Here are this week's top nutrition in the news headlines, to keep you informed!
The average American woman now weighs as much as the average 1960s man
It’s no illusion, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention; the average American today does weigh more than the average American did in 1960. Woman you weigh approximately as much today as the average man did in 1960. And men you’re almost 30 pounds heavier today than the men in 1960. Why the big difference? First off we are slightly taller than our 1960 counterparts and that can explain a small weight increase. However the big differences are our food and exercise choices. In the 1960’s dinner customarily consisted of meat, usually locally raised grass-fed or if grain-fed the grain would have been unprocessed grain that still contained vitamins, essential fats, and antioxidants, a vegetable, again locally grown in season vegetables not covered in pesticides, and a starch, a potato or maybe rice that was unprocessed and not from a box with a million artificial ingredients. As far as exercise goes in the 1960’s people didn’t spent hours sitting in front of a computer or a television they moved around more, they went bowling, played team sports, played badminton, and mowed their own grass. Americans we need to make some changes, we are currently the world’s third heaviest people That’s a distinction we don’t want. Read more here.
Update: Roundup Class Action Suit for False Advertising is Going National
You probably haven’t read about it in the New York Times, Huffington Post, or Reuters but there’s a false advertising class action suit currently taking place in California against Monsanto’s Roundup. According to this article, Monsanto displays “Did You Know? Glyphosate targets an enzyme found in plants but not in people or plants” prominently right on the Roundup label. A claim that as we’ve seen in many recent scientific studies has been proven to be false. When Roundup is sprayed on crops the plant absorbs the herbicide directly into its cellular tissue, the herbicide can’t be washed off before consumption and scientists are only beginning to unearth the health issues that the herbicide’s chemicals are causing in humans and animals. In addition as we state in our newest book The Micronutrient Miracle, the way glyphosate works is it actually kills weeds by latching onto, or chelating to, the essential minerals they need to live, thus starving them of micronutrients. The problem is that it does the same thing to Roundup-ready crops themselves. Then these micronutrient-depleted crops, in turn, do the same thing to both animals and humans that eat them. If we can’t ban the use of Roundup in The United States as they have in many European countries can we at least put a moratorium on Roundup for a few years until independent researchers can prove that Roundup is safe for consumption and not robbing us of any essential micronutrients? Read more here.
Uninvited Guests: Nanotechnology in USDA Certified Organics
When we think of organic foods the sights, sounds, and smells of the local farm where we buy immediately pops into our minds. However the truth is for much of the world organic crops are grown on large industrial farms, organic chicken and beef raised on large ranches, and organic eggs and dairy products processed in large factories. We feel that when we buy organic we can rest assured that our fruits and vegetable are free from synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, and genetically modified seeds. Our meats come from livestock that has been free to roam the pasture, eat grass and forage not force fed genetically modified corn, soybeans, or rice, and not pumped full of antibiotics or hormones. That’s what we pay for and we feel that’s exactly what we should get. However according to this article that may not be all that we’re getting, nanotechnology, science, engineering, and technology, could be slowly finding ways to sneak into our fresh organic foods. At present the National Organic Program (NOP) uses the U. S. Food and Drugs Administration’s (FDA) definition of the word organic and labeling stipulations, not totally bad, but the FDA does not require the labeling of synthetically engineered nanomaterials that may find their way into the production and handling of our organic products. Is the Center for Food Safety (CFS) correct, does the use of nanotechnology undermine the core value of the U. S. organics community? The jury’s still out, but nanotechnology in organic agriculture is definitely something that we’re going to be keeping a close eye on in the future. Read more here.
America’s Most Obese States Tend to Have One Thing in Common
Can obesity be linked to poverty? We don’t believe that it’s that simple, after all snacks that are engineered to be addictive can be addictive to anyone at any income rate. However as this article points out when nine out of the top ten states with the highest poverty rates also have the highest obesity rates it is a question on people’s minds. We know that buying organic is not cheap, organic fruits and vegetables rarely go on sale, organic meats and wild caught fish do cost more that pasta and rice, but we’ve found that when most people turn to a fresh organic lifestyle the money they save by not buying salty chips, sugary snacks, or pre-made boxed meals almost pays for their organic fruits, vegetables, and meats. Income may play a role in obesity, but we believe that the lack of education about food also plays a huge role in rising obesity rates. People need to be educated to the fact that when they make Grandma’s fried chicken they’re not making it with the same healthy chicken that ran around Grandma’s farm, that when they fry today’s chicken in today’s genetically modified corn oil or hydrogenated vegetable oil it’s not the same chicken that Grandma made at all and it’s definitely not their healthiest dinner choice. Or what about Grandma’s homemade apple pie? Grandma’s apple pie was not made with apples that were grown on trees thousand of miles away, the apples weren’t sprayed with toxic pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers, and Grandma’s apple pie was probably made with pure natural cane sugar not processed refined sugar or worse artificial sweetener. Food has changed and we have to ask, could that be a reason for a rise in obesity rates? Could obesity perhaps be due to the fact that our foods are less nutrient rich….??? Read more here.