Health And Fitness For Kids Biography
Source Google.com.pk
If you’re a parent, chances are you’ve engaged in your fair share of food fights: You’re serving broccoli, and your kids want fries; you offer strawberries, and they want ice cream. As stressful as it may be to get your children to eat healthfully, don’t give up the good fight. Five percent of U.S. kids and teens are now classified as severely obese, with a body mass index—a measurement of body fat based on height and weight—that’s at least 20 percent higher than the 95th percentile for their age and gender, according to an American Heart Association statement issued earlier this week. What’s more, nearly a third of American kids ages 6 to19 are now overweight or obese. As a result, health conditions once exclusive to adults like high blood pressure and diabetes are showing up in children.
Feeding your kids a balanced diet is clearly more important than ever. But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy task. "I can’t think of anything more difficult for parents than trying to get their kids to eat healthfully in an environment in which junk food companies spend billions to make kids want their products, put them everywhere kids are, and use sports heroes and music stars to sell them," says Marion Nestle, PhD, top public health nutritionist and author of Eat Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics.
What can your children do in less than 8 minutes? According to a study released this week in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, kids can decrease body mass index, waist circumference, and systolic blood pressure with just over 7 minutes of vigorous physical activity per day. The study also found measurable increases in VO2 max (a key indicator of cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance) for vigorous exercisers in the test group.
Researchers used data from 605 rural and urban Canadian pre-teens and teenagers age 9 to 17, who participated in the 2008 Healthy Hearts Prospective Cohort Study of Physical Activity and Cardiometabolic Health in Youth study. The main objective was to determine the association between physical activity intensities and cardiometabolic risk factors in youth. Time spent on light or moderate exercise was not associated with significant improvements to BMI status, weight loss, or physical fitness.
We checked in with certified fitness expert and Wallie Exercises author, Steve Ettinger, to find out what constitutes vigorous exercise. "It's activity performed at a near maximum heart rate level," says Ettinger. Put simply, it's exercise that will make you breathe faster and get sweaty.
"The great thing about studies like this is that they emphasize efficiency," says Ettinger. "Not many people enjoy the outdated physical education staple of running laps around a gym and it's much easier to engage a child with shorter, more vigorous activities."
So what can you do as a parent? Team sports like soccer, basketball, volleyball, and field hockey are all great ways to keep your kids active and on the move. But there are lots of individual exercises that yield the same or similar benefits like Zumba, CrossFit for kids, running clubs and martial arts. Ettinger also recommends competitions and exercise that require setting a goal.
"Have children partner up and give each pair a stopwatch," says Ettinger. "While one partner works through the race or obstacle course, the other partner works the stopwatch. During each subsequent turn, the child's goal is to beat the previous time."
If motivation is a problem, Ettinger says it's up to the parent to lead by example. "If kids see their parents moving and motivated, it's much more likely they'll be active," he says. "Try to find activities that interest and excite the child on an individual level."
Although you may be fighting an uphill battle, getting your kids to love and appreciate whole foods isn’t impossible. Here are Nestle’s top tips for raising healthy eaters:
1. Practice what you preach. The best way to ensure your children don't subsist on chips and chicken nuggets is to avoid eating junk yourself. The occasional trip to the ice cream shop is one thing, but if you regularly indulge in empty calories, you can’t blame your child for wanting to do the same. "Try to maintain a junk food-free home,” says Nestle, “And make a point to emphasize that this is the way 'our family' eats."
2. Know what you’re up against. No matter how much produce you pack in your fridge, your children are going to be inundated with the message that cheese puffs are more fun than carrots. "It’s not that junk food companies are evil,” says Nestle. “They’re just in business and their business is to sell snacks, and if they don’t market to kids, they can’t sell. It’s as simple as that." Nestle calls for more government regulation to curb kid-targeted ads for processed foods and urges parents to do the same. In the meantime, give yourself a break if raising healthy foodies is easier said than done.
3. Make food fun. Competing with fairytale princesses and larger-than-life superheroes can be tough, but making food lessons an enjoyable part of your children’s lives can get them on your side and help them establish lifelong healthy habits. “Talk to your kids about food, show them how to read food labels, and teach them where their food comes from,” advises Nestle. “Oh, and teach them how to cook!” (Get started with this family-friendly homemade granola bar recipe).
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
Health And Fitness For Kids Quotes Inspiration Picture Clipart Logo Magazine Images Tumblr Motivation Tips
No comments:
Post a Comment