So what do they offer for kids on board the flight to London. A kids box sounds like an alternative. NOT!

It only had candy, where is the food part here? But for 'adults' there are various alternatives as salmon sallad or chicken sallad...

Which works for kids too!

Should or shouldn't you use sunscreen?

I have a few sensitive spots on my face, due to over exposure to the African sun for many years in my childhood. So I, now, am using sunscreen on those spots. Not so happy about it, but it's too late...

However I do not use sunscreen on my children, instead we protect with clothes and hats. Don't forget about the importance of the sun and vitamin-D either! So exposure everyday is good too, just not for too long, and not to allow for burning!

Dr John Briffa has som excellent writings on the subject. I can warmly recomend you to read and learn from these.

The dark side of sunscreens

Another reason to avoid sunscreens

If you know you are going to be extremely over exposed then I would opt for an organic sunscreen!

Ben & Jerrys have a new ice cream out, adapted to us in the nordic countries.

SWEET cream Ice Cream, chocolate cookie pieces, chocolatey peace signs (?) & chocolate fudge swirl. This is Nordic? Sounds more American to me!

Nordic would be more 'vanilla snow flakes, butter buttons and coffee beans'.

Although ice cream is a part of the past, I prefer to do my own with heavy cream (whipped), raspberries, vanilla, coconut and egg yolk! Very fresh, very nice and pretty Nordic!

It's not only table sugar and syrups... Look out for the hidden sugars that you find in breads for e.g.

Take the time, and watch this - then spread it!

The youth in America are suffering from obesity and diabetes, it's worse than what medical experts earlier have thought. Obesity rates in children is climbing as is Type 2 diabetes!

The disease progresses more rapidly in children than in adults and is more difficutl to treat.

Obesity-Linked Diabetes in Children Resists Treatment

A study with 699 children between the ages of 10 - 17 was done during a period of 4 years. Researches were shocked at how poorly the oral drugs performed on these children compared to how they perfom on adults.

Results of the study can be read here: The New England Journal of Medicine.

I somehow feel enraged when reading this! What is happening out there? What part of this do people not understand! What is the (simple) cause, and what (simple) measures can we do to avoid Type 2 diabetes from staying on the increase?

Type 2 diabetes in children is increasing and creeping down in the ages, there are chilrden that are getting Type 2 diabetes, and they are 10 year olds???

The way too high carbohydrate and low fat diets has been going on for too long! And the diabetic children are given the same diet to eat! No wonder it's impossible to control their blood sugar levels.

Type 2 diabetes is only reversable with low carb eating and increasing the intake of fats (not margarines). Due to the crazy fear of fat, the high carb eating industry has exploded instead, at the same pace, Type 2 diabetes is also exploding!

Let's make a change!

A study was done at UCLA, where researchers found that rats that were fed water with fructose were not as quick in maze-navigating as rats that were fed plain water.

This could be due to how the brain responds to insulin after consuming fructose.

Conclusion: A high fructose intake is harmful for the brain and the body.

In USA high-fructose corn syrup is used in many manufactured foods, sweeteners and preservatives. Quite a few studies have been done about sugars and the harm sugar does to the body.

Earlier studies have shown that too much sugar has negative effect on obesity, diabetes and blood-fats, raises triglycerides and has negative effect on the liver in response to insulin.

Now they are even showing how negative sugar is for the brain too!

High-fructose corn syrup is cheaper than other sugare, therefore very frequently used in many foods.

Synthetic food dyes (colorants) are common all over the world. But the question that needs to be asked is if all colorants are ok?

Synthetic food dyes are produced in different ways, (and I am sure the economy has a lot to do with which colorants are used! Cheaper production?)

Every country have their own rules for which colorants are legal to use or not. The differecne is what the raw materials are made of: chemicals or natural products.

In USA it is the FDA, Food and drug administration that sets the standard. The synthetic food dyes used in US are identifeid as having potential cancer-causing chemicals (The potential carcinogenity is largely based on small-scale animal testing in laboratories) and known to trigger allergic reactions, and increas hyperactivity! (In 2009, Britain asked food companies to phase out the use of most food dyes in children's food over concerns some studies had raised about their link to hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder and related health issues.)

They have NO nutritional value at all, and are used only for aesthetic reasons. To give foods and products color.

In the UK these colorants have now been replaced by natural colorants from e.g. strawberries, pumpkins, carrots, etc...

In USA they use for e.g. a red colorant called RED 40, this is used in amongst other things fanta strawberry. Fanta orange contains YELLOW 6.

These colorants are not ok! I am shocked that they are allowed here.

And this we give to 'our' children on a daily basis!

Scary thought...

Here is the list (to avoid):

Citrus Red 2
Red 3
Red 40
Yellow 5
Yellow 6
Blue 1
Blue 2
Green 3

I have to share this with you. It's very funny, but also a bit scary.

Daniel and I were at a fast food restaurant to buy something to drink. I asked for sparkling water to drink. The waitress asked what that was? So I tried with synonyms: Bubbled water, carbonized water, soda water... Ah soda water she knew. Phew!

Then she pointed to the soda machines and said over there, that is all soda water. We have sprite, coke, fanta... Whereas I said that I wanted water with no suger. She replied that there is no water with no sugar, all their water has sugar!(?) Oh boy! :) Here we are all starting to laugh. It was a very comical situation...

