Childhood Obesity

Growing up I was an active kid, I was always outside playing, involved in sports and it was rare that I would be watching TV.  I feel that because of all the new technological accessories, such as smart phones, IPads, and video games, you find kids hook on these accessories instead of being active. In addition, everyone is always in a rush to be somewhere and many people have little time to actually cook, so when they are hungry and or their kids are hungry they turn to fast food. On the subject, thirty years ago, kids just ate one snack a day, whereas now they are trending toward three snacks, resulting in additional 200 calories a day ("Learn the facts," 2010). Things have changed and it is not a good change as you can see. It is not hard to see why so many kids are obese in America. It is important that parents start taking action.     

            According to Centers for Disease Control childhoodObesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. One immediate effect is that obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease and are more likely to have prediabetes, which can later develop into diabetes. ("Childhood obesity facts," 2013). Now diabetes is only one major health problem, but other Obesity related health problems are heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma. 

          Kids should not be worrying about these diseases, which is why parents need to take action. Kids will eat what their parents eat. If the parents are eating unhealthy it is likely that the child is eating unhealthy. First Lady, Michele Obama started a campaign called “Let’s Move,” which is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams ("Let’s Move," 2010).  This idea is just what parents need. It focuses on health and being active. This website provides tips and how to get started. According to Blaze.com, Michele Obama said “childhood obesity is just a public health issue, it’s not just an economic threat, it’s a national security threat as well.” Michele Obama getting involved shows that it is a huge problem and it is something that needs to be solved.  

            Small changes can make a big difference. Forcing kids to play outside instead of watching T.V. can make a huge difference or staying away from fast food and making healthier choices. Implementing portion control by allowing the child to eat a certain amount instead of the whole bag of chips or candy. Taking kids to the park or even on hike at least three times a week. There are many ways to control obesity; you just have to implement these ideas.   

References

Learn the facts. (2010, February 9). Retrieved from http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity

Childhood obesity facts. (2013, July 10). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

CrossFit

Cross fit is the new "it" work out, it is intense and high impact, no machines are needed for cross fit just your body. Many people are switching from 24 hr fitness and LA fitness to a cross fit gym. According to games.crossfit, cross fit is many things. Primarily, it's a fitness regimen developed by coach Greg Glassman over several decades. He was the first person in history to define fitness in a meaningful, measurable way. CrossFit itself is defined as that which optimizes fitness constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity. Greg Glassman open up the first cross fit gym in 1995 and and 5 years later, everyone began to become familiar with it. From 2005-2009 over 1000 cross fit gyms open world wide.(crossfitvirtuosity) In summer 2007 the cross fit games began; every year people compete to be the fittest on Earth.

 Burpees, mountain climbers, pushing a tire from one side of the room to the next and climbing a rope are just some of the few workouts in cross fit. Most of the cross fit gyms are a bit pricey, but they are worth it because they work with you on a personal level, so its like having a personal trainer. Cross fit will help you loose weight, gain endurance, muscle and strength. Cross fit is many things and it is why people like it, you will never get bored because there is always a different work out routine and a new challenge to surpass. 

This video explains what cross fit is and gives you a better idea. Although it may be pricey, just remember you can't put a price on health. Would you rather have a new outfit, pair of shoes or a healthy/hot body. Look for deals on group on and living social, local cross fit gyms are always giving a sweet deal that is too good to pass up.

 The most important thing is to find something you enjoy doing, cross fit might not be for you, but you might like dancing, weight lifting, running, swimming, or boxing, if you enjoy doing a certain type of work out then stick to it because it will help you reach your fitness goal. 

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Lower body work out

Here is a great lower body work out video that you can do at the comfort of your own home. What is great about this video is that you don't need any weights, your just using your body weight. This video also includes a 5 minute warm up. This video will definitely have your legs crying and is only 16 minutes. To make this more of an intense work out, go for a 30 minute jog around your block, or do some jumping jax, anything to get your heart rate up. Remember a pound of fat is 3,500 calories. According to Nicci Howell, a pound of fat contains about 3,500 calories, so for each pound of fat you want to lose, you'll need to trim 500 calories a day. Howell suggests if you wanted to loose 2 lbs a week, do physical activity daily to burn those 500 calories or eating 700 fewer calories and exercise to burn 300 calories. Read more at Live Strong.com

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Upper body work out

When your working out it is best to focus on certain muscles at a time. For example, one day you can do upper body work out and the next lower body work out. This method lets you focus on certain muscle groups. Sometimes it could be too much for body to handle when your working out your entire body. This video is perfect for your upper body, it demonstrates the work out then does the work out. This video is 20 minutes and all you need is a mat and dumbbells.  Fitness can be done at the comfort of your home, so you have no excuses. There is always a way to get in shape. Before starting this video I would recommend warming up, maybe start with jumping jax or jump rope for 5 minutes or even go for a jog. If you want to break a sweat before you start this work out do 50 jumping jax, 20 burpees, 20 mountain climbers, and 20 squats in place. This will make your work out more intense and will get your heart rate up, hence burn more calories.  

