thenatural-way.com

By Margaret Chuong-Kim
DrBenKim.com

Families are often so busy that they can’t seem to find the time to eat dinner together. If you are a parent to young children or adolescents the current research suggests you may want to make the time to sit down and share meals.

Eating together appears to hold more implications than simply satiating the family’s hunger. A study published in the November 2004 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health looked at the relationship between family eating patterns and disordered eating among both girls and boys. Disordered eating was defined as unhealthy weight-control behaviors, binge-eating, and chronic dieting. In general, the adolescents least likely to engage in disordered eating reported the following:

• More frequent family meals

• High priority for family meals, in spite of scheduling conflicts

• Positive environment at family meals

• More structured family meal environment

The most consistent protective factor against disordered eating was making family meals a priority.

Another study, published in the May 2003 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that teenagers who eat dinner with their parents are more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables. It seems that children who see their parents eating healthier foods, particularly during a shared meal, are more likely to follow suit.

Think your teenager would prefer to eat alone? Consider the results of a study published in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Researchers examined adolescent and parent views of family meals and found that both groups hold positive attitudes toward eating together.

It can be suggested that making dinnertime a daily family ritual, involving both preparation and consumption of food may accomplish the following:

• Reduce dependence upon, and consumption of, less healthy food options

• Reduce the frequency of eating out

• Increase consumption of healthier foods

• Help children and adolescents develop positive emotional and physical health

• Build family cohesion

By: Donna Butler

1. Clean up as you go.
If you are in the kitchen preparing dinner clean up the utensils you use in preparation while you are stirring, waiting for the pot to boil etc. – this will make after dinner clean up much faster and easier.

2. Pick up before you go to bed.
Before you go to bed at night, do a quick check of the living room and kitchen area. Check the dishwasher to see if you need to turn it on before morning (this will no doubt be a real time saver in the morning when you discover you don’t have any clean dishes!) If you don’t have a dishwasher try not to leave a big sink full of dirty dishes overnight. It seems to bring on depression in the morning! Pick up newspapers etc. and discard. Kids should do some checking too! Have them do a quick check of their room and pick up toys, dirty clothes etc. before they go to bed. If they are young children get their clothes ready for the next day and lay them out – make sure they have socks and that any sport uniforms are ready to go too!

3. Have a place for everything.
I guess I learned this year’s ago when my husband was in the Navy and we were required to move every few years. I never knew how large or small the house would be so I had to constantly arrange and rearrange each time we moved. It was good practice though, since now my husband and I live in a 38 ft. fifth wheel travel trailer! You definitely have to have a place for everything – ha!

There are lots of good storage bins in all shapes, colors and sizes. They come in handy for just about anything. If you don’t have a place for something perhaps you really don’t need it!

Spring is a good time to clean out your closets and check through your wardrobe. The general rule of thumb is – if you haven’t used it or worn it in the past year you probably don’t need it! I say this loosely because I know all the husbands out there just have to save that extra doorknob in case one ever breaks!! And of course you could never get rid of his favorite pair of jeans (even though they are long past their useful shelf life!)

4. Get rid of clutter.
You may say this is easier said than done. It doesn’t have to be such a daunting task as long as you keep up with it. We are constantly bombarded with junk mail so it is best to deal with it the same day you get it – look through your mail and then either toss it or file it for later use. If things have already gotten out of hand and you feel like you don’t know where to start – just start somewhere. Generally it is best to pick a very small project that can be accomplished rather quickly. Then begin to tackle the bigger areas or rooms doing a little bit everyday. Before you know it your rooms will be free of clutter and you can then focus on the things you really like to do! The key here is to keep things free of clutter once you have taken the time to de-clutter. When tackling a garage, basement or attic you need to have several piles: one for things you will keep, one for things you can sell at a yard sale, donate or give away, and one for those things you will throw away. When we were moving from our house to a fifth wheel trailer, my husband and I would often say “If it doesn’t fit in the trailer we don’t need it!” It was hard scaling down from a home with everything you had collected in 30 years of marriage and all the memories that went with it and then having to decide what stays and what goes! You will be surprised at how quickly you can move through an area as long as you are not too sentimental! After six weekend yard sales, and many trips to Good Will and the dump, we were finally ready to take our first 5th wheeling trip!!

WASHINGTON, — Two new studies link TV watching to obesity and shows that parents serve as role models for their children viewing habits. The studies, which appear in the October issue of The Journal of Pediatrics, show the average child watches more TV than the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends, leading to more couch potatoes and less active people. The AAP recommends a maximum of two hours of viewing a day. A study by researchers at the University College London finds each additional hour of viewing as a 5-year-old could lead to an additional 7 per-cent risk of obesity when they turn 30. Researchers at State University of New York found that 39 percent of girls and 30 percent of parents in their 173-person study watched more TV than the AAP guideline. Parents who watched television were mimicked by increased viewing by their daughters. The girls in the study watched more TV when their parents did not set limitations or their parents also watched a lot of television, the study showed. Girls who exceeded the AAP two-hour limit were 2.6 times more likely to be overweight than girls who watched less than the limit.

NOTE FROM DONNA: I believe this could apply to playing video games as well. Turn off the TV and do something else instead. Here are some ideas:

In the past, parents worried more about their children being home by the time the street lights came on then whether or not they got the recommended amount of daily activity.

Today parents are advised to monitor their children’s body mass index (height-to-weight ratio) as the obesity epidemic among children ages 6-19 has reached 15 percent, almost quadruple what it was in the 1960s. Physical activity will not only help today’s children by preventing them from becoming obese or helping them to lose weight if necessary, it will also teach them healthy habits that can last a lifetime.  

