U.S. govt calls for end to dairy weight loss ads – bout friggin’ time!

For anyone trying to lose weight and lead a healthier life, I applaud you. How confusing and frustrating it must be to hear from multiple different sources how all these different diets and supplements work, yet none do. I truly feel that there is no magic ‘diet.’ I believe that you must change your diet (the way you eat all the time) all together in order to really accomplish anything with regards to better health and weight loss. That being said, I am so happy that the current claims of “consuming more dairy promotes weight loss” is being blown out of the water. There was never, nor will will there ever be scientific evidence to support this claim. C’mon people, think about it…cows milk was is designed for bovines, not for humans (human milk is designed for humans, but that’s a whole other blog…). Seriously, cow’s milk was designed to nourish baby cows, designed to take them to some weight nearing 1,000lbs or more by the age of 18mo (correct me if I am wrong, I know it’s something along those lines). So how then can it be so beneficial in weight loss attempts for humans? How can it in fact be healthy at all? I’m talking pesticides, antibiotics and hormones aside here. I’m just addressing the chemical make-up alone and what this milk is designed to do? Yet we pump our bodies and the bodies of our children full of it because someone else says it’s good for our bones, our teeth, and weight loss? Yeh, I just don’t follow.  And it burns me up that the FDA wouldn’t allow the breastfeeding commercials to air due to “flawed studies” but the dairy industry has been running these ads for years…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070512/ts_nm/usda_milk_dc

U.S. govt calls for end to dairy weight loss ads Fri May 11, 9:24 PM ET

U.S. dairy producers will have to stop pitching the idea that drinking more milk spurs weight loss, the Federal Trade Commission told a physician’s advocacy group in a letter made public on Friday.
Calling it a “victory for consumers,” the Physicians for Responsible Medicine said two national dairy advertising campaigns overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will stop claiming that dairy products cause weight loss because “such claims are not supported by existing scientific research.”
Greg Miller, senior vice president for the National Dairy Council, said the industry stands “behind our weight loss messages and the science supporting those messages.”
But Miller said that at the request of USDA, the industry would shift its messages “to emphasize the role of dairy in weight maintenance” instead of weight loss.
USDA could not be immediately reached for comment on the FTC letter.
The doctors’ organization cited a May 3 letter from FTC, which told the group that following discussions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it would “discontinue all advertising and other marketing activities involving weight loss claims until further research provides stronger more conclusive evidence of an association between dairy consumption and weight loss.”
In its April 2005 petition to the FTC, the advocacy group charged that the dairy industry was misleading the public with its high profile, celebrity-filled marketing campaign that suggested consuming milk and other dairy products helped consumers lose weight.
“Milk and cheese are more likely to pack on pounds than help people slim down,” said Dan Kinburn, PCRM’s general counsel. “This case calls into question other advertising claims made by the industry, especially the notion that milk builds strong bones. Evidence shows it does nothing of the kind.”

Trinity Jade says her ABCs

What a happy day! While everyone else is out celebrating yet another drunken holiday, I am celebrating something else. No Cinco de Mayo here…but the celebration is just as, if not more real. Today Trinity said her ABCs. All by herself! There have been days prior to this one that she got 1/2 way or 3/4 of the way through the alphabet but today marks the day she said them all. Down to the L, M, N, O…every last letter! As you can imagine I am beaming with pride. There is video footage soon to come. Keep checking back for a link!

Here’s some video of my sleepy girl reciting the alphabet in the car after a long day at Daytona Beach…http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g19/SixStringMama/?action=view&current=SayingABCs2.flv

Seventh Generation Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner

A lot of people ask me why on Earth I spend more money to buy natural and non-toxic cleaners. What’s the big deal? There are a few different reasons why I do what I do. The decision came to me when I had my first child. I didn’t feel right having anything in my home that said,”Contact Poison Control Center if…” It just wasn’t worth the risk for me when I knew that there were safer alternatives.

Today my 2yr old insisted on helping me clean our sliding glass doors. I had no problem letting her spray, wipe and touch our glass and surface cleaner. There was no concern on my part at all. Anyone with a small child can tell you how difficult house cleaning can be with someone right under your feet. When I sprayed the glass door and watched the excess spray float in her direction I never batted an eye. What a relief. I have too many more important things to think about than whether or not my glass cleaner is going to make my daughter break out in hives or cause her temporary blindness.

I personally recommend Seventh Generation Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner to anyone looking to make the switch to a healthier alternative. It works great! Even on glass and surfaces that has been exposed to smoke and/or dust for an extended period of time.

As time has progressed, I have created quite a collection of natural cleaners and come to realize that not only are they safer for ourselves and our families, but they are safer for our Earth as well. If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 32oz solvent-based glass and surface cleaner with solvent-free Seventh Generation Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner, we could prevent 11 million pounds of Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) from being released into the environment.

