The Last Breakfast….

November 27, 2008

last-supper-ron-english
Didn’t we love these guys growing up.  They were our friends… our breakfast buddies!
But with all the trouble we’ve been having lately, maybe it’s time to introduce our kids to a different gang.  
What do you think?
Vegetables and fruit can be fun too! 
 No one knows it because no one is spending $36Billion in marketing to spread the news!!
(Painting by the great Ron English)
 

 

Fresh-Logo-FinalHow is it that in spite of the fantastic abundance of fresh healthy natural food available to us, we are experiencing so many childhood nutrition and health issues?  Obesity, allergies, sensitivities, behavioural challenges, eating disorders… the list goes on.  Why don’t kids just naturally go for natural foods, when natural foods taste so amazing?  An interesting question…

How can we capture the imagination of a recalcitrant audience of kids who are force fed who-cares nutritional facts and platitudes of “it’s good for you”… If kids don’t eat the healthy stuff there are threats of escalating and apocolyptic consequences ranging from no dessert to full blown diabetes to the ever dreaded “no Starwars Starships tonight”

At the other end of the spectrum we see an assortment of efforts from innocent positive encouragement to get that broccoli down the hatch.. all the way to unabashed and outright bribery!

Dr. Brazelton has some great thoughts about the working of the palate and how it can be trained by refraining from what is sometimes called ”loud” food (Burger King, McDonalds, etc.).  Marion Nestle counsels us to keep junk food out of the house altogether, and ensuring that sugary and salty treats are kept as “sometimes” food, but not as a reward….

But there is another way! 

This way allows us to tackle the problem by putting ourselves in those smaller shoes and meeting those little minds and tastebuds where they are and bringing them over to our way of thinking by using a paradigm that they can really relate to….

FUN!!!

We have to reclaim the joy and playfulness of eating well!

Welcome to Fresh Ideas Nutritainment.  This is what we believe:

  • We believe that it is every child’s right to have FUN while eating healthy food!
  • We believe that it is every parent and caregiver’s right to have peace and sanity while feeding their children healthy food!

We know that if we can find a way to play with our food, we will accomplish both of these goals!

This realization was the impetus for the creation of a music video starring a charming and sweet tomato named Plato who embarks on a wild adventure up Mount Everest!

Kids don’t give a fig about how healthy food is… this is why we need to speak to them in the only language they really understand… FUN!

Watch the video!

“Apparently, we have collectively decided as a culture that it is impossible for children to take part in any activity without simultaneously shoving something into their pie holes.” – NYT

Great interview with former FDA head David Kessler on Charlie Rose- talking about bliss point, hedonics.  But Charlie isn’t really warming to David at all… especially when you compare it to his over the top flirtatious manner with Alice Waters! Or is she the one flirting with him! LOL’s all round!

Even though they are both talking about the sensuality of food… David is coming from a science and business vantage point … and Alice is coming from a … well… clearly FRENCH perspective! LOLworthy indeed, but also tres instructif!

 

Truffled Asparagus Egg and Parmesan from the kitchn.com

At thekitchn.com Check it out!!!

 

Chief FatCat Officer - Kellogs - David McKay

 

“A pre-sweetened cereal as part of a regular diet for kids is not a bad thing” – David McKay

Not a bad thing for whom?  While kids have become more and more obese over the last decade, Wall Street  has been pleased to see a 138% return on their investment in Kelloggs shares.

Froot Loops – Zero Fruit, 41% sugar…hmmmm … not a bad thing you say?

In case you’re just not sure what to do for breakfast with the tykes, here are a few ideas…

Pineapple bananas and milk

Toast peanut butter and bananas

Muesli

“Below lists the children’s brands reviewed in the Yale study. The nutrition score was based on the nutrient profiling system developed by Rayner and colleagues at Oxford University and used by the Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom. Those in bold are heavily marketed to children via television, internet or both.”

Nutrition Score (or should that be MALNUTRITION SCORE) / Cereal 
34 / Reese’s Puffs General Mills 
36 / Corn Pops Kellogg 
36 / Lucky Charms General Mills 
36 / Golden Graham36 / Corn Pops Kellogg 
36 / Lucky Charms General Mills 
36 / Golden Grahams General Mills 
37 / Cinnamon Toast Crunch General Mills 
37 / Cap’n Crunch Quaker 
38 / Count Chocula General Mills 
38 / Trix General Mills 
38 / Froot Loops Kellogg 
38 / Smorz Kellogg 
38 / Fruity or Cocoa Pebbles Post 
39 / Cocoa Puffs General Mills 
40 / Cookie Crisp General Mills 
40 / Apple Jacks Kellogg 
40 / Cookie Crunch Kellogg 
43 / Frosted Flakes Kellogg 
44 / Disney High School Musical Kellogg 
44 / Rice or Cocoa Krispies Kellogg 
44 / Mini-Swirlz Kellogg 
44 / Honey Nut Os Cascadian Farm 
44 / Honey Nut Cheerios General Mills 
44 / Waffle Crisp Post 
44 / Chex General Mills 
46 / Honey Smacks Kellogg 
46 / Purely O’s Cascadian Farm 
46 / Alpha Bits Post 
46 / Golden Crisp Post 
46 / Honeycomb Post 
48 / Raisin Bran Post 
50 / Dora the Explorer General Mills 
50 / Cinnamon Crunch Cascadian Farm 
51 / Bunnies Annie’s 
51 / EnviroKids Organic Nature’s Path 
51 / Puffins Barbara’s Bakery 
52 / Cheerios (except Honey Nut) General Mills 
53 / Kix General Mills 
53 / Life Quaker 
54 / Hannah Montana Kellogg 
54 / Clifford Crunch Cascadian Farm 
56 / Mighty Bites Kashi 
56 / Honey Sunshine Kashi 
58 / Organic Wild Puffs Barbara’s Bakery 
72 / Mini-Wheats Kellogg

I love Maira Kalman

Ad Classics

Yes indeed, we will… Thanks for the that little gem of wisdom, George Weston.

