Your attitude about gaining weight and your understanding about how the human body works will determine your number on the scale. Many people believe that exercise alone will fix the problem of being overweight. Others believe that if they go on a diet for a period of time, they can resume "normal" eating habits once they reach their goal weight. Some believe that they are destined to be fat because "everyone in the family got fat at my age." Those whose health has declined and now rely on prescription medications to help correct the damage have been told by their doctors that the medicines will make it difficult to lose weight. Really?
The human body was designed to follow the universal law of cause and effect: "For every action, their is an equal and opposite reaction." If you put the right things in, you get the desired results. Each of our body's major systems has homeostatic controls. Homeostasis is "the tendency of a living body to maintain relatively stable internal conditions in spite of greater changes in its external environment." (Saladin, 2007) Consider the thermostat on a central air conditioning unit. The purpose of the thermostat is to trigger the unit to start cooling the room when it gets too warm and to shut off once the set temperature is reached. Our bodies are designed to function optimally in a state of balance.
If you are overweight, then your vital organs are unable to process the quantity and quality of the foods you have elected to consume. Any or all of the following conditions may exist: fatty liver, stones in the kidneys or gallbladder, high blood cholesterol, plaque in the arteries, impacted colon, or a clogged lymphatic system. These conditions also indicate that even when a nutritionally dense meal is consumed, your body is unable to properly metabolize it and extract the nutrients from it. It will rot in your body and poison it before it will provide much-needed benefits.
The key to managing your weight is simple. Avoid behaviors that upset the natural state of balance in your body. Examples of these bad behaviors are:
1) Overeating;
2) Poor nutrition;
3) Lack of physical activity;
4) Lack of proper rest;
5) Smoking, taking drugs, and drinking alcohol.
The things that you should do include:
1) Eating the right foods;
2) Eating the the right amounts of the right foods in the proper proportions from each food group;
3) Drinking adequate amounts of water;
4) Exercising moderately/intensely for at least 30 minutes per day 3 to 4 days per week;
5) Sleeping 7-8 hours per night most nights of the week;
6) Taking periodic fasts to allow your body to rest, heal, and eliminate waste and toxins;
7) Seeing your doctor regularly for a physical assessment and following-through on the plans to correct health issues and nutritional deficiencies.
Salud America!, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has released a comprehensive collection of research briefs examining the obesity epidemic among Latino children and teens.
Three of the new national briefs review current evidence with respect to Latino youth in three major areas: the availability of healthy, affordable foods; opportunities for physical activity; and the impact of food marketing on diets and obesity rates. These briefs also provide policy recommendations, including the following:
Efforts to bring healthy foods into neighborhoods and schools should particularly focus on Latino communities, since they are disproportionately affected by the epidemic.
Policies that can help people be physically active in their neighborhoods should emphasize Latino populations because they are more likely to live in areas that do not support such activity.
Efforts to reduce exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing should consider that Latino youth are particularly targeted by advertisers.
Health programs and messages should be culturally sensitive, relevant for all populations and produced in both English and Spanish.
In addition to these three briefs, 20 pilot grantees funded by RWJF through Salud America! have produced briefs highlighting their own, new research. The new briefs analyze a wide range of issues, from the impact of menu labeling in small restaurants in south Los Angeles, to how after-school programs can help Latino youths to become more active, to how community gardens can help lower-income Latino families eat more fruits and vegetables. These briefs are available on the Salud America! website.
Latinos are currently the most populous and fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. Over the last decade, the Latino population has grown by more than 40 percent. And according to recent estimates, nearly 40 percent of Latino children and teens are overweight and more than 20 percent are obese. The new briefs provide a snapshot of the state of the epidemic among Latino youths and describe how leaders and policy-makers can more effectively address it. Salud America!, the RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, is a national network of researchers, community leaders, policy-makers and other stakeholders who are working together to increase the number of Latino scientists seeking environmental and policy solutions to address Latino childhood obesity.
This article written by Jane Lowe of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (http://www.RWJF.org) stresses the importance of keeping fun,constructive, character-building playtime in lower-income schools. Our children are under attack due to rapidly increasing poverty rates and the resulting instability of home life. These factors adversely affect children's ability to focus in the classroom as well as interact with one another in a positive manner. Organizations like The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (http://www.healthinschools.org) and Playworks (http://www.playworks.org) offer viable solutions to save them. Read the full article below.
