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Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

Sound Advice on Healthy Eating (Part 2 of 3)

Sound Advice on Healthy Eating (Part 2 of 3)

Dietitian David Meinz discusses the importance of the nutritional decisions we make every day, and provides guidelines for the healthy intake of fat, sodium, sugar and fiber. (Part 2 of 3)

Original Air Date: July 28, 2005

Opening:

John Fuller: This is “Focus on the Family” with Jim Daly and today we’re gonna have some fun with dietician David Meinz. He has a rather engaging look at the topic of nutrition and weight loss.

Excerpt:

David Meinz: You know what? You don’t even need a tape measure. I want you to do the David Meinz body fat test when you go home tonight. Here’s what you want to do if you want to find out if you have too much fat on your body. Go directly home tonight. Go into your house. Don’t talk to anyone. Go directly to the bathroom. Get in the bathroom, lock the bathroom door. Stand in front of a full-length mirror. Take all your clothes off. Jump up and down. If it moves and it shouldn’t, it’s fat. (Laughter)

End of Excerpt

John: (Laughing)

Jim Daly: No, I’m not doin’ that. (Laughter) I am not doin’ that.

John: (Laughing) That’s a great test, but I’m not gonna do it either. Neither Jim Daly nor myself, John Fuller, we’re just not gonna go there. (Laughter) This is a great, great message from David Meinz.

Jim: But you know, this program was one of the most popular shows last year and today, David Meinz is going to explain the good and yeah, I’ll say it, the not so good ways to lose weight. But first David’s taking us on this imaginary trip to the grocery store and parents, you won’t want to miss what he has to say about your child’s favorite breakfast cereal. You might be surprised.

John: Well, David is a registered dietician. He’s an internationally known speaker. He’s an author. His latest book is called Wealthy, Healthy and Wise and here he is, speaking at a Christian conference on today’s “Focus on the Family.”

Body:

David: I will eat anything in the grocery store. Let me make this statement. There are no junk foods in the grocery store. It’s how often and how much you eat of ’em that’s gonna impact your health.

Now there is no question there are foods in the grocery store that have very little nutritional value. That’s true. But there’s nothing in the grocery store that’s poison, gonna make you sick, unless you eat a whole bunch of it and you eat it often.

I’ll eat anything in the grocery store now and then–anything–with the exception of liver. I will never eat liver. (Laughter) If you hate liver, raise your hand high right now. Keep your hands up. Look around. Those are the normal people right there, all right? (Laughter) If the rest of you want to eat organs, that’s your business. That’s fine. (Laughter) I have no problem with liver really, except for the taste, texture and the smell. Other than that, I have no problem. (Laughter) Hey, if I go in the grocery store and they have a booth set up of Twinkie samples, will I eat one, yes or no ?

Audience: Yes.

David: Yes. Why? No. 1, it’s free. Exactly right. Write that down. (Laughter) Free food is good. Write that down. (Laughter) Put that in your notes. It’s free, very good. No. 2, it’s white flour, sugar. Is that poison? No. Is it gonna make me sick? No. Should I feel guilty about giving that to a child now and then? No.

But I’ll tell you what. There’s a lot of children in this state and the United States that get two Twinkies in that brown paper lunch bag every day going to school: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, week in, week out, month in, month out. That’s no longer moderation. It’s how often and how much of anything that you eat that matters and that’s the bottom line.

How many of you have small children still at home? A lot of you do. I want to show you why you need to put the sugar bowl back on the table right now. Let’s go to the grocery store here and look at some cereals, because you see, when it comes to children, other than candy, one of the major ways that they get sugar is in breakfast cereals.

So, let’s look right here. Here we have spoon-size Shredded Wheat. And we’re looking for sugars this time, because remember in cereals you’re not gonna find much fat. Sugar often is the issue, especially with children. So, we’re looking for sugars here on spoon-size Shredded Wheat and it comes in at zero grams. Not a teaspoon was how many grams? Four. This has got zero. Therefore, logically how much sugar have they put in here. None. And if you ever ate this stuff, that would not be a surprise; am I correct? (Laughter) Yes. If you enjoy hay first thing in the morning, gnaw on some of this. That’s very good. Straw is a basic food group. That’s good to know right there.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. Oh, but David, I like Shredded Wheat. You know what? I like it, too, but you have to admit it’s kinda plain. So, I like to mix other cereals with it. Another thing I like to mix with it is Crispix. You familiar with this. This is like a Rice Chex kind of a cereal. I look on the side and we’re looking for sugars and it says, 3 grams, 3. So, where are we at now? Little under a teaspoon, right. A teaspoon was 4, so we’re at 3. So, in a cup I have a little under a teaspoon of sugar. What’s your opinion? (Audience response) Oh, that’s fine, especially as we make a comparison to some others in just a minute. So, that’s Crispix.

