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When you hear the term “sleep apnea” you’re likely to envision a middle-aged, beer-gutted male and his nocturnal snoring habits, but this affliction is no longer reserved for adults. Overweight kids are showing up with signs of sleep apnea, which can lead to problems in learning and memory.
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Health clubs often don’t let kids come in and use the exercise equipment, which often means a bunch of kids are just hanging around waiting for their parents. A club in Valley Springs, CA, however, decided to invite the kids in and teach them a little something along the way. The kids first have to take a 6-week course on nutrition and how the body works (muscles, bones, etc.) and then pass a written test. If they pass, they’re in! The club’s owner says he got the idea after hearing of the rising rates of obesity among children.
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News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
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Children whose parents are overweight have the greatest risk of being overweight themselves, according to a study at Stanford University and published in July. While this sounds like not-great news, at least doctors should be able to identify those children at risk in their earliest years. The same study also showed, sadly, that children who are “sensitive” may be more likely to be overweight. Researchers hypothesize that parents may be trying to calm sensitive children with food—not a good idea.
Is your community doing something to help kids stay fit? We'd love to hear about it. Just use the comment box below.
Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviromental issues: The Dairy Planet
News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
Learn stress-busting, fitness and advocacy tips: Strong Women Daily News
Daily life and challenges at Stonyfield Farm: The Daily Scoop
Researchers at Bristol University are employing the use of computers and pedometers to see if they can make a dent in obesity among the teenagers of Great Britain. Using a devise originally designed to help anorexic patients eat more, researchers will have teenagers use a computer-connected plate when they sit down to eat. The computer registers the amount of food eaten and notes if the eater appears to be going beyond his limit. This is just one trick up the sleeve of researchers at the obesity clinic, which was established five years ago to combat childhood obesity.
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Santa Cruz County, California is a place with mountain and oceanfront trails nearby, and year-round great weather in which to enjoy them. It’s also a place surrounded by healthy food. Yet, 12 percent of the children there are overweight. Now the United Way has undertaken the task of encouraging more physical activity and better eating habits among the county’s residents. "Our children are growing up in a culture of sedentary overeaters, and they are suffering for it. We cannot expect them to make smart choices unless we support them as a community to do so," says the United Way.
We tip our lids to these innovative community leaders!
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Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviromental issues: The Dairy Planet
News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
Learn stress-busting, fitness and advocacy tips: Strong Women Daily News
Daily life and challenges at Stonyfield Farm: The Daily Scoop
We’ve always known it, but a new study now reveals the extent to which television watching and video game playing contribute to a child’s risk of obesity. For every hour spent in these activities, the risk of obesity doubles! The same study also revealed some things that lowered a child’s risk of obesity: eating breakfast and engaging in physical activity.
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Extremely obese youngsters can have hearts damaged enough to lead to a heart attack, according to a study in which the average participant age was 12. The children’s’ heart showed signs of thickening, which reduces blood flow, which can lead to an attack.
If an 11-year-old can take off 100 pounds through his will power and skipping junk food, it should be possible to convince others to undertake such an effort, shouldn’t it? Jacob Meeker weighed 212 pounds when he was 11. Now he’s 12, and a svelte 112 pounds. "If I can help in some part to get rid of bad, junk food in school, I'll do what I can because that's where my weight problem really began," Meeker says. "It was the seconds and the thirds and sometimes the fourths. Breaded chicken patties, chicken nuggets, and pizza - I ate as much as I wanted."
Meeker said he's on a mission to rid cafeterias of vending machines, to serve a variety of tempting salads, grilled or roasted meats, soups and healthy sandwiches, fresh vegetables and "other good-for-you stuff," instead of what he calls the hard-to-resist chicken nuggets, pizza, burgers, breaded chicken patties and fried mozzarella sticks the 12-year-old ate ad nauseum.
Way to go, Jacob!
