Feeding Children Naturally
http://www.raisingchildrennaturally.com/articles/64/1/Feeding-Children-Naturally/Page1.html
Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa
Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa is one of the country’s foremost natural healing experts. A nationally certified massage therapist, nationally certified kinesiologist, state certified dietitian and nationally registered herbalist, he has written or edited 30 books on health topics and has practiced for 35 years. He teaches at all levels, from general public presentations, to professional training programs. You can learn more about him at http://www.kpkhalsa.com. By Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa
Published on July 2, 2008
The diet children and teenagers will follow for the next fifty years is
probably the most significant factor in the overall health they will
experience for the rest of their life, not to mention next week. Daily
nutritional deficiencies or lifestyle excesses are a pretty good
predictor of where one's health will be in a few years.
Yet the Standard American Diet has a lot of problems. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are common. Fiber levels are one tenth of that of our historical diet.
Childhood Obesity has become an epidemic. Caloric sweeteners definitely share a big part of the blame. Check these statistics and get a handle on why American children are in big trouble and what we can do about it.
Yet the Standard American Diet has a lot of problems. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are common. Fiber levels are one tenth of that of our historical diet.
Childhood Obesity has become an epidemic. Caloric sweeteners definitely share a big part of the blame. Check these statistics and get a handle on why American children are in big trouble and what we can do about it.
What's the Solution?
To solve the problems inherent in the modern American diet, the first thing you need is a plan. You need to work out a scheme for gradually adjusting your food choices in a way that ensures success. If you plan ahead, you can have a healthy dinner ready when you and your family sit down to eat.
It’s hard to walk the straight and narrow, especially in our fast food society. Eating for health takes consistency, commitment and discipline. You need a plan, and you need to work out a scheme for gradually adjusting your food choices in a way that ensures success. We all know that stopping on the way home for a burger isn’t going to work for the long term. But, arriving at home after a hard day at work and putting some soybeans on the stove isn’t going to work out either, unless you plan for the 20 hours it takes for the soybeans to cook.
On the other hand, if you’ve planned ahead, and you have a head of broccoli in the fridge, it just takes seconds to chop it up and pop it into the steamer. When you come out of the shower, dinner will be waiting.
What Makes a Good Diet?
Really, the healthy diet guidelines are pretty simple. Eat natural food- that’s food left in a natural state, with no additional added chemicals, and eat whole, minimally processed food. These foods have higher nutrient content, promote more stable digestion, have less impact on biological mechanisms, such as liver, and contain important phytochemicals for nutrition.
The good news is that, when offered, kids are more than willing to eat these healthier foods. A University of Minnesota study recently analyzed five years of data for 330 Minnesota public school districts. It looked at compliance with federal standards for calories, nutrients and fats and reported that school lunch sales don’t decline when healthier meals are served.
Whole Carbohydrates
At the heart of the process is a shift to whole carbohydrates. These natural grains slow down absorption of starch and sugar and create a more consistent insulin level. They lessen the requirement for alkaline buffering minerals to be removes from the skeleton, better preserving needed bone mass. They are full of nutrients, including magnesium and B vitamins, bran & fiber.
Whole grains help you feel full with less total calories. In a recent study, people eating high whole carbohydrate diets consumed about 300 less calories per day than the average person. They had a lowered risk of diabetes and heart disease, better body fat readings, LDL cholesterol, and fasting insulin.
Fruits and Vegetables
Generally, shift toward more vegetables and less grains. Use a wide variety of vegetables to maximize nutrients. When eating grains, use a wide variety of grains to minimize wheat, which is drastically overused, and highly problematic for may Americans.
Heart Health and Diet
Your heart will thank you for improving your diet.
First, eat less fat. Reducing your fat intake reduces risk of high cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar.
Second, choose better quality fats. Reduce the total fat intake and favor vegetable oils over animal fats. Vegetable oils, in moderation, can reduce blood fats.
Third, bump up your fiber intake. Water-soluble fibers in whole grains, such as oat, rice and wheat, and the pectin in fruits such as apple may lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Fiber collects dietary fat in the intestines, traps it and prevents the fat from being absorbed.
