Sep
08
2009
Nutrition bars go by many names including "protein bars," "energy bars," and "meal-replacement bars." Nutrition bars are generally much larger by weight than snack bars (such as granola bars) or candy bars (such as chocolate bars) and have a much higher protein content --generally 10 grams to 30 grams of protein in a nutrition bar versus little or no protein in a snack bar or candy bar.
Many bars have now added a fiber category and add that on as a benefit to the bar. Those with 2.5 mg of fiber are claiming to be good sources of fiber, while others containing 5mg. or more can claim to be an excellent source. The recommendation for fiber is at least 20grams per day.
Many of the fats in some bars are saturated, and some bars also contain hydrogenated oils as well as high fructose corn syrup.
Another concern in the area of nutrition bars is the protein it contains. Most use soy, whey, or casein isolates. These protein isolates are usually obtained by a high temperature process that over denatures the protein therefore making it almost useless. This process also can create nitrates and other carcinogens. Soy protein isolates also are high in mineral blocking phytates and potent enzyme inhibitors that can lead to abnormal cell growth.
Sugar Alcohols are used in some bars to reduce the calorie content of the bar. Sugar alcohols are ...
Posted in: Product Reviews - What's in the Food
Sep
08
2009
By Meryl Brandwein, RD, LDN, Nutritionist
It’s back to school for most children. Summer is over and that means the start of school sports programs, as well as afterschool programs. The weather is still warm so that usually means playing outdoors in the heat! Staying well hydrated is a problem for many children during these warm months. Dehydration is a real concern for children because they tend to forget to drink enough to properly re-hydrate themselves before, during or after a long day of outdoor activities. Children loose vital minerals and electrolytes not only through sweat, but through breathing as well. In hot weather the water loss goes up dramatically. Many sports programs have long practice sessions. Contrary to popular belief it is also possible to become dehydrated while swimming or participating in outdoor water activities. If children do not consistently drink throughout the day to replenish lost water, electrolytes and minerals they can suffer serious injury in the form of heat exhaustion or more severe heat stroke. These are potentially dangerous conditions, and if untreated, can be life threatening.
Staying well hydrated is easy to do, and you don’t need those fancy sugar drinks to do it. Remembering to drink is the key. Keeping a water bottle handy at all times is advised, when participating in outdoor sports. Parent tip: If it’s a group activity, as in a school or afterschool sports ...
Posted in: What's In the Food
Sep
08
2009
Walk into any bookstore and you will find hundreds of diet books lining the shelves. Surf the web and your likely to find thousands of diet tips, various questionable nutritional recommendations, as well as a myriad of individuals, some professionals some not so professional, all of whom profess that their plan offers the solution to your nutritional prayers.
It is no wonder that we are confused. It seems as though we have nothing left to eat anymore. Our goal at The Nerdel Company is to set the record straight and declare that all of the macronutrients: Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats play a vital role in our diets. The focus here is to learn how to strike that balance between all three.
Let's start with the basics. Proteins are known as the building blocks of life. A protein is formed from many smaller amino acids. These amino acids are what make up our muscle tissue, organs, immune system and hormones to name a few. There are a total of 20 amino acids. Eight of them are essential. This means that we must obtain them from our diets. The rest of the amino acids can be made from, or synthesized by the body from those eight essential amino acids. All animal proteins contain the necessary amino acids our bodies need to produce all of the other amino acids. These are known as complete proteins. ...
Posted in: What's In the Food
Sep
08
2009
Let's face the facts: Life is busy. Not exactly news to most of us who follow a hectic if not somewhat frazzled schedule. Busy parents working busy schedules to provide the best for their families, often pay the price for society's demanding pace. Unfortunately, we are now witnessing the results of that busy lifestyle as reflected in the number of overweight and obese adults, and more alarmingly overweight and obese children. Too often, many well intentioned parents succumb to the pressure of their schedules and find themselves in a dinner-time dilemma! I am referring to those of us who have the best intentions of providing their families with a wholesome evening meal, yet for one reason or another, wind up at the nearest fast food drive thru or the closest microwave to reheat a frozen meal. The never ending question of “What do I feed my kids? How do I do it quickly, and healthfully?” are words uttered on the tongue of every well intentioned parent.
The bottom line is that there is no substitution for good planning. This isn't to say that we need to work out a weekly menu plan weeks in advance. It means coming up with a plan that works for your family and your particular situation. It means making changes slowly and gradually. It means taking one or two nights out of the week to sit ...
Posted in: What's In the Food
Sep
08
2009
By Craig Wittus
I just had one of my pupils call asking about tennis elbow and how she can take care of it. After first consulting with your medical/health care provider, the next thing you need to do is to go see your friendly neighborhood tennis pro and have him do surgery on your stroke. How come you never see tennis pros with tennis elbow? From the day they threw that rattle to the ground and grabbed that racquet, they were instructed in the proper way to stroke the ball. If you have pain on the outside, you’re probably stroking your backhand the wrong way. If you have pain on the inside your probably stroking your forehand the wrong way.
A few tips for a temporary solution:
Restring your racquet at a looser tension
Build your grip up one size
Try one of the many new racquets made now that are built to absorb the shock of making contact with the ball
Use a vibration dampener
Experiment using two-handed strokes
Buy one of the many tennis elbow braces offered ( I prefer the Aircast)
Seek the help of your local USPTA tennis professional
This tennis tip is provided as educational information. Always seek the advice of your medical/health care provider for any medical questions and always ask your medical/health care provider about the use of any medications, even OTC (over the counter) anti-inflammatory drugs.
