Those who know me may realize this is going to be a long article and it may be tough to take the time to read. I hope that you can spare 5-10 minutes to truly put some thought into this and maybe research some of the informational links provided when you're done. This article is written with great care for each of you and our community with the hopes of offering each of you support in living healthier. I can assure you this is a very valuable read and will save you lots of time long term. Herson and I have learned many of these items through previous teachers, scientific reports, news updates and from our own personal mistakes. We hope that the summary below can add value to your life and those around you. Feel free to forward this email to as many people as you wish. The more people we can touch the better.

How can you keep yourself healthy
and change the future for our kids?

Many of you may have heard the recent updates from our military and some of the startling statistics that have been released about our children. Over a quarter of our children are currently too unfit to serve in our military and approximately 20% of children ages 6-19 yrs old are considered clinically obese. Obesity among our children has tripled in just the last 30 years and this generation of those approximately 20 years old and younger are the first generation projected to die before their parents. 

These are startling statistics and the tough part is with currently two-thirds of adults being overweight, we're not always the best source of knowledge to know how to best help our children. Our goal is to help give you some answers, ideas and solutions to these problems.

What is contributing to our weight problem?

  • Increased sugar consumption
  • Increased packaged foods (food like substances that are edible)
  • Mass Production of poor quality meat
  • Genetically Modified Foods and Food additives
  • Fad diets & Mass Media
  • Increased medications
  • Lack of activity
  • High stress levels with packed schedules
How can you help?

Decrease the sugar in your diet, eliminate high fructose corn syrup and sweet substitutes.
Prior to the 1900's, sugar was a luxury. It was very expensive and we ate less than 5lbs per year on average per person. Today we eat on average 170lbs per person per year. Some are eating well over 200lbs per year between a combination of pure sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Others have chose to opt for fake sweeteners, but in case you haven't noticed, since fake sweeteners were introduced in the late 70's early 80's, diabetes has increased by 136% and obesity has tripled. If the fake sweeteners worked for the reasons we ingest them (to lose weight and prevent/reverse diabetes 2), then these numbers should be going down, not increasing. High fructose corn syrup is a highly processed form of sugar that is very damaging to your liver and cuts off your body's ability to sense that it is full. Since it is also made from corn, chances are it is made from genetically modified corn that was created to withstand high doses of pesticides. So do your best to first eliminate fake sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup. Then work to reduce packaged foods that have more than 5g of sugar in them. One 20oz soda, Arizona drink or Snapple can have up to 20 tsps of sugar. So the best place to start is to eliminate frilly, colorful drinks and stick to natural water with lemon or lime. Or add a small amount of 100% juice to your water to give it some flavor. The goal is to drink mostly water. Life can not exist without water so it must be pretty important.

The recommended sugar intake for adult women is 5 teaspoons (20 grams) of sugar per day, for adult men, it's 9 teaspoons (36 grams) daily, and for children, it's 3 teaspoons (12 grams) a day. 

Dangers of Sugar and Fructose- Great Reference
Companies removing high fructose from their products

Additional tip: As a parent, teacher, employer, motivator etc. please stop giving kids and people treats to be nice or because they are cheap. As you can see our adults and children do not need any more sweets to show them we love them or they have been good. Give kids a sticker, a pencil, notepad or stamp to motivate them. Employers can have a healthy food cook off versus a pizza party or take some time to cut up fruit and 2% cheese for their team.  Daycare providers can give kids the choice of natural applesauce or yogurt versus pudding or ice cream. Or peanut butter and apple slices versus chips and cookies. If you give it, they will take it. Challenge yourself to look for inexpensive replacements to our not so healthy gifts/snacks.

