Monday Challenge

Most people start off their Monday’s doing the “Chest Workout”. If you look on my site, it’s probably the most popular post I have on this blog. My challenge today is to break out of the routine. Our bodies are amazing and can adapt to nearly any condition, routine, workout that you give it. Variety is the key to breaking boundaries. Whether it be to get over a plateau or to just bust out of the monotony.

Who’s up for the challenge? Post here and let me know what you did today to boycott National Chest Day!

Houston Wellness Association

I was invited to attend this conference here in Houston but will not be able to attend (it’s a little steep for my personal budget), however, I’d like to let other people in Houston aware of it.  If you’re able to attend, it would be for a good cause:

http://www.houstonwellness.org

Thank you, once more for inviting me, Lauren!

!!! UPDATE:  Lauren very kindly offered me a press pass to this event.  I’m extremely excited to be given this opportunity and will definitely blog and let you all know how it goes!

Parents Looking for Healthy Meal Choices

Interesting read that I found browsing news about the hurricane. I live in Houston so we have to be more vigilant. I just find it amusing that they are just now posting this when it’s been going on for years but at the same time grateful that they continue do so for parents still in the dark.

WASHINGTON -Parents looking for healthy meal choices for their children are likely to find slim pickings on the menus of the nation’s top restaurant chains, according to a report released Monday by a nonprofit public health group.

Nearly every possible combination of the children’s meals at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Sonic, Jack in the Box, and Chick-fil-A are too high in calories, the report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.

The report looked into the nutritional quality of kids’ meals at 13 major restaurant chains. The center found 93 percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories _ an amount that is one-third of what the National Institute of Medicine recommends that children ages 4 through 8 should consume in a day. [ taken from AOL NEWS ]

Every day in America, new fast food and restaurant chains are being built to lure people in. People who are unaware of exactly how many calories they are putting into their body, but more than that, what those calories and chemicals do. Now, this is in no way a ploy or advocation of anyone to run out and sue them. You’re responsible for your own actions in this case. Why would you put something into your body that has public record of what it contains? There are online nutritional guides.

Pay attention to your body. How does it feel once you’ve shoved all that fat and grease into your veins? Sluggish? Tired? Aching? Sickly? That’s not a coincidence.

And did you know that the chemicals that are in those foods cause you to want more? To want to over-eat? You know that it’s very unhealthy and yet you continue to order the Super-Sized Menu options. Why not live another day? Add a day onto the end of your life and get a salad.

I want to show you what your veins look like when they are clogged with plague and cholesterol. Warning for the weak stomachs out there, it’s not pretty:

Am I high risk for getting PVDs?

There are things that increase your chances of getting PVDs that you may not be able to change. These are:

* Being on bedrest after an illness or injury.
* Having diabetes.
* Increasing age. As you get older, your blood vessels become less flexible.
* Long periods without activity, like sitting or standing for several hours without moving around.
* Pregnancy.
* Someone else in your family having heart or blood vessel disease.

[ taken from Salinas Valley Memorial Health Care System]

It’s time that you realized that it’s not just us, the parents/adults, suffering. It’s our children. And exposing them to this kind of health hazard is abuse in it’s own right. Again, I’m not talking about parents or adults that eat out once in a blue moon. I’m talking about the every other day visits. Once a week. Even once a month would be pushing it in my book but things come up. Being prepared for those things and having snacks on hand is a much better alternative.

let’s get real

As you can see, most of my posts are pretty light hearted. I like to keep the stress out of fitness. It’s not that serious, right?

Yes and no. Your health is serious business. So is your child’s health. So let’s take this moment to get serious and be real with one another. If you’re a parent that comes home and sits on the couch with a bag of chips, a large coke and zone for the rest of the night after dinner? Chances are, you’re not teaching your kids any better habits. Children, for the most part, live what they learn.

If you’re a parent that snipes at your child to get off the video game and go outside, turn that wagging finger around to yourself and ask a hard question. When is the last time you went outside and “played”? If you’re overweight and your children are overweight, ask yourself how you all got that way.

I want to warn you right now that this post isn’t going to lighten up. It may cause some very serious reactions and I hope that once your anger or sadness dies down, you make positive changes. I was guilty of a lot of these mistakes, myself. It makes it that much easier to say these things to you because I know first hand what it did to myself and my family.

