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Articles and Tips for Good Health
Why Do You Need to Eat Breakfast?• Breakfast helps control your weight • Breakfast helps you to stay focused at school or work • Breakfast gives you energy • Breakfast helps you not to overeat at snack time or lunchtime
Breakfast ideasQuick (less than 10 minutes) Quesadilla Scrambled eggs and toast Oatmeal with low-fat milk, raisins, and brown sugar Pancakes with blueberries and lower sugar syrup French toast made with whole-wheat bread
Cereal and milk Bagel and low-fat cream cheese Peanut butter and jelly sandwich Instant oatmeal Cottage cheese and fresh or canned pineapple Leftovers Fruit Smoothies
Granola bar Yogurt String cheese and a piece of fruit Trail mix Egg McMuffin (ask for no ham or sausage and skip the hash browns)
Why the Family Table Approach WorksPerhaps you’re saying to yourself, “How can I help my child lose weight when I can’t even shed the 10 extra pounds I’m carrying around?” The support in the family approach is not a one-way street. Your child will be helping you almost as much as you will be helping your child. A family is webbed together in countless ways. Help one individual and the whole network benefits. Studies show that interactions among family members can affect health and well-being more quickly and permanently than interacting just with doctors or nutritionists. No doctor’s authority can compete with the authority you have over your children, and no nutrition professional ‘s concern or approval can compete with the love you can give your child as motivation or reinforcement. When your children return love to you, you will find yourself motivated and your efforts reinforced in ways you hadn’t thought possible, and you will find it easy to commit to the process--even if you found it difficult to commit to shedding your own excess weight before. You can do more as a member of a team than you could ever do alone. That’s true for you, and it’s true for your kids. An individual generally becomes overweight as a result of family-wide poor eating and exercise habits. And that person often overeats in direct response to family pressures, which need to be addressed. Treating a child without involving the whole family doesn’t work. How much luck have you had, having one kid skip dessert when everyone else digs in? Singling out the overweight child only makes it worse. A healthy meal, with correct portion sizes, treats everyone fairly. When everyone in the family joins the same program, your overweight child will feel supported and free to share personal experiences at the table. The family table approach is not only the most effective approach but also the most supportive.
Eat a Fruit and Vegetable RainbowEat your fruits and veggies! You have heard it over and over. Fruits and vegetables are super healthy foods because they contain fiber, which helps you feel full, and vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals, which improves the health of your body. Antioxidants and phytochemicals help your body fight off disease. You need about 1½ to 2½ cups of fruits and 1½ to 2½ cups of vegetables each day depending on your age and activity level. But you don’t need to eat your fruits and vegetables all at once. Spread out your fruits and vegetables throughout your day. And when you choose fruits and vegetables, or are planning meals, think of the rainbow. The more colors you put on your plate or in your lunch bag, the healthier your meal and you will be. Try to eat a variety of the color groups listed below, at least 2 or 3, at each meal. Research indicates that antioxidants can work together like a team, each boosting the other's effects. 1. Red
Tomatoes and watermelon are loaded with lycopene, which may protect against cancer and heart disease. Lycopene is more available from cooked tomato products and juices than whole raw tomatoes. Watermelon is also an excellent source of citrulline. Other red foods: tomato juice, mixed vegetable juice, canned tomato products (tomato sauce, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes), tomato salsa, low-fat tomato soup, marinara sauce, pink grapefruit. Other red foods such as strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, red bell peppers, red pear and red apples contain anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants that have a beneficial effect on heart disease by inhibiting blood clot formation. 2. Orange/YellowOranges, tangerines, peaches, nectarines, papayas, mangos, apricots, cantaloupes, carrots, yellow corn, pumpkin, acorn squash, winter squash and sweet potatoes all contain a variety of carotenoids, which reduce the risk of developing cancer. 3. GreenFruits and vegetables such as avocado, honeydew melon, spinach, collard/mustard/turnip greens, green peas, and broccoli are high in lutein and zeaxanthin, which keeps your vision sharp and clear. Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage/bok choi and kale contain sulforaphane, isothiocyanate and indoles, which help your body break down cancer causing chemicals in your body. 4. Blue/PurpleBlueberries, blackberries, blueberries, plums, prunes, grapes and purple potatoes are chock-full of anthocyanins, which prevent tumors from forming and suppress their growth. Frozen berries and grapes can be a convenient sources. Other sources include: purple cabbage, purple bell peppers. 5. WhiteCauliflower offers the same cancer-fighting benefits as broccoli, its cruciferous cousin, and potatoes are a good source of vitamin C. Garlic and onions contain allicin, which some studies have shown to have antitumor effects. There's also some evidence that the sulfur compounds in garlic and onions may ward off stomach and colon cancers. Foods in this group are also rich sources of flavinoids, including quercetin and kaempferol. Family Field Trip
Take your family on a family field trip to a local farmer’s market or your local grocery store’s produce section. Count how many colors you see in the fruits and vegetables. Taste a new fruit or vegetable.
