Dr. Phil, MeMe Roth and Ozzy Osbourne's Kid..? Get Ready for One Hot Mess...

Dr. Phil, "The Ultimate Fat Debate" Tues April 6 and Wed April 7. Ready for a hot mess..? Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly joins all of us on the panel including Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels and of course, those pro-fat bullies... Man they're mean... or just really angry... or both. 3pm Eastern TOMORROW and Part 2 on Wednesday...

I Saw You Tonight in the Hot Tub Time Machine!

I saw you tonight..!

You were young and tight, had shiny hair, white teeth (naturally), and you were SO MUCH FUN..!

We were out way past curfew, and not once did anyone mention "snacking." Instead it was boys boys boys or girls girls girls or whatever. We were all more interested in hooking up rather than scoring a 4th Meal...

What a blast we had! You were full of energy, so light in your shoes, so agile...so sexy.

Listen to me right now. Jump into that damn Hot Tub Time Machine and get back to where you once belonged. Get back, Jojo! Whether the soundtrack of your fitter and more fun self is the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, the Stones, James Taylor, the Eagles, Bad Company, AC/DC, Bob Seger, Journey, Duran Duran, Siouxie and the Banshees, Adam Ant, the Cure, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Poison, Madonna, the Black Crowes, Nirvana, REM, Lenny Kravitz, Hootie and the Blowfish...or whatever... Put it on and rock out..!

Get yourself back into the mindset of when you had everything in front of you and the weight of the world was a concept in your mind not a reality on your ass... Come on! Come on! You know you can do better... You know you are better... Be your better self! Maybe your sillier self... your slinkier self... And have a blast doing it...

I'm turnin' on Van Halen II right effing now... Have you seen her? So fine and pretty...

Tell Me Your Answers for Obesity...

The New York Times asks how to solve the obesity crisis... Harriet Brown, Kelly D. Brownell, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Alwyn T. Cohall and Ellyn Satter answer...

And here's my answer...

We must accept that most of those already obese will remain so. Not that they can't lose the excess weight, but that they won't. It's hard enough in today's culture to prevent excess weight, and far harder to lose it once gained... (Although, for everyone of you trying, go go go!)

So what do we do? 2 Things:

1- We do all that we can to encourage daily exercise and wholesome food consumption for all people of all sizes. Why? To reduce the steep financial cost and human suffering cost of chronic illness.

2- We direct all our resources to the Pre-Pregnancy to Age 5 bracket--before their body compositions, eating habits and exercise patterns are set. Now is the time to foster Generation H for Healthy... We'll age ourselves out of this obesity crisis, beginning with Gen H.

The above will take immediate cultural changes and policy changes--and a deep questioning of the very memes that ushered in this era of obesity--to create an environment that promotes health rather than instant gratification, food solicitations directed at vulnerable children, and the only benchmark being 90-day updates to Wall Street of increased sales at reduced costs.

The challenge isn't just nutrition or exercise--it's behavioral psychology and neuroscience. And at that game, my friends, industry has us beat. They have every corner of our parietal lobes lit up, they know just how to trigger intense dopamine-driven cravings, and they know the exact "bliss point" to release the pleasure cascade of opioids should we give in to temptation. Industry's plan is to formulate, package and market "ingestible entertainment" that bypasses all reason... Don't believe me? Strip down and look in the mirror.

And yet, I do believe 100% in personal responsibility. Just as we're held accountable for our anger and sexual impulses, so too must we learn accountability for our eating impulses. Instead of indoctrinating our children into a mode of eating as entertainment (40% of "food" served to children is of low or no nutritional value according to a recent D of Ag study. We're not even trying, People...), we must emphasize the unadulterated pleasure of nourishment. And if children aren't deprived of their minimal hour of daily exercise, they can enjoy the occasional treat with little consequence to their weight or health...

For eons, humans had to survive scarcity. Now we'll find out just who can survive abundance. My bet is on the kids whose parents aren't hooking them on soft drinks...