But look up here. Here’s Puffed Air, I mean Puffed Wheat. [Are] you familiar with this? (Laughter) Sorry, Puffed Wheat. Grams of sugar as you would expect would be what number? Zero. As a matter of fact, I don’t know if you can see on the front here, but it says, “No fat, no salt, no cholesterol, no sugar, no taste.” (Laughter) There’s basically nothing in this box whatsoever. (Laughter) Keep that in mind.

Now I want to see how old all of you are and not embarrass anybody. I want you to look at this product that is currently called Smacks and you tell me what it was called 25 years ago.

Audience: Sugar Smacks.

David: Sugar Smacks, all right. (Laughter) Sugar Smacks. Now I want to see how observant all of you are. What was it called just five years ago? Say it again.

Audience: Honey Smacks.

David: Honey Smacks, exactly right, but hardly anyone noticed.

We’re looking for sugars right now and we look on the side and the grams of sugar is 15, 15. What was a teaspoon? Four. This has got 15, so, we’re almost where? We’re almost four teaspoons. Four would be 16 correct? Four would be 16 and that’s per serving. And we look up here. Oh, look at this. Three-fourths of a cup, three-fours of a cup, 4 teaspoons of sugar.

Folks, let me make this suggestion to you. If you have small children or maybe grandchildren that you have to feed, nieces, nephews, whatever it is and if you’d like to decrease significantly their sugar intake, put the sugar bowl back on the table. Here’s how it works.

Next time you need to go to the grocery store, try to find the same thing they’re currently eating in the sweetened form, without sugar added. Look, would you all agree these are both basically puffed wheat? Regular Puffed Wheat and Smacks? [The] only difference really is that one has got sugar and the other one doesn’t.

Watch this. Instead of buying the one that’s presweetened, see if you can find the same thing in the grocery store without the sugar added. Now watch. Bring the one that’s got no sugar added. Bring that home; put it on the breakfast table. Put a big sugar bowl right next to it and tell that child, “Go wild. Put on as much sugar as you want. We give up. Go ahead; do it.”

Now the first time you do this, the child will look up at you and say, “Is this a trick?” (Laughter) “No, really, go ahead. Put on as much sugar as you want.” “I’m going to.” “Do it.” (Laughter) I think you’ll be all right. Look, I don’t believe the average child that lives around here is gonna add watch, one, two, three, four teaspoons of sugar to ¾ of a cup of cereal. And even if they do, those of you that are parents tell me this, where does a lot of that sugar end up.

Audience: Bottom.

David: The bottom of the bowl. Where does most all of this sugar end up?

Audience: (In the stomach)

David: In the stomach. Does that make sense to you? You see, I like when we have control just before you eat a food, whether it’s sugar, whether it’s salt or whether it’s fat. And a lot of the food manufacturers believe that child needs four teaspoons of sugar to get them going in the morning.

And let’s take it one step further. (Laughter) A lot of children you know would not be satisfied with ¾ of a cup of cereal for breakfast, would they? They’d eat a cup and a half of cereal for breakfast. Does it therefore, make sense to you that by putting the sugar bowl back on the table again and combining it with some basic understanding about nutrition, you now can potentially keep six or seven teaspoons of sugar out of that child every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday? And that’s practical nutrition.

On the right hand side I have a cup of whole milk. It has 170 calories in it. It also has two restaurant pats of butter floating per eight ounces. (Audience reaction) When you go to the grocery store and you buy a gallon of whole milk, there are 32 restaurant pats of butter floating inside–32. Now you don’t see them anymore, because it’s homogenized, which means it’s all whipped up. It doesn’t separate. But if any of you have been to a farm and seen a cow milked, what happens to the cream when it hits the bucket?

Audience: It rises.

David: It rises to the top. Well, all of that cream, if you can picture in your mind, is still in a gallon of whole milk at the grocery store. It just doesn’t separate anymore–32 restaurant pats of butter in a gallon or two pats of butter in a cup. It’ll cost you 170 calories.

