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By jamie, February 27, 2010 11:27 pm

Did you know that there are detention centers located throughout the United States specifically for children who have illegally immigrated to this country BY THEMSELVES? Usually they come here in search of a long-lost parent or relative who is thought to be here, but sometimes they just come to work and try to make a better lives for their families back home. When they are picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol, they are taken to these places, often in handcuffs, where they are given a lawyer, a bit of schooling, and they wait here for months or years to learn their fate (which is usually deportation, unless they are Cuban). I did not know this, and now I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s so sad.

The U.S. does not consider poverty a reason enough let people stay here. What makes this even worse for these children is that they have probably come here alone because they don’t have ANYONE in their home country. And yet we send them back anyway. That sounds criminal to me.

One of the most interesting parts of Chapter 2 is when several famous Cubans are interviewed about their own U.S. journey – specifically ones who came here as part of the Pedro Pan program in the early 1960s. (Their parents sent them here alone, in hopes that Communism would just be a fleeting threat, and then ended up immigrating themselves, months later.) Soledad asks them their opinions about the disparity between how Cuban immigrants and other immigrants are treated. What are they supposed to say? Of COURSE it is unfair (as is expressed by all of those interviewed), but, at the same time, they have been on the receiving end of U.S. opportunity, which I am sure they are grateful for.

Other posts about Latino in America:
Post 1: On Speaking Spanish
Post 2: No One is Illegal
Post 3: Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens
Post 4: Hate Crime Victims and Child Laborers

Comments (1)

By jamie,

I know that, in our society, we equate “diet” with our weight. This book even includes the promise of a “hot and healthy body” on the front cover. While reading Chapter 5, though, it was very hard to think about something so frivolous as “hotness.” No one wants to get cancer or Alzheimer’s – compared with these challenges, who really cares about being fat, or chunky, or whatever the case may be? I don’t want to poison myself, and I certainly do not want to poison my daughter. Yet is seems as though that is what we are doing when we feed her most processed foods. Now, I should point out that she usually eats better than we do – her snacks are usually organic, as was her baby food when she was an infant, because we made most of it ourselves. This is starting to be less true now as she gets older though – she is not yet two, yet knows what chips are, and at our Superbowl party she took her first taste of soda (she sampled from someone’s glass when they were not looking, and then announced, “I like it!” when she was discovered).

When I was a little kid, I remember being really scared after watching The Incredible Shrinking Woman (on DVD of course, as I am only 20 – ). It’s about a woman who starts to shrink after she ingests a very specific, yet not-yet-discovered, mix of chemicals. I remember that one of them was hairspray, and, if I’m not mistaken, the final ingredient was a free sample of cheese spread in the grocery store. (How fitting that the last straw would be processed food.) I remember being terrified for weeks afterward that I would somehow, inadvertently, consume the wrong mix of ingredients and that something bad would happen to me as a result, even though I knew the story was fiction, and that it was supposed to be a comedy at that. Oh, the nightmares. Thanks, Lily Tomlin!

So, it turns out that my nightmares were not the stuff of fantasy after all. According to Jillian (again, I have not fact checked), even when a food says it lacks a particular toxin (such as transfats), it is actually allowed to have trace amounts of that substance “per serving.” So, if you eat an entire bag of chips, for example, you may be consuming measurable amounts of a particular substance (such as MSG) that has been shown to be hazardous to your health. And if you eat or drink many different foods containing these trace ingredients (or especially if you eat the ones that actually list the substance in their ingredient lists), they all add up, you could be doing “permanent” damage to yourself. You may not start shrinking, but your brain chemistry can be effected, leading to a host of chronic diseases! That’s way more scary than falling down the bathtub drain (yeah, I was a very imaginative child).

Another scary thing that I have been thinking about since I finished reading this chapter is that it’s hard to know what is really true unless you spend the bulk of your reading time keeping up with medical and academic journal articles which, for many people, are – let’s face it – a bit dense. A Google search might lead you to information written by the PR firms of various food manufacturers – can we really expect them to tell us the truth if they have successfully lobbied to keep some ingredients off of their packaging? Some friends who know I am reading this book (including one who is in the medical field) have pointed me in the direction of a few books that help separate facts from fiction. When I read these books, I will compare what they say with this book, and share the information here.

