resistant starch foods

When a Healthy Diet Isn’t Healthy

According to the market research firm Marketdata Enterpises Inc., Americans spend $55 billion a year on weight loss. Be it in the form of diet books, exercise equipment, health club memberships, pre-packaged meal plans or the ever elusive “magic pill” millions of Americans are trying anything to live a healthy lifestyle. And most are missing the mark, even those who appear perfectly healthy.

Why you may ask? The answer is both simple and complex. The quick and easy answer is greed. The corporations that produce those over-the-counter appetite suppressants and metabolism enhancers like hoodia, benzoyl peroxide and green tea extract prey on the same characteristic that causes most instances of obesity to begin with, sloth.

They know there is great profit to be made in selling the “magic pill” to those Americans who are convinced they can expel that spare tire without having to give up their precious drive-thru combos and channel surfing marathons. They also know (despite what they claim) that their products do not work; they’ve read the Mayo Clinic’s comprehensive study just like I have.

Those consumers are a lost cause but there are millions more out there that have been proactive by exercising, counting calories and reducing saturated fats. Their resting heart rate is under 70, their triglycerides are within acceptable parameters and their LDL’s are under 150. Yet they can’t seem to get rid of that fat roll. What gives?

This is the complex part. To write a blog post that explains all of the things wrong with our modern food system would actually constitute a book. Therefore I have collected some video information that may help you learn the truth that our government has conspired to keep from us all in the name of the simple answer, greed.  Both Bushes, Clinton and yes, even Obama have appointed Monsanto cronies to government posts that make policy for food safety.  The track record for all is heinous.

One of the lies is that skinny equals healthy.  What good are those six pack abs if your body is riddled with cancer or your circulatory system is invaded by aplastic anemia?  Oh yeah, so you can live longer and spend more of your life savings on government-subsidized pharmaceuticals that don’t cure anything.

The first is the movie The Future of Food.  “The Future Of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.” If you are not infuriated by the revelations in the movie then you are already dead.  The Future of Food is free to watch on Hulu or right here:

The next film ties in well with The Future of Food and it’s revelations about Monsanto and their holocaustic (New word!) genetically modified corn. It is called King Corn – You are what you eat. And according to the film no matter what you are eating, you are eating corn. It’s not yet available to view on Hulu but you can buy it from amazon by clicking HERE. Here’s the trailer:

The final film is Food Inc. This movie has created quite an uproar since its release this past summer. It has the government and their masters very nervous. It, too, is not yet available to view on Hulu but you can also buy it from amazon by clicking HERE. Here’s the trailer:

Obamas Getting Tough On Obesity?

This week we learned, ”People who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87% increased risk — or nearly twice the risk — of pancreatic cancer compared to individuals consuming no soft drinks,” says Noel T. Mueller, MPH, lead research associate at the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center.  This from the recently published study in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention?

The study was done to test a theory that high glycemic beverages like soft drinks and commercial grade fruit juices are a major contributor to pancreatic cancer.  The study found that commercial grade juices, though extremely high on the glycemic scale, do not effect pancreatic cancer risk.  So what could be the difference?

Oh yeah, juice contains a natural sugar.  Soft drinks contain a synthetic one, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  Coincidence?

HFCS of course is the brainchild of one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, Monsanto.

This week we also learned that the Obama’s have announced a new child obesity initiative with cheflebrity Jamie Oliver, Let’s Move.  This would be exciting if it weren’t such an utter fraud.  While Oliver is genuine, Mrs. Obama made her announcement with USDA chief Tom Vilsak (legendary Monsanto lobbyist) and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin (a Burger King consultant) at her side.

Also standing with the first lady was Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, a career politician with absolutely no experience or training in social services or nutrition.  Ms. Sebelius has degrees in political science and public administration, the academic equivalents of basket weaving.

With a stroke of his mighty pen, President Obama signed an executive order that outlines the ever expanding federal government’s role in a problem that affects one-third of the school-age children in the country.  An issue that he claims as, “one of the most urgent health issues we face in this country,” with all of the sincerity of a fox offering to guard the hen house.

