Mar
28
2011
As you all know, my pal Nerdel and I are big supporters of the Presidents Challenge and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move programs. The intent of both of these fantastic programs is to get all Americans, young and old, into better shape. Both programs encourage you to eat healthier meals and snacks at school, at home, at work and whenever you go out to eat! And both programs emphasize the need to perform some type of physical fitness activity each and every day. The Presidents Challenge program has many individual activity categories based on age and lifestyle and you can earn many cool awards and medals by registering your fitness performance.
Here’s a little history: On September 14th, 2010, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius along with the co-Chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition-Dominique Dawes and Let’s Move Executive Director Robin Schepper, launched the Million PALA (President's Active Lifestyle Award) Challenge. The goal of the Million PALA Challenge is to get 1,000,000 youth and adults, from all over the United States, to sign up and participate in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) over the year. The ending date is slowly approaching-September 2011.
How does the Million PALA Challenge work? “The Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, or PALA, can be earned by taking part in 60 minutes of physical activity for kids ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
26
2011
I recently attended a screening for the movie entitled, “Race to Nowhere.” It’s an excellent, realistic story about the stress and pressure that our kids are going through. The pressure from the enormous amount of homework that is given to cover all of the material in the lesson plan. Pressure to take honors and advanced placement courses to bump up the grade point average over the previously top “4.0”. Pressure to get the, “A” and load the high-school resume with everything from proficiency in sports and musical instruments to demonstrating a serious commitment to community service. Pressure to get into the “best” school –whether it’s college for high-schoolers or even a top tier lower, middle and upper school for our younger kids. Pressure to look unique and stand out amongst all of the top applicants. Pressure felt by the parents and their kids. Pressure to succeed. And what is this pressure doing to our children? What is this pressure doing to us as parents? In some cases it is having a deleterious effect on the child, on the parent and on the family. The rates of teenage suicide are climbing. Clinical depression is being seen more and more in the teenage population by psychologists. We already know that the use of caffeinated beverages, energy drinks and stimulants are also on the rise in this age group. We have research ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
22
2011
Hello my fans. I am interrupting my Best Diet in the Universe series, which I hope you all are reading and following, and want to mention National Nutrition Month. Sponsored by the, American Dietetic Association*, March 2011-Eat Right With Color,has been designated as the month to promote eating healthy and exercise. As you all know, The Nerdel Company’s prime health directives besides its motto “everything good for kids,” includes making healthy choices in what you eat and to get plenty of physical activity. So what exactly does all this mean for you and me?
Well, it has to do with following the newly released 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans** and the physical activity guidelines as well. Let’s break it down into easy facts you can use: Here are the highlights:
Manage your weight by: 1. trying to prevent and reduce being overweight, 2. Improve your eating behavior and increase your physical activity
Control the amount of food you eat daily. That means for those of you overweight, REDUCING your calorie intake. Portion Control.
Increase your exercise and physical activity time DAILY! Cut back on the amount of time your are sitting!!!
Closely watch your weight in each stage of your life and balance the calories in with the calories out!
Cut back on salt-reduce the amount of salt in your diet to 2300mg daily. If you are age 51 and older, African American, have diabetes, hypertension ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
20
2011
Hello my Best Diet in The Universe fans, are you ready to continue? We are at day four. Yes, you made it through three incredible days and you are almost finished with one week. How do you all feel? The feedback has been fantastic. Most of you have lost weight-the majority has lost over five pounds. Wow, just in three days. A few have lost over ten pounds! That’s amazing. Remember, on a diet like this, the weight loss is slow. This is a type of diet that can act as a maintenance program as well. Some people lose weight very quickly. While others lose slowly. It’s your metabolism ( that means how fast or slow your body burns energy) and how strict you are on this diet. Either way, this diet will make you healthy. Eating nuts, fruit, olive oil, yogurt, fish, vegetables-sounds very Mediterranean. And you are right. It is! The Mediterranean diets, in my opinion, are the healthiest diets in the world. Many studies* have shown beneficial effects of following the foods eaten in the Mediterranean countries. Helping heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity are just some of the positive health benefits.
So welcome to another episode of Man (or woman) versus diet!! In the right corner here we have you-a wonderful son, father or husband; or daughter, mother, wife, ready to do battle for truth, justice and ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
12
2011
I Just got back from the March 4 Hunger which took place on a beautifully cool morning on the Broad-walk in Hollywood, Florida. Over 400 runners, walkers and joggers took part in this great event which raises money for Feeding South Florida. People from all over the country including vacationers, residents, boot camp workoutsters , and kids ran walked and jogged the 5K (3.1 mile) course in temperatures starting in the fifties and ending in the 60’s. With the ocean breezes, salt air and sunshine, the conditions couldn’t have been better!
