Updates to Recent Posts

CLEANSE UPDATE:

Last week I wrote a post about cleanses.  Just days later First Lady Michelle Obama (who I praised here) was interviewed by Ladies' Home Journal.  In the interview she admits that occasionally she  does her own "cleanse" every now and then.  In the article she says,

The cleanses are good for a short period of time. I can't live my life on a cleanse. But they help me clean out my palate. Because when you start adding things like sugars into your diet, you start craving them. And the more you eat, the more you crave. . . . So maybe I'll do a cleanse for two days. It isn't a way of life, because I like food too much. But it is good to break your mind-set.

I was a little shocked by the First Lady's comments about her cleanse mostly because she's been doing such a great job of promoting healthy eating habits.  I recently found a great blog that recapped some opinions about Mrs. Obama's comments.  You can read the whole post here but to summarize I think the article  does a great job of presenting arguments from Marion Nestle and Jeff Stier, associate director for the American Council on Science and Health discussing the First Lady's cleanse as well as her press release for clarification.

While I agree with eating less sugar, a better way to break that cycle is not by going on a cleanse.  Cleanses are temporary solutions to a long-term problem.  If you continually eat a lot of high sugar foods what is more important is helping change the behavior that is driving you to choose these foods. 

At least the First Lady is not doing a cleanse to lose weight.  With all the talk of cleanses, I was so pleased to read this story about John Goodman.  He's lost 100 lbs. by doing something amazing: eating right and exercising!  Bravo, Mr. Goodman.


EXTREME EATING UPDATE:

I've written about extreme eating already here and here.  Well there's a new extreme food to talk about.  Denny's jumped into the fray with their Fried Cheese Melt.  It's a grilled cheese filled with fried mozzarella sticks.  A lovely mix of appetizer and and entree to clog your arteries and expand your waist.  The estimated nutrition information from this CBS article: 845 calories and 34 grams of fat. Oy vey!

Our Champion for Change

I don't care how you feel about her husband or his politics, First Lady Michelle Obama is doing amazing work with respect to changing how this country eats.  Not only did she plant a garden on the White House lawn but she has now set her sights on fighting childhood obesity.  She doesn't want to just make a dent in the problem either, she wants to solve it, and within one generation.

In February, she launched the Let's Move campaign and soon after, President Obama appointed a task force to give recommendations on how to solve the problem of childhood obesity.  This week, that task force submitted their recommendations to the President.  You can read the brief summary here or the whole 124-page report here.

In short, the task force made recommendations within five major areas, early childhood, empowering parents and caregivers, healthier food choices in school, improving access to healthy foods and increasing physical activity.  Marion Nestle did a great job of summarizing some of the key recommendations on her recent blog post. 

Reading the recommendations I'm impressed with two things. First, this report mobilizes a group of federal and local agencies.  The problem of obesity is a complex problem with no simple answer.  Smartly, Obama knew that she needed the help of the FTC, USDA, DHHS, EPA and HUD (to name a few) to help solve the problem. 

Secondly, the report has recommendations in many different areas. The recommendations deal with everything from breastfeeding promotion, helping increase the availability of healthy foods in poor urban and rural areas, encouraging food companies to standardize nutrition labeling on the front of packaged food, helping schools upgrade their equipment to give them the availability to actually cook more food, and asking restaurants to decrease portions and improve children menus.

The truth is that there are many factors that have caused our nation's children to gain weight and it will require a broad, far-reaching change to find a solution.  It's been said we need a food revolution in this country.  Mrs. Obama and her Let's Move campaign just handed us the blueprint.  I am proud to have the First Lady as our champion for change and I'm behind her all the way!