Bye belly fat

The most stubborn fat to get rid of is your belly fat, better known as your gut. The stomach is a major problem area for both men and women. According to Fred Pescatore, MD, a New York physician specializing in nutrition and the author of Boost Your Health With Bacteria. "The gut plays a huge role in our overall health," he says "the majority of all of our illnesses stem from the gut being unhealthy."(Hepler, 2012) Asthma, allergies, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and inflammatory are all related to a poor gut health. According to Jennifer Cohen, Belly fat is actually the most dangerous type of fat-besides aesthetics, large waist lines are indicators of disease. There is a formula you can do to see if you are at risk of disease, according to Dr. Oz, you take your height in inches and divide that in half. If your waist size is more than half your height, you're at higher risk for developing complications from belly fat. Click here to view a video of Dr. Oz discussing belly fat.

Now that I have discussed about how belly fat can be a major threat, I will share some information about how to get rid of it. A healthy diet and exercise will help you get rid of that belly fat. In more detail of what kind of work out you should be doing is something that is high impact, something that will get your heart rate up. Julian Michaels recommends circuit training because it gets your heart rate up and you work out your entire body. Do not rely on sit ups to get rid of the belly fat because you don't want to build muscle over the fat. According to Julian Michaels both belly bulge and love handles are about excess body fat, not lack of muscle. That's why ab exercises alone are not the solution. Scoring a flat stomach is all about workouts that impact different muscle groups at the same time-so you're strengthening your entire body and burning more calories. Jon Wade from Motely Health encourages exercise for weight loss. He claims that exercising has an immediate effect on weight, in that as you exercise you burn energy, mostly glycogen stored in muscle tissue. The body replaces the lost energy by breaking down sugar reserves in fat cells. This is why we lose weight/fat when we exercise. So get off that couch and exercising.

Jennifer Cohen discusses 6 ways to burn your belly fat, one is sleep. When you're tired you produce more ghrelin, which triggers cravings for sugar and other fat-building foods.(Cohen, 2012) Number 2 on the list is short burst of exercises, once again do not rely on crunches or sit ups to get rid of the belly fat, she suggests planking because it works out your entire body and aims at your core as well burning more calories. Cohen strongly suggest to stay away from sugar and claims that it is your enemy, she is not the first person to say this either, Julian Michaels and many other articles such as Live Strong.com recommend to reduce your sugar and sodium intake in order for you to lose weight. Cohen suggest a great tip, she suggests to sprinkle cinnamon in your coffee or oatmeal because the spice has been shown to help stabilize blood sugar. Cohen suggests to increase your vitamin C intake because when you're under extreme stress, you secret more corisol hormone. Vitamin C helps balance the cortisol spikes that happen to you under this stress. Michaels and Cohen both suggest to eat fat, yes fat, but the good fat. Michaels suggests to eat nuts, according to Michaels, research has found that people who eat nuts twice a week are much less likely to gain weight than those who don't. Cohen advises to eat good fats such as salmon, avocados and walnuts, foods that are rich in Omega 3's.

If your serious about getting rid of the belly fat, you have stay away from happy hour. Michaels implies to stay away from alcohol because alcohol releases estrogen into the bloodstream and when you have excess estrogen, you're more prone to hold onto weight. Julian Michaels insinuates that  alcohol also lowers your inhibitions, decreases your willpower, and stimulates your appetite. The result? You in a drive-thru ordering a cheeseburger and fries at 2 a.m. Michaels is so right because many of us have been in this position. Jon Wade encourages to decrease your alcohol consumption. According to Wade, if you drink a lot, you will accumulate fat around your waist. Excess alcohol consumption can really give you a belly.

Having a healthy life-style will help you in so many ways, you will have energy, confidence and a better mine set. Start your healthy life style today and get rid of that belly

Wednesday Weightlift Workout

For this week's weekly feature, I decided to show you all how you can intesify your light workout by simply using weights. I recommend doing 10-15 of each exercise per set, and doing 2-3 sets for each day. This will tone your muscles a bit, and give you a light work out for those days when you don't have much time. You can alter any part of the exercise to better fit your needs, and remember, this is just a light work out to tone your arms, and a little leg work out, too. Hope you enjoy!

Don't Fall into Temptation

We all know that worst time for a diet is during the holidays.  You’re not the only one struggling!  WebMD, weight lose clinic, gives 10 pointers on how to manage your weight during the holidays.  In this article it acknowledges that when people socialize food and drinks are involved but having a plan will help you not go overboard.  My weakness will be cutting back on alcohol and not splurging.   The last paragraph of this article it said not to beat yourself up if you don’t do great on your diet, get back to your normal routine after the holiday’s.  Whew, good thing because I was already beating myself up!

If you are cooking for the holidays, check out some healthy dishes for you and your guests.  I usually bring a veggie or fruit platter to our family gathering but this year I’m going to try to make a healthy dessert.   To take away any temptation I’ll just make something I don’t like.  If I don’t like it, I will not be tempted.  My husband loves rice pudding but the texture bothers me.  I’m more of a chocolate cake kind of girl.  Here is a recipe I found that is worth trying and shows step by step how to make it.  It’s so easy even I can make it!