We’re excited to be participating in the 2015 EDSi seed fund accelerator, a collaboration with the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and the Michael Milken Foundation. Out of over 300 applicants worldwide, Ironwill Kids was chosen for this distinction along with 8 other companies. EDSi supports education ventures from around the world by providing financial support and systematically applying business tools and frameworks through the EDSi Fellows Program. Working with leaders in business and education gives us the opportunity to grow our business across multiple platforms. Click on the link for more info.

http://www.e-designstudio.com/

Goodbye Trans Fat

By Dr. Katy Roberts, EdD, MPH, MCHES

The FDA is proposing to eliminate artificial trans fatty acids, commonly called trans fat, from our food supply¹. The problem with artificial trans fats is that they are artificial! They are man-made, created in a factory, not from nature. Trans fats are made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil, which turns the oil into a solid or semi-sold state and increases the shelf life of food products. Although many food manufacturers have removed trans fats from their products, you still have to look out for them. A lot of highly processed baked goods such as cookies, crackers, cakes, as well as margarines and fried foods, still contain hydrogenated oils.

Trans fat came on the market a little over a century ago with the introduction of Crisco (name derived from “crystallized cottonseed oil”) in 1911. Since then, we have found that trans fats increase LDL (or bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and inflammation, essentially damaging cells and clogging arteries which puts you at a higher risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. By not consuming artificial trans fats we could prevent 10,000-20,000 heart attacks and 3,000-7,000 coronary heart disease deaths each year in the United States².

So how do you know if a food contains trans fats? You read the ingredient list. This is by far the most important information on any packaged food. Forget the label, and go right to ingredients. If you see the word, “partially hydrogenated” in the ingredients, which is another word for trans fat, don’t buy it. (If you only read the nutritional label, you might not realize a food contains trans fats, because a food that has less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving can be labeled as having 0 grams.)

Not all trans fats are artificial. Some occur naturally in animal meat and dairy. However, it is thought that these are not as harmful, since they’re not man-made. The ban would only include artificial trans fat that occur in processed foods.

As students learn in Ironwill Kids PowerUp!, there are lots of steps that processed food goes through, including hydrogenation, which affect not only those who consume these types of foods, but also the environment. We’re all much better off eating food directly from nature.

Reference

1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (11/2013). FDA Targets Trans Fat in Processed Food. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm372915.htm

2. Centers for Disease Control. (4/2012). Trans Fat: The Facts. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/fat/transfat.html

Fast Food Companies Target Children

By: Dr. Katy Roberts, EdD, MPH, MCHES

Advertisements for unhealthy food products are everywhere and children and teens continue to be a main target audience. Television is still where you will find the most fast food advertising; however there has been a rise in advertising through mobile devices and social media, which are popular with young people. More fast food advertisements than ever before are appearing on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and kids’ websites. There are even fast food mobile apps available that offer special deals and games, called “advergame” which prominently features the company’s products and reinforces the brand.

The latest report by Yale Rudd Center found that the fast food industry has increased its spending on advertisements, up 8% from 2009, to $4.6 billion a year to advertise mostly unhealthy products. Every day on television, preschoolers view, on average, 2.8 ads, children view 3.2 ads, and teens view 4.8 ads for fast food. The problem is that advertising is effective, with research showing that children exposed to fast food advertising are more likely to consume fast food and have increased weight. Advertisements targeting children encourages consumption of nutritionally poor items and contribute to poor diet and obesity among young people.

So what can we do? We can learn more about the issue and support public health initiatives that advocate fast food restaurants stop marketing to children, stop advergame apps, and increase the number of healthier items as well as provide healthier options in kids’ meals (instead of French fries, provide fruit; instead of soda, provide water). We can limit our children’s television viewing and not allow advergame apps. In addition, we can teach children media literacy skills. One way to do this is to encourage children to critically analyze advertisements. Just like in the Ironwill Kids program, we can discuss the tricks that food companies use to get kids to buy their products, ultimately spending money on food that isn’t good for them or the environment. Some of these tricks include the use of food stylists to make products look amazing in ads, endorsements by celebrities who tell kids how great these products are, and the promotion of toys and games as incentives. If instead, ads were created that told the truth about what was really in fast food meals and where the ingredients came from, as well as the consequences of eating fast foods, we would be clamoring for healthier options such as fruits and vegetables, which come from a farm and have only one ingredient.

For more on fast food marketing to children and teens see: http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/fast-food-facts-2013-fast-food-companies-still-target-kids-with-marketing-for-unhealthy-products

Winter 2014 Newsletter

Fall 2014 Newsletter

Pass the Almond Milk, Please

By: Mark Sherzer

Many people opt for almond milk over dairy milk for their morning brew or bowl of oatmeal. However, a lot of the store-bought varieties have ingredients that don’t necessarily promote good health. Some use carrageenan, a food additive and thickening agent that, in animal studies, has been linked to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Others add sunflower lecithin, tricalcium phosphate and xantham gum. Because we’re all about eating less processed food, preparing almond milk from scratch is the way to go. It’s made with whole foods, it’s super easy and it’s fun for kids. Here’s how you do it:

Ingredients:

1 cup of organic raw almonds
4-6 pitted dates
4 cups water
½ tsp raw vanilla powder and/or cinnamon

Directions:

Soak the almonds in a bowl for at least 8 hours (or overnight).
Soak the dates in a bowl for at least 4 hours so they are soft.
Drain and rinse the almonds to remove the tannic acid and enzyme inhibitors.
Place the rinsed almonds and dates (with the water they soaked in for extra sweetness) in a blender or Vitamix. Add 4 cups of water. You can also add ½ teaspoon of raw vanilla bean powder and some cinnamon. Blend until almonds are pulverized, about 2 minutes.
Strain through a cheesecloth or nut milk bag into a bowl. Carefully squeeze and press out all the liquid.
Transfer to a glass jar with a lid and store in the fridge for up to one week.
Use the almond pulp – add it to your cereal or use it in a recipe.

Makes 4-5 cups