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Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease rates are all higher among people in lower income brackets. Even with insurance and subsidized health care options through programs like Medicaid, people with lower incomes tend to get less preventative care. At the end of the day, people in the highest socioeconomic group have an average life expectancy more than 4 years higher than people in the lowest income bracket.

While the exact causes of income-related health disparities is open for study and debate, the results are clear: wealth buys health. (continue reading…)

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from Sustainable Table

Americans spend about 90 percent of their food budget on processed foods, which, unlike whole foods, have been treated in some way after being harvested or butchered(1). Almost all of these processed foods contain additives, substances intended to change the food in some way before it is sold to consumers. Additives include flavorings that change a food’s taste, preservatives that extend its shelf life, colorings that change the way it looks, and dietary additives, such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and other supplements. Packaging is considered an indirect food additive and, in fact, many kinds of packaging actually add substances to the food they enclose.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently has approved more than 3,000 food additives for use in the United States (2). However, while approved for human consumption, food additives may still threaten our health. This is one of many reasons why it is better to purchase whole foods, or those that have been minimally processed and treated. (continue reading…)

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Mothers concerned about their child’s health may prefer to shop at health food stores, thinking that the aisles of a health food store must be stocked with nothing but the best, most nutritious foods. But health food stores aren’t immune to stocking junk food, and the atmosphere of a health food store can lull parents into complacency about snacks and meals. Even the most educated, well-informed mothers push grocery carts that are surprising in their unhealthiness around the local health food store.

These parents have the best intentions, but just because certain foods are found in a health store does not make them healthier or better for you.  I see so much junk food passed off as healthy organic snacks, I just want to scream. Manufacturers have learned that they can increase sales and justify significant price increases, simply by putting the word “organic” or “natural” on the label. But “organic” doesn’t always mean “healthy.” Organic gummi bears are still gummi bears, even if the corn syrup in them comes from corn grown without pesticides, and the colors are derived from plant juices. (continue reading…)

by Stephanie Ann Whited from NaturalNews.com

ADHD has been a hot topic in the media for a few years due to raising diagnoses, medication concerns, and debates to whether it is even a real health condition. New research has found that a few food additives can cause the symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis of ADHD. Once we establish the symptoms of ADHD, we can correlate them with the symptoms produced in the study by specific ingredients that we can then identify and eliminate from our families’ diets.

What is ADHD?

It is a common group of symptoms that mean a child is having problems learning, socializing, and focusing. Parents and teachers complain of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, and less emphasis has been placed on what it must feel like to have the symptoms- to not be able to control one’s self, play with other children, and please caring adults. Let’s call ADHD and its set of symptoms an unsolved problem. This problem is really about the quality and richness of life in a growing child; how can the quality of life of children with this problem be improved? A very simple answer, though it may not prove to be the only answer, has been found. Research has recently found that some ingredients in common foods, when ingested, inhibit children from flourishing and growing to the full extent of their capabilities. It is daunting to find how easy it is to buy and consume products that are unsafe, but there is healthy nutrition available, and because these ingredients have not been banned, it is the consumer’s responsibility, our responsibility, to ensure the safety of our families. So one proven answer to the problems ADHD presents is to eliminate artificial preservatives and colors from children’s diets. (continue reading…)

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Human beings love sugar. Scientists speculate that we developed a love for sweetness because most of the sweet foods we ate early on were safe foods that nourished and did not kill us. Others say that our sweet tooth is naturally inborn and that we will suckle because breast milk contains lactose, a form of sugar.

We also love fat. Fat generally tastes very good and we eat a lots of it. Stored on our bodies, we use it as fuel to keep us alive until the next big meal. Fat and sugar work like hardwiring. But it is hardwiring for a time before our environment changed. Now we are scoring antelopes and apple pies all day long, and we are wearing them all over our body, mostly on our bellies. Processed food is loaded with sugar and fats. (continue reading…)

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Most parents think that as long as they avoid the sugary candy-in-the-breakfast-aisle cereals at the supermarket in favor of more healthy-looking organic cereals they’re doing the right thing by their kids. What could be better than whole-grain organic cereal, right? According to the USDA, most modern children get the majority of their nutrients from boxed cereal, whether it’s organic or not. It’s easy to assume that a whole-grain, low-sugar cereal is a healthy bargain (or not, at about $5 a box these days).

But even the best packaged cereals share a crucial factor with the worst, something that matters tremendously. All packaged and processed cereals are precisely that — processed, and the processing does things to the food that a well-intentioned parent might not be aware of. (continue reading…)

www.AllergyKids.com

1 out of every 3 American children has allergies, asthma, ADHD or autism. What has changed? - allergykids.com

Robyn O’Brien never expected to be an anti-establishment crusader, exposing the collusion between big government and big business and how it’s poisoning our food supply and making our children sick. Raised in a conservative Texas family, this mother of four was taught that “food is food, and if the FDA approves it, then it’s safe – period. Don’t ask any questions.”

But everything changed a few years ago when her daughter had a severe allergic reaction to scrambled eggs. O’Brien was shocked to learn that child food allergies have increased dramatically in the past 15 years, and she saw the need for a “pink ribbon” type of symbol to identify young children with food allergies. Inspired to help her daughter as well as other children and parents, she created a universal symbol for food allergies (pictured above) and launched the Allergy Kids Foundation at www.allergykids.com. (continue reading…)