March 29th, 2006
Dear Straight Talk: You’ve been talking about drugs and alcohol at teen parties, but what about caffeine? I teach high school and I can’t believe how many kids start first period with Starbucks. When I was growing up coffee was something only bad-breathed adults drank. It worries me.—Math teacher
Dear Math: It should. Caffeine is a huge stressor. When you grow up with a daily fix of caffeinated soft drinks it’s only natural to graduate to a bigger bang.
Lest you wonder why every small town breeds Starbucks like rabbits, consider a Wall Street Journal study that found a cup of joe at Starbucks has 56% more caffeine than coffee sold in gas marts and pastry shops. The study showed it was the need to stave off withdrawals that brought people back—not taste. Caffeine withdrawals begin 12 to 24 hours after the last sip. If not re-tanked, you pay with headaches, irritability, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating.
America is built on the concept of freedom. Obviously, kids aren’t forced to drink Pepsi or go to Starbucks. However, as one teen lamented, “These companies that seduce us with addictive products are run by parents. Don’t they care how we turn out?”
I have this to say: Any society that values profits more than its youth is heading for disaster. You do the math.
Comment on this column »
May 4th, 2005
Dear Straight Talk: You talk about the media in your column but never how it affects the way kids eat. The average child sees 40,000 commercials a year on television, most of them for candy, soda, sugary cereal, and fast food. How can parents compete with this? And how can teens who have been influenced their whole life to eat these foods get out from under the spell?—Concerned educator
Dear Concerned: For parents, the simplest way is to get rid of the TV. Hey, you asked! I speak from experience. Try storing it for a month and notice the difference. Raising kids is a snap with no TV and is especially effective with young kids 0 to 14. After that, their B.S. detectors are mostly up and running, lifestyle patterns are established, and advertising tends to run off. Children under age 8 are extremely vulnerable. They swallow ads whole, believing them to be accurate information about the world.
If you’re not willing to part with your TV, you can still compete, but it is requires constant vigilance and huge charisma—like you say, it is a competition, and the industry hires the best. Personally, I didn’t feel like I stood a chance.
If you’re a teen who’s spent your whole life eating advertised foods and now you’re looking to trade fat for muscle and prepare your body for the long haul, it will require a lot of will power, but it can be done. It’s a matter of choice and follow-through and in that sense, very simple. Check out what Geoff and Greg did:
From Geoff, 19: I started drinking Cokes when I was in diapers. The rest of my diet was no better: Pop Tarts, candy, junky snacks. I have a high metabolism, so I appeared healthy, not fat, but when I was a sophomore, a blood test for sports showed I had glucose in my urine. This is really bad. It means your body can’t handle the amount of sugar you’re putting in it. It’s an early warning for Type 2 diabetes—which used to be unheard of in teens. I did some research on Type 2 diabetes: impotence, blindness, amputation of limbs. Hmmmm…… not pretty.
The first month, I was crazy with withdrawals. I never felt full, never felt satisfied. Sugar suppresses appetite so once you’re addicted the body doesn’t feel full without it and you wander around after a healthy meal looking for something more. My mom kept bowls of candy all over the house and I started throwing them away. I’m in college now and I’ve been eating healthy foods ever since that glucose test. Over the years, I’ve influenced my family to eat better, but at the time, nobody helped me. I had to do it all by myself. For motivation, I kept thinking about the research.
From Greg, 16: I knew sodas weren’t good for me, but I was addicted. When I was 12, I put the idea to my parents that if I didn’t drink soda for a whole year, they would pay me $100. They agreed and I went the whole year without a single soda. At the end, I had a Hansen’s and almost puked.
That was 4 years ago and I haven’t had more than one or two sodas since. When my friends offer me soda, I just say, “No thanks, I don’t drink soda.” What do I drink? Water, milk, Gator-Aid. No, not Starbucks. I think the soda industry got everyone onto caffeine. By the way, I have no zits and tons of energy.
Comment on this column »