All about FiberFiber comes from plant foods, specifically fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Fiber is the ingredient in fruits and vegetables that make these foods “crunch.”
• Foods high in fiber fill us up with less food. • Fiber makes us feel full. • Fiber prevents us from overeating. • Fiber slows down sugar absorption. • Fiber prevents some fat and cholesterol absorption. • Fiber plus water in our diet helps food move through our digestive system. • Fiber may protect against various cancers.
• Adults need 25 to 35 grams per day • Children and teens fiber needs = their age in years +5
A KidShape Supportive HomeFamily support is critical to help youth and their families adopt healthy lifestyles and manage their weight. The more family members who support a healthy lifestyle, the more success the child will experience with making behavior changes, specifically regarding eating healthy and improved physical activity. Parents/guardians must lead by example. You are your child’s most influential teacher. Your children watch everything that you do and often mimic those activities. So remember it is equally important for you to make healthy choices as it is for your child. Tips for a KidShape supportive home • Have healthy snacks rather than high sugar or fatty ones in the house, so kids are not faced with the temptation. • Prepare healthy meals or eat at healthy restaurants, where making good choices will be easier. • Set rules for other siblings in the home who may not have a weight problem and may make fun of the overweight child. Teasing and weight-related nicknames should be discouraged. • Take the time to be active with your children. Go for a bike ride, walk or swim with them. They will enjoy the time exercising with you and the opportunity to spend quality time with you. • Take out the junk food, including high sugar drinks. High fat and/or high sugar foods, as known as junk food, is okay once in a while. Just don’t keep junk food in your house, where it is very difficult to resist. • Schedule meals and snacks. Avoid casual snacking that can lead to weight problems. • Eliminate interference. Turn the television off during meals. • Create a pleasant atmosphere for eating. Include everyone in the conversation. • Sit down and eat with children. You can’t be a role model if you aren’t there. • Practice good table manners. Compliment children when they do it right, rather than nagging them about mistakes. Thank the cook(s) before being excused. • Eat the same food the children eat, unless there is a reason why you can’t. Explain the reason to the children. • Prepare and serve a variety of foods that look and taste good. • Be aware of portion sizes. Give children small portions, and assure them they can have more if they want. • No one needs to finish everything on his or her plate. Allow children to choose what and how much to eat. Respect individual taste preferences. Restricting favorite foods can cause anxiety and lead to overeating if the child fears being deprived of the food. • Place no special merit on the dessert. Dessert is not a reward for eating “what’s good for you”.