(Now tell me your answers for reversing today's alarming obesity trends... Please add your comments.)

Fat Kids = Healthy Kids..??

The Pro-Fat-Acceptance Movement goes too far... They say Fat Kids = Healthy Kids... Watch exactly what this Pro-Fat Leader says today on MSNBC...

Tune in to Fox Business Network and Stuart Varney's Show at 10:15ish A.M... Wednesday, February 10, 2010. I'll join the always-angry-at-me Stuart Varney to chat up Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" Child Obesity Campaign...

Will Governor Paterson Wuss Out? Soda Tax...Again

In today's budget press conference, New York Governor David Paterson once again pushed for a "soda tax;" aka, Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax. Instead of going for the 18% tax like his last failed effort, this time Paterson is following the lead of experts pushing at the national level for a soda tax including UNC's Barry Popkin, Yale's Kelly Brownell, Harvard's David Ludwig and the CSPI's Michael Jacobson. The model calls for a penny-per-ounce tax on the ubiquitous, non-essential liquid candy.

On a national level, $15 billion annually is expected to be raised by the penny-per-ounce tax. Here in New York, we anticipate about $1 Billion annually in extra funds raised from taxing sugary soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit-like drinks, etc.

Beverage lobbyists are crying foul that the tax is regressive and disproportionately targets poorer, lesser educated communities of color. News Flash: Obesity/diabetes/soda marketers disproportionately target poorer, lesser educated communities of color. This soda tax will help those communities by curbing soda consumption, reducing obesity-related illnesses and setting aside funds to cover some publicly funded healthcare expenses associated with obesity/diabetes/soda consumption. Of the $7.6 billion (more than almost any other state) spent annually on adult obesity-related health issues in New York, an astounding 80% is covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Quick Translation: That's me and my fellow New Yorkers footing the bill..! And that's ALL OF US at the national level... Hello, Obesity Bailout.

But Paterson backed down before. Why? Pepsi threatened to pull its headquarters out of New York and head West to New Jersey or East to Connecticut. Will Pepsi bully Paterson into submission again?

Or will the desperate dollar needs of New York state prevail?

I much prefer a Soda Tax over paying more into this massive Obesity Bailout.

Burger King and Reebok Meaning of Christmas

Fantastic News! Burger King's offering Funnel Cake Sticks "served all day long" says the TV spot. That ubiquitous and creepy King suggests you might enjoy a "taste of the circus" anytime.

And no worries about those 300 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 7 and a half teaspoons of sugar. Just get yourself a pair of those Reebok EasyTone shoes... Wear 'em to bed like in their cheeky commercial, and Voila!

You still get to have a nice ass.

Hallelujah! Burger King and Reebok together deliver a real Christmas Miracle...

It's Friday Night. Do You Know Where Your Penis Is?

It's Friday night--Do you know where your penis is?

Obesity is robbing our nation of its manhood--literally.

Adipose tissue in those giant bellies is converting testosterone into estrogen. Yes, THAT estrogen. Obesity is emasculating our men. Man boobs, man-o-pause, manly night sweats?? Are we gonna let this happen?

It doesn't stop there. Our overweight boys on the cusp of puberty are awash in estrogen too instead of testosterone. Our obese little girls are getting breasts and their periods in 1st grade instead of 8th. We're a nation of women--but not in a good way. This isn't a feminist movement, but rather a feminizing movement. And that aint good.

Ah Men--their square jaws, broad shoulders, taut chests--they're my favorite. And I'd like to keep the world ratio about 50/50 men to women.

And yet our men are overly in touch with their feminine side, having eaten themselves limp. That's right. This excess estrogen lessens libido and bedroom performance. Forget that rock-hard, 130 degree angle of magnificence--this is castration by obesity. All-Eunuch-Can-Eat-Buffet Style...

Do this. Tonight in the shower, look down... Glorious sight or nothing but belly? No man should stand for an obscured view of his manhood. If I had what you have, I'd really like to be able to see it in person, not just in the mirror.

