What are we sick of?

Maybe it’s just a trend in my neighborhood.  But has anyone noticed that clinics are popping up over town like retail stores?

Like new fast-food chains, it’s just a matter of days before the parking lots are full.

The advertisements could double for generic promotions of new tire lube services or fast-food joints:  “new convenient location, fast, friendly service.”  Doctors have display ads in the Sunday paper.

Are we really that sick?

The #1 killer in this country is heart disease.  However, 2 of the top 10 slots for best-selling medications are anti-psychotic drugs. With all of these new clinic grand-openings, why aren’t we treating what’s wrong?

Could it be that we are dying from a broken heart?

Paula Deen

Paula Deen said her cooking won’t change since she was diagnosed with diabetes, but I’m sure her diet will.

Can Curiosity Also Kill Diets?

Ever thought about how much unnecessary food there is in the world? If not, start now. If the average person ate in moderation which would consist of the basic 3 meals, plus a couple of snacks in between, would there really be a need for some of the thousands of new snacks that are marketed daily?

I thought about this in the grocery store. I saw a bag of Hot Dog flavored potato chips, and I suddenly had a craving for them. I never knew this flavor existed before my last trip to the supermarket, but now I was considering it as my next chew. Never mind the fact that I don’t even like hot dogs, I just wanted to know how the chemists managed to do it this time – a meal-flavored potato wafer. Hum.  I decided against it, as I really don’t care for hot dogs. I also knew that if I brought those chips home, I would have devoured the bag simply because it was there.

But what about the other useless snacks out there.  For instance, I was perfectly fine with the original recipe of my favorite cookie, now there seems to be more variations than an ivy plant.

We have gotten so many snack varieties to choose from, that I don’t think we give in to temptation anymore, just curiosity. I realized many of the snacks I bring home are something I’ve never tried before.

Experts are suddenly interested and concerned about the obesity rates in this country. Some even advocating taking obese children from their parents, and while portion sizes are usually discussed, I have yet to see a study on needless nibbles.

Many people remark that my four-year-old is small for her age.  When she was an infant, she was always being placed in the smaller baby room because the childcare worker was afraid that she would be trampled by the bigger tots.  She’s a healthy 30 pounds now, compared to her 40 pound friends.  However, she was nursed until she was a year old (she started solids at six months).  Also, when she’s hungry, I actually feed her a full-course meal, instead of something she can eat with her fingers.  When we we’re on the go, her snacks are filled with protein to make her feel full faster.

I didn’t really think my daughter’s weight or her diet was a conversation piece until somebody passed me a 20-pound baby to hold last week that was only four months old. He started solids at birth so that he could sleep through the night.  Yeah, in some cases maybe obese children should be taken from their parents.

Article first published as Something to Chew On on Technorati.

Picture This: Smoking Can Kill You

Photo Credit: Food & Drug Administration, 2011

 

The Food and Drug Administration wants the public to get the picture of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking – literally.

Beginning September 2012, the familiar caption on the spine of cigarette packs will now be positioned to the front and back covers complete with full-color graphics.   As the above photo illustrates, a typical pack of smokes will be wrapped with a billboard ad proof of a nine-part anti-smoking campaign series. 

The current text of the SG’s warning has as much as 14 words in one message.  However, the wording has been reduced to 3 words in some and a1-800 prefix to QUIT-NOW which provides anti-smoking support, coaching, educational and referral services in each state, Puerto Rico and Guam  Based on the images posted on the FDA’s website, the miniature, anti-smoking murals will occupy as much space on the cigarette packaging than the brand name itself. Cigarette advertisements will be required to devote another 20% of ad space to the messages.

Though the new labels are the first significant change in the smoking warnings in over a quarter of a century, the FDA plans to maintain the fear factor of the disturbing images which include rotting teeth and an autopsied corpse by updating the images as early as next year. The nine morbid images will be used to reduce the smoking-related deaths of nearly a half million people in the US annually.  The FDA and the anti-smoking group Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids assert that the current SG warnings that are now over 25 years old are ineffective for a target group who become lifetime smokers well under their 25 th birthday – children under 18 years of age. The law allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco for the first time is responsible for the grotesque change in the current warning labels. 

Alcohol is still regulated under the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms which may explain the stark contrast between the proposed nicotine billboards of dying cancer patients and the alcohol billboards of bikini-clad women.