by patbarone
As I celebrate my 15th anniversary of sustaining a 92-pound weight loss, I feel unimaginable sweetness in my life.
My journey to my own sweet spot began as a tiny girl when my grandmother and I would sneak candy as a secret.
I couldn’t admit to my mother I had developed a taste for candy, cookies, cake, pie, brownies – the list was endless – because my grandmother was diabetic and was not supposed to be eating sugary things!
Not only did I get the message that sweet things weren’t good for you, it had to be hidden. It was shameful!
As I developed a serious sugar addiction, I felt an outright fear around sweet foods – I craved them and I loathed them – quite a double message – and I hated myself for loving sweet things so much.
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by patbarone
This week, manufacturers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) announced a “marketing makeover” when they made public their intention to rename the product, which has recently been the target of moms, health advocates and doctors.
I often feel like many of our news sources are mere PR fronts, spewing out traditional viewpoints. My own local newspaper’s story (albeit one picked up from a newswire source) left much to be desired from my viewpoint.
I wrote a letter to the editor but they wrote back saying it was too long! Apparently every viewpoint should be only 200 words! Hmmm! That’s an easy way to limit discussion isn’t it? Especially on a story dating back to 1966.
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by patbarone
In the past few years, McDonald’s has taken a hit to their reputation – from movies like “Food, Inc.”, “Fast Food Nation” and “Super-size Me.”
Now, they are out to improve that “unhealthy” reputation.
On March 3, 2010, they announced that Weight Watchers would promote and endorse several McDonald’s meals as healthy options for weight loss. If Weight Watchers ever had a serious reputation, it was gone that day.
Now, another layer of PR has appeared with McDonald’s seeking to convince consumers of their financial importance to their communities and to the farmers of their state. Recently, an insert into a Wisconsin newspaper made many interesting claims. I particularly like the “returned nearly 45 cents of every dollar earned to the local economy.” – Translated, that means they paid their workers less than half of what they earned and more than half was profit.
They listed the following as purchased from Wisconsin farms:
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