And Warning Ladies: A good man is hard to find... but a hard man is becoming nearly impossible...

Save the Manhood..!

Zero Weight-Gain Pregnancy- Blame the Baby?

I'm a straight-shooter, so I have zero tolerance for passive aggressive types. My least favorite are those who blame their children for making them fat.

How many times have you heard women talking about "pregnancy weight" they're carrying around years after their babies are no longer babies. I grew up with that silly rhetoric. Every woman in my family regularly claimed "baby weight." Luckily, I also had a look at what they ate and what exercise they didn't do...

What kind of message is it to blame our children for what we ate while pregnant..? Pregnancy doesn't make you fat. What you eat while pregnant does.

Thankfully and tragically, with the majority of U.S. women of child-bearing age already overweight or obese before conceiving, experts have adjusted pregnancy weight-gain guidelines. There's also a new "Healthy Moms" study suggesting the obese mother-to-be keep her weight in check by gaining no more than 3% of her starting body weight during gestation.

We know obesity increases the risk for pregnancy and delivery complications. We also know obesity is associated with a higher incidence of birth defects. Birth Defects. It simply has to be said more than once that we're eating ourselves not just into cancer, diabetes stroke, organ failure and incontinence, but also birth defects for our children.

If you're unwilling or unable to eat properly before, during and after pregnancy, then the socially unacceptable truth is you're unprepared to be a parent.

This isn't about "dieting" or "restricting calories" as the pro-fat bullies roar--this is about a fundamental obligation to an unborn child.

More info on this in New York Times, Tara Parker Pope's "Well" Blog...

Obesity Stuff You Want to Know...

Children Now and the FTC and other bigwigs are discussing "Marketing to Kids" this week in Washington, DC. Are we really still discussing this same topic since the Carter administration? It's wrong to bypass parents and market junk food directly to kids...wrong and also pretty skeevy.

If you can't be in DC Tuesday morning, December 15th, watch the FTC's "Sizing Up Food Marketing & Childhood Obesity" event live via webcast here. The super-fabulous Margo Wootan of the CSPI will be on the afternoon panel.

So General Mills is reducing the sugar content of the cereal it markets to kids. It'll go down to 9 grams of sugar per serving. That's more than 2 teaspoons for every 3/4 cup. Just buy high-protein, high-fiber, high-quality cereal that has ZERO sugar. Then let your little one add 1 single teaspoon of sugar. That'll be 4 grams. I don't like the idea of habituating kids to tossing sugar onto cereal, but I think it's better than the best of big brand's "candy for breakfast" offerings... Going with berries is a better option than sugar of course...

I loved Thomas Frieden when he headed up NYC's Department of Health, (now head of the CDC). And I love our new guy, Thomas Farley too. And I've always loved Cathy Nonas... She's busy rockin' out her campaign "Don't Drink Yourself Fat." The newest installment comes today as a gross-out tv spot.

Are we really serving this shit to our kids..?

Your Family Doctor...on Coke

Yep, it's true... The American Academy of Family Physicians is on Coke--Coca-Cola.

They decided to sell-out in a major conflict-of-interest and take cash from Coke. This kind of corruption is rampant in medicine, but it's true also of the American Dietetic Association (ya know, nutritionists / registered dietitians), who takes cash from Coke AND Pepsi, as well as the YMCA who takes cash from Pepsi, (to fund their Healthy Kids Day programs. Irony Alert..?)

Plus, schools across the country regularly sell-out children's health in "pouring contracts" for quick cash from the soft drink, sports drinks, energy-drinks and junk-food makers...

Enough already.

Ya got nothing if you don't have your health. But trading our children's health away to Coke and Pepsi..? Criminal.

UNC's Dr. Barry Popkin, my professional hero crush, can't fight these ethics battles alone. Get involved now by at least signing on in protest:

http://www.commercialexploitation.org/actions/aafpcokepartnership.html

http://www.petitiononline.com/YMCAFood/petition.html

Hating Obesity is the Start...