Better Physical and Emotional Health Equals Better Learning
Quantity
Personal Information
* Indicates required field for print subscription. We do not share personal information with third parties, except as needed to fulfill requested services. For more information, please refer to our privacy policy.
Thank you for submitting your publication request. It will be processed within the next seven business days.
Today in Education Week, Vulnerable Populations Team Director Jane Lowe discusses the impact of innovative partnerships that address the physical and emotional health of schoolchildren in the article, “Want to Boost Learning? Start with Emotional Health.” With poverty rates in our country on the rise, more children are facing instability at home as programs are being slashed at school.
Learning requires more than good teachers and books. If a child is sick, hungry or struggling with family instability at home, the ability to retain lessons takes a backseat. And as Lowe acknowledges, “Schools cannot — and should not — be expected to manage these issues themselves. On the other hand, they cannot afford to ignore them if they expect students to achieve.” Solutions—however innovative or unique—are out there, Lowe insists, including RWJF grantees Playworks and The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS).
Playworks supports a full-time, trained staff person to improve recess in low-income schools, often an Americorps member. Playworks staff are dedicated coaches trained to transform the playground–which too often is a place of chaos and conflict at schools – to engage all kids in fun, constructive games and give them the tools to resolve disputes quickly and get back in the game. This, on top of engaging them in healthy physical activity that lets them burn off energy and return to the classroom more focused on learning, adds up to improved school climates and better learners. Increasingly, what we’re seeing, as the program spreads to schools in cities across the country is that Playworks helps strengthen the social and emotional health of kids, giving them critical skills and values to help them grow into healthy adults – conflict resolution, cooperation, leadership, self-respect and respect for others and a greater sense of school connectedness.
While Playworks helps to boost social and emotional well-being through play, CHHCS focuses on the physical and mental health of schoolchildren through school-based health centers. These centers are community-based health care organizations that sponsor licensed health care professionals that actively work with all levels of school employees to ensure that kids’ health is an integral part of the school. In addition to keeping children physically and emotionally healthy, which provides a better environment for learning, the centers expose children to caring adults who can help them solve difficult problems in healthy ways. As Lowe notes in the article, “Researchers saw that students who received care through school-based health centers not only had better attendance and fewer disciplinary issues, but they actually saw increases in GPA — particularly for students who accessed mental health services.”
The innovative partnerships that Playworks and CHHCS have established with schools are a key driver of their success in improving students’ health and well-being. Lowe calls for leadership from more schools to prioritize such partnerships so that vulnerable children can get the care they need to succeed in school and in life, particularly amidst these challenging economic circumstances.
The debate over who is ultimately to blame for childhood obesity heats up with yet another removal of a child from the parents' care in Cleveland, Ohio. While there are many contributing factors to this epidemic (food industry, marketers/advertisers, Big Pharma, growth of technology and the subsequent reduction in physical activity, etc.), parents are being charged with neglect when their children's health declines as a result of excessive weight gain. While culture and lifestyle play a huge part in the dietary choices families make, taking a child from his/her family has been described as "extreme" and has caused more harm than good. This approach to tackling childhood obesity is punitive. There are even greater concerns that children from lower socioeconomic groups may be permanently removed from their homes. According to Dr. David Ludwig of Harvard’s School of Public Health, “Well, state intervention is no guarantee of a good outcome, but to do nothing is also not an answer.” It is time for parents to take the decision about the fate of their children's health and well-being out of the hands of the courts. We must better educate ourselves about good nutrition and how to increase physical activity. It is our responsibility to make the necessary lifestyle changes to save our children. It all starts at home. If we don't, then who will be next?
A Cleveland third grader who weighed more than 200 pounds was taken from his mother after officials reportedly said she did not do enough to help the boy, who suffered from a weight-related health issue, to lose weight.
“They are trying to make it seem like I am unfit, like I don’t love my child,” the boy’s mother, who was not identified, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “It’s a lifestyle change and they are trying to make it seem like I am not embracing that. It is very hard, but I am trying.”
Officials first became aware of the boy’s weight after his mother took him to the hospital last year while he was having breathing problems, the newspaper reported. The child was diagnosed with sleep apnea and began to be monitored by social workers while he was enrolled in a program called “Healthy Kids, Healthy Weight” at the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.
The boy lost a few pounds, but recently began to gain some back, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. At that point, the Department of Children and Family Services asked a juvenile court for custody of the boy, citing his soaring weight as a form of medical neglect, according to the newspaper.
