Companies Propose Curbing Junk Food Ads for Kids

According to Fox news, food companies in the United States are proposing decreasing the amount of advertising of their unhealthier foods that are marketed to children, after rejecting a similar set of guidelines proposed to them but the Federal government.  Companies such as General Mills, ConAgra and Kellogg plan the announcement of their guidelines, saying the effort will drastically changing what they are advertising. New standards will only allow companies to advertise products that meet a minimal nutritional criteria, this could force some brands to vary their recipes to decrease sodium, fat, sugar, and calories.  Now similar foods produced by different companies will have to meet the same nutritional guidelines instead of company specific guidelines, according to Elaine Kolish of the children’s food and beverage advertisinginitiative, an industry group formed to address marketing issues. The group proposal may have been hurried along by the government effort to accomplish a similar goal.  The Federal trade commission had been directed by congress to establish voluntary guidelines for advertising junk food to children, which were issued earlier this year.  Industries were hesitant to the proposal at first, stating that the standards were too broad, and would limit marketing on items not classified as junk food, including yogurt, cereals and whole wheat breads, The government and the industry have vastly different ideas of how to set up the guidelines, with the government’s proposal stricter limits would be placed on fats, sugar, and sodium, while the industry proposes different guidelines for different foods, stating that it’s a more practical approach. Another major difference between the proposals has to do with their advertising, the government guidelines discourage the advertising of unhealthy foods in stores and on packaging, and in the media, while the industries would apply to media, but not packaging. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition at the center for science in the Publicinterest, an advocacy group praises the industry for trying to achieve common standards throughout the industry, even if she believes they will not go far enough.  Sen. Tom Harkin, a democrat from Iowa wrote the proposal for the government to develop these standards, he talks about the drastic increase in childhood obesity and how it is time for all parties to rally together to begin implementing these proposals rather than making their development into a contest.

This reminds me of when they forced Camel cigarettes to get rid of Joe Camel because he appealed to kids because he was a cartoon character.  It all boils down to blame… who’s to blame that our children do not eat a well-balanced meal? Is it McDonalds, Chef Boyardee? Wake up parents, if your child eats food that’s full of sugar, sodium, and fat it’s your fault.  It is not the food industry’s job to hand pick what you put in front of your child.  If parents weren’t so lazy they could actually cook for their families instead of incurring the extra expense of prefabricated meals or fast food.  I work full time plus and still manage to provide my child with healthy balanced meals, because it is important to me that she receive all the vitamins and minerals necessary for her continued growth and development.

Life as usual

Why is it that if work is going well, then your personal life is in turmoil?  After two weeks of desperately wanting to quit my job, things seem to be sorting themselves out at work, and you know what that means.  It means that my home life has been in shambles, after ten years together my husband decides that he doesn’t like me… He still loves me, but he informed me that I am hard to like.  It makes a person wonder, if I’m so hard to like, why are you still here?  I know the root cause of his recent dislike, after years of being mistreated and scorned by his elitist want to be mother & siblings, I have begun refusing to associate with any member of his family that does not treat me with the common courtesy that you would afford a stranger.  Also, if they cannot treat me decently, I do not trust them around my daughter without my supervision.  What tops everything is the fact that up until ten years ago, my sister-in-law was my best friend that is until I started dating her oldest brother.  We had been friends since sixth grade, even though their mother tried to interfere, in spite of everything we remained friends.  Until, I had the unmitigated gall to expect my husband to put me before her and her mother.  The nerve of me, to expect someone who has vowed that he loves, honors, and cherishes me to hold to a vow made before witnesses and God.  There are times when I want to lose my cool and through them both the cussing that I feel they so richly deserve, but I was raised with a sense of morals and to conduct myself in a certain manner.  Manners are something that my husband’s family is unfamiliar with, a totally foreign custom.   So to be told that I am hard to like was very hurtful, and just wrong.  I admit I’m not Mother Theresa, but neither am I the devil incarnate.  I am a normal person, who happens to be aware that she does have value outside of her husband.  I’m sorry that my husband does not define who I am, because I’m not such a weakling that I cannot define myself.  I know who I am; I am a woman who is fully capable of supporting my family in every way, taking care of our financial, emotional and physical needs with or without help.  So excuse me if I don’t meet your expectations of how a woman should be.  It just makes me so mad, that I supposedly cause all kinds of “family issues” when I do not wish to be involved in their little dramas and for the last year have not attended their family gatherings. Of course now I interfere with their relationship with my husband and child.  I swear sometimes I think divorce wouldn’t be such a bad thing, even though I love my husband, the temptation to cut the tie between myself and his family is almost overwhelming.

