Some Fat Chance – Part 3

     This is the last in the series about nurturing our children in a fat culture.  I hope some of this helps although I'm a humble vessel of accumulated information offering what I can at this time.  As time moves on, I'll post more details in certain areas to help you along.  Questions and comments are most welcomed.  Love to hear from you all.

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A Modicum of Sodium
     Sodium (salt) is another risk factor for growing children. The taste for salt is acquired. The more salt children get, the more they crave it. What foods supply salt in their diet? 
            15% - natural sources as meat, fish, dairy, vegetables and drinking water

35% - the salt shaker when used as a condiment or cooking spice

            50% - is found in processed foods and fast foods

    How can you monitor salt intake?
           1. Take the salt shaker off the table. 
           2. Spice up food with herbs and seasonings like black pepper, garlic, tarragon and lemon juice.
           3.  Eat more fresh foods and less processed ones. 
           4.  Slow down on the fast food. 
Sugar –The Sweet Potion

     Young children like sugar more than adults do. Fruits, berries and other foods which naturally contain sugar used to meet that craving for sweetness. They also contain necessary nutrients and fiber so they provide the best choice for a sugar source. Now other foods compete with fruits and berries. Just how much sugar are kids getting in their diet today compared to years ago?
Sugar Consumption:
           1887            5 lbs of refined sugar per person per year
           Now            148 lbs of refined sugar per person per year

   That's more than 1/2 a pound and 800 calories each day. The average child consumes more than 12 ounces of sugar a day which translates into 275 pounds of sugar a year. Most of the daily calories (remember those are empty calories) for children come from sugar.
     Where does all that sugar come from? Two-thirds of the sugar consumed comes in processed foods and high fructose corn syrup is the most common form of sugar. You'll most likely find sugar in:
Coca-Cola (12 oz)                                 9 tsp sugar
Jelly beans (14)                                      9 tsp sugar

Commercial fruit pie (1)                         6 tsp sugar

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes (3/4 cup)        3 tsp sugar

     So what's so bad with all that sugar? Well, sugar can help promote childhood obesity. One teaspoon of sugar equals 16 calories. If enough teaspoons of sugar are consumed, those calories pile up. 

How to Kick the Sugar Habit
     1) Put the sugar bowl away – don't have it out for breakfast cereals.
     2) Eat more fresh fruit to satisfy that "sweet tooth". 
     3) Reduce how many soft drinks are drunk or eliminate them altogether. Use lemon and lime slices to spice up a glass of water. Diluting fruit juices with carbonated mineral water or club soda gives kids the "fizz" they like so much.
     4) Read food labels for sugar. Beware with a name ending with "-ose" and "high fructose corn syrup". They're all sugars. And watch that honey.

Make the Change for Health
     First, design a meal plan so you can cook and eat most of your meals at home. A plan helps to determine food categories your family enjoys – pasta, seafood, meat. 


Then put your plan on paper:


Day                    Type of Food


Monday                 Poultry


Tuesday                Pasta, soups, stews

Wednesday          Seafood

Thursday               Main-meal salads

Friday                    Pizza, casseroles, chili

Saturday               Restaurants, take-out

Sunday                  Meat

     With a plan in mind, you can shop and prepare the meals ahead of time. That way, meals aren't just happening to you because now you're in control. Use a crockpot in the morning and get dinner started early. Try to eat your meals together as a family so you can remain connected. 
     Use low-fat or no-fat recipes and disguise leaner foods as familiar meals – put shredded zucchini in spaghetti sauce; shred carrots and use in lasagna; soups are great for inserting all kinds of nutrient-dense foods. Also you might have to change your cooking methods. Instead of frying French fries, bake them in the oven. 
Don't force kids to always clean their plates
     Children should develop an appetite and experience what it's like to feel stuffed. Try to serve smaller portions. They can always ask for more. You as parents can control the quality and type of food your children eat, but they should have control over how much they eat.
Let the Kids in the Kitchen
     They love helping. Working with you they can help organize meals and fix them. Instead of having a plate of food dropped down in front of them day after day, their participation enables them to grow up into individuals who have learned skills for healthy eating and living.
Healthy Eating and Living
    It's up to us as parents to teach our children how to life a healthy and fit lifestyle. So get out there and enjoy your kids. Run with them; cook with them; make memories teaching them skills for healthy eating and living.
      The current Fat Culture can be replaced with the Fit Culture as our children lead the way.