Again, focus on whole carbohydrates. Overdoing refined bread, sugar and pasta may promote diabetes in those prone. Increasing consumption of unrefined grains and other carbohydrates such as whole root vegetables and green leafy vegetables and whole fruits appears safe for everyone.
Fourth, get the minerals you need. Keep up calcium, an important mineral that lowers blood pressure. Many green vegetables, along with sesame seeds, are rich in this mineral.
Maximize magnesium. It’s abundant in green vegetables and whole grains. With its relaxing and antispasmodic effects on the blood vessels, it reduces angina and cardiovascular spasms and stabilizes heart rhythm. Studies have indicated a correlation between low magnesium levels and cardiovascular-related deaths. It also appears to improve cholesterol ratios and reduce damaging blood clots.
Fifth, get your antioxidants. Antioxidants, including vitamin E, help protect the insides of blood vessels from disease-producing oxidizing agents. Vitamin E, in particular, reduces oxidative damage, improves blood fat levels and protects blood vessels from free radical damage. It also inhibits damaging blood clotting (platelet aggregation) and the accompanying inflammatory processes. Whole grains are rich in vitamin E.
Use B vitamin rich whole grains. The B vitamins lessen risk of cardiovascular disease. B6, folate and B12 help the body convert and excrete homocysteine. B vitamins associated with lowered risk of heart pathology. Vitamin B3 (niacin) reduces elevated cholesterol. Estrogen replacement therapy and birth control pills deplete magnesium, folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12, all of which can be found in whole grains.
Sixth, nix excess salt. High consumption challenges kidneys in role in regulating blood pressure. High salt intake especially is damaging when potassium and magnesium are low. High sodium, along with low potassium, increases water retention, and can elevate blood pressure. Increase potassium and magnesium reserves- eat more whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Upping potassium intake while restricting sodium will also help reduce blood pressure by reducing blood vessel constriction. Limit sodium consumption to 1 to 2 g per day.
Seventh, watch caffeine. Caffeine raises blood pressure temporarily, and coffee drinkers tend to have slightly higher blood pressure than those who don't drink coffee.
Eighth, eat fewer animal products. Animal products provide undesirable varieties of fats, and also raise cholesterol levels. An increased heart-disease risk is associated with eating them. On the whole, there is less incidence of heart disease among vegetarians than nonvegetarians. Substituting whole, plant-based foods for animal products promotes good health.
Fat
The current scientific thinking on dietary fat goes something like this. Limit fat consumption to about 30 percent or less of total calories. The 20-25 percent range might be healthier. A range of 10–20 percent would also be acceptable in reducing the progression of cardiovascular disease by lowering blood levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. But do not cut fat intake altogether. You need the essential fatty acids for many valuable body functions. So, if you consume 2,000 calories per day, to get 30% of calories from fat, your total fat intake should hover around 67 grams of fat.
When consuming fat, focus mainly on mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil and canola oil. When consuming essential fatty acids, balance your intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Consume extra Omega 3 oils (flax seed oil and walnuts).
It’s hard to walk the straight and narrow, especially in our fast food society. Eating for health takes consistency, commitment and discipline. You need a plan, and you need to work out a scheme for gradually adjusting your food choices in a way that ensures success. We all know that stopping on the way home for a burger isn’t going to work for the long term. But, arriving at home after a hard day at work and putting some soybeans on the stove isn’t going to work out either, unless you plan for the 20 hours it takes for the soybeans to cook.
On the other hand, if you’ve planned ahead, and you have a head of broccoli in the fridge, it just takes seconds to chop it up and pop it into the steamer. When you come out of the shower, dinner will be waiting.
What Makes a Good Diet?
Really, the healthy diet guidelines are pretty simple. Eat natural food- that’s food left in a natural state, with no additional added chemicals, and eat whole, minimally processed food. These foods have higher nutrient content, promote more stable digestion, have less impact on biological mechanisms, such as liver, and contain important phytochemicals for nutrition.
The good news is that, when offered, kids are more than willing to eat these healthier foods. A University of Minnesota study recently analyzed five years of data for 330 Minnesota public school districts. It looked at compliance with federal standards for calories, nutrients and fats and reported that school lunch sales don’t decline when healthier meals are served.
