The 3 Biggest Diet Vices of Fast Food, Soft Drinks and TV--Fattening up Africa!

It is hard to believe this but now more than one-third of African women and a quarter of African men are estimated to be overweight, and the World Health Organization predicts that will rise to 41 percent and 30 percent respectively in the next 10 years.

When we picture a epidemic in Africa visions of poor starving children with swollen bellies from malnurishment come to mind, yet that is no longer the case.

“We have gone from undernutrition to overnutrition without ever having passed healthy nutrition,” said Krisela Steyn, the retired director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Chronic Disease and Lifestyle unit.

Surprisingly, the poor suffer from this more than you would think. Ironically, the poorest are often most vulnerable. Children born with low birth weights to malnourished mothers tend to be more at risk of becoming overweight as adults. They are also more prone to obesity as family members give them too much food to help them catch up, according to experts at a recent conference on chronic disease in Cape Town.

It isn't that the people of Africa are becoming overweight because they have too many fresh fruits and vegetables to eat or that water is too plentiful. It is that "modernization" has brought them Coke, Big Macs and Cable!

In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, high-fat, high-sugar fast foods, snacks and fizzy drinks are in. And, like elsewhere, growing urbanization has led to less walking and other exercise and the spread of television has led to a generation of couch potatoes rather than athletes.

Please, read the rest of this article, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15954744/ it is alarming and should be a MUST read for everyone. We have to act quickly to end our global dependence on cheap, unhealthy and obesity causing fast foods and soft drinks and increase physical activity if we hope to win our fight to end the Obesity Pandemic the world finds itself in.

My book, The Vice Busting Diet, is the ONLY "diet" book to attack the fast food and soft drink industry and directly point a finger at TV as the root causes for Obesity and to also offer a realistic and gradual solution to the problem.

I have contacted WHO and volunteered to become a Special Ambassador to help fight the Global Pandemic of Obesity. This is a fight that we must win and that with busting our vices of fast food, soft drinks and TV--we WILL win!

Carpe Diet!
Julia

Juice nutrient plus supplement: http://www.OfficialJuicePlus.com

Flu Shot or Not: A Healthy Debate

While flu shots have become such a standard action for so many people each year, no thought seems to be given as to whether or not it is really necessary. In my opinion, the drug companies have done such a good job of lobbying and marketing the need for everyone to get their flu shots because 'it's flu season' afterall.

Here's what I do understand: people with compromised immune systems - i.e. the elderly who are already sick or suffering from a disease, or someone undergoing treatment for a disease that requires some strong drugs - are those who may actually need a flu shot. But what I don't believe is that just anyone needs a flu shot because 'it's flu season.' Do you know that people die each year from immunizations? And thousands actually get sick or the flu from getting a flu shot? I heard a radio host discussing flu shots and he didn't understand why Michael Jordan wouldn't have gotten flu shots each season since he gets paid so much to be healthy so he could play basketball. What?! Have we become that conditioned to believe everything we're told? Maybe he didn't get them because he exercises and eats healthy (and did more so them, I'm sure) - unlike 65% or more of Americans.

My point is this: if you're eating right and getting regular exercise - and supplementing your diet to be sure you're getting the nutrients you need from enough fruits and vegetables - then you don't need a flu shot. You're body is equipped with an army of enemy-fighting cells that attack anything that it knows doesn't belong - all without you even thinking about it! Yet we (that is, the drug companies whose 1st goal is profit) think that we know better how to handle the body. If more people knew how the body worked - I know very little - I think we'd be amazed and would question what if any drugs that we need.

Live healthy and you'll be healthy. Your body is not lacking anything but good nutrition. Don't deny the natural goodness that it needs.