Taking obese children from their families has become a topic of intense debate over the past year after one high-profile pediatric obesity expert made controversial comments in the Journal of the American Medical Association advocating the practice in acute cases.
“In severe instances of childhood obesity, removal from the home may be justifiable, from a legal standpoint, because of imminent health risks and the parents’ chronic failure to address medical problems,” Dr. David Ludwig co-wrote with Lindsey Murtagh, a lawyer and researcher at Harvard’s School of Public Health.
A trial is set for the boy’s ninth birthday next month to determine whether his mother will regain custody.
But one family who has been in the same position as the Ohio family told ABC News they disagreed with the practice when “Good Morning America” spoke with them in January.
“Literally, it was two months of hell. It seemed like the longest two months of my life,” mother Adela Martinez said.
Her daughter, 3-year-old Anamarie Regino, weighing 90 pounds, was taken from her parents and placed into foster care a decade ago.
Anamarie didn’t improve at all in foster care, and she was returned to her parents. The young girl was later diagnosed with a genetic predisposition.
“They say it’s for the well-being of the child, but it did more damage than any money or therapy could ever to do to fix it,” Martinez said.
Anamarie Regino, who is now a teenager, agreed.
“It’s not right, what [Dr. Ludwig] is doing, because to get better you need to be with your family, instead of being surrounded by doctors,” she said.
When told of the Regino case, Ludwig said his solution of state intervention did not always work.
“Well, state intervention is no guarantee of a good outcome, but to do nothing is also not an answer,” he said.
ABC News’ Dan Harris and Mikaela Conley contributed to this report
"A study done by researchers has shown a correlation between overweight and obese children and the development of high blood pressure. Over 1100 children averaging 10 years of age were followed for 5 years. Researches assessed their body mass index and blood pressure at least 8 times during the course of the study.
Researchers found that when BMI exceeded the 85th percentile (obesity is the 95th percentile) the risk of high blood pressure tripled... yes, tripled! And remember, these are children. So what does this mean?
It gives us another reason to get children moving, exercising and eating healthy. Reducing BMI reduces blood pressure as well as helps reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, thus leading to healthier adults. This in turn will also help lower health care costs later in life, too. What could be worse than seeing a teenager having a stroke during PE because of high blood pressure?!"
Eckert, George J, M.S.; DiMeglio,Linda A., M.D.; Zhangsheng Yu, Ph.D.; Jeesun Jung, Ph.D.; and J. Howard Pratt, M.D., "Intensified Effect of Adiposity on Blood Pressure in Overweight and Obese Children" Indiana University School of Medicine. Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, November 2011.
When you know better, you do better. Teach your children the importance of eating well and living an active lifestyle while they are young. The good habits they form today will reward them with good health tomorrow. For great tips on how to prevent childhood obesity, pick up a copy of Fit Girls Like You and Fit Boys Like You for your children TODAY! Also available on Amazon.com, Kindle, and NOOK for Barnes & Noble!
The official release date for Fit Girls Like You and Fit Boys Like You is Tuesday, November 1, 2011! Both books will be available in my CreateSpace eStore as well as on Amazon.com, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble NOOK! Watch the preview trailer NOW!
It is no secret that Americans are fatter than they have ever been. Sadly, the number of children who are obese continues to rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted some alarming statistics regarding childhood obesity on its website:
Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.
The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.
In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.1,2
Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.3Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.4
Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.5,6
To prevent childhood obesity, it is critical that parents teach and model healthy lifestyles early. I have written and illustrated two children's books that families can use to reinforce good nutrition, proper rest, and active lifestyles. In
the next 5-7 days, I will be releasing Fit Girls Like You and Fit Boys Like You. I
have created previews on my publishing site so that you may have a sneak
peek! I would love to hear your feedback! Thank you for your continued
support!
Should children exercise everyday? If so, for how long? How much is enough? How much is too much? In a New York Times article, Gina Kolata reports that these questions are not easily answered:
"You're a parent and you want to do your best to be sure your children are healthy. So you worry about physical activity. How much exercise is enough? Will being active protect them against diabetes, cancer, or heart disease later in life? Will it prevent them from getting fat?
"You search for information, for official guidelines on physical activity. And, you soon discover, there is plenty of advice — at least 27 sets of official guidelines, notes Harold W. Kohl, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin who formerly worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"But the problem in making recommendations is a lack of good data.