Whole Carbohydrates
At the heart of the process is a shift to whole carbohydrates. These natural grains slow down absorption of starch and sugar and create a more consistent insulin level. They lessen the requirement for alkaline buffering minerals to be removes from the skeleton, better preserving needed bone mass. They are full of nutrients, including magnesium and B vitamins, bran & fiber.
Whole grains help you feel full with less total calories. In a recent study, people eating high whole carbohydrate diets consumed about 300 less calories per day than the average person. They had a lowered risk of diabetes and heart disease, better body fat readings, LDL cholesterol, and fasting insulin.
Fruits and Vegetables
Generally, shift toward more vegetables and less grains. Use a wide variety of vegetables to maximize nutrients. When eating grains, use a wide variety of grains to minimize wheat, which is drastically overused, and highly problematic for may Americans.
Heart Health and Diet
Your heart will thank you for improving your diet.
First, eat less fat. Reducing your fat intake reduces risk of high cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar.
Second, choose better quality fats. Reduce the total fat intake and favor vegetable oils over animal fats. Vegetable oils, in moderation, can reduce blood fats.
Third, bump up your fiber intake. Water-soluble fibers in whole grains, such as oat, rice and wheat, and the pectin in fruits such as apple may lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Fiber collects dietary fat in the intestines, traps it and prevents the fat from being absorbed.
Again, focus on whole carbohydrates. Overdoing refined bread, sugar and pasta may promote diabetes in those prone. Increasing consumption of unrefined grains and other carbohydrates such as whole root vegetables and green leafy vegetables and whole fruits appears safe for everyone.
Fourth, get the minerals you need. Keep up calcium, an important mineral that lowers blood pressure. Many green vegetables, along with sesame seeds, are rich in this mineral.
Maximize magnesium. It’s abundant in green vegetables and whole grains. With its relaxing and antispasmodic effects on the blood vessels, it reduces angina and cardiovascular spasms and stabilizes heart rhythm. Studies have indicated a correlation between low magnesium levels and cardiovascular-related deaths. It also appears to improve cholesterol ratios and reduce damaging blood clots.
Fifth, get your antioxidants. Antioxidants, including vitamin E, help protect the insides of blood vessels from disease-producing oxidizing agents. Vitamin E, in particular, reduces oxidative damage, improves blood fat levels and protects blood vessels from free radical damage. It also inhibits damaging blood clotting (platelet aggregation) and the accompanying inflammatory processes. Whole grains are rich in vitamin E.
Use B vitamin rich whole grains. The B vitamins lessen risk of cardiovascular disease. B6, folate and B12 help the body convert and excrete homocysteine. B vitamins associated with lowered risk of heart pathology. Vitamin B3 (niacin) reduces elevated cholesterol. Estrogen replacement therapy and birth control pills deplete magnesium, folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12, all of which can be found in whole grains.
Sixth, nix excess salt. High consumption challenges kidneys in role in regulating blood pressure. High salt intake especially is damaging when potassium and magnesium are low. High sodium, along with low potassium, increases water retention, and can elevate blood pressure. Increase potassium and magnesium reserves- eat more whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Upping potassium intake while restricting sodium will also help reduce blood pressure by reducing blood vessel constriction. Limit sodium consumption to 1 to 2 g per day.
Seventh, watch caffeine. Caffeine raises blood pressure temporarily, and coffee drinkers tend to have slightly higher blood pressure than those who don't drink coffee.
Eighth, eat fewer animal products. Animal products provide undesirable varieties of fats, and also raise cholesterol levels. An increased heart-disease risk is associated with eating them. On the whole, there is less incidence of heart disease among vegetarians than nonvegetarians. Substituting whole, plant-based foods for animal products promotes good health.
Fat
The current scientific thinking on dietary fat goes something like this. Limit fat consumption to about 30 percent or less of total calories. The 20-25 percent range might be healthier. A range of 10–20 percent would also be acceptable in reducing the progression of cardiovascular disease by lowering blood levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. But do not cut fat intake altogether. You need the essential fatty acids for many valuable body functions. So, if you consume 2,000 calories per day, to get 30% of calories from fat, your total fat intake should hover around 67 grams of fat.
