The Good Food Campaign

“Dirty” skin is a commonly missed medical condition.

The skin is hyper-pigmented, in a smooth, yet irregular, shape. It can be found in the “folds” of the skin.. at the neck, axila, navel, knees, elbows, ankles, and groin.

It is called Acanthosis Nigricans, and the main cause is Insulin Resistance.

Insulin Resistance is a pre-cursor to diabetes (pre-diabetes) and the main symptom of Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS.)

Type-2 (Adult-Onset) diabetes used to be something only adults needed to be concerned about..

But, many children are now being diagnosed with diabetes.

Insulin is a regulatory hormone, in the body.  It works with Glucagon, to tell the body when to store and not store the fat that we consume, in our diets.  It is triggered by carbohydrates or “sugars.”

When insulin levels are high, the body stores fat (converted “sugars”,) to use, later, for energy.

Glucagon is a regulatory hormone that pulls “fuel” from the body..  It is a reaction hormone and dependent on  insulin levels lowering, to react, to burn stored energy.

When we constantly consume “sugars” and junk food, we over stimulate our insulin production.  We burn out this imaginary switch, that tells the body to start producing Glucagon.

It doesn’t matter, to the body’s functioning whether we are not producing any insulin (Type I Diabetes) or if we have a constant supply of high levels of Insulin (Type II Diabetes.)  All that matters, is that Glucagon is not being triggered..

The body is constantly storing fat.  The “sugars,” being consumed, are being converted to fat, and also being stored.

Insulin Resistance is the main cause of obesity.

(Nothing in this article is intended as medical advice. Nothing in this article is intended to diagnose or cure disease.  It is purely for informational purposes.  Please allow your medical doctor to diagnose your illnesses.  Seek the advice of a medical professional, if you feel that you have a medical problem. This article was not written by a professional medical doctor.)

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Have you heard “Oh, it’s ok, it’s just baby fat!” ?

Well, baby-fat turns into ‘puppy’ fat which turns into adult fat. Kids that are overweight, are more likely to turn into adults that remain overweight.

It can sometimes be traced to genetics, but it’s more often down to too much food, particularly junk food, and too little exercise.

Kids used to play in the street, or at the park, and more and more now sit in front of the computer, TV, or games console for hours on end instead.

Kids don’t need to be put on fancy diets either. That can often promote unhealthy ideas later in life, and give kids the impression that they need to be picky and fussy about what they eat. It’s good for parents to lead by example. No good telling junior they shouldn’t eat candy or fast food junk and should exercise if they frequently see you snacking on chocolate or pizza while not moving from the couch all day.

It’s no going to work if you suddenly decide to go on a healthy eating regime, and expect them to follow along without protest either.

Just stop buying one or two items. Cut back on chips. Let them have one bag a week, not three bags a day. The same with soda. It works best for ourselves, and for kids too, if we’re gradually weaned off the junk.

Try and make time to sit at the dinner table and eat, not at the TV. It promotes family conversation too, and gives you an opportunity to show enthusiasm for healthy options, by talking about them. Educate kids about what is best for them, but don’t ban them from junk totally or they’ll simply rebel and go buy it with their allowance behind your back in any case.

Often too, it’s good to cut back on portion size. Remember that your body takes about 20 mins to tell your brain that’s it’s full, so try and eat more slowly. Make it more of a family event, rather than the latest TV episode. You’ll all enjoy your food more, and less food will be more filling, and without feeling stuffed and bloated afterward.

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A recent report in the journal Circulation took a look at over 20,000 doctors for 20 years, and found that even those doctors who were not obese, but were just slightly overweight, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 25 and 30 still had almost a 50% increased risk of heart failure, against those who had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of under 25.

Exercise was a huge factor in reducing the risk too. Working out three times a month reduced the risk by almost 20%, and those who worked out every day cut their risk by around 35%.

It’s back to those four words. Eat less, move more.

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