Posted in: Tennis Tips
Sep
04
2009
By Alison Moss
“Come on Babe, why don’t we paint the town?... And all that jazz…” If ballet is the foundation of our house of dance, jazz is the colorful, individualized paint on each wall of your home. Jazz dance emerged in the late 1800’s tied to African American roots and jazz music. The American Heritage dictionary describes it, “Any of the various dances characterized by the use of improvisation and influenced by rhythms and techniques of jazz music.” Whereas ballet is graceful and predictable, the dancer performs the step to the right side and then repeats it to the left side, jazz dance is syncopated and unexpected. In jazz dance, choreographers play with the downbeat and include moments of improvisation, where the dancers (like jazz musicians) spontaneously create their own movements playing off one another.
The beauty of jazz dance is that it’s forever changing with musical trends and each choreographer’s personality. If synthesized music is hot right now, the performances will follow suit, and if slow, sultry voices fill the airwaves, sinuous movement will fill the dance floor. It’s not unusual to see a mix of fast and slow movement inside of one choreographic piece. The footwork in jazz dance is what appeals to me most. When I teach my jazz classes and it’s time to go across the floor, I experiment with different levels and directions. Each ...
Posted in: Moves That Groove
Sep
04
2009
By Alison Moss
Flap-heel-heel…Brush-heel-toe-heel…STOMP! Did you ever get a rhythm stuck in your head and suddenly find yourself tapping it on your legs or moving your whole body to keep the beat? If you answered yes, then perhaps, tap dancing is a new exercise to try for you. Tap dancing is made possible by shoes that have metal plates nailed into the bottom of them. You could call tap dancers “percussive musicians”, because they make the music they dance to with their own two feet.
The best tap dances are those done without musical accompaniment, or a cappella. The beauty of tap dance is that it plays with the beat, sometimes syncopating music and not making each section sound even, but more interesting and complex for your ears. Lots of times, tap dance is improvised. The dancer may start with one common rhythm and then experiment with new combinations of sound and return back to the main theme.
Tap dancing isn’t new to our generation. It is an extension of Irish step dancing and clogging. Those types of shoes are also specialized in that they have a harder toe and materials to accent sound, when the shoes strike a surface. As shoes have developed and improved over time, dancers from many decades have created and changed tap as we know it today.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers come to mind ...
Posted in: Moves That Groove
Sep
04
2009
By Lisa Garner
Although we mourn the end of our summer vacation, the majority of us are genuinely happy with the beginning of the new school year. Sporting tans, a little less weight, and for a few of us, some resemblance of muscle tone, we arrive refreshed, revived, and rejuvenated as we prepare our classrooms and ourselves for the “new year.”
Similar to the resolutions we attempt to make every New Year’s Eve, teachers set goals and objectives for their schoolwork but rarely for themselves. The time has come to change that! If teachers aren’t well rested, nourished, and physically fit, imagine the impact it has on our students. We need to establish the same mindset and behaviors which we were able to adopt during the summer and carry them over into the new school year.
So what type of steps can we take in order to insure that we are successful in our battle against the bulge in addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle for our students? First, we need to lead by example. Secondly, we must establish a nutrition and fitness program which spans throughout all curriculum areas and not just P.E. Finally, parents, teachers, and coaches need to work together as a team to help our children learn the importance of eating properly and exercising daily. The time has come for us to turn off our computers, lock up those ...
Posted in: Teacher To Teacher
Sep
04
2009
By Lisa Garner
Like many of us during the summer months, you want to make like a bear and hibernate. As a result, you spend the first few weeks of summer break wandering around in your pajamas, curling up with a good book, sipping on a refreshing summer beverage, and hopefully getting out of town for a few days on vacation. Then one morning, you suddenly catapult out of bed in a cold sweat screaming, “OMG, I only have 10 more days of summer vacation, and I haven’t finished writing my lesson plans for next year!”
Although the goal of summer vacation is to lose touch with reality, relax, and re-establish your sanity, you may not be quite as up to date on current events as you would be otherwise. So while you were “sleeping,” the school year has started and the swine flu, formally known as the H1N1 virus, is circulating. Now more than ever, we need to educate our parents and students on the benefits of establishing proper eating habits, exercising regularly, and good personal hygiene.
As teachers, we spend ten months out of the year operating on sleep deprivation and carbohydrates in addition to dodging more germs than bad drivers on the freeway. When we get run down or stressed out, we get sick, and so do our students. This year, flu infected summer camps have reminded health officials that ...
Posted in: Teacher To Teacher
Sep
04
2009
Paradoxically speaking, is it possible for hunger and obesity to co-exist within countless numbers of American families? If so, what can you do to help your students become philanthropists for change by ending malnutrition and obesity for millions of American children? Curriculum supported community service projects provide students with the opportunity to become actively engaged in the learning process and develop leadership potential while increasing academic preparedness.
Derived from Ancient Greek, philanthropy means “to love people.” The act of donating goods, services, money, and time to support a socially beneficial cause at no material reward to the donor is the best gift one person can give to another.
Much has been written lately about the emotional, physical, and educational benefits associated with participating in global community service projects. The myriad of benefits are as vast as the aid organizations we seek to adopt. In order for children to become conscientious and productive members of society, they must be provided with engaging, meaningful, and relevant opportunities to develop a sense of civic responsibility. Not only will students benefit from increasing their knowledge base, but it will also help your students to develop respect for others, patience, tolerance, and compassion for people who may be different, leadership skills, and citizenship.
How many times have you heard your students ask, “Why do we have to learn this stuff anyway?” I must admit that these words also ...
Posted in: Community, Teacher To Teacher