When consuming fat, focus mainly on mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil and canola oil. When consuming essential fatty acids, balance your intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Consume extra Omega 3 oils (flax seed oil and walnuts).
How Can I Get My Child to Eat Healthy?
Let’s share some tips for eating in a happy, healthy family.
Bad Food Environment
What about the food police?
Dr. Andrew Weil: “Well, I guess one of my reactions to that is, tough. You know, kids are kids, and they are not necessarily in charge of their own destiny. And I think we have a responsibility as parents to enforce, if necessary, better foods for people, when the costs of what's happening are so great to us. You know, obesity is the surface of this. We are already starting to see an epidemic of adult onset diabetes in children diagnosed as young as 7. We are going to see an epidemic of a disease that most Americans have never heard of called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. This is fatty liver, terrible consequences. We are going to see this. From eating too much.
Parental Control and Discipline
For a good book on this subject, see Food Fight, by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., a primer on how the food industry and environment affect weight and food choices.
Like it or not, parents have to devote resources to their kids food environment and dietary habits. It takes time, energy, money—one or more of these, at least. You get out what you put in. Bucking the trend is hard.
For the sake of your children, start early to instill food choice values and give children early exposure to wide palette of food choices.
Practical Tips
All this takes commitment, but it need not be odious. Make a commitment to eat together much as possible. Also, kids love to cook- teach them.
All this instills the values of a strong health foundation for the future. The Healthy Kitchen, by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley is full of easy, healthy recipes.
Make changes gradually and consistently- abrupt change does not work.
When you switch to high fiber natural foods, you will have gas at first in quantity. Take it slow, or risk swelling up like a blimp!
Do your research. Become educated, take classes and apply what you learn. You’ll get there.
General Dietary Selections
Creatively seek out alternative food choices. Shop various natural food stores and try a variety of choices- expand your sources for better options in taste and use (natural food need not taste like cardboard).
Don’t bring it home. Stick to your commitment. If junk food is not in the cupboard, it can’t be eaten in a moment of weakness.
Shop in advance for natural alternatives. Keep the pantry stocked with only natural alternatives.
Initially introduce alternatives in a familiar form. Tofu pups, organic pizza, veggie sausage and spinach pasta are all great transition choices.
Presentation
Kids are much more likely to try a new food if it seems like fun, like veggie funny face pizza. When you go for the new foods, present them as simple, not mixed choices. And present consistently- it takes many, many exposures until a child will try a new food. Keep up and be consistent. It will happen. Start with finger foods (tofu slices, rice balls, sushi rolls).
Expanding Choices
OK, OK, here we are—vegetables. Put on your creative hat. Try them raw, in soups and as vegetable juices. Allow odd combos- become friends with green beans with mustard. Mix vegetables into other food, like a cream soup- start miniscule, and increase so gradually they are not noticed.
Sugar
Simple—don’t have it in the house. Limit it to special occasions—once started, it’s difficult to stop. Instead, go for nutrient dense alternative sweeteners, including rice bran syrup, date sugar, molasses, barley malt syrup and amazake.
Alternative Grains
Quinoa, millet, spelt, kamut, teff, amaranth- all these taste great, are easy to find now, and add substantially to the nutritional variety for the family.
Salt
Salt is not evil, and we all need some of it, but, as a culture, we have developed the habit of over consuming this important nutrient. Substitute Bragg’s Aminos, garlic, herb mixes and tasty spices.
Bad Food Environment
What about the food police?
Dr. Andrew Weil: “Well, I guess one of my reactions to that is, tough. You know, kids are kids, and they are not necessarily in charge of their own destiny. And I think we have a responsibility as parents to enforce, if necessary, better foods for people, when the costs of what's happening are so great to us. You know, obesity is the surface of this. We are already starting to see an epidemic of adult onset diabetes in children diagnosed as young as 7. We are going to see an epidemic of a disease that most Americans have never heard of called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. This is fatty liver, terrible consequences. We are going to see this. From eating too much.
Parental Control and Discipline
For a good book on this subject, see Food Fight, by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., a primer on how the food industry and environment affect weight and food choices.