Now in two-percent milk, you have one pat of butter per cup. That’s better, but you still have 16 pats of butter in a gallon. And there for many years, they had the nerve to call it “low-fat.” That’s not low-fat. It’s lower-fat; it’s not low-fat. And a lot of people, unfortunately, they stop at two percent, thinking it’s part of their heart-healthy diet plan, when in fact, they’re only on the way. It’s got one pat of butter. You see the calories go down to 125 calories.

Now on the left hand side, we have a cup of skim milk. Also called Blue John, also called dishwater, also called inedible. (Laughter) And you can see, there’s no pats of butter per cup or per gallon. A lot of people say no taste per cup or per gallon. And the calories go down to 80.

Now I was raised on whole milk. How many of you were also raised on whole milk? Most of us were. I drank whole milk for 23 years until I discovered how much fat was in it and I changed overnight to skim. I don’t recommend this. (Laughter) I spit it out. (Laughter) I brought that stuff home. I tasted it. I thought, “This is spoiled. This can’t be right.” I took it back and they said, “No, it’s perfectly good.” “People buy this?” “Oh, they buy it all the time.”

Some of you know what I’m about to say. I no longer tolerate skim milk; I like it. It tastes good to me. It’s how milk is supposed to taste. And if I go to somebody’s house and they’re serving whole milk, will I drink it, yes or no? (Audience response) Yes. Why? No. 1, it’s free. I told you that earlier. (Laughter) Please pay attention; it’s free. (Laughter) Very good. (Laughter)

But I’ll tell you this, swallowing that cup of whole milk is like drinking cream almost now. It goes down so thick and so rich and yet, that’s how milk was supposed to taste. Here’s the good news. Some of you are afraid that maybe, oh, man, he wants me to eat low fat and fat free. I never did say you should eat fat free, but you need to reduce your fat. That’s true.

“Boy, and he wants me to do all of this and I don’t know if I can do it. And I won’t like anything I eat anymore.” Here’s what the researchers show and if you can hang in there for about six months, your taste perceptions actually begin to change toward lower-fat varieties. You begin to actually like these lower-fat foods.

So, it’s not gonna be deprivation for the rest of your life. It’s gonna be a dedication for about six months and then, your body’ll start working with you.

Now I drink skim milk. That’s perfection. Have we been talking perfection today? What have we been talking? Moderation. I drink skim milk; that’s perfection. But please remember, I’m a dietician, not a real person. So (Laughter), you people don’t have to drink skim.

Look up there. What do they have between skim and two percent now? (Audience response) They’ve got one percent. They’ve even got half percent. Let me tell you what. As a conservative nutritionist, if I can get somebody down to one percent, good enough. No hurry. You don’t have to do this overnight. You don’t have to do any of these things we talk about tonight overnight.

You know what’s been my experience? The only changes that do you any good are the changes that last. And it’s also been my experience, the only changes that last are the slow changes.

Let’s look at fast food. Now there is a McDonald’s hamburger. Let’s start right there and see what we can do with this thing. That’s actually not a bad choice. It comes in at nine grams of fat. You’re allowed 50 for the whole day. That’s okay. Now let’s go next door to Burger King. This is the Double Beef Whopper with cheese. How many of you are old enough in this room and willing to admit it that you remember 25 years ago when a Whopper was much bigger than it is today? It would have took two hands. Now these little puny things, most of you could handle that thing. If you were really hungry, I bet most of you could go through that hamburger.

If you did, for no additional charge, you would also swallow ¾ of a stick of butter at the same time. That’s the amount of fat that’s in that hamburger. Look up there. It comes to 63 grams of fat (Audience reaction), right at 1,000 calories. That’s why they call it the Whopper. That’s the kind of heart attack you will have after you eat this sandwich. (Laughter)

You know what we’re gonna do instead? We’re gonna go next door to Wendy’s and we’re gonna get their regular hamburger and we’re gonna get an order of chili, which surprisingly is a low-fat item at Wendy’s. Get the beverage of your choice and now look what happens.

The hamburger is nine; the chili is six. That’s a total of 15. Is that better than 63 grams of fat? (Audience reaction) And look here. Let’s say it’s Saturday. You’re running some errands. You’re gonna have a good meal tonight, but you just need something to get you by. Would that get you by until dinner time? It sure would and that’s certainly better than three-fourths of a stick of butter.

Now to be fair, Burger King … they all have good choices. It just depends on what you choose. This is their chicken sandwich–the BK broiler, shown larger than actual size. (Laughter) Got a little too close with the camera on that one. (Laughter) It’s got 18 grams of fat and that’s not bad today, to get a big fast-food sandwich for 18 grams of fat. but we can improve on that.

