A Big Thanks To The William J. Clinton Foundation
With the help of the William J. Clinton Foundation, beverage distributors have agreed to halt the sale of soda pop in schools(diet soda will be sold to high schools).
Why would I care about this? I spent the better part of last week at the hospital with my mother. She underwent a second lower extremity arterial revascularization. I had a fabulous discussion with her doctor about what is causing the problem. Diet said the doctor! My mother is 5′3″ and weighs 104 pounds, I said. Look at cholesterol levels I was told. Here is a link!
Parents and children need to be aware of what they are putting into their bodies. The processed foods we stuff in the freezer are slowly killing us. The pop we drink isn’t a healthy choice. Mike mentioned that he makes salsa..great! Far better for him to eat that than to buy a bottle off the shelf. Why? What do you think they put in it to keep the shelf life! Limit the kids choices and you force them to eat healthier!
Hat Tip to SF Liberal for this article:
“White, middle-age Americans–even those who are rich–are far less healthy than their peers in England, according to new research that has experts scratching their heads.
Thank you President Clinton!
May 3, 2006 - 06:41 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Well, since he ignored radical muslim terrorists for his entire presidency, it’s about time he found an enemy he could sink his teeth into……..soda.
what a walking fucking joke.
May 3, 2006 - 06:44 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Thumbs Up to Right Voices for posting this! Peejz, I’m sorry your mother is having troubles, I hope everything works out well for her.
We Americans need to be more proactive at eating healthier foods and having better standards for what we put into our bodies.
Soda has no place in Americas public schools. It’s damaging to the children and we all end up paying for it in the end.
Here is a link to a neat article I saw regarding how unhealthy Americans are, compared to England and other nations. This isn’t a pitch for nationalized health care or anything like that…and this study isn’t too political as far as I can tell;
“White, middle-age Americans–even those who are rich–are far less healthy than their peers in England, according to new research that has experts scratching their heads.
Americans had higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, strokes, lung disease and cancer–findings that held true no matter what income or education level.
U.S. health-care spending is double what England spends on each of its citizens.”
May 3, 2006 - 06:51 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Thank you President Clinton!
I’ll bet SF did a dance of glee!
See, not everyone dislikes him all the time…:razz:
May 3, 2006 - 06:52 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Peejz, best of luck to your mother. I know it’s difficult, I see a lot of patients dealing with this.
May 3, 2006 - 07:19 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Thanks to both of you! Yes I think my mom is on the mend. The doctor told us that the right leg (the good one) is blocked at the thigh, it is her left that has had 2 bypasses with sythetic tubes(?) put in as makeshift arteries (?) Anyway, they are trying Lipitor to see if it clears the blockage as they really don’t want to do another surgery!
May 3, 2006 - 07:22 PM on May 3rd, 2006
SF- I will read the links.
Alyssa- I left my notes at my parents house..so can you tell me if this sounds right? The doctor mentioned that the new push is to get our LDL down to 70! Does that sound about right?
May 3, 2006 - 07:34 PM on May 3rd, 2006
SF great article! Americans had higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, strokes, lung disease and cancer–findings that held true no matter what income or education level.
I believe that. This Doctor was on such a high from a recent conference. It was shown that you could trace the rise in diabetes back 30 years, almost to the day, that certain sweeteners/preservatives were introduced to us in large quatities. Triglycerides was a word that kept popping up!
May 3, 2006 - 07:34 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Dittos about your Mom, Peejz.
I’ve had to clamp down on sodas for my own young sons, they were drinking way too many. I think one a week, on family movie night, is plenty.
May 3, 2006 - 07:46 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Thanks Robert. Did you notice a difference in the kids? My sister was letting her 4 little ones drink a can here and there and they went on such sugar highs, she started hated them!:shock: She took the pop away and all is good!
May 3, 2006 - 07:53 PM on May 3rd, 2006
How would you like to be one of these 300 people?
A California hospital was contacting some 300 morbidly obese patients after learning they may have been exposed to hepatitis or HIV by poorly cleaned instruments used in stomach-reduction operations.
“The risk (of infectious disease) is extremely low but to be safe and take every precaution we are having blood drawn and tested, looking for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C,” Scripps spokesman Don Stanziano said.
May 3, 2006 - 07:54 PM on May 3rd, 2006
5–Anything below 100 is considered good.