Feeding South Florida is an amazing not-for-profit organization that is devoted to “empowering and assisting people in need and improving their lives”. They provide food and other grocery products to the hungry and educate the community to fight hunger and poverty. With one in six adults and one in four kids in the United States alone in the hunger column daily this organization has its work cut out for it. The poverty numbers have increased over the past few years with this current economic slow down. Almost 60 million Americans are at the poverty level. There are over 21 million kids (children 18 and under) at the poverty level. In Florida alone, there are over 1 million children( 18 and under) and 2 million adults (age 19 and older) in the poverty classification.
In 2009/2010, Feeding South Florida provided over 24 ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
10
2011
It’s a daily task for all parents, school dieticians and child caretakers-how to get your kids to eat more vegetables. Authors Jessica Seinfeld (Deceptively Delicious-HarperCollins) and Missy Chase Lapine (The Sneaky Chef-Running Press) have taught us fantastic ways to hide the veggies inside delicious and tasty foods. Now researcher Dr. Teresia O’Connor*, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and her colleagues at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, writing in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, have discovered what parental methods are effective to “promote greater fruit and vegetable consumption” and what practices don’t work well.
Effective Methods for parents:
Make fruits and vegetables more available by serving them daily
Have them at home ready to eat and in easy reach of the children
Have the parents be role models by eating more fruits and veggies.
Going to the grocery store with your child and have them pick out fruits and veggies
Letting your child select the produce that will be served for a meal and help prepare it
Tell your child in a positive manner the benefits of eating fruits and veggies
Ineffective Methods:
Bribing children to eat fruits and veggies
Punishing children for not eating fruits and veggies
Making your child feel guilty for not eating fruits and veggies
Bottom line: get your kids involved in the meal plan of your home. Start from the selection of the fruit and vegetable at the store and ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
05
2011
Haven’t we had enough? Yet another young wonderful child is in the headlines -no, not for his terrific accomplishments like being the star of the basket ball team and the quarterback of the football team and just a wonderful human being. He made the news this past week for his death. That’s right!
Fennville, Michigan high school star basketball player, Wes Leonard, 16, died March 3rd after he had scored the winning basket, allowing his team to finish the season with a 20-0 record! According to the forensic pathologist, Dr. David A. Start, the cause of death was sudden cardiac arrest due to a “dilated cardiomyopathy” otherwise known as an enlarged heart.
My friends, I have had to take a momentary break in writing my Best Diet in The Universe series to again focus on this tragic state of affairs. As you all may remember, I have been a strong proponent ( please read Medical Testing For Student Athletes-Add an ECG And ECHO ) for using our currently available medical technology to test young athletes for cardiac problems. We have the ability to diagnose heart problems and can use these simple, non-invasive tests to examine the child athlete. These tests can save lives-the lives of our precious children. There are certain heart conditions like enlarged hearts, ones that could be potentially lethal, and they can be silent. Heart conditions which may ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
03
2011
Okay, lets take a step to the side my dieting fans. You have been on the three day diet. From the feedback so far, most have felt good and feel thinner. There may not be a large amount of weight dropped in these first three days, but your body is getting adjusted to the new eating pattern. Its an adjustment in your stomachs digestion mechanics and an alteration in your metabolism. We’ re trying to switch on the fat burning part of your internal engine. And we are starting its burning at a slow level. Most low carb (and zero carb) diets are dramatic in the first few weeks. I have been on plans where you are not allowed to have any carbohydrates for two weeks. Wow, that’s strict. Yep! And yes, you lose a good amount of weight, but it gets put back when you start eating carbs again. The Best Diet In The Universe, adjusts your body’s metabolism slowly so you are able to eat carbs all the way through from the first few days and continue through maintenance. After all, most diets have several stages: a strict phase one, followed by a less strict phase two followed by a maintenance phase three and four. As I mentioned previously, you can lose weight on any diet you follow. It’s the re-gaining that’s the problem. I was watching the ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
Mar
01
2011
Hello my wonderful dieters and welcome to day number three of The Best Diet In The Universe. By the feedback I have been getting, you are all doing great. Some of you are eating the snack, while others are skipping. That’s okay. This is a diet based on moderation. And the in between snacks are there if you get hungry. Also I have been advised that the portions are big. That’s okay too. I was very lenient with portion sizes. If you can cut back-great. But if you are one of the “I’m starving” types, there is enough food for you too! Most of you are okay with the selections. There is fish for you fish lovers and meat for you carnivores. Either way, the plan should be able to accommodate all of you. And as for the exercise, I am thrilled that most of you are doing it! Yes, I must tell you that I am overwhelmed that you all are doing so well. So are you ready for day number three? Let’s get this party started!
Vamos al dia tres! That’s lets go to Day 3
Breakfast: today we start with oatmeal-preferably FIT KIDS, MONKEY BRAINS or any natural Quaker Oatmeal types without preservatives or added sugar. One serving. Any flavor! Also throw some fresh blueberries, strawberries or raspberries in the oatmeal. What is “some?” Some is a few-a few ...
Posted in: Editor's Page, Home