Television Watching and the Family MealMultiple studies have shown that kids who watch more television are more likely to be overweight. In addition, studies have also shown that kids who decrease the amount of television also lose weight. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of television per day. Try to limit your household’s TV watching by giving everyone a limited TV budget. Set as a goal for each family member to watch fewer than 2 hours of TV per day. Only one-third of American families eat dinner together on most nights. KidShape families report improved family communications and less overeating when the TV is turned off at dinner time and the family sits down to eat together. Try to sit down as many times per week for at least one meal per day together as a family. Drink, Drink, DrinkOne of the first things you’ll want to do to improve your family’s health is to cut out sodas-your children may whine for them, but stay firm. Sodas are filled with empty calories, and many of them have caffeine as well -- not what your child needs. In the last 30 years the amount of soft drinks consumed has doubled. Today you can buy a 64-ounce “super size” soft drink-that’s a half gallon! Soft drinks are high in sugar but contain no nutritional value. And caffeine is a stimulant that increases the heart rate and heart contractions, potentially causing tremors, anxiety, and insomnia. But soft drinks are also packed with phosphoric acid, which weakens the bones by promoting the loss of calcium and demineralizes teeth, contributing to tooth decay. You also need to limit juice. Yes, you read that right. Sure, juices have some vitamins, but they’re loaded with calories and sugar-it’s natural sugar, but still sugar. Apple juice, in particular, is little more than sugar and water. If your child asks for juice, offer a piece of fruit instead-it’s much healthier, packed with fiber and nutrients, and contains fewer calories. Limit your children’s juice to one 4-ounce serving a day. If you can dilute the juice with water, better yet. Sports drinks are also filled with sugar. A sports drink is needed (to help replace electrolytes) only if you exercise steadily for more than an hour. Again, you may want to dilute them with water. But the human body does need liquid. Every chemical reaction that goes on inside your body requires it, and water is how your body gets rid of the toxins that build up in your cells. Without enough water, you can become dehydrated, which can cause headaches, a tired and groggy feeling, and dry skin-and sometimes when you think you’re hungry, what you actually need is fluid. Get in the habit of serving only water and low-fat or nonfat milk with meals (children younger than two should have whole milk, not reduced fat). Children need calcium and vitamin D to help build strong bones and teeth, and milk is an easy way to deliver it. (Consult your pediatrician if your child appears to have trouble tolerating milk or try lactose-reduced milks.) Generally, active adults age 16 and older should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, and children 6 and older should drink six 8-ounce glasses of water. Flavor water with lemon or a sprig of mint if desired. Having their own colorful water bottle can help children with this new water-drinking habit. A Survival Guide to Fast FoodFast food restaurants are everywhere. Most fast foods are high in fat and calories. Eating too many high-fat foods can be very bad for your health and can make it difficult to manage your weight Cut the FAT in Your Fast Food! • Hold the mayonnaise and other dressings that are high in fat, like the special sauce on the Big Mac. If you order a Double Whopper with Cheese without mayonnaise, the fat grams decrease from a whopping 63 fat grams to 43 grams. Instead of mayo, ask for ketchup or mustard. • Choose grilled, char-broiled or baked foods, not fried. • Drink 1% fat milk, nonfat milk, iced tea, or water instead of soda. • Use less dressing and choose reduced-fat or fat-free dressing. Also avoid higher-fat toppings such as avocado, bacon bits, deep fried croutons, eggs, and olives. • Remove skin and breading from chicken. • Order small fries instead of large. • Choose a regular or small burger instead of a specialty burger. • Choose a turkey or roast beef deli sandwich. • Make your baked potato lean, with little or no butter and sour cream. Special Occasion EatingSpecial occasion eating is eating at occasions or events that are not part of your family’s typical eating habits at home, like eating at a birthday party or a family party or eating during a holiday, like Halloween. What can I do before the special occasion?• Eat a healthy snack, such as the snacks listed in Snack Attack week, before you go. Don’t arrive hungry. • Try to increase your physical activity the day before or the day of the occasion. • Bring a low-calorie food with you as a contribution to the party. What can I do to keep from overeating at the special occasion?• Once you arrive, stay away from the food table. It is very easy to overeat when you are standing right in front of the food. • Drink low-calorie drinks, such as water, diet soda, juice mixed with club soda or water, iced tea without sugar, etc. This can often keep you from putting food into your mouth. • Serve your own food or ask an adult to help you keep all your portions small. • Eat slowly enjoy your food. • Try to stay aware of your hunger/fullness meter. Ask yourself are you eating this because you are hungry or just because it is there? If you are hungry then eat. If you are not hungry, put the food down and move away. • Be assertive! Don’t let someone talk you into eating something that you don’t want if you are not hungry. If you are not hungry, you should not be forced to eat! • If you really want to eat a food that is high in calories/fat, eat it. Just make sure it is a small portion. We tend to eat even more when we continuously deny ourselves our favorite food. • Eat healthy snacks and foods first. It is harder to overeat on sweets, desserts, or other foods if you are not hungry. After the special occasion . . .• Be proud of yourself, no matter what. • If you were able to keep your portions small and enjoyed the special occasion without focusing on food, reward yourself. Go to a movie, take a walk in the mall, or whatever else you enjoy doing. Remember do not use food as a reward. • If you ate more high fat/high calorie foods than normal, don’t worry. Remember all foods can fit, as long as you eat them in moderation. Special occasions usually don’t happen that often. • If you ate more than you thought you should, don’t worry. Try to increase your activity level for the next couple of days. • Think about what happened, what worked, and what didn’t. What can you do differently next time and what would you do the same?
