Letter Lesson 6

Letter/Lesson #6

Dear Member,

10,000 Kids and Still Counting!

Ten thousand is the number of kids I’ve consecutively counted drinking anything but water. I observed kids while I was in restaurants, hotels, motels, amusement parks, city parks, zoos, baseball/football/soccer games, malls, and any place where there were kids. My paying attention and counting started during a business trip in Michigan and continued as I traveled back to Texas. I saw kids drinking Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, and other name brand drinks. Kids were drinking red, orange, green, yellow, and blue drinks. I saw kids drinking coffee and tea, but I didn’t see kids drinking water, just plain water.

Fun but Alarming

It was fun for me to watch all these kids enjoying themselves and having a good time. I was reminded how wonderful it is to be an American and how many freedoms we enjoy at all ages. But at the same time, it helped me understand why so many kids I observed were overweight. Besides all the counterfeit/fast foods I saw them eating, the drinks to wash all this food down were anything but water. Even when the kids just got thirsty, other than at mealtime, the drink of choice was definitely not water. And these kids weren’t drinking diet drinks either.

“Kids Drink Up Parents’ Beverage Choices”

That headline was from an article in the Star-Telegram, a Fort Worth, Texas newspaper. I quote, “If you regularly drink soft drinks, you’re almost three times more likely to have children who do. And in homes where soft drinks are the norm, children consume them on an almost daily basis.”

How Did It All Start? Back to the Good Ole Days

Do you remember in Letter/Lesson #5 I wrote about folks who “way back when” figured out how to counterfeit foods? Well, while they were at it, the counterfeiters figured out how to counterfeit water. They filled bottles or cans with water and then added sugar (lots of sugar), caffeine, and coloring agents. They even figured out how to get some of these counterfeit water drinks to make a bubbling or hissing sound, thus the name “fizz.” Then they put fancy, catchy names on colorful, cute labels and attached them to the bottles or cans. With the addition of marketing and advertising to the whole deceitful plan, kids decided that these drinks were not just cool but “way cool.” After all, if LeBron James and Michael Jordan were endorsing them on T.V., the drinks had to be really “way cool.”

David at the Zoo

I’ve had many conversations with parents and their children concerning all types of things, but one of the most memorable was with a family who was enjoying an outing at the zoo. While we were all watching some elephants take a bath, I observed the family’s young son guzzling a 32-ounce soft drink. Somewhat shocked I said to the mother, “Boy, can he put that drink away!” She smiled and said although David was only five he could drink two of those pretty easily. Afterwards, I estimated the calories that her son would consume if what she told me were true, and I had no reason to doubt her. At around 20 calories per ounce, give or take a calorie or two, the total would be over 1200 calories! It became obvious to me that most of the kids I witnessed could easily be drinking enough calories to count for at least half of all the calories their bodies needed for an entire day, which is around 1500 to 3500 calories, depending how active they were.

If That’s Not Scary Enough

The fact that counterfeit water pours added calories (literally!) into a kid is bad enough. However, the real danger in counterfeit water is it causes a kid (or anyone) to overeat counterfeit/fast foods.

Why?

The bad guy is the sugar that’s loaded into the counterfeit water. What is sugar? It’s refined sucrose, and it comes from processing sugar cane or sugar beet. All of the protein and fiber is removed from the sugar cane or beet, leaving only the juice.

So How Does Sugar Cause Overeating?

Sugar, especially refined sugar, plays havoc with a person’s blood sugar level! When sugar is ingested, the body takes it and converts this sugar into “predigested” glucose, and then it’s absorbed into the blood. If the sugar intake is excessive, the pancreas panics and secretes an abnormal amount of insulin. The insulin secretion is what gives us that “up” feeling, that quick burst of energy. Then the insulin quickly gobbles up all of the sugar, and the bottom drops out of the blood glucose level. The body then demands more sugar to absorb the remaining insulin. Now this reaction leaves us with that “down” feeling.

The Body Says, “Down with the ‘Down’ Feeling”

Because of that “down” feeling, kids don’t care what they eat. All they want is to get rid of that feeling. Of course, what they’re really craving is more sugar! So the kid grabs the most convenient food around, which is almost always counterfeit/fast foods. To make things worse, the food isn’t really chewed; it’s gobbled! As a result, several thousand calories of counterfeit/fast food are quickly consumed, washed down by a few hundred more calories of counterfeit water.

Do You Want Your Child to Eat and Drink That Way?

Of course you don’t, and neither did we. So here’s the very, very simple strategy that worked for our son, Jon, and it will work for you and your child: “Train up” your child to “go the way” of drinking water according to the principles of Proverbs 22:6, and when he or she starts to school and for the rest of life, he/she will make water the drink of choice.

Give your baby water as early as your doctor advises.
By the time your child is walking and able to open the refrigerator, make sure you have it filled with small bottles of water.
Make it fun, refreshing, and enjoyable for your child to drink water.
When your family goes to a restaurant, order water. It’ll also save money.
Let your baby/child see you drinking water.

One More Thought about My Observations

Something I couldn’t ever quite figure out as I watched families eating in restaurants was why parents asked their children, “What do you want to drink?” Is a three-year-old, or even a ten-year-old, going to make a wise choice here? The answer is going to be, “Sprite,” or “Dr Pepper,” or “Bug Juice,” which translated means, “I want a glass of sugar.” Would parents let kids choose a plate of cookies, candy, and cake for their main course? It would be much better for parents to stay in charge. If you’d like to let your child feel some power of choice, you can ask, “Do you want a small glass of water or a big glass of water?” Kids will just naturally choose sugar to eat or to drink if it’s left totally up to them.

One Mom’s Suggestion

One mother told me that when her children were young, their family had a designated “Coke Day,” (meaning any soft drink). One day a week the kids could chose to have a soft drink at any time during that particular day. The kids would talk and plan at great lengths to decide just what they wanted and when. If it happened to be on a day the family was eating out, then the kids could order a coke with their meal. If not, the decision about having a soft drink was already made. The point is for parents to set some wise, reasonable boundaries, while still giving children opportunities to learn about making good choices.

Going on a Ski Trip

One time Linda and I were taking Jon and one of his friends on a ski trip to Colorado. We hadn’t gone far when Jon’s friend asked if we could stop so he could buy a Coke. In the store Jon got a bottle of water as his friend got his Coke. Back in the car the friend asked Jon, “How come you didn’t get a Coke?” Jon replied, “I don’t know. I guess my parents ruined me.” We all laughed, but under the laughter Linda and I were rejoicing and giving thanks.

Train Your Baby

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Train your baby to “go the way” of eating the real food of fresh fruits and drinking real water. Combine that training with the practice of daily exercise, and it will all stick like glue. These things will become a permanent part of your child’s life as he or she grows older. Your child will be blessed for a lifetime with a slim, attractive, healthy body!

A Final Word from THE WORD

Water, pure and real, is so vital and precious to our physical bodies, no wonder Jesus offered us “living water” when he spoke of our spiritual and eternal lives. He promises a vigorous, abundant life when He says, “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 NIV)

Moving On to the Next Letter/Lesson

The next letter/lesson will put the finishing touches on the absolute guarantee that your child will never struggle with a weight problem. Praise God!

Until then, please email me at [email protected] with any questions, comments, thoughts, or suggestions you may have.

God bless,

Paw Paw

P.S. You may want to print this and future letter/lessons to form your own “Tomorrow’s Heroes Library” for you and your family. Beyond this, you may want to consider adding your personal notes, thoughts, and insights to customize this program to fit your family.

Edited by DC

Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures quotations are from

the New King James Version.