Senate Bill 1941

Fight back against Senate Bill 1941.  If passed, this bill will only allow Registered Dietitians to “furnish nutritional information” or engage in the “explanation to persons as to the use of food.” We must stop the American Dietetic Association before legislation like this is passed in all 50 states. New Jersey is where we start.Take action now for your freedom to speak about nutrition.

Your role is simple: Dial the numbers below and say, “I’m calling to oppose Senate Bill 1941.” This bill proposes that in New Jersey only Registered Dieticians will be allowed to speak with clients about nutrition.

Robert Singer: (732) 901-0702

Joseph Vitale: (732) 855-7441

The ADA’s mission is to serve the public as “the most valued source” of good advice about food and nutrition. But the ADA receives more than $3 million from Wendy’s, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Taco Bell, Hershey’s and more. On the ADA website you’ll find tips on how to make a family dinner healthier–sponsored by Wendy’s.

The U.S. government recommends 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-4 servings of fruits and 6-11 servings of grains a day. When was the last time you saw a tray filled with greens, fruits and grains at Wendy’s?

Read more about troublesome partnerships with the food industry: Dietitians and their company sponsors make strange buffet fellows.

If this bill passes, New Jersey citizens will lose the freedom to seek dietary advice from nutrition experts of their choice. We don’t allow monopolies in business, so why would we allow Registered Dietitians to monopolize the field of nutrition?

Dr. Neal Barnard, founder and president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says: “If standardization of the nutrition practice is left in the hands of a single professional organization, the potential bias caused by financial arrangements raises important questions…It is a dangerous mistake to establish in law a monopoly on nutritional counseling.”

Michael Jacobson, PhD, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest says: “I’m very troubled by laws that prevent anyone–including professors of nutrition–from giving nutrition advice, unless they are registered dietitians.”

If this bill passes, millions will be impacted. The bill claims that the health and welfare of the residents of New Jersey will be protected by identifying to the public those individuals who are qualified and legally authorized to practice dietetics/nutrition. The citizens of New Jersey certainly need protection–but not from Health Counselors.

The time to call is now! Pick up the phone to have your voice heard.

Your urgent call to action is simple:

1. Make the call now.
2. Forward this email to everyone you know.
3. Ask them to call and forward this email.

How to be a great dad

This post is brought to you from Zen Habits.

I’m often asked about raising six kids, and being productive and achieving goals and changing habits in the midst of raising so many kids. But here’s the thing: I do all the other stuff, the productivity stuff, because of my kids.

They, and my wife, are my reason for being.

It is my lifelong goal to be the best dad possible, and while there are many ways I can still improve, I think I’m a pretty great dad already, when I sit back and think about it. I know there are some readers who are just starting out in their careers as dads, and this post is for you.

How can you be a great dad? As always, my list of tips:

1. Put their interests first, always. Do you enjoy drinking or smoking? Guess what — it’s not good for them, and you’re setting an example with everything you do. I quit smoking about 18 months ago not for my sake, but for my kids. Now, it is still important to take care of yourself (otherwise you can’t take care of them), but you should still have them in mind.
2. Protect them. As a dad, one of your main roles is protector. There are many ways you need to do this. Safety is one: child-proof your home, teach them good safety habits, set a good example by using your seatbelt, make sure they use a car seat if below a certain age & weight, etc. But financial protection is also important: have life insurance, car insurance, an emergency fund, a will.
3. Spend your spare time with them. When we get home from work, often we’re tired and just want to relax. But this is the only time we have with them during the weekdays, often, and you shouldn’t waste it. Take this time to find out about their day, lay on the couch with them. On weekends, devote as much time as possible to them. While work may be your passion, it won’t be long before they’re grown and no longer want to spend time with you. Take advantage of these years. The thing kids want most from their dads is their time.
4. Give them hugs. Dads shouldn’t be afraid to show affection. Kids need physical contact, and not just from their moms. Snuggle with them, hug them, love them.
5. Play with them. Go outside and play sports. Do a treasure hunt. Have a pillow fight. Play Transformers or Pokemon with them. Don’t just watch TV. Show them how to have fun. See 100 Ways to Have Fun with Your Kids for Free or Cheap.
6. Do the “mom” stuff. Things that are traditionally considered “mom” duties are not just for moms anymore — changing diapers, feeding, bathing, rocking them to sleep in the middle of the night. Dads should help out as much as they can, sharing these types of duties equally if possible. And in fact, if you’re a dad of a baby, this is the perfect time to bond with your child. You should leap at the chance to do these things, because that’s how you start a life-long close relationship with your child.
7. Read to them. This is one of the most important things you can do for your child. First of all, it’s so much fun. Kids books are really cool, and it’s great when you can share something this wonderful with your child. Second, you are teaching them one of the most fundamentally important skills (reading) that will pay off dividends for life. And third, you are spending time with them, you’re sitting or lying close together, and you are enjoying each other’s company. See the Best All-Time Children’s Books.
8. Stand by mom. Don’t contradict their mother in front of them, don’t fight with her in front of them, and most definitely don’t ever abuse her. How you treat their mother affects their self-esteem, and the way they will treat themselves and women when they grow up. Be kind and respectful and loving of their mother. And always work as a team — never contradicting statements of the other.
9. Teach them self-esteem. Maybe this should be No. 1. Well, these aren’t in any order, but this is one of the most important points. There is nothing you can do that is better than giving them high self-esteem. How do you do this? A million ways, but mainly by showing them (not telling them) that you value them, by spending time with them, by talking and listening to them, by praising things they do, by teaching them (not telling them) how to be competent. Praise and encourage, don’t reprimand and discourage.
10. Teach them about finances. This is a point often missed in articles about dadhood. You might not need to teach your 1-year-old about index funds or portfolio diversity, but from an early age, you can teach them the value of money, how to save money to reach a goal, and later, how earn money and how to manage money properly. You don’t want your child to go into the world knowing as little as you did, do you?
11. Be good to yourself. You shouldn’t give up your entire life when you become a dad. You need to take care of yourself, give yourself some alone time, and some time with your buddies, in order to be a great dad when you’re with your kids. Also take care of your health — eat healthy, exercise — because 1) you can’t take care of your kids if you’re sickly, 2) you are teaching your kids how to be healthy for life, and 3) you want to enjoy those grandkids someday.
12. Be good to the mom. This isn’t the same as No. 8 — you should be good to their mom even when they’re not looking. Take her to dinner, give her a massage, do chores around the house for her, give her some time alone and babysit while she goes out, show affection to her, give her little surprises. Because when mom’s happy, the kids are happy. And dad will be happy too!

