I just read Michael Greger MD on Huffington Post and so saddened at how our meat and poultry producers just don’t get it. With all the struggles our “modern” society has to stay healthy, can’t we please get the factory farms to just stop – please?

It seems the poultry industry is still using a class of antibiotics that was supposedly banned in 2005. Researchers at John’s Hopkins tested chicken feathers and found a list of drugs including acetaminophen, caffeine, benadryl, prozac and cipro. Yes, Cipro – an important antibiotic used to treat Humans. Not only is this so hazardous to our health and survival – it was banned 7 years ago! Despite court cases, public outcry and support form over 100 medical organizations (not to mention being banned all over europe), the US meat industry and drug manufacturers are still managing to get around it.

This is not a new problem. The use of antibiotics in animal feed and causation of resistant superbugs has been around for decades. (It was a personal catalyst for me in a high school microbiology class- inspiring me to study nutrition) It’s time to stop the nonsense  by passing the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, H.R. 965/ S. 1211.to restrict all classes of antibiotics critical to human medicine.

Forward thinking physicians are leading the way for their patients in “Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives” a cooking class offered at the CIA Greystone in conjunction with Harvard Medical School. Imagine if the word spread form doctor to patient on how to cook and eat healthy and delicious food…

Anyone can learn to cook foods that support and heal instead of promoting obesity and weight related diseases. An article in the NY TImes today talks about how some doctors joining this special seminar are so enthused they’ve installed teaching kitchens in their offices.

“Let Food By Thy Medicine” is a quote that will hopefully be coming from all doctors lips…

We’ve all seen the calories posted in the larger chain restaurants for our favorite dishes. Sticker shock remains, but it’s no surprise that many of the foods we’ve been eating have hugh amounts of calories. All you have to do is look around at the size of the customers eating these caloric foods. Obesity is fast becoming the number one health concern of our nation. How important is it to get this problem under control? Just look inside our nations schools. Children are fast catching up to adults with the rate of obesity in children approaching 30% and Type 2 diabetes on the rise. For the first time, our nations armed forces have a problem with soldiers being fit enough to protect us.

According to the 2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast, 66% of adults say their favorite restaurant foods provide a flavor and taste sensation which cannot be easily duplicated in their home kitchen. The National Restaurant Association’s What’s Hot survey of nearly 1,800 American Culinary Federation Chefs found that children’s nutrition and local sourcing will be the hottest trends this year.

The top 10 menu trends for next year will be: Locally sourced meats and seafood; Locally grown produce; Healthful kids’ meals; Hyper-local items; Sustainability as a culinary theme; Children’s nutrition as a culinary theme; Gluten-free/food allergy-conscious items; Locally produced wine and beer; Sustainable seafood; and Whole grain items in kids’ meals.

So, will all of this new nutrition info posted in restaurants help us and our children? It’s not the only answer to a complicated problem, but it can only be a help. Change in our health habits come one step at a time, and knowledge is power. We can make better choices for ourselves and our children when we have this information posted at our fingertips. It’s our right to know what we are being offered to put into our bodies. The next step is up to us and to the restaurant industry to start offering healthier choices.

As of now, only large chain restaurants are required to post nutrition info for their offerings. How about the smaller restaurants? What do you think?