Menu

kids

Healthy Eating Habits for Kids

, ,

Sometimes it’s a battle, right? Feeding your kids food that they will eat, but that’s also healthy and nutrient rich. Teaching good eating habits is important to instill in the early years so that kids will grow into healthy teens and adults.
According to a study from Iowa State University, almost one in two children in the U.S. is either overweight or obese. That is about half of the kids in America! Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help your kids develop healthy eating habits:

  1. Remove temptation. Keep very few high-fat, high-calorie snack foods in the house. Instead, stock up on healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, nuts, carrots and air-popped popcorn. Keep these snacks readily available and save cookies and other treats for special occasions.
  2. Don’t use food as a reward. Doing this teaches children that some foods are better or more valuable than others. It can also help set up an unhealthy relationship with food.
  3. Teach kids to identify hunger. Much of our eating these days is in response to “emotional” hunger such as stress, anxiety, boredom or loneliness, rather than physical hunger. Help your child recognize “hunger cues” and “non-hunger cues” by asking if he or she is really hungry before automatically providing a snack. Sometimes reading a book, playing outside or doing some other activity is a better alternative than turning to snacks.

When packing lunches for young kids, think contrast and variety. Using lots of colors, textures and shapes makes lunches more tempting for little ones.

  1. Color: Include foods with at least two colors from the rainbow along with neutral colors from grains, meats and dairy products. Baby carrots, string cheese, and grapes add color and are fun to eat.
  2. Texture: Include soft foods, such as bread, rice or pasta along with something crunchy or crisp, such as fresh fruits and veggies, chopped nuts, etc.
  3. Shapes: Perk up a lunch box by cutting sandwiches and other foods into strips or triangles. Consider adding foods that naturally come in interesting shapes, such as cauliflower “clouds” or sliced bell pepper “rings.”

How do you know if your elementary school aged child is getting proper nutrition? Should she be taking a multivitamin?
Multivitamins aren’t necessary for most healthy children who are growing normally, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Regular meals and snacks can provide all the nutrients most young children need.
While many children are picky eaters, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have nutritional deficiencies. Many foods, including breakfast cereal, milk, and orange juice, are fortified with important nutrients, such as B vitamins, vitamin D, calcium and iron. So your child may be getting more vitamins and minerals than you think.
Furthermore, multivitamins aren’t without some risks. Megadoses of vitamins and minerals can be toxic. In addition, some vitamins and minerals can interact with medications your child may take.
Talk with your child’s doctor if you’re concerned about whether your child is getting the recommended level of vitamins and minerals. A multivitamin might be helpful for your child if he or she:

  • Has a delay in physical and developmental growth
  • Has a poor appetite and very erratic eating habits
  • Has certain chronic diseases or food allergies
  • Has a restrictive diet, such as a strict vegan diet

If your child’s doctor recommends a multivitamin, choose one that is designed for your child’s age group and doesn’t provide more than 100 percent of the Daily Value of vitamins and minerals. Keep multivitamins out of your child’s reach and make it clear that they aren’t candy.
 
Sources: Iowa State University; University of California, Davis; American Academy of Pediatrics; Mayo Clinic

Is Your Child Depressed?

,

Is your teenager or younger child depressed? Perhaps they are sad, hostile, withdrawn, doing poorly in school, or have changes in eating or sleeping habits. Sound familiar?
Traditionally, if a parent is concerned about their child’s mental health, they would take the child to the doctor for a screening test for depression, anxiety, or other concerns. However, in a recent article published in Contemporary Clinic, the findings from researchers at McGill University suggest that traditional screening tools often misdiagnosed depression in kids and teens.
“There was not a single tool with even moderate evidence of sufficient accuracy to effectively identify depressed children and adolescents without also incorrectly picking up many non-depressed children and adolescents,” said lead author Michelle Roseman, PhD.
“Our study shows that if depression screening were carried out using existing screening tools, many nondepressed children and adolescents would be mistakenly identified as depressed,” stated senior author Brett Thombs, PhD, in a press release. “This could lead to the unnecessary prescription of potentially harmful psychiatric medications and negative messages about the mental health of some children who do not have mental health disorders.”
Psychotherapy often is tried as an initial treatment for mild depression. Psychotherapy may help to determine the severity and persistence of the depression and whether antidepressant medications may be warranted. Types of psychotherapies include “cognitive behavioral therapy,” which helps people learn new ways of thinking and behaving, and “interpersonal therapy,” which helps people understand and work through troubled personal relationships.
What’s a parent to do? Perhaps we need to look at other factors and determine potential causes of the change in behavior. Any mental health problem begins when physical or emotional stress triggers chemical changes in the brain. Coping skills are methods a person uses to deal with stressful situations. Coping skills can be good or bad, so it’s important to train youth on how to positively cope for good mental health, so that the negative coping skills don’t become a way of life on into adulthood.
Positive life-long coping skills include:
Meditation and relaxation – practicing deep breathing techniques can help reduce stress and induce relaxation.
Physical activity – getting the heart rate up causes the body to release endorphins which provides some stress relief.
Reading – picking up a good book to escape reality for awhile is a positive way to de-stress and take their mind off of what is stressing them out.
Friendship – Having friends who listen and support through the good and the bad times is essential.
Laugh – Adding humor to a stressful situation can help lighten the mood.
Hobbies – Listening to music, working in the garden, and coloring in a coloring book (even for adults) or drawing are great ways to reduce stress in kids.
Spirituality – Recent studies have found that people who believe in a higher power and pray have better mental health than those who do not.
Pets – Taking care of a pet brings a calming influence in people and can help distract the mind from stressful thoughts.
Volunteer – being involved in the community is a good way to take the mind off of a person’s own problems and help someone who may have bigger problems to deal with.
Sleep – Everyone needs a good night’s sleep to give the body the chance to rest and repair after a stressful day. However, sleeping too much without the other activities can be a negative.
Eating well – Healthy nutrition will not only improve physical health, but it plays a huge role in mental health, too.
There is direct correlation between kids who are hungry with poor performance in school. Grades suffer and behavior problems are evident and these kids are often diagnosed with mental conditions that are not really the issue.
If you have tried these positive coping skills and the signs of depression are consistent, seek the help of a therapist who can help diagnose or provide other methods of treatment. If medication is needed, it’s important to continue working with your doctor and therapist for signs of suicide. Many antidepressants are black-labeled, meaning they have a suicide risk-factor. It’s also important to immediately stop taking prescription medications without consulting your doctor, as this may also produce negative side-effects.