May 3, 2006 - 08:14 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Peejz – I think we have the same mother! As you know, my mom is going through almost the exact same thing. She had a stent placed in her left leg.. just recently had a stent placed in her renal artery and is scheduled for a complete bypass of her right leg in July (after the wedding…whew!).
As Americans, our diets are killing us. We do our best in this house to shop organic and to lay off the process foods as much as possible (though, I have a hard time giving up my starbucks!).
I’ve been complaining for YEARS about the soda available at my kids schools… and soda is the least of it – - the crap they pass off as a ‘healthy lunch’… french fries, pizza, etc.etc. Not to even mention the wall lined with junk food machines.
At my kids school – they don’t have hot lunch ‘tickets’ anymore. They have what amounts to an ATM card that I put a balance on every month. They can use that card for the machines, to purchase soda, lunches, etc. I never put much of a balance on it for them…. and I’ve gotten them into the habit of making their own lunches here at home to take to school.. with the balance on the lunch card to be used for milk or something to drink for lunch.
But other kids who don’t take lunch from home use those lunch cards to purchase the junk that is available in the vending machines – - rather than hot lunch.
I say – just don’t make it available. If they are going to have vending machines.. fill them with fruit and healthy foods rather than crap.
No wonder why obesity is on the rise.
May 3, 2006 - 08:46 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Not only is our diet not particularly good, but this whole thing on not enough athletics is even worse. Competition is good. Being embarrassed drives people to work harder to an extent. Giving trophies to everyone for participating, and not keeping score doesn’t teach the kids much. Keep score, give out trophies to the WINNERS and tell the kids that if they want a trophy, they simply need to work harder as a team. Peer pressure isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can be used for positive reenforcement.
Don’t let the kids skip Phys ed and put the damn games back into recess. Why do you think kids have so many problems with weight? Could it be that they aren’t ALLOWED to actually do anything active during their recesses? Yes, some kids will get their feelings hurt, some may even have accidents and get injured. That’s part of growing up isn’t it? If noone ever grows up, why would they ever move out on their own? See “Failure to Launch” for example.
May 3, 2006 - 09:21 PM on May 3rd, 2006
11- Lisa I wish your Mother a very successful surgery! After the wedding of course!
Did you guys see that? Lisa is getting married to the man of her dreams (in my singing voice)!
You brought up a very good point! The lunchroom! You nailed it with the vending machines and food choices. I understand that there are cost restraints not to mention the fact that they are feeding an army of people, but how about some common sense? Is that too much to ask?
12- What are you referring to about Phs Ed? That was mandatory for us. IIRC, it made us healthy! Please tell me that didn’t change!
May 3, 2006 - 11:25 PM on May 3rd, 2006
Peejz, hard to say if the reduction of soda (and sugar in general) made a substantial difference with my sons. I am inclined to say yes, they are calmer, but sometimes they still fight like cats and dogs.
At least I think they are on the right track. My 5-year old now looks at food packages and asks how much trans fat they contain. I know when I was 5, trans fat wasn’t even part of my consciousness.
May 4, 2006 - 06:44 AM on May 4th, 2006
Peejz and Lisa….I wish the best for both your mothers. My own mother refused to exercise or eat right for so many years and is now suffering many health problems including Altzheimers. It’s very disheartening.
I have been an advocate of a healthy lifestyle for many years. I take the time once or twice a week to cook so I won’t have to eat processed foods and I walk 4 miles or bike 15 depending on the season almost every day. I encourage my family and coworkers to do the same. Sometimes it drives them crazy but they understand.
Society needs to be made aware of and to take action with regards to health issues and this is really a good thing that Clinton did.
May 4, 2006 - 06:50 AM on May 4th, 2006
More of what our former dictator has done to our country will they now put this in his presidential LIEbrary?:roll:
May 4, 2006 - 07:14 AM on May 4th, 2006
Bill Clinton is a walkling, talking rectum. And he’s about as relevant to the issues facing our country as Hello Kitty.
This is actually a great issue for him…. or maybe he should spend his time at a rape crisis center, he seems to have first hand knowledge of what sexual assault can do to people. Or maybe a suicide hotline (vince foster). How about the California Jewish Broad Blowjob Recovery Foundation? Or how about the I-represent-the-AUA-in-a-ports-deal-while-my-carpetbagging-bitch-on-wheels-wife-opposes-it-for-political-reasons?
Who gives a shit what this walking piece of navel lint thinks…I’d hit him upside his lying fucking head with soda can if he ever drifted into my perimeter.