Purchase and eat more whole natural foods.
Each of our bodies are working to make living tissue to renew our skin, hair, bone, muscles etc. It is much harder for your body to make live tissue from products that are dead and able to stay on a shelf for 2-3 years. Do not let the diet commercials fool you and the health claims on every box make you think that a 90 calorie Special K bar is better for you than a natural banana or an apple. Whey protein and protein bars are not real food and they are certainly not natural. They may make some people look good on the outside, but they may be wrekcing havoc on their mental and physical health. You can get all the protein and convenience you need in a can of tuna, a cheese stick or a hard boiled egg. If you can work to reduce the packaged food, you and your kids will have ingested less sodium, less dye, less chemicals and achieve less cravings. If you do have to purchase packaged products, focus on buying those that resemble real food. For example popcorn, organic yogurt, oatmeal, Lean Cuisines and Kashi cookies are at least made up of foods that look like real food. If you were to break down the ingredients of a Pop Tart, Twinkie or Oreo, you wouldn't find anything that resembled a whole food.
Work on one meal at a time. If everything in your breakfast is packaged or highly processed start there. If you're a snacker, then make snack time your goal to improve. You will find buying natural, whole foods is actually LESS expensive than packaged foods and a whole lot more satisfying.


Buy Organic as often as possible.

Meat has been eaten by animals and man for millions of years. If meat was bad for us, we would not have existed this long. For the first time in history, we have rising infertility rates, children obese by the age of one and ailments such as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromalagyia. We have been told not to eat or to drastically reduce our egg, red meat and fat consumption. So all of us are eating egg beaters, chicken and non fat packaged foods. Meat and eggs are not the issue. Our body drastically needs the protein and nutrients offered in whole eggs and red meat. They contain natural sources of things such as B12, biotin, iodine, iron, omega 3 and muscle repairing protein. The issue is the amount of meat we now have available and the quality in which our meat is produced. If we eat meat from farms that pile cows and chickens on top of each other and let them sit in their own poop feeding them anything but the grass and seed they were designed to eat, the meat will make us sick. And if we eat three egg omelets with sausage and cheese or a 16oz prime rib, meat and eggs will be a problem. If we snack on a hard boiled egg and have a 6oz sirloin once per week, this would not be excessive and it would help our health. If we also choose to buy high quality meat and foods labeled organic, we will avoid many added hormones, antibiotics and pesticides.

Organic is normally priced higher than conventional meats and fruits, but it is not overall more expensive in the long run. A Big and Tasty and a small fry, averages $4 per serving. An organic burger with roasted potatoes at home averages $2 per plate and takes about 20 minutes to make.  If a family of four eats this meal at McDonald's everyday, switching out to the organic version would save them $3000 per year!!! A family can watch for sales on organic products, buy from local farmers and search sites such as BJs and Sams for 100% organic meats offered at a lesser price per pound. What we purchase makes a difference. The more we choose healthier foods, the more the food producers will supply us with it. It truly is supply and demand.

Buy local and buy organic as often as possible. Start investing in your meat, eggs and dairy first, then organic fruits and veggies.

Learn more about GRAS and GMOs.

In the US, we have deemed many chemicals as Generally Recognized As Safe. If a chemical is labeled as GRAS, a food producer does not have to list the ingredients on the label of their food item. They can list natural flavoring or artificial flavoring. Those two words can mean the product has more than 20-30 chemicals, but the producer only has to label as required. Unfortunately the safety of these food additives have not been thoroughly tested and many that have been tested, were tested by the companies who are selling them so the results have been skewed in their favor.

Many of our packaged foods, some whole foods and feed for our animals contain Genetically Modified Organisms. These GMOs have been created to look like the real thing, but they do not offer the same nutrients as their natural, organic version. The US also does not require labeling of GMO products, so you will not know if you are eating something that has been genetically modified, nor if it is making  you sick. Currently commercialized GM crops in the U.S. include soy (91%), cotton (88%), canola (88%), corn (85%), Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%), zucchini and yellow squash (small amount), and tobacco (Quest® brand). About half of the sugar beets grown for sugar in 2008 were GM and current projections are that about 90% grown in 2009 will be GM. Try to avoid packaged foods with soy, cottonseed oil and corn products.

When buying fruit and/or vegtables, check the product look up code or PLU sticker. 
  • Organic produce has a 5 digit PLU number that begins with the number 9.
  • Conventional produce has a 4 digit PLU number that begins with the number 4.
  • Genetically modified (GMO) produce has a 5 digit PLU number that begins with the number 8.
Eating many foods with chemicals and GMO's can impact your hormones, health and weight.

NON GMO shopping guide

Information about chemicals in food and body products

Information about Monsanto and GMOs

Do not put yourself or your kids on a DIET.
Begin a commitment to living healthier.