Here’s what you do instead. You tell that person behind the counter, you want to leave the sauce off. Now here’s how it goes. I saved 10 of the 18 grams right there. Now everybody look up there. When you take 10 away from 18, what does that leave you with?

Audience: Eight.

David: No. A very dry sandwich, that’s what that leaves you with. (Laughter) Don’t eat that; that’s disgusting. (Laughter) Here’s what you do instead. You tell that person behind the counter. I want two of your barbecue sauce containers, because you see, folks, barbecue sauce, like ketchup, is fat free. And we got to put something back on this otherwise dry grilled chicken sandwich. Now they put a glop of fat on there and really raise the fat grams. We want flavor and the barbecue sauce will very nicely complement the flavor of the grilled chicken sandwich.

And when you do that, you started with 18. You took 10 away right there. And that’s fat grams you don’t have to exercise off. And you add nothing but flavor, when you put the barbecue sauce on. And now, you get eight grams of fat for a large fast-food sandwich and that’s hard to beat anywhere. Can you all do this? You sure can.

Program Note:

John: Encouragement from dietician David Meinz on “Focus on the Family.” And in a few moments, you’ll hear David’s three steps to losing body fat. [In the] meantime, get a CD of this program with extra content when you call 800-A-FAMILY; 800-232-6459. Or order the CD or the instant download right now at www.focusonthefamily.com/radio. Let’s go ahead and return now to David Meinz on “Focus on the Family.”

End of Program Note

David: We’re gonna talk about weight loss real quick now and this is not a new problem. It’s been in Scripture for some time. 1 Samuel 4:18: “He, Eli, fell back and his neck was broken, for he was an old man and heavy,” overweight, interesting. Ezekiel 16:49: “Now this was the sin of your sister, Sodom. She and her daughters were arrogant (what?)–

Audience: Overfed.

David: –overfed and unconcerned.” Judges 3:15-30, “Eglon, king of Moab, sword plunged into his belly. Even the handle sunk in after the blade, which came out his back and the fat closed in over it.” (Audience (Murmurs) This is not a new problem. Proverbs 23:2 says, “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.” There, folks, is the ultimate weight-loss plan. (Laughter) Try that. (Laughter)

David: Let me share with you a personal story now. Standing here before you right now, you might know it, but I look significantly different than I did five years ago This is a picture of me five years ago. Can you see the difference? I weighed about 40 pounds more then, than I do right now. I had cholesterol numbers that were very bad. I haven’t told you, but my dad died of a heart attack when he was just 56-years-old. His dad died young too, of the same thing. My mom got breast cancer when she in her 50s. Now I thank God my mom is completely better, but she had to have a radical mastectomy to stop the spread of the cancer.

Some people might say, “Well, David, it’s in your cards. You might as well just enjoy it, because you know, your time is running out.” But let me say this folks: Genetics is your tendency; it is not your destiny.

And for people that do not act because genetically they have high risk, that for the most part, is a cop-out for doing nothing at all, in all due respect. The Lord has given you a mind and He’s given us so much wisdom now. And He also says in His book that my people are destroyed for what?

Audience: Lack of knowledge.

David: Lack of knowledge. You’re getting less and less of the right to use that excuse every year. We’re learning so much. Even when my dad died 20 years ago, that was the dark ages of our understanding about heart disease, compared to what we know now.

And let me say this, on a single day, heart disease kills more Christian men and women than all the Roman gladiators ever did. Isn’t it just like Satan? If he can’t get you to renounce your Christian dedication, if he can’t get you to turn your ways, he’ll come in the back door through something so innocent as your health and maybe cut a ministry or a life short.

Most of you would agree, when my dad died at age 56, that’s not old age. I know when I lost my dad and when my sister lost her dad when she was just 16 and my mom became a widow at 52, I can’t believe that, that was God’s will. I think God knew, but I think what happened was, my dad experienced the results of a lifetime of wrong decisions when it came to his health.

Well, you know, God knows when you’re goin’ anyway, so, you might as well do whatever you want. Well, really? Why don’t you jump in front of a truck then? Well, you wouldn’t do that as a Christian, would you? No. It’s the same thing when you eat 82 grams of fat a day.

