The Heart Attack Grill

"We attract an avant-garde clientele -- thrill seekers, risk takers," owner Jon Basso told the Los Angeles Times. He said his restaurant is a "bad for you but fun" restaurant that "attracts people who don't really take good care of their health."

 Is this a place where you would want to go because I know I would not! The Heart Attack Grill is a restaurant that acts like a hospital and "laughs" at doctor's orders to eat healthy. All of the waitresses dress as nurses in skin tight uniforms and the owner dresses as a cardiologist (stethoscope and all). The people eating at the restaurant are considered patients. On the menu there is "Flatliner fries cooked in lard, shakes made with pure cream, and four flavors of "bypass" burgers, as in single, double, triple or quadruple bypass."

The Quadruple Bypass Burger tops 10,000 calories sometimes. Basso (the owner) said the Guinness World Records book called him on Friday to say that the burger was being crowned the most caloric sandwich on Earth! The most shocking fact is that the restaurant offers free food to people weighing over 350 pounds. Basically, they are directly contributing to obesity!! If a person is able to finish one of their quadruple bypass burgers, they get wheeled out of the restaurant in a wheel chair by one of the waitress "nurses." The problem is, is that many people are getting wheeled out by real nurses when they end up having heart attacks from this food. Many people ask Basso if he is worried about getting sued for sending people to the hospital from his food. He has replied by saying, ""Unlike cigarettes, I have had warnings labels since Day 1 when we opened in 2005 telling people how bad our food is for you. I think that skirts any liability we might have." He is working to get rid of anorexia and sobriety, and says he really does not worry about liability issues.

Questions: What do you think about this restaurant? Would you ever go? Do you think this is a good way to solve anorexia? Do you think this is encouraging obesity (child and adult)?

Bibliography

Lynch, Rene. Heart Attack Grill strikes again? Owner calls diners 'risk-takers'. 23 April 2012. 26 April 2012 <http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-heart-attack-grill-20120423,0,2915767.story>.

 LLC, Printfection. Heart Attack Grill. 2012. 26 April 2012 <http://www.heartattackgrill.com/>.

Community Supported Agriculture

                                                              St. Brigid's Gate Farm


 Local Harvest, a farming company, grows produce for community supported agriculture. "Community Supported Agriculture is a system in which consumers receive food directly from the farmers who produce it." This is a creative way to help childhood obesity. Why? This is a program that can grow produce and then send it to areas where produce isn't provided for a cheaper price. CSA works by having a farmer offer a certain number of shares to the public. The share is a box of vegetables, but sometimes other farm products may be included. Consumers who want to buy from this farmer purchase the share, which is just like a membership. After they do this, they will receive a box of produce each week that is grown from the farmer, throughout the entire farming season.


"Advantages for farmers:

• Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
• Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:

• Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
• Find that kids typically favor food from "their" farm – even veggies they've never been known to eat
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown" 

^ taken directly from the local harvest link

In my opinion this is a great idea because it is really simple but it has amazing results. It can really help a family who can't afford produce from grocery stores where it is much higher. Also, if families live in an area where produce isn't an option at their local store, they can still get it by having it sent to them! To make it even better, some farmers include the option for customers to buy other things such as eggs, homemade bread, meat, cheese, fruit, flowers or other farm products. Sometimes farmers will join together to off their products, that way they can provide the widest variety to their shareholders.

Questions: What do you think about CSA? Do you think this could help reduce obesity? Do you think this is a good idea?

Bibliography

Agriculture, Prarieland Community Supported. What is CSA? 2012. 19 April 2012 <http://www.prairielandcsa.org/whatisacsa.html>.

Inc., Local Harvest. Community Supported Agriculture. 2012. 19 April 2012 <http://www.localharvest.org/csa/>.

