The Last Breakfast….
November 27, 2008
The Fresh Ideas Nutritainment Manifesto
November 28, 2008
How 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!
Snack Time Never Ends – NYT
January 21, 2010
“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
Food Economics…..Salt + Sugar + Fat = $$$
January 12, 2010
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!
Easy Cheap Fast Delicious… Compendium of Great Meals!
December 31, 2009
Shocking!… Breakfast Cereal Not Good For Kids….. What?
December 31, 2009
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
Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself….
November 28, 2009
I love Maira Kalman…
People Will Eat Horses*** If You Put Enough Icing On It
November 9, 2009
Yes indeed, we will… Thanks for the that little gem of wisdom, George Weston.
Easy Cheap Fast Delicious and SCARILY NUTRITIOUS!
October 30, 2009
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…
…..But these look fantastic too!
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!
But pumpkins can sometimes get too carried away…. celebrating the holiday………
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…
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
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.
Talk about programming the palate!
The Voice of Reason Heard Here… and a bit of stupidity too.
September 11, 2009
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?