Among the many chemicals described in this chapter, one of them stood out for me – sucralose (Splenda). Doctors have recommended this sugar substitute to people I know who are insulin resistant as a better alternative than other similar products – we expect our doctors to know what is safe for us to consume, so this is a prime example of not knowing who to believe. As for aspartame (NutraSweet), Jillian says it may cause “permanent damage to our brain’s appetite center.” The explanation goes something like this: our brains naturally perceive sweet tasting things as having a higher caloric value than some other things we eat, and helps us to both consume less and metabolize more calories immediately afterward to make up for the sweet treat. When we consume sugar substitutes, our brain gets confused, because our bodies to not receive the accompanying influx of calories along with the sweet taste. This may cause the body to crave extra calories. Also, over time, our brain stops expecting extra calories when it experiences a sweet taste, so when we consume actual sugar, our body ignores the extra calories instead of attempting to metabolize them quickly. My husband has been a strong opponent of sugar substitutes for as long as I have known him – again, I haven’t fact checked this yet, but it looks like you may be right, honey!

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (8)

By jamie, February 26, 2010 10:23 pm

“There’s no food in your food!” Remember that line from Say Anything? Lloyd Dobler’s sister says it to him when he’s eating junk food (I think he’s eating pizza) and sharing it with her little boy. Jillian says practically the same thing in Chapter 4, but she does not throw any credit to this classic film. It’s odd, because Lloyd Dobler was a kick boxer, and should have known better. But, I digress. (Told you I would go off topic a lot!)

Anyway, I have to say that this book is starting to brainwash me. Let me explain: every time I attempt to eat processed food, it smells like there are chemicals in it (Jillian says that she will tell us in the next chapter what those chemicals are, and explain why we shouldn’t eat them). I ate a cereal bar and it tasted funny (yeah, I’m still eating it, but only to get rid of it), even though the same type of cereal bar was quite enjoyable just a few days ago. I also washed my face with a towel that had been washed in scented laundry detergent, and I gagged a little bit at the smell.

After we throw out all of our junk food, Jillian says we are not going to have to read labels very much, because it’s better to buy only whole, organic foods. I guess this is true, but, being a sociologist, I am a bit bothered by her insistence that everyone should make this investment, and that everyone can afford it by skipping frivolous purchases (she mentions tabloids as an example). Her exact words are “If you have a hundred dollars a week for groceries, you have the money.” What, is that per person? For a family of how many? I feed a family of three, but what about those with four or five? Teenagers? What about people on unemployment? It’s going to bother me if she doesn’t provide helpful hints for people who are struggling to feed large families on a tight budget and who want to keep themselves and their children healthy. It’s easy for celebrities to have all-or-nothing mentalities. We’ll see.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (6)

By jamie, February 25, 2010 1:42 pm

This chapter made me more sad than scared. Before I write about it, I have to say that the one thing that really bugs about this book is that Jillian (or her editor) chose not to properly cite sources. The “selected” bibliography might be extensive, but it’s often impossible to know whether the specific piece of information was taken from a newspaper article or from an actual study. The citations are divided by chapter – and Chapter 3 is heavy on academic journals – but there are no proper end notes. I suspect that this was done to make the book more readable and less “academic,” but it opens the door for doubt – a big problem for a book about health. I have read enough of the environmental literature to believe what she is saying in this chapter, but I can’t help but feel like it might be worth my time to fact check, just in case.

Chapter 3 makes some pretty serious claims, and, while many of them are backed by specific studies (she usually gives credit to the university without naming either article or study), it’s really impossible to tell whether they all are. It’s too bad, because the general public SHOULD know about the dangers of environmental toxins, especially the ones we voluntarily bring into our homes.

If you don’t intend to buy/borrow this book, you probably owe it to yourself to at least skim Chapter 3 in the bookstore (don’t tell them I sent you) and then check out some of the most interesting information at a university library, or even through Google Scholar, if that’s all you have access too.

Here are some highlights (NOT fact checked by me, so buyer beware):

• Many major municipal water supplies have been found to have detectable levels of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, sex hormones, and mood stabilizers. Guess how they got into to water supply – through our toilets.
• Those flame retardants sprayed on baby pajamas contain toxins, but so do the fragrances in fabric softeners (which are not to be used on baby pajamas, because they remove the flame retardant).
• Toxins known to have a negative effect on hormones added to perfumes and fragrances to make them last longer (and we spray them on ourselves).
• High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is very bad (regardless of what the corn industry tells us in their current PR campaign), but it’s not the only terrible food additive.