A Mother's Fight Against Childhood Obesity

                                                      ^ Above is Sonya Branch-Johnson

This website that I came upon had an article and a video that was very moving. A Mother's Fight, <- the video is displayed at the top of the webpage. It is the struggle of a mother who is telling her story about obesity. I know this doesn't seem like childhood obesity but her story ends up positively helping children overcome obesity. Sonya Branch-Johnson went into the doctor's office one day, only to see her doctor write obese on her paper.  She was 300 pounds and in a size 28, but she had no idea that she was overweight. Sonya said, "I would put on heels and you couldn’t tell me I couldn’t fly. Even in a size 28, I thought I was amazing." The doctor told her that not only was she hurting herself, but she was also hurting her children. "I never thought that I didn't love my kids, I never thought I wasn't a good mom. I always pushed that they get a good education. I never thought that I wasn't teaching them to live healthy. I never thought that was something that I was doing wrong. To be a role model for your kids, you’ve got to make those changes yourself.” ”

Sonya, just like many others struggling with obesity, went through all of the steps before she realized that she needed to change her lifestyle. First she experienced denial, then recognition, and finally determination to change for the sake of her children. It all began the day she left the doctor's office. Today, after losing a lot of weight, Sonya is helping at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore by encouraging children to overcome their obesity. She says, “I’m kind of that person that in the background is saying, you can do this and in a way, I’m saying to myself that I wish I had that person for me…and that’s what drives me, I’ll do anything for these kids. We can’t quit on them.”


I really enjoyed reading this story and watching the video because stories like these are the ones that should be shown a lot more often. People are always reading disheartening statistic about how the percentages of obesity in both children and adults are increasing. But when people can read stories like Sonya's, they are able to have a goal to set for themselves, and they can realize that people actually can overcome obesity. The percentage of children who are obese and stay obese as adults is very high, but if Sonya can reach out and tell people how she has changes, this could lower that percentage.




Questions: How do you feel after watching the movie about Sonya? Do you think that stories like this are the ones that should be told or do you think statistics are more important?

Bibliography

Change, Facing. A Mother’s Fight Against Childhood Obesity. 2011. 17 April 2012 <http://facingchange.org/blog/2012/02/15/childhood-obesity/>.

Perkins, Lucian. A Mother's Fight Against Childhood Obesity. February 2012. 17 April 2012 <http://vimeo.com/groups/poynter/videos/36808025>.

Washington Post: Childhood Obesity

As the Washington Post article Obesity Threatens a Generation says, young bodies are much more vulnerable to the toxic effects of fat. As a child gains weight, it is doing much more damage to them than if they were to gain weight at a later age. When a person is young, they are putting every one of their major organs at risk, and damage becomes irreversible. Doctors are confirming these problems: boys and girls in elementary school are suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and painful joint conditions. There is a soaring incidence of type 2 diabetes, which never used to be seen in doctor's offices. There has even been an occurrence in child gallstones, which was usually only seen in adults. These problems are serious and can lead to a much earlier death.

The article continues to discuss how not only has our nation as a whole become heavier, but among the ages 6 to 19, the rate of obesity has more than tripled! Studies now indicate that most will never overcome their overweight body. Up to 80 percent of obese teens become obese adults (a horrifying fact). Because of this, experts fear an exponential increase in heart disease, strokes, cancer and other health problems as the children move into their 20s and beyond!! This has never been seen before. The evidence shows that this could greatly diminish the quality of these peoples' lives.

It only adds to the frustration of many people that the rise in childhood obesity has cost the U.S. millions of dollars. The epidemic is expected to add BILLIONS of dollars to the U.S. health-care bill. This is because, "treating a child with obesity is three times more costly than treating the average child, according to a study by Thomson Reuters." The research company estimated the country's overall expense of care for overweight children is $14 billion annually. A substantial portion of this is for hospital services, because those patients go more frequently to the emergency room because of their many problems.


Question: How do you feel that childhood obesity is causing our country billions of dollars that could be prevented?

Bibliography

Levine, Susan and Rob Stein. Obesity Threatens a Generation. 17 May 2008. 10 April 2012 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/09/ST2008050900425.html?sid=ST2008050900425>.