1. Kids who exercise are more likely to keep exercising as an adult.
2. Exercise helps children achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
3. Regular physical activity helps build and maintain strong, healthy muscles, bones & joints.                                                  
4. Exercise aids in the development of important interpersonal skills– this is especially true for participation in team sports.             
5. Exercise improves the quantity and quality of sleep.
6. Research shows that exercise enhances academic performance.
7. Kids who exercise have greater self-esteem and better self-images.
8. Participating in regular physical activity prevents or delays the development of many chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension) and promotes health.
9. Children who are active report fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression and a better overall mood.
10.  Exercise helps improve motor coordination and enhances the development of various motor performance skills.

Research suggests kids who drink a lot of soft drinks risk becoming fat, weak-boned, cavity-prone and caffeine-addicted.

By Sally Squires
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 27, 2001; Page HE10

Americans drink more soda pop than ever before. These popular beverages account for more than a quarter of all drinks consumed in the United States. More than 15 billion gallons were sold in 2000. That works out to at least one 12-ounce can per day for every man, woman and child.

Kids are heavy consumers of soft drinks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and they are guzzling soda pop at unprecedented rates. Carbonated soda pop provides more added sugar in a typical 2-year-old toddler's diet than cookies, candies and ice cream combined. Fifty-six percent of 8-year-olds down soft drinks daily, and a third of teenage boys drink at least three cans of soda pop per day.

Not only are soft drinks widely available everywhere from fast food restaurants to video stores, they're now sold in 60 percent of all public and private middle schools and high schools nationwide, according to the National Soft Drink Association. A few schools are even giving away soft drinks to students who buy school lunches.

As soda pop becomes the beverage of choice among the nation's young — and as soda marketers focus on brand-building among younger and younger consumers — public health officials, school boards, parents, consumer groups and even the soft drink industry are faced with nagging questions: How healthful are these beverages, which provide a lot calories, sugars and caffeine but no significant nutritional value? And what happens if you drink a lot of them at a very young age?

Beginning tomorrow, representatives of the soft drink industry, concerned that public opinion and public policy may turn against them, will stage a three-day "fly-in" to lobby Congress to maintain soft drinks sales in schools; and to educate lawmakers on the "proper perspective" on soft drink use. The industry plans to counter a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal, announced in January, that would require all foods sold in schools to meet federal nutrition standards. That would mean that snack foods and soft drinks would have to meet the same standards as school lunches.

Some state legislators are already taking steps to limit soft drink sales to youngsters. In Maryland, a bill introduced by Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George's) would prohibit sales of soft drinks and other non-nutritious foods in schools until after 3 p.m. Current law says vending machines can't be turned on until after the final lunch period.

Nearly everyone by now has heard the litany on the presumed health effects of soft drinks: Obesity. Tooth decay. Caffeine dependence. Weakened bones. But does drinking soda pop really cause those things?

Even the staunchest critics of soft drinks say finding the scientific bottom line on soda pop can be maddeningly tricky. "It's hard to pull out the health effects of soft drinks from the whole diet," says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest and author of a critical report on soft drinks called "Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks Are Harming Americans' Health." "There are relatively few studies on sugars. And some studies don't distinguish between naturally occurring sugars and refined sugars."

To help separate fact from fiction, the Health section reviewed the latest scientific findings and asked an array of experts on both sides of the debate to weigh in on the topic. Be forewarned, however: Compared with the data available on tobacco and even dietary fat, the scientific evidence on soft drinks is less developed. The results can be a lot like soft drinks themselves, both sweet and sticky.

Obesity
One very recent, independent, peer-reviewed study demonstrates a strong link between soda consumption and childhood obesity. One previous industry-supported, unpublished study showed no link. Explanations of the mechanism by which soda may lead to obesity have not yet been proved, though the evidence for them is strong.

Many people have long assumed that soda– high in calories and sugar, low in nutrients — can make kids fat. But until this month there was no solid, scientific evidence demonstrating this.

Reporting in The Lancet, a British medical journal, a team of Harvard researchers presented the first evidence linking soft drink consumption to childhood obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't. For each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times.

Could it be that the soda pop drinkers were simply living extremely sedentary lives? Or that they ate more than the kids who didn't drink soft drinks regularly? When lead author David Ludwig and his colleagues parsed the data to examine those possibilities, neither explanation panned out. Drinking soda proved to be "an independent risk factor for obesity," says Ludwig.

The soft drink industry quickly took steps to dispute the findings. Although the study included 548 ethnically diverse youngsters attending four public schools in Massachusetts, the NSDA knocked the research for including too few Caucasian kids: About two-thirds of participants were white, compared with 75 percent of the total U.S. population and 88 percent of Massachusetts residents.

The industry response also cited an earlier study conducted by Georgetown University's Center for Food & Nutrition Policy that showed overweight children consumed about 14 ounces of carbonated beverages per day — only about two ounces more than kids of normal body weight. The Sugar Association paid for part of the Georgetown study, which was presented last April at the Experimental Biology 2000 meeting, but it has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Obesity experts, on the other hand, called the Harvard findings important and praised the study for being prospective. In other words, the Harvard researchers spent 19 months following the children, rather than capturing a snapshot of data from just one day. It's considered statistically more valuable to conduct a study over a long period of time.

But even those who lauded the Harvard report still underscored the usual caveats. "It's only a single study, and it needs to be repeated," says William H. Dietz, director of the division of nutrition and physical activity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

If soft drinks do prove to contribute to obesity, how might this happen? Is it simply a matter of drinking in too many calories?

