The lies on TV are making people fat.
Most people who know me, know I am not a TV watcher. Actually, I don’t even have cable at home (A rare thing these days, I know.) Very often, I have no idea which show is the “latest craze” and which commercials are all the rave.
Last week the TV did catch my attention. I was at my parent’s house and my mom had the TV on in the background. I was helping her cook and I nearly chopped my fingers off because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!
“Eat Cheerios to lower your cholesterol.” “Three or more glasses of skim milk a day are a great way to lose weight”. Then it got ugly “Splenda is just like sugar and is great for kids”.
The worst of them all (the one where my mother had to nearly restrain me from attacking the TV “There is nothing wrong with High Fructose Corn Syrup. It comes from corn and can actually be good for you.” I nearly passed out.
I can see why people are totally confused about healthy eating. I can also see why obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes are at an all time high in this country and in many others as well.
After I was done hyperventilating, I decided to first turn the TV off (because my heart just couldn’t take anymore) and then write this newsletter to clear up a few misconceptions.
1. Cheerios biggest claim to fame is that eating them will help you lower your cholesterol. I am here to tell you that eating processed grains, especially in the form of cereal can actually make your cholesterol go up! The cholesterol study done showed how soluble fiber can help the body eliminate bad cholesterol from the body. Cheerios has 1 gram of soluble fiber per serving. Woop-dee-doo. Big deal. I can get 2 grams of soluble fiber from an apple, 3 grams from broccoli and carrots, and more than 4 grams from kidney beans. (Beat that Cheerio Man). Honestly, I don’t think there are many foods in a box that are healthy at all. They have to be highly processed to stay shelf stable, many times loading them up with chemicals and fillers that are making us gain weight. My recommendation is ditch the cereal and pick up some wholesome natural foods like fruits and veggies. Natural grains like brown rice, millet and quinoa are 10x’s better than any boxed cereal.
2. Milk does a body bad! That’s really what the commercial should say. Ok, that is not entirely true. Conventional milk does a body bad. If you have read the Dairy chapter in The Diet Solution Program, you know my stance on milk: Organic is a must and Raw Milk is even better. If you didn’t catch my past newsletter on milk, you can read it here:
I Hope You Don’t Have A Milk Mustache
But don’t go yet until you read #3.
3. Give Splenda to my children? Never! Splenda has not been out on the market long enough to show whether it is actually safe or not. Until then it is a public health experiment (No thanks, I don’t’ want to be your guinea pig). Being the organic chemistry nerd that I am, I know exactly how sugar is converted to Splenda. I will spare you the chem lesson but tell you that Splenda (or sucralose) is a synthetic compound stumbled upon in 1976 by scientists in Britain seeking a new pesticide formulation. Huh? Did you say pesticide? Yup. Many chemists believe this molecule resembles a pesticide much more than it resembles natural sugar. If this is still in debate, I will not be a test subject. I highly recommend you take yourself and your children out of this experiment as well. My tip: Stick to natural sweeteners like whole fruits, stevia and agave syrup and stay away from artificial sweeteners like Splenda, Equal and Sweet & Low.
I could probably go on and on. If I watched TV long enough (or if I actually purchased cable) I could probably find 10, 20, 100 more commercials that are giving us false info, all in the name of selling products.
No, I did not forget about High Fructose Corn Syrup. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s newsletter where I will share 2 short videos on these crazy commercials and how you can find and eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup from your meal plans.
Now, go shut the TV off will ya?
In health and happiness,
Isabel De Los Rios
www.TheDietSolutionProgram.com
Hey Dee,
That is my favorite recommendation. Make sure to read the label before buying anything that is labeled as stevia. The ingredients should read “stevia” and nothing else.
My mother-in-law has come to say with us for a few months. I was on a “diet” trying to stay away from processed foods, potato chips, candy, and fried foods until she came. She does nothing but sit, eat her 100calorie snicky snacks and fall for every comercial on TV! What hit home was the Cheerios..my fat husband’s fav! She buys him chocolate and puts it by his chair infront of the Tv..She’s killing him! She is leaving next week and I am somehow going to lay down the law about eating when she is gone! I feel terrible, my husband feels terrible. All we do is sleep in bed if you know what I mean. I’m 53 and he is 55 and I think your SOLUTION may be our solution! I want to be healthy and the way we are eating now we will have either a heart attack, stroke or diabetes or cancer in the next 10 years if we don’t do something now!
I can’t tell you how much it inspires me to get your supportive emails. I just know this program will positively change my health. I stayed away from soda but drank a lot of Crystal Light. Being a “sweet-a-holic”, I was sure it would help to satisfy my cravings. Well, I can verify now that you are right. At day 10 without any sweetener other than stevia, and a big decrease in processed foods, my cravings are already cut by about 80% and I lost two and 1/2# in those 10 days! My biggest concern is this; I am a nurse on 12 hour midnight shifts with no idea how to get balance of activity and nutrition in my life. It’s hard to know if my body is telling me I need to sleep or to eat for energy. My schedule literally changes every few days so there is now natural biorhythm. Help! And keep those supportive messages coming, please. Thanks.
Hi Isabel,
I’ve found your information about artificial sweetners really informative (it’s actually difficult to get easy to understand and comprehensive info on this subject!) I have a further question which I hope you can answer…for the last 15 years or so I have been on the diet roller coaster road. For me, this has involved consuming a lot of “diet products” including diet soft drink, diet hot chocoloates, toppings, yoghurts, protein bars, all containing artificial sweetners, and I am sure a myriad of other products which contain artificial sweetners but that I did not even reaslise. For the first time in my life, I have gone about 5 weeks without any of these products. I am wondering however, how long it will take for them to get out of my system, as I am finding it very difficult to lose weight and think that perhaps the level of toxicity in my body from years of consumption may be inhibiting my weight loss. Your thoughts woudl be hugely appreciated!! Many thanks!
Thank you so much for the article about artificial sweeteners and all the other wonderful advice you have made available! I have spent the last 2 hours reading your blog and have made many notes. I love your “down-to-earth” style. – Lynn