crackers, cookies, snack foods, commercially prepared baked goods, cake mixes, microwave popcorn, fried foods, salad dressings, and other foods made with partially hydrogenated oil. In addition, some kinds of vegetable shortening and margarines have trans fat. Check for trans fat in the Nutrition Facts section on the food package.
• Make physical activity part of your routine. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Think of ways to increase physical activity, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. If you haven’t been physically active recently, see your doctor for a checkup before you start an exercise program.
• Reach and maintain a healthy body weight. If you are overweight, try to be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, most days of the week. Consult a registered dietitian for help in planning meals and lowering the fat and calorie content of your diet to reach and maintain a healthy weight. Aim for a loss of no more than 1 to 2 pounds a week.
• If you smoke, quit. Your doctor can help you find ways to quit smoking.
• Ask your doctor whether you should take aspirin. Studies have shown that taking a low dose of aspirin every day can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, aspirin is not safe for everyone. Your doctor can tell you whether taking aspirin is right for you and exactly how much to take.
• Get prompt treatment for transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). Early treatment for TIAs, sometimes called mini-strokes, may help prevent or delay a future stroke. Signs of a TIA are sudden weakness, loss of balance, numbness, confusion, blindness in one or both eyes, double vision, difficulty speaking, or a severe headache.

 

How will I know whether my diabetes treatment is working?

You can keep track of the ABCs of diabetes to make sure your treatment is working. Talk with your health care provider about the best targets for you.

A stands for A1C (a test that measures blood glucose control). Have an A1C test at least twice a year. It shows your average blood glucose level over the past 3 months. Talk with your doctor about whether you should check your blood glucose at home and how to do it.

A1C target

Below 7 percent

Blood glucose targets

Before meals
90 to 130 mg/dL

1 to 2 hours after the start of a meal
Less than 180 mg/dL

B is for blood pressure. Have it checked at every office visit.

Blood pressure target

Below 130/80 mm Hg

C is for cholesterol. Have it checked at least once a year.

Blood fat (cholesterol) targets

LDL (bad) cholesterol
Under 100 mg/dL

Triglycerides
Under 150 mg/dL

HDL (good) cholesterol
For men: above 40 mg/dL
For women: above 50 mg/dL

Control of the ABCs of diabetes can reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke. If your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels aren’t on target, ask your doctor what changes in diet, activity, and medications can help you reach these goals.

 

What types of heart and blood vessel disease occur in people with diabetes?

Two major types of heart and blood vessel disease, also called cardiovascular disease, are common in people with diabetes: coronary artery disease (CAD) and cerebral vascular disease. People with diabetes are also at risk for heart failure. Narrowing or blockage of the blood vessels in the legs, a condition called peripheral arterial disease, can also occur in people with diabetes.

Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease, also called ischemic heart disease, is caused by a hardening or thickening of the walls of the blood vessels that go to your heart. Your blood supplies oxygen and other materials your heart needs for normal functioning. If the blood vessels to your heart become narrowed or blocked by fatty deposits, the blood supply is reduced or cut off, resulting in a heart attack.

Cerebral Vascular Disease

Cerebral vascular disease affects blood flow to the brain, leading to strokes and TIAs. It is caused by narrowing, blocking, or hardening of the blood vessels that go to the brain or by high blood pressure.

Stroke

A stroke results when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly cut off, which can occur when a blood vessel in the brain or neck is blocked or bursts. Brain cells are then deprived of oxygen and die. A stroke can result in problems with speech or vision or can cause weakness or paralysis. Most strokes are caused by fatty deposits or blood clots-jelly-like clumps of blood cells-that narrow or block one of the blood vessels in the brain or neck. A blood clot may stay where it formed or can travel within the body. People with diabetes are at increased risk for strokes caused by blood clots.

A stroke may also be caused by a bleeding blood vessel in the brain. Called an aneurysm, a break in a blood vessel can occur as a result of high blood pressure or a weak spot in a blood vessel wall.

TIAs

TIAs are caused by a temporary blockage of a blood vessel to the brain. This blockage leads to a brief, sudden change in brain function, such as temporary numbness or weakness on one side of the body. Sudden changes in brain function also can lead to loss of balance, confusion, blindness in one or both eyes, double vision, difficulty speaking, or a severe headache. However, most symptoms disappear quickly and permanent damage is unlikely. If symptoms do not resolve in a few minutes, rather than a TIA, the event could be a stroke. The occurrence of a TIA means that a person is at risk for a stroke sometime in the future. See page 3 for more information on risk factors for stroke.

Heart Failure

Heart failure is a chronic condition in which the heart cannot pump blood properly-it does not mean that the heart suddenly stops working. Heart failure develops over a period of years, and symptoms can get worse over time. People with diabetes have at least twice the risk of heart failure as other people. One type of heart failure is congestive heart failure, in which fluid builds up inside body tissues. If the buildup is in the lungs, breathing becomes difficult.