Post, The Washington. An Overview of Childhood Obesity. 2008. 10 April 2012 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/05/16/GR2008051602876.html?sid=ST2008050900425>.

Three Steps You Must Follow To Avoid Childhood Obesity

I was looking at another blog about childhood obesity - Childhood Obesity. The first blog entry caught my attention because it gave specific ways for how people can avoid this problem. It didn't just state facts about obesity, but rather informed people about what to do!! So, I know you are all wondering, What are the three steps?

1.Eating dinner at the table more than 5 times a week.

2.Sleep at least 10.5 hours a night.

3.Watch less than 2 hours of TV a day.

 

"Obesity is termed as increase in the body weight of an individual due to excessive accumulation of fat." So who are these children looking to when they are gaining all of this weight? The parents are the ones they look to, to buy, prepare, and serve the foods that they are going to eat. Good habits or bad habits are developed at this point in a child's life. If they are being fed unhealthy foods, this is most likely the path they are going to follow as they grow up. As a parent, you set the rules and allot the amount of food they can eat, and most importantly: the amount of food and type of food that can even come into the house.

 

When you sit down to dinner with your family, it would be most beneficial to be without a TV. This way, the parent can regulate what their children are eating as well as the amount of food they are eating. If they are sitting in front of a TV, they could just be eating the unhealthier parts of their dinner and possibly even feeding their vegetables to the dog! So, I know it is sometimes hard if you are a parents working multiple jobs and not getting home until late at night. But, if you have specific rules for the nanny of only an hour of TV, and in bed so that they will get the 10.5 hours that they need, it will reduce the risk of obesity. This way they will also be energetic and ready for their next day at school because they wont be tired. If you allow your children to sit around and watch TV, you are most likely giving them the ability to not do any type of exercise and they are most likely snacking along with their watching. So, remember these three simple rules and you will save your child the risk of becoming obese!

 

Questions: Do you think that these three rules are actually beneficial? Are there other rules that you would suggest to be more important?

 

Bibliography

Nana. Childhood Obesity Blog. 15 April 2012. 3 April 2012 <http://childhood--obesity.blogspot.com/>.

Network, Lilith Gallery. American Obesity Rates. November 2008. 3 April 2012 <www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/health/American-Obesity-Rates.html>.

 

Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age

A recent study found that after tracking heavy youngsters throughout their lives to adulthood, these obese children were twice as likely to die before the age of 55 compared to thinner children. The article, Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age explains that they were likely to die of self-inflicted injury or illness. Of course the article stated other problems that children endure that could cause them to die at an earlier age such as pre-diabetes or high blood pressure, but obesity ranked among the highest factors. Shocking to me, nearly one in three American children are now considered to be overweight or obese. This is a huge issue because this really hurts the children's chances of living a long life. Nowadays, everyone expects to live past the age of 55, but if childhood obesity continues to increase in our country, the mortality rates are going to increase at a much earlier age. When the study had been completed, it showed that "adults who had the highest body mass index scores as children were 2.3 times as likely to have died early as those with the lowest scores, and those with the highest glucose levels were 73 percent more likely to have died prematurely."

 Edward W. Gregg, who is with the diabetes branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that researchers have always known that pre-diabetes has not had good outcomes for adults, but they had never truly seen the link between it and children. This past study was a useful study because there are very few studies about pre-diabetes tracked in youths all the way up to adulthood. What many people have always thought caused earlier deaths in childhood years, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the study proved them to be insignificant. It found that high blood pressure was a weak predictor of early death and high cholesterol was not really a factor that influenced premature death.

Therefore, Dr. Peter F. Belamarich says, “The message here is that if you take your kid to the doctor and the doctor says, ‘Well, their blood pressure is O.K., their cholesterol is O.K. and their sugar’s O.K..,’ the kid who’s obese still warrants our attention.”

Questions: How do you feel that one in three children in America are overweight or obese? Is it even possible to stop a statistic like this when it is still increasing?

Bibliography

Rabin, Roni Caryn. Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age, Study Finds . 10 February 2012. 1 April 2012 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/health/11fat.html>.