May 4, 2006 - 10:54 AM on May 4th, 2006
I hated phys ed when I was younger, but I’m thankful now that we had it. And it was hard! We had to climb ropes to the ceiling, and we got a lower grade for the day if we couldn’t make it. We had race relays. We got timed running the mile three times a year from the time I was 6 until I finished high school. We had to participate in organized sports all through elementary, and that go me motivated to participate in softball, dance, and gymnastics by choice until I finished high school.
My high school had an “a la carte” line that sold nachos, pizza, french fries, hot dogs, etc. That line was always longer than the hot lunch line. I loved that in elementary school, we had a salad bar with fresh vegetables available to us everyday.
Lisa, that is so irresponsible that the school allows the “ATM” cards to be used in the snack machine. Good for you for keeping the balance small to only be used for drinks.
May 4, 2006 - 11:11 AM on May 4th, 2006
If parents were doing there jobs, we wouldn’t need ex-president rapists out there combating soda.
I went to public school…it had soda machines…I NEVER bought them.
next?
May 4, 2006 - 11:15 AM on May 4th, 2006
It’s about “FREEDOM”… you remember that, don’t you? You alleged “Conservatives” out there……
do you really want big brother telling you what you can and can’t drink?
Who decides? Bill Clinton?
get serious
May 4, 2006 - 11:16 AM on May 4th, 2006
19–Mike, I’m not sure I’m following you here. Do you think that there should be soda machines in elementary schools?
May 4, 2006 - 01:30 PM on May 4th, 2006
More PE less sex education and gay introduction classes and no more of that stupid SAVE THE RAINFORESTS crap:lol:
May 4, 2006 - 03:27 PM on May 4th, 2006
Mike, I don’t think this one is a political, Left/Right issue. Clearly, it’s a health issue.
And besides, since when was public school ever about freedom?!? I remember being told on countless occasions that school “isn’t a democracy”.
“Who decides” you ask? Certainly not the children. Most kids that age don’t have the ability to see the consequences of their actions in long term. They only care about what tastes good and what their friends think.
“…and no more of that stupid SAVE THE RAINFORESTS crap”
Yeah that’s a real great idea, Snowy Egret.
May 4, 2006 - 05:28 PM on May 4th, 2006
The point is, you fans of a police state….
I, as a parent, am perfectly fucking capable of teaching my child proper nutrition..I don’t need the NEA, the Fucking school board, and especially Bill the rapist doing it for me.
Am I the only one that sees this as another example of mommy government intruding on areas that should be the responsibility of parents?
May 4, 2006 - 08:17 PM on May 4th, 2006
No PE has changed a lot since we were kids. One school teacher was recently caught allowing his students to buy their way out of exercising by paying him a dollar. Why do I feel that teacher wasn’t doing his fiduciary responsibility?
They’ve practically castrated Phys Ed from what I’ve been hearing. They don’t test the kids, they don’t challenge the kids, they don’t keep score. Hell, they don’t even play dodge ball anymore because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s self esteem. Same thing with team sports. We can’t have someone choose sides because the kids picked later may develop a complex. Funny but back when kids were taught to get back up whenever they were knocked down, we didn’t have all of these school shootings. Now with the kids being told “I’m okay, you’re okay” they simply aren’t prepared when the testerone levels spike in puberty for the fact that some people aren’t okay. Some people are violent obnoxious bullies, they are going to push you around, they are going to tease you. That doesn’t mean you take a bunch of guns to school and shoot up the place. You may take up a martial art and publicly kick their A@#, but you don’t go on a shooting rampage.
Yeah, I got teased a lot as a kid, and as long as they didn’t touch me, I blew them off. The stupid ones crossed that line, and NEVER bullied me or anyone in front of me ever again. Tall, skinny and awkward doesn’t necessarily mean weak. What made it even worse was that I had had to take BALLET to strengthen my leg muscles because I was growing so quickly. Imagine a bully getting his butt kicked by a guy who took BALLET for a year. Yes, that is one of the things I was teased about.
May 4, 2006 - 08:27 PM on May 4th, 2006
FAO:shock:No dodgeball
Get outta here! I loved that game! We always had a blast. Maybe if adults would just allow kids to be kids, we wouldn’t have so many problems with them as they “mature”. Sheesh!
As for your ballet: I think that was actually quite progressive for those days. I think that after seeing a guy like Jerry Rice on Dancing With The Stars, I have a whole new appreciation for a talented and in shape athelete taking dance lessons and getting his butt kicked by the stress.