Like it or not, parents have to devote resources to their kids food environment and dietary habits. It takes time, energy, money—one or more of these, at least. You get out what you put in. Bucking the trend is hard.
For the sake of your children, start early to instill food choice values and give children early exposure to wide palette of food choices.
Practical Tips
All this takes commitment, but it need not be odious. Make a commitment to eat together much as possible. Also, kids love to cook- teach them.
All this instills the values of a strong health foundation for the future. The Healthy Kitchen, by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley is full of easy, healthy recipes.
Make changes gradually and consistently- abrupt change does not work.
When you switch to high fiber natural foods, you will have gas at first in quantity. Take it slow, or risk swelling up like a blimp!
Do your research. Become educated, take classes and apply what you learn. You’ll get there.
General Dietary Selections
Creatively seek out alternative food choices. Shop various natural food stores and try a variety of choices- expand your sources for better options in taste and use (natural food need not taste like cardboard).
Don’t bring it home. Stick to your commitment. If junk food is not in the cupboard, it can’t be eaten in a moment of weakness.
Shop in advance for natural alternatives. Keep the pantry stocked with only natural alternatives.
Initially introduce alternatives in a familiar form. Tofu pups, organic pizza, veggie sausage and spinach pasta are all great transition choices.
Presentation
Kids are much more likely to try a new food if it seems like fun, like veggie funny face pizza. When you go for the new foods, present them as simple, not mixed choices. And present consistently- it takes many, many exposures until a child will try a new food. Keep up and be consistent. It will happen. Start with finger foods (tofu slices, rice balls, sushi rolls).
Expanding Choices
OK, OK, here we are—vegetables. Put on your creative hat. Try them raw, in soups and as vegetable juices. Allow odd combos- become friends with green beans with mustard. Mix vegetables into other food, like a cream soup- start miniscule, and increase so gradually they are not noticed.
Sugar
Simple—don’t have it in the house. Limit it to special occasions—once started, it’s difficult to stop. Instead, go for nutrient dense alternative sweeteners, including rice bran syrup, date sugar, molasses, barley malt syrup and amazake.
Alternative Grains
Quinoa, millet, spelt, kamut, teff, amaranth- all these taste great, are easy to find now, and add substantially to the nutritional variety for the family.
Salt
Salt is not evil, and we all need some of it, but, as a culture, we have developed the habit of over consuming this important nutrient. Substitute Bragg’s Aminos, garlic, herb mixes and tasty spices.
What's the Problem?
The diet children and teenagers will follow for the next fifty years is
probably the most significant factor in the overall health they will
experience for the rest of their life, not to mention next week. Daily
nutritional deficiencies or lifestyle excesses are a pretty good
predictor of where one's health will be in a few years.
Yet the Standard American Diet has a lot of problems. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are common. Fiber levels are one tenth of that of our historical diet.
Childhood Obesity
Childhood Obesity has become an epidemic. Caloric sweeteners definitely share a big part of the blame. Check these statistics and get a handle on why American children are in big trouble and what we can do about it.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey finds that 14% of two- to five-year-olds and 17% of children and adolescents ages 12 to 19 in the U.S. are overweight. This number has tripled in past 20 years, apparently largely due to higher consumption of processed, highly refined, commercial food.
Caloric sweeteners definitely share a big part of the blame. Consumers, especially kids, choose sweeter product when they have the choice. Check these statistics.
Annual caloric sweetener consumption, per capita:
Soda consumption is a big part of the trend. About 65% of adolescent girls and 74% of adolescent boys consume soft drinks daily. Today, it is the source of one-third of simple sugars consumed—the leading source of added sugars in the diet, amounting to 36.2 grams daily for adolescent girls and 57.7 grams for boys. From the mid 1970s through the mid 1990s, milk intake went down 36%, while soda and fruit drinks doubled.
A USDA study says that in 1996, daily per capita soda consumption among 19 year olds was 14 oz. Now, in 2008, the average teenage boy drinks 24 ounces of soda. Today, one of every four drinks consumed is a soft drink. Our annual consumption averages out to more than 56 gallons for every for every man, woman and child. And someone’s drinking my share, so some kids will of course be drinking far more than this.