So I said I could just have som plain water:

She: "You want WATER, water to drink, just water?"

So as we were leaving she called me and said she remembered a button on the soda machine from many years back, that she hears should be water!

Whenever I am in the US I just have to get my nails done. This time as well!

But not only a manicure, I did a pedicure and waxing of my legs and eyebrows. Busy day at the beauty parlor! :) Nice time spent...

And for those that have kids with them, the kids get candy pops while trying to wait patiently for mom or dad! :(

We went to a big shoe store today too. Very big!

I don't mean to criticize so, but I am shocked. And not so suprised as to why America is so overweight, mostly obese.

Right next to the children's shoes, near the cash out counter I find this, also very large, shelf! Of candy! In a shoe shop?

This country needs change, BIG change! Towards better health! Start with the kids...

Call it low carb, LCHF (low carb high fat), paleo - whatever... The same goal in sight. Cut the grains and sugar!

Just found this article by Capetonian professor Tim Noakes - and I am all smiles!

Read the whole article:

Sorry, but carbo is really a no-no

Fructose, also known as fruit sugar, is something we have always eaten, or is it?

A century ago a person ate 15 grams per day, and today we eat 4-5 times that amount.

Given the way the body breaks down fructose, that increase may be contributing to liver and heart disease, reports the September 2011 issue of the Harvard Health Publication, Harvard medical school.

Two recent studies have linked higher intake of fructose with higher chances of developing or dying from heart disease.

Obesity is a world wide problem! It is in fact a global epidemic!

On WHO (World Health Organisation) website you can read more about the facts around obesity!

• Obesity is classified as a preventable disease;
• Global obesity has doubled in the last 40 years;
• More people die from obesity than from hunger and starvation;
• Over 1.5 billion adults (above the age of 20) are overweight/obese;
• Over 45 million children under the age of five are overweight;
• Between 7% and 41% of cancers are attributed to being overweight;
• There are more overweight children in developing countries than in developed countries;
• Obesity and under-nutrition tend to co-exist;
• America spends over 10 million an hour on obesity related healthcare!;

Very scary statistics! And this is not due to the recent increase of butter consumption in Sweden the past few years!

So what do you think is the problem? 

I reckon, I am totally convinced actually, that it is the sugar, starches, diet and light products and fast (bad) foods that is the problem!

I received an email from Nutrilett about a new and exciting product to help you loose weight and stay slim(?)!

This new 'wonderful' product is called 'EatWell' and is a meal replacement product, consisting of pasta (!), the same thing that lots of us claim is what makes us fat!

Few calories, lots of protein... Nothing about carbs?!  This is all your body needs they claim, I am very doubtful!  Easy to prepare whether you want to loose weight och keep your present weight! *shaking my head*!

Picture above is from their advert... Good thing they use a nice business-like red bag to entice readers, co's that little bowl of food would certainly not convince me to eat this! That would not fill me up at all and definately not keep me full for hours!

For me a total no-no! What do you think?

I enjoy reading articles like this!  Even though there is always a little 'warning' or a piece saying that carbs are essential, this is still going in the right direction!  Carbs are NOT essential, no-where does it say that the body MUST have carbs.  But fat and protein are!

"Experts say this ‘Atkins-style’ approach of eating fewer carbs could even soon be recommended to everyone as a way of lowering our risk of getting Type 2 diabetes in the first place."

I was just reading an article about Gorillas that are dying due to bad diet!  

This is happening in American zoo's!

At Cleveland Zoo the most common reason for the deaths of gorillas was - overweight and heart trouble.  They have now seen the connection between the deaths and feeding the gorillas cakes and not their natural diet of veg. and greens!

When the zoo changed the diets back to natural foods for the gorillas they observed a mood change in the animals, they became moody.  Due to sugar addiction!

When they were fed cakes the gorillas would throw up the food and eat it up again.  This also disappeared when they changed their diet to natural gorilla food.

Gorillas are designed to eat: Plants, vegetables and fruit.

I doubt it!!!

BUT have you seen a fat dog, cat or hamster? Too many times, right?

That's because animals out in the wild eat what they are designed to eat.  Natural food does not make them fat! But pets, they get to eat all our foods, and special pet foods with grains and starch!

Very easy isn't it? I am not saying we should eat the same as wild animals, but that we should eat what our bodies are made for eating. Natural foods!

Today my 6 yr old said they had hamburgers at school and that she had said no thanks to ketchup! *happy mom here* !  Her main reason is that she gets sore and red around her mouth - but she also knows it's lots of sugar there too.

I think ketchup should be forbidden in schools and pre-schools/day care...

Ketchup is crap! 

There are 23.8g carbohydrates, one tablespoon is the equivalent to 1 block of sugar.  That is scary! Shocking...

I wonder if parents would think it ok if their kids got to have one block of sugar with their hamburger or hot dog? I don't think so! But same same!

Ketchup is hidden behind a healthy looking picture of tomatoes and tricks children (and adults) to the hidden adictiveness of sugar!

Sukralos is another common ingredient in ketchup, which is a sweetner that contains clor - not ok out in nature, but ok in our bodies??? I don't think so!

Ketchup is crap!

Some bottles of ketchup have only 18% tomatoes and more and more use sweeteners like sukralos.

Ketchup IS CRAP!