Who Nu? Cookies – Scam or Nutrition? « That's Just Me

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Weight Watchers Lose More Weight?

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Weight Watchers Lose More Weight? Posted: 08 Sep 2011 05:46 AM PDT A study (sponsored by Weight Watchers) recently published in the respected Lancet journal shows that dieters that are members of a weight loss program lose twice as much weight as those on standard health care: The new research compared 772 overweight and obese adults in Australia, Germany and the U.K. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either 12 months of standard health care or a 12-month free membership to Weight Watchers. Read more… The findings make sense. Weekly group meetings create a support and encouragement system that helps motivate people more than occasional visits to a doctor or government sponsored programs. In the study, those on Weight Watchers lost 11 lbs after one year, compared to a mere 5 pound weight loss by a control group. What you need to know: The problem is that most people on diets put the weight back on after a year. Or two. Or five. In fact, it is estimated that 85-95% of all dieters end up regaining all the weight loss within 5 years! Depressing, right? The Weight Watchers program, which indoctrinates people to count calories with a proprietary point system (called Points Plus), really wants people to lose weight, and has set up the a support systems to help. So what is the problem? Perhaps partly to blame it is the type of food that dieters are consuming when on the points system. People on the Weight Watchers plan search for low point foods at the grocery store. The correlation with low calorie foods is usually very high. As a result, many "diet" foods and beverages are consumed. Including many "Weight Watcher" branded products, such as the "Smart Ones" line. As we've written in the past, these tend to be highly processed, fat removed, fake fillers and preservatives added foods. Even Weight Watchers is ashamed of their products' ingredients. How do we know? They are nowhere to be found on the product pages of the Weight Watchers website. We would encourage Weight Watchers to review their point system. Currently it looks only at fat, carbs, protein, and fiber. Not at the ingredients comprising the product. And we all now how easy it is to game the nutrition facts label to make a processed foodlike substance seem healthy… What to do at the supermarket: It's not enough that a product has a low points value or is low in calories. You MUST read the ingredient list to verify that you are not consuming a fake food. Get Fooducated: iPhone App Android App RSS Subscription or Email Subscription Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate

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Fwd: Fooducate Blog - 10 Nutrition Label Improvements the FDA MUST Implement