For a list of Volatile Organic Chemical Contaminants visit http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/drinkingwater/vol_con.htm

If you are concerned about the increase in cost for making the switch, consider starting a local co-op with quality products for natural living (at wholesale pricing) at http://recipes.frontiercoop.com/

Prolacta Bioscience Introduces First Human Milk Fortifier Made from Human Milk

Prolacta Bioscience announced today that it has developed a human milk fortifier product made from concentrated, pasteurized human donor milk. MONROVIA, Calif. (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) January 19, 2006 — Prolacta Bioscience, a privately held company dedicated to ensuring the availability and safety of donor breast milk for babies, announced today that it has developed a human milk fortifier product made from concentrated, pasteurized human donor milk. The fortifier product, called Prolact-Plus, is an alternative to the current fortifier products made from cow’s milk and used in the neonatal intensive care units. “The advantage of a human-origin fortifier is that very low birth-weight babies will receive their own mother’s milk fortified with human milk protein and added minerals. When these babies are fed exclusively on human milk, they are protected against a variety of harmful pathogens because their digestive system maintains a protective environment. When they receive foreign proteins, like cow’s milk, some of this protection is lost,” said Elena Medo, Prolacta’s CEO. Prolacta maintains that a mother’s own milk is always the best, but if supply falls short, parents can request that donor milk be provided. “Mothers of preterm babies express their breast milk so they can give their babies the best possible chance for survival. But babies born weighing less than 1,500 grams often need higher levels of protein and minerals than are normally found in mother’s milk. We’re pleased to be able to deliver such a valuable therapy to benefit these critically ill preterm babies.” In August 2005, Prolacta completed construction of the world’s first and only large scale human milk processing facility. Using modern pharmaceutical processing techniques, Prolacta has developed improved methods for all aspects of human milk testing and handling. “Neonatologists and neonatal nurses have very high expectations for safety and quality. We’ve worked hard to develop a process and product they can trust.” All Prolacta products bear a nutritional label and undergo rigorous safety and quality testing by outside laboratories prior to release. About Prolacta Prolacta Bioscience, headquartered in Monrovia, Calif., has developed improved methods for large-scale processing, formulation and testing of donor breast milk. The company received funding from DFJ/Frontier-Santa Barbara, Draper Associates-Menlo Park., Draper Richards-San Francisco, and the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation. http://www.nurseuniverse.com/Nursing-Job/3313.html How incredibly amazing! I think it it truly wonderful that our country is finally recognizing the dangers behind supplementing with non human milk. I feel it is vital that all babies, especially premature babies receive mothers milk and now mothers of preemies don’t have to hear the funk about how their milk doesn’t have enough protein to help the at risk child. It’s actually more important that preemies receive their mothers milk because they are at risk. And hopefully soon there will be no more instances of mothers walking into the NICU to see their child being artificially fed because they weren’t “making enough milk” or because the caloric value wasn’t great enough for the child. The breastfeeding community now has more support and recognition…now everyone else needs to jump on the wagon and support this health related issue.

Who’s really making the controversy here?

“Making milk public controversy”
By: Charles Winokoor, business writer
04/27/2007
So there I was grocery shopping the other day when, just as I reached for a quart of skim milk, I noticed the strangest thing.Women – mothers, to be exact – began dropping to the floor and breast-feeding their babies. Hurrying out of the dairy section, I found myself surrounded by pet supplies, but again was confronted with a surrealistic sight: Unsupervised canines and tabbies relieving themselves willy nilly, and then sauntering off to leave the mess for the night crew to clean up. Get out now, I told myself, as the sweat trickled down my brow. And wouldn’t you know it, just as I scurried past the Health & Beauty aisle I spied a group of men, shirts off, nonchalantly spraying and rolling their underarms with the deodorizer of their choice. Decorum precludes me from detailing what I witnessed in the place where they sell the Charmin. Knocking over a shopping cart with a child’s seat, I ran into the parking lot and headed for my car to make a getaway. As I fumbled for my key, I realized it was too late; I was surrounded.
………
………
Waking up in bed, I took stock of my nightmare. What in the world had
inspired my subconscious to unleash such nocturnal torment?
Then it came to me. It was nothing more mysterious than this week’s story
about a Hingham mom who managed to cause a stir by breast-feeding her infant
in the middle of a store.
Last Friday, Brockton cardiologist Dr. Melissa Tracy, while shopping in the South Hingham iParty store, dropped to the floor and began breast-feeding her ostensibly starving 2-month-old child. “Rather than let him become hysterical, I sat down on the floor and breast-fed him,” Tracy told the Boston Herald. What happened next, she said, caused her to feel humiliated. The store manager, a regular Darth Vader it seems, had the gall to admonish her. “He stood over me and said ‘You can’t do that here,’ ” she was quoted. “I’ve never felt that badly before.” Feeling emotionally scarred, Tracy did the honorable and proper thing: She ratted out the iParty blue meanie to his corporate superiors – who issued a knee-jerk, please-don’t-hit-me mea culpa, faster than CBS Radio and MSNBC gave Don Imus the bum’s rush. What she’s failed to mention, either in print or on TV, is why she was so compelled to plop to the floor instead of walking to the ladies room. Would she have jeopardized her child’s welfare, his very life, if she had simply made the effort? Or was she more interested in making a point about who she is and what she thinks she represents? During a TV interview, her husband said in his native Germany breast-feeding in public is an accepted practice and one that is