Again, the jury is out, and there are several competing theories. But there are some tantalizing clues suggesting that excess calories alone can't explain the problem. The Harvard team also conducted a meta-analysis — a number-crunching examination of similar research conducted over the past 25 years — to explore this question. They concluded that drinking sugary calories doesn't register with the brain the same way that eating calories does. In other words, the brain seems to get confused by these sugary liquid calories that pass quickly through the stomach; they do not seem to trigger feelings of satiety in the same way calories from foods do. Absent a signal that calories have been consumed via soft drinks or sweetened fruit juices, the stomach does not tell the brain to quit eating at the current meal or to eat less at the next meal. In this way, the thinking goes, excess pounds are added.

Ludwig found that schoolchildren who drank soft drinks consumed almost 200 more calories per day than their counterparts who didn't down soft drinks. That finding helps support the notion, he says, that "we don't compensate well for calories in liquid form."

The soft drink industry doesn't buy that conclusion. "Childhood obesity is the result of many factors. Blaming it on a single factor, including soft drinks, is nutritional nonsense," noted Richard Adamson, NSDA's vice president for scientific and technical affairs.

On this point, the obesity experts tend to agree: "There are no data from the Harvard study that allow us to make an estimate of what proportion of obesity might be accounted for by changes in soft drink consumption," says the CDC's Dietz. "It's unlikely that we will be able to tie the obesity epidemic to any single change in the way we live. It is much more complex than that."

Tooth Decay
Though the soft drink industry admits that soda contributes to tooth decay, most data suggest it is just one of several contributors, and a less important one in developed countries than elsewhere in the world. In the United States, cavities have decreased while soda consumption has increased.

Here's one health effect that even the soft drink industry admits, grudgingly, has merit. In a carefully worded statement, the NSDA says that "there's no scientific evidence that consumption of sugars per se has any negative effect other than dental caries." But the association also correctly notes that soft drinks aren't the sole cause of tooth decay.

In fact, a lot of sugary foods, from fruit juices to candy and even raisins and other dried fruit, have what dentists refer to as "cariogenic properties," which is to say they can cause tooth decay.

Okay, so how many more cavities are soft drink consumers likely to get compared with people who don't drink soda? This is where it gets complicated.

A federally funded study of nearly 3,200 Americans 9 to 29 years old conducted between 1971 and 1974 showed a direct link between tooth decay and soft drinks. (Numerous other studies have shown the same link throughout the world, from Sweden to Iraq.) But here's the rub: In the last 25 years, tooth decay in the United States and other developed countries has actually declined — at the same time that soft drink use and obesity have risen dramatically.

The scientific explanation for this phenomenon appears to come from a number of studies. One of the most illustrative is a 1994 British study of tooth decay among 12-year-olds in 90 countries. Conducted by statisticians at the University of Reading, the study found that throughout the world, dental decay rises proportionally with sugar consumption. But when researchers examined data from 29 industrialized nations, there was no evidence of a link between sugar and tooth decay.

"These results suggest," the researchers reported in the British Dental Journal, "that in addition to sugar, other factors" — including improved diet, fluoridated water and even genetics — play an important role in reducing tooth decay.

But sugar isn't the only ingredient in soft drinks that causes tooth problems. The acids in soda pop are also notorious for etching tooth enamel in ways that can lead to cavities. "Acid begins to dissolve tooth enamel in only 20 minutes," notes the Ohio Dental Association in a release issued earlier this month.

Caffeine Dependence
The stimulant properties and dependence potential of caffeine in soda are well documented, as are their effects on children. While health advocates argue that childhood use of caffeine can lead to dependence later in life — and that regular doses of caffeine can have negative effects on brain development — there is no conclusive science to demonstrate this.

Ever tried going without your usual cup of java on the weekend? If so, you may have experienced a splitting headache, a slight rise in blood pressure, irritability and maybe even some stomach problems. These well-documented symptoms describe the typical withdrawal process suffered by about half of regular caffeine consumers who go without their usual dose, according to Kenneth S. Kendler, professor of psychiatry and human genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond.

Research on caffeine's effects in children is more limited, but it suggests that kids also experience caffeine dependence and withdrawal. At the University of Minnesota, child psychiatrist Gail Bernstein and her colleagues gave 8- to 12-year-old children the equivalent of two to three cans of Diet Coke daily for 13 days. Then they substituted caffeine-free soft drinks without telling the children and measured withdrawal symptoms.

During a computerized test 24 hours later, the children showed signficantly decreased attention, a classic symptom of withdrawal, Bernstein says.

The soft drink industry agrees that caffeine causes the same effects in children as adults, but officials also note that there is wide variation in how people respond to caffeine. The simple solution, the industry says, is to choose a soda pop that is caffeine-free. All big soda makers offer products with either low or no caffeine.

That may be a good idea, though it raises the question of whether soda machines in schools should be permitted to offer caffeinated beverages or at least be obligated to offer a significant proportion of caffeine-free products. It also raises the question of how one determines a product's caffeine content. Nutrition labels are not required to divulge that information. If a beverage contains caffeine, it must be included in the ingredient list, but there's no way to tell how much a beverage has, and there's little logic or predictability to the way caffeine is deployed throughout a product line.

Okay, so most enlightened consumers already know that colas contain a fair amount of caffeine. It turns out to be 35 to 38 milligrams per 12-ounce can, or roughly 28 percent of the amount found in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. But few know that diet colas — usually chosen by those who are trying to dodge calories and/or sugar — often pack a lot more caffeine. A 12-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, has about 42 milligrams of caffeine — seven more than the same amount of Coke Classic. A can of Pepsi One has about 56 milligrams of caffeine — 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi.

Even harder to figure out is the caffeine distribution in other flavors of soda pop. Many brands of root beer contain no caffeine. An exception is Barq's, made by the Coca-Cola Co., which has 23 milligrams per 12-ounce can. Sprite, 7-Up and ginger ale are caffeine-free. But Mountain Dew, the curiously named Mello Yellow, Sun Drop Regular, Jolt and diet as well as regular Sunkist orange soda all pack caffeine.