While proper exercise is another key factor in childhood obesity the chief cause is diet.  Between diet and exercise, diet is the most important.  If children enjoy a proper diet then the amount of exercise they receive in an average school day would suffice. But a diet of processed foods containing HFCS and hydrogenated oils requires much more exercise to negate the negative effects of that diet.

That’s why the Obama’s Let’s Move serves as little more than a diversion from the real issue.  The people the President has appointed to make the decisions about what is and is not healthy are not qualified to make these decisions.  People like Sebelius, Benjamin, Vilsak and many others do not base their policies on what is best for the country but what is best for their corporate masters.

If President Obama were genuine he would not have traded our children’s well-being for campaign contributions.  He likely did not chose his appointees because of careful examination of the facts but more likely to repay the people who financed the most expensive Presidential campaign in history. Clearly they where not chosen based on qualifications.  Holding a press conference vowing to end the obesity epidemic while surrounded by the very people championing the chemicals causing that epidemic is at best  hypocritical.

food revolution

Never Diet – Change Your Lifestyle

NEWSFLASH: Diets do not work. There are no shortcuts!

At least no healthy ones, anyway. Sure you can have some hack stick the business end of a Oreck in your gut or take enough appetite suppressants to wire your central nervous system but you will not be any healthier. Diets do not work. Diet is the key. When you read of the latest diet you are not hearing about diet, you are hearing about a fad and none of them are healthy.

“What about the Mediterranean Diet,” you may ask, “Isn’t that supposed to be healthy?” When the phrase Mediterranean Diet comes up it does not mean a weight loss program, it means the diet of the people of the Mediterranean Sea.

What they eat everyday of their lives and yes that is as healthy as you will ever find. There are tons of studies that show us a lifetime commitment to eating more whole grains, fruits and vegetables and a decreasing emphasis on animal protein (fish first, then poultry, and finally beef/goat/lamb/dairy/etc.) and sugar is the way to go. Add in the proper amount of exercise and you have the recipe for a healthy life. Do not do this and nothing else you do is healthy. Proper diet and exercise is the way to go.

But the endless cycle of weight loss/weight gain is worse for your body than toting around that spare tire. Need to know more about the Mediterranean Diet? Check out the American Heart Association’s research.

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Stuart in 80 Words or Less

Stuart is a celebrity chef, food activist and award-winning food writer. He penned the cookbooks Third Coast Cuisine: Recipes of the Gulf of Mexico, No Sides Needed: 34 Recipes To Simplify Life and Amigeauxs - Mexican/Creole Fusion Cuisine. He hosts two Internet cooking shows "Everyday Gourmet" and "Little Grill Big Flavor." His recipes have been featured in Current, Lagniappe, Southern Tailgater, The Kitchen Hotline and on the Cooking Channel.

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Stuart’s Honors & Awards

2015 1st Place Luck of the Irish Cook-off
2015 4th Place Downtown Cajun Cook-off
2015 2nd Place Fins' Wings & Chili Cook-off
2014 2015 4th Place LA Gumbo Cook-off
2012 Taste Award nominee for best chef (web)
2012 Finalist in the Safeway Next Chef Contest
2011 Taste Award Nominee for Little Grill Big Flavor
2011, 12 Member: Council of Media Tastemakers
2011 Judge: 29th Chef's of the Coast Cook-off
2011 Judge: Dauphin Island Wing Cook-off
2011 Cooking Channel Perfect 3 Recipe Finalist
2011 Judge: Dauphin Island Gumbo Cook-off
2011 Culinary Hall of Fame Member
2010 Tasty Awards Judge
2010 Judge: Bayou La Batre Gumbo Cook-off
2010 Gourmand World Cookbook Award Nominee
2010 Chef2Chef Top 10 Best Food Blogs
2010 Denay's Top 10 Best Food Blogs
2009 2nd Place Bay Area Food Bank Chef Challenge
2008 Tava: Discovery Contest Runner-up

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