Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Okay, stay with me on this one. School budgets are being cut. The economy stinks-let’s face it. Recovery? Where Mr. President? Maybe on Wall Street-yep the stock market seems to have rebounded. Banks are paying back our stimulus money. Great! Wall Street executives are getting fat bonuses, again. Also great! General Motors is re-upping about 600 dealers. Life is super great! What! Give me a break. Housing foreclosures are still among the highest levels in years. More single family homes and apartments are for sale. Prices are dropping. More people are giving up their homes, cars and possessions. The jobs wanted market is flooded with people looking. And now the latest misery, School Boards across the country, stretched to the max with money problems are cutting PE (Physical Education), Music and Art classes. Who needs more artists and musicians anyway? Culture-blah humbug-don’t need it. And as for PE-well that’s a no brainer-let’s have our kids keep eating and eating, consuming more and more calories and not burning anything off. What does that equal? Say it with me-More Obesity in our children! Now wait a minute! You read in The Nerdel News that First Lady Michelle Obama is targeting Childhood Obesity with her “Let’s Move” campaign. It’s a fantastic effort-getting our kids to move and exercise. And we already know that our kids are not physically active enough. But-Ahm-hello-now the ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
I was eating at a favorite restaurant with my family and another family and I started a discussion about the proposed regulations requiring restaurants to show all of the nutritional information on their menus. I asked the kids (girls ages 11-13) first what that would mean for them. Initially I thought that I would hear that they really wouldn’t look at that information. I was surprised at the answers. I listened as they told me very matter of fact, that they would read it and in fact would change their choices if they saw too much fat, sugar or salt. However I am not so sure when it comes to desserts if the nutrition facts would play any part in their decision making. Then I moved on to the adults. So I asked-would it matter to you? The answer I heard was-I would definitely read the information and tell my kids to choose something healthy. So I said-what about your choice. The responses were polarized-the moms said they would definitely choose a healthy item. The dad said-he would try to pick a healthier item but if not he would try to exercise more the next day if he didn’t. An interesting social experiment.
You see my friends, it is inevitable that we will be getting barraged with more nutritional information-at the stores, on television, on the web and at now at ...
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Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
I am sure that by now most of you have seen the recent articles implicating soft drinks and juice and pancreatic cancer. We already know that our children are drinking more sodas and the rates of childhood obesity are sky rocketing-relationship-I think so!! Now, researchers are confirming prior studies demonstrating a relationship with soda and cancer. Actually, the most recent study was just published in the February 2010 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention: “Soft Drink and Juice Consumption and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: The Singapore Chinese Health Study” with lead author Noel T. Mueller (Cancer Control Program, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia). 60,524 people in the Singapore Chinese Health Study were enrolled and followed for 14 years. Those participants that drank 2 or more drinks (sweetened soda) per week had a statistically significant greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with those people in the study that did not drink the sodas. There was no association with those people in the study that drank juice. The conclusion by the authors was: “Regular consumption of soft drinks may play an independent role in the development of pancreatic cancer.”
SIDE BAR:
What is the pancreas: it is an organ in the body that hangs out behind the stomach and its job is to produce hormones (think of them as tiny messengers) like INSULIN that are released in response ...
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Monday, March 1st, 2010
By John E. Lewis, Ph.D.
Today, children face more challenges than ever in trying to achieve and maintain their health. The prevalence of the internet and video games negatively affects kids' desire to play outside and participate in physical activities, and the preponderance of fast food restaurants and processed foods at our grocery stores, along with their appealing advertising campaigns, results in an over-reliance of poor dietary choices that are too high in calories and too low in nutrition. Childhood obesity is dramatically rising and is now the most significant health crisis affecting children today. Physical inactivity and poor nutrition are the principle causes of obesity, according to the US Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA). In addition, children are now dealing with rates of Type II Diabetes and cardiovascular disease previously only seen in adults.
So what can we do to help our children?
In addition to proper rest and sleep, stress reduction, avoidance of toxins, such as second-hand cigarette smoke, and drinking plenty of water, health begins and ends with
proper nutrition and exercise. Eating properly should consist of a reliance on a plant-based, whole food diet. Eating plants in their most natural state, looking as much
like when they came out of the ground or off the tree, should be the goal. Eating a plant-based, whole food diet will give us the vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, flavonoids,
and the thousands of other ...
Posted in: Home, Profesor's Point of View
Monday, March 1st, 2010
By John E. Lewis, Ph.D.
Childhood obesity is dramatically rising and is now the most significant health crisis affecting children today. Physical inactivity and poor nutrition are the principle
causes of obesity, according to the United States Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA). Thus, children should be made aware of the severity
of the problem that their generation faces, and they also need to understand that being active, which was taken for granted by so many prior generations, is one of the
principal keys to being in good health. As the electronics age has consumed so many aspects of daily life in the last couple of decades, children of today are indoctrinated
into the technological craze at a very early age. Popular electronics are readily affordable by most families, so children grow up learning how to operate everything from
televisions to computers to video games to PDAs and cell phones. While the use of technology provides our society with enormous advantages in access to information and
convenience, with such freedom at least partially comes the price of good health due to the sedentary lifestyle that such electronic equipment promotes.
In considering how electronic equipment can help to promote a more active lifestyle in children, one of the obvious appliances is the pedometer. Pedometers, like most
electronics, come in a wide variety of models, styles, features, and options, but a simple pedometer that accurately measures steps ...