"We can’t “clarify the dose of physical activity and exercise that’s good for kids” as precisely as we think we can, Dr. Kohl said."
The National Association for Sport and Physical education "promotes physical activity of at least 30-60 minutes on most or all days of the week for elementary children (up to age 10), focusing on developmentally appropriate activities." (R.R. Pate) Adolescents (age 11-21) "should engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for a minimum of 20 minutes, three or more days of the week, to promote health and chronic disease prevention as adults." (ACSM)
Generally speaking, children should be encouraged to get active through sports or free play. But, it all starts at home. Parents have to model the behavior. The more active the parents are, the more active the family will be!
Many of our health woes, including obesity, cancer, heart health, diabetes, and emotional distress, stem from what we eat. Processed foods are full of chemicals and hormones. Even if they started out as living organisms, they are a far cry from that once they hit your dinner table. How can you ensure that the foods you eat are locally-grown, organic, and disease/chemical-free? GROW IT YOURSELF! Really? Absolutely! I am re-posting a blog by Dr. Alim Muhammad who is completing a course in Commercial Urban Agriculture at Will Allen's Growing Power (http://www.growingpower.org) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Enjoy!
I can't wait for next week to get here. Why? It is the graduation of the 5 month course in Commercial Urban Agriculture given by Will Allen's Growing Power (http://www.growingpower.org/) in Milwaukee. It started in January the day after a blizzard dropped 16 inches of snow and the temperature hovered around 10 degrees. I walked into an almost tropical Growing Power 'hoop house' heated solely by 4 compost piles in the corners and more around the sides. I felt I had walked into the Garden of Eden! Lush green plants hanging every where, the gurgling of water through fish tanks and the rich deep smell of black soil, that I later learned by produced by Will and his worms from the mountains of compost at the site. And I do mean mountains - up to 20 feet high!
Over these 5 months we have learned all about composting, vermiculture, mushrooms, aqua-ponics, laying in raised beds, hoop house construction, bee keeping, marketing and back to composting, composting, composting. This has been the most highly structured unstructured educational program I have ever encountered. Will and his staff are completely knowledgeable on every subject, enthusiastic and definitely hands-on. They are constantly busy, doing what has to been done to care for the plants, to take care of the customer accounts, and the animals on the urban farm site in the middle of Milwaukee. Will Allen has written and spoken extensively about the food crisis in this country, but most importantly, he has acted - acted in a consistent way for a long enough time that he is now getting the recognition that he so richly deserves. He has recently been featured in Jet Magazine and selected as one of America's Most Influential People by Time Magazine. But the attention is not to feed his ego, but rather to feed hungry people who are trying to survive in the middle of all these 'food deserts' as Will calls the urban blight areas across the country where there is no real food for people to eat. How can they keep healthy like that, work and be productive, how can they have creative minds and do well academically?
So as Bro John Muhammad and I prepare for our graduation, we know that this is just the beginning of the "Food Revolution". My personal goal: 100 hoop houses built all over the country in the next 2 years! Is that achievable? You bet, especially if you help. You should get involved now. Learn all about hoop house agriculture. Build a hoop house and start growing your own food. Find out all about it by clicking on the Growing Power web site. Get started now.http://www.growingpower.org/
Believe it or not, you can get started on your porch, patio, or in your own back yard. The green house pictured above can be found at http://www.hoophouse.com.)
It is likely that you have all seen the latest commercial that promotes high fructose corn syrup. It is sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association. Because Americans consume so many products that contain this processed sugar, the food industry has created its own marketing plan to counter the bad press it is presently receiving. Take a look:
(I am having a really hard time with this portrayal. One mother is aware enough to know that some bad things have been said about HFCS, but can't articulate it because she didn't research the facts for herself. She is easily defeated by the almost rehearsed response of the sister who is pouring some red punch from a jug that we know is worse than Kool-Aid. Sans the stereotypes, they represent the average American consumers: the uninformed and the ill-informed.)
"Its made from corn"- True. High Fructose Corn Syrup is made from corn syrup that has been highly processed to increase its fructose content then mixed with pure corn syrup, which is 100% glucose. The result is a cheap, widely available and utilized sweetener, so highly refined that saying it is 'made from corn' (in support of its safety) is like saying cocaine is made from a plant so its safe to snort up your nose.