According to the Journal of Pediatrics, on average, girls' consumption of regular soda rises two- to three-fold between the ages of 9 and 19. And as soda intake climbs, so does girls' daily calories and body mass index, a measure of weight in relation to height. This trend is partly to blame for the increase in childhood obesity.
America’s “tweens” more than doubled their use of type 2 diabetes (previously called “adult onset diabetes”) medications between 2002 and 2005, not to mention more children taking medications for other chronic conditions, including blood pressure, cholesterol, asthma and depression.
Sodas and sugary drinks also result in deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. Nutritionists at Cornell University report that children who drank more than 12 ounces of sweetened drinks had lower intakes of phosphorous, calcium and vitamin A.
Sodas cause alarming rates of obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.
Drinking just one soft drink a day—whether diet or regular—boosts the risk of getting heart disease, says a 2007 study in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation. A soda habit increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, according to the research, and that in turn ups the chance of getting both heart disease and diabetes. Even one soda per day increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50%. Decreasing soda and sweetened beverage consumption is one of THE MOST promising strategies for preventing obesity.
Teenagers who drink more soda have more mental health disorders, including hyperactivity and mental distress, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health.
Cola beverages also have high phosphorus content which pushes up rates of bone loss and osteoporosis.
Refined Grains
Another significant dietary change occurring during the past century is an increase in the consumption of refined grains, such as white bread instead of whole wheat bread, and white rice instead of brown rice.
Problematic Foods
Unfortunately, the most common foods we eat are also the most likely to be problematic. Food allergy rates are rising, and large numbers of children have sensitivities to various foods to a certain degree. According to holistic pediatrician Lendon Smith, cow milk and wheat (any type) are the most likely to cause health problems in children. He says that he gets at least some amount of improvement in 80% of his juvenile patients by eliminating just these two food categories. Oh, but what broad categories! The average American child eats at least one milk based food and one wheat based food at literally every meal.
Corn, soy, egg, beef, shellfish, citrus, yeast, chocolate and peanut round out the list of common problem foods.
Saturated fats (animal fats and margarine, albeit mainly those that have been chemically modified- the trans fats) increase clotting, raise LDL, and lower HDL cholesterol. Every 1 % decrease in total blood cholesterol reduces risk of coronary heart disease 2- 3 %. (Current thinking is that this cholesterol may just be a symptom of underlying inflammation, and not a problem in and of itself.)
Our diets are sorely lacking in necessary essential fatty acids, which come from fresh vegetable oils. Essential fatty acid deficiency is associated with higher rates of ADHD, ear infections and overall inflammation.
Family Dynamic
A major contributing factor to this downward diet slide is the two job family. No time to cook means no time to bring nutrient-dense food to the table. Perhaps this is a must in modern society, but the result is meals based on convenience, not nutrition. No stable family meal times means people eating alone, out of the microwave.
According to a recent study, preschool children eat out 18% of the time, with middle schoolers at26%. Because of extracurricular activities and family lifestyle, one in every three children eats a fast-food meal every day. This situation only increases as they get older, because they are more likely to have opportunities and their own disposable income. The money in kids’ pockets has nearly doubled every decade over the past 30 years, with a current average disposable income of $91 per week.
And then there is the long laundry list of barriers to eating a healthy diet. Health decisions often intersect with factors such as security, convenience, availability, cost and familiarity. On the whole, people actually know what they should be eating, but find it difficult to overcome these barriers.
Yet the Standard American Diet has a lot of problems. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are common. Fiber levels are one tenth of that of our historical diet.
Childhood Obesity
Childhood Obesity has become an epidemic. Caloric sweeteners definitely share a big part of the blame. Check these statistics and get a handle on why American children are in big trouble and what we can do about it.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey finds that 14% of two- to five-year-olds and 17% of children and adolescents ages 12 to 19 in the U.S. are overweight. This number has tripled in past 20 years, apparently largely due to higher consumption of processed, highly refined, commercial food.
Caloric sweeteners definitely share a big part of the blame. Consumers, especially kids, choose sweeter product when they have the choice. Check these statistics.
Annual caloric sweetener consumption, per capita:
- Before 1900- virtually none
- 1900- 37 lbs.
- 1986- 126 lbs.
- 2002- 152 lbs.