May 4, 2006 - 08:39 PM on May 4th, 2006
Well the doctor told Mom I had to take either Karate or Ballet because I was waking up in the middle of the night screaming from the pain. Ballet was closer and cheaper. I still have stretch marks around my thighs. Luckily, I practically stopped growing taller by the time I was 14. I grew over 6 inches one year. Lynn Swann from the Steelers was practicing with the Pittsburgh Rep company to improve his balance and leaping abilities. He’s in the Hall of Fame now.
May 4, 2006 - 08:45 PM on May 4th, 2006
I think you made a great choice!
May 4, 2006 - 09:39 PM on May 4th, 2006
I think another large part of it is stress. We work harder and produce more than any other people on the planet. However those long hours do take their toll. Having 4 – 6 weeks paid vacation and no risk of losing your job can certainly make you feel a lot less stressed. Stress is definitely a serious cause of health problems.
May 5, 2006 - 07:32 AM on May 5th, 2006
25- Mike- this is being done without the intrusion of the government. You may not like the messanger, but the message is clear. Nothing is stopping a parent from sending their kid to school with pop or kool-aid, but it doesn’t need to be a temptation. A big problem many of us have is that we see things through our eyes not through the eyes of a lot of ignorant people! A LOT
May 6, 2006 - 10:11 PM on May 6th, 2006
Peejz If you haven’t heard they’ve actually started coed ADULT dodgeball leagues. There are amateurs but there are reportedly teams in a number of cities. Isn’t that a gas?
May 7, 2006 - 10:27 PM on May 7th, 2006
32–There are some teams here in Minneapolis. My husband and his friend sometimes play, and they love it! I’m going to join them one of these days, but I’m usually working when they go.
May 8, 2006 - 01:44 AM on May 8th, 2006
Mike Kilo – I gotta wonder what world you’re living in, seriously? I can teach my kids all about nutrition all day long – - and they can nod their heads at me and agree with me… all day long.
But do I think for one moment that when they are out of my sight and presented with a Mountain Dew in the school lunchroom they’re gonna say “No, really.. I’d rather have milk – that’s what my Mom taught me”
I do my part at home. We don’t keep soda here and the kids aren’t in the habit of drinking it. And because of that, I realize that it’s become the forbidden fruit and it’s not as if I”m going to keep them away from it completely – - they’re teenagers for crying out loud.
Do I want the government telling me HOW to raise my kids? Nope. But taking the utter crap outta the school lunchroom is something that has been a LONG time coming… and it has nothing to do with anyone telling me how to raise my kids – I think you’re stretching that point a little too thin.
Drugs are out there – and I can do what I can as a parent to keep my kids away from it and to teach them all about the consequences – - but I certainly thank law enforcement and our government for doing what it can to make sure there are steep consequences for kids who do go that route. Is that ‘Big Government’ poking its nose in my business and telling me how to raise my kids?? No.
Childhood obesity is on the rise. Hell – obesity period – for anyone in this country. America is getting fat and lazy and I applaud anyone – - any establishment… yes, even the Clinton Foundation, for doing their part to help do something about it. Then maybe… just maybe… some of the nutritional values that I try to instill in my kids can be carried through during the 7 hours they are in school.
Hell – Religon is ‘out there’ and accessible, but that doesn’t mean I want that served up in school either.
May 8, 2006 - 07:03 AM on May 8th, 2006
Lisa,
My point is, if you wanted to ban everything in schools that are harmful to your children, you’d have to start with the teachers.
Can we please just let parents be parents? And also, if your kids are drinking water and milk at home….is a couple fucking sodas a week really that bad???? to the point that we need a rapist ex-president spending his vital time????
Looks to me like you “conservatives” out there are all talk.. I want the government out of my wallet, out of the schools, out of MY LIFE.
you guys don’t seem to mind them telling what to do and what not to do.
May 8, 2006 - 08:36 AM on May 8th, 2006
Maybe we should just ban Soda altogether…and pizza…and beer…and cigarettes….and chewing tobacco….and chocolate….and wine…..and burgers…..and FUCKING FUN IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM.
get real
May 8, 2006 - 08:53 AM on May 8th, 2006
“Hell – Religon is ‘out there’ “
I couldn’t help but smile at the juxtaposition of those words, Lisa. I don’t know why, really, it just sounds and looks funny.