So does Kick (58 milligrams) and Surge (53 milligrams).

Confused? You're not alone. "There is no way for a parent to know how much caffeine their kids are getting," said Avram Goldstein, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Stanford University and a petitioner, along with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, to the Food and Drug Administration to require soft drink manufacturers to label caffeine content.

Caffeine occurs naturally in kola nuts, an ingredient of cola soft drinks. But why is this drug, which is known to create physical dependence, added to other soft drinks?

The industry line is that small amounts are added for taste, not for the drug's power to sustain demand for the products that contain it. Caffeine's bitter taste, they say, enhances other flavors. "It has been a part of almost every cola — and pepper-type beverage — since they were first formulated more than 100 years ago," according to the National Soft Drink Association.

But recent blind taste tests conducted by Roland Griffiths at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore found that only 8 percent of regular soft drink consumers could identify the difference between regular and caffeine-free soft drinks. The study included only subjects who reported that they drank soft drinks mainly for their caffeine content. In other words, more than 90 percent of the self-diagnosed caffeine cravers in this small sample could not detect the presence of caffeine.

That's why Griffiths says the "great popularity of caffeinated soft drinks is driven not so much by subtle taste effects as by the mood-altering and physical dependence of caffeine that drives the daily self-administration," he says.

The soft drink industry counters that "the long history of caffeine's use confirms that it is safe when consumed in moderation."

That is true. "Were you to compare with alcohol or nicotine, there's no question that caffeine is far less deleterious to health," says VCU's Kendler. "But consuming a substantial amount of any psychoactive substance is not generally a good idea. It produces physiological changes in the brain. We don't know what that means."

And the unknown could be especially troublesome for the developing brains of children and adolescents. As Stanford's Goldstein sees it, logic dictates that "when you are dependent on a drug, you are really upsetting the normal balances of neurochemistry in the brain. The fact that kids have withdrawal signs and symptoms when the caffeine is stopped is a good indication that something has been profoundly disturbed in the brain."

Exactly where that leads is anybody's guess — which is to say there is little good research on the effects of caffeine on kids' developing brains.

Bone Weakening
Animal studies demonstrate that phosphorus, a common ingredient in soda, can deplete bones of calcium. And two recent human studies suggest that girls who drink more soda are more prone to broken bones. The industry denies that soda plays a role in bone weakening.

Animal studies — mostly involving rats — point to clear and consistent bone loss with the use of cola beverages. But as scientists like to point out, humans and rats are not exactly the same.

Even so, there's been concern among the research community, public health officials and government agencies over the high phosphorus content in the U.S. diet. Phosphorus — which occurs naturally in some foods and is used as an additive in many others — appears to weaken bones by promoting the loss of calcium. With less calcium available, the bones become more porous and prone to fracture.

The soft drink industry argues that the phosphoric acid in soda pop contributes only about 2 percent of the phosphorus in the typical U.S. diet, with a 12-ounce can of soda pop averaging about 30 milligrams.The National Academy of Sciences has set 3 grams (or 3,000 milligrams) per day as the tolerable upper limit of phosphous for children ages 1 to 8 years, and 4 grams per day for those 9 years and older.

To reach that amount would require drinking at least 100 cans of soda pop per day. But there's growing concern that even a few cans of soda today can be damaging when they are consumed during the peak bone-building years of childhood and adolescence. A 1996 study published in the Journal of Nutrition by the FDA's Office of Special Nutritionals noted that a pattern of high phosphorus/low calcium consumption, common in the American diet, is not "conducive to optimizing peak bone mass in young women."

The scientific literature is scant on this topic, and the soft drink industry says the few studies that have been done are flawed. But the studies seem to consistently link soft drink use with the kind of bone weakening that can raise the risk of fractures. Most troubling is that the studies suggest the increased risk of fractures occurs as early as adolescence.

A 1994 study of bone fractures in teenage athletes by Grace Wyshak, then a researcher at Harvard's Center for Population Studies, found a strong association between cola beverage consumption and bone fractures in 14-year-old girls. A follow-up study of 468 9th- and 10th-grade girls, also conducted by Wyshak, who is now at the Harvard School of Public Health, concluded that girls who drank cola were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than girls who didn't consume soda pop. She also found that girls who drank only non-cola carbonated drinks were three times more likely to develop bone fractures than those who didn't consume soda pop.

Exactly how soft drinks may contribute to bone weakening is not yet known. But Pennsylvania State University researcher Leeann Birch has found that soft drinks often displace more nutritious beverages, including milk. And just how much soda are teens — whose bones are growing at peak levels — drinking? Shanty Bowman, a researcher at USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, finds that Americans 12 to 19 years old consume an average of 503 grams of carbonated beverages each day, the equivalent of about half a quart. About 61 percent of teens report drinking carbonated beverages on any given day, compared with just half who drink milk. Bowman says that only one in every five meets the current milk requirement.

It's that combination of increased consumption of soda, decreased consumption of milk and other beverages, and the possible link between phosphorus and bone health that researchers such as Wyshak believe is enough to justify a "national concern and alarm about the health impact of carbonated beverage consumption on teenage girls."

Besides, to many researchers, the combination of rising obesity and bone weakening has the potential to synergistically undermine future health. "Adolescents and kids don't think long-term," says Jamie Stang, professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. "But what happens when these soft-drinking people become young or middle-aged adults and they have osteoporosis, sedentary living and obesity?"

By that time, switching to water, milk or fruit juice may be too little, too late.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

This is a great article from the foodnetwork.com site….