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U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, has proposed legislation to 1) encourage local school districts to develop nutrition and physical activity policies, 2) provide incentive grants to schools to adopt those policies, and 3) ask the Institute of Medicine to develop model nutrition standards that communities could use for school foods. Yet, his legislation has met with resistance from Democrats and Republicans. Four Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee joined eight of the panel’s Republicans to defeat Senator Harkin’s proposal. Like all proposed legislation, it’s not totally dead, but the lobbyists are doing their best to keep this proposal at bay. The major culprits? The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the National Soft Drink Association.
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School officials in the Lee County School District in Florida are undertaking a total renovation of the school vending machines and cafeteria menus in a pilot program set to begin this fall. No longer will soda companies offer the machines. The school district will own their own machines and stock them with healthier food items. It is not uncommon for high schoolers there to drink five or more cans of soda a day. The district’s Healthy Choices initiative will rid the schools of soda, candy and fried foods. One administrator likens this effort to the creation of smoke-free, drug-free and crime-free schools.
Check out the Stonyfield Farm Healthy Vending Machine program. Public middle and high schools can apply for one of these machines here.
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Souix Falls, South Dakota follows the rest of the nation, with high child obesity rates, but a committee there is recommending a move toward healthier snacks and drinks in the school’s vending machines over the next three years. The district is also reviewing its physical and nutritional education programs and linking up with community efforts to get kids to exercise more.
Our CE'Yo Gary Hirshberg turns 50 next week. (Ssshhh. It's a secret.) The best birthday present he could get is to hear from loyal yogurt eaters and readers on our web site. Use the comment box below to send Gary your birthday wishes, or any advice you might have on turning 50!
Okay. All the news about schoolage kids has been dire lately—they don’t exercise, or eat right, and they weigh too much. But the Centers for Disease Control are rejoicing over news that smoking rates among high school students have fallen to the lowest level in a generation. Now, only one in five high schoolers can be described as smokers. At their highest, smoking rates were 36 percent (in 1997) and today are at 22 percent. The CDC credits higher cigarette taxes and anti-smoking campaigns with the change.
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Elementary students in Philadelphia are getting well-earned certificates for completing an obesity education program there. The 10-week program taught the benefits of exercise and good nutrition, and let students try out various exercises. Students ended the program with decreased body mass and weight, and a healthy lowered heart rate.
We loved this summation, offered in Time Magazine’s special obesity issue date, of the five factors that have conspired to make us an overweight nation. Time says they are:
1) PORTION SIZES: Larger size meals have meant Americans consume 400 extra calories a day, and this has been going on since 1980.
2) COUCH POTATOHOOD: We love to sit around. Only 44 percent of adults get any kind of mild exercise.
3) THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE: Children watch 10,000 food ads a year, while they may only have 1,100 meals with their parents. The food ads are winning.
4) SWEET CREEP: Our bodies have been wired to like fats and sweets, and the sweet portion of salad dressings and sauces has creeped up over the years.
5) PREPARED FOOD: Consumers demand convenience, low prices and year-round accessibility in their foods, but stores prefer packages with a long shelf life. That's hardly a prescription for free-range meats and organic vegetables. When foods come from factories rather than farms, calories climb and nutrients plummet.
In California, a San Joaquin County school district will be keeping junk food out of their schools with a new nutrition policy that directs the size of servings and limits the amount of sugar and fat food can have. No more sodas, candy or nachos—at least at the elementary schools—and any food sold within the district must meet the new standards.
Interested in improving food offerings at your child's school? Learn about our Healthy Vending Machines.
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"The presence of vending machines, which sell food of little nutritional value is detrimental to the health and students and reduces the revenue of the cafeterias."
That seems like a pretty straightforward policy statement, doesn’t it? But in Franklin County Tennessee, two county commissioners don’t seem to think taking junk food out of schools is a good idea. They figure kids will just find junk food somewhere else. Good thing they were out-voted. Last week a subcommittee of the commission recommended to the full Commission that junk food vending machines be removed from schools and the $10,000 in revenues that might be lost be appropriated to the school budget.