What is Appetite?Is it in your mind, or in your stomach? Or does it come from someplace else entirely? Appetite regulation is complicated, and involves both the brain and hormone signals from the gastrointestinal tract. The “appetite center” is located in the hypothalamus, part of the brain directly behind the eyes and on top of the pituitary gland, a very important part of the endocrine system. In addition to appetite, the hypothalamus regulates your temperature and coordinates the actions of the hormones involved in puberty. In normal people, low blood sugar stimulates the appetite center in the hypothalamus to release “signals” that result in the sensation of hunger. After eating, other hormones released by the gastrointestinal tract send a signal that the brain senses as satiety, or fullness, telling the body it’s time to stop eating. In some situations you do not “feel full” after eating. Some of these conditions can have a physical cause. Some children who undergo certain types of brain surgery or children born with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that results in profound obesity, lack what medical science believes to be normal appetite centers, and thus will not stop eating on their own. Often people who overeat and disregard their satiety signals do so under emotional stress. Other individuals who have very high insulin levels (and who are insulin resistant) may experience frequent low blood sugar during the day that may alter the sensation of satiety. Many people who are overweight suffer from metabolic syndrome, a disorder characterized by resistance to the action of insulin, and results in diabetes, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis due to high blood cholesterol levels. The key defect in this disorder is resistance to the action of insulin at the cellular level, resulting in very high levels of this hormone in the blood. It appears that insulin plays a role in appetite regulation, working on centers in the brain to promote the transport of glucose into those cells. In the presence of high levels of insulin, the appetite is driven to higher levels. Current treatment with medications such as metformin and Byetta that lower insulin levels and promote insulin sensitivity appear to lower appetite, which in turn contributes to weight loss in treated subjects. What is Diabetes?Diabetes mellitus is among the oldest diseases in recorded history. In Latin, the name literally means “honey-sweet urine,” which refers to the passage of sugar in your urine. In diabetes, you suffer from inadequate insulin, the hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels. Insulin is found even in the most primitive forms of life, from primitive sponges to the lowly hagfish and on up the food chain. Insulin is a protein, made by the pancreas, an organ that surrounds the stomach. Your pancreas releases insulin in response to eating and it influences your blood sugar after you eat by promoting the uptake of glucose by your muscle tissues. Insulin tells you body to take up the sugars from the blood and store fats for later use. Without insulin, the body breaks down stored fats, creating an excess of acidic compounds called ketones in the blood, which in turn increases respiration as the body strives to reduce the blood’s acid content. A lack of insulin also allows sugar to build up in the blood, resulting in frequent urination and thirst. This excess blood sugar is what causes serious health problems. In type 1 diabetes, which usually begins before age 19, you produce no insulin, and must take insulin by injection and carefully monitor your blood sugar levels and what you eat. In this type of diabetes the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin, and unfortunately it is not preventable or curable. In type 2 diabetes the body either fails to produce enough insulin or cannot adequately use the insulin it has, because being overweight interferes with insulin action (this is known as insulin resistance). This type of diabetes has routinely been most common in overweight people over age 60, but now increasingly occurs in young people as well. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, and often losing weight and beginning to exercise can reverse this type of diabetes. Doctors may also prescribe pills that increase the secretion of insulin from the patient’s pancreas or ones that increase sensitivity to their usual levels of insulin. Physicians today have found an alarming increase in children as young as seven developing type 2 diabetes, a disease once limited to their grandparents. Diabetes is now the most expensive chronic disease in the United States. It is a truly disabling disease, partly because some people don’t take it as seriously as it should be taken. (And many people have type 2 diabetes without being aware of it, so it’s important to ask to be tested.) In both types of diabetes, it’s important to keep blood sugar levels in the normal range. Without this, sugar can damage blood vessels and nerves, and can result in blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, impotence, and poor blood flow to the extremities (fingers, toes, and feet) which may eventually require amputations. Ultimately, without good control of blood sugar and blood cholesterol, premature death can result from early occurrence of heart attacks and strokes. Genetic