This is exactly my point from yesterday's post. The public health campaigns to get people to eat more fruits and vegs are not working. "Despite campaigns and slogans, Americans have not increased their consumption, with 28% and 32% meeting USDA guidelines for fruits and vegetables, respectively, and less than 11% meeting the current USDA guidelines for both fruits and vegetables."  Honestly, I think that

The Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new campaign today. They're the ones responsible for the campaign that no one seems to care about---the 5-A-Day campaign. Not that I think having loads of fruits and veggies are a bad idea. They're great tasting and with fantastic health benefits, just take a look at my Wonder Fruits investigation and Wonder Vegetables Investigation. The problem is these government messages miss the point. Well, I have some semi-good news--they've just launched a new campaign:  Fruits & Veggies - More Matters. Is it great? No, but it is certainly a better than 5-A-Day.

I just think we could come up with better public health campaigns – more engaging and entertaining. Has anyone seen the movie Thank You For Smoking? Of course it’s a satire--and just a movie--but it sheds light on a few concepts. It shows about how big tobacco has influenced our society to smoke, and to keep smoking. Why can’t we use some of those same efforts to get our society to start eating fruit and vegetables. Maybe have celebs start making fruit and vegetables "cool" in movies. I bet, back-in-the-day, the mere fact that Popeye ate spinach to have super human powers really helped to get people (especially kids) to eat it.  Think about Brad Pitt eating an apple right after he has sex with Catherine Zeta Jones. Now maybe that would have an impact. All I know is that what we're currently doing is not working so well. Anyway, take a look below for more information about the new program and check out the web site. It has some interesting information like how many fruits and vegetables are in one cup (the common measurement in calorie guides).

I thought this was pretty interesting.  It's about transcendental meditation, and how it can "be effective in improving the functional capacity and quality of life of congestive heart failure." The study appears in the Winter 2007 issue of Ethnicity & Disease -- Time to learn how to meditate-- it can probably help you lose weight too-- but that's just a guess. 

Don’t be fooled by a new juice campaign from Motts. According to the companies latest push-- Mott's for Tots, a 50-60 calorie juice drink,  it “does the work many parents have been doing for themselves by mixing juice with water to control sugar and calories.”  The company statement also says the following:   “A recent survey suggests about 50 percent of parents consider juice a healthy alternative to soda. Yet many of them still dilute it to reduce the sugar content, washing away taste and nutrients in the process.”