Question: What do you get when Whole Foods (Earth Fare wannabe), the YMCA, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and government join forces to organize and implement a boots on the ground, neighborhood-focused, childhood anti-obesity campaign?
Answer:Â Fatter kids!
This is exactly what is happening in Sulphur Springs, an underprivileged community near downtown Tampa, Florida. Startlingly, at least 40% of first grade children in Sulphur Springs are already overweight or obese!
The Embrace A Healthy Florida initiative which Whole Foods, the Y and Blue Cross are involved with aims to change these sobering stats.
Problem is, their recommended healthy breakfast is bagels and fresh fruit which will do nothing but pack more pounds on these children already struggling with weight issues.
Not only does this type of breakfast provide basically no fat or protein, it is also high in sugar (fruit) and refined carbs (bagels – even if organic and whole grain) which will spike and then drop the blood sugar in these children who are already on a blood sugar see saw – the inevitable fast track to diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
What these children really need is 2 eggs, preferably free range, fried up in butter for breakfast.  Now that’s a breakfast that will help trim the backside, steady the blood sugar, and provide excellent concentration during school for optimal learning.
Even a full fat yogurt smoothie with some fresh fruit blended into it would be a huge improvement over the bagel with fresh fruit approach! A sprouted or sourdough bagel loaded up thick with butter would be fine too but you can be sure that there was no Real Butter to be found at this neighborhood sponsored “healthy” breakfast.
It is very sad to see such well meaning programs that have failure stamped on them from the get go.
Until the entrenched thinking that whole unprocessed fats such as butter and eggs are somehow unhealthy changes, however, American children will continue to get fatter and fatter as they are plied with whole grains and fruit for breakfast – the most important meal of the day and a real trigger for overweight unless done right.
It is the parents and caregivers who are able to think outside the box and realize that the USDA Food Plate and Food Pyramid are nothing but a political sham and that Traditional Foods for breakfast are ideal which are high in fat and protein with no refined carbs who truly have a fighting chance to preserve and protect their children from the ravages of the childhood obesity epidemic.
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