Great blog post from Fooducate 

10 Nutrition Label Improvements the FDA MUST Implement Posted: 06 Sep 2011 04:36 AM PDT The FDA is planning a minor facelift to the 20 year old nutrition label. When nutrition labels were introduced into the market, the food industry battled vehemently against them, while the government and health organizations explained that providing detailed information would help consumers make healthier choices. Fast forward to 2011, and it's clear that the labels did not achieve their goal. While more people are aware of the importance of proper nutrition, most of us still cannot understand what's in a product and whether it's better than a similar one down the shelf. What changes is the FDA planning? A proposal is in the works to change several parts of the label, including more accurate serving sizes, a greater emphasis on calories and a diminished role in the daily percent values for substances like fat, sodium and carbohydrates. Read more… Seriously? Will these small changes help consumers choose less processed foods. Wake up Uncle Sam, you can't fight obesity with cap guns. Bring out the heavy artillery please. Here is Fooducate's list of changes to food labels: 1. Real serving size. "More accurate serving sizes" as the FDA says sounds fishy. Let's get REAL here. Have you ever noticed the ridiculously small serving sizes on packages – 3 Oreos? 15 potato chips? Or a single serve 20 fl oz bottle of cola written up as containing 2.5 servings? Manufacturers like to minimize the servings to toddler size portions so that the nutrition facts per serving won't seem too bad (calories, sugar, etc…). This is misleading and needs to change to reflect how people really consume food and drink. 2. Daily values are important. Don't ditch them! People need to know that a can of soup with 1200mg of sodium is more than 50% of the daily maximum for healthy people, and more than 75% of the daily max for about half the population. 3. Ingredients. Focus on what makes up the food, not just the numbers on a few key nutrients. We all know that manufacturers have ways to pump up nutrient values of foods to make them seem healthy. Look at any sugary kids' cereal fortified with vitamins and minerals that are created in a lab. That's not real food, folks. It would be very beneficial to see a percentage amount of the main ingredients in the list, as well as a highlight on controversial ingredients. See this example, a leading kids cereal (guess which one) Sugar [41%] , Corn Flour [20%], Wheat Flour[15%], Whole Oat Flour[8%], Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (One or More of: Coconut, Cottonseed, and Soybean) (Less than 0.5 g Trans Fat Per Serving), Salt, Sodium Ascorbate and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Reduced Iron, Natural Orange, Lemon, Cherry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Lime, and Other Natural Flavors, Red No. 40, Blue No. 2, Yellow No. 6, Zinc Oxide, Niacinamide, Turmeric Color, Blue No. 1, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Vitamin A Palmitate, Annatto Color, BHT (Preservative), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12. Get it? Sugar is the first ingredient, 41% by weight!!! Which leads us to the next point… 4. Sugar and ADDED sugar. Currently there is no FDA defined level of maximum daily consumption of sugar. People don't know if 27 grams of sugar is a big chunk of their daily allowance or not. For sodium, fats, and vitamins, the "percent of daily value" (DV) clearly lets you know if you're getting a low or high amount. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at most 125 grams of total sugar per day. Additionally, the nutrition label states the amount of total sugar in a serving, but it does not indicate whether the sugar is added to the food, occurs naturally, or both. Caloric-ly, there is no difference between added sugar and sugar found naturally in fruits and vegetables. But the benefit of fruits containing naturally occurring sugars is in the additional vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidantss and phytochemicals they provide. Added sugars provide no health benefits. They are truly empty calories. People should choose products with as little added sugar as possible. Unfortunately, today consumers can only guess how much sugar has been added to a product. 5. Zero should be zero. Did you know that if a product contains trans fat, but less than 0.5 grams per serving, it can legally be labeled as 0 gram of trans fat? This is ridiculous. Serving sizes can be "calibrated" to be just under half a gram's worth of trans-fat and receive the coveted zero number. But when wolfing down a snack bag (real serving size much larger than labeled – see point #1),  you could be getting even 1.25 grams of trans-fat, all while thinking that the product contains none at all. 6. No more qualified health claims. The FDA allows manufacturers to place health claims on products based on sound scientific evidence. But in the past few years, allowances for "limited research" has become acceptable, as long as the claim is "qualified" with mouse print disclaimers elsewhere on the package (usually a tiny font at the bottom). This does not serve consumers' best interest and creates a false halo of health in places it should not. 7. Caffeine content. Products that contain caffeine should clearly state the amount. People are often surprised to discover caffeine in soft drinks, cakes, and other snack items. Some energy drinks contain ridiculously high amounts. 8. Better allergy and intolerance info. More than 30 Millions Americans suffer from some sort of allergy or food intolerance. Although the presence of the 8 major allergens is clearly stated (it's the law), there are fuzzy areas. For example, when a plant manufactures a product without peanuts, but uses a production line that processes peanuts as well, there is no clear wording to consumers. "Processed in a plant that also manufactures peanuts" does not make the decision easy for a parent to decide. 9. Allow rBGH-free labels. rBGH / rBST is a hormone injected into cows to increase their milk output. The hormone has been associated with various health risks for humans consuming the milk. Bowing to industry pressure in the 1990's, the FDA required manufacturers who chose NOT to use milk from rBGH cows and put that information on the label to ALSO state that that there is no significant difference between rBGH and rBGH-free dairy. In the past few years we have seen announcements from major dairy brands that they will not be using milk from rBGH cows. Why not see that info on the label as well? 10. GMO labeling. In Europe, government food agencies require labeling of ingredients from genetically modified organisms. Consumers voted with their wallet and chose not to buy those products. Shouldn't Americans be granted the same basic freedom of choice? What to do at the supermarket: Don't hold your breath for our suggested changes. And not even for the gentle changes the FDA is planning. You can be sure that each change will be fought over by lobbying groups who will drag things out as long as possible. In the meantime, we're here and on your mobile phones (iPhone / Android) as a resource to learn about nutrition labels and hard to pronounce ingredients, and ultimately to make healthy grocery choices. Get Fooducated: iPhone App Android App RSS Subscription or Email Subscription Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate

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Fwd: 10 Reasons to Say No to GMOs; GMOs to blame for problems in plants, animals; Special Webinar Presentation with Dr Don Huber

I know it's a lot but it's important

September, 2011 | VIEW IN BROWSER Jeffrey Smith       10 Reasons to Say No to GMOs With help from the folks at the Institute's Facebook page, we've compiled 10 reasons to avoid GM foods. [read the list] GMOs to blame for problems in plants, animals Scientists are seeing new, alarming patterns in plants and animals due to increased use of the herbicide Roundup, said Michael McNeill, an agronomist who owns Ag Advisory Ltd. in Algona, Iowa. McNeill cited Roundup-resistant superweeds and the herbicide's tendency to make important nutrients unavailable to plants, harming crops and making them vulnerable to disease. "When you spray glyphosate on a plant, it's like giving it AIDS," he said. McNeill said he and his colleagues are seeing a higher incidence of infertility and early-term abortion in cattle and hogs that are fed on GM crops. He added that poultry fed on the suspect crops are showing reduced fertility rates. McNeill advises his farmer clients to rotate chemicals - or not use them at all. The number of mainstream agricultural experts raising serious concerns over Monsanto's Roundup herbicide is growing all the time. These include Robert Kremer, a USDA microbiologist, and Don Huber, a plant pathologist and former Purdue University professor. [read the article] Monsanto's GM sweetcorn will be sold unbranded and unlabeled Monsanto will launch this fall a GM sweet corn seed for farmers to grow. The corn will then be sold in grocery stores in the US and Canada. While the sweetcorn is being hailed as a "consumer-oriented vegetable product," it has been genetically modified to contain an insecticide and to tolerate being sprayed with Roundup herbicide. Yum. (Note: There is already GM sweet corn on the market in small quantities, but this could increase its prevalence.) [read the article] Dow launches multi-herbicide tolerant GM soy Dow just submitted its new multi-herbicide tolerant GM soybean for US government approval. [read article] Designed as a solution to Roundup-resistant superweeds, the new soybean is not only engineered to tolerate Roundup, but also the herbicide glufosinate and 2,4-D - a component of Agent Orange. Farmers will be able to spray this cocktail of weedkillers on fields without killing the crop. All these herbicides stand accused of causing serious harm. Roundup has been linked in studies to birth defects, cancer, and other serious toxic effects. [download report] Glufosinate is a neurotoxin and causes birth defects in laboratory animals. [download report] 2,4-D, an ingredient of Agent Orange, causes birth defects in laboratory animals, damages DNA, and is an endocrine disruptor. It is toxic to bees and fish. [read fact sheet on 2,4-D] During the first 13 years of GM crops, herbicide use increased by 10% or 383 million pounds. This new soybean could bring substantially more toxic herbicides to our environment and our food. ConAgra sued over GMO "100% natural" cooking oil Food giant ConAgra is being sued for labelling its Wesson brand cooking oil "100% natural" when it is actually made from GMOs. The complainant said the "labels are intended to evoke a natural, wholesome product" but are deceptive. The case has far-reaching impacts because the "natural" claim, which has no legal definition, is widely used, and around 70% of processed foods in the US contain GMOs. Ironically, the complaint cites a definition of GMOs by none other than Monsanto, the company most notorious for its promotion of the technology. According to Monsanto, GMOs are: "Plants or animals that have had their genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs." The complaint also quotes a GMO definition from the World Health Organization: "Organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally." We couldn't have put it better ourselves! [read the article] Join a National Buying Club for Organic and Non-GMO Foods Get healthier foods delivered to your door at up to 50% below retail. (And every purchase helps supports the Institute for Responsible Technology's campaign to end GMOs.) We often get comments that organic or non-GMO foods may be more expensive or harder to find. The new national distribution service called Green Polka Dot Box (GPDB) offers a creative solution for you and your family to maintain an affordable healthy diet. With food priced 30-50% below retail and shipped to your home for free (on orders of $150 or more) this new national distribution club may save you money and time. Visit www.greenpolkadotbox.com/irt to sign up. GPDB will begin distributing non-perishable goods, and offers three types of memberships. Later the buying club will also be offering frozen goods, and eventually fresh organic produce from regional warehouses. This program is also being supported by Organic Consumers Association, NaturalNews, and Citizens for Health. It is not for everyone, but can certainly help bring non-GMO foods to people otherwise unable to access them. IRT also encourages buying local and supporting local natural food stores. Join Jeffrey Smith and Dr. Don Huber for a Special Webinar Presentation Join a 2-hour webinar with Roundup expert Dr. Don Huber, who will discuss the discovery of a new type of organism possibly linked to a rise in plant diseases in Roundup Ready corn and soybeans, and to infertility and spontaneous abortions in livestock. Dr. Huber will also describe how Roundup herbicide promotes plant diseases, causes nutrient deficiency, harms soil ecology, and creates profound and lasting damage to US agriculture. [learn more]             Pitch In for a Non-GMO Future We loved the outpouring of help from last newsletter's request for donations, so here it is again. And thank you all so very much for your continued help. The Institute for Responsible Technology is a victim of our own successes, now struggling to keep up with the huge new level of non-GMO opportunities, requests, and offers. The GMO buzz in America is rising fast and we desperately need more staff time to handle it all. We literally have thousands of people ready and waiting to be organized into national outreach groups, targeting parents, healthcare practitioners, campuses, chefs, religious groups, etc. We have a