Blockage of the blood vessels and high blood glucose levels also can damage heart muscle and cause irregular heart beats. People with damage to heart muscle, a condition called cardiomyopathy, may have no symptoms in the early stages, but later they may experience weakness, shortness of breath, a severe cough, fatigue, and swelling of the legs and feet. Diabetes can also interfere with pain signals normally carried by the nerves, explaining why a person with diabetes may not experience the typical warning signs of a heart attack.

Peripheral Arterial Disease

Another condition related to heart disease and common in people with diabetes is peripheral arterial disease (PAD). With this condition, the blood vessels in the legs are narrowed or blocked by fatty deposits, decreasing blood flow to the legs and feet. PAD increases the chances of a heart attack or stroke occurring. Poor circulation in the legs and feet also raises the risk of amputation. Sometimes people with PAD develop pain in the calf or other parts of the leg when walking, which is relieved by resting for a few minutes.

 

How will I know whether I have heart disease?

One sign of heart disease is angina, the pain that occurs when a blood vessel to the heart is narrowed and the blood supply is reduced. You may feel pain or discomfort in your chest, shoulders, arms, jaw, or back, especially when you exercise. The pain may go away when you rest or take angina medicine. Angina does not cause permanent damage to the heart muscle, but if you have angina, your chance of having a heart attack increases.

A heart attack occurs when a blood vessel to the heart becomes blocked. With blockage, not enough blood can reach that part of the heart muscle and permanent damage results. During a heart attack, you may have

• chest pain or discomfort
• pain or discomfort in your arms, back, jaw, neck, or stomach
• shortness of breath
• sweating
• nausea
• light-headedness

Symptoms may come and go. However, in some people, particularly those with diabetes, symptoms may be mild or absent due to a condition in which the heart rate stays at the same level during exercise, inactivity, stress, or sleep. Also, nerve damage caused by diabetes may result in lack of pain during a heart attack.

Women may not have chest pain but may be more likely to have shortness of breath, nausea, or back and jaw pain. If you have symptoms of a heart attack, call 911 right away. Treatment is most effective if given within an hour of a heart attack. Early treatment can prevent permanent damage to the heart.

Your doctor should check your risk for heart disease and stroke at least once a year by checking your cholesterol and blood pressure levels and asking whether you smoke or have a family history of premature heart disease. The doctor can also check your urine for protein, another risk factor for heart disease. If you are at high risk or have symptoms of heart disease, you may need to undergo further testing.

 

What are the treatment options for heart disease?

Treatment for heart disease includes meal planning to ensure a heart-healthy diet and physical activity. In addition, you may need medications to treat heart damage or to lower your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol. If you are not already taking a low dose of aspirin every day, your doctor may suggest it. You also may need surgery or some other medical procedure.

For additional information about heart and blood vessel disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, call the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Health Information Center at 301-592-8573 or see www.nhlbi.nih.gov on the Internet.

[

How will I know whether I have had a stroke?

The following signs may mean that you have had a stroke:

• sudden weakness or numbness of your face, arm, or leg on one side of your body
• sudden confusion, trouble talking, or trouble understanding
• sudden dizziness, loss of balance, or trouble walking
• sudden trouble seeing out of one or both eyes or sudden double vision
• sudden severe headache

If you have any of these symptoms, call 911 right away. You can help prevent permanent damage by getting to a hospital within an hour of a stroke. If your doctor thinks you have had a stroke, you may have tests such as a neurological examination to check your nervous system, special scans, blood tests, ultrasound examinations, or x rays. You also may be given medication that dissolves blood clots.

 

What are the treatment options for stroke?

At the first sign of a stroke, you should get medical care right away. If blood vessels to your brain are blocked by blood clots, the doctor can give you a “clot-busting” drug. The drug must be given soon after a stroke to be effective. Subsequent treatment for stroke includes medications and physical therapy, as well as surgery to repair the damage. Meal planning and physical activity may be part of your ongoing care. In addition, you may need medications to lower your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol and to prevent blood clots.

For additional information about strokes, call the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at 1-800-352-9424 or see www.ninds.nih.gov on the Internet.

 

Points to Remember

• If you have diabetes, you are at least twice as likely as other people to have heart disease or a stroke.
• Controlling the ABCs of diabetes-A1C (blood glucose), blood pressure, and cholesterol-can cut your risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Choosing foods wisely, being physically active, losing weight, quitting smoking, and taking medications (if needed) can all help lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
• If you have any warning signs of a heart attack or a stroke, get medical care immediately-don’t delay. Early treatment of heart attack and stroke in a hospital emergency room can reduce damage to the heart and the brain.

