Summer Breeze or Ill Wind?
“Checklist for Camp: Bug spray. Sunscreen. Pills.” Thus read a recent headline in the nation’s newspaper, The New York Times (July 16, 2006), and the article following focused on parents, kids, and summer camp…and more.
A newly available service shrink-wraps daily doses of a summer camper’s personal multi-drug regimen. This makes it a breeze — even on a windless day — for camp nurses to dispense the beautifully colored and bountifully prescribed designer drugs our nation’s children now apparently require to live the undisturbed — and undisturbing — life. Even at summer camp.
Such rampant pill dispensing was unheard of a generation ago. But, my, how we’ve progressed; today, between one-quarter and one-half of young summer campers take prescription medications. Among conditions these prescriptions target (or claim to target) are allergies, asthma, and those trendy, nebulous, but epidemic, “behavior management” issues.
Of course, for all of these conditions, incidence is on the rise. Why? One inadvertent clue pops up from this same article’s description of what follows the daily dose of pills. “A quick gulp of water, a greeting from the nurse, and the youngsters move on to the next table for orange juice, Special K, and chocolate chip pancakes.”
Hmm, let’s see — we follow up our meds with a sip of water, then beakers, bowls, and plates of sugar, sugar, and sugar. Throw in a generous portion of processed flour, and away we go. It’s a sure-fire ticket to a blood-sugar rollercoaster.
It’s no wonder those little bodies have trouble dealing with incoming allergens, and struggle to manufacture those neurotransmitters that govern our moods and behaviors. Not to mention the debilitating effects of undetected drug interactions and overworked livers trying to detoxify the whole mess. How many of our pharmaceutical dilemmas have their roots in our poor dietary choices?
Certainly, some kids — just like some adults — need drugs. But here’s the ugly truth: the big drug manufacturers are sitting around their big, round tables discussing how they can get all of us on a few drugs, and I’m sorry to say this “us” includes innocent kids. (See my previous post, "New Diseases, New Drugs, Same Old Record Profits.") And it’s obviously not just the pharmaceuticals. Everyone needs a nutritious diet, with limited simple carbohydrates. As parents, we need to seriously question what our kids are putting into their bodies. (And what we put into our own bodies — like it or not, we’re their role models.)
Health doesn’t just happen. It’s a combination of the choices we make every day, like when we thoughtlessly grab that bag of chips, pop open a soda, flip on the TV, and claim our cozy seat on the mainline to malaise.
A newly available service shrink-wraps daily doses of a summer camper’s personal multi-drug regimen. This makes it a breeze — even on a windless day — for camp nurses to dispense the beautifully colored and bountifully prescribed designer drugs our nation’s children now apparently require to live the undisturbed — and undisturbing — life. Even at summer camp.
Such rampant pill dispensing was unheard of a generation ago. But, my, how we’ve progressed; today, between one-quarter and one-half of young summer campers take prescription medications. Among conditions these prescriptions target (or claim to target) are allergies, asthma, and those trendy, nebulous, but epidemic, “behavior management” issues.
Of course, for all of these conditions, incidence is on the rise. Why? One inadvertent clue pops up from this same article’s description of what follows the daily dose of pills. “A quick gulp of water, a greeting from the nurse, and the youngsters move on to the next table for orange juice, Special K, and chocolate chip pancakes.”
Hmm, let’s see — we follow up our meds with a sip of water, then beakers, bowls, and plates of sugar, sugar, and sugar. Throw in a generous portion of processed flour, and away we go. It’s a sure-fire ticket to a blood-sugar rollercoaster.
It’s no wonder those little bodies have trouble dealing with incoming allergens, and struggle to manufacture those neurotransmitters that govern our moods and behaviors. Not to mention the debilitating effects of undetected drug interactions and overworked livers trying to detoxify the whole mess. How many of our pharmaceutical dilemmas have their roots in our poor dietary choices?
Certainly, some kids — just like some adults — need drugs. But here’s the ugly truth: the big drug manufacturers are sitting around their big, round tables discussing how they can get all of us on a few drugs, and I’m sorry to say this “us” includes innocent kids. (See my previous post, "New Diseases, New Drugs, Same Old Record Profits.") And it’s obviously not just the pharmaceuticals. Everyone needs a nutritious diet, with limited simple carbohydrates. As parents, we need to seriously question what our kids are putting into their bodies. (And what we put into our own bodies — like it or not, we’re their role models.)
Health doesn’t just happen. It’s a combination of the choices we make every day, like when we thoughtlessly grab that bag of chips, pop open a soda, flip on the TV, and claim our cozy seat on the mainline to malaise.