Some Fat Chance -- Our Kids Become What They Eat (Don’t We All?)

    We're continuing our discussion on developing a healthy lifestyle within our families. This is information kids can take away with them as they grow up and get on their own. For now, though, exercise and good food help our students think better—whether we teach them at home or send them out the door to school. Either way, our children need the best so they can perform their best and thrive. 
    The next in this series, I'll mention a little on sodium and much on sugar. Are you ready for that?

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The Skinny on Fat


     Fat is necessary for the absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K. That's good. Fat also supplies more than twice the energy as the same amount of protein or carbohydrate—all elements of healthy food. This is important for children, especially those under two years of age. They need higher energy from fat to meet increased growth demands.

     Fat is rich in calories and the extra calories, if not used, the body stores and 3,500 extra calories create one pound of body fat. Over a period of time, it all adds up. Watch out for fat-free foods because they don't mean "calorie-free". They supply extra, empty calories—food that is nutrient-starved, but it sure tastes good. Fat makes food taste good. That's what gravy on potatoes and meat can do. It supplies the fat in that meal and it's sumptuous.

     Since fat digests slowly, it provides a feeling of satisfaction after a meal. There is nothing wrong with dietary fat—in the proper amount. Most often, we consume too much fat—between 800 to 1000 calories (which is equal to one stick of butter) a day. The average family consumes 400 pounds of fat per year!

     Some of the fatty foods our kids eat are hamburgers, cheeseburgers, meat loaf, hot dogs, ham, processed luncheon meats, whole milk, ice cream, cheese and other whole-milk dairy products. Commercially baked goods and fried foods such as fried chicken and the favorite standby, French fries, often load up our kids with fat they don't need.

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     Think I'll go grab some lunch.  If you have questions and comments, talk to me. Pass the word about this blog and let others know what we're talking about.  Thanks.

Some Fat Chance

I'm going to try and post a little more often this week so I'm starting a short series on how we as homeschooling moms can promote a healthy lifestyle for our children. We're going to talk about the high fat content of our culture and its inherent danger to our families. I'd like to encourage each one of you into a more mobile lifestyle and one that's relatively free of the refined sugars and fast foods so common these days. Also the concept of exercise is waning and I'll explain that right now. So enjoy and let me know what you think. If you have questions, please ask them. If you have comments, state them.

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Today our children are at risk. Some of them are overweight. The bad news is overweight children can grow into obese adults and carry with them a higher risk for coronary disease, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and self-image problems.

The good news is the risk is lessened with a change of behavior. It's up to parents—not the government--to provide their children with the information they need to promote a healthy lifestyle. "Ninety-nine percent of us are born healthy and are made sick as a result of personal misbehavior or environmental conditions. The ability to lengthen one's life depends first on the capacity not to shorten it." (Dr. John Knowles of the Rockefeller Foundation)

Crash diets aren't the answer. The focus must be on health--not just on losing weight. Plenty of exercise and nutritious foods all contribute to the health of our children.

Get moving

Kids have reasons for not getting up and moving their bodies. Computers, the internet, television, and video games offer them distractions. They don't play as much anymore—inside or outside—on a regular basis. Who needs to play outside when your social life is wrapped up on Facebook?

The average American child watches TV for 28 hours per week. By the time that child is a senior in high school, he has spent three years of his life watching TV. What do they have to show for it?

Did you know that 40% of boys can't touch their toes and that girls run slower than they did ten years ago? Kids have to get moving. They do that through exercise.