First and foremost. Go outside. There’s nothing keeping you from going for a family walk (unless there’s a serious handicap). Even if you’re in a wheelchair, go with your family on their walks. This gets you away from the electronics and may even inspire some nice talks.

Teach your children to throw a ball. Race down a hill together. The point is to move. You don’t put on the pounds because you’re active. Is this making sense?

We sit and wonder, “I’m always busy, why can’t I lose weight?”

The answer is simple. We’re busy in our mind. In this age of technology, our minds are always going but our bodies are sitting. We sit at a desk, then rush to the car. We rush to the car to sit in traffic. We rush from the car to sit at home. We only think we’re always going. The amount that you move right now is nothing. No BS here folks.

The average person, who is sedentary, is only burning 700-1600 calories a day. One Super Sized meal is 1500+ calories. That’s one meal a day.

Do yourself a favor. Write down everything you ate yesterday. Now add up the calories. Was it 1000? 2000? Now, how much did you move?

I want to address the parents once more. Stop feeding your children fast food. You’re poisoning your child. Harsh words but it’s the infallible truth. If you cook your meals in advance, store them in the fridge/freezer, you can cut your cooking time in half and they will always have a home cooked meal. There are no excuses. Cut up veggies and leave them in the fridge. Buy fresh fruits and leave them for the kids. Tell your child no when they ask for fast food.

The biggest mistake parents have made is making the children feel that fast food is a reward. “If you’re good we’ll go to McDonald’s”. Right? This sound familiar?

What parents looks at their kid and say, “If you’re good I’ll pump you full of fat, processed food, and poison.”

What? No show of hands? Would you hand your kids a pack of cigarettes? No? Why? Because you know it’s not healthy. So start knowing that fast food is not healthy. There’s nothing that they can give your family that you can’t give them at home, in a more healthy, suitable way.

Eating out is not to be banned. People enjoy it. But “Fast Food” is not eating. It’s binging. If you go out to eat, share a plate. Most restaurants are serving you plates with servings for 2+ people. Learn your portion sizes and teach your children responsible habits.

Sit down and learn to read a label with your family. Take them grocery shopping and have them read labels of their favorite foods and see what they’re eating. This is a harsh wake up call.

Do you realize that our children are developing Type II Diabetes? Let me explain that, quickly. Type II diabetes was usually reserved for adults who developed diabetes as a result of diet and lack of exercise. Our children are dying.

Children these days are obese. Not chunky. Not fat. They are obese.

Look at yourself in the mirror. You’re probably saying, “I just want to get to my HS weight”. That’s the majority of us, not all of us. Some of you have always struggled with a weight problem. If your child is already overweight, that’s a predisposition to diabetes and other heart related problems. They will be struggling their entire lives to get into a healthy weight. You’re not teaching them any discipline if you’re allowing them to eat whatever they want in mass quantity.

Chips, sugar, candy, fast food, large portions. These are killing yourself and your child. When are you going to stop? Psychologically, what is this doing to your child? When you have to put a child on a diet and they are crying because they are hungry, explain to me how that is fair to them. Why can’t they play sports? Why can’t they feel good about themselves?

Because we allow it.

Become a parent who sets boundaries and regains control. Show them that you love them by participating. If you have weight to lose, lose it with your child. Even if they are a healthy weight, exercise is crucial to being healthy. Nutrition is the second part. Eat smarter and start to change what’s coming into the house. Healthy food is more expensive but think about how much money medicine and doctor’s appts will be.

You owe this to yourself and your child, alike.

The following information was taken from CDC.

Table 1. Prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents ages 6-19 years, for selected years 1963-65 through 1999-2002

Age (years)1	NHANES 1963-65 1966-702	NHANES 1971-74	NHANES 1976-80	NHANES 1988-94	NHANES 1999-2002
6-11	4	4	7	11	16
12-19	5	6	5	11	16

¹Excludes pregnant women starting with 1971-74. Pregnancy status not available for 1963-65 and 1966-70.
²Data for 1963-65 are for children 6-11 years of age; data for 1966-70 are for adolescents 12-17 years of age, not 12-19 years.

Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start kids on the path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

[ taken from Mayo Clinic ]

The increase in childhood obesity over the past several decades, together with the associated health problems and costs, is raising grave concern among health care professionals, policy experts, children’s advocates, and parents. Patricia Anderson and Kristin Butcher document trends in children’s obesity and examine the possible underlying causes of the obesity epidemic.

[ taken from The Future of Children ]