I’m 40 right there. I’m 45 right now. Some people say I look better today than I did then. At this rate, by the time I’m 50, I’ll be gorgeous. (Laughing)

Audience: (Laughter)

David: Good; hey, look over here. This is what five pounds of human muscle tissue looks like on you and me. It’s lean. It’s solid and whether you know it or not, this is the reason you get to eat food. The more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolic rate, the more food you could eat without ever gaining weight. That’s why a big 220-lb. muscular football player can eat a load of calories, listen, even in his off season when he’s not doin’ a lick of exercise and not gaining weight. Now that’ll catch up with him over the years, but season to season, he can do it. You know why? Because he’s an 8-cylinder engine. Most of us are 4-cylinder engines. You can become a 6-cylinder however, by doing some kind of physical activity.

Folks, you never, ever, ever want to lose muscle tissue and listen, you almost always do on these crash diets that are out there right now. Oh, they tell you about the evils of carbohydrate[s] and probably a lot of you are on these diets. And in all due respect, I’ll have to say, that they do work short term. People do lose weight. But my question is, what are they losing? I’ll tell you, they’re losing some water real fast. That’s why you can lose weight real quickly over a weekend. You get dehydrated. You’re not skinny; you’re dry. (Laughter) And so, that’s not the answer. (Laughter) ‘Cause you weren’t too wet in the first place. That wasn’t the problem. (Laughter) And so, you do lose weight on these low carbohydrate diets that are so popular, but you’re losing water weight.

And you know, unfortunately, what else you’re losing? Probably some muscle tissue and you never want to lose muscle tissue, ’cause this is the reason you get to eat right here, is to keep you alive. Muscle takes a lot of energy just to keep you going. The more muscle you have on … ladies, you’re not ever gonna bulk up and look like this, ’cause you don’t ever want to and that’s okay. But you can lean up and you can increase that metabolism, so that you get to eat more food without ever gaining weight, if you protect this muscle tissue. Keep in mind, that’s what 5-lb. of muscle tissue looks like. And tell me what this is right here.

Audience: Fat.

David: This is what 5-lb. of human fat looks like, just five pounds takes up this much room. And I’m amazed at the number of people that say, “Well, I only lose five pounds.” I’ll tell you what. If you lose five pounds of fat, that’s pretty good. That’s all some of you need. Look, that’s exactly what some of you need right there. (Laughter) That would do it. This is what you want to lose, not muscle tissue.

Now I want to share with you the three steps to losing body fat. Write it down if you would, please. The three steps to losing body fat, step No. 3 will be one you won’t like. Step No. 1 is eat less fat. I don’t know if I mentioned that today or not. Eat less fat. And 50 grams of fat a day or less will result in weight loss for most Americans that are already eating 82 grams of fat. You can’t help but lose weight if you go down to 50. I hate to tell you that, but that’s true. You don’t need to do a lick of exercise. You will lose weight just going down to 50 grams if you’re an average American.

However, if you want to keep it off and you want to make sure the weight loss is only fat and not muscle, you then must do step No. 2 and please don’t write “exercise.” Write “physical activity,” ’cause that could be anything. And it certainly doesn’t have to be a job. It can be fun–physical activity.

And then, the most important step of all is throw the scale away. And I know some of you are emotionally, physically attached to your bathroom scale. You get up in the morning; you find out what kind of day you’re gonna have, based on the scale. Some of the people do this. They approach the scale right in the bathroom and say, “Oh, great scale, what am I gonna have today? What kind of day am I gonna have?” (Laughter)

And if they lost weight, it’s wonderful. “Oh, I lost weight; I lost weight while I was sleeping.” Well, where did the fat go? Are your sheets greasy? What happened? (Laughter) Where did it go? (Laughter) How can you lose weight sleeping? That’s ridiculous. (Laughter)

On the other hand, “Oh, I gained weight while I’m sleeping. I’m the lowest slug of all.” Well, how can you gain weight while you’re sleeping? You know that’s water weight, is all it is.

The scale is a useless piece of equipment and here’s why. Look, let’s say you do it right. You do these three steps that we talked about today. You apply what we’ve talked about today in terms of nutrition. And it’s now … what is this? This is now January. In July of this year, look, you could take two of these five-pound units off of your body. Every one of you in this room can do that. Now not all of you have five pounds to lose or 10 pounds, but you could take two of these off your body between now and July and not go on a diet.

Is that a pretty good deal? Yeah. And you can do it by doing this, because you would change the way you’re gonna eat for the rest of your life, not some temporary thing you are looking forward to getting off, because you can’t live that way. Don’t ever go on one of those again. But tell me this. Because you have physical activity in your lifestyle, what are you building simultaneously?

Audience: Muscle.

David: Muscle. Which is heavier per square inch, muscle or fat?

Audience: Muscle.

