Brought to you by MAT@USC Masters in Teaching.
The week of October 10 is National School Lunch Week, an effort to examine and raise awareness around a particular angle of school nutrition. For 2011, the theme is “School Lunch – Let’s Grow Healthy.” According to the NSLW, this “provides the opportunity to try something new and promote locally sourced foods.
Many school are growing their own gardens, sourcing ingredients for cafeteria meals from local farmers, and some are expanding the knowledge students have of the food industry by inviting farmers to the school or taking field trips to local farms.
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Kids are heavier than ever and get too little exercise, as school physical fitness has nearly evaporated and home activities revolve around computer games. So, to ensure that the computer time is extraordinarily bad for kids’ health, Activision and Pepsi have teamed up in a cross-promotion from Hell.
Activision and Pepsi have come up with “Rank Up XP,” a cross-promotional deal that is implemented via the new video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The offer goes like this: When gamers buy certain Pepsi products, such as Mountain Dew or Doritos, they get redeemable codes to use for “Double XP time” in Call of Duty. Since I’m not familiar with the game, I can only say that it gives people a distinct advantage (presumably in Internet play?).
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Parenting is the most difficult, most important job you are ever going to have. While there are many happy, feel-good moments, there are also painful and uncomfortable moments; it’s all part of being a parent. Traditionally, one of the most uncomfortable moments for a parent was thought to be the discussion of “the birds and the bees”. While talking to your kids about where babies come from may be difficult, a recent study has revealed that there is another conversation that parents dread more.
The idea of talking to your kids about maintaining a healthy weight is so frightening for parents that more than 20 percent admit to never broaching the subject at all, according to research from the Raising Fit Kids study, a partnership between webMD and Stanford University. Compare that to 5 percent who are uncomfortable discussing alcohol, drugs, and smoking; 10 percent of parents who are uncomfortable discussing sex; and nearly 25 percent of parents who are uncomfortable discussing weight and health. It is probably the same 20 percent of parents that seem to believe that the pediatrician should be the one responsible for discussing health and weight with their children.
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When you’re the eighth fattest state, when over 800,000, or 12 percent, of your children are obese or overweight, and when 30 percent of your adults are obese, something has to change. That’s exactly why the state of Michigan could begin requiring to screen and report children’s BMI statistics in the near future.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder tackles the state's growing obesity problem
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will announce his proposal on Wednesday, September 21. Synder has made plans to have doctors begin providing body weight data to a new state registry. This move is viewed as one of the most extensive government efforts to confront the overwhelming problem of pediatric obesity.
Similar to how immunization records are reported, children’s BMI stats will be reported to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry, however their identity will be anonymous. These facts will allow the state to track the growing obesity problem.
Another benefit from this process is that the children will be in the private care of a doctor when these numbers are obtained. They will be with their parents and the doctor is available to offer more advice. Other states have attempted to track these issues at school and send the information home with very little advice or tools to handle the problem. Supporters of the proposal believe this is the best way to insure parents understand and receive help.
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Tune in to Dr. Phil Friday, September 23 to catch Jillian Michaels doing what she does best: calling people out on their unhealthy habits.
Dr. Phil has a full episode on Thursday dealing with the diets and health of American children. Dr. Phil will feature the story of an obese child removed from his home by Social Services, the story of a 115 pound 4-year old, and the mother who will only feed her 11-year old daughter vegetables to keep her thin.
Jillian Michaels addresses this thin obsessed mother and other parents regarding the wellness of today’s children.
