Sugarcoating It

Joel Stein of the LA Times has written a wonderfully funny piece on kiddie cereals.

"While I appreciated the honesty of Sugar Pops (bran, wheat, rice, corn -- who cares? It's got sugar in the name!), it seemed too desperate and bland. The Froot Loops mascot baffles me to this day. It seems like an ad campaign created by a wine snob: '"You see, guys, this toucan with an enormous nose, kind of a supertaster bird, is going to fly around pointing out notes of strawberry, lemon and dark cherries in the cereal. Kids will love it!"'

"Seeing Past the Sugarcoating"

Obesity: A Visual

Check out the growth of obesity epidemic in visual format. It's a map of the U.S. and a year-by-year update starting in 1985. It is pretty startling. It was not that long ago that no state had an obesity rate higher than 14% (1985). Now, practically every state is at 20% or higher and a full third of states are 25% or more. Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Virginia are over 30%!

Fast food and snack food companies say that people have to take "personal responsibility" for their choices. That may be true, but this kind of shift does not occur without some SERIOUS help from marketing and a titanic shift in cultural values and behavior.

Notice that Kentucky and several other southern states are always among the most obese states.

TURN THE TIDE. Personal choice, legislation, whatever...I do not care. Just do your best to find an effective way to change this. It is hurting our bodies, our minds, our lifespan, and our quality of life. We do not have to be ultra-thin, world-class athletes, beautiful, or have ripped abs. We can be a lot fitter and allow our bodies an easier way do their job by streamlining a bit.

Busy Week

The blog may be slow this week. In addition to teaching a summer class, we are having bible school at church this week. Laurie and I are teaching the 2nd-4th grade kids. So, needless to say, time is short.

Quick 5k update: I did not run as fast as I did in my previous 5k. I had hoped to run under 18 mins, but finished in 18.26. It was warm, and it was a fairly tough course, but I went out a little slower than I should have. But, you can't PR every time out. My wife competed in her first post-baby race and reached her goal of finishing in under 30 mins (29.23).

More later this week as time allows.

Rough River 5k

Although Rough River State Park is probably best known for playing host to the Kentucky State Old Time Fiddler's Contest (it happens next weekend), it will be hosting it's third annual 5k race tomorrow. This is the closest race to my parents' house. I grew up just 15 minutes away from the park, and I have fished Rough's waters all my life. There is ALWAYS healing and good feelings attached to that place.

I ran the inaugural race in 2005 and competed last year as well...both in oppressive heat. Race time was 9:00 am in those races, and the temperature has crept into the mid-80s by post time each of the past two years. Mercifully, they have moved the start time back to 8:00 am tomorrow. Plus, it is supposed to dip to 60 degrees tonight. If the wind is calm, tomorrow has the makings for a fantastic race.

After that, it's a trip to my family's farm in Breckinridge County for our annual July shindig. You know the type: massive potluck, horseshoes, showing off 6-month-old son, and playing music together all afternoon. It's the good stuff of life. Like Rough River, that farm holds many, many great childhood memories and I love going back there.

Post-race post to come on Monday, along with a breakdown of fat. It gets a bad rap, but it's a necessary part of our diet. Eating the right kinds of fat is the trick, of course.

So, get out and talk a walk/run/bike ride early tomorrow if you can. We do not see many 60-degree overnight lows in mid-July.

Four More Years?

Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, or other, this latest survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life illustrates the voting power of religious Republicans (RR's). Among registered voters who self-identified as Republican or "leans Republican" and attended worship services at least once per week, 71% still approve of the job President Bush is doing. Nationally, the number is 29%. A startling 80% of RR's believe that using force in Iraq was the right decision. Nationally, it's 40%.











The results of the Pew Center's survey raised my eyebrows. Although President Bush's approval rating has plummeted, he has maintained healthy support among religious Rep's. This is not terribly surprising, I guess, but the strength of the support is eye-popping when compared to the national numbers. I wonder what the numbers look like if the RR's are pulled from those statistics. The gap is likely even greater.

