On Saturday November 7th working out in Gold's Gyms the world over won't cost you a penny, as Gold's Gyms and the American Diabetes Association team up for their first ever "Burn-A-Thon" to help raise diabetes awareness.
Their goal?
They want to see 180,000,000 calories burned this Saturday.
The Burn-A-Thon is also the launch event for the American Diabetes Association's "Stop Diabetes" campaign and exercise, independently of weight loss, can have a dramatic impact on a person's glycemic control and insulin sensitivity.
First there was their ridiculous "Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY" claim they plastered over their Cocoa Krispies and other sugary sundry (for which they may face charges in San Francisco).
Now?
Now on television they've got children pretending to be doctors extolling the benefits of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks and their complement of 3gr of fibre.
I can't do the stupidity and shamelessness of their commercial justice so I've included a video below (email subscribers you've got to visit the blog to watch).
(Hat tip to Rob, BMI's fitness director - he saw the commercial on television just this morning)
School principal Doug Doyle was quoted by the CBC as saying,
"I would love to see the chocolate milk subsidized"
and this was in reference to the price differential between his cafeteria's sale of 500mL of white milk for $0.75 versus 500mL of chocolate milk at $2.00.
Now Doug I don't entirely fault. He's a school principal, not a dietitian or a health professional and frankly the buzz on milk out there is that it's magic. Here's his quote on the matter,
"From what we understand, the nutritional value is the same in chocolate and white milk. So if we want them to drink milk, they're drinking the chocolate milk but they're paying more for it."
What was really astounding to me however was this quote from Charmaine Campbell, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the PEI Healthy Eating Alliance (HEA) - a non-profit group dedicated to the improvement of eating habits of children and youth on Prince Edward Island,
"The HEA would be supportive of having chocolate milk subsidized"
Pardon me, what? The HEA of PEI wants chocolate milk subsidized? That 500mL box of chocolate milk that Doug wants subsidized contains 10 added teaspoons of sugar, 400mg of sodium, and the caloric equivalent of a litre of Coca-Cola, and the Healthy Eating Alliance wants to subsidize its sale to promote its consumption?
Honestly, I didn't believe it. I thought perhaps Charmaine was voicing her own opinion rather than the HEA, and it's not because Charmaine works for Big Milk either. Unlike some of the other characters who've come out in strong support of chocolate milk Charmaine seems like an incredibly well-intentioned healthy eating advocate and not simply a corporate shill. So I called Dr. Jennifer Taylor, the volunteer president of the HEA to ask what was going on and in a very congenial discussion she affirmed that the HEA would indeed support the subsidization of the cost of chocolate milk in a bid to get children to drink more "nutrient rich" beverages.
So is chocolate milk nutrient rich, and more importantly does that matter? Well certainly chocolate milk has more nutrients than Gatorade or Coca-Cola but at double the calories and double the sugar of Coke and Gatorade I certainly wouldn't be rushing out to recommend children drink it.
If you're not sure where your opinion lies ask yourself this question, if there existed Coca-Cola with twice the sugar and calories of regular Coke and it was fortified to share the identical nutrient profile of chocolate milk, do you think it'd be a healthy beverage to serve your children?
In my discussion with Dr. Taylor it seemed that the seal of approval the HEA is affording chocolate milk is one that comes from an it's less bad than what they're currently choosing stance and she readily admitted to me that,
"in an ideal world they'd only be drinking 1% or skim white milk"
My stance is certainly more black and white. Chocolate milk is a liquid chocolate bar. It's a sometimes food, and when the HEA reports that they'd support chocolate milk's subsidy it elevates it from what at best could be described as a "less bad" option to a "healthy eating" option which in turn may well encourage PEI's children, parents, educators and health professionals to think that somehow magic nutrients in chocolate milk offset the insane amount of sugar it packs.
To put the sugar in perspective, if kids in PEI schools drank one 500mL carton of chocolate milk a day for a year they'd be drinking 76 cups of added sugar! That's just over 7 five pound bags of sugar and that doesn't include the sugar naturally found in milk. Add that in and they'd be drinking 118 cups or almost 60lbs of sugar a year. And with 200mg of sodium per 250mL they'd also be drinking a third of their daily recommended maximal sodium allowance and enough non-satiating, liquid calories to support a 37.5lb gain.