Exercise reduces body fat by burning calories and revs up the metabolism to keep the burn going. What can kids do for exercise? They can ride bikes, run around the yard playing tag, chase the dog, roller skate, have fun exploring with their friends. Or they can participate in community sports like soccer, baseball, basketball or any of the martial arts. Schedule those activities into their day. Parents, you can set the example for your kids by getting active too. Park the car farther away and walk. Toss a ball with your children. Get involved with a local tae-kwon-do class or coach soccer.

Four Steps to Manage Stress

    Once I heard a story about someone explaining stress management to an audience. He raised a glass of water and asked the group, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer said, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. What matters is how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not too hard. If I hold it for an hour, my arm is going to ache. Now, if I hold it for a day, you'll probably have to call an ambulance. Why is that?"

    Before the group could answer, he said, "In each case, the weight of the water in this glass is the same, but the longer I hold on to it, the heavier it becomes. That's how it is with managing your stress. If you continue carrying your burdens all the time, guess what? Sooner or later, the burden becomes increasingly heavy. You're gradually unable to carry on with the load."

    Putting the glass of water on the table nearby, the lecturer continued, "Your stress load has to be put down for a while. Get away from it and rest before holding it again. When you're refreshed, you can carry on with the burden."

    When you're done with a day's work, don't drag it home. Put it away. Put it down. You always have tomorrow to pick it up again. Whatever burdens you're carrying right now, set them down for a moment if you can. Don't pick them up until you're rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!

    I know you've heard to relax, but these days all those "little" stresses add up (i.e., losing your job, divorce or separation, major illness, difficulty with children –whatever their ages). Those nagging, mundane stresses that wear us down day after day add can add up to serious health issues down the road. Stress is cumulative and erodes our well-being like ocean waves lapping against a craggy coastline.

    In the 1930s, stress and health were first linked together. Those were stressful times too: A severe financial crash worldwide, people losing jobs left and right, and dictators raising up their heads ready to do battle with anyone not in compliance with their whims. Sound familiar today?

    The scientist who put a name to the struggle of all forms of life people had to deal with during that time was Hans Seyle. Seyle found the hormone cortisol, which is closely linked to the adrenal glands that are activated by "fight or flight" responses, wears on digestion, reproduction, the immune system and even physical growth. Long-term presence of high levels of cortisol has an incredibly negative effect on those functions that it can shut them down. So sustained stress causes a very real deterioration throughout your body, exposing you to everything from a cold to a cancer. Even hair loss can be due to a stress factor that's hung around too long in your life. Stress is further deadly because of the impact it has on your heart. Depression is also stressful to bear under.

So What Can You Do About Stress In Your Life?

1. Vent – Don't keep things bottled up inside because that only adds to the cumulative stress load you're already carrying. This doesn't mean you scream at everybody all the time, but when you can't handle anymore stuff, don't just nod quietly and accept the way things are going. Talk to your spouse if they've upset you. Discuss matters with an annoying co-worker and help them do their job better with reasonable suggestions so it will make your job go better. By asserting yourself and your opinion while maintaining control you vent your stress.
   
2. Shift your focus – Get a hobby or work on one you already have. Schedule time for your hobbies and interests because if you don't, they won't happen. Learn to concentrate your mind on whatever brings you the most joy—stamp collecting, exercise, dancing, photography, writing. Anything that helps you shed the stress and give your mind and body the time to recover in the process of doing something. This stops stress build-up.
   
3. Manage your time – Deadlines are stressors and loom worse over you when the time gets closer to finish whatever project you're slaving over. So learn to manage your time by breaking the project down into bite-size pieces and deal with them one at a time. Instead of your schedule managing you, you need to manage it so you can avoid being overworked which is one of the most common causes of stress you can live without.
   
4. Emote – Laugh or cry about whatever is building up inside you so you can vent it out and away. Often a great rush of good feeling (with a laugh) or a sense of relief( with a cry) follow and the stress melts and puddles at your feet. Use your emotions instead of storing them by bottling them inside which leads to more stress. Chill out…
   

Robert Frost once said that the only way out is through. So get through your stress, face your obstacles, and learn from the experience. Take each day as it comes with anticipation because "the future is uncertain…but this uncertainty is the very heart of human creativity" (Ilya Prigogine, Nobel chemist).