The real message here is what RR's are saying to their '08 candidates...and it's not "don't be like Bush." In fact, the message may be "four more years," at least in policy matters.

So, which is more important for Republican presidential hopefuls? To be like Bush, or to NOT be like Bush? Within their party, it may be the former if they want to win the nomination. Nationally, it may be the latter if they want to be President. At the very least, trying to be both should prove to be entertaining.

Apathetic About Independence

My family was traveling from dawn 'til way-past-dusk last night, so my Independence Day post is a day late.

Two quotes to spur us to activity:

"The trouble is that we have taken our democracy for granted; we have thought
and acted as if our forefathers had founded it once and for all. We have
forgotten that is has to be enacted anew in every generation." ~John Dewey

For all the ills in our government, political parties, society, and oval office, this is my country. The system may need fixing, but it is the system (or some semblence of it) that has been in place for 220+ years now.

The forefathers were not deistic beings who wound the watch of America and set it in perfect motion for all eternity. The ideas that they set forth must be re-enacted by us and by those who follow us. The system may be corrupt or even broken, but we must be the ones to make it work or do repair. The government of this country is not a product to be sold to us by Democrats or Republicans, presidents or governors--which is what it seems to have turned into sometimes. It is, "We, the people."

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush.
It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
~Robert M. Hutchens

The less we care, the less we vote. The less we vote, the less we control direction. The less we control direction, the more those with power and money control us.

The biggest threat to America is not terrorism (sorry, Rudy, I know you are banking on that one). It's us. It's our apathy about our role in the decision-making process. It's our willingness to vote for American Idol, but not our representatives or our even our president.

I'm far from a political pundit, but ANY entity composed of members who do not care about it is bound to erode and eventually die.

Do you know who your representatives are? Your senators? Find out. Participate. Create change.

Indulge

I feel like I've been something of a huge killjoy regarding food on here lately, so here's some tasty news.

1. Dark chocolate is good for you in small amounts. It not only has high antioxidant levels, but it now has a clinical study that shows it reduces blood pressure. Granted, the allowance is small, but a little chunk of dark chocolate goes a long way.

Try this. Cook up a cup of plain, whole oats (not pre-sweetened, packaged outs). Toss in 1 tbsp of peanut butter and one tbsp (NOT heaping) of chocolate chips. Add just a little brown sugar. Stir it up, and enjoy a breakfast that tastes like an oatmeal cookie. It's best with a tall glass of cold milk, of course.

2. You don't have to go all-organic. It's simply not worth it in some cases. One reason organic fruits and veggies are so expensive is that they are shipped from across the globe. By the time it gets to rural Kentucky, it's old and has lost a lot of nutrients. Buy from your local farmer's market. The nutrients and money saved likely outweighs the pesticide levels that we worry about.

Besides, many thick-skinned fruits and vegetables absorb very little pesticide (bananas, for example). More porous foods like strawberries or thin-skinned foods like grapes may be worth their organic price, but local and non-organic food is often more nutritious than store-bought organic.

For pregnant women and small children, low pesticide levels are important, simply because the body weight of a fetus or an small child is proportionally much lower than adults. Therefore, ingesting pesticides has a greater impact. Therefore, with small kids and expectant moms, organic is probably best if you can swing it.

I am a big organic food supporter, but having an "organic" sticker does not automatically make it a better choice every time for everyone.

3. Almonds lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Buy some raw almonds and place them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and toast the nuts for 6-7 mins. Take them out and let them cool. They will be super-crunchy and flavorful. Replace a couple hundred calories of your daily intake with a good handful of almonds (about 16 individual nuts), and enjoy the taste and the health benefits.

4. Use spicy food to reduce inflammation. If you suffer from sore muscles, tendons, or arthritis, partake of some hot salsa or other food of your choice. Cayenne, chili peppers, or crushed red pepper are commonly used in many Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes.

There are lots of others I can put on here. But, I mainly wanted to say that eating well does not mean that we have to eat blandly or have our food become boring.

Enjoy the holiday tomorrow.