Wednesday, September 26, 2012

‘We Are Hungry’


This is the title of one of the latest videos gone viral created by teachers and students in response to new school lunch programs, which spawned from the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. These new programs are being implemented across America in an effort to stop the childhood obesity epidemic. Like all the other incorrect beliefs about nutrition this Act is even more egregious because it now allows Government intrusion at the level of our schools, and forces our students to eat the wrong way. If schools fail to introduce lunch policies based on this Act they will lose state and federal funding; thus the schools are literally being coerced to adopt these incorrect dietary beliefs into their lunch menus.


This ‘Act’ unfortunately focuses on the incorrect premises that eating fat makes us fat, that eating fat & cholesterol is dangerous & that calories are important in human nutrition.

Does everyone remember my counters to the 3 big dietary myths?

Let’s see, it went something like this;

1)    Eating fat makes us fat; Wrong, eating fat DOESN’T make us fat or fatter,

2)    Eating saturated fat & cholesterol containing foods increases our risk for heart disease; Wrong;  eating more saturated fat & cholesterol containing foods LOWERS one’s risk for not only heart disease, but for obesity and diabetes and that

3)    One needs to count calories in order to be healthy or lose weight; Wrong, the whole concept of a calories is IRRELEVANT and actually dangerous in human nutrition!

The only thing these school lunch programs are going to do is make our kids heavier, increase the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in our children, create a whole host of diminished cognitive abilities which will manifest as worsening test scores; and will also put at risk the ability of school athletes to perform at their optimum and at worst could put their lives at risk when performing at athletic meets.

I cannot over emphasize the seriousness of this new school health initiative. I have already made it known at the national (and Global) level my major problems with the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines. The guidelines then & still adhered tenaciously to the converse of the myths above; i.e. eating fat makes us fat, eating saturated fat & cholesterol is bad, and calories are important in human nutrition.

When are we going to start basing the way we should be eating on nutritional, biochemical facts? When will the term ‘nutritional science’ no longer be an oxymoron? Why are we allowing beliefs, opinions, theories and suppositions to dictate how we should be eating and when will it end?

How about some facts…

When are these self-proclaimed ‘experts’ and I use that term loosely, going to understand that it is the sugar molecule, be it glucose or fructose, that our bodies use to make plaque forming deadly cholesterol and fat. When are they going to realize that sugar is sugar is sugar NO MATTER where the sugar molecule comes from?

How about the FACT that our skeletal muscles, myocardium (our heart muscle) and renal cortex (part of our kidneys) PREFER free fatty acids for fuel; that our brains prefer not glucose for fuel but ketone bodies, which interestingly come from the breakdown of free fatty acids.

These are facts…not beliefs…and anything contrary should not even be entertained as remotely resembling science.

Btw, I came across the video above as a result of the USA TODAY article entitled ‘KIDS PUSH BACK ON NEW SCHOOL LUNCH,’ which was featured today.

OK, so a few people have already said to me ‘calm down Dr Jim, all the students have to do is bring lunch from home.’

Ummmm, not so fast. Remember the elementary school student in Florida whose lunch bag was searched and then seized by school ‘officials’ and then forced to eat from the school’s lunch menu. Not only was this an obvious 4th Amendment Constitutional violation (as well as a 5th, 14th and probably even an 8th, but I’ll take my legal hat off…for now), but it underscores what I think is the fact that schools may well start ‘inspecting’ lunches brought from home. I see this happening because one way the schools are being ‘forced’ to implement these new guidelines is via the receipt of state and federal funds, and don’t tell me for a second that if the schools fear that students are bringing in food which is against the school’s forced policy, the schools wont fear the loss of these funds; believe me, it will start happening.

Let me take time out to say that if my child’s lunch bag was inspected, child protective services would be called immediately to inquire why would I allow my child to eat sandwiches (which btw are on low carb bread) with double-triple the amount of meat and wait for it, wait for it….2 pieces of cheese and surrounded by…can we hear a gasp from the audience…an abundant spreading of real mayonnaise!  I can hear them saying ‘Put the cuffs on ‘em,  lock him up and throw away the key…’ followed by the quintessential pirates mantra ‘har,har,har, we got ‘em’…

I know I am not the only one who understands why we have an obesity pan(epi)demic and why we are seeing type 2 diabetes & heart disease in our children;  and as I’ve said so many times before and now this is directed to the ‘Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010’….Congratulations for forcing our kids to get heavier, for increasing the probability that our children will suffer cognitive decline and guaranteeing  our school athletes will perform poorly; and for obvious and  not so obvious violations of our Constitutional rights! Great job….

dr jim

P.S. Congratulations to the teachers and students involved in the creation of the video! Last check it had received 251,203 hits, pretty awesome! Loved the video! Great lyrics! Just a little advice for the singer, do the words American Idol, X-Factor, or The Voice ring a bell? Go for it! Great work everyone and I take my hat off to you all for having the courage and wherewithal to create such an important video! I am in full support!

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