"Doesn't have artificial ingredients"- True. HFCS doesn't have artificial ingredients, however, unless you're buying HFCS off the shelf in its 'raw' form, the products that contain it, most likely DO have artificial ingredients. This is just another attempt to use the emerging interest in 'natural' foods as a ploy to push harmful foods to increase profits. Just because actual HFCS doesn't have 'artificial' ingredients doesn't negate the fact that it is HIGHLY REFINED. "Like sugar, its fine in moderation"- Questionable. To say that HFCS is like sugar is hardly accurate- at least in the way we metabolize it. The term 'sugar' is used widely to refer to many varied forms of sugar cane, which is sucrose, a disaccharide made up of glucose and fructose (the same components of HFCS). Our bodies have an innate mechanism that regulates the release of insulin to uptake the glucose and fructose from the bloodstream as enzymes break them down. However, in HFCS, these molecules are already 'broken down' (they're two separate 'monosaccharides' or single sugars), so our body's natural regulation mechanism is not triggered. Rather than absorbing and utilizing the excess fructose, our liver is forced to convert those molecules to fat and store them as such. This places a tremendous burden on the liver, our already overworked and often underpaid amazing organ working to detoxify our body every moment of our lives. Because HFCS is so sweet, the body registers that it has eaten, however, little of the actual 'fuel' the glucose and fructose is actually used at the cellular level, stimulating cravings for guess what.....more sugar!!
Organizations like the Corn Refiners Association is citing studies that were done on lean women only. What about its effect on a developing body and liver, such as in your child?"
"By now you’re probably familiar with the advertisements claiming that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is “no worse for you than sugar.” What gets me about this campaign, run by the Corn Refiners Association, is this: What decent food product has ever needed to spend up to $30 million to convince consumers it’s inherently safe to eat?"
"If you need to lose weight, or if you want to avoid diabetes and heart disease, fructose is one type of sugar you’ll want to avoid, particularly in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Part of what makes HFCS such an unhealthy product is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar.
According to Dr. Elizabeth Parks, associate professor of clinical nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and lead author of a recent study on fructose in the Journal of Nutrition:
"Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose. Once you start the process of fat synthesis from fructose, it's hard to slow it down. The bottom line of this study is that fructose very quickly gets made into fat in the body."
How does this happen?
Well, most fats are formed in your liver, and when sugar enters your liver, it decides whether to store it, burn it or turn it into fat. Fructose, however, bypasses this process and turns full speed ahead into fat.
"It's basically sneaking into the rock concert through the fence," Dr. Parks said in a previous interview with Science Daily. "It's a less-controlled movement of fructose through these pathways that causes it to contribute to greater triglyceride [i.e. fat] synthesis.”
Ironically, the very products that most people rely on to lose weight -- low-fat diet foods -- are often those that contain the most fructose! Even “natural” diet foods often contain fructose as a sweetener."
So, What Can We Do?
1) Educate yourself. Don't be the person who walks around quoting "what they say" about anything. Be informed and make better decisions for the good of your and your family's health.
2) Read the ingredients before you buy a product. Ingredients are listed in the order of highest to lowest percent content. If sugar is in the top 5, put it back on the shelf.
3) Consume more foods that don't have labels like organic fruits and vegetables. (The ingredient list for an apple would say "apple".)
4) Don't drink soda! The average can of soda contains about 40 grams of sugar (8 teaspoons) per serving. The American Medical Association recommends that we limit our daily sugar intake to less than 32 grams per day which is still 25.5 pounds per year!
5) Cook. If you prepare your own food, you will have a better idea of what is in it, right?
6) Use Natural Sweeteners. If it is in a bag or in a packet, leave it alone. Some better options include stevia, agave nectar, and locally-grown honey. Use them in moderation.
Yesterday, I came across an article about the Neenah Joint School District in Wisconsin and its efforts to combat childhood obesity which has reached epidemic proportions in the last decade. An expansion of the district's wellness program, Neenah has issued a ban on sweets. Here is the article: (http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/30887454.html) Neenah School District Bans Cupcakes, Sweet Treats Associated Press NEENAH - Neenah students who want to bring an occasional treat for their classmates will be limited fruit, vegetables and other healthy snacks.
The Neenah School District tightened its wellness policy this year and banned cupcakes, candy and other sweet treats.
Parent Vicki Denzin is asking the Board of Education to ease those rules. Denzin says banning the items doesn't teach the children moderation or portion control.