Nine Ways to Blow Off Allergies

    When you stick your head out the door just to grab the mail, does your nose start running?  Do your eyes itch and tear up at the corners? Does your head fill with gunk that you start feeling as though it was stuffed with cotton?

    These days allergies blossom into epidemic proportions; over 60 million people suffer from allergies (more than 20% of the population).  Respiratory allergies (allergic responses to environmental allergens such as air pollutants, asbestos or heavy metals) affect between 35 to 50 million people.    Seasonal allergens, such as dust, pollen, spores and mold, include the rest of you silently, miserably suffering.

1)     What are you dealing with?

     Allergies are inappropriate immune responses to substances like cat dander, dust or wheat, and seasonal conditions (pollen or spores not normally harmful). So what’s the reason for the increase in allergic responses by our bodies?  Substances, like environmental pollutants, asbestos and smoke exhaust fumes, stir up much of our trouble.  Mix seasonal allergies with environmental allergies and you’ve got some tough stuff to deal with.  No wonder you feel so terrible when spring has sprung and during the rest of the year.

2)    Setting the stage for allergies


     Stress and adrenal exhaustion can set the stage for you to feel crummy.   We do and we eat pretty much what we want and sooner or later, we have to pay the piper.  In this case, the piper is a frustrated immune system.  In short, you’re not as healthy as you could be and risk running yourself in the ground with your hectic lifestyle.  So when you’re out and about, allergy symptoms strike you down and out.

3)    So do you, or your children, have Type I allergy to environmental or seasonal allergens?  Chances are you do if you have any of these symptoms:

•     Chronic lung, bronchial and sinus infections with itchy, watery nose and eyes
•     Frontal headaches with sneezing, coughing attacks and sore, scratchy throat
•     Your face swells up, with itchy, rashy skin
•     Skin rash on your arms or torso
•     Trouble sleeping
•     Dark circles under your eyes that don’t go away with sleep
•     Unusual menstrual pain and congestion
•     Hypoglycemia?  Candida albicans yeast overgrowth?  Or learning disabilities?

In other words, you feel like the beast instead of the beauty.

4)    Masking symptoms

     Medications found in drugstores mask symptoms, often cause drowsiness, and have a rebound effect.  That means the more you take them, the more you have to take them.  Some of the newer medicines for allergy symptoms are strong and can produce scary side effects like rapid heartbeat. Old, standby antihistamines can be dangerous too such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) which can impair driving performance more than alcohol.  Then you have the steroid drugs offered for hayfever which, if taken for long periods, can often make the situation worse by depressing immune defenses and impeding allergen elimination.  They don’t cure.

     Add environmental allergens which frequently make you feel worse by activating and aggravating other irritants.  Then the most powerful drugs won’t relieve symptoms.

5)    Healthy Alternative Suggestions:

     When facing allergy symptoms head-on, change your diet and cleanse your internal environment first.  This can help control allergic rhinitis reactions. You won’t feel like you have a perpetual cold.

• Focus on a plant-based diet.  Animal fats produce inflammatory leukotrines linked to allergies.
• Consult with someone who practices alternative medicine and who will guide you through a 3 to 7 days cleanse to help rid your body of mucous build-up.
• A cup of green tea each morning (and at bedtime) helps thin mucous.  Enjoy some hot miso or chicken soup to release mucous. Celery juice daily helps flush allergens.
• Add non-mucous-forming foods to your diet:  fresh veggies and fruits, cultured foods like yogurt, high vitamin C foods like berries and citrus, seafoods, cabbage, onions and garlic. 
• Avoid preserved and canned foods, sugary foods, caffeine, and fatty, mucous-forming foods during healing (dairy products and high gluten foods).