“not vulgar.” Not vulgar for sure – but how about annoying? Not the act of breast-feeding, mind you, but the behavior of well-educated parents who want to impose their version of an enlightened society upon the rest of us, without regard to our
sensibilities. That sort of selfish, guerilla mentality is not just inconsiderate to those
of us backward Americans who are not used to seeing babies suckling while we’re shopping for party supplies or dog food, it’s also unfair to the companies whose employees are only trying to do the right thing. Now, if any business – be it retail chain, a local independent store or a car dealership – announces a policy explicitly allowing open breast-feeding then that’s their prerogative. But one also has to ponder how this type of
adult-baby behavior will eventually affect the child. No wonder there’s a legion of kids nowadays who have grown up thinking they’re extra-special, entitled and oh-so-superior; after all, it’s been imbedded into their id since they were fed mother’s milk. This whole silly episode reminds me, in a way, of the case of the “flying imams,” six religious Muslims who were removed from a flight last November after they insisted on standing up in the plane for evening prayers. They knew exactly what they were doing. They wanted publicity and they got it, in spades. That’s not to say the good doctor from Brockton intended, ahead of time, to use her breast-feeding as a publicity stunt to teach the rest of us a good lesson. From what I’ve read and heard, she comes across as a decent, sincere individual. What I do suggest to her and other mothers who act rashly, and then condemn anyone who complains, is to grow up before your child does. And next time you go shopping with your infant in your arms, try bringing along a baby bottle.

Charles Winokoor is the business writer for the Taunton Daily Gazette.

cwinokoor@tauntongazette.com

 

******************************************************************************

Dear Charles,

You are brave man to have included your e-mail address in your “business article.” That or you are just plain stupid, I am leaning towards the latter. I absolutely loathed your comparison of feeding an infant in a grocery store to animals urinating up and down the pet food aisles. I’m following you here with regard that both urine and breastmilk are in fact bodily fluids. But considering that one is used to nourish a child through its infancy (and beyond) and the other is waste matter excreted by the kidneys, I’m not really seeing the connection in your comparison. I am also not seeing the connection between mothers and infants in a grocery store and dogs and cats in a grocery store. Maybe you were unaware that women and infants are in fact permitted into grocery stores and permitted by law (in MANY states) to breastfeed in any public place that they are allowed to be. Maybe you are unaware that only service animals that DO NOT “relieve themselves willy nilly, and then saunter off to leave the mess for the night crew to clean up,” are permitted in these stores as well. But sure, compare the breastfeeding mother to an animal relieving itself in the middle of a store – STRIKE ONE!

Once again, I am having trouble establishing the connection between grown, shirtless men engaging in personal hygiene routines in public and mothers feeding their children. This comparison is less offensive yes, but still as far fetched as you calling this a “business article.” And secondly, I am willing to bet my milk-makers that if this mother you are attacking was shirtless, you wouldn’t have complained one bit about what she was doing with her breasts (provided there wasn’t a feeding child on the other end). As ignorant as you obviously are, I still can’t let this slide -STRIKE TWO!

Now your comment about what was going on in the aisle where Charmin toilet paper is sold was completely out of line. Somethings are just better left unsaid, as you obviously know because you only had the nerve to imply that defecating in the middle of a grocery store is equivalent to nursing a child. For this one, I’ll just be honest…YOU’RE AN ASS.

If seeing a mother feed her child in the way that was intended by nature causes so much of an upset in your life that you in fact have nightmares from it, then you should certainly reevaluate your mental health. There are highly qualified individuals who can help you with this. Or you could just come to Central, Fl, call me up and I can slap you in your face a few times -whatever works for you

“Last Friday, Brockton cardiologist Dr. Melissa Tracy, while shopping in the
South Hingham iParty store, dropped to the floor and began breast-feeding
her ostensibly starving 2-month-old child.” Okay Charles, do you even know what ostensibly means? Are you implying that a 2 month old child has ulterior motives to crying out in hunger? Oh that’s right, let me guess…maybe the child cried out in hunger but was really just trying “to impose their version of an enlightened society upon the rest of us, without regard to our sensibilities. ” Who knows?