The USDA recommends five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, but getting your daughter to take a single bite of broccoli is akin to two rounds in the ring. Here are some strategies for sneaking healthy foods in the dishes your kids love. Don't forget to introduce a wide variety of fruits and vegetables at your table — even those you don't like.

1. Puree vegetables into pasta sauces
If your child craves pasta for every meal, don't panic. Just use the blender or food processor to puree broccoli or peppers (a great source of vitamin C) and carrots and spinach (for a blast of vitamin A) to add to tomato and other sauces. Make homemade ravioli using prepackaged wonton wrappers and chopped veggies. If you've got a mac and cheese lover, mash some steamed cauliflower into the cheese sauce for extra nutrients.

Recipe to try: Won Ton Ravioli

2. Hide the goods in ground meats and casseroles
Think about it: Meatloaf is a mixture of various foods, typically including ground meat, eggs, onions, and some bread crumbs. Adding a little shredded carrots and broccoli may give the meal a nutritional boost, but won’t change the flavor. Chili is chock full of beans; grate or dice in some carrots, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini.

Recipe to try: Vegetable Chili Wraps

3. Experiment with shakes and smoothies
Milkshakes and fruit smoothies are a great way to provide your child not only with calcium boosters such as milk and yogurt, but fruit as well. Try a variety — including strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mango, papaya, and bananas — to discover which your child likes best. It's a great way to introduce vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and folate into your child's diet.

Recipes to try: Top 5 smoothies

4. Try burying healthy foods in breads and muffins
Quick breads and muffins are kid favorites—and a great "hiding" spot for carrots or zucchini, which have the added benefit of making muffins moist.

Recipe to try: Pumpkin Bread

5. Put it on pizza
Many kids who won't eat broccoli or mushrooms dished up next to chicken will gobble it up served on a slice. If that won’t do the trick, try making your own pizza at home with pre-made pizza dough and the aforementioned sauce with pureed vegetables.

Recipe to try: Grilled Vegetable Pizza

6. Serve it au gratin
Kids love the taste of cheese (think of their favorites: grilled cheese, mac and cheese, American cheese), so why not put it to good use when preparing dinner? Melt cheddar or mozzarella cheese over broccoli or zucchini to give the veggies extra zing.

Recipe to try: Sweet Peas Au Gratin

7. Make fruit juice ice pops
Most local five-and-dimes or cookware stores sell ice pop trays (if not, regular ice trays will serve nicely). Use whole fruit juices, such as orange, cranberry, or grapefruit, and see if you can sneak in some blueberries "for decoration." You can also make plain, unflavored gelatin with fruit juice to boost the vitamin content.

8. Make mashed "potatoes" with cauliflower rather than spuds
Use flavorful cheeses and milk to make this delicious dish a family favorite.

Recipe to try: "Mock" Garlic Mashed Potatoes

9. Wrap it up
Try pureeing a variety of vegetables with beans to make a spread you can smear on tortillas (there are a variety on the market, from whole wheat to spinach, in addition to simple flour ones). Roll it up, top with cheese and place in the microwave. Serve with cheese, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole for fun dips.

10. Sneak them into sandwiches
Sending your son to school with his favorite sandwich of turkey or tuna? Adding lettuce, tomatoes, or cucumbers will give the lunch extra crunch. Try bananas on peanut butter sandwiches for an extra helping of potassium.

by Colleen Huber

Whole fresh foods should be the basis of what we all eat.  Whole foods, whether meat, vegetable or fruit, do two things: they provide all the nutrients that nature put into the food–not just as a sum of nutrients, but even more, as a synergy of nutrients that work together because they naturally interact within the living plant or animal. When we eat these foods, which have been connected with our whole existence as a species, the total health benefit to us is much greater than the sum of the parts. The second practical advantage of eating whole fresh foods is that they substitute, by their sheer bulk, the chemicals and denatured food derivatives that we might otherwise eat.

But you work non-stop and when you get home there is no time or energy to do anything but nuke half-synthetic processed food in the microwave. How do we get into that trap?

According to Dr. Kenneth Proefrock, NMD, a huge part of the problem is not knowing what you’re going to eat on Thursday night until … Thursday night. By that time, you’re lucky if you even make it home for dinner because your tummy rang the dinner bell back around Exit 128, and there just happen to be about four fast food outlets off that exit, as well as at the next exit coming up. (Funny how those fast food places are right there when the stomach growls.)

Here’s a big key, says Dr. Proefrock, to getting out of that trap. Plan on the weekend what you will eat for every meal the coming week. Your menu does not have to be set in stone; you can leave room to juggle for spontaneity now and then, but at least provide for enough of your own homemade food to eat each time you get hungry.

So how do you make your own homemade whole food and keep your day job too?

Here are several steps you can take to streamline your efforts and maximize the productivity of your kitchen, while keeping your time spent there to a minimum.

1.      Clear enough freezer space–about one cubic foot–to store several pint and quart-size containers of the food you will cook. Then on the weekend, plan all of your meals for the week, and go to the supermarket once to purchase the whole food ingredients in one trip. Consolidating all grocery shopping into one trip already saves time over shopping for a few items everyday.

Plus, with whole foods, you only need to go around the periphery of the supermarket where they are located, rather than taking time to go up and down the interior aisles where the processed foods are.

2.      Once you’ve brought home all the groceries, cook all your meals for the week at the same time. This way, instead of standing at the stovetop each day for each meal, you are there for one longer session during that week, and then you’re done!

The trick is to cook big portions, but freeze in the smaller quantities that you and your family will eat throughout the week. If you cook for a family, a large recipe will probably be good for two dinners (on alternate days) during the week, as well as a lunch or two. If you live alone, you will get at least four meal portions with half of them saved for the following week. At this point you don’t have to spend any more time throughout the week than you would on TV dinners.