factors can make you more prone to develop type 2 diabetes—but it certainly is not inevitable. The best treatment is a good offense: starting now to keep your weight at a healthy level, to eat well, and to stay active. What Birth Weight Can MeanSometimes parents are proud when their newborn debuts at a whopping 10 pounds, and worried when one weighs much less. While both can be perfectly healthy children, it’s good to realize that babies who are more than nine pounds at birth or less than six pounds have a higher risk of being obese in the future. Here’s why. Big babies have formed metabolic paths that promote storing nutrients as fat, instead of burning them for energy. Small babies are playing “catch up” to reach normal size and weight, and most of them do this by their second birthday. Their bodies have been storing calories for growth, instead of burning them for energy, and if this mechanism persists, these stored “growth’ calories become stored fat. Forewarned can be forearmed, so if your child was born at a high or low weight, you may want to be especially careful with family meal planning and be sure to incorporate regular exercise into family life. Why Some Overweight Children are TallSome overweight children are taller than they should be. That is because, in some cases, children have converted the extra calories they consume into premature growth as well as girth, and become taller than normal. Parents are often pleased by this, but not when the child begins puberty early, another result of overeating. To find the pre-determined genetic average height for boys, add together the parents’ heights in inches, plus 5 inches, and divide by 2. For girls, add the parents’ heights, minus 5 inches, and divide by 2. Thus a boy whose mother is 5 feet 2 inches tall (62 inches) and whose father is 5 feet 6 inches tall (66 inches) would be expected to grow to 5 feet 6-1/2 inches (62 + 66 + 5 = 133 inches; divided by 2 = 66-1/2). You can then use the Stature-for-Age and Weight-for-Age Percentiles Charts for Boys (Click here to see chart) to determine what the boy’s height and weight should be at age 10. On the top right of the chart, where it says “stature,” find the expected adult height of 66-1/2 inches. Then follow the grid lines to the left to find the percentile: 66-1/2 inches is between the 10th and 25th percentiles. If we follow along that growth curve, we see that when the boy is 10, he should be about 52 inches tall (4 feet 4 inches), if he is growing normally. The boy’s weight (shown on the bottom of the chart) should also be between the 10th and 25th percentile, or an average of 60 pounds. However, if he is overweight, he may be 4 feet 8 inches tall and weigh 90 pounds, which is far above his expected height and weight. There is a separate Stature-for-Age and Weight-for-Age Percentiles Chart for Girls (Click here to see chart). This method makes it easy to see how much overeating has affected growth and how it may alter final height. If you have any doubt or questions about this assessment, contact your child’s health care provider.  Learning to Really ListenThe most critical component of effective communication is what therapists call “active listening”—when you confirm and validate what someone has said. Often when someone is talking to us, our attention drifts off. We start to think of something we’re reminded of, or begin to formulate what we’re going to say before the other person is finished speaking. Just as often, we only hear what we want to hear, or we only listen for as long as it takes us to think we know the gist of what the other person is saying. And sometimes the person speaking hasn’t said exactly what they’re trying to say, or has misspoken in a way that’s confusing or misleading. Active listening is used in a variety of therapies to help people having communication problems, though it works just as well where the goals are more general. It’s similar to the way psychotherapists listen to their patients, and though it sounds easy, it’s more difficult than it seems and takes time to perfect. Simply put, active listening is a four-part process. PART 1. First, the speaker is given an opportunity to speak without being interrupted. That alone can be a breakthrough, as too often we interrupt and cut each other off. During the first phase, the listener notes what the speaker is saying without drifting off or formulating responses, with the understanding that the listener will get a chance to speak also. PART 2.The listener recites back to the speaker what they’ve heard and asks if they got anything wrong or left anything out. It is sometimes surprisingly difficult to say back the things we’ve heard accurately, but it gets easier with practice. PART 3. The speaker answers the question, correcting what the listener got wrong or reemphasizing points the listener omitted. PART 4. The listener validates what the speaker has said by making a statement of empathy that expresses understanding. This is not a time to say “I know how I’d feel if that happened to me,” which is a common response, but rather it’s a time to see through another person’s eyes. You need to feel what they might feel, from their perspective, which is the difference between empathy and sympathy. It’s a time for comfort, not confrontation. Even if you think they are wrong, you need to understand how they could reach the conclusions