6)    Lifestyle changes:

• Avoid allergens.  Stay indoors, especially in the morning hours and try to exercise indoors on dry, windy days. 
• Invest in an air filter or run an air ionizer to reduce indoor allergens.
• Stop smoking and avoid secondary smoke if you want to feel better sooner.

7)    Homeopathic remedies:

     Many homeopathic remedies are available to help you gain control over your allergy symptoms.  For example, the homeopathic remedies Allium cepa treats burning nasal discharge, while Apis mellifica is specifically for bee-sting-like swelling in the body (swelling or puffing up of various parts of the body).  Sabadilla is helpful when spasmodic sneezing with runny nose is the primary symptom especially when reacting to  hayfever.

8)    Some things you can do at home include:

• Before the allergy season starts, gear up your immune system with botanical therapies weeks before symptoms normally appear.  That way you’re on top of the situation and can often avoid problems later.
• Keep pollen from your hands and face after coming inside.  Avoid touching your eyes or nose while you’re outside.  Take a bath before going to bed to reduce exposure to pollens on your hair and skin.  Washing your bedding regularly is also helpful.  
• Steam eucalyptus to ease breathing.  Add 2 pinches of eucalyptus leaves to hot water or add a couple of drops of eucalyptus essential oil to the water.  Then cover your head with a towel, hang over the pot of steaming water and inhale the steam for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Remember to exercise.  Increasing your oxygen intake helps the healing process and stimulates the lymphatic system.  Walk daily and breathe deeply.  
• Because stress depresses immunity and aggravates allergies, use relaxation techniques like tai chi or yoga to help ease you into wellness.   
• 80% of your immune function is in the gut.  If you’re not on a daily basis eliminating toxins from your body through normal functions, then you’re setting yourself up to be sick.  That’s why a cleanse is a great beginning, but it’s only a beginning.  Throughout the year, a seasonal cleanse helps you develop an appetite for health.  If you have questions, visit a healthcare professional you know and trust to provide you with the support you need. 

9)    Aim for a Healthier Lifestyle

     During the allergy season, learn how live a healthier lifestyle.  The sooner you get a grip on what’s ailing you, the sooner you’ll feel better.  And the sooner you feel better, the better you’ll understand how your body works and you’ll learn how to work with it.  And that’s nothing to sneeze at.
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Does this help you?  If you have questions, please ask.  Let me know what you’ve found that works with your allergies.  Maybe you can help others too with your example.

A Helping Hand

It is easier to point the finger than it is to offer a helping hand.

 

               My kids are grown and most are gone.  We home educated our children since 1980.  In 2007, the last two finally graduated from home school and entered a local junior college.  I survived and so did they. But it wasn't easy. They got sick; I got sick.  Dear husband stressed with building a business and a house on this hilltop in east Texas.

               I'm not a health guru, but I've formally studied this topic and graduated with a degree in Natural Health because I wanted healthy options for myself and my family.

                That knowledge has spilled over into other areas such as this blog.  Having taught seminars over the years on wellness, I've gleaned much from my research.  I've had those 2 AM wake-up calls to a piercing scream of a 6-month-old baby only to discover the next morning that she was suffering from an ear infection.  I've asked questions of doctors and didn't get useful answers--only the sort of answers you can pick up from a 3x5 index card.  I needed to know how to take care of my family.  Those screaming nights were not going to help me sleep so I could be any use the next day when I had to face homeschooling demands too.  It wasn't easy and I know some of you understand what I'm saying.

                So do you want to know some of the things we'll be talking about around here?  Well, here we go:


1)  Allergies - Nine Tips For Blowing Off Allergies

2)  Stress  - Five Steps to Manage Stress

3)  Raising Healthy Kids in a Fat Culture

4)  What Do Your Bloodtests Really Mean?


                 Writing articles on health and wellness continues to teach me, so through this blog, I'll attempt to bring you some of what I've learned and am continuing to learn. 

                 Your comments are welcomed. Let me know what you think and what your concerns are. That way we can learn from each other.  After all, this isn't all about me—it's about you, your health and the health of those you love.


 

Duty will do the job, but love will do it well.