3.      A food processor will work well for foods that you want to chop finely. Make freezer bags full of pre-cut vegetables that you can then defrost as needed during the week. One bag might contain pressed garlic with coarsely chopped string beans, which a few days from now you can sauté in coconut oil for a few minutes.

Another bag might contain chopped carrots, onions and tomatoes, along with cabbage that you cut into quarters. Sprinkle some caraway seeds into the bag. When you’re ready to make a meal of it, you can cook a portion of it in a cup of chicken broth for a delicious meal of balanced nutrients.

4.      Make use of large cooking vessels in order to accomplish the weekend cooking fiesta. A large crockpot really lends itself well to a whole foods diet. Here you don’t need a food processor.

Chop vegetables very coarsely, in much larger chunks than you can get away with in a stovetop meal. This step alone saves a lot of time. Put an organic beef round or two turkey legs or a  whole organic chicken on top of the vegetables, add a few cups of water, and/or tomato sauce, perhaps with balsamic vinegar. Sesame oil and tamari may be used instead for marinade. Add whole leaf herbs as you like, and you’re done. After practicing once or twice, you will have a huge crockpot meal thrown together in five to 10 minutes. Set it on "low" in the morning, and you’re done till dinnertime. In cool weather, you could do the same in the regular oven, with a Dutch oven type covered pot in fewer hours.

5.      Now it’s a Tuesday morning, and you’ll need something for dinner. Defrost one of the meals you prepared on the weekend. In the evening when you’re ready to cook it, place it into a serving dish in a toaster oven rather than a microwave. Toaster ovens have several advantages over microwaves. At about $40 they are much cheaper, smaller, and quieter. However, those benefits are far outweighed by the health advantage: microwave rays are unhealthy radiation, and when you microwave in a plastic container, it drives the phthalates of the plastic right into your food, which gives an otherwise excellent meal a toxic twist that you definitely do not need.

Microwave radiation also leaks throughout the whole kitchen from most microwave ovens, which creates an unhealthy atmosphere for adults, children and pets. For re-heating in your toaster oven, you’ll need one or two Pyrex-type serving dishes, about a liter each. Heating leftovers for two or three people in a toaster oven takes 10 to 15 minutes, not very much longer than a microwave.

6.      Also use your toaster oven for breakfast. Take out some of the freezer vegetables you prepared, and sprinkle some cheese, raw is preferable, over top, and heat it up for a healthy whole food breakfast, or break an egg over the vegetables. Neither of these will spike your insulin levels, unlike so many other dishes that we unfortunately have become accustomed to thinking of as breakfast foods.

7.      Use your toaster oven to prepare hot, healthy lunches for yourself and your family. Invest in a good-sized thermos with either glass or stainless steel (not aluminum) interior for each family member. While eating breakfast, heat up leftovers from last night, or a separately defrosted meal in your serving dish in the toaster oven, again for 10 to 15 minutes. Spoon it into each thermos. Then in each lunchbox, add a fork and little containers of nuts or some fresh fruit or some celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber or carrot sticks.

You all will then have lunches that will be wonderfully nutritious, well balanced, and appetizing for every adult and child in your family. When all lunches are prepared together assembly-line style, the process will go faster than if each lunch is made separately. And your savings will begin to be obvious as your restaurant and fast food expenses plummet toward zero.

8.      Take advantage of savings on seasonal produce. Get organic whenever possible. It has been by steadily rising consumer demand that growers have begun to get more and more organic produce into your local stores.

Here is a way to extend the seasonal savings. Fruit preserves can be made unsweetened, and rely only on the natural sweetness of the fruit. Buy a case of about four pounds of berries when in season. Also buy three Granny Smith apples for pectin, which is a natural jelling agent. Peel and core the apples. Cut into about 1/2-inch cubes. Place the apple pieces in a large pot, with about three pounds of washed and stemmed (if necessary) berries. (Keep the other one pound fresh for snacking.)

Simmer the berries and apples on low for about an hour while you are preparing your week’s worth of meals. At the end of an hour, you should have a thin fruit spread. Take a potato masher and mash any remaining chunks of apple and berries as desired. Let it cool. The texture will get a little thicker. Freeze it in pint-size containers. This makes a nice fruit spread that will keep indefinitely. You may be surprised that the berry flavor is plenty sweet enough without added sweetener. You can spread this with a nut butter on slices of apple or pear for breakfast or snacks.

9.      Don’t forget condiments. How often have you bought a bunch of parsley or cilantro with the good intention of using all of it, only to find most of it forgotten and wilted two weeks later, shoved behind other foods?

When it’s still fresh, chop it up finely and store in Ziploc-type bags in the freezer. Then you can access it as needed for the one teaspoonful you may want, without having it wilt away before you get a chance to use it. But if you really want fresh herbs, grow them. My favorite Greek salad dressing calls for mint, oregano and parsley, which fortunately are all easy to grow, so I make sure I always have at least one plant of each growing, and I harvest sprigs each time I make the dressing. The fragrance alone of the just-picked herbs are what make the salad.

10. For the crockpot, food processor, thermoses and toaster oven recommended above you may spend about $130. In order to recoup that investment, do yourself a huge favor and change your mindset about potable liquids. There is really no good reason to drink anything other than water (R.O filtered or spring water). In fact, when we drink other liquids, we train ourselves to slake our thirst with different tastes than water, which then makes the taste of water seem strange. Since our bodies are 90 percent water, the only thing strange about this is our acquired perception of water as strange.