The only silver lining here is that apparently PEI's milk program doesn't have the funds to subsidize the liquid sugar.
Lastly I have to give kudos to Dr. Taylor. While we wholeheartedly disagreed, we had a nice, civilized chat - I wish more folks involved in nutrition were able to take the emotion out of their disagreements.
[Hat tip to my friend Andrea from the fabulous Ottawa based parenting blog a peek inside the fishbowl who was the first to send this scariness my way]
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If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.
My Dearest Friend, if circumstance would allow at this time I would say let us walk together through our existence in this world. Thank you Cyn for the friendship :) Have a lovely weekend!
great! i have never heard of zigime, let me know im always open to anything especially if it is being brought to me by a friend. until then take care x
We all need someone to talk to in our life, a friend to whom we run in times of stress or strife: together we must each have ground that's where love's nourishment is found. Have a wonderful weekend my friend :)
Hi Cyne! In the Soo is getting cold, but, that is ok! I already look forward to ice fishing. Leaves starting to change colors and views are spectacular; fall is my favorite time of the year just like winter. Hunting season has started and plenty of time I’ll spend in the bush…yep! I love it. Where do you live? Enjoy your day and be grateful that is above the water. Warm hugs to you my friend.
MS Excel (or any spreed sheet program)would be great for that and you could also copy and paste when you need to use the links. make a columns for 'program name', 'referral link', 'ID', etc. then you can sort the columns by alphabet or whatever.
or
just create a notepad document for each program and name it after the program. Then use it like a 'notepad' for each program... keep the programs' affiliate links, user names, maybe passwords, listed on the document. Then you can put the notepad files you have for each program in a folder in 'your docs' and use the file sort features in your operating system. sort by date modified, name(alpha-numeric), file size ...etc.
Are you talking about me specifically or any one generally? what links are you referring to? you want then easy for others to find or for you to keep track of them?
9/24/2009
Cynergy Diva
47 years old Female South Eastern Ontario, Canada Hometown: Montreal QC
My nest is empty now and I'm looking for new endeavours to keep me busy.While recovering from my broken ankle, I've been let go from my office job, so I've been exploring ways to do something for myself in order to be free from the demands of other people. To that end, I've been looking at learning how to market online. Experimenting with a lot of different things - some of them turned out to be scams - I have stumbled on something that looks really intriguing that I'm going to examine further. (See MoreNiche blog)
I really like this online socializing. The internet really makes the world a small place, and I hope I can really broaden my horizons and meet a lot of new people. Lifelong learning and personal empowerment are important to me. I'm always looking for new ways to improve myself, and if anything I learn can be passed on for the benefit of others, then that makes me happy.
I love the girly stuff: knitting, sewing,quilting, crafting and shopping.
I love to read too, but I'm really passionate about seeing my fellow humans better themselves and their circumstances. Cynergy (Synergy) is my keyword.
R&B - New Country - Pop - Jazz
I like most music and I'm not fanatical about any one artist. About the only music I can't take is Opera and Heavy Metal. My favorite radio stations are: BBC Radio 2; KJAZZ; and the local oldies station AM 1220 Cornwall
Fave song as of Aug 2007 The Way I Are
Movies:
My faves are The Grapes of Wrath, Corrina, Corrina & Edward Scissor Hands - The last movie I saw was Stomp The Yard - 2 thumbs up!
TV:
My two favorites are British soaps Coronation Street and Eastenders; I love the Brit coms and westerns too
Books:
I like to read for personal development, and I love historical and generational sagas, but I'm not ashamed to say that I do enjoy trashy romance novels too. Some of the books that I have enjoyed are: The The Power of Intention by Dr Wayne Dyer - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - Just about all of Danielle Steele's novels. Now Reading: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
by Eckhart Tolle
by Dr Wayne Dyer - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - Just about all of Danielle Steele's novels. Now Reading: 
by Eckhart Tolle 