I hate Obesity.

Obesity is not the Person--it's the cancer, diabetes, chronic disease eating away at the person you love the most--maybe even yourself.

Obesity robs people of all that they are and can be. It steals their dreams, their bodies, their manhood, their womanhood and their will to achieve their full potential. Obesity simply makes all aspects of life harder--so much harder.

Eventually, Obesity makes even getting out of bed too demanding. Staring out a single window year-after-year at the same hummingbird feeder--That is the view from Obesity.

Imagine shitting yourself in bed rather than making the full effort to get 5 feet to the bathroom.

That's Obesity.

I've seen it up close for decades.

Yes, I hate Obesity. Hating Obesity gives me some of the strength to maintain my own health and weight, and that of my children.

If we're to do anything about reversing America's Obesity Crisis, it has to start with hating the heinous monster Obesity really is.

See the New Food Label from CSPI..?

What do you think of the new suggested Nutrition Label from the Center for Science in the Public Interest..?

I Love it..!

(Full Disclosure: As president of National Action Against Obesity, I volunteer on several CSPI sub-committees, especially in the areas of school food and marketing food to children...)

CSPI can't be lauded enough for their tireless efforts over the past several decades...Michael Jacobson and Margo Wootan are heroes...

How about 1 more tiny change to the Food Label..?

2000 Calories as the suggested daily intake is hundreds more calories per day than most of us require... The average American adult is 5'7"...and, unfortunately, sedentary.

So the daily suggested calories should be something more like 1500 Calories...

Want to eat more? Great! Earn those extra calories with exercise... Every mile run will buy ya 100 more calories.

Either way, with all the wonderful improvements suggested by the CSPI, the Nutrition Label also should reflect a more realistic, healthy, daily calorie intake.

2000 calories works fine if 200 pounds would be an ideal healthy weight for ya--like if you're 6 foot 4.

Read more about the new Food Label in Tara Parker Pope's New York Times article...

The World Suckles Coca-Cola...

Does this image disturb you as much as it disturbs me..?

"Hello, we're Coca-Cola. Here's our business plan for the world."

Keep in mind, this is a TIME Magazine cover from 1950...

What Do You Call Food..?

Let's loosely define "food" as substances ingested for the purpose of nourishment.

Close enough?

Now ask yourself:

What Percentage of What I Eat is Food?

And What Percentage of What I Serve My Children is Food?

Startling isn't it? I'm not saying we can never eat an indulgent treat. That's never been my point. My entire purpose is that we all be more mindful of just what we're putting into our bodies and those of our children.

Why? So we can compensate and remain healthy. We must meet the daily nourishment needs of our bodies so we may grow, heal and function properly. We also must exercise everyday to keep these magnificent machines working.

And should we enjoy a little "junk food" now and then... let's just be mindful that we need to offset those empty calories with extra exercise.

Also, make sure to go for the good stuff--you know, the treats made from wholesome ingredients. Exercise won't compensate for the deluge of toxins found in most "Frankenfoods."

And please be a hypocrite. Many of us are from the Pop-Tart Generation and we have a whole host of bad habits to set down. Even so, that's no reason to get our kids hooked. They deserve a fighting chance to grow up healthier than we did. (Full disclosure: I grew up in Atlanta and LOVE the taste of Classic Coke. It's true. Although it pains me to admit it. But no matter how much I enjoyed as a kid getting hooked on that fizzy food coloring and high-fructose corn syrup concoction, there's no way in hell I would serve soft drinks to my own children--no way. I realize when they become adults, they may well decide to drink soda. But by then they'll be able to fully comprehend the potential risks of obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, dental decay, short-term ADHD-type reactions, etc.)

You know there are things that "grown ups" do that our kids know nothing about. If you can't say "no" to a naughty nosh, just do your best to be a stealth hypocrite. You don't want to bring it into the house and make a big deal about how "these treats are only for Mommy and Daddy..."

Buckle Up to Slim Down...

