Question: What do you get when Whole Foods (Earth Fare wannabe), the YMCA, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and government join forces to organize and implement a boots on the ground, neighborhood-focused, childhood anti-obesity campaign?
Answer: Fatter kids!
This is exactly what is happening in Sulphur Springs, an underprivileged community near downtown Tampa, Florida. Startlingly, at least 40% of first grade children in Sulphur Springs are already overweight or obese!
The Embrace A Healthy Florida initiative which Whole Foods, the Y and Blue Cross are involved with aims to change these sobering stats.
Problem is, their recommended healthy breakfast is bagels and fresh fruit which will do nothing but pack more pounds on these children already struggling with weight issues.
Not only does this type of breakfast provide basically no fat or protein, it is also high in sugar (fruit) and refined carbs (bagels – even if organic and whole grain) which will spike and then drop the blood sugar in these children who are already on a blood sugar see saw – the inevitable fast track to diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
What these children really need is 2 eggs, preferably free range, fried up in butter for breakfast. Now that’s a breakfast that will help trim the backside, steady the blood sugar, and provide excellent concentration during school for optimal learning.
Even a full fat yogurt smoothie with some fresh fruit blended into it would be a huge improvement over the bagel with fresh fruit approach! A sprouted or sourdough bagel loaded up thick with butter would be fine too but you can be sure that there was no Real Butter to be found at this neighborhood sponsored “healthy” breakfast.
It is very sad to see such well meaning programs that have failure stamped on them from the get go.
Until the entrenched thinking that whole unprocessed fats such as butter and eggs are somehow unhealthy changes, however, American children will continue to get fatter and fatter as they are plied with whole grains and fruit for breakfast – the most important meal of the day and a real trigger for overweight unless done right.
It is the parents and caregivers who are able to think outside the box and realize that the USDA Food Plate and Food Pyramid are nothing but a political sham and that Traditional Foods for breakfast are ideal which are high in fat and protein with no refined carbs who truly have a fighting chance to preserve and protect their children from the ravages of the childhood obesity epidemic.
Whole Foods “Helps” With Childhood Obesity Initiative – The …: Question: What do you get when Whole Foods, the… http://bit.ly/o3lBlj
Whole Foods “Helps” With Childhood Obesity Initiative – The …: I agree that these aren’t the most healthy food… http://bit.ly/q8B8ha
Our family of 3 (mom, dad and 2 year old) goes through 5 dozens of eggs in a week (real eggs from happy chickens :-)). We eat real raw butter from pastured cows and drink raw milk. There is never a day we don’t eat eggs! My 2 year old has been eating eggs and drinking a big glass of raw milk for breakfast every single day since she started eating solid food. It is so sad that people are so brainwashed here.
Wake up parents. Take some initiative to educating yourself on proper nutrition and don’t leave it up to the government to do it. Laziness is the cause for most obesity. Lazy to get educated, lazy to get involved, etc. Evil prevails because good people do NOTHING!
I do agree that parents need to take some initiative. What I don’t agree with is calling these parents lazy. When you have to work 2-3 jobs just to get enough money to put any kind of food on the table I think that laziness is not something you should be accused of. It is very frustrating for me to see people who could be sending a positive message belittling and judging other parents based on the privilege that they have or do not have. People should be able to trust that the food given to their children in programs such as these is healthy and nutritious. The people who are lazy are the ones running these programs who haven’t taken the time to actually figure out what is proper nutrition, so they can reeducate people who have been miseducated. Sadly there are very few people who hold the food industry responsible for this. These large food companies are no better than the cigarette companies, they are systematically destroying the health of a nation with their buddies in big pharma egging them on. So lets stop blaming parents who are doing the best they can and start talking to the people who are the real source of the problem.
Awesome Brett. An excellent testimonial!
Dear God do they at least get some cream cheese on the bagel for a little tiny smidge of protein? (I’m betting they get margerine spread or jelly…I don’t even want to think about it…blech)
I’m sure it was a vegetable oil spread. Those poor starving children! They are starving just as surely as the ones in Africa with bloated bellies. Just a different kind of starvation.
Drives me absolutely crazy to see everyone thinking that loading up on FRUIT is going to help them LOSE weight — when I tell people I try to eat as much fruit as I can, because I am trying to *gain* weight, they look at me like I’m crazy. Even some friends who have a basic understanding of traditional foods!! In addition to the fruit, I also eat a very grain-heavy diet these days, again… to GAIN weight. It’s working.
Yes, eating grains packs on the pounds really fast! Even properly prepared grains do this but at least traditionally preparing them doesn’t damage anything like eating modern grain based foods which block mineral absorption and cause gut problems.