Carpe Diet
Lose weight and live healthy - http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/
Supplement your diet with nutrients from 17 fruits and vegetables: http://www.OfficialJuicePlus.com

Thought for the Holiday Season

"Shoes"

I showered and shaved............... I adjusted my tie.
I got there and sat.............. In a pew just in time.
Bowing my head in prayer......... As I closed my eyes.
I saw the shoe of the man next to me..... Touching my own. I sighed.
With plenty of room on either side...... I thought,
"Why must our soles touch?"
It bothered me, his shoe touching mine... But it didn't
bother him much.
A prayer began: "Our Father"............. I thought, "This
man with the shoes.. has no pride.
They're dusty, worn, and scratched. Even worse, there are holes on the side!"
"Thank You for blessings," the prayer went on.
The shoe man said............... a quiet "Amen."
I tried to focus on the prayer....... But my thoughts were
on his shoes again
Aren't we supposed to look our best.. When walking through that door?
"Well, this certainly isn't it," I thought, Glancing toward the floor.
Then the prayer was ended............ And the songs of praise began.
The shoe man was certainly loud...... Sounding proud as he sang.
His voice lifted the rafters......... His hands were raised high.
The Lord could surely hear.. The shoe man's voice from the sky.
It was time for the offering......... And what I threw in was steep.
I watched as the shoe man reached.... Into his pockets so deep.
I saw what was pulled out............ What the shoe man put in.
Then I heard a soft "clink" . as when silver hits tin.
The sermon really bored me.......... To tears, and that's no lie
It was the same for the shoe man..... For tears fell from his eyes.
At the end of the service........ As is the custom here
We must greet new visitors.. And show them all good cheer.
But I felt moved somehow............. And wanted to meet the shoe man
So after the closing prayer.......... I reached over and shook his hand.
He was old and his skin was dark..... And his hair was truly a mess
But I thanked him for coming......... For being our guest.
He said, "My names' Charlie.......... I'm glad to meet you, my friend."
There were tears in his eyes......... But he had a large, wide grin
"Let me explain," he said........... Wiping tears from his eyes.
"I've been coming here for months.... And you're the first to say 'Hi.'"
"I know that my appearance........."Is not like all the rest
"But I really do try................."To always look my best."
"I always clean and polish my shoes.."Before my very long walk.
"But by the time I get here........."They're dirty and dusty, like chalk."
My heart filled with pain............ and I swallowed to hide my tears
As he continued to apologize......... For daring to sit so near.
He said, "When I get here..........."I know I must look a sight.
"But I thought if I could touch you.."Then maybe our souls might unite."
I was silent for a moment............ Knowing whatever was said
Would pale in comparison... I spoke from my heart, not my head.
"Oh, you've touched me," I said......"And taught me, in part;
"That the best of any man............"Is what is found in his heart."
The rest, I thought,................. This shoe man will never know.
Like just how thankful I really am... That his dirty old shoe touched my soul
***********************************************************************

American Diabetes Association trouble

Does the ADA - American Diabetes Association - need to reconsider their position with the largest promoter of diabetes-causing products (Coca-Cola)? The New York Times has a very interesting article about the ADA and its reconsideration of continued sponsorship associations with companies that promote supposedly "healthful eating" products. Please click here to read the four page article.

You can also read more here on this BLOG.

Know the truth before you even consider having soft drinks. The bottom line is that we don't need foods or drinks with HFCS - high fructose corn syrup. We need to drink more water, we need to eat foods that don't have high amounts of processing or sugar. We need to eat more fruits and vegetables. Diabetes that is genetic is one thing. Diabetes that is caused by lifestyle and diet is more about ignorance. The body was designed to have fruits and vegetables and lean meats and fish.

If you need help with your lifestyle and losing weight, go here: http://www.vicebustingdiet.com
We also recommend that you supplement your diet with juice nutrients plus because most everyone does not eat enough fruits and vegetables. Learn more...

Live healthy.
Carpe Diet!

The Fast Food Nation Diet

This week, a must see movie hits the big screen, Fast Food Nation. But the movie only addresses the problem of Fast Food, it does little to address the solution, or atleast a step by step approach to busting fast food from an individual's life.

Why must we bust? Because 2.6 million people died last year because of the illnesses brought on by eating this crap and drinking Coke--along with other equally unhealthy and high calorie vices. And, if we don't do something now to reverse this trend, "this is the FIRST generation NOT expected to outlive their parents"--Harvard, not me.

“We take Joe Camel off the billboard because it is marketing bad products to our children, but Ronald McDonald is considered cute,” says Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale. “How different are they in their impact, in what they’re trying to get kids to do?”