“That sort of selfish, guerilla mentality is not just inconsiderate to those
of us backward Americans who are not used to seeing babies suckling while
we’re shopping for party supplies or dog food, it’s also unfair to the
companies whose employees are only trying to do the right thing.” Again Chuck – not sure that guerilla is anywhere near appropriate here:

guerilla

noun

a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and harassment

While I am certain that this cardiologist had every intention of making you “backward Americans” (as you so accurately labeled yourselves) uncomfortable, I assure you that just because you aren’t used to seeing women feed their children in the manner which was intended, that does not make it any less natural or appropriate. Furthermore, if it makes you uncomfortable to see an infant eat, than again I highly suggest seeing someone who can help you overcome your sexualized perception of what is in fact not at all a sexual organ. Or maybe it isn’t that the breast has been sexualized in America that makes you quiver at the sight of an infant nursing. Maybe it’s your own insecurity in your ability to do something as powerful as grow, birth and provide nutrition for a child all with your own God given body alone. Am I sensing a little envy here? Or is it just back to you displaying ignorance in it’s purest form? Again, who knows? I am interested to know why it is that you feel sorry for company employees “trying to do the right thing” when these company employees are violating the rights of others? How is this the right thing?

“What she’s failed to mention, either in print or on TV, is why she was so
compelled to plop to the floor instead of walking to the ladies room. Would
she have jeopardized her child’s welfare, his very life, if she had simply
made the effort?” Would she have jeopardized her child’s welfare? Oh right, now you are concerned with the child’s welfare, Chuck. No one expects you to eat your lunch on a public restroom toilet, why should her child be expected to? Oh that’s right, because you think so. This woman is making an effort. She is making an effort to provide for her child in the best way possible. And she is doing it with a lack of support in this country from idiots like you. Everyday mothers feel embarrassed about breastfeeding and even quit breastfeeding because morons like you try to make it something more than what it is. STRIKE THREE!

“What I do suggest to her and other mothers who act rashly, and then condemn anyone who complains, is to grow up before your child does.
And next time you go shopping with your infant in your arms, try bringing
along a baby bottle. ” WOW, I sincerely hope that no one asks you for suggestions on a regular basis. Breastfeeding a crying, hungry child is by no means “acting rashly.” Defecating on the grocery aisle floor, sure, but not breastfeeding. And as for ASSuming that all mothers who breastfeed are capable of expressing their milk so they can bottle feed their child for your convenience – once again shows how ignorant you are. And secondly, even if a mother is capable of doing so, it certainly shouldn’t be something she’s obligated to do to keep from offending someone like you. If you have a problem with seeing a child eat from its mothers breast, then I suggest you sir, be the one who takes a trip to the toilet. That is ironically, where all of your statements belong. YOU’RE OUT!

A’s and a special birthday

This day is one of many mixed emotions. Sitting here I contemplate the capacity and complexity of the human mind. I awoke today in much aggravation over a lack of sleep due to an inflamed sciatic nerve and my dear child who slept restlessly beside me from midnight until 7am. Once I was out of bed I realized today’s date. May 1st, 2007, the birthday of my husband’s late grandmother, aka Granny Mae. She passed away January 18th of this year. She raised my husband as the only mother figure in his life from the time he was 6mo old. She and I had grown particularly close over her last 6 months. She and my daughter, Trinity had grown quite close as well. Here I sit in her home (where my family lives), surrounded by all of her things and continuing out part of her legacy while pregnant with her second great-granddaughter. I am sad. Maybe it’s the memory of someone very dear to me that lingers in this house. Maybe it’s my anger and frustration over her death and how much I miss her. Maybe it’s my sadness for my dear daughter that she will only be a sweet memory to her, if that, because she was so young when she died. Maybe it’s regret I bear for all my future children, including the one I carry in my womb now that they will never ever even hear her laugh, see her smile or giggle with her over breakfast. Happy Birthday Granny Mae. Today we will light the Candle of Honor for you. We will remember all of the laughs and smile that we shared, we will sing Happy Birthday and celebrate your life.

Today oddly enough marks the last day of my first two classes in college. I passed Academic Strategies with an A (99.30%) and Intro to Undergrad Online Learning with an A (99.50%). I feel really good about going back to school. The experience so far has been great. My confidence has grown quite a bit just over the past 10 weeks that I have been in school. I start my next two classes May 6th (Communicating in the 21st Century and Software Applications). I am really looking forward to it. I feel proud and happy, I feel great. I know that Granny would be proud of me.

It’s just complex to me that our minds our capable of feeling emotions at two complete different ends of the spectrum. I almost feel guilty for being happy, and then I feel silly for feeling guilty. And then I remember that I am pregnant and I laugh at myself because my hormones are raging and it’s perfectly alright to feel happy and sad at the same time.