Today is “World Diabetes Day” brought to you by:
Eli Lilly
Astra Zeneca
LifeScan
Insulet
Medtronic
Pfiser
Takeda
And a handful of others. You see, diabetes is big business, insulin costs and insurance will always pay. Diabetes is one of the many preventable diseases that mothers give their children.
Oh yes I did say that. I know there are many different types of diabetes but I also know that some of your children are morbidly obese. It’s not cute, it’s not funny and it’s not “baby fat” when they’re in school.
World Diabetes Day concentrates on the warning signs of diabetes, which the mother of every obese child ought to memorize, because it’s one of the many diseases being delivered to your child, one pop tart at a time.
In a world full of “diet Twinkies” and other Pfood*, would it be too much to ask for the “nonprofits” to actually educate?
In honor of World Diabetes Day I’d like to ask each of my readers to commit to two small changes.
1. Go through your pantry and toss any Pfood* item that has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it.
2. Try feeding yourself and your children foods that don’t have sugar (cane syrup is sugar) listed in the first three ingredients unless it’s a party day.
I’m not asking for major changes, just two small ones, every step counts. Can you? Will you? Maybe then you won’t need to memorize the symptoms of diabetes.
*Pfood brought to you courtesy of Pfiser.
Jessica,
This is a great post. If I was home right now, I would be up and weeding through my pantry. I hope I have the energy to do it when I get home.
Preach it sister. It’s not easy giving these things up or removing them from your family’s diets if they have become the norm. But it’s vital.
Sadly, I get far too excited the one week a year we go to a cabin with my brother and his family and I buy pop tarts. But I’m committed to keeping this stuff away from my kids as much as possible.
Now if only I could eat as healthily …..
I don’t have anything in my pantry with corn syrup, other than a bottle of actual corn syrup (for occasional baking). That crap will kill you!
I’m with ya! I see overweight kids everywhere we go… at school, at dance class, at the mall, etc… It makes me so sad.
It’s one thing if we don’t take care of ourselves, but not taking care of our kids is child abuse. Yep, allowing your child to become obese is child abuse.
Bye Bye HFCS, Bye Bye Fast Food, Hello WHOLE FOOD (apples and carrots for snack, oh my!).
Have you ever heard of Type 1 Diabetes??? Google it and see what happens.
I’m a huge proponent of real food for children & adults (and eat more whole foods than not) and I absolutely thing HFCS should be banned in the U.S – just like it is in Europe. I read labels and won’t by the HFCS filled foods. I’ve preached about HFCS evils and will continue to do so.
But, as a Type 1 Diabetic for 31 years, I find it offensive when people confuse my disease with poor eating habits. World Diabetes Day meant a great deal to those of us in the Type 1 Diabetes community and our families. Yes, diabetes is a money maker – I won’t argue with that and I agree, it’s industry so to speak. But many of us in the DOC (Diabetes On-line Community) saw WDD as a way to educate people about our disease.
k2
@k2 my apologies. This article should have read “type 2 diabetes”
I never meant to offend, but only to make people pause a moment and think.