California Fighting the War on Obesity

California becomes the first state in the nation to pass a new law aimed at reducing obesity and heart disease. Starting today, July 1st, 2009 restaurants with at least 20 locations have to reveal the number of calories in most of the food on their menus.

These restaurants can either list the calories in their standard items on menus and indoor menu boards or they can offer customers brochures listing the amount of calories, saturated fat, salt and carbohydrates in those items.

Starting in 2011, the calorie counts in standard menu items — food and drinks the restaurants sell at least half the year — will have to be listed on menus and indoor menu boards. Drive-through customers will have to be offered brochures providing nutritional information.

Of course many of the fast food chains resisted this change. Well why not? If people really knew what they were eating, they MIGHT reconsider their food choices. However, there are so many people that could care less so it probably wouldn’t affect their bottom line anyway. Can you imagine anyone asking you at the drive thru window, “Would you like 620 calories and 32 grams of fat with that?”

It’s a great start to educate more people on nutrition, although we have a long way to go to before we will see results. It’s neat to see California leading in something more positive than the typical highest rates of foreclosure states.

I ran across this great article from the Mother Nature Network Top 10 Organic Fast Food Restaurants and I thought I’d share it here. Many of these restaurants aren’t even here in my local area in southern California. Even if they were, I would still scrutinize the calorie counts and ingredients list. There are so many artificial trans fats that I would like to avoid among other things.

So what do you think? Do you think people will be more conscious of their food intake as result of this new law?

Naomi Trower AKA
FatLossMama
Fit Yummy Mummy
Club FYM
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Acai Berry, Another Fad Diet?

You will find many sites on the internet claiming significant weight loss in just a few days with the Acai Berry diet. There are many anti-oxidant related benefits with the acai berry and it’s being stretched a bit to include rapid weight loss. Many of the before and after pictures are taken from sites where the loss was generated from months of a well balanced nutritional food plan and exercise.

Here is a great teleseminar that gives the truth about the acai berry fad that is dominating the internet at this moment

The Real Truth about the Acai Berry Fad

The Myths of Fad Diets

1. Diets that promise quick and easy weight loss are usually based on eating more of one food type and none of another. These do not give the benefits that you would get from a balanced diet. They may suggest you take supplements but many supplements are not absorbed by the body unless they are taken along with the foods that the diet has banned. After a few weeks, if you stick to it that long, you may begin to develop nutritional deficiencies.

2. Fad diets are often boring and over restrictive. After the novelty of the first day or two, you will not enjoy your meals. You will then start to crave food constantly and will break the diet. You may even feel guilty, thinking it is your fault that you did not lose weight.

3. Most fad diets do not follow recommendations of the American Heart Association and similar bodies for fat levels in the diet. Often the diet will recommend high fat foods and low carbs which if taken long term, could result in heart disease. The promoters may tell you that the diet is only intended to be followed for a short time. But you probably will not reach your goal weight in that time, and then what? You either continue with a plan that is not good for your health, or stop and probably gain back what you lost.

4. Many fad diets do not help you to incorporate enough servings of fruits and vegetables in your weight loss program, or give you the variety of foods that your body needs.

5. Quick weight loss diets are just a temporary solution and do not help you to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Permanent changes are the only way to remain at your target weight once you reach it. Fad diets encourage yo-yo diet-binge cycles of fast weight loss and equally fast weight gain. This is worse for your health and your self esteem than if you had stayed overweight all the time.

Whatever the publicity materials may say, these diets will not help you in the long term. The best way to sustain weight loss is to eat a varied and healthy diet, do not overeat, exercise regularly and avoid fad diets.

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