Just when you thought you were safe...

Rather than going to the supermarket and trying to read the small print on the breakfast cereal boxes, here is a Web site that has links to all of the nutritional information. This site works for all types of foods, not just breakfast cereals:

http://www.elook.org/ eLook.org

In my last post, on this subject, I had to rely on only those cereal boxes we had at home, now we can get down to the real nitty-gritty of the content. Here are some of the more interesting figures on the sugar content of popular breakfast cereals:

General Mills (all with 100g serving size):

Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Cocoa Puffs, Boo Berry: 47g
Trix: 44g
Lucky Charms: 43g
Reese's Puffs: 39g
Whole Grain Total: 16g
Wheaties: 14g
Cheerios: 6g

Kellogg's and Kashi (all with 100g serving size)

GoLean: 12g
Heart to Heart: 20g
Organic Promise Autumn Wheat: 12g
Frosted Mini-Wheats: 20g
Apple Jacks: 49g
Cocoa Krispies: 34g
Corn Flakes: 11g
Corn Pops: 45g
Froot Loops: 41g
Frosted Flakes: 38g
Special K: 13g

Kraft/Post (all with 100g serving size)

Cocoa Pebbles: 44g
Grape Nuts Flakes: 18g
Grape Nuts: 12g
Honey Bunches of Oats: 22g

Wheat has 0g of sugar, no saturated fats and no cholesterol. You may wish to think about this.

Smoking and hunger

It has been my experience for many years that tobacco smokers (and others with addictions) will often neglect their own health and welfare to support their habit. A new study shows that the negative effects of this addictive behavior extends to family members, especially children. A study reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 152, No. 11, November 2008 is entitled "Increased Rates and Severity of Child and Adult Food Insecurity in Households With Adult Smokers."

The objective of the study was "to investigate rates and severity of child and adult food insecurity (the inability to access enough food in a socially acceptable way for every day of the year) in households with and without smokers." The study found that:

"Food insecurity was more common and severe in children and adults in households with smokers. Of children in households with smokers, 17.0% were food insecure vs 8.7% in households without smokers (P < .001). Rates of severe child food insecurity were 3.2% vs 0.9% (P < .04), respectively. For adults, 25.7% in households with smokers and 11.6% in households without smokers were food insecure, and rates of severe food insecurity were 11.8% and 3.9%, respectively (P < .003 for each). Food insecurity was higher in low-income compared with higher income homes (P < .01). At multivariate analyses, smoking was independently associated with food insecurity and severe food insecurity in children (adjusted odds ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-2.7, and adjusted odds ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-6.9, respectively) and adults (adjusted odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-3.0, and adjusted odds ratio, 2.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-3.7, respectively)." The full effects of smoking are summarized in an article from the same journal (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162(11):1096-1098)which states, in part,:

"Extensive research has documented the harmful impact of smoking on adult and children's health. Smoking causes numerous diseases and harms nearly every organ in the body, while exposure to secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmokers. Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the likelihood of premature birth, still birth, and low-birth-weight birth, as well as a number of other complications during pregnancy. Infants exposed to secondhand smoke are twice as likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome as those who are not exposed. Secondhand smoke significantly increases children's risk of acute respiratory infections and ear problems and for children with asthma, increases the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. Children's and adolescents' exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with various psychopathologies, including conduct disorder, aggression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In addition, tobacco use imposes a substantial economic toll..."

To read these, and other articles see http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/

Almost two hundred years ago, God revealed to Joseph Smith:

And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill. See Doctrine and Covenants, Section 89:8

What a different world we would have if more people would heed the word of God from his Prophets.

Wheat is for man

Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals.... (D&C 89:17)

Whole wheat contains manganese, phosphorus, magnesium and selenium in substantial percentages. It also contains adequate amounts of zinc, copper, iron, potassium and a small amount of calcium. It is rich in Vitamin B6, Niacin, Thiamin, Folate, Riboflavin and Pantothenic Acid. Vitamin E and Vitamin K are also present in small but significant amounts.