Okay. I have to stop now. I thought this book was just going to tell me how to eat so that my metabolism would start zooming like a teenager’s. There is more it then that, obviously (which I knew, but it’s much easier to have a fitness guru tell you how to eat, no?). I could start a discussion about Big Business and how regular people – but especially the poor – get screwed in the quest for the almighty dollar. It’s more sad than scary, especially because we end up supporting this behavior despite our best interests. And now I really do have to stop, go drink some (possibly toxin-laden) water, wash some laundry (maybe I’ll skip the fabric softener), and check my fridge for food additives.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (3)

By jamie,

Every now and then I see a bumper sticker that reads “Welcome to America, now speak English!” It bugs me whenever I see this, and I try not to think less of the driver, because I know it’s just politics. Spanish-speaking immigrants adopt English, on average at the same level as immigrants have historically done, with their native tongue lost in a generation or two (I study Mexican immigration, so I will give you a reference for this when I find a fresh one in my readings).

The trouble with (and for) Spanish-speaking immigrants is that they are our current feared/despised immigrant. If you look back, you will find that others (Irish, Chinese, the list goes on…) have been the “bad” immigrant at different times in U.S. history. We have changed the laws to make it difficult for others to come here too, as we are now attempting to do with Mexican immigrants. At one time, we had laws on the books to make it easy for Mexican citizens to work here, and we invited them to do so (for example, through the Bracero Program) – now we need a scapegoat for economic troubles (as we have in the past) and currently it’s easy to point the finger at undocumented workers, even though we have welcomed them here at other times in our history, and relied upon their labor.

Even people who are otherwise intelligent often equate Mexican (and possibly anyone from a Latin American country) immigrants as illegal immigrants, not even bothering to find out the history of the people in question. And you know how this country feels about illegal immigrants. Danger! Danger! They will take our jobs! They will ruin life as we know it! Enough has been written on this that I won’t belabor the point – I will just say that we are pointing our fears and distrust in the wrong direction. (And, of course, especially because I read many books on the subject, you will eventually hear me hold forth about Mexican immigration more than you will probably want to.)

So, about the book (and I have only read Chapter 1 so far): In part, it is a companion volume to the CNN documentary bearing the same name. Soledad O’Brien, who reported in this television special, includes more in-depth information about the her own story, as well as more details about the people and places included (and left out of) the telecast. O’Brien, born of a Cuban mother (half black, half white) and an Irish father, does not speak Spanish. She is just one of many examples of people with Spanish-speaking ancestors who have lost their native tongue. I am another one, although I have taken Spanish classes in school (as do O’Brien’s children). O’Brien’s mother immigrated from Cuba. My parents were born in the U.S., as were their parents. On my mom’s side of the family, most of our ancestors lived in the U.S. since before it was the U.S. – the border crossed us, and not the other way around. Some of my father’s grandparents had to take a boat to get here. We all arrived here through so many different avenues, that it seems almost wrong to put us all in the same category, but if we have to share a singular category, I guess “Latino” is the best term for us.

O’Brien, who obviously interviewed Spanish speakers for this piece and had to defend her own lack of Spanish skill in the process, points out that, regardless of language ability, Latino/as always recognize shared blood. Regardless of country of origin, she says we “have a deeply vested interest in being many.” The more numbers we have, the better represented we can be in government and elsewhere.

Back to my experience with speaking Spanish – growing up, I felt bad that I didn’t speak the language, particularly because I grew up in San Diego and look as though I should be fluent. People (of various ethnicities) often criticized me for not speaking “my language.” When I would try to say that English is MY language, and that it’s the one my parents and grandparents speak, some people would accuse me of trying to be something I’m not, some would not believe me, and others would demand that I remedy the situation. Everyone seemed to have an opinion. It made me sad and uncomfortable to be criticized for being myself, and it probably made it harder for me to learn to speak “my” language, because of all the years of defending my inability.

So, to those with bumper stickers about speaking English – mind your own business and stop getting your information from politicians! Spanish-speaking immigrants will work out their language in their own time, just as your foreign-speaking ancestors likely once did. Then their children or grandchildren may have to defend themselves for speaking only English. If this sounds ridiculous, it is.

Other posts about Latino in America:
Post 1: On Speaking Spanish
Post 2: No One is Illegal
Post 3: Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens
Post 4: Hate Crime Victims and Child Laborers