I’ve had kids playing sports for more than 15 years (just typing that out makes me feel so, so old) and time and again, I’ve noticed one thing that just about every practice or game has in common.
Junk food.
Doesn’t that surprise you? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Admittedly, I’m a self confessed health food aficionado – although I have been known to dig into some french fries time and again – but I really have a hard time with the foods that many kids are offered after a difficult game. My kids have been given corn chips, candy bars, fruit snacks, squishy fruit punch pouches and even sodas. Rarely are there healthy choices offered.
I’ve been the team mom many times, and although I have often requested that healthier snacks be offered, the overwhelming concern is that kids just won’t eat them. A Sports Moms Study, funded by PepsiCo, found that more than 70% of moms are raising kids in competitive sports. The study found that sports moms spend 1/3 more time and more than twice as much money across their children’s extracurricular activities than those families without kids in sports. According to the study, the area in which most moms feel that they have the highest level of influence is their athlete’s nutrition.
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We live in the age of extremes. We have to be the fastest, baddest, biggest and the best at everything we do. This is America! When speaking of cars, computers and the speed at which we receive our text messages, our all or nothing attitude is a definite advantage, but it is this mind frame that has lead us to gigantic food portions, exponentially rising obesity related healthcare costs and the first generation of children with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. We certainly are the biggest and baddest in terms of girth and the quality of our nutrition, that’s for sure.
It works the other way, too. We want instant gratification, instant results and immediate weight loss when adopting a fitness routine. In the age of the Biggest Loser, where contestants work out 8+ hours a day, everyday, and see double digit weight loss, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that more is better. Unfortunately, our bodies don’t work that way.
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The hottest diet of the year is without a doubt The 17 Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno. The original self-published book couldn’t keep up with the demands generated by endorsements from Dr. Phil and The Doctors. Earlier this month, Dr. Mike Moreno republished through Simon and Schuster and The 17 Day Diet is now available through national booksellers.
Since November when the book debuted, many questions have been asked by followers of the diet and by those considering the diet. We sat down with Dr. Mike to clarify the most commonly asked questions by our readers.
Here are your questions about The 17 Day Diet, and Dr. Mike’s answers:
Is The 17 Day Diet Appropriate for Diabetics?
“Absolutely, it’s a diabetic’s best friend,” whether type 1 or type 2, diabetics will realize weight loss.
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Sure, you’ve probably heard that the workouts in Tony Horton’s P90X system are tough, but what do you know about the system’s nutrition plan? When it comes to getting in shape and losing weight, we know that exercise is great for our bodies and building muscle, but you also have to eat the right foods to show off all that hard work. Here are a few more details on the diet side of this popular workout DVD system.
About the P90X Nutrition Guide
The plan includes three one-month phases, all which include small meals eaten consistently throughout the day and lots of water to drink!
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“The question really should be: ‘Why do we NOT eat insects?” says Marcel Dicke, a food scientist and heal of entomology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He argues that bugs provide a healthier, more economic and green source of protein.
Dicke and his colleagues presented groundbreaking research into the possibilities of replacing animal meat with insects at the university to an audience of about 200. The guests were also invited to try a range of food prepared with grasshoppers, meals worms and buffalo worms. With the help of chef Henk van Gurp, the bugs became ingredients in a range of foods, from pastries to Thai spring rolls.
“Tasty…kind of nutty!” said one taster, Walinka van Tol of a meal worm praline. Dicke says that taste isn’t the issue, but rather convincing people that eating bugs doesn’t have to be disgusting. “People think it is something dirty. It generates a Fear Factor response,” he said, referring to the TV show that forced contestants to eat living bugs.
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