Happy Birthday, Seatbelts..! Well, not your real birthday, but the 25th Anniversary of when it became LAW to wear seatbelts--you know--when people actually started to use you so as not to be thrown missile-like through the windshield.

Knowing the threat didn't seem to work. Americans needed the whole "Buckle Up for Safety" campaign to convince us... And New York was the first state to make it law. Today, only New Hampshire finds the policy offensive to its "Live Free or Die" motto. No matter buckling up has averted incalculable human suffering and saves $3 Billion annually in costs associated with auto-related injuries and deaths that never have to be paid.

I have to confess I wasn't big on wearing seatbelts. My parents never buckled up my brothers and me--all the better for us to freely knock each other senseless on every roadtrip. And once I could drive that red hot Dodge 400 Convertible on my own, well, seatbelts would be waaaay too uncool. That is until not wearing a seatbelt crushed 14 bones in my little brother's gorgeous face, destroyed his lip, and stole many of his pearly whites--I mean perfectly straight teeth without the aid of braces--and not a filling among them. His wreck was 20 years ago, and I've buckled up ever since.

Funny how well seatbelts work when you use them. It's kinda like eating right and exercising daily. How many times do I have to hear intelligent people with PhDs lecture or write about the poor obese souls who, try as they might, "eating right and exercising daily just doesn't work for them..."

What??

Oooooh, what you really mean is that doing those things didn't work because people didn't do them. Ya know, the data on unbuckled seatbelts isn't all that stellar either.

Yeah, I get it, it's easier to fasten a seatbelt than to eat properly and exercise everyday...

But come on people, buckle up and buckle down. It's your life and your kids in the backseat.

As for my brother, he's still super-gorgeous--and single. And he better be wearing his seatbelt.

Thanksgiving with President Obama, NFL's Play 60, and Peyton Manning's OREOs

You maintain a healthy body weight by eating right and exercising daily...

So you wanna indulge a little on Turkey Day..? Go for it..!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving..!

And when President Obama shows up during the game with his "United We Serve" Child Obesity PSA with the NFL's "Play 60" Campaign, the good news will be that the issue of child obesity is getting the attention it deserves. The bad news is that the Prez is apparently going along with Big Food and Big Beverage's talking points about "exercise."

The half-trillion-dollar food industry will say anything to get the attention off of improper eating as the primary cause of America's obesity crisis. (No matter studies show exercise hasn't changed dramatically in recent decades, yet compared to the 70s, the average American today consumes 150-350 more calories per day.)

Don't get me wrong. Exercise is vital. I knock out a 4-mile run everyday, whether I feel like it or not. Fat or fit, you can't be healthy without daily exercise. America's kids need an hour a day--and those are the kids who eat properly. Add in just 2 of NFL heros Peyton and Eli Manning's Double-Stuff OREOs, and that same child now needs to run an extra mile and a half to burn-off the empty 140 calories...

Think Obama will mention that..?

Lost Your Place in Line for Swine Flu Vaccine..?

Ho Ho Ho..! Santas want to be first in line for H1N1 shots. Should you get a lump of coal if Santa wants to cut in front of you in the vaccine line...and you say "no, no no?"

The W.H.O. says those with underlying health risks should go to the front of the swine flu shot line. That includes the obese and those with type 2 diabetes.

9 times out of 10, those who are obese or develop type 2 diabetes are suffering the consequences of habitual, improper eating. Typically we're talking too much of the right food, too much of the wrong food, or a combo of both. Does that mean they deserve to cut..?

In Santa's defense, he comes in contact with gobs of kiddie germs all holiday season long. Plus, he's a prime candidate for spreading swine flu...

A couple years ago I did several news appearances when the governing body for all mall Santa Clauses (yep, there really is such an organization.), having realized the majority of Santas weren't just obese, but dangerously, morbidly obese, asked their membership to lose weight. I mentioned that America's current depiction of Santa Claus is an incredibly successful marketing device of the Coca-Cola Company. They may not have invented Santa, but Coke spent millions embedding his larger-than-life image into our minds. Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, and St. Nick historically hadn't been portrayed so pervasively portly.

