State Obesity: 2010

We all know there is a problem with obesity in America, but which states are the worst? This article gives us a look into which states have increased and how much. Washington D.C. is one of the only districts that actually went down from 2009 to 2010, most likely because of the presidential push for healthy living. The list of states from highest to lowest goes as follows:

1. Mississippi 33.8%               2. Alabama 31.6%
3. Tennessee 31.6%               4. West Virginia 31.3%
5. Louisiana 31.2%                6. Oklahoma 30.6%
7. Kentucky 30.5%                8. Arkansas 30.1%
9. South Carolina 29.9%        10. North Carolina 29.4%
11. Michigan 29.4%               12. Missouri 29.3%

13. Ohio 29.0%                     14. Texas 29.0%

15. South Dakota 28.5%        16. Kansas 28.2%

17. Pennsylvania 28.1%          18. Georgia 28.1%

19. Indiana 28.1%                   20. Delaware 27.9%
21. North Dakota 27.7%         22. Iowa 27.6%

23. Nebraska 27.3%               24. Alaska 26.9%

25. Wisconsin 26.9%               26. Illinois 26.6%    

27. Maryland 26.6%                28. Washington 26.3% 
29. Maine 25.8%                     30. Arizona 25.8%
31. Nevada 25.6%                   32. Virginia 25.5%
33. Minnesota 25.5%               34. New Mexico 25.5%
35. New Hampshire 25.4%      36. New York 25.1%
37. Florida 25.1%                    38. Idaho 25.1%

39. Oregon 25.0%                   40. Wyoming 25.0%

41. California 24.4%                42. New Jersey 23.9%

43. Montana 23.5%                 44. Utah 23.2%

45. Rhode Island 22.9%           46. Vermont 22.8%

47. Hawaii 22.6%                    48. Massachusetts 21.7% 

49. D.C. 21.5%                       50. Connecticut 21.4%

51. Colorado 19.1%

This is the 6th year in a row now that Mississippi has topped the chart at 33.8%. However it is a problem in every state that needs to be worked on as a community and as a country.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100261061

Portion Control

One of the biggest problems with children who are overweight, is they eat too many calories, or put too much on their plate, sometimes unknowingly. If your child eats too fast, they tend to take in more than necessary, and don't give their stomach the time to tell them that they are already full. Some children live in a household, where you must eat everything on your plate, which can be good unless the parent is giving them the wrong portion size. Portion sizes for children goes as follows: For toddlers, it is about 1/4 of what you would put on an adult plate. Children 4-8 years old should be given 1/3 of what you yourself would put on your plate. Other factors that could be playing into the too many calories role, is drinking too much whole milk, juice, or soda, or eating high-calorie foods, high-fat food, and junk foods too often and in too large of a portion. http://pediatrics.about.com/od/obesity/a/0608_prtn_cntl.htm

Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age

In this article from the New York Times the author talks about a rare study done that tracked thousands of children through adulthood. The study predicted that: the heaviest children were more than twice as likely to die prematurely (before the age of 55) of illness or self-inflicted injury. Children with pre-diabetic symptoms were almost at double the risk of dying before age 55. And children with high blood pressure were at some increased risk. The information was gathered from Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians, who have always had high rated of obesity and type 2 diabetes. So they did a new study using about 4,857 non diabetic American Indians born between 1945 and 1984, when the children were on average 11 years old. They measured their body mass index, glucose tolerance, blood pressure, and total cholesterol levels, to see if they truly could predict a pre mature death. By 2003 559 of the participants had died, 166 of which were causes other than accidents and homicides, such as, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and alcoholic liver disease. The adults with the highest BMI scores as children were 2.3 times as likely to have died prematurely, and those that measured in with the highest glucose levels were 73% more likely to have died early.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/health/11fat.html

What if They Dont Eat Meat?

If you don't eat meat and you don't want your kids to eat it either, then here are some tips to leading them into the no meat direction. Or maybe you are just not in the mood for meat tonight, these meals can make great replacements.

breakfast items, such as vegetable omelets

chili or stew made with red and black beans

tacos or quesadillas with black beans or tofu

stir-fry meals and soups with soy crumbles

To make your kids more willing to try a meat replacement, try giving them hot dogs or hamburgers made with soy protein. It looks like what they have had or seen before and would most likely be more willing to try it. If you are worried about your kids getting their multi vitamins, don't. As long as they are getting a variety of foods from the food pyramid then they will be fine.
 http://www.stlouischildrens.org/content/healthinfo/whattoeatwhenyoudontwantmeat.htm

5 Reasons Girls Should Play Sports

I found this article on a kids health website that gave 5 good reasons young girls should play sports. Of course boys should too it would have many of the same effects, but this was specific to girls.

1. Girls who play sports do better in school: exercise improves learning, memory, and concentration.

2. Playing sports teaches girls teamwork and goal-setting skills: working with teammates and coaches to achieve goals teaches them how to be successful.

3. Sports improve health: which is something everyone knows, but starting them at a young age helps reduce their risk of breast cancer and osteoporosis.

4. They boost self-confidence: improving and achieving goals builds confidence, as well as making the girls feel good about their bodies, and making new friends.

5. Exercise cuts pressure: Playing a sport can lessen the stress a girl feels, as well as making them happier. Exercise releases brain chemicals that improve a person's mood.

http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/fit/5_sports.html

Let's Move!

   The White Houses' First lady, Michelle Obama has been working on this new project called "Let's Move". The main focus of this campaign is to raise a healthier generation of kids, which I believe is a great idea. But its not going to be easy. Getting kids to play and be active especially with the help of many organizations such as the NFL and the NBA is easy enough, as well as, convincing schools to offer healthier lunches, but i think the hardest part will be getting the parents involved. The only way to make a healthier generation of kids is if their parents cooperate and participate, because kids can't buy or make their own food. They eat whatever or wherever their parents take them. However I think this is something that can be improved upon and even successfully reached in the future. I admire her dedication and passion towards this problem in our country. I posted the link to the official website below if you would like to check it out.
http://www.letsmove.gov/

The Best Snacks for Your Kids (and even me and you)

Everyone knows that kids love snacks, they eat them during school, after school, and after activities. So give your kids these healthy snacks in confidence. They are the healthiest pre packaged easy to go snacks approved by the toughest critics around, kids between the ages of 3 and 16. Most all of these can be found at your local supermarkets and whole foods store. Here are few from the list: Santa Cruz Organic Apple-Blackberry Sauce, a good alternative the regular boring old apple sauce. FruitaBü Organic Smooshed Fruit is an awesome alternative if your kids love fruit roll ups. Good Health Natural Foods Peanut Butter Pretzels are the perfect mix of salty and crunchy. Barbara's Bakery Vanilla Snackimals, a healthy remake of the Animal cracker. Odwalla Bars, a healthy twist to the snack bar with 8 grams of protein and 1000 milligrams of vegetarian omega3s. For the full list of snacks visit this website:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/everydaycooking/tastetests/healthysnacktastetest