Soda consumption is a big part of the trend. About 65% of adolescent girls and 74% of adolescent boys consume soft drinks daily. Today, it is the source of one-third of simple sugars consumed—the leading source of added sugars in the diet, amounting to 36.2 grams daily for adolescent girls and 57.7 grams for boys. From the mid 1970s through the mid 1990s, milk intake went down 36%, while soda and fruit drinks doubled.
A USDA study says that in 1996, daily per capita soda consumption among 19 year olds was 14 oz. Now, in 2008, the average teenage boy drinks 24 ounces of soda. Today, one of every four drinks consumed is a soft drink. Our annual consumption averages out to more than 56 gallons for every for every man, woman and child. And someone’s drinking my share, so some kids will of course be drinking far more than this.
According to the Journal of Pediatrics, on average, girls' consumption of regular soda rises two- to three-fold between the ages of 9 and 19. And as soda intake climbs, so does girls' daily calories and body mass index, a measure of weight in relation to height. This trend is partly to blame for the increase in childhood obesity.
America’s “tweens” more than doubled their use of type 2 diabetes (previously called “adult onset diabetes”) medications between 2002 and 2005, not to mention more children taking medications for other chronic conditions, including blood pressure, cholesterol, asthma and depression.
Sodas and sugary drinks also result in deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. Nutritionists at Cornell University report that children who drank more than 12 ounces of sweetened drinks had lower intakes of phosphorous, calcium and vitamin A.
Sodas cause alarming rates of obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.
Drinking just one soft drink a day—whether diet or regular—boosts the risk of getting heart disease, says a 2007 study in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation. A soda habit increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, according to the research, and that in turn ups the chance of getting both heart disease and diabetes. Even one soda per day increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50%. Decreasing soda and sweetened beverage consumption is one of THE MOST promising strategies for preventing obesity.
Teenagers who drink more soda have more mental health disorders, including hyperactivity and mental distress, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health.
Cola beverages also have high phosphorus content which pushes up rates of bone loss and osteoporosis.
Refined Grains
Another significant dietary change occurring during the past century is an increase in the consumption of refined grains, such as white bread instead of whole wheat bread, and white rice instead of brown rice.
Problematic Foods
Unfortunately, the most common foods we eat are also the most likely to be problematic. Food allergy rates are rising, and large numbers of children have sensitivities to various foods to a certain degree. According to holistic pediatrician Lendon Smith, cow milk and wheat (any type) are the most likely to cause health problems in children. He says that he gets at least some amount of improvement in 80% of his juvenile patients by eliminating just these two food categories. Oh, but what broad categories! The average American child eats at least one milk based food and one wheat based food at literally every meal.
Corn, soy, egg, beef, shellfish, citrus, yeast, chocolate and peanut round out the list of common problem foods.
Saturated fats (animal fats and margarine, albeit mainly those that have been chemically modified- the trans fats) increase clotting, raise LDL, and lower HDL cholesterol. Every 1 % decrease in total blood cholesterol reduces risk of coronary heart disease 2- 3 %. (Current thinking is that this cholesterol may just be a symptom of underlying inflammation, and not a problem in and of itself.)
Our diets are sorely lacking in necessary essential fatty acids, which come from fresh vegetable oils. Essential fatty acid deficiency is associated with higher rates of ADHD, ear infections and overall inflammation.
Family Dynamic
A major contributing factor to this downward diet slide is the two job family. No time to cook means no time to bring nutrient-dense food to the table. Perhaps this is a must in modern society, but the result is meals based on convenience, not nutrition. No stable family meal times means people eating alone, out of the microwave.
According to a recent study, preschool children eat out 18% of the time, with middle schoolers at26%. Because of extracurricular activities and family lifestyle, one in every three children eats a fast-food meal every day. This situation only increases as they get older, because they are more likely to have opportunities and their own disposable income. The money in kids’ pockets has nearly doubled every decade over the past 30 years, with a current average disposable income of $91 per week.
And then there is the long laundry list of barriers to eating a healthy diet. Health decisions often intersect with factors such as security, convenience, availability, cost and familiarity. On the whole, people actually know what they should be eating, but find it difficult to overcome these barriers.