Not much, says Eric Schlosser, author of the 2001 best-selling book Fast Food Nation. His book, for instance, pointed out that nine of every 10 U.S. kids go to McDonald’s at least once per month, and that the hamburger mega-chain is one of the world’s largest toy distributors through its promotional efforts.

To that end, Schlosser used his book’s final chapter to urge consumers and Congress to take action. He called for legislators to more closely regulate how fast food is marketed to kids. But those legislators haven’t done much in the last five years to stop the fast food express, a juggernaut that threatens to help ruin Americans’ health over the next 20 years. One government estimate projects that the number of Americans with diabetes will increase from 21 million to nearly 30 million U.S. adults battling diabetes by 2030. Read more: http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100148751&GT1=8717

However, it isn't going to have ANY immediate impact in the lifes of those afflicted with Obesity to simply write congress--those suffering from Overweight and Obesity related issues MUST take a healthful stand today and BUST their VICES out of their lives permanently in order that they get healthier and lose weight.

The ONLY "diet" book or expert who addresses the Fast Food issue AND offers a realistic, effective and quite easy approach to breaking the habit of eating it is my The Vice Busting Diet!

It has been endorsed by Oprah's Dr. David L. Katz, Dr. Mehmet Oz and may others.

The question would beg to be asked; why haven't we heard more about it? Well, there's a good answer. Who spends the most money adverstising on shows like Today, The View, Oprah? Soft drink companies like Coca-Cola and Fast Food pushers like McDonald's. An exective with CBS told me personally "there is NO way we can book you as a guest; you (rightfully) sued Coca-Cola and go after both them and McDonald's in your book--and you mention TV viewing as the 3rd contributor to the Obesity Pandemic--if we promoted you, they would cut or cancell their advertising AND we would be shooting ourselves in the foot!" That's a real quote folks!

They can run, but they can't hide! Fast Food, Soft Drinks and TV/sendentary lives ARE the 3 biggest contributors to the Obesity Pandemic and we are going to BUST them before they bust us!

Want a FREE copy of The Vice Busting Diet? http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/, you will get a personalized signed copy with your 26-week; 50 pounds OFF guaranteed lifestyle modification program! You will get a workbook, daily emails, daily audios, dozens of lessons and more....all for only $197, that less than $8 a week

Carpe Diet!
Julia

Urine analysis a test for diet

One of the suggestions that I've had in the past in regards to health insurance was providing discounts or money back to those who are in good health - based on factors like limited doctor visits, blood work that is all within normal range, and even data on frequency of exercise if possible. But now there comes an additional test that may provide doctors - and dare I say insurance companies? - with a gage of the patient's dietary habits and therefore health. A Canadian study finds that a urine test may able to detect a poor diet based on the levels of potassium.

According to the research: "The study found a link between increased levels of potassium in the urine, a healthier diet, and lower weight, blood pressure and heart rate. These findings suggest, for the first time, that the amount of potassium in the urine is a valid, objective indicator of diet quality," researcher Dr. Andrew Mente, of the Prosserman Center for Health Research in Toronto, said in a prepared statement.

I think two things are making their way into our society: 1) greater awareness and therefore more people being proactive about their health; and 2) more accountability by way of new tests that will provide better markers for diet and health. Which means if you don't take responsibility for your health now, you may be forced to later.

Which is why the greatest diet in the world is worth nothing without the inspiration and motivation that we all need to live healthy, happy, and productive lives. You don't need to be told that you need more fruits and vegetables. You probably know that. What you do need - and we all need - is to be inspired to a healthy and fit life!

Find inspiration here: http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/

Carpe Diet!
Here is Healthier Eating 101 and 102 - some good information (but not the inspiration) for a healthy diet: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/305_eat.html

The Hell is McFreezing over Diet to end childhood obesity!

OHMIGOSH, Hell just may be freezing over!...or NOT? If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck; odds are it's a duck. Or my personal favorite line, IF it is full of salt, fat, high fructose corn syrup and calories, it MUST be a Big Mac and a Coke!

Ten major food and drink makers, including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Campbell Soup, announced today that their child-oriented advertising will do more to promote health foods and exercise.

