Our kids are sick and getting sicker
A recent study published in the medical journal, “Pediatrics,” found that 23 percent of American teenagers are prediabetic or already have Type 2 diabetes, up from 9 percent in 2000. Even kids who look skinny are at rick of diabetes and are likely to have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/05/15/peds.2011-1082).
Now, Big Agribusiness doesn’t want you to know this, but the cause is junk food and soda.
Contrary to popular thought, it isn’t just about the number of calories, but what’s in those calories. The corn industry would love you to believe than “corn sugar” (high-fructose corn syrup) is exactly like sugar; that your body can’t tell the difference. The truth is that your body does know the difference. Corn sugar is metabolized differently, leaving the body more vulnerable to insulin insufficiency, the precursor to diabetes.
The fats from those industrial-farmed chickens, cows and potatoes is deposited in your abdomen, making you more vulnerable to cardiovascular problems.
Animals that come from industrial farms are higher in cholesterol and saturated fats than animals raised on farms and fed what they’re supposed to eat. The industrial-farmed and slaughtered animals are far, far more likely to carry deadly pathogens like salmonella or e. coli. The same is true of eggs.
Fruits and vegetables raised on corporate farms have lower nutrition and higher concentrations of poisons from pesticide and industrial fertilizers.
The reason these bad foods are available is that the government won’t regulate them and people keep buying them. When a tax on soft drinks was proposed, the industry started running ads about freedom of choice. That’s right, they’re defending your right to choose products for your children that are exposing them to disease and early death.
These “foods” are killing us. They cost less at the store, but they cost us billions in health care costs and in lives lost.
I was raised on a farm and I ate real food. As my kids were growing up, I fed them real food, some of which I grew in the back yard. I baked from scratch and I avoided processed foods. We ate less meat and more beans and other proteins because that’s what we could afford.
Today, my husband and I eat as much local food as we can. Probably 80 percent of the food we eat comes from within a 100-mile radius. We buy from local farmers and we cook from scratch. In the winter, we eat more grains and beans, some of which we are able to get locally.
The point is that local food is more likely to be “real” food, as author Michael Pollan says.
“Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” is Pollan’s advice in his book, “In Defense of Food.”
In this era of business-controlled government, it’s hard t0 get the message out that our food is neither healthy nor safe.
Yes, it’s convenient and inexpensive to pull into a fast-food restaurant and order a fatty meal; no, it’s not good for you in any way.
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Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Life o’ Mike honors Joe Eblen
Life o' Mike presented its first Michael T. Danforth Community Service Award to Joe Eblen at a luncheon on June 8, in the Friendship Hall of First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville.
Joe, seen here with Leslie Boyd, left, and his wife, Bobbie, has spent his life helping children and families, both as a coach and game official for more than 60 years, and as founder of Eblen Charities.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.