Can't Help Ourselves

The above ad was on the web page (http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/nutrition/225985-iom-feds-should-prepare-to-intervene-on-childhood-nutrition-standards) which said:


Federal agencies should step in if industries that promote high-calorie foods to children do not implement common nutrition standards within two years, the influential Institute of Medicine (IOM) said Tuesday. 
The recommendation came as part of a 478-page IOM report on the U.S. obesity epidemic that outlined broad policy changes the panel says are necessary to stave off a healthcare crisis.
The changes are aimed at a complete overhaul of the United States's "obesogenic" environment, the panel wrote.
"People have heard the advice to eat less and move more for years, and during that time a large number of Americans have become obese," panelist Shiriki Kumanyika of the University of Pennsylvania said.
"That advice will never be out of date. But when you see the increase in obesity you ask, what changed? And the answer is, the environment.
"The average person cannot maintain a healthy weight in this obesity-promoting environment," she said.
Strategies like a possible soda tax and new zoning laws to encourage walking and biking are designed to "reinforce one another's impact to speed our progress," said panel Chairman Dan Glickman, a former secretary of Agriculture.


(OBESOGENIC A strange-looking word, it comes from obese plus the ending -genic, something tending to generate or create. It refers to conditions that lead people to become excessively fat — a worrying trend in developed countries, especially among young people, who are eating too much of the wrong things and not taking enough exercise. The problem is variously put down to social causes (too many sedentary pursuits available; fear that the outdoors in cities is dangerous, leading to less cycling, walking and running about) or to the results of our consumer lifestyle (eating pre-prepared meals that contain excessive sugar and fats). The term seems to have appeared in the last decade (the first example I can find is from a British newspaper in 1996) and is not as yet mainstream, though it is increasingly turning up in newspapers and medical journals. Its opposite is not often called for, but if you need it, it’s leptogenic, leading to weight loss, from Greek leptos, thin, fine or delicate.)(http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-obe1.htm)


I actually believe that people can maintain a healthy weight in this environment.  But many people believe that only government can save us from ourselves!

Taxes on pop is another "great" way to "help" us, my personal pop consumption is about 12 ozs. a week on pizza day (another no-no, oh please help us Gov!).  Though I do believe in making it safer to walk and bike.

I know that I am old-fashioned in believing that people can do what is right without the government's help.

Health Issues

I came across an article about sweat glands in IWON which said:


Remember the seven-day deodorant pad?
It can't begin to compare with what researchers at Yonsei University Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, are now working on.
According to the British Journal of Plastic Surgery, researchers describe a method of using ultrasound energy to destroy the sweat glands in armpits. The method liquefies the fat layers under the skin, and since the sweat glands are located in the fat, it's the ultimate answer to sweaty armpits.
The energy levels used are low, so the ultrasound doesn't harm any of the other tissues. The method was tried in 84 patients, and only three had any recurrence of armpit odor.


I wonder what people are thinking sometimes.  Destroying tissue in the body to eliminate sweat!  Is vanity so important that we will do anything to look or smell better?  It's like listening to the drug commercials on TV that give about 5 minutes of warnings like "tell your doctor if you have ..."(shouldn't your doctor know?), death, heart failure, etc. for minimal benefits.

*****

On the blog entry Sunday Gospel 3/4/12, I misread the verses, it should have been Mark 12:28-31 not 23-31 that makes more sense, since the wife of 7 is another sermon (as it were).

Salt

My lovely wife believes in less salt.  So I do not put salt in the bread I make and have never used salt in any of the recipes that I make.

Here is an interesting link on salt:

Some of their points:

After the Industrial Revolution, salt became inexpensive and plentiful. It found a valuable role as a food preservative, and the average consumption soared to as much as 7,000 milligrams (mg) a day in the 19th century. Salt has long since outlived its use as a preservative, but our hankering for sodium lingers on, with daily consumption in America averaging 3,436 mg.



salt is essential for human health. The average adult's body contains 250 grams (g) of sodium — less than 9 ounces, or about the amount in three or four saltshakers. Distributed throughout the body, salt is especially plentiful in body fluids ranging from blood, sweat, and tears to semen and urine.


Sodium is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, always bringing water along with it. It is the major mineral in plasma, the fluid component of blood, and in the fluids that bathe the body's cells. Without enough sodium, all these fluids would lose their water, causing dehydration, low blood pressure, and death.


Fortunately, it only takes a tiny amount of sodium to prevent this doomsday scenario; in fact, some isolated population groups manage perfectly well on just 200 mg a day. About one-quarter of the tongue's taste buds are devoted to recognizing salt; like other animals, humans can — and do — seek out salt when they need it. 


Scientists know that sodium has an important influence on blood pressure, but they are not sure exactly how it works. It's no surprise, since the systems that control blood pressure include dozens of complex vascular, neurological, and hormonal elements. Although the body can rid itself of excessive dietary sodium, it seems likely that eating salt expands your blood volume, at least to a subtle degree. In turn, the extra volume may signal your kidneys to trigger a cascade of hormonal and vascular effects that raise blood pressure.


Why did the link between sodium and blood pressure generate so much heat? Part of the reason stems from the body's intrinsic complexity: sodium is but one of an enormous number of factors that affect blood pressure — and for all its importance, blood pressure is only one of the many things that determine vascular health.


Little by little, though, a consensus has emerged. Most researchers, scientific advisory boards, and government agencies agree that reducing dietary salt will lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and save lives 


So beware of your salt intake!


Matthew 5:13 (NIV)
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.