The companies, which account for two-thirds of child-targeted food and drink commercials on TV, agreed to reduce the use of outside characters — think Shrek and the Little Mermaid — to pitch unhealthy foods. They also said they would not advertise in elementary schools and would ensure their online “advergames” either promote good health or healthy products, among other measures. Half their ads will focus on foods that qualify as healthy or on nutrition and exercise issues.

The companies said they had no plans to stop selling or promoting sugary cereals or fatty French fries, and critics were quick to say the voluntary restrictions will have little effect.

Read the rest of the hype: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15718236/

OK, now for the truth:

• they have NO choice but to use different characters since Disney and other companies are distancing themselves from their unhealthy food/drink offerings!
• they can show Ronald McDonald playing basketball all day long, but kids aren't dumb, they KNOW who he is and where to find is food.
• Coke can take their high fructose laden regular Coke out of schools and try to look like the good guys, but to simply exchange "sports" drinks, sugar filled "waters" and "energy" drinks in place OR keep chemically sweetend cancer punch DOES NOT help kids get health. Want to help solve the Obesity Pandemic Coca-Cola, stock your machines with WATER and stop bogus contests (http://www.drinkchooselive.com/) that encourage consumption of extreme weight gaining and or deadly levels of your crap!
  

Don't fall for their ploy! This is nothing more than having the wolf agree to change his tactics when getting near the sheep--he doesn't have to advertise; he knows the sheep will continue to graze and he will slaughter them same as before. You still have a fat wolf and dead sheep, or in our case profit rich corporations and 2.6 million dead people a year who died prematurely because Coca-Cola and McDonald's, the two worst contributors to the Obesity Pandemic are allowed to set their own rules when watching the flock.

Carpe Diet.

STOP! Before you follow Victoria Beckham's diet...

It caught my eye that Victoria Beckham (former Spice Girl "Posh") had been quoted as saying that she survives on Diet Coke and low-calorie snacks and has for years (Read more...). This strikes me as sad because of the image and example that she sets for millions of young girls around the world who would love to look like and I'm sure at one time be like, her. She states that she hasn't even had water in years because she doesn't like the taste. This has got to be one of the unhealthiest recommendations - the truly unhealthiest would be recommending regular Coke and no water - for a person of her celebrity to be doling out to a public that desires her figure. Don't be fooled by the outside appearance when it comes to being healthy.

But it doesn't stop there. This next point really caught my attention. Something I didn't know about one of her children - and why would I except that it she is in the news enough that you can't help but read a story or two about her and her husband. Her 4 year old has been diagnosed with epilepsy. So I did a little research - and I'm not a scientist, and I am empathetic to those with epilepsy and family members who have children with epilepsy - with the thought that maybe the two had something to do with each other (again, before knowing much at all about epilepsy). My first thought when looking into this was "could drinking Diet Coke all the time, when she was pregnant, and not water be a possible cause of the epilepsy?

What I found is that epilepsy doesn't have one exact cause and the diagnosis can be difficult because there are many types of epilepsy. Here is a basic description:

"Epilepsy is a brain disorder. The neurons fire an abnormally high number of times in a short period. Injury to the brain may certainly cause epilepsy. This includes deprivation of oxygen at birth, trauma to the head at any time of life, and stroke or injury to part of the brain caused by blockage or haemorrhage of one of its blood vessels, or improper brain development."

But could it be possible that Diet Coke with the aspartame, phosphoric acid, and other harmful ingredients contribute to the cause of brain problems - starving the brain of oxygen and proper development (during pregnancy)? Doesn't water contain oxygen? Don't soft drinks dehydrate cells? A possible cause, I'm sure. With all of the possible birth defects that are out there...well, I'll stop there.

Before you run out and follow "Posh's" diet, take a second look at the chemicals and/or poisons that are in many of these foods and drinks and look at the consequences that are possible before deciding to consume them.

If we at least cut down on the number of possible preventable causes, we can more clearly identify some real causes - i.e. genetics. Better to get lots of good nutrition and exercise to look and feel great and have a great quality of life, than to starve yourself into an unhealthy slim figure.

Carpe Diet!
More info on Epilepsy: http://137.172.248.46/epilepsy.htm
Good resource: http://www.epilepsy.com/info/family_kids_causes.html

Kid's need to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet. And you can make up for what they're missing through supplementation. Learn more...