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

, ,

When you were growing up, did you have an exercise routine?  You probably rode your bike everywhere and played with friends ‘til the street lights came on. Nowadays, it seems that kids play online more than outside. It’s a trend that is on the fast track to a health epidemic of obesity.
September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and we are doing our part to help educate parents on the dangers of overweight kids.
One in 3 children in the United States are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity puts kids at risk for health problems that were once seen only in adults, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
On the bright side, childhood obesity can be prevented and reversed.
Get outside

  • Take walks or ride bikes around the neighborhood. Make it part of your family’s daily routine.
  • Have a trail system near you? Pack a healthy picnic lunch and take a hike.
  • With plenty of parks in the area, you can play basketball or kick a soccer ball around.
  • Making exercise part of your kids’ lifestyle at an early age will increase the chances of them remaining active as an adult.

Turn off the screens

  • Limit time spent on computer, watching TV or playing video games to 2-hours a day or less.
  • Kids who watch more than 2-hours of TV per day are at a greater risk of poor school performance, social problems, obesity, and trouble sleeping.
  • Be an example for kids and limit your own screen time, too.

Eat and drink healthy

  • Make a list of healthy foods and limit your grocery shopping to what’s on the list.
  • Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables, and whole-grains.
  • Limit sugary soft drinks. Water is best, but smoothies are a good alternative to soft drinks and provide cold refreshment on a hot summer day.
  • Avoid buying unhealthy snack foods. Skip the chips and buy nuts, popcorn, fruits and yogurt as healthy choices.

Studies show that most children need multiple exposures (between 5 and 10 times) to try new foods. Making vegetables with different recipes can give kids more opportunities to experience new foods and hopefully find something healthy that they like! Involving your kids in meal planning, grocery shopping and preparation is also a great way to get them to eat healthy, too.
Sharing a family dinner is also proven to make the family bond stronger, and kids are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.
Take time today to clean out your pantry and eliminate unhealthy snacks. Make a fresh grocery list and have a health meal tonight and follow dinner with walk around the neighborhood.
Share these tips with family and friends and together we can build a healthy community.

Causes of stress in kids

, ,

What is happening to cause all of the stress? We’ve read many articles and studies and have found many contributing factors including:

  • Homework is starting earlier than ever before. I don’t remember having as much homework in elementary and even up into high school as my children have had.
  • More demands for AP classes. More AP classes are available now than we had growing up and parents and colleges are putting demands on kids to take those higher-level classes.
  • Colleges are requiring more of kids…just to get into the school of choice. More testing is conducted, more essays are written and more colleges are toured as part of the process.
  • More internet. Kids have just about unlimited access to just about anything found online. And they put pressures on themselves to get a lot of ‘likes’ of social media channels like Instagram, and get a higher score on SnapChat.
  • 24 hour news cycle. We hear about terrible things that happen around the globe almost instantly. As soon as tragedy strikes, Twitter is lighting up, and 24-hour news channels are reporting sometimes grim details.
  • Too many extra-curricular activities. From school sports, to club sports, to marching band, or after-school jobs, kids go from school to activity, then to home where they may have three hours of homework waiting for them.

However, not all stress is bad. It can be good for competition and pushing kids to to do their best. Perhaps it instills a certain ‘drive’ in some kids. But parents need to be sensitive to the needs of their child. Not every child can handle multiple AP classes and the pace of the academics required for those courses. Parents put extra demands on the kids to take these classes so they can get into “better” colleges, and that can cause some undue stress in your kids.
Some tips for parents in reducing stress in their kids include:

  • Listen to your kids and don’t judge them.
  • Don’t minimize their feelings. We know that worse things can happen then not getting a lot of likes and comments on Instagram, or maybe that made a bad play that cost the team a win, but while we have the advantage of a better perspective, to them it’s all that matters.
  • Talk with them about ways they can better manage/balance their workload and their extra curricular activities.
  • Make sure they are getting enough sleep. Kids should get between 8-10 hours of sleep each night.
  • Increase family time. This could even be eating more meals together where you can all talk about your day.

