All Health's Breaking Loose

Sometime in the '60s, while some of us were out riding our bikes, a Japanese scientist figured out how to make high-fructose corn syrup (a sweetener with a much longer shelf life than sugar.) Add that to our big American idea of processing palm oil to a stable, highly saturated, commercial fat and you have a recipe for a boat load of inexpensive, sugar and fat laden convenience snack foods that when packaged, won't spoil until the next ice age. We "supersized" the problem sometime in the '70s when fast food restaurants laughed all the way to the bank with the invention of the "value meal." For example, a single serving of McDonald's french fries in 1960 had 200 calories.Today that number has tripled to 610 calories per super-serving. Sometime in the '90s childhood became a career and with little Timmy at music lessons and sister Suzy going to dance class in the evenings, the relaxed dinner hour with family sitting down to a home cooked meal has gone by the way side. All this running around means more meals eaten on the run and eating on the run usually means eating more calories.

There is no sign of technology slowing down so, if we continue to supersize our intake as we gradually decrease the number of calories we burn, there is no where to go but UP THE SCALE. We cannot blame the youth of today for being overweight, but we can do our part to set things right. Leading by example is always the best teacher. Without making a fuss, park your car a little further from the store. If a child asks why, explain that you wanted to stretch your legs. Let go of the "clean your plate" idea. Let children stop eating when they are satisfied. If it doesn't go to the waste-can it will go to their waistline. Invite a young person to play tennis or go for a nature walk. Discover one of the horse trails that run all through our town; many of us have never been on one. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, just for the heck of it. Speak positively about exercise, let your children see you enjoy it. Let them know good health is a precious gift, one that we should take care of.

John F. Kennedy said, "Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity." In our community, intellectual strength is encouraged and developed. Our children are taught how to study and stay organized so they can excel in the classroom. It is up to us to help teach them to enjoy movement and the use of their bodies so they can experience good health throughout their lives.

Thanks for checking in. Previous columns are posted on my web site.

You can reach me there for questions and comments as well, www.gotoloa.com. I'll see you in two weeks.

Love and health,

Loa

Loa Blasucci has been a top call make up artist/beauty consultant to the stars for 25 years.