Chef Jamie Oliver tells it like it is...

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is telling it like it is when IT comes to the obesity problem - along with poor health - in Britain and the United States. "England's the most unhealthy country in Europe and America is the most unhealthy country in the world," he say. And he is right. If ever we needed more celebrity chefs (i.e. George Stella, who changed his chef ways and lost over 200 lbs) to stand up and tout the unhealthy ways of the world, now couldn't be a better time. Read the full story... Jamie knows how bad the problem is in the U.S. - he comments that he doesn't have the energy to take on the problem here. No kidding.

Let's continue to bring more awareness to the problem in order to spawn new actions from every level - coorporate, government, and individual responsabilities. Turning this ship around is going to require many more hands, but the motions are starting to take place. You can help by making healthy choices.

Live healthy. Improve your quality of life.
Carpe Diet!

Motivational lifestyle weight loss healthy living - http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/
Nutritional supplement; nutrients from 17 different fruits and vegetables: Learn more...

Coca Cola Getting Ripped...

Finally, more support comes in the direction of healthy living when Health Minister Tony Abbott (Australia) says that Coca Cola is contributing to childhood obesity. It's nice to see that the dollars of influence won't make a difference in the Health Minsister speaking the truth... unlike other countries which receive millions in "donations" for supporting and approving Coca Cola products into their nations.

The truth is there. It just takes enough people to create a movement and a tipping point. Join that movement and make it easier for others to start living healthy and free from the burdens of diet vices.

Carpe Diet
Julia

Lose weight, live healthy: http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/
Nutritional support: Recommended nutritional supplementation

Our Kids Our Fat, Give Them...Drugs?

Children with risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol and diabetes, are showing signs of narrowing and hardening of the arteries, conditions normally associated with adults, a study said.

An increasing number of children suffer from these and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including obesity, but testing for future heart conditions is not standard practice, according to a report presented at the annual American Heart Association meeting in Chicago.

Testing should include regular blood lipid and glucose level testing, said the report’s lead author, Sanaz Piran, a resident at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Earlier treatment could include more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, she said. Read the rest of the story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15698567/

But honestly, that was enough for me.
"Earlier treatment could include more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs!"

Here's a thought, why not have earlier treatment be getting the kids vices of FAST FOODS, soft drinks and other unhealthy foods busted AND get them exercising!?

Isn't it always the BEST or should atleast be the earliest or first step to try to get kids healthier and living healthier lifestyles than pumping them full of "more aggressive cholesterol-lowering drugs!?

What a world we live in!
"This is the first generation of children, NOT expected to outlive their parents"--Dr. David L. Katz sounded the first alarm of this dangerous prediction and Harvard concurres.

This is in most part because of their DIET and sedentary lifestyles! Dr. Katz further goes on to say that "well, they MAY live, but what quality of life remains to be seen, after all we can keep them alive with new hearts, drugs and life support."

MORE AGGRESSIVE drugs?

That's the best that the respected American Heart Association can come up with? Grow some spine, shun your big buck donating fast food and soft drink companies and tell it like it is; to save the lives of our children we MUST help them break their addication and reliance on FAST FOODS, unhealthy "JUNK" foods and sugar-filled soft drinks, sports drinks and yes, "energy" drinks! We must encourage children to consume more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats/proteins and WATER and get their bodies moving!

I almost bought my 13 year old son Clark a Glaceau "Vitamin" water after his soccer game, it was vitamin enriched after all and WATER. But thankfully I read the label. It was also sugar enriched: 2.5 servings and 50 calories per serving or 150 calories total; DUH! I could have bought him a Coke and done the same damage to his immune system, his diet and his overall health!--as my friend Dr. David L. Katz likes to say "Caveat Emptor"--Latin for buyer beware!

That is really the solution to the predicted fate of early painful fat-filled deaths that our children face!

KNOW what you are putting in your body, in the bodies of your loved ones and monitor and control (yes, we can control what our kids do!) what your children consume!

Respectfully,
Julia

Lose weight, live healthy: http://www.juliahavey.com/
A healthy lifestyle transition: http://www.vicebustingdiet.com/
Juice Nutrients Plus+ Supplement: http://www.JPsupplement.com