The song by Twenty One Pilots has lyrics that describe what many people feel like when they reflect back on their youth:
“I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,
But now I’m insecure and I care what people think.
My name’s ‘Blurryface’ and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out”
Then the song goes on to say:
“Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.”
Let your kids know that you have stress too, but without going into detail. It’s important to let them be aware that stressful situations will occur throughout their lives and to understand how to cope with situations at an early age so they can handle even more difficult situations when they are older.

DANGER – E-Cigarettes

, , ,

I was shocked and a bit saddened last week when a customer came into the store with her son who was smoking an e-cigarette. Perhaps they have not been educated about the hidden dangers since these products are not regulated by the FDA. It’s frustrating how these companies can get away with marketing these products as safe, but from what I have read, that is far from the truth. So, allow me to share with you some information that I’ve gathered from the CDC, ALA, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Harvard University and Pharmacy Times.
E-cigarettes are electronic devices that allow users to inhale a vapor containing nicotine or other substances. They are usually battery operated and use a heating element to heat e-liquid from a refillable cartridge, releasing a chemical-filled aerosol.
Because there is no government oversight of these products, nearly 500 brands and 7,700 flavors of e-cigarettes are on the market, all without an FDA evaluation determining what’s in them. So there is no way for anyone—healthcare professionals or consumers—to know what chemicals are contained in e-liquids, or how e-cigarette use might affect health, whether in the short term or in the long run.
Early studies show that e-cigarettes contain nicotine and also may have other harmful chemicals, including carcinogens.  Lab tests conducted in 2009 by the FDA found detectable levels of toxic cancer-causing chemicals—including an ingredient used in antifreeze—in two leading brands of e-cigarettes and 18 various cartridges. A review of studies found that levels of toxins in e-cigarette aerosol varied considerably within and between brands. A 2014 study found that aerosol from e-cigarettes with a higher voltage level contains more formaldehyde, another carcinogen with the potential to cause cancer. According to Consumer Reports, one concern about e-cigs is the fact that larger doses of nicotine can be more harmful, especially to children. The findings are alarming, and the American Lung Association urgently calls for FDA oversight of these products.
Although they do not produce tobacco smoke, e-cigarettes still contain nicotine and other potentially harmful chemicals. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug, and recent research suggests nicotine exposure may also prime the brain to become addicted to other substances.  Also, testing of some e-cigarette products found the vapor to contain known carcinogens and toxic chemicals (such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde), as well as potentially toxic metal nanoparticles from the vaporizing mechanism. The health consequences of repeated exposure to these chemicals are not yet clear.
Flavors in e-cigarettes also cause concern. Not only are flavors used to target kids, but they may be harmful on their own. E-cigarette and flavor manufacturers and marketers may suggest that the flavor ingredients used in e-cigarettes are safe because they have FEMA GRAS™ status for use in food, but such statements are false and misleading. The reality is that FEMA GRAS™ status does not apply to inhaled substances; it only applies to food, meaning that substances with FEMA GRAS™ status are safe to eat, but perhaps not to inhale. Diacetyl, a flavoring chemical linked to cases of severe respiratory disease, was found in more than 75% of flavored electronic cigarettes and refill liquids tested by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
A survey conducted by the CDC in 2014 found that young adults are trying e-cigarettes more than any other age group. The 18-24 age group had the highest percentage of adults who had ever tried an e-cigarette in their lifetime at 21.6%, according to the CDC study.  The percentage fell more and more for older age groups: 25-44 years (16.6%), 45-64 years (10.2%), and 65 and older (3.7%).
Another worry is the refillable cartridges used by some e-cigarettes. Users may expose themselves to potentially toxic levels of nicotine when refilling them.  In the past year alone, the American Association of Poison Control Centers received more than 2,000 reports of incidents involving children and e-cigs, including many in which children drank the e-cig juice or spilled it on their skin. Cartridges could also be filled with substances other than nicotine, thus possibly serving as a new and potentially dangerous way to deliver other drugs.
In addition to the unknown health effects, early evidence suggests that e-cigarette use may serve as an introductory product for youth who then go on to use other tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes, which are known to cause disease and lead to premature death. A recent study showed that students who have used e-cigarettes by the time they start 9th grade are more likely than others to start smoking traditional cigarettes and other smokable tobacco products within the next year (Rigotti, 2015).

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found e-cigarettes have become the most-used “tobacco product” among high schoolers, and almost half of all middle and high school students who smoked one type of tobacco product used multiple types. 

So parents, please educate yourselves and learn more about e-cigarettes so you can warn your children about the dangers associated with their use.
Sources: American Lung Association, Pharmacy Times, National Institute on Drug Abuse
 

Translate »