Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Is it just me?

Why is it so difficult to feel confident in what we are consuming on a daily basis? Why is it so hard as a parent to be sure we are feeding our families the foods that are best for them? I've come to realize that it is not only false advertising, which is a big reason kids think so many "bad" foods are acceptable or even healthy. It is because we have too many "experts" who can't make up their minds not to mention agree on anything. It seems almost every day I read something that starts out saying "new research shows....". It always ends up that what so called "experts" used to think about a product or ingredient was proven wrong..........or was it?
Sodium- First it was good, then it was bad, now it is good again in moderation. Table salt isn't as good as Sea Salt though, right?
Sugar- Good in its natural source (fruits, etc.), processed bad......wait we have "alternative sweeteners"......oops some of those cause cancer and other problems, BUT there are new natural sweeteners.......oh wait......ok so maybe they are just as bad as regular sugar. Or are they?
Butter- Butter bad, Margarine good. Oh no Margarine is bad, butter is good again. Or is it? What about all of the other "butter" alternatives.
Oils- Corn, vegetable, peanut, canola, coconut........bad/good?
Carbohydrates- Good according to the food pyramid. Nope, BAD, BAD, BAD. Well, alright if they are "complex" carbohydrates.
First it was the good old food pyramid: still used in schools today, but then you had the Fat Free phase, then the Low Carb phase, calories in calories out, organic, local only, etc., etc. It's no wonder we are a society plagued with cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. No to mention depression and eating disorders.
It is quite sad and extremely frustrating and unfortunately the way the system is set up, I don't believe we will ever know the real story behind half of what we consume.

YouTube - Lost Generation

Wow, this is amazing!

YouTube - Lost Generation

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A by-the-numbers look at Obama's first year

Ok, so I am a few days late on my first post for the new year. Who said new year resolutions couldn't start late, as long as you complete them, right?!
I found this and thought it was interesting. Take what you like and feel free to leave the rest.

A by-the-numbers look at Obama's first year

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Resolutions

New year resolutions almost always have something to do with health, well-being and/or weight loss. Although I always hope to have a healthy new year, this year my resolution (14 days into the new year) is to write to my blog AT LEAST three, yes I said three, times per week starting this Monday. If you see the history of this blog you'll understand this is going to be a HUGE undertaking on my part. I hope this will force me to take a few minutes to breath and contemplate my day, my life and the world around me. I want to stop getting so caught up in the day to day grind. I want to be able to slow down to see the beauty that is around me everyday and notice the simple things in life that we oftentimes take for granted. Hopefully having to sit down with my blog three times a week will help me reach these goals more easily.
Wish me luck! See you on Monday!