host posted on August 05, 2008 13:35
I live in Oklahoma City. Our current mayor used to be a local sportscaster, then a news anchor, and then got into politics. It seems like I’ve grown up with him, and I’ve always liked this guy.
Over the years, our mayor has gotten thinner and fitter and his gradual transformation hasn’t gone unnoticed. News stories have been written about his weight loss over the years, and the mayor has made fitness a big part of his personal message to the public. He has even become the voice and face of a campaign to encourage the citizens of Oklahoma to collectively lose a million pounds over the next year. I love it!
(You may have noticed that I’m not using his name. That’s because the story takes a turn.)
Last week, I saw an ad, which showed our mayor holding a sign, encouraging people to stick with the million-pound weight loss challenge. Attached to the sign was a menu for a fast food franchise - a fast food franchise that sells tacos and nachos and fried burritos and soft drinks and all the rest. It literally had pictures of these food items on the display, with our thin, fit mayor standing behind them, implicitly encouraging us to eat these things as part of our quest to lose a million pounds of fat over the next year.
“Is this a joke?”, I wondered. This smacks of those late night TV infomercials that claim, “Eat whatever you want and still lose weight!”
I’m not sure how this otherwise ambitious and very worthy campaign took the turn that it did. No doubt, our mayor’s heart is in the right place, and he’s a terrific spokesperson for this type of message. My guess is that someone realized that getting the word out on a statewide level was going to cost money, and that corporate sponsorship would be required. Unfortunately, quality supplement companies don’t have the kind of money to fund a campaign of this magnitude. The only option would be to work with huge corporations. Apparently, this is what is happening.
The idea behind this “weight loss through taco consumption” ad is that you can eat whatever you want as long as you keep your calories in check. I’ve heard this kind of thing my entire life. “Enjoy your chocolate cake; just eat a half a piece.” “Do like Jared and have a low-calorie submarine sandwich every day for lunch and dinner.” “Toast with no butter is a good breakfast choice.”
A few months ago, I struck up a conversation with a lady who told me she was going to a “medical weight loss clinic”. I asked her what the plan consisted of. She said, “You can eat anything you want as long as you don’t exceed a certain number of calories each day. I love it! I get to eat chocolate and ice cream every single day!”
Folks, it’s time to put the brakes on and re-think how we regard food, calories, and weight loss.
I agree that calories are certainly a factor in health and weight loss, but they aren’t the only factor. Calories represent fuel, or energy. Calories are either burned for energy, or they are stored.
But beyond “mere calories”, we have to consider the quality of the calories. You have to ask yourself things like, “Am I getting any real nutrients from these calories?” “Am I consuming foods that contain fungal organisms and their mycotoxins that are proven to cause disease?” “Are these foods creating vitality or lethargy?” If you ask yourself these questions, then cake and tacos simply don’t pass the test!
If you were told to eat only 1200 calories a day, and someone were to help you by weighing out every food imaginable to equal those 1200 calories, which foods would you choose? Intuitively, do you think it would be better to eat 1200 calories of donuts or 1200 calories of blueberries, grass-fed beef, and spinach? Deep down, despite our near universal love of sweets, we all know that donuts are the wrong choice, regardless of the calorie count. The only reason we would reach for the donuts is because someone gave us permission to do so, telling us, “It doesn’t matter. Just focus on the calories, not the quality of the calories”.
We’ve had marketing shoved down our throats so much, that we’ve begun to question our own intuitive sense of right and wrong. We’ve begun to believe things that common sense and experience warns us against. We’ve seen the Food Pyramid, we’ve followed it, we’ve become addicted to grains and sugary carbs, we’ve become the heaviest nation on the planet, and now we’re asking for someone to lead us out of the obesity epidemic by feeding us even more of the very foods that got us here in the first place!
Doug Kaufmann has done us a huge favor. Five days each week, for years and years, he has hosted a free TV show called Know The Cause in which he has masterfully educated us on the effects of mycotoxin-impregnated foods. Nobody on television is saying this. Nobody is telling you about the research that clearly shows grains and peanuts and pistachios and potatoes and even certain fruits are loaded with mycotoxins and thereby creating symptoms, including weight gain. This is a missing link in the national nutrition conversation, and I happen to think it’s the most important missing link. I have been personally mentored in this knowledge by Doug, I have personally benefited from this knowledge, and I have coached countless others in this knowledge and have seen almost universal relief of symptoms when this knowledge is applied properly. In short, I know it works.
Please, don’t put your intuition and common sense “on hold” when you come across weight loss plans that promote tacos and cake. Further, add some uncommon sense to your arsenal, and read the Fungus Link series for yourself. The knowledge in those books may just provide the missing links that take you to uncommon levels of health and vitality!