they’ve reached and let them know that they’re justified and entitled to their feelings, regardless of your interpretation. For example, if your child complains that all the other kids at school get to eat Skittles or M&Ms, your response might be, “Yes, I can see how unfair that feels. What do you think about those choices that your friends are making? Are they good choices or bad ones?” Carbohydrates: Good and Not-So-GoodThe concept of a diet that has as its base foods made of complex carbohydrates, such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole grains, and unprocessed or minimally processed fruits and vegetables, appeals to many clinical dietitians. However, even dietitians who advocate carbohydrates agree that there are “good” and “bad” carbohydrates. “Bad” carbohydrates are thought to be those with what’s called a high glycemic index. This means they break down quickly into sugars. They cause a spike in your blood sugar (glucose), which triggers a sudden release of large amounts of insulin, which then rushes the excess blood sugar into storage. High blood glucose also inhibits the function of a substance called glucagon, a hormone that directs the body to burn stored fuel reserves. Once blood sugar levels fall to normal or below, the body needs more energy, but because glucagon has been inhibited, the result is increased hunger an hour or two after eating. Bad carbohydrates are those found in refined flours, white bread, instant oatmeal, most potatoes, white rice, and regular pasta. “Good” carbohydrates are made from whole grains that contain the grain’s outer layer (or bran) and the inner germ. You will find whole grains in whole wheat bread, brown rice, couscous, buckwheat groats, millet, bulgur wheat, bran flakes, oat squares, and whole wheat pasta. Because whole grains are higher in fiber (a cup of whole wheat flour has 14.5 grams of fiber per cup, compared to 3.4 grams in refined white bleached flour, reports an article in Pediatrics), they digest more slowly and have a lower glycemic index. This, in turn, results in more level blood sugar, and avoids the hunger that results from dips in your blood sugar. Carbohydrates remain an important part of your diet, but you should eat whole grains rather than refined starches whenever possible. Why We Turn to Comfort FoodsThere may actually be a biological component to our “need” for comfort foods. A study on rats at the University of California in San Francisco seems to indicate that eating comfort foods counteracts the effects of the hormones we produce when we’re under stress. Stress is how the body reacts to perceived danger. A squirrel feels stress when a dog approaches. Humans feel stress when we look in the rearview mirror and realize someone is tailgating us ,or when we’re lying in bed wondering how we’re going to pay the bills this month. In times of great danger, our adrenal gland produces adrenaline and other stress hormones to give us extra strength and responsiveness to protect ourselves. Stress hormones are also believed to interact with receptors in the brain to suppress appetite. Sometimes humans under great stress, such as those pacing in hospital emergency waiting rooms while a loved one is being operated on, forget to eat or don’t feel hungry. In people who are under chronic stress, where several stressful things happen to them every day, their stress hormone levels stay elevated and they have a hard time feeling calm. The UCSF study reported that rats with elevated stress hormone levels calmed down when fed high-energy foods. Among humans, comfort foods tend to be those with a high-energy and low-nutritional content—those loaded with fat or sugar or both. While getting relief from comfort foods may make sense in a way, we all need to limit this type of eating and learn other ways to deal with stress. Remember that when you allow your lonely and unhappy child to overdose on television and comfort food or try to give emotional support by overfeeding your child, you compound the problem. What about Sugar and Fat SubstitutesIs your child a soda guzzler? You’re right to be concerned. Three sodas a day add up to more than 120 grams of sugar—which can lead to a clear and measurable increased risk of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes, if maintained over time. Think about it this way: The child who drinks three sodas a day for 10 years will have consumed nearly half a ton of sugar. So you may be tempted to steer your child toward drinks that are artificially sweetened, such as diet sodas, Crystal Lite, or Wyler’s Light. But using an artificial sweetener to lower calorie intake may be a case of trading one risk for another. The threat of developing cancer from beverages containing artificial sweeteners is considerably more remote than the threat of obesity-related problems—but it remains a trade-off. Sugar substitutes were invented primarily to help people with diabetes. Although eating foods with sugar substitutes will not contribute to the overall calories a person consumes, some experts believe that eating too many of these products may be harmful. Often there will be a continued craving for the sweet foods if a sugar substitute is given. It is also common for children to consume diet drinks instead of milk, which results in insufficient calcium consumption and can potentially lead to osteoporosis. The