growing list of organizations offering to distribute our materials to their members and readers. We have dozens of hours of outstanding footage ready to be converted into short and medium videos. What we don't have is enough hours to harvest all this low-hanging non-GMO fruit. Please help by making a contribution today. Every single dollar is highly leveraged into more and more successes. Let's do this together. Action Alerts Non-GMO Project launches Website for Non-GMO Month The Non-GMO Project has lauched a new website, www.nongmomonth.org, which helps coordinate this burgeoning movement by encouraging the public to celebrate their right to choose non-GMO. The site features an open interface that allows all users to create and participate in non-GMO events during the month of October. In addition to an events calendar, the new website includes a listing of retailers participating in Non-GMO Month and a Daily Giveaway calendar where visitors can win prizes throughout October. [list your event] Get trained to be an Expert on GMOs! Jeffrey Smith is holding speaker trainings this fall in California to educate people on the best methods to communicate the complex issue of GMOs. Upcoming trainings will be held in Petaluma CA, Los Angeles and San Francisco. [learn more] You can also take the course as four-part webinar at any time by contacting us at info@responsibletechnology.org. To view a complete listing of Jeffrey's lectures and events [here]. Calling all Parents! We are getting ready to launch our first National Parent Group, and want to hear from all those of you who have a keen interest in feeding our kids healthy, non-GMO foods! If you have not already signed on to the Parent Outreach Group on the Tipping Point Network on our website, don't miss the opportunity to network with other parents, locally and nationally, to ensure non-GMO food for kids. [Join us!] IRT will be present at the Natural Living Conference in Irvine, California on October 1 with a table full of educational materials! The conference, sponsored by the Holistic Moms Network, focuses on holistic parenting and parents' challenges in raising healthy kids in a toxic world. Stop by and visit us! Keynote Speakers include: actress and Holistic Mom Mayim Bialik, and food activist, author, and mother Robyn O'Brien, author of The Unhealthy Truth. To register, go to [http://register.holisticmoms.org/] Get Ready for World Food Day! IRT is partnering with OCA and the proponents of the March to encourage everyone to get involved during Non-GMO Month - October - and World Food Day, October 16! Do something! Please go to the Millions Against Monsanto map on OCA's website and connect with others near you. Post to IRT's Facebook page a blurb and a photo of what you will be doing! Get Involved in World Food Day Rallies, Marches, Recruiting Drives, Film Screenings, Potlucks and House Parties This World Food Day, October 16, 2011, is going to be the largest day of action for labels on genetically engineered food in U.S. history. Learn more about Millions Against Monsanto's plans for World Food Day. With your help and participation, there will be hundreds of events across the USA. Find out what's cooking for World Food Day around the country.             NEWS FROM THE NETWORK OF NON-GMO ACTIVISTS GMO Free Project of Tucson The GMO Tipping Point Network of Tucson, a chapter of the Institute for Responsible Technology's national Tipping Point Network, has joined forces with the GMO Free Project of Tucson, an already established non-profit group, to more efficiently hold events, use social media, educate people, and lead the non-GMO movement in Tucson, especially before and during Non-GMO Month this October. Numerous public events, including public showings in September of two different movies – "Deconstructing Supper" and "The Future of Food" – will be held, as well as our main event online, an Eat GMO Free Challenge (to be found on the Facebook page of GMO Free Project of Tucson during October). Mascha Miedaner is the founder and Executive Director of the GMO Free Project of Tucson. Mario Raso, the coordinator for both the GMO Tipping Point Network of Tucson and District 8 Organic Consumers Association Millions Against Monsanto campaign, is the new Director of Outreach. Melissa Diane Smith, an IRT-trained Non-GMO speaker and author of Going Against the Grain, is the new Director of Education. For the event schedule through October's Non-GMO Month, please check the GMO Free Project of Tucson website (www.gmofreeprojectoftucson.org) or Facebook page. In The News Just what we need for a better society - GM humans with bulletproof skin via spider genes  Daily Mail GM crops still won't feed the world - in spite of Nina Federoff's rant in the New York Times  Civil Eats Monsanto to be prosecuted for biopiracy in India over GM eggplant  India Today Multi-herbicide resistant canola weeds found in US  Univ. of Arkansas GM contamination rampant at GM canola spill site in Australia  GeneEthics Public pressure halts Spain's trials of GM pharma rice with human genes  Friends of the Earth US push for GM wheat in Australia  GM Watch Law firm takes up case of Aussie farmer who lost organic certification after GM contamination  GM Watch Polish president vetoes bill that would allow GM planting  Poland.pl The Institute for Responsible Technology is working to end the genetic engineering of our food supply and the outdoor release of GM crops. ATTENTION SUBSCRIBERS! Click here to check out the excellent newsletter from Organic Consumers Association called Organic Bytes. Help us Create the Tipping Point in the American Marketplace! JOIN US ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW US ON TWITTER Shopping Guide | Support Our Campaign | Educational Materials | Media Enquiries | Donate Spilling the Beans is a publication of The Institute for Responsible Technology, with editorial support from GMWatch.org For GMWatch's daily GMO newsletter, click here. To ensure you receive updates from ResponsibleTechnology.org in your inbox (not to bulk or junk folders), please add newsletter@responsibletechnology.org to your address book. You have received this email through your subscription to this campaign's email list.  If you did not subscribe, or would no longer like to receive email updates unsubscribe here. To update your email address or change your subscription details, click here.