Is that a great title or what!? Ok, but it is kind of cute isn’t it?

Happy Healthy Hallowe’en!!!
I am loving pumpkin seeds so much right now! They are another perfect food, and perfectly scrumptious! I’m snacking on these right now…

pumpkin seeds

…..But these look fantastic too!

RoastedPumpkinSeedsImage

I found a very interesting recipe on this site…
Diana’s Desserts…
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Servings: Makes 4 (1/2 cup) servings

Comments:
After you’ve scooped out the seeds and stringy stuff from your pumpkin, keep the seeds, clean them and use them for roasting. Enjoy snacking on these while sitting around a warm fire during those chilly autumn nights or why not serve them as a Thanksgiving snack before the big meal.

Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin seeds, cleaned
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Combine pumpkin seeds, butter and salt in medium bowl.

Place mixture onto ungreased 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until seeds are dry and begin to brown.

Makes 4 (1/2 cup) servings.

Click here to view recipe and photo of Roasted Pumpkin Seeds on Diana’s Desserts Website

The perfect food …So healthy!

And pumpkins are so much fun too!

extreme pumpkins

 

But pumpkins can sometimes get too carried away…. celebrating the holiday………

eugene halloween

Seventh Day Adventists…

October 9, 2009

When I was younger we had a major scandal in the family.  Actually, there have been so many juicy scandals in our family!  Both sides!!!  But with both sides of the family being so … populous … we have a statistical advantage.

Anyway, one of the scandals involved my cousin Joe, who decided to conform his values to those of the Seventh Day Adventists.  My grandmother was very distressed, being a founding member of her chapter of the Catholic Women’s league and all… I just thought Joe had been kidnapped by cult members.  I see now how people of every faith experience God through their own unique rituals, but we all share love as the foundation upon which the various teams/clans begin to build dogma.

What I’m most curious about right now is why they have such long life expectancies…. How is it that their wholesome way of living enables them to be lively and fit at 100 plus??  What are their habits of health that create a longer life, and a higher quality of life at that?

Could it be a mental health advantage?

Is it that they manage stress well through their faith?  Do they “surrender all to Jesus” and just ask that “God’s will be done”, instead of worrying, thus increasing their risk of acquiring stress-induced chronic illness, leading to early death? Hmmmmm.  Where does that leave other “faithful” people, those of other faiths?  What’s going on with their lifespan numbers?

SDA’s encourage exercise, sunshine, and rest… cool.  

Or is it because they follow a vegetarian eating program and abstain from booze and stimulants… Hmmm.

They don’t get as many cancers as we do… and  the National Institute for Health research indicates  that SDA’s are less at risk for heart disease, strokes, and diabetes…

Centenarian

This is making me want to make another bean stew!

And do a sirsasana right now!

It Was Only A Matter Of Time!

September 17, 2009

mcdonaldshitsafrica

For those of you who may be as naive as I have been about the processing of food… Here’s some interesting information … And a cool taste retention animation too!

(1) 

Even though Malic Acid is not generally categorized as a nutrient, it can be utilized as an energy source 

during human metabolism. The dietary energy value shown above is taken from:  Paul, A.A. and Southgate, 

D.A.T. 1978.  McCanee and Widdowson’s “The composition of foods.” 4th ed., MRC special Report No. 297, 

New York:  Elsevier/North Holland Inc., pp 311. 

How about some of this…
Apple
Not this…

mad-science-lab

Talk about programming the palate!

 

The Doctor Will See You Now!

The Doctor Will See You Now!

I am disappointed that I completely missed an excellent opportunity to exercise my duty as a citizen to inform my elected representatives about my views on bill 156 basically proposing that we would have some basic nutrition labels in restaurants, etc.  I think it would be a great idea to know that the Big Mac I’m about to scarf down is 800 calories or whatever it is.  I think that would have prevented me from taking full advantage of some very rich lunches and dinners and a lot of really fantastic wine!  I am pretty convinced that I would have been a lot more conscious of my intake if I were to see some numbers over and over again, and start connecting the dots between my choice to consume those numbers and their effects.

My car is very fuel efficient, and only costs about $15 to fill, but I can’t really put more than that in there… unlike the situation we have with our bodies, in that we can put in a lot less than $15 in the form of nutritionally insufficient and empty of prana taste bombs on a dull, over-stimulated, and fatigued palate.

On the highest level of my reason I completely get that by eating more than x calories, I will be bigger… but it’s all the tiny individual singular actions that are hard to corral and add up in the mind, and the habitual behaviours (Starbucks anyone?).

I find this argument comical on many levels

Peter works very hard to inform himself, but why does it have to be hard to inform ourselves? Let’s just make it easy to see nutritional information at the point of consumption, so we can do some simple math, and make an informed choice… like smoking cigarettes … I get exposed to the math on the various poisons and then I get a opportunity to make an informed choice about if and how much I will smoke.

It’s really about common sense? Come on Peter, it’s really about profits!

Which leads me to a wonderful segue to the original purpose for my post…

Michael Pollen couldn’t have put it any more simply and rationally.

I wonder what would happen if we just let food be our medicine?

Hippocrates