Yeah thankfully at least I know how to do that now! Unfortunately though, years of eating SAD plus taking oral contraceptives and a few rounds of antibiotics have damaged my gut. I know I need to go on GAPS — but I am just too afraid to do that while I am underweight. I think I will bite the bullet once I get another 5-10 pounds or so. Too bad there isn’t a Whole Foods nearby to help me out with that! 😉
Hi Emily,
Here is an excellent interview of a man who struggled with trying to gain weight for most of his life. He could never gain weight no matter how many calories or what types of foods he would eat. Once he was on the GAPS diet for a while, he was able to gain and maintain a healthy weight without being too skinny: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gapsjourney/2011/05/28/gerald–healing-digestive-disorders-on-gaps-diet
Please note that it is very unlikely that you could gain weight unless your gut is healthy. When our guts are healthy, we are able to put on healthy weight since our bodies are able to use the nutrients needed for rebuilding the body. I wouldn’t hesitate in going for the GAPS diet. You may lose weight initially; however, you will gain so much more health-wise in the long run.
Erica, thank you so much! I listened to that entire interview just now, and I feel VERY inspired. When I said earlier that eating a grain-heavy diet was “working,” I meant that I have gained about a couple pounds… within the past couple months. Which is actually *good*… for me. But is that normal? Should it be THAT hard? I suspect that you are right — that getting to a healthy weight will be very difficult or unlikely with an unhealthy gut. Have you joined the new GAPS forum on Gapalicious.com? Maybe we could chat more about this there. I have so many questions!
Hi Emily,
Thanks for the site! Yes, we can definitely chat on there! If you want, you can begin the Full GAPS diet, and see if you gain weight without having to be on a very restrictive diet like the Intro. Just be sure to include the probiotics so that you can introduce the beneficial bacteria to kill off the bad bacteria.
Whole Foods fails again. RT @realfoodmedia: Whole Foods “Helps” With Childhood Obesity Initiative http://bit.ly/ouoiko
Spot on once again Sarah, well done! Wonderful post, and I couldn’t agree more. Americans in general, it seems to me, are getting fatter by the day, all the while partaking of such so-called “healthy” foods as non-fat dairy products (skim milk, non-fat yogurt, etc.), margarine or “butter” spreads, “whole grain” products that not only have not been traditionally prepared–thus reducing their anti-nutrient content–but that have a huge, long list of additives, preservatives, etc., heavily sprayed fruits and vegetables, and a ton of packaged, processed “foods.” Oh, and don’t forget the sugar. Sugar, as you pointed out, is a recipe for disaster and I believe one of the main culprits in this obesity epidemic (if you will).
You’re absolutely right, what people need to start eating are eggs, real butter, full-fat dairy (and hopefully raw, but sadly that is unrealistic for most Americans), and pastured meat….lots of good fats and meats. Animal fats are in, most plant fats are out (with the exception of extra virgin olive for salads, and virgin coconut oil)!
Looks like it’s up to us now to get the word out there and help change the kind of mainstream thinking that has led to such disastrous results. I try to spread the word about real food whenever I can and wherever I go, although this has rendered me completely un-politically correct (yay!). I feel it is of critical importance.
Keep up the terrific work!!
Jana
I feel so terrible for these children that are so large at such a young age. They can’t even run and play without getting out of breath and tired like they are already 50 years old.
Their childhood is being stolen away from them by these guidelines that just make them fatter and fatter by the day.
Well said, and I agree. Their stolen childhood is a very sad thing indeed. It’s really an uphill battle we’re fighting, but awareness is key! That’s why blogs like yours are so vitally important.
It’s unfortunate though, that the parents that allow this to happen to their kids aren’t the ones reading these blogs. Hopefully by doing these things ourselves maybe our friends and family will see the health and vitality of our kids/families and want to learn more. I know from my own experience, that what we say doesn’t matter to our family. They so stubbornly want to fight against what we say – it’s baffling. I guess, and this is just my hypothesis, mostly they fight it because they know what they’re doing is wrong, but don’t actually want to change their junk food habits.
I think that’s the biggest obstacle with people – you have to care about this, to even begin to make changes. You can’t make someone care – they have to want it, inside themselves. People who don’t want to change, just like smokers who don’t really want to quit, they won’t do it, they’ll keep doing the same old.
If I hadn’t sought out this information myself, I’d be in the same sad state that my family is in – unhealthy, kids on the wrong track for health, etc. I wish there was some way to make people care. It takes a certain kind of person to change and learn.
The majority of people will not change, unless the ‘powers that be’ change and tell them the new way it has to be. Sad, but true.
Whole Foods “Helps” With Childhood Obesity Initiative – The Healthy Home Economist http://fb.me/PqN9h81e