 

For More Information

National Diabetes Education Program
1 Diabetes Way
Bethesda, MD 20892-3600
Phone: 1-800-438-5383
Fax: 703-738-4929
Internet: www.ndep.nih.gov

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Health Information Center
P.O. Box 30105
Bethesda, MD 20824-0105
Phone: 301-592-8573
Fax: 301-592-8563
Email: nhlbiinfo@nhlbi.nih.gov
Internet: www.nhlbi.nih.gov

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Brain Resources and Information Network (BRAIN)
P.O. Box 5801
Bethesda, MD 20824-5801
Phone: 1-800-352-9424
Fax: 301-402-2186
Internet: www.ninds.nih.gov

Weight-control Information Network
1 WIN Way
Bethesda, MD 20892-3665
Phone: 1-877-946-4627
Fax: 202-828-1028
Email: win@info.niddk.nih.gov
Internet: www.win.niddk.nih.gov

American Diabetes Association
National Call Center
1701 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311-1742
Phone: 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383)
Fax: 703-549-6995
Email: askADA@diabetes.org
Internet: www.diabetes.org

American Association of Diabetes Educators
100 West Monroe, Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60603-1922
Phone: 1-800-338-3633
Diabetes Educator Access Line: 1-800-TEAMUP4 (1-800-832-6874)
Fax: 312-424-2427
Email: aade@aadenet.org
Internet: www.diabeteseducator.org

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International
120 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005-4001
Phone: 1-800-533-2873
Fax: 212-785-9595
Email: info@jdrf.org
Internet: www.jdrf.org

American Heart Association
7272 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75231-4596
Phone: 1-800-AHA-USA1 (242-8721)
Fax: 214-369-3685
Internet: www.americanheart.org

Source:

The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse is a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
1 Information Way
Bethesda, MD 20892-3560
Phone: 1-800-860-8747
TTY: 1-866-569-1162
Fax: 1-703-738-4929
Email: ndic@info.niddk.nih.gov
Internet: www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov

Diabetes: A Guide for African American Families, Parts 1,2 & 3 – Time: 27:54

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

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Flaxseed, Superfood & Healthfood

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Flaxseeds are a health food & diet food. Get the nutrition facts and health & wellness benefits for flax seed.

Diabetes and Heart Disease Linked

 

 

By Garey Simmons

Posted July 29, 2009

Garey Simmons writes about heart health from personal experience. Diagnosed with high risk of heart disease, Garey studied for 2 years to acquire a different perspective on the natural means of reversing heart disease. Free E-Course “Four Golden Guides of Heart Health.” http://OptimalHealthRSQ.com

If you find yourself craving more carbs and more sugars and feeling tired and sluggish, it may be that your body is not converting the starches and sugars into energy. Your bodies cells may be starving.

Diabetes and heart disease go hand-in-hand. Diabetic persons are at much greater risk to having heart attacks, high blood pressure, and strokes. People who have diabetes have often much higher blood sugar level that can cause damage to many parts of the body including the blood vessels.

Vascular problems due to diabetes may also include poor circulation to the legs and feet, unfortunately these problems can go undetected and can start early in life.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends early diagnosis, treatment and management of risk factors.

Risks of getting diabetes and heart disease can start before the age of thirty. Two most common types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 diabetes also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks the pancreas cells that produce insulin, resulting in low amount of insulin or no insulin at all.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use glucose for energy. When you eat food, the body breaks down all of the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel for the cells in the body. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause two problems:

* Right away, your cells may be starved for energy.
* Over time, high blood glucose levels may hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart.

Diabetes
and heart disease sufferers experience changes in the blood vessels where the linings of the blood vessels may become thicker making it more difficult for the flow of blood through the vessels. Blood vessels in other parts of the body can also be damaged due to diabetes that can lead to kidney problems, eye problems, and poor circulation to the legs and feet.

Heart disease rates in adults are two to four times higher than adults without diabetes. The risk of stroke is also two to four times higher for diabetic people. Seventy- three percent of diabetic adults also has high blood pressure and has heart attacks at an earlier age.

The most common symptoms of heart disease may include chest pain, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, and swollen ankles. However, every person may experience symptoms differently. These symptoms may also resemble other medical conditions and so it is always advisable to seek the help of a physician for diagnosis.

Heart disease may still occur to a person taking proper self-care. The physician will determine specific treatment of the heart disease according to age, medical history and overall health of the person. It will also be based on the extent of the disease and the tolerance for specific medications, procedure or therapies.

When risk factors for a person with diabetes are eliminated or reduced, the risk for heart disease may also be reduced. Taking care of ones health and controlling blood sugar can often slow down or avoid the onset of complications for diabetes and heart disease. The test you need to ask for is the hemoglobin A1C.

Many doctors recommend this test as it gives a look at blood factors over the last 90 days and is more comprehensive than taking the daily blood sugar reading.

Take the A1C test then start a herbal treatment containing chromium, cinnamon, banaba leaf,and guggal for example and retest after 90 days to see how much herbal supplements can change your life and your numbers!

Source: Garey Simmons

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