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Peace & Blessings

          Linda

Fwd: Fooducate Blog - Burritos, Willie Nelson, and Sustainable Agriculture

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From: Fooducate <info@fooducate.com>
Date: September 4, 2011 8:48:38 PM EDT
To: lcyerra1@gmail.com
Subject: Fooducate Blog - Burritos, Willie Nelson, and Sustainable Agriculture

Fooducate Blog - Burritos, Willie Nelson, and Sustainable Agriculture

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Burritos, Willie Nelson, and Sustainable Agriculture Posted: 04 Sep 2011 04:50 AM PDT Chipotle's motto is "Food with Integrity." Although the burrito joint is a fast food establishment, it tries to source meat and other ingredients from small farms practicing sustainable agriculture. Animals are treated like … animals, not factory inputs. To emphasize their values, Chipotle recently created a short video clip depicting a farmer going full cycle from small farm to factory farm and back. Not that a burrito is your best nutritional option for lunch, but if you need to decide between a Whopper or half a burrito, Chipotle wins on both fronts: 1. Nutrition – see a comparison here 2. Ingredient sourcing So far Chipotle has been able to do the sustainable song and dance because it is a relatively small chain – only 1000 locations. Imagine if McDonald's (14,000 US locations, 32,000 globally) made the decision to source chicken only from small, sustainable, family farms. Now that would be a revolution. Get Fooducated: iPhone App Android App RSS Subscription or Email Subscription Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate

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