I wondered if maybe it was time for a more Jack LaLanne-like Santa, what with Santa having all those heavy gifts to deliver and circumnavigating the globe in one night... Since then, I've had to read all over the place that I called Santa "fat." No kidding. Even The New York Times reported that silliness... I got dumped from a speaking gig because of it. Talk about wrongfully being put on the "naughty" list..!

So Santa's obesity and non-stop cootie contamination put him in line for the H1N1 vaccine in front of whom? You? Your Kids..? Pregnant Women..?

And what about type 2 diabetics... Do they get their swine flu shots before you too..?

$344 Billion by 2018. Stop the Pussyfooting...

If obesity really will cost us $344 Billion by 2018, as yesterday's stunning report says, where's our state of emergency?

Are we refusing to address obesity due to implications on the Economy? Food/Bev/Pharma would all suffer if Americans ate right. But the economics have shifted grossly when the rest of us have to pay a $344 Billion Obesity Bailout.

We're at the point where 75% of our youth are unfit for military service. It's time to stop debating a baked chip vs. fried. It's time to really do what it takes to reverse obesity...and nobody's gonna like it. But can we afford to continue letting industry decide? Big Tobacco isn't at the table determining how to curb smoking. Why are Pepsi, Coke and Kellogg's at the table when it comes to obesity policy?

We need the soda tax, we need calories on menu boards, we need School Wellness Policies enforced around the country, we need formula pushers out of the ob/gyn offices and breast-feeding perks in, we need junk food out of daycare centers, we need more obesity-related diseases classified as "elective," we need to finally stop advertising junk food to kids (debated since the Carter administration!), we need affordable and easily accessible produce, we need clean, safe and abundant public recreational facilities, we need to stop freshly minting new fat kids everyday...

And we DON'T need to give special legal protection to the obese, as they have in Michigan...and are demanding in Massachusetts. Why should employers be forced to hire expensive employees who are so predominantly by lifestyle choice? Harassment and Disability laws are already on the books. Obese is the dominant population in the U.S., followed by Overweight. So the overwhelming majority--a majority of habitual improper eaters--are now demanding special treatment from the measly minority of us who exercise daily and eat right..?

This is a crisis. Sorry the name isn't as scary as "Swine Flu," but yes, President Obama, this is a crisis we can't afford now, and certainly can't afford the price tag coming our way as the majority of us succumb to decades of obesity-induced chronic disease.

Stop pussyfooting around. We need an Obesity Czar, (I'm available). We need a member from every cabinet office with a plan on how to reverse this crisis right now. Not one single more child should become fat on your watch, Sir--OUR watch.

Candy for Lunch- mmmmm

What if I said I was gonna serve your kid 5 to 7 teaspoons of sugar for lunch..? at school?

And that's just the drink--not the sugary ketchup, sweetened applesauce, floating fruit, sticky teriyaki sauce or high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden bread...

In a tiny half-pint carton of school chocolate milk, that's exactly what kids are getting--22 to 28 grams of sugar, 130 to 170 calories. Your child will need to run an extra mile and a half during P.E. to burn-off that extra sugar. (What P.E.??)

Chocolate Milk is really candy. We all know that. And it's totally delicious. I loooove a tall, cold glass of fat-free chocolate milk. But I also know that it's an indulgence, and I'm going to have to figure out how to compensate for the empty extra calories and that diabetes-inducing sugar spike... It's certainty not something I'd want to serve my kids for lunch during the school day. (Now the OTHER kids maybe, especially bratty-mcbrat-alots, the bullies or the ones competing against my kids for coveted scholarships... THOSE kids should lap up all the sugary-sweet, artificially-flavored milk they can...)

