Children's Health Depends on Parents. Diet & ADHD Symptoms. Exploding Watermelons. Bottled Water. Indian Treaty. Noriega Caught.

 

For "Foodie Friday":

How Parents Can Ruin their Children's Health

You Wouldn't Let Your Child Run Across a Busy Street …

"Most parents go to great lengths to keep their children safe. You hold their hand when they walk across the street, teach them to stay away from a hot stove and tell them not to talk to strangers. Yet, the majority of parents feed their children potentially harmful food without a thought for the later consequences.

It's not the occasional treat here and there that I'm referring to, either. It's the fact that most toddlers recognize the sign of the "golden arches" long before they are speaking in full sentences.

Why?

Because they are often raised on French fries, fast-food hamburgers and orange soda, or if "raised" is a bit of a stretch, are taught that French fries, chicken fingers and soda is an acceptable meal (worse yet, they may come to think of it as a reward).

As British chef and food advocate Jamie Oliver explains in the video below, our food culture has changed so drastically over the last 30 years, a majority of young children of today do not know what fresh, whole food is."

"Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead from the food that they eat."

Transcript at: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

More at: http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/babies/2011-01-29-kids-unhealthy-foods_N.htm

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Restrictive Diet May Reduce ADHD Symptoms

(HealthDay News) -- "A special restrictive diet may significantly reduce symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in young children, a new study suggests.

When children between the ages of 4 and 8 were placed on a diet containing no processed foods for five weeks, ADHD symptoms diminished in 78 percent of them. And, when suspected trouble foods were reintroduced into the diet, two-thirds of the children experienced a relapse in symptoms.

"A strictly supervised restricted elimination diet is a valuable instrument to assess whether ADHD is induced by food," wrote the study authors. "We think that dietary intervention should be considered in all children with ADHD, provided parents are willing to follow a diagnostic restricted elimination diet for a five-week period, and provided expert supervision is available," they concluded."

Results of the study are published in the Feb. 5 issue of The Lancet."  More at:  http://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/attention-deficit-disorder-adhd-news-50/restrictive-diet-may-reduce-adhd-symptoms-649603.html

More at: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/6552.html

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From me:  This is no surprise to me, I took my youngest son to a hyperactivity specialist doctor in 1971, and he told me the same thing.  Even though it isn't mentioned, milk seemed to make my son more hyper.

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How to Spot Fruit Grown with Growth Accelerating Chemicals

"One of the tell-tale signs of a fruit or vegetable that hasn't been grown by entirely natural means is their inherent lack of flavor. It may look plump and ripe, but once you bite into it, it's anything but a flavor sensation. This is because while growth enhancers like forchlorfenuron stimulate cell division, making the fruit grow faster, it also drains it of flavor. This is actually rather logical, if you think about it. Flavor is a sign of ripeness, which only comes with time. Many unripe fruits and vegetables are virtually tasteless.

In the case of watermelons, those treated with forchlorfenuron are very large and brightly colored on the outside, but the color of the flesh is more white than deep red. Other telltale signs are white instead of black seeds and fibrous, and/or misshapen fruit. (Note, this is for regular watermelons, which have black seeds. Seedless watermelons typically have tiny white seeds.)"

More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/03/why-are-nonorganic-watermelons-exploding-in-china.aspx 

And:

Farmers clear burst watermelons from plastic greenhouses in Danyang, eastern China. Photograph: AP.  From: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/17/exploding-watermelons-chinese-farming

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Duped by the Bottled Water Industry

"The bottled water business has become a multi-billion dollar industry. But bottled water isn't the pristine elixir you've been told it is.

Consider the following:

• Studies show that 40 percent of bottled water is actually regular tap water with possibly no additional filtering treatment.
• The EPA standards that apply to public water supplies do NOT apply to bottled water. Overall, bottled water is less regulated than tap water.
• There are no restrictions preventing a source of bottled water from being located near industrial facilities or waste dumps.

A recent EWG report uncovered 38 contaminants in 10 brands of plain bottled water, including DBPs, nitrate, caffeine, arsenic, Tylenol, bacteria and industrial chemicals. There is every reason to expect that, if tested, these new flavored bottled waters would be found similarly contaminated with hormone disruptors and industrial waste chemicals. Not the type of "enhancement" you thought you were paying for!

The High Cost of Plastic Water Bottles

In the time it takes you to read this one short sentence, over 8,000 empty water bottles are being thrown into the trash worldwide. According to the Container Recycling Institute, in the U.S. alone, more than 67 million plastic water bottles are discarded each day. That's enough plastic water bottles to fill 5,500 garbage trucks each day or wrap around the Earth 149 times each year.

Plastic bottles have become an enormous problem for humanity due to the following four problems:

1. The sheer volume of plastic waste they create
2. The lack of adequate recycling capability for plastics
3. The amount of oil required to manufacture these millions of plastic bottles
4. The adverse health problems caused by the plastic itself

As good as it feels to haul your plastic bottles to a recycler, realize that 86 percent of plastic bottles never get recycled, leaving a massive number of them sitting in landfills and floating like massive plastic islands in our oceans. In fact, the enormous plastic "stew" of bottles discarded into the Pacific Ocean is currently twice the size of Texas and growing steadily. Only 5 percent of all discarded plastic waste is currently recycled in the U.S.