Feverfew/Ginger may relieve migraines

In a study released by Fox news, researchers have discovered a homeopathic combination of ginger and the herb, feverfew, could provide relief for people who suffer from migraines.  Feverfew, a substance derived from a flowering plant .Feverfew is a known herbal remedy for headaches.  In a study by PuraMed Bioscience, the company that makes the feverfew/ginger treatment, the participants were randomly assigned to the control and test groups.  The participants placed a sachet under their tongue at the first signs of a migraine.  In the study, one third of the test group reported being pain-free within two hours, compared to half as many within the control group.  At the end of the study, 63% of the test group taking the herbal mixture experienced pain relief, compared to 39% of the control group that was receiving the placebo treatment.  There is a possibility that due to the size of the study, the random assignment of the study groups, and the differing severity of the migraines experienced by the participants could affect the study’s credibility.  “I don’t think that accounts for the differences in efficacy here,” states Dr. Roger Cady, Director of the Headache Care Center of Springfield, MO, and a participating researcher in study.  While still unclear about how it works, Cady, believes the results are real.  Though intrigued by the results of this study, Dr. Rebecca Erwin Wells, an instructor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, believes the study has flaws, and has noted that the CEO and chairman of PuraMed Bioscience is one of the authors.  In a study published by Wells and her colleges in the journal, Headache, it was cited that people who suffer from migraines are more likely to seek alternative methods of treatment than people suffering from other medical disorders are.

Working for the weekend

The last two weeks have been, and this is no exaggeration pure hell on earth.  This past April, I returned to work at the nursing home that I had worked at before I had my daughter.  When I left I was the Assistant department head, when I returned, I returned a dishwasher.  This was a was a little embarrassing for me, luckily the few people that I had worked with and had worked under my leadership that had remained, were glad of my return.  Upon my return, I found the dietary department in shambles, a shell of what I had left.  The former department head for whom I had worked, had suffered a massive stroke, and the department had been left in the hands of the most incompetent person imaginable.  Formerly happy, hardworking employees were surly and unwilling to exert any effort beyond the absolute minimal to maintain the façade of completing their assigned duties.   Upon my return, they naturally gravitated toward me to resolve issues of concern, but I had to redirect them to the appropriate channels.  Within a month, the administrator called me into her office and asked if I would take over the management of the dietary.  Having seen the sad state of the meals being prepared and the residents’ discontent with said meals; I agreed to take the position, but the restriction was placed upon me, that the current dietary manager remains as my assistant.  All this being said, with a lot of hard work by my staff and myself, we have turned the back in the right direction.  Our residents rave about the difference in the meals presented to them, and make sure to tell us often how much they appreciate the changes we have made to ensure the quality of their lifestyle.  Everyone is ecstatic, everyone that is except the person I replaced.  She resents the fact that I have accomplished so much in the short time since I have taken charge, and seems to go out of her way to create difficulties for myself, and the rest of my staff.  She continues to harass the other staff, including the cook supervisors; her direct supervisors.  Over the course of the past two weeks, it seems that she is actively seeking conflict within my support staff.  Today after two days of bickering and quarreling among my staff, I took my frustrations to my supervisor, the administrator, and after  our conversation it was decided that she was not an asset to my management of the department, and I have been freed of my obligation to retain her as my assistant.  This enables me to replace her with someone who can, and will help me to keep the department running smoothly, and without conflict.  This has been the root of my bad weeks, and I hope this solution will help absolve some of my problems amongst my staff.  My mantra this week has been “I’m just working for the weekend” and I felt it was an appropriate title for this contribution.  Here is to a better weekend than I have had week, and a better workweek to come.