I think the educational system that teaches people about "bad" food and "good" food is in serious need of help. Here's why:
1) Just last night, I saw a commercial that touted Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles as a "healthy and nutritious snack" for children. My jaw dropped! How can someone claim that a food that full of sugar can be a healthy and nutritious snack, simply because it's been fortified with vitamins and minerals?! Since I have taken the time to educate myself, and have devoted so much time to researching proper nutrition, I know this commercial was a load of bunk! But the majority of the uninformed and under-educated (when it comes to nutrition) will look at that commercial and feel justified in eating (and allowing their children to eat) Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles as a healthy snack. Appalling!
2) I have spent years trying to figure out why I wasn't losing weight. In fact, despite all my efforts to eat healthy and exercise every day, I was GAINING weight. I made a trip to my doctor at about the time I started reading about metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. My doctor ran my bloodwork and was able to determine based on the numbers that I am, in fact, insulin resistant (also known as metabolic syndrome and syndrome X). I made immediate changes to my diet and bought some low-cholesterol cookbooks, among those for insulin resistance.
In hindsight, I couldn't believe how screwed up the health books were about cholesterol and weight loss. Here I was eating fruits, potatoes, corn, carrots, and orange juice because I thought they were good for me, and I was avoiding foods such as avocadoes and nuts because they were supposedly high in fat. Turns out that someone with insulin resistance shouldn't eat fruit (except for berries and kiwi, because they are low in sugar and all other fruit isn't), potatoes (not even sweet), carrots, and corn...and that avocadoes and nuts are actually beneficial in raising HDL cholesterol and lowering LDL, which in turn can lower one's weight. I even eat the whole egg now, including the yolk, because it's been found to be beneficial in raising good cholesterol and lowering bad!
In about two weeks, I dropped 7 pounds and felt great! I eat avocadoes almost every day now in salads. I don't eat potatoes, white bread (or even wheat that often), or corn. Instead of chips, I eat steamed vegetables flavored with Butter Buds. Instead of french fries, I eat boiled okra. I've learned to substitute the good for the bad, and have increased my fish intake for a source of lean protein. I've taught myself to pick out the recipes I can and can't eat, even from a cookbook that's supposed to be full of healthy recipes (a recipe that contains half a cup of sugar and 1 cup of white flour is not healthy for an insulin resistant person, yet I found several of those in my "healthy cookbook" just today).
3) What the general public knows about fats and sugars is virtully nothing. Fats aren't necessarily bad for you, as long as you know which ones to eat. Unfortunately, trans-fats are EVERYWHERE and people generally are not educated about them. There is no fast food restaurant where I can eat anything but a salad and not get overloaded with trans fats, which are the worst kind! Regarding sugar: people should get no more than 12 teaspoons (or 48 grams) of sugar per day. [To determine the # of teaspoons of sugar in an item, take the sugar grams and divide by 4). Did you know that one can of Arizona Ice Tea contains about 13-14 teaspoons of sugar? Or that one 8-oz. glass of just about any fruit juice contains 4-6 teaspoons of sugar? This is why we have such an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance in our society!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope everyone's just a little more educated about how BAD our system is for keeping everyone educated about nutrition, health, and exercise. Our society is more concerned with Nicole Richie's eating disorder and Brittany Spears' neuroses than it is about being healthy, simply because that's what ad executives program into our minds. We need a better, more up-to-date method of educated people about what's good and what's bad, when it comes to our bodies. Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles definitely are NOT!
1) Just last night, I saw a commercial that touted Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles as a "healthy and nutritious snack" for children. My jaw dropped! How can someone claim that a food that full of sugar can be a healthy and nutritious snack, simply because it's been fortified with vitamins and minerals?! Since I have taken the time to educate myself, and have devoted so much time to researching proper nutrition, I know this commercial was a load of bunk! But the majority of the uninformed and under-educated (when it comes to nutrition) will look at that commercial and feel justified in eating (and allowing their children to eat) Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles as a healthy snack. Appalling!
2) I have spent years trying to figure out why I wasn't losing weight. In fact, despite all my efforts to eat healthy and exercise every day, I was GAINING weight. I made a trip to my doctor at about the time I started reading about metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. My doctor ran my bloodwork and was able to determine based on the numbers that I am, in fact, insulin resistant (also known as metabolic syndrome and syndrome X). I made immediate changes to my diet and bought some low-cholesterol cookbooks, among those for insulin resistance.
In hindsight, I couldn't believe how screwed up the health books were about cholesterol and weight loss. Here I was eating fruits, potatoes, corn, carrots, and orange juice because I thought they were good for me, and I was avoiding foods such as avocadoes and nuts because they were supposedly high in fat. Turns out that someone with insulin resistance shouldn't eat fruit (except for berries and kiwi, because they are low in sugar and all other fruit isn't), potatoes (not even sweet), carrots, and corn...and that avocadoes and nuts are actually beneficial in raising HDL cholesterol and lowering LDL, which in turn can lower one's weight. I even eat the whole egg now, including the yolk, because it's been found to be beneficial in raising good cholesterol and lowering bad!
In about two weeks, I dropped 7 pounds and felt great! I eat avocadoes almost every day now in salads. I don't eat potatoes, white bread (or even wheat that often), or corn. Instead of chips, I eat steamed vegetables flavored with Butter Buds. Instead of french fries, I eat boiled okra. I've learned to substitute the good for the bad, and have increased my fish intake for a source of lean protein. I've taught myself to pick out the recipes I can and can't eat, even from a cookbook that's supposed to be full of healthy recipes (a recipe that contains half a cup of sugar and 1 cup of white flour is not healthy for an insulin resistant person, yet I found several of those in my "healthy cookbook" just today).
3) What the general public knows about fats and sugars is virtully nothing. Fats aren't necessarily bad for you, as long as you know which ones to eat. Unfortunately, trans-fats are EVERYWHERE and people generally are not educated about them. There is no fast food restaurant where I can eat anything but a salad and not get overloaded with trans fats, which are the worst kind! Regarding sugar: people should get no more than 12 teaspoons (or 48 grams) of sugar per day. [To determine the # of teaspoons of sugar in an item, take the sugar grams and divide by 4). Did you know that one can of Arizona Ice Tea contains about 13-14 teaspoons of sugar? Or that one 8-oz. glass of just about any fruit juice contains 4-6 teaspoons of sugar? This is why we have such an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance in our society!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope everyone's just a little more educated about how BAD our system is for keeping everyone educated about nutrition, health, and exercise. Our society is more concerned with Nicole Richie's eating disorder and Brittany Spears' neuroses than it is about being healthy, simply because that's what ad executives program into our minds. We need a better, more up-to-date method of educated people about what's good and what's bad, when it comes to our bodies. Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles definitely are NOT!