And the plastic bottle you toss out today will not finish biodegrading until the year 3011.

But waste isn't the only problem. It takes a lot of OIL to manufacture those plastic bottles.

According to the Sierra Club, the United States alone uses 1.5 million barrels of oil to create the water bottles we toss into those landfills every year, releasing toxic by-products like nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide, and benzene into the environment. 1.5 million barrels is enough oil to fuel 250,000 homes or 100,000 cars for a year!

And to compound the issue, drinking from plastic water bottles can pose serious health risks from industrial chemicals like BPA and phthalates, which leach from the plastic itself into the contents of the bottle." More at:   http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/04/now-they-are-trying-to-sell-you-diet-water.aspx

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From me:  No water in BPA plastic bottles for me, I'll stick to my Brita jug for now, until I can buy something better!  Like the ZeroWater® 6-Cup Pitcher:  http://www.nowtoronto.com/lifestyle/story.cfm?content=186632   or Clear2O Water Filtration Pitcher: http://www.consumersearch.com/water-filters/clear2o-water-filtration-pitcher

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On This Day:

Jackson submits Indian treaty to Congress, Dec 20, 1836:

"On this day in 1836, President Andrew Jackson presents Congress with a treaty he negotiated with the Ioway, Sacs, Sioux, Fox, Otoe and Omaha tribes of the Missouri territory. The treaty, which removed those tribes from their ancestral homelands to make way for white settlement, epitomized racist 19th century presidential policies toward Native Americans. The agreement was just one of nearly 400 treaties--nearly always unequal--that were concluded between various tribes and the U.S. government between 1788 and 1883.

American population growth and exploration of the west in the early to mid-1800s amplified conflicts over territory inhabited by Native American tribes who held different views of land and property ownership than white settlers. During this time, Andrew Jackson played a major part in shaping U.S. policy toward Native Americans. A hero of the War of 1812, he earned equal recognition as an Indian fighter and treaty negotiator. In fact, he brokered nine treaties before becoming president in 1829. In 1830, as part of his zealous quest to acquire new territory for the nation, President Jackson pushed for the passing of the Indian Removal Act. It was this act that allowed for the 1838 forced removal by the U.S. military of Cherokee from their Georgia homeland to barren land in the Oklahoma territory. The march at gunpoint--during which 4,000 Cherokee died from starvation, disease and the cold--became known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson's policies toward Indians reflected the general view among whites of the time that Indians were an inferior race who stood in the way of American economic progress."

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The U.S. invades Panama, Dec 20, 1989:

"The United States invades Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracy in Panama and endangering U.S. nationals. Noriega's Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) were promptly crushed, forcing the dictator to seek asylum with the Vatican anuncio in Panama City, where he surrendered on January 3, 1990.

The U.S. invasion of Panama cost the lives of only 23 U.S. soldiers and three U.S. civilians. Some 150 PDF soldiers were killed along with an estimated 500 Panamanian civilians. The Organization of American States and the European Parliament both formally protested the invasion, which they condemned as a flagrant violation of international law.

In 1992, Noriega was found guilty on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, marking the first time in history that a U.S. jury convicted a foreign leader of criminal charges. He was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison."

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Yesterday:

Wednesday shopping day was postponed to yesterday, as I had a 2.30pm appointment with a cardiologist.  Even though the tests showed that I was not having a heart attack when I got all breathless on the 3rd: http://pennys-tuppence.blogspot.com/2013/12/san-antonio-tamales-festival-dec7th-in.html and called an ambulance.  They admitted me, but I discharged myself upon agreeing to see a cardiologist.  So I was keeping my word.

Afterwards I found out that I became breathless every time I was around my 'new' old cat, Ava.  She has long black hair and it was covered in dandruff, as she hadn't had good diet or care before I adopted her.  Since her arrival, I have fed her corn-free, by-product-free cat food, and krill oil.  Her dandruff is now gone, she is looking sleek and happy, and even when I brush her, doesn't give me allergy-induced asthma any more.

As I had several stops to make before my appointment, I left early to get those out of the way first.  Ray said that he would take Misty for her afternoon walk. 

At the cardiologist, the usual questions, and another EKG, which showed that I had had a heart attack previously, which I already knew, but I don't know when.  There had been three times in my life when I thought that I was having severe indigestion pain, but got over it.  I am not plagued by indigestion, so I should have known better.

Now they want to do one of those nuclear stress tests on me.  I agreed to do the treadmill and sonogram part, but no injecting radioactive dye, as I am too allergic to things like that.  Been There, Done That, and was diagnosed fine, but had terrible after effects, 12 years ago!  The Big Medicine Wheel has me in their clutches, and we will see if they have their way with me when I go for the test.

It was starting to get dark on the way home, and I don't drive in the dark.  Thank goodness it will start getting dark later, even though Winter begins, on Saturday.