Better Kids Behavior Starts With Healthier Diets
If you want well-behaved kids, get rid off the junk food. While this may sound unbelievable and even quite ridiculous, there’s just enough reason to believe with the outcome. And one school institution to have reaped the glory of feeding its students with nutritious foods is Appleton Central Alternative High School—an alternative school with notoriously delinquent students.
“I found the students to be rude, obnoxious and ill-mannered,” said school counselor Greg Bretthauer when head his first job interview with ACA High School in 1997. The sight of the students’ behavior made him turn down the job offer only to take it several years later after seeing the astounding change that took place in the school’s atmosphere and children’s behavior.
Fresh Vending Machines Coming to Schools Nationwide
img class=”size-medium wp-image-1534″ src=”http://www.freshhealthyvending.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/healthy-vending-machine1-148×300.jpg” alt=”" width=”148″ height=”300″ />“Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food.” This is the eye-catching slogan you will on the vending machines installed on September 17 in both Mason High School, in Mason, Ohio and Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Syracuse, New York as part of the healthy public relations campaign of Bolthouse Farms— Bakersfield, California-based grower. Indeed, there is no stopping healthy vending machines in coming to schools nationwide to promote healthy eating habits to children.
Though President Obama has earlier seek the improvement of child nutrition by eliminating junk food options in vending machines and replacing them with healthier options, there have been several moves among business owners targeting healthy changes in vending machines. This comes right in time when childhood obesity in America has gone uncontrollably higher in the recent years.
Yogurt is Good For You and Can Help You Lose Weight
Yogurt has been frequently mentioned in talks concerning obesity, weight loss, and other health and wellness concerns. Does it really help in losing weight? How much of a yogurt does a person need to consume to start losing weight? Is it really a good part of a healthy diet?
According to an April 2004 study in the journal “Obesity Research” by M.B. Zemel of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, greater fat loss has been observed when a diet high in calcium-rich dairy foods was consumed compared to a low-calcium diet or a diet supplemented with calcium in vitamin form. The following year, the “International Journal of Obesity” published a study by Zemel that links similar weight loss results specifically to the consumption of yogurt daily.
Obese Teens Are More Prone To Become Obese Adults
If there is one thing that some overweight adults would have wished if they can turn back the hands of time, it’s that they should have eaten healthier and consumed lesser fats. Unfortunately, as we age there’s no such thing that can make us go back in our teens. But sure enough, there’s still enough time for parents to prevent their kids from suffering the same fate of becoming obese as adults – if only they’ll start serving healthier meals and lunch on a regular basis.
In a recent national study of American youth, researchers found that one in twelve teenagers became severely obese as they entered adulthood. It can be recalled that the US federal government, along with the Department of Agriculture and other concerned sectors are vigorously leading the pack to fight childhood obesity in America. This problem is noted not only to adversely affect country-wide households but even the health care cost of the US – where over US$140 billion went to the national medical expenditures for 2009 alone.
The Secret to Better Grades Starts With a Healthy Diet for Kids
Don’t parents often wish their kids have better grades in schools? Isn’t it an exhilarating feeling for parents to hear their kid’s name being called in the honor roll list? Of course, any parent would love to bask in their children’s glory, but ensuring kids to have better grades is not just about enforcing them to keep studying and diligently doing their homework. A good behavior and better grades means having a nutritious diet for kids, too.
When nutritious foods have been introduced to the students of Appleton Central Alternative High School, the goal is clear and simple: to show that fresh, nutritious food can make a real difference in student’s behavior, learning and health. Pioneered by Natural Oven President, Dr. Barbara Reed Stitt, developed a program that offers students fresh healthy food options for breakfast and lunch.
Childhood Obesity Solutions for the U.S.
When the issue of childhood obesity in America erupted with serious concern because of its burgeoning cases, the question that we’ve often heard is: How do we solve it?
Of course, we’ve known there’s First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” program to encourage American residents to start moving and be healthy. There’s also the vigorous act of several school districts implementing improved nutritional lunch programs in their school campuses. Likewise, fast food chains have well made their healthy contribution by changing some of their ala cart menu. However, the most helpful question is: Who should be involved in solving childhood obesity in the US?
San Francisco asks McDonalds for Healthy Meals instead of Happy Meals
Known for its long history of public health and environmental stance, San Francisco, is about to see yet another remarkable move in its public health regulation, and this time the spotlight is on Ronald McDonalds. It seems that it won’t be too long before San Francisco kids bid their final goodbye to their favorite Happy Meal toys, following a city ordinance that would ban McDonald’s from putting toys in Happy Meals unless it adds fruit and vegetable portions and limits calories.
Supervisor Eric Mar, who proposed the law, is expecting to pass his Happy Meal bill to the committee on Monday and receive a vote by the full Board of Supervisors later this month. With a goal to protect the health of his constituents, the bill is by far the latest in San Francisco’s string of public health ordinances after it recently expanded its law banning tobacco sales in pharmacies to include grocery stores and big-box stores that also have pharmacies.
Join the Fight Against Childhood Obesity in America
America’s battle with childhood obesity continues. At least, that’s what statistics revealed, wherein two-thirds, or more than 190 million Americans are overweight or obese, and $147 billion medical burden are recorded every year. And what’s even more alarming is the rate among preschool-aged children have significantly doubled, whereas, tripled among children 6 to 19 years old over the past 25 years.
The big question we are facing now is how do we save children from being victimized by this epidemic? How do we put a stop on a crisis that gives not only social trauma among children but also a huge burden among families? Are we missing the right action here that makes obesity rate grow quicker?
Childhood Obesity is an Important Issue in Reducing Health Care Costs
In 2009, a government-sponsored research was publicized with some shocking findings about the relation of increased health care costs to the increased rates of obesity in less than a decade. The study was conducted by researchers at RTI International and funded by the CDC Foundation analyzed data from the 1998 and 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. It was found out that in 1998 the medical costs of obesity in the US were estimated at around 78.5 billion dollars a year, half of which was financed by Medicare and Medicaid. Furthermore, between 1998 and 2006, the prevalence of obesity in the US went up by 37 per cent.
This and the current data of obesity and health care costs are the main concerns why the new administration is pushing hard to encourage people, particularly children, to start eating healthy foods and engaging in physical activities. Congress has reauthorized the children nutrition act and other sectors are also doing their share in alleviating the growing problem by serving healthier options to people and ramping up the nutritional campaign nationwide—targeting specifically children. There is a loud clamor to stop bleeding on the issue and we cannot afford to see more children being admitted to the hospital due to serious weight-related illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, etc. It’s best to keep in mind that the success in the reduction of obesity cases is critical in reducing national health care costs and working together to achieve this can likewise result to a better economy in the future.
USA Must Tackle Nationwide Childhood Obesity Epidemic
Have you had the time to check what your kids are eating lately? How proactive have you been in checking with your kids’ school the kind of nutritional foods they are serving in their campus cafeterias? These are pertinent questions that shouldn’t be left unattended by parents these days considering the growing rate of childhood obesity in the US.
Statistics have already spoken the alarming concern which prompted President Obama to officially declare September as the National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, saying, “We now face a national childhood obesity crisis with nearly one in every three of America’s children being overweight or obese.”