CHNET-Works! has been a great source of free weekly webinars (they call them fireside chats) on a variety of health topics for a while now (at least as long as I’ve been working in Ontario). They recently started a blog Health As If Everyone Counted featuring posts about a range of population health issues.

I stumbled across this video yesterday. It’s about a new vending machine in Utah that provides school children with “hip” “healthy” eating messages rather than food or drinks. It’s supposed to help teach school-aged children about healthy eating in a fun way. Children punch in the code for the item they want to buy and instead of the item they get a message such as the following: “I’m a vending machine and can’t move without someone’s help,” the machine said. “Keep buying food like this and we’ll have that in common.” What a ridiculous waste of money! As I (any many other health professionals) have mentioned over and over again, the root causes of obesity are in our built environment. They’re firmly entrenched in our society and a gimmicky response like these vending machines is not going to have any effect on anyone’s weight. If anything, it’s going to have a negative effect on children because it’s sending the message that being thin is the only healthy body size (untrue) and stigmatizing many food choices. Obviously, I don’t think we should be encouraging consumption of chocolate lava cake everyday but as an occasional treat it’s fine. The more you tell anyone (children or adult) they can’t have a certain food the more they’re going to want it. So, not only are these vending machines a waste of money, they’re going to be teaching children unhealthy attitudes towards body image and food. Brilliant.

Today’s guest post was written by a colleague and friend of mine. You may recall a Follow Friday post of mine for Complete Health and Nutrition. Well, Luke Corey is the man behind the organization. Here’s his rant:

Actual messages from some of my Facebook friends:

Friend #1: “I notice you guys have a nutrition and challenge system set up. I actually am part of a company that has the same idea. Have you heard of the 90 day body by vi challenge?”

Friend #2: “We are looking for distributors and I thought of you because I know you could do really well with this! People have been really successful promoting it out west and it hasn’t been introduced in Nova Scotia so it could be a great opportunity for you.”

These are messages from two people, living at opposite ends of the country, who I haven’t spoken with in a few years, but within the first few minutes of chatting, they bring up this so-called “opportunity”. Sounds a little weird, doesn’t it?

The “opportunity” that we speak of is called the Body by Vi 90-day Challenge by Visalus Sciences. Check out their website and it looks like any other weight loss supplement company. You will be impressed by their claims, results, ease-of-use, etc. That’s fine!

The difference, however, between this company and every other one out there occurs when you see one important tab….”Work from Home”. Click on it and the first thing you see is: ”Promote the Body by Vi Challenge…and get Paid!”. They then continue to try to suck you in by using the words “community”, “loyal”, “reward”, “lucrative” and “prosperity”, to name a few. And, if that doesn’t get you on your way to signing up, perhaps the opportunity to win a BMW will. That’s what you get when you become one of their “Regional Directors”.

Basically, what this company does is recruits people to sign up and begin further recruiting people to purchase the products. I think I’ve seen this concept somewhere before…Oh right! It’s called dealing and pushing, and is essentially how the illicit drug industry operates. The Visalus Regional Director (the Dealer) contacts every single person they know with this opportunity. Those who sign up (the Pushers) then contact every person they know to try and sell the product to (the Users); and, in-turn, they tell every person they know, and so on and so on….until you have a multi-million dollar company.

Regardless of the scheme that is going on (research pyramid scheme and see the similarities), and the annoying messages that have been received (and I’m sure some of you have received them as well), the whole concept behind the product itself is completely bogus. They claim you can lose weight with their “Transformation Kit”, as well as providing the right combination of nutrients in their “Core Kit” to become an elite athlete. Not once do they mention anything about implementing healthy eating practices or increasing activity levels. Nor do they discuss sustainability or long-term health. As Dietitians, we have seen first-hand what poor eating habits and limited activity can do to a person over a long period. A “shake” will not prevent or even remedy that, unfortunately. Developing healthy, sustainable habits is the only way to achieve the optimal state of well-being.

As far as Body by Vi is concerned, 90-days is all it takes (plus a bunch of your money)…for the other 275 days of the year; you are on your own.  

I’ve seen a number of news articles over the past week or two claiming that school food and beverage policies are a failure as they have not reduced childhood obesity. I find this attitude frustrating and disheartening. Let’s put aside the fact that these policies are usually flawed and not representative of the healthiest possible diets. Let’s also put aside the fact that it may be better to offer choices in school cafeterias and use product placement and promotions to make the healthier choices the easier choice. Putting all these issues aside, the point of school nutrition policies was not to reduce the collective weight of the student population. The point of school nutrition policies is to steer children towards life-long healthy eating habits. I don’t think that the success (or failure) of these policies can be determined until at least one generation has started school and graduated from school with a nutrition policy in place the entire time. Even then it will be difficult to measure the success of a nutrition policy as there are so many other factors at play in the environment over the course of the 12 years a child is in the public school system. The second, and what I think is actually the more important reason for implementing school nutrition policies, is that schools should not be profiting from feeding children unhealthy foods and beverages. I think it’s shameful that the greatest opposition I’ve seen to school food and beverage policy implementation has been from school officials concerned that they will lose their funding. You see, cafeterias are a HUGE source of profit for schools, and if the kids start going down the street to get their fast food fixes at lunchtime then the school is going to have to figure out another way to make money. Selling students fries and pop is an easy money-maker. I don’t think most of these school nutrition policies are fantastic successes but they’re at least a step in the right direction. Schools should not just be tasked with educating children about standard subjects such as history and math. Schools should also be educating children about healthy food choices and providing them with the skills to prepare foods on their own. Far too many students are becoming adults who are ill-equipped when it comes to basic life skills, and clearly the education system is failing at the things that it is actually teaching when approximately half of the Canadian population is illiterate! We need to overhaul the education system and start teaching students things that will keep them alive and healthy into their senior years.

This is a great time of year for beans. When it’s cold outside there’s nothing better than a hot bowl of chili, stew, or soup. Beans are an inexpensive and nutritious alternative to meat. They’re full of fibre, protein, and iron, among other nutrients. They’re also low in fat. If you buy dried beans make sure you change the water a few times during the soaking process. This will help reduce the amount of oligosaccharides, the gas-producing compound in them. If you buy canned beans make sure you rinse them well to reduce both the oligosaccharides and the sodium used in the canning process.

Here’s a link to a delicious (I tested it out last weekend) and nutritious chili recipe.

David Lebovitz is a master pastry chef and cookbook author living in Paris. His blog provides recipes, cooking tips, and entertaining glimpses into his life.