Denzin asks how excited a 6- or 7-year-old would be to bring bananas or carrot sticks to share with their friends.
Tullar Elementary School Principal Diane Galow says it's not the sugary cupcake that's important, it's the ability of the students to share a treat on their birthday or special day.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
The alarming part of this story is that there are parents who oppose the ban- one that would move towards educating children about proper nutrition. As the article points out, one parent in particular (Vicki Denzin) points to the fact that this policy doesn't teach moderation or portion control. In this instance, consuming a "food" that will impair your health over time by eating it "in moderation", is innappropriate. It is more appropriate to teach children to eat the right amount of healthy foods, from the proper food groups, at the proper times. Neenah is attempting to accomplish a task that was once taught in the child's home--by their parents.
I reviewed Neenah's wellness policy and it appears that they are on the right track. Here is an excerpt of the Mission and Goals of the program:
Wellness -- In order to fully achieve the mission of the Neenah Joint School District, we recognize our responsibility to promote lifelong wellness behaviors that link proper nutrition and physical activity to students' overall health, growth, development, academic performance, and readiness to learn. This District-wide wellness policy encourages all members of the school community to create an environment that supports lifelong healthy eating habits and promotes opportunities for increased physical activity.
546.1 Wellness Goals
546.11 Establish an environment that empowers the school community to make good nutritional choices during the academic day and school-related functions outside of the instructional day.
546.12 Establish an environment that empowers the school community to increase physical activity during the academic day and supports the continuation of these activities outside of the instructional day.
546.13 Provide a high quality lunch program for students and staff.
546.131 Provide students with well-balanced nutritional choices of food and beverages; 546.132 Assist students in making healthy choices; and 546.133 Encourage and promote participation in the school lunch program.
546.14 Educate our school community, including students, parents and staff, on the benefits of good nutrition and physical activity.
The program further outlines nutrition standards, district food service, lunch and snack recommendations, school-based activities, physical activity and nutrition education, and policy regulation. As a parent, how could you object to this type of program? If executed properly, the children will lose the weight, miss fewer days from school due to preventable illness, improve grades and conduct, and become more physically active. Here is the link. Please read it and decide for yourself: http://www.neenah.k12.wi.us/publications/wellness/wellnesspolicy
On October 28, 2008, The New York Times published an article entitled, "A Rise in Kidney Stones Is Seen in U.S. Children"written by Laurie Tarkan. Kidney stones? I wonder if there is link between children's diets and kidney stones? Here is how some of the experts respond:
"“What we’ve really seen is an increase in the salt load in children’s diet,” said Dr. Bruce L. Slaughenhoupt, co-director of pediatric urology and of the pediatric kidney stone clinic at the University of Wisconsin. He and other experts mentioned not just salty chips and French fries, but also processed foods like sandwich meats; canned soups; packaged meals; and even sports drinks like Gatorade, which are so popular among school children they are now sold in child-friendly juice boxes."
"Dr. Slaughenhoupt has seen more overweight children at his clinic. “We haven’t compared our data yet,” he said, “but my sense is that children with stones are bigger, and some of them are morbidly obese.”
Dr. Pope, in Nashville, agreed. His hospital lies in the so-called stone belt, a swath of Southern states with a higher incidence of kidney stones, and he said doctors there saw two to three new pediatric cases a week.
“There’s no question in my mind that it is largely dietary and directly related to the childhood obesity epidemic,” he said."
At the end of the day, we can protest, litigate, and criticize the food and medical industries and even the schools. But, in this country we have a choice. Children are the most easily influenced people on the planet if parents would judge take charge of their health. It starts at home and we must be found modeling the behavior: increase fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats; eliminate processed foods; increase water intake; increase physical activity; get proper rest. It really is that simple. Here is a link to help you assess your family's needs: http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=1&tax_subject=256
I am going to conclude with some "food for thought" about the food and beverage industry and its relationship with the health care industry. Have a look!
Dr. Alim Muhammad "The Atonement and Purification of a Nation"
If you are overweight, then your vital organs are unable to process the quantity and quality of the foods you have elected to consume. Any or all of the following conditions may exist: fatty liver, stones in the kidneys or gallbladder, high blood cholesterol, plaque in the arteries, impacted colon, or a clogged lymphatic system. These conditions also indicate that even when a nutritionally dense meal is consumed, your body is unable to properly metabolize it and extract the nutrients from it. It will rot in your body and poison it before it will provide much-needed benefits.