David: Muscle is. We know that, because it takes up less room, even though they both weight five pounds. Does it make sense to you, ladies and gentlemen? You could take 10 pounds off of fat and gain seven pounds of muscle and what will the liar scale say the measly little net result is? (Audience response) Three little pounds. And if you trust the scale, you’re gonna get on here in July and you’re gonna say, “Three pounds! What a failure!”

What a success you are. You know why? Because you can look in the mirror and you know that you’ve lost fat, because fat takes up room. Your dress size has gone down. Your pants size has gone down. You lose inches when you lose fat. Throw the scale away. Get a tape measure. It will document fat loss. The scale never will tell you what you lost–fat, muscle or water. And all you want to do is this.

You know what? You don’t even need a tape measure. I want you to do the David Meinz body fat test when you go home tonight. Here’s what you want to do if you want to find out if you have too much fat on your body. Go directly home tonight. Go into your house. Don’t talk to anyone. Go directly to the bathroom. Get in the bathroom; lock the bathroom door. Stand in front of a full-length mirror. Take all your clothes off. Jump up and down. If it moves and it shouldn’t, it’s fat.

Audience: (Laughter)

David: If you stop jumping and it’s still movin’, that’s adipose tissue, that’s what that is. (Laughter)

Closing:

John: And we started and ended today’s program with David Meinz and his body fat test and I do hope you enjoyed this fun, motivating, inspirational even, presentation on today’s “Focus on the Family.”

Jim: John, why did we start with that and end with that?

John: You just gotta keep repeating it until people do it.

Jim: I don’t want to hear that anymore. (Laughing) But you know, maybe it’s the thing that will motivate you to do the right thing, so for that reason, maybe I should try it. I do need to point out that not all doctors agree about throwing away the scale. In fact, the National Weight Control Registry–I bet you didn’t even know we had that.

John: I had no idea.

Jim: I’m sure they reside in D.C. I don’t know; it just sounds like it. But 75 percent of people who have lost 30 pounds and kept it off for over a year do weigh themselves at least once a week. So, there’s a caveat we would give you.

John: Awareness of what you weight can be important.

Jim: Yeah and you know, just to be fair, some of this is humorous, but we do want to bring the facts in there. So I think some do use a measuring tape, as well. So, do whatever you need to do to move to a better place. That’s the point that’s being made.

John: Well, a good perspective and you said earlier, Jim, that laughter is the key to learning and we sure did laugh a lot along with David Meinz here.

Jim: I’ll tell you what. If laughter was the key to losing weight, we’d all be skinny. But you know, anyway, that was a good, good program. And John, playing with my boys outside, you know, I’ve really enjoyed that, especially when the weather’s nice, I can get out and we walk to the park that’s near out house and I have felt better just doing those kinds of things, finding a way, as David said, to do something to gain some physical activity. And do something that, you know, it’s fun enough to where you’ll do it every day.

John: Well, it’s easy to see why this one of our most popular programs. It addresses a felt need most of us have for being healthier and it was delivered in a very appealing way. And we heard from thousands of folks who said they were motivated to start making better food choices and to be more active, as you just noted there, Jim, because of this program.

Jim: And it’s so important. I’d say, let’s make the CD available. Just, you know, provide a donation for any amount and we’ll send this CD off to you, so you can get started on becoming healthier.

Closing Voice Track:

John: And you can do that when you call 800-232-6459; 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY or find the download online along with several follow-up articles and resources at www.focusonthefamily.com/radio.

Our program was provided by Focus on the Family and on behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team, thanks for listening in. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back tomorrow, when we’ll explain how you can avoid the chore war with your kids. We’ve got trusted encouragement for your parenting journey to help your family thrive.

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Sound Advice on Healthy Eating

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Shouting the Worth of Every Person

Heather Avis shares her motivational story of adopting three children – two with Down syndrome – as an encouragement for listeners to consider what they can do to advocate for the God-given value of those who are often overlooked or neglected by society.

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Avoiding Shame-Based Parenting

Psychologist Dr. Kelly Flanagan discusses the origins of shame, the search for self-worth in all the wrong places, and the importance of extending grace to ourselves. He also explains how parents can help their kids find their own sense of self-worth, belonging and purpose.

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Becoming a Clutter-Free Family

Joshua Becker discusses the benefits a family can experience if they reduce the amount of “stuff” they have and simplify their lives. He addresses parents in particular, explaining how they can set healthy boundaries on how much stuff their kids have, and establish new habits regarding the possession of toys, clothes, artwork, gifts and more.