Contrary to mass media and recent fad diets, rarely do drastic diets that promise quick weight loss work. If they do lead to fast weight loss, it typically results in fast muscle loss, a loss of health and a quick weight gain once a person returns to a normal diet. The goal of weight loss is to look and feel good. If you or your child loses weight fast using medications, drastic calorie reduction or cutting out whole food groups such as carbs, you tend to lose weight, but end up not looking or feeling the way you want.

Fast weight loss can lead to DANGEROUS health problems, slow metabolism, nutrient deficiencies and a loss of muscle and skin tone. Great the scale went down, but you didn't achieve the look and health you wanted. Many people following strict weight loss plans still have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and joint problems. They become so malnourished that their body can not function properly.

If you are looking to lose weight/improve health and actually look and feel good in the process, do not start drastically reducing calories and cutting out real food. Make a small change each week such as switching from soda to water or switching from a large sugary latte to a small. Then focus on reducing fried foods, adding in at least 3 veggies per day etc. These small changes will automatically reduce calorie and unhealthy fat intake without making you feel deprived or causing severe health complications. If you make these changes and add in a moderate exercise program, you will gradually lose the weight just as you gained it. You will achieve long term lasting results versus a short term weight loss. It does no good to lose 30lbs in a couple months if you gain back in the next couple.

Always remember the goal is to stay healthy, look fit and keep the weight off for good. You did not put a time frame on how long you were going to live unhealthy, do not put a time frame on how long you will invest to get healthy. Make it a lifetime commitment to do something healthier each week than you did the week before. Average weight loss is .25lb to 2lbs per week depending on how many commitments you make to living healthier. That's a 13-104lbs weight loss per year. As you and/or your family get better at living healthier, the weight comes off more steadily. The main goal is to never give up and know that if you work to live healthier, you will avoid much illness and save lots of money for the future.

If you do add in strength training, your inches will double your weight loss results and you will drop pant sizes faster than the scale goes down.

* Please contact a professional if you would like additional help with you or helping your kids lose weight. Please do not try to do what you "think" is best for your children. What you "think" may be what you have been conditioned to think based on marketing and sales gimmicks. As parents our intentions are good, but we could be killing our kids, or creating a lifetime of self image and eating disorders.  


Medicate yourself with a healthy lifestyle.
Prescription drugs have definitely been useful when it comes to saving our lives from deadly infections and strange illnesses, but they are not the cure to our everyday ailments. If you or your child suffers from severe headaches, insomnia, digestive problems, diabetes II, high blood pressure etc. these are all warning signs that you may not be treating your body right. If you refuse to change your lifestyle and your doctor has to prescribe a high blood pressure medication, it does not mean that you have been cured, it just means that they are treating the symptom of an underlying cause. We now have children on medications to treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes II. Is it because they are suddenly aging at the pace of a sixty year old? No, it's that their diets and lifestyles are not conducive to maintaining a healthy body. When we get symptoms such as the ones above, these are like the check engine light in your car. You have to diagnose your lifestyle and see what stressors are causing you to have these symptoms and then fix them. Maybe you're not drinking enough water, maybe you're skipping meals or maybe you haven't had a fruit or vegetable in weeks. If this is the case, try to start adjusting your habits before you have to be put on medications to manage them. Many medications create weight gain and/or other symptoms that make you feel too sluggish to want to exercise or make healthy choices. The more you can naturally take care of your health, the easier it will be to survive without a list of medications.

Get moving, but move effectively.
It is important for each of us to get moving gradually and safely. Most of our current lifestyles do not require much labor work, so we are losing muscle and bone, while gaining body fat. It is important to start walking, biking, dancing or swimming at least 3 days per week for 20-40 mins depending on the intensity. It is also important that we fight bone and muscle loss through effective strength training on 2-3 days per week. Again, I recommend seeking out a qualified professional to help you set up a program that is right for you. If you educate yourself up front, you will save lots of time, frustration and injuries with your workout.