So once again, industry thinks parents are dumber than dirt. This time it's Big Dairy-the brains behind the super-successful "Got Milk." Check out milk's food pyramid dominance if you're curious just how powerful the Dairy Industry is. No matter most people on the planet get gassy, bloated or suffer bouts of diarrhea from drinking cow's milk, Big Dairy has us convinced we'll spontaneously combust if we don't drink the stuff. Hey, it's a fat, sugar and protein--it's the perfect food! (for baby cows.) If the lactose doesn't trip us up as we age, then the casein might...

So MilkPep, the "Got Milk" folks, have enlisted the help of some B-list celebs and one-time-good-guy-R.D. Felicia Stoler of "Honey We're Killing the Kids" fame to launch a new campaign trying to convince us chocolate milk is a healthy choice for kids at school: "Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk." They have a little website full of slanted messages they're attempting to spread through "Mommy Bloggers" and a petition to sign.

In MilkPep's defense, milk has some protein. But it's also loaded with saturated animal fat. Not so good. (The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is pushing for fat-free or 1% milk at school.) And the gobs of high fructose corn syrup is just too much.

We're supposed to believe that the calcium and trace amounts of Vitamin D are supposed to be a fair trade-off for all the garbage in chocolate milk. Not so fast. First off, if you want calcium and strong bones, eat loads of leafy green veggies and do weight-bearing exercise like running and jumping--the stuff kids love to do during Recess and P.E.! As for the Vitamin D... Yeah, most of us are dangerously low in this vital bone-building, immunity-building, mood-stabilizing vitamin. Those of us living above the latitude running from Atlanta to Los Angeles can't possibly get enough UVB sun rays during the Fall through Winter for us to produce Vitamin D. But don't be fooled. The scant amount sprayed into milk is about 1/10th of what a child needs on any given day based on the most current recommendations. Check with your physician and see how much daily Vitamin D-3 supplement makes sense for you and your children.

So forget chocolate milk at school. Save the delicious concoction for special treats on the weekends or at a party. When at school? Water is your child's best choice. If you want to go with milk, make sure it's fat-free white. Would it surprise you to know that even a school-sized, half-pint carton of fat-free white milk has the equivalent of 3 teaspoons of sugar in it?? Somehow that message just doesn't come across on the food pyramid...

Dodge the War--Get Fat

Visited the awe-inspiring, billion dollar, U.S.S. New York yesterday. Some 7.5 tons of Twin Towers steel was used in its making...

There were Amphibious Assault Vehicles, tanks, JEEPs, shoulder-rocket-launchers, all kinds of big guns...

The military personnel had such pride as they demonstrated the munitions and toured thousands of guests around their ship--our ship. We were ever mindful of how young these kids in uniform are and the peril each serviceman and woman might face. We wished them all a safe return...

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and I'm proud to say my brother served in Desert Storm, my father served in Vietnam and my Grandfather, Major Robert L. Clements, 101st Airborne, 502nd Division, G Company, served during WWII, including parachuting into Normandy on D-Day. He survived many battle wounds and was awarded 3 Purple Hearts, and most honorably, the Silver Star.

He never spoke of The War until his final years. I think it was all too much. If you've ever viewed the excellent "Band of Brothers" miniseries, you'll know where my grandfather was and what he and his fellow brethren did. While greatly-decorated, war also left him conflicted and well, mean.

My grandfather served his country with honor and courage. I feel proud to write that. I also feel compelled to write that I'm not much for war as a means to solve anything. And if the draft came about, I'd likely show little courage compared to my grandfather, father or brother. If it came to my son, would I consider Canada? Or maybe fatten him up like so many of today's youth who've eaten themselves unfit to serve...

75% of today's youth are unfit for military recruitment. The biggest factor? Overweight and obesity.

I keep thinking that the power and deep pockets of the Pentagon will step-in and do something material about reversing child obesity. While I see the pointed irony, I also see the history. When our youths were unfit to serve several decades ago due to undernourishment, Harry S. Truman enacted America's National School Lunch Act and said, "In the long view, no nation is any healthier than its children..."

So true. So true.

Happy Veterans Day. And our deepest gratitude for your service to our country.