Finding Solutions

In my research this week I came across an interesting compilation of solutions to our growing Childhood Obesity Epidemic. Some suggestions are obvious "eat more fruit and vegetables", but others are helpful guidelines towards guiding your children (or students) to healthier ways of living. Here's the article ---->KET Kids' Health Specials Childhood Obesity Prevention: Steps Toward Solutions Check it out.

Turning Off the Television

I just finished reading an article that relates obesity in children to, among other things, television screen time. Oh no...my family is in trouble! We are definately a t.v. family and have one in almost every room. Family meals have always been important to me and Chris and I made a conscience decision to not include a dvd player in our car because we felt that car trips were time for talking, singing and sight seeing, not being glued to the screen, however at home anything goes. This is a huge problem for us, but I will now be much more vigilant about turning off the t.v. In this article, Television Watching and Frequency of Family Meals are Predictive of Overweight Onset and Persistence in a National Sample of School Aged Children; they reviewed findings from 8,000 children. Results from Gable et al. stated the “changes must occur in family life and children’s’ routines if overweight trends are to reverse direction. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms whereby television, family meals, and parents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety put children at risk for weight problems. A multifaceted, multidisciplinary approach to overweight prevention that involves family life educators and registered dietitians, among others is one place to begin.”

Two weeks from now is "Turn Off the Television Week" (Apr.23-29)and although I know we won't be able to go "cold turkey"...I will certainly be making a bigger effort and hope we all learn new ways to enjoy our free time. If you'd like to read more about this article and get some practical advice for changing screen time in your house, check out this article ---> Combating childhood obesity with less screen time Hutchinson Leader

In the News...

Yesterday was a beautiful day so Chris and I took the girls to the park to get some fresh air and exercise. I was quite surprised to see only two other children there, but they were Chelsea's age so they had a ton of fun chasing each other around and Tess was just happy to be "free range" and delighted in running around such open space. Chelsea's new friend shared a snack with her YoGo's and since she liked them, and they appeared to be a healthy yogurt snack, I was sure to add them to this morning's online shopping cart. Foolish me, I just checked the nutrition label and not 1g of protein to be found. Naturally, they're loaded with sugar and its only redeeming quality is that its lowfat, but most candy is. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic on our hands...seemingly healthy snacks are no better then their evil twin brothers! I might as well have ordered up a hunk of cotton candy for the girls. Oh well, lesson learned.

I've spent a fair amount of time this week sifting through hundreds of scholary journal articles on the topic of Childhood Obesity. Wow...so much material to work with here regarding the children's obesity epidemic that I'll be forced to narrow down my broad topic to something more specific. I think I'll be focusing on solutions to the problem rather then a topic overview inundated with statistics and accusations. Seeing this is my first run with a BLOG, I also spent some time playing around with some of the cool features. Note my "From the Headlines" section from Google News. This is a very cool feature because it automatically updates my page with the most current news stories related to my topic. Childhood Obesity is a hot topic in the news right now, so everyday my "From the Headlines" section changes...check back tomorrow and you'll see what I mean.

The Food Network

The Easter Bunny is coming and I've spent the majority of my day in the kitchen getting ready. I don't think it's just my family, but Holidays = Food around here. In my desperate attempt to create holiday memories for my girls I left no mixing bowl unturned and let the kids help me where they could. I just want to keep family traditions alive and naturally, certain food items are part of these traditions along with the dyed Easter eggs and Peter Cottontail stories. And, I must admit, it made my heart swell to see Chelsea carefully layering the Sopresetta and cheese in my much loved Pizza Chiena. Of course, its the everyday food choices that make a difference, but because of my awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic, I made purposeful choices surrounding the contents of this year's Easter Baskets. There is only so much candy two toddlers can eat anyway. Strangely, when I snapped on The Food Network this afternoon, I didn't find the holiday cooking shows I anticipated, but a documentary on Childhood Obesity. My heart aches for these kids and the physical and emotional challenges they face every moment of the day. One interviewee is familiar to me from my research and I hope to learn more about him in the coming weeks. This documentary will certainly be of use to me in my research assignment. Well, the girls naptime is over and that Pizza Chiena needs my attention. TTYL

Welcome

Hi! Thanks for stopping in. My name is Alicyn and this is my first BLOG, set up as part of an internet technology course in which I am currently enrolled. I intend to use this BLOG to chronicle the process of my research into the current trends in the war against childhood obesity but I would like to have some fun with it too. I welcome your interest and input along the way, so please pop by again and let me know what you think.