Let it go and prioritize.
Many of us have so much stress in our lives we are suppressing the hormones that assist with weight loss and increasing the ones that make us store body fat for protection. Our body thinks we are constantly under attack so it tries to protect us through conserving calories and storing the fat. Some of our stress is real with things such as illness, death of a loved one and/or finances. Other stressors are created. Sometimes we're worried about what someone at work is saying about us, if we are going to get laid off, did we do a good enough job or is our friend mad at us? We end up being stressed out about things that either never happen or things we are assuming in our head. If you are anticipating something that may happen or worried about why someone was rude to you at work, try to let it go or communicate about it. If you spend your time worrying about things such as getting laid off, you may affect your work production and/or morale. You may never get laid off or you may get laid off from a poor attitude and lack of quality work from always being worried about what may happen. Also know that when you are stressed about why someone was rude to you or what they may think of you, realize that they may not have been rude to you because of you. They may be unhappy or have something going on in their life that's making them react rudely. Don't assume it's you. They may also think very highly of you, but may not be good at communicating that. So try not to use your worry and stress up on things that may not exist. Save those thoughts and worry for a time that may actually warrant it. Those unnecessary stressors could cause you to emotionally eat more, skip meals, lose sleep or lead to depression. Communicate your concerns and let go of what you can not control. Be your best and forget about the rest.

All of us also have A LOT going on. We have tight work schedules, kids have lots of extra activities and we're all trying to maintain our personal life. Take a look at the activities you and/or your children are investing your time and money in. Assess whether these activities are where your priorities should be. If you are suffering from health issues and can not find time to exercise, maybe you should not take on extra duties such as being part of your HOA board or taking on more projects at your job. Save that time to start taking care of yourself. Once you have a better balance with your stress and you have made time to plan healthy snacks or exercise, then start taking on additional duties that fit into your life. If your children are suffering from obesity or you are, you may not want to be paying for expensive cell phones, IPODS or cars. You may want to invest  that money in getting each of you healthy first. Why can we spend $30,000 or more on  a car, but not a couple thousand to buy healthier food throughout the year or hire a professional to help us? Your kids will not be happy if you bought them all kinds of gifts, but never invested in taking care of you. You are a gift to them and if they lose you early due to poor health or they have to live with you feeling unhappy and depressed due to your weight, none of the gifts you have given or activities you have them in will matter.

Take time to prioritize what really matters. Start looking at what you can take off of your plate to reduce your stress or how you can deal with stressors differently. Then take time to see where you may be investing in items that truly are not important in the big scheme of things and start trading those purchases in for healthier food and support in living a healthier life.

Last but not least, if there is something in your past that is holding you back from being happy, find support to help you get through it. If your parents did not treat you right, you were picked on in school or you had a tragic event happen to you, work to see how you can learn from it and how you can prevent someone else or yourself from suffering through those things again. Do not let your past prevent you from living a healthy present and future. You deserve to be healthy and happy.

As you can see, there is not one cause to our current health issues and the obesity epidemic. There is a wide range of causes and there is much more to learn than what I am able to include in this email. The goal is help each of you understand that you have to take a holistic approach to your health and weight. Thin does not mean healthy. Being fit, strong and balancing your life is closer to what most people want to achieve long term. Herson and I hope this email can help each of you in some way. We hope that you can trust the advice we are offering and improve the health of our community and country.

If any of you feel you need more support in losing weight or getting healthy, please contact us. We look at each of your lives when designing a program. Your health program has to fit your lifestyle and where you are at physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. And remember, this is true for your family members. What works for you, may not work for them. So please try not to play diet doctor or health professional with them. Hire a third party that can look at the situation unbiasedly and provide them the support they need to meet their goals.

Thank you for your trust and commitment to helping our community get healthier.

Sincerely,

Herson and Kim Garcia


Sign this petition to get healthier food in our schools.
Healthier School Lunches

Recent studies on the obesity trends and impacts.

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/Obesity2009Report.pdf

http://clubindustry.com/studies/obesity-rates-states-20090707/

http://clubindustry.com/studies/us-obesity-increase-20091118/index.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/027778_Baby_Boomers_degenerative_disease.html







Even

Kim2bfit, LLC
3031 Landover Blvd.
Spring Hill, Fl 34608
352-428-6368

kim@kim2bfit.com
herson@kim2bfit.com
www.kim2bfit.com