recommended maximum amount of sugar substitutes is 1 to 2 servings of foods sweetened with these per day. Here are the different types of artificial sweeteners. Saccharin. In the 1970s the Food and Drug Administration attempted to ban this sweetener (discovered in 1879 at Johns Hopkins University) after studies found increased rates of bladder cancer in laboratory rats. Manufacturers maintained that consumers would have to consume huge amounts of saccharin to match the amounts ingested by the rats in the studies. Congress now requires only warning labels. Aspartame. The most popular artificial sweetener, discovered in 1969 in Germany, is marketed as Equal or Nutra-Sweet and is made from artichokes. Among the more than 600 studies of aspartame, one test linked aspartame to slightly increased rates of brain tumors in rats. Side effects may include headaches or dizziness. Sorbitol. You may find this modified sugar molecule in confections—it gives foods a sweet taste but cannot be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. A French chemist discovered it in 1872 in berries of a mountain ash tree. The primary side effect is diarrhea, when taken in excessive amounts. Sucralose. This sweetener, discovered in 1976 by British researchers, is sold as Splenda. It’s produced by chlorinating sugar, tastes like sugar, and is stable enough to be used in baking. Too few human studies have been conducted to access the risks, but in rats, mice, and rabbits, sucralose may cause shrunken thymus glands and other problems. A Food and Drug Administration document says that sucralose has a weak potential to cause cancer in animals, while results of other studies are inconclusive. At present, dietitians recommend Sucralose more often than the other sweeteners. However, too few studies have been conducted for us to know the ultimate risks. How about fat? Yes, an artificial fat exists—made from plastic. This indigestible fat substitute, called Olestra, has brought about 20,000 complaints to the Food and Drug Administration, more than all other food additives in history combined, and many manufacturers are pulling it from shelves as the result of poor sales. Side effects may include diarrhea, incontinence, cramping, bleeding, and an oily “leakage.” Avoid foods with olestra—check labels carefully. Rather than encouraging your family to eat foods with questionable ingredients, you should offer them a diet with proper portions of whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy products. Discourage your child’s sweet tooth, or teach your child to satiate it with natural sugars such as those found in fresh fruits. The beverages of choice for children are milk and water, with one serving of fruit juice per day. Keeping Fit by Helping OutThe scope of health-promoting activities need not be restricted to more traditional exercises such as running, cycling, or swimming. While you still want to make time for aerobic exercise three times a week for 30 minutes, there are also benefits to be gained from simply including your child in your daily household chores, according to a report in the journal Circulation. Think of all the things you have to do each night before you can finally go to sleep. If you work outside the home, you are probably exhausted by the end of the day. Yet it may also be true that your children feel ignored while you plow through the cleaning and the laundry while picking up all the junk that gets strewn about the house on a routine day. By asking your children to help with the chores, you give them an opportunity to be more active. At the same time, working side-by-side with a parent allows them to gain self-confidence and self-esteem as they see the concrete contributions that they are making to the family. What kinds of chores qualify will depend on how old your children are and where you live. If you own a home in a climate where it snows, you and your child can shovel the walk or the driveway. If you live in a city apartment, you may ask your child to take out the trash or sweep the floor. In many communities, washing the family car is a weekend ritual that provides both a great deal of physical activity and a visible end product your child can be proud of. In the end, children love to imitate the grown-ups they admire. Working together gives you an opportunity to be with your child and gives all of you more free time to spend on recreational activities. Additionally, you’ll be teaching your child by example how to set goals, accomplish tasks, and earn the reward of a job well done. 10,000 StepsYou’ve probably heard of 12-step programs, but did you know there’s a 10,000-step program that could help you lose weight? No, it’s not an extremely complicated process in 10,000 parts, but rather a fitness regimen that originated in Japan and has been examined in many subsequent clinical studies, in which participants were encouraged to walk 10,000 steps (a distance of approximately five miles) in the course of a day as they completed simple household tasks. And no, you don’t have to keep a running total in your head as you go about your daily business. All you need is a simple digital pedometer, available at any sporting goods store for as little as $15,and a good pair of walking shoes. What doctors at the Wakayama Medical College discovered was that people who put at least 10,000 steps on their pedometers