“Sugar
is celebratory. Sugar is something we
used to enjoy. Now it basically has
coated our tongues. It’s turned into a
diet staple, and it’s killing us.”
--Robert
Lustig, MD
 |
| Nancy Heinrich's typical lunch |
The
other day I passed by a coworker, alone in her office. She was sitting down to eat lunch, opening up
a large McDonald’s bag filled with highly processed foods. Every one of the foods she was about to eat
was engineered to be addictive with added sugars, salt, and/or fat.
It
worked. She is morbidly obese. She is also the mother of a young
toddler. The adult can make her own
choices. Her child cannot.
 |
| organic watermelon radish |
Food
companies like McDonald’s consciously and intentionally create foods to be addictive. It is how they keep you coming back for more.
It is why McDonald’s and other fast food
companies are highly profitable companies.
Who can resist the salty, savory taste of a big Mac or a sausage and
egg biscuit sandwich? When you are hungry and on the road, why not just pull in
to the golden arches (I call them the golden arches of solid, saturated fat and inflammatory disease) and pick up a couple of sandwiches to eat while driving to your next destination? After all, McDonald’s are in 120 countries
around the world, serving 68 million people every day. They have made it easy and cheap for us to eat highly
processed foods. The problem is eating those foods make us sick. Just ask Morgan Spurlock, star of the 2004
documentary, Super Size Me.
STOP!!!
What I
really wanted to say when I walked past my coworker’s office was, “Please don’t
eat that. Put down that bag of
processed, addictive food. I would love
to share my beautiful organic salad with you.
Do you realize that you are morbidly obese and eating foods from
McDonald’s will only keep you fat?”
 |
| another typical lunch for Nancy Heinrich |
November
is American Diabetes Month. A key risk factor
for diabetes is obesity. Eating highly
processed, engineered foods is a path to diseases like obesity, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. Many
people with whom I speak know they are addicted to processed foods and want
help breaking the addiction so they don’t have a heart attack or stroke.
Changing the way you eat starts with knowing your “Why”:
Why do
you want to change what you eat?
Why do you want to no longer be carrying around
50 or 100 extra pounds?
Why do you want
to sleep better?
Why do you want your clothes to fit better?
Why do you not want to be the next person in your family to develop diabetes?
Why do you not want to have a stroke?
Why do you care about your own health?
Why do you want to be able to breathe better?
Why do you want to feel better?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you care
about your own health and the quality of your one life on this planet?
Eat real food. Please
pass the organic watermelon radishes.
With
love and gratitude,
Nancy L.
Heinrich, MPH
Founder,
Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.