Unfortunately, processing the wheat, especially into white flour, removes most of the nutritional value and nearly all of the fiber. The nutritional value of whole wheat has been known for years, but recently, the breakfast food industry has appropriated the idea of "whole grain" as an advertising gimmick. All you have to do to see the difference is measure the weight of one cup of unprocessed wheat and compare it to the weight of one cup of processed breakfast cereal. For example, one cup of wheat weighs almost exactly 8 oz. or 1/2 lb. Kelloggs' Special K Cereal weighs 1.3 oz. or so per cup. So you can easily see that breakfast cereal is mostly air. It is also interesting to note that most breakfast cereal products claim to have added vitamins!

Also, wheat has no added sugar. If you look at the nutrition information on the side of the cereal box you will see some amazing things. Here are a few types of cereal and the sugar content of each:

Whole Grain Oat Cheerios 1 gm/cup
Raisin Bran Crunch 20 gm/cup
Honey Nut Cheerios 9 gm/cup
Total 5 gm/cup
Special K 7 gm/cup
Honey Bunches of Oats 6 gm/cup

And these are all "whole grain" healthy (supposedly) cereals. Just to know, 20 gm of sugar is .7 of an ounce. If the whole cereal only weighs 1.3 oz per cup, then most of the weight is in sugar.

Of course, we all knew that already. Right? So what are we going to do about it?

Let's look at price. Wheat has been rising in price for the past two years, it is just over $5.50 a bushel in the commodities markets, but it is sold in 45 lb. buckets for about $1 a pound as of November, 2008. A bushel is 128 cups. Breakfast cereal, on sale, is about $2.00 a box for about a 10 to 12 ounce box. It doesn't take a lot of math to see that at 1/2 lb per cup, wheat is a lot less expensive in bulk than prepared cereal, four cups or two pounds of wheat for the same price as 10 ounces of breakfast cereal.

More later.

Mormon work ethic extolled in national press

Economist.com explains why Utah’s economy is soaring above its neighbours.

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12480476

The article entitled "The Mormon Work Ethic" declares that Utah has more to be proud of than any other state in the West. "In September its unemployment rate was just 3.5%—less than half of California’s and the second-lowest rate in the region after oil- and gas-rich Wyoming." Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.



The article further notes: "The “cultural thing”, as businessmen from out of state delicately refer to Mormonism, helps in other ways. Utah’s almost universal conservatism makes for stable, consensual politics. It took the state legislature just two days last month to plug a $272m hole in the budget. By contrast, California’s budget was 85 days late. Nevada’s politicians are preparing for a nasty fiscal fight next year."

In a time when the whole world is sliding into economic chaos, it is reassuring to know that solid Christian values matter. That people who have a fundamental belief in the Divine Nature of man, also produce a stable economy and run counter to the modern destructive trends.

Personally, having traveled extensively throughout the U.S., I can say, without equivocation, that Utah Valley has the most friendly and helpful people on earth. You are treated better by store clerks and fast food workers in Utah Valley than anyplace else in America. For example, my wife and I were purchasing supplies for a wedding reception in Utah Valley. We needed some Cherry 7 Up for the punch. We could only find two or three bottles on the shelf. One of the clerks in the local supermarket asked if he could help. He led us into the back of the store and found the storage area with the soda. We still didn't have enough but started to leave the store and were waiting in line, when he came running up and led us to another display, in another part of the store, we had overlooked. There was enough of the soda to complete our requirements. Now, that would only happen in Utah Valley and that is one reason why the Utah economy will not falter as it will throughout the rest of the world. The people in Utah prosper in the land because they follow the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ.

What are people thinking?