Leave the heavy and expensive juices, teas, lattes and liquor at the store. Water is the only substance that can quench both the thirst we feel and the dehydration that almost everyone experiences to one degree or another. Drink it as you like it, with ice or without, with lemon or without, but reacquaint yourself with the one beverage that hydrates and moisturizes all the way in to the cellular level and out to the skin: water.

When it comes to meal preparation, many people feel that their own lifestyle and difficult or hectic life circumstances keep them from attempting to cook. What is so beneficial about preparing your own whole, healthy food using some of the above steps is that any able-bodied adult can do it.

Cooking big but freezing small is the best way for a single person to enjoy fully balanced home-cooked meals. For a busy parent with children of various ages, the kids can be recruited to help, and in turn receive the nutrients they most desperately need.

Even toddlers can peel carrots, while older children can wash and chop foods. Some of our warmest childhood memories are from ordinary days and activities together with family members in the kitchen. Bestow the goodness on them too; pass the tradition to the next generation so that cooking does not become just another lost art.

Colleen Huber writes about naturopathic medicine for her monthly newsletter at naturopathyworks.com.

HEALTH
CANDICE CHOI Associated Press

Even as Julie Wandling's two sons started packing on so much weight that their breathing became labored, she remained silent.

"It never occurred to me to put them on a diet," she said. "They're kids — my attitude was let them eat what they want."

In a nation where experts say nearly a third of children are overweight or obese, many parents like Wandling are at a loss when it comes to sparking change at home. That's reflected in government data showing no real improvement in the obesity rate despite public officials sounding alarms and calling for drastic changes.

Experts say the problem is that grown-ups aren't speaking the right language when it comes to kids and weight loss.

"You don't want to treat children like miniature adults and prescribe an exercise regimen that barely appeals to adults," said Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise.

Children enjoy play and movement by nature, so parents shouldn't have to force them to get moving, he said. For teenagers, an after-school sport, dance class or even a video game that requires movement, like dancing, are good options, he said. And there are appealing children's exercise videos set to music.

Pedometers are also surprisingly popular with young children, who see logging steps as a game, Bryant said.

"What you're trying to do is develop a positive attitude toward exercise for the long term," he said.

By giving her sons options — in fitness and food — Wandling eventually transformed their lifestyle about six years ago.

Previously, the Akron, Ohio, family ate "mindlessly" and didn't get much activity. Over the years, the pounds accumulated.

"They were getting squishy," she said. "Pudgy would be a nice word."

Alarmed by the boys' difficulty breathing, Wandling started taking her sons out to a variety of activities, from hiking to in-line skating to mountain climbing.

Eventually, she discovered they were passionate about tennis. Now, her sons practice tennis for hours nearly every day and are ranked in USTA tournaments.

Wandling applied the same theory to food, and introduced home-cooked recipes and snacks until she found foods they didn't resist.

"If you give them enough healthy foods to pick from, eventually they're going to find something they like," she said.

Her younger son complained at first that he didn't "want to eat leaves." Now 11, Ryan said he's a fan of the cole slaws, soups and salsas his mother makes.

"I can move around on the court better, and I don't get tired from running around," he said. "I used to have heavy breathing and always needed a break."

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Corbin describes a good dinner as a salad and a veggie burger. He even makes it a point to bring his own food when he goes out, packing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and maybe a banana and some cherries.

"My mom doesn't have to make a lot — I love all fruits," he said.

Embarking on such a major lifestyle change means deciding as a family that everyone will change.

"The child has to be a part of the decision-making process. They have to feel empowered," said Dr. Joel Fuhrman, an author of family fitness books who helped the Wandlings get on track.

Instead, experts say adults often inflict more harm than good by setting rules that only provoke rebellion. Some parents become so restrictive that they forbid even small treats like birthday cake. Others deeply humiliate their children, making a fuss in public over what their kids are eating.

Another common pitfall is isolating a child with a special diet while the rest of the family indulges freely, Fuhrman said. That only creates a forbidden-fruit syndrome that can make the child yearn for foods that are off-limits.

"When parents get alarmed and reactive, they're likely to act out of emotion and fear," said Maria Rago, a clinical psychologist and director of an eating disorders unit at a Chicago hospital.

"Parents are preparing children to take care of themselves in the future," she said. "The idea is to teach kids to work on solutions while keeping their self-image and self-esteem in mind."

Tips on Getting Kids in Shape

Experts say that to get kids in shape and keep them there:

 • Make exercise fun. Ditch the treadmill and find a sport or dance class children might enjoy. (Jumping on a Rebounder is a “natural” for children – I haven’t met a child yet that doesn’t like to jump!)

• Try different foods. Introduce a range of healthy recipes, fruits and vegetables until you find ones they don't resist.

• Talk about it. Ask kids how they feel about their weight and how it's affecting their lives.

• Make decisions as a family.

• Don't isolate children with special diets; engage them in the decision to change.

• Don't obsess over weight. Cultivate children's interests and remind them that they are more than their body.

On the Web

American Council on Exercise: www.acefitness.org/

Julianne is a mother to her beautiful five-year-old
daughter, Sarah. But all is not as it seems – something
strange is stirring in Sarah's body. One bedtime, as
Julianne pulled a pajama top over her daughter's head Sarah
suddenly exclaimed, "Ouch! That hurt when you touched my
nipple." Julianne was surprised by her daughter's response
and took a closer look. Yes, Sarah's nipples did appear to
be different from what she had remembered.

Julianne's pediatrician scheduled tests that confirmed
that Sarah was going through puberty. The small lumps were,
in fact, breast buds. How could this be happening to a five-
year old? The doctor explained that Sarah had a condition
called "precocious puberty."