Posted in: Home, Profesor's Point of View
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
A fitting way to end the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Team Canada won the Gold Medal in Men’s Ice Hockey with an overtime 3-2 win against Team USA. Canada’s Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal past USA goalie Ryan Miller with 7.40 minutes left in overtime. Team USA still claims the number one spot with 37 total medals and 9 Gold. Team Canada claims the most Gold medals with a total of 14. Apolo Ohno became the most decorated USA Winter Olympian winning a total of 8 medals-three in Vancouver (Silver in the 1500m, Bronze in the 1000m and Bronze in the 5000m relay- Short track).
Here is the final medal count for Team USA. Amazing performances despite starting out with tragedy in the Luge. The Nerdel News salutes all of the athletes from Team USA and all of the teams-incredible job!!! For more 2010 Winter Olympic news, go to www.nbcolympics.com
The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia. See you all there!
...
Posted in: Benny's Sports My Way, Home
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Hello sports fans, well one week done and the final week left to enjoy the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in the Great White North. Lot’s of incredible Team USA performances like Bode Miller winning a Gold on the Men’s Super-Combined, a Bronze in Downhill and a Silver in the Super-G and Lindsey Vonn taking the Gold in Women’s Downhill and a Bronze in the Super-G. How about Evan Lysacek taking the Gold in Men’s Figure Skating (the first Gold since Brian Boytano captured Gold in the 1988 Olympics) with a win over a very indignant Russian Yevgeny Plushenko who performed an amazing “Quad” rotational jump! Team USA still is in the lead with 7 Gold, 9 Silver and 10 Bronze Medals for a total of 26 medals. Fan favorite snowboarder Shaun White won Gold in the Men’s Half-pipe and Seth Wescott took the Gold in Men’s Snowboard Cross. Speed skater Shani Davis took Gold in the Men’s 1000m outdueling fellow American Chad Hedrick who took home a Bronze. The most decorated American Winter Olympian-speed skater Apolo Ohno (Gold, Silver and Bronze in 2006; Gold and Bronze in 2002; Silver and Bronze in 2010) is also a 2007 Dancing With The Stars champion!! And Hannah Kearney took the Gold in Women’s Moguls skiing. All in all, Team USA has rocked! Lot’s of great effort by our amazing USA team in all ...
Posted in: Benny's Sports My Way
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Snack Bar Review:
Serving Size: 1 bar (36 grams) Per Serving:
Calories: 120
Total fat: 2.5g
Sat. Fat: 0 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 90mg
Potassium: 80mg
Total Carb.: 23g
Dietary Fiber: 3g
Insoluble Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 11g
Other Carbs: 9g
Protein: 3g
Hydrogenated Oils: 0g
High Fructose Corn Syrup: 0g
Preservatives: 0g
Artificial Colors and Flavors: 0g
I have been a consumer of Clif Bars for many years having been introduced to them by several martial arts instructors and marathon runners. It is difficult to find a tasty and nutritious energy bar and like most of us you probably go to the market and sample different bars all the time, trying to find the one that tastes like a Milky Way or Baby Ruth, but has the nutrition profile of a combination of a piece of wild Alaskan Salmon, dark green salad, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and dried fruits. With so many bars out there, what do you choose? And the decision is made even harder-choose one for your child!
Clif Kid is a kid version of the adult Clif Bar. According to the package , there are no Trans fats; there are 12 vitamins and Minerals, no high fructose corn syrup and the Clif Kid snacks are for kids 3 years and older. There is no caffeine or MSG and this product is certified Kosher by Kof-K.
Ingedients: Organic Oat Flour, Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice Syrup, Organic ...
Posted in: Featured Review
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Okay, let’s review: what do we know so far? A. We know that obesity is an extra accumulation of fat. B. We know that the problem is coming from an imbalance-more energy in the form of calories (food) coming into the body-our children are eating more and not enough energy (calories) being burned off-not enough exercise. C. We know that a pediatrician and researcher uses the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a way to identify weight problems in children-a way to measure your child’s weight against other children of the same age and sex and tell us whether he or she is at risk; D. We know that there are lots of consequences from being obese-heart disease, arthritis, sleep apnea and psychological problems and finally, E. We know that President Obama said that 30 percent of our children are either overweight or obese .So what’s next? Are we all sure we know whether our children are obese or just overweight? And what do we do to solve this problem? Class, let’s continue our journey-now Part two:
Overweight vs. Obese: (CDC) These are terms used to classify kids and adults and based on Body Mass Index (BMI-height and weight). BMI for kids and teens takes into account growth changes, differences in body fat between boys and girls. BMI calculator for Child and Teen. So go to your pediatrician’s (or primary ...
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Friday, February 19th, 2010
I guess by now, everyone, everywhere has heard that President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle have placed childhood obesity on the top of their “to get rid of” list. I think its actually ahead of some Republican pundits. Yes, childhood obesity has finally made it to the front page headlines. All of us in the press and academic fields have known for quite a while that our children have been gaining weight at an alarming rate. The President informed us that over 30 percent of our children are either overweight and or obese. We also have known that our children are not exercising as much. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is an imbalance-more calories going in and less calories being burned up. Result: a positive weight gain. Okay-that’s means overweight. But the one item that still needs clarification is: how do I know if my child is overweight or obese? I need to know that definition. So here is a sampling of what I could find out:
Merriam-Webster-doesn’t have a definition of childhood obesity. Their definition of obesity is: a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation of fat in the body (Merriam-Webster)
Medilexicon.com-Ideal Body Weight: a weight that is believed to be maximally healthful for a person, based chiefly on height but modified by factors such as gender, age, build, and degree of muscular ...
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