each day over a 12-week period showed profound improvements in their health, including lower blood pressure and increased exercise capacity, while burning an extra 2,000 to 3,500 calories per week. This study was published in 2000, and since then 10,000-step programs have been endorsed by the U.S. surgeon general and adopted by a variety of schools, clubs, HMOs, and local government agencies throughout the country. You can try this approach in your family. Start by purchasing pedometers for everyone. Let your kids wear one for a few days, just to get a sense of their starting points. A normal, physically fit child will already fall in the 12,000- to15,000-step range. People considered sedentary walk between 4,000 and 6,000 steps a day, while true couch potatoes log only 2,000 to 4,000 steps per day. Once you know where you’re starting from, you can make a plan to get in at least 10,000 steps daily. That can mean walking with your kids, in parks or on treadmills, or it can mean simply adjusting the way you go about your ordinary business. If you go to the supermarket, park at the far end of the parking lot. If you go to the mall, park at the opposite end from the store you want to go to. Inside the mall, avoid elevators and escalators and take the stairs. For parents, if you work in an office building, use the stairs instead of the elevators, and if you have to talk to someone, take a stroll to your colleague’s office instead of using the telephone or e-mail. Use the coffee machine or restroom farthest from your office. Parents or kids who work on computers should get up and walk around every 30 minutes. In the home, try to think of ways to keep moving when you might otherwise sit still. If you’re brushing your teeth or talking on the phone, do it while you’re walking around. If you’re vacuuming, try doing it at a faster pace. Mow the lawn once a week instead of every two weeks, or use a rake instead of a leaf blower. Take the batteries out of all your remote controls so that you have to actually get up to change the channel. Of course, you have already made a commitment to increase your activity by participating in vigorous exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week. The beauty of using a pedometer throughout the day is that it allows you to measure both your vigorous activity and routine activity. These should both be counted toward your 10,000 steps. (For vigorous activities that cannot be measured using a pedometer, such as swimming, biking, or rowing, just keep track of the time, and make allowances for that activity in your step total for that day.) The important thing to remember is that the small things matter, because small things add up to big changes. And by making some simple changes, you will soon see how easy it is to get to 10,000 steps. Every journey begins with a single step. Exercising with your DogDogs are social animals, descended from the wolf, a predator that hunts in packs, running down larger and faster animals. The dog family has one of the most remarkable cardiovascular systems in the animal kingdom, able to sustain heart rates of over 300 beats per minute for extended periods of time. They love and need to run, and because dogs are social animals, they require our attention and will beg for it in any number of ways. In a sense, they can show us the way to be fit. Studies have shown that people with dogs as companions tend to live longer and have lower blood pressure, both because dogs give us emotional support and because dogs urge us to exercise. They are always ready and always willing, whatever the weather is like. Their enthusiasm is infectious—our dogs stand at the door wagging their tails as if the walk they’re about to take is the best thing that’s ever happened to them. Walking for half an hour a day at a brisk pace will go a long way toward giving you the exercise you need. If you can squeeze in a little Frisbee tossing or tug-of-war with a favorite toy, all the better. Kids and Weight TrainingStrength training can produce significant results for people trying to lose weight. Strength training creates muscles, and muscles burn calories even when you’re at rest. The more muscle mass you have, the more muscle tissue you have burning fat around the clock. Strength training also helps you maintain your lean muscle mass and increases bone density, which helps protect you from injuries. Kids should not use weights until they’re seven or eight years old and can listen to instructions and exercise safely. The idea is never to see how much weight they can lift, but to create an overall benefit. Kids should start with push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups, using the body’s own weight. They should then move up slowly to light dumbbells, emphasizing upper body exercises. To begin with, try strength-training sessions twice a week, and give muscles at least 48 hours to rest in between sessions. Exercise physiologist Michael O’Shea, PhD, recommends choosing weights that are comfortable, beginning by doing 5 to 10 different exercises in sets of 8 to 12 repetitions, and working your way up to 10 to 15 repetitions. |
Articles and Tips for Good Health
Helpful information for parents about eating healthy, exercising, and feeling good about your body. Here's what you need to know for good health.
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