PUBERTY IN PRETEEN YEARS

Precocious puberty, or early sexual development, is
happening everywhere. It's estimated that one out of six
girls aged eight may be entering puberty. The age at which
puberty begins has been steadily declining. Today, the
average age of first menstruation is under 12 years.

A groundbreaking U.S. study on 17,000 girls found that 27
percent of African-American and almost seven percent of
Caucasian girls had the onset of secondary sexual
characteristics, i.e., either breast development or pubic
hair development, by the age of seven. By the time the
girls turned eight-years-old, 15 percent of Caucasian girls
and 50 percent of Afro-American girls were starting
puberty. Even more startling was the finding that one
percent of Caucasian and three percent of African-American
girls showed these characteristics by the age of three.

The development of secondary sexual characteristics in
girls signals the onset of important physiological and
psychological changes. Girls who reach puberty earlier tend
to have increased risks for hormonal imbalances including
PMS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, acne, excessive facial
hair, and infertility. Studies show they also have sex
earlier, increase their risk of pregnancy, experience more
depression and psychological stress, have more behavioral
problems, are more likely to drink and smoke, have lower
IQ, and are at increased risk of suicide.

But perhaps the most disturbing consequence is the well-
established risk for pre-and postmenopausal breast and
ovarian cancers associated with having an early
menstruation. For instance, a girl who menstruates at the
age of 10 is at approximately twice the risk as a girl
whose menstruation started at the age of 16. The younger a
woman is when she starts her periods, the higher her risk
of later developing breast cancer. Prolonged exposure to
estrogens poses a risk factor for breast cancer; estrogen
is known to fuel the growth of estrogen-sensitive tissues
like that found in the breast.

Precocious puberty is also occurring in boys. It has now
been discovered that boys as young as nine years old are
developing genitalia, producing sperm, and having
spontaneous erections. In addition, they have hair growth
on the face, under their arms, and in the pubic area. In
boys, this can mean more aggressive, violent behavior,
cancer, and sterility.

HORMONE DISRUPTORS AT WORK

The experts are confused about the cause. Some blame
obesity. Presently one-third of Canadian children aged two
to 11 are overweight and 18 percent are obese. It is now
known that fat cells produce a protein called leptin, which
is necessary for the progression of puberty.

Is it just fast foods and a sedentary lifestyle that's
piling up the leptin-producing fat? Perhaps not! Prenatal
exposure to hormone disruptors can play a role in obesity.
In fact, the guilty party is looking more like hormone
disruptors, human made chemicals that mimic hormones and
disturb natural hormonal balance in the body. One study
found that the greater the prenatal level of the hormone
disruptor polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the earlier the
onset of puberty and the heavier the girls were at age 14.

Events in Puerto Rico helped scientists understand this
puzzling trend. For the past two decades, Puerto Rico has
recorded the highest known incidence of premature breast
development, with girls as young as two developing breasts.
Several causes have been cited. First of all, most of
these children were fed SOY infant formulas. SOY has plant-
based chemicals that mimic estrogen. The daily exposure to
estrogen from consuming SOY FORMULAS was six to 11 times
higher than for adults. In fact, the blood concentrations
in children were 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than
estrogen levels normally found in the blood!

Clues have also emerged implicating phthalates, chemical
plasticizers: The breast development of the Puerto Rican
children was also linked to phthalate exposure. Researchers
measured the presence of phthalates in the blood of girls
with precocious puberty and found that 68 percent showed
high levels. Phthalates are now everywhere. They are used
in building materials, food packaging and wrap, plastic
toys, medical devices, garden hoses, shoe soles, automobile
undercoating, wires and cables, carpet backing, carpet
tile, pool liners, artificial leather, notebook covers,
tool handles, dishwasher baskets, flea collars, insect
repellents, skin emollients, hair sprays, nail polish, and
perfumes.

THE SILENT INVASION

Hormone disruptors, like silent saboteurs, have invaded
the highly sensitive endocrine systems of our children.
Whether from chemical exposure in the environment, HORMONE-
LADEN MEATS and DAIRY PRODUCTS, or chemically laced
household products, exposure to hormone-disrupting
chemicals is now ubiquitous. Is it any wonder precocious
puberty is a worldwide epidemic? The long-term consequences
of early sexual development are unknown. OUR CHILDREN ARE
UNWITTING PARTICIPANTS IN AN UNPRECEDENTED EXPERIMENT. 

Chemicals have infiltrated every aspect of modern life.
Beginning utero, our children are accumulating chemicals in
their bodies. For some children, the effects may become
evident early in life. For others it may take many years or
even decades before the real harm & the cancers, the
multiple sensitivities, the behavioral problems, the
learning disabilities, the hormone imbalances, and
infertility or sterility-become apparent.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Prevention, protection, and education are always the first
line of action. Reduce hormone disruptors by cleaning up
your living environment. Substitute chemical products with
nontoxic ones. EAT ORGANIC FOOD and drink FILTERED WATER.
Since children with early puberty often have allergies,
food intolerances, candida, digestive problems, and high
levels of toxins and heavy metals, it is imperative to
correct these health problems.

If the indications are caught early, it may be possible to
reverse this condition by CHANGING DIET (ELIMINATING SUGAR,
NON-ORGANIC FOODS, TRANS FATS, ETC); eliminating exposure
to toxic chemicals (i.e., in cleaning and personal care
products and pesticides); and correcting the underlying
health problems. Precocious puberty may be a side effect of
21st -century living. However, THERE IS MUCH THAT CAN BE
DONE TO ENSURE OUR CHILDREN DO NOT BECOME TEENS BEFORE
THEIR TIME. 

(This is excerpted from Sherrill Sellman's book, "Mothers: Protect Daughters
from Breast Cancer," and is available at <http://www.ssellman.com>.)

This article was published on Wednesday 25 January, 2006.