My wife and I went to visit a close friend in the hospital where she had recent surgery. It was one of the larger regional style hospitals in the east part of Mesa, Arizona. In walking through the parking lot, I spotted a garbage can, right next to the entrance to the hospital, with an attached cigarette disposal tray. The entire tray was covered with extinguished cigarettes. In addition, we had to run the gauntlet of smokers, sitting outside the hospital indulging their habit. Some of these smokers were sitting right next to large signs extolling the hospital as a major stroke treatment center. Apparently, none of these people can read.

One of the best ways to begin to prepare for hard times is to seriously consider any addictions you might have and immediately do what is necessary to start to break those habits.

Effects of the Economic Crisis

Unless you are a hermit living in a cave in the wilderness, you probably have heard that there is a financial and economic crisis going on around the world. During the past few months, the media's comparisons beginning with recent recessions, have now escalated to comparisons with the Great Depression beginning with the stock market crash of 1929. The statistics on the present "economic downturn," as it is called, are overwhelming. If you have been relying on the standard news broadcasts, including National Public Radio, you probably still believe that the problems stem from the U.S. housing decline. What you may not realize, is that there have been many days in the past few weeks when virtually every single stock exchange in the world has been down at the same time. The problem is far from just a U.S. problem.

Perhaps, you have missed the news that there are significant job losses, plummeting stock prices and rapidly eroding real property values. You may also have missed the news that several countries, including Iceland, the Ukraine, Belarus and soon, Argentina are in collapse or default of their international obligations. The Nasdaq has retreated 78 percent from 2000 to 2002. The S&P index of homebuilder shares has dropped 82 percent from its 2005 peak. The news goes on and on.

In talking to local businessmen, as I do on a daily basis, I find many are seeing significant declines in their business, in areas as diverse as sales, real estate, contracting, and insurance. Many of my older friends are alarmed at the dramatic decline in their retirement accounts. A number of people, I have talked to, are delaying plans for retirement.

In all this chaos and confusion, we need to listen to the voice of President Gordon B. Hinkley, a Prophet of God who said in 2005:

"We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness. ...We know, of course, that the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust (Matthew 5:45). But even though the just die they are not lost, but are saved through the Atonement of the Redeemer. Paul wrote to the Romans, "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord" (Romans 14:8)... Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparation as will assure survival should a calamity come. We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day."

http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-559-20,00.html

Let us head the counsel of this great man and make preparations for worse times ahead.

Listen to the right sources

One of the hallmarks of any crisis is the appearance of rumor and innuendo. It is all too easy to become alarmed by giving credence to the latest unofficial document making its rounds on the Internet. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to verify the origin and reliability of anything that comes through chain E-mails or any other rumor mill. Here are a couple of examples of the process:

Years ago I was contacted by a near relative who was visibly upset because Madalyn Murray O'Hair was going to force the FCC to remove all religious programming from the airwaves.

As shown in Wikipedia:

Madalyn Murray O'Hair (April 13, 1919 to September 29,1995)was an American atheist and activist. She is best known for the lawsuit Murray v. Curlett which led to a landmark Supreme Court of the United States ruling and ended the practice of daily prayer in American public schools. She was murdered in 1995 along with her son and granddaughter, for reasons unrelated to her public image and activism.

For years, this rumor was and still is circulating. I personally called the FCC about the rumor and found out that they had a department specifically established to try and stop the rumor. The rumor was and is without any basis at all in fact. The whole episode has now passed into the realm of urban legend. Notwithstanding, the efforts of the FCC, I recently received an E-mail claiming that the FCC was going to ban religious programming due to the efforts of the now, long dead, O'Hair.

All it took was my call to the FCC where the issue was immediately laid to rest to my satisfaction.

Recently, I received another Internet document with some highly inflammatory statements. This document purported to be a report of statements made by a prominent religious leader. Fortunately, the validity of the material could be easily ascertained. In a matter of minutes, I had a response confirming my suspicion that the document was not an official statement and contained misstatements.

The rule is simple, verify your source and verify the content. Do not be alarmed by rumor.