Also check out: GreatDad.com

Happy Father’s Day.

Now you can drink your grains

I like to use Almond milk in my smoothies instead of real milk, but once again we have a great example of just how stupid the big companies think we are.  Why do we need more liquid grains?  I guess that since we don’t eat enough of them, we should start drinking them.

I don’t know about you, but when they start adding more nutraceuticals to my food, I start to wonder what I am really eating.

Consumers are now fully accepting of grain-based dairy substitutes and the trend is only growing. Moreover, it’s a valuable trend as processors continue to incorporate more — and more diverse — nutraceuticals and other health components into these beverages.

From Mark’s Daily Apple

link to the Food Processing.com article

King Corn – the documentary

Time to spring clean

Think back a few months to October. Remember Halloween and the candy you ate? After Halloween came Thanksgiving and the big turkey dinner with family and friends. Then came all of the holiday parties and extra food and drink, not to mention all of the stress involved in shopping for the perfect gift for everyone you know. On New Years, you promised yourself that you would go on a diet and join the gym. But it was so cold and dark for the past 3 months, things didn’t go quite as planned. Now it’s finally April and it’s getting warmer and the sun is out later and now you are thinking about the summer, putting on a bathing suit and going to the beach. You need to spring clean your life.

Spring is the season for renewal. It is the time of year that we clean up our lives, homes and bodies. In Chinese medicine, each organ in the body is associated with a particular season. The liver is associated with spring and by no coincidence the liver is our bodies main organ for detoxification

Every day, we are subjected to a variety of toxins and pollutants. The air we breathe is polluted, our food contains hormones and pesticides and many people take a variety of medications every day. Our diet is not much better. We eat a diet based largely on refined carbohydrates, sugar, fried foods, caffeine and alcohol. All of these create toxicity and inflammation in our body’s and force our liver to work overtime to detoxify and restore balance. A seasonal detox offers a chance to eliminate all the built up toxins and allow our body to cope with the burdens we have placed on it.

The first thing we can do is to make sure that we are drinking at least 8, 16 ounce glasses of water a day. I recommend that people drink up to half of their body weight in onces of water every day. If you weighed 130 pounds, you would drink 65 ounces of water a day. Water is essential to our survival and most of us are walking around chronically dehydrated every single day and don’t even know it. Water helps the body to be able to flush out the toxins and proper hydration leaves your skin smooth and wrinkle free.

To combat the amount of pesticides and hormones found in most of our food, we need to choose organic whenever possible. Organic, green leafy vegetables are rich in phytonutrients and vitamins and are a great way to purify your blood. Greens are also a great source of fiber. Fiber rich foods bind up toxins and make them easier for the body to excrete them and do not allow them to be reabsorbed into the bloodstream. Good sources of fiber rich foods are; strawberries, apples, carrots, avocados, kale and bock choy.

Exercise is a great way to detoxify your body. The skin is the body’s largest organ for elimination and our body releases toxins when it sweats. Activities like running, swimming, yoga, biking, rowing all are good ways to sweat out the toxins in your body. Exercise also releases endorphins that help to regulate your mood. Studies have even shown that just 30 minutes of brisk walking is as effective as dealing with depression as taking Prozac.
Stress is a huge source of toxicity in our lives. Any good detox program includes a protocol for reducing the sources of stress in our lives. Yoga, meditation and deep breathing are all helpful ways to deal with stress. It is important to identify the sources of stress in your life. For many people, their relationships are a major source of stress in their lives. Sometimes the people that are closest to us create the majority of our day to day stress. Learn to identify the people in your life who are “toxic” and limit the amount of control that you give them over your life. Trust me, you will be a lot happier for it.

Try a 3 week guided detox program to jump start your health.

Forced Vacinations in NJ?

The Public Health Council in New Jersey has voted to require all children attending preschool or daycare to be injected with not just one vaccine, but four different vaccines.