EDITORIALS Don’t miss chance to improve nutrition for schoolchildren
Watching the maneuvering in Albany as the session winds down can give you a case of indigestion. So can food in schools, one of the things they will be haggling over in a conference committee that meets today. The Senate and Assembly say they agree on the need to improve nutrition in schools, but they’re all over the place on the details. With only two days left until the end of session, it is time to focus — or stay on task, as the educators like to say. One big difference is that the Senate wants the new, tougher nutritional standards proposed by Gov. Spitzer to apply only to junk foods, such as those sold in vending machines. But the vast majority of the food sold in schools is through breakfast and lunch programs, and it also tends to be unhealthy. Much of it is federal surplus — highfat, high-cholesterol beef, pork, chicken, dairy and other animal products — bought to help farmers when prices are low. Federal dietary guidelines recommend that Americans eat fewer of these foods, and more fruits, vegetables and grains. So why are we pushing the unhealthy stuff on our schoolchildren, who are already showing unprecedented rates of obesity and illnesses like hypertension and diabetes? The Senate bill does have a worthwhile provision that the Assembly bill lacks. It would offer funding to assist school districts in purchasing fresh, nutritious, locally grown food. That would help not only children but local farmers. Both houses would increase state reimbursements by $40 million for breakfast and lunch programs. That’s reasonable and needed, considering that the reimbursements haven’t been raised in two decades. But they differ on the exact formula, and on whether to expand the school breakfast program to all schools and make breakfast free to those students who now must pay a quarter, as the Assembly wants. These last are minor differences, though, and shouldn’t be allowed to become deal breakers. Ideally the new standards would apply to all food sold in schools and take effect sooner than September 2010, the date they would apply for meals under the Assembly bill (September 2008 for snacks and beverages). But we would be willing to compromise. So should the Senate and Assembly.
There would be far less over-weight kids in this country if the parents would get them off the computers and get them outside playing baseball, football, soccer,hiking, or any other activity that gets them exercise and fresh air.
Fitness trainers for kids — why not? Many parents are happy to pay for one-on-one work BY JAMIE STENGLE The Associated Press
DALLAS — Nearly a million American youngsters, some as young as 6, rely on personal trainers to shape up, lose weight or improve in sports, according to figures from the nation’s leading sports club association. Many parents, worried about their children’s weight and fitness, say working with a trainer motivates their kids and helps build confidence. So they are willing to spend the $40 to $60 an hour that trainers generally charge. “We are seeing children that are out of shape where their parents realize the exercise program needs to be safe and effective,” said Joe Moore, president of International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. “A personal trainer is a good way to make sure that the criteria are met.” The Boston-based group’s latest figures, from 2005, show that 824,000 children between the ages of 6 and 17 use trainers — a figure that accounts for about 13 percent of trainers’ clients. With many high school students not getting exercise at school unless they play a sport, more parents are turning to trainers to help their children stay fit, said Carla Sottovia, assistant fitness director at Dallas’ Cooper Fitness Center. More than one-third of American children are overweight and experts warn of future health problems ahead from diabetes to heart disease. Kathleen Ballew decided her 7-year-old son, Jordan Sims, who will begin second grade in the fall, could benefit from some one-on-one time with a fitness professional. She had noticed he needed help with balance and coordination in soccer and karate. She’d also observed he was reluctant to do things kids normally do, like climbing on park equipment. “I also just want to get him in the habit of making exercise part of daily routine,” said Ballew, who described her son as just a little overweight. She fears it’s something he’ll have to struggle with as he grows up. Since Jordan began working out at Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center in Dallas with a trainer about a year ago, he moves more naturally and confidently, his mother said. His trainer, Lauren Jacobson, works with about half a dozen kids under 18. She said she’s noticed that training helps build confidence and a sense of accomplishment, along with helping kids get in better shape. Zachary Edgerton, 18, who graduated this spring from a Dallas-area high school, has been working out with a trainer since his sophomore year. He was in the middle of doing a makeover on his body after he began jogging as a 5-foot-2, 210-pound eighth-grader. By the end of his sophomore year, he’d lost about 60 pounds. Edgerton, who saw a trainer for a time during middle school, decided training was a good way to get more toned. “I was done being a fat kid and I wanted to get in shape and feel good,” said Edgerton, now 5-foot-7 and 165. Dr. LeAnn Kridelbaugh, a pediatrician and nutrition specialist at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, said that if parents have the resources for a personal trainer and their teen wants to do it, having a set appointment can be a good motivator to exercise. “If you have the money and you feel that your late adolescent is going to get in shape and be more fit by using a personal trainer, I don’t think that most pediatricians would have a problem with that,” she said. She cautions, though, that for children who have not yet reached puberty it’s important that the trainer know how to work with kids whose bodies are still developing. Kridelbaugh also points out that kids can get the exercise they need on their own by swimming, riding bikes, jumping rope or taking walks with their family. And something as simple as playing catch can improve coordination, she said. “They can probably accomplish just as much with a motivated parent, playing games,” Kridelbaugh said. It’s important that it be fun, she said. Parents don’t always find that easy to do, however. Kathleen Mc-Gowan said she’s been impressed by the variety that her 13-year-old daughter’s trainer puts into their workout sessions — something she doesn’t think she would be able to do. “It’s unpredictable, which makes it fun,” said McGowan. After a recent fast-paced, 30-minute workout, daughter Katie McGowan’s face glows with a wide smile and rosy cheeks. “You’re doing something to make yourself healthier and it’s a really good feeling,” she said.
Review: Spending on nutrition education programs does little National obesity rates among children continue to climb BY MARTHA MENDOZA The Associated Press
PANORAMA CITY, Calif. — The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education — fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will feel if you eat well. But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way kids eat — or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. “Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working,” said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition. The results have been disappointing, to say the least: Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to school children showed fifth graders became less willing to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently they didn’t like the taste. In Pennsylvania, researchers went so far as to give prizes to school children who ate fruits and vegetables. That worked while the prizes were offered, but when the researchers came back seven months later the kids had reverted to their original eating habits: soda and chips. In studies where children tell researchers they are eating better or exercising more, there is usually no change in blood pressure, body size or cholesterol measures; they want to eat better, they might even think they are, but they’re not. The studies don’t tell Leticia Jenkins anything she doesn’t know. She’s one of the bravest teachers in America — not because she gave her seventh- and eighth-graders 30 sharp knives to chop tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and limes for a lesson on salsa and nutrition, but because she understands the futility of what she is trying to do. “Oh, it’s so hard, because at the end of the day sometimes I take a moment, I think gosh, I did all this and we still see them across the street picking up the doughnuts and the coffee drinks,” she said. Nationally, obesity rates have nearly quintupled among 6- to 11-year-olds and tripled among teens and children ages 2 to 5 since the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The medical consequences of obesity in the U.S. — diabetes, high blood pressure, even orthopedic problems — cost an estimated $100 billion a year. Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James Holsinger Jr., nominated as the next surgeon general, says fi ghting childhood obesity is his top priority.
How about getting the kids outside to play baseball, football, ride bikes, swim and do all the things we did as kids. Not many of us got overweight until we got older. Keep them away from the fast food places too.
How can you keep the kids away from it when you can't even keep the young parents today away from it? And fast food is not the only culprit here. There are parents that feed their family 'to death'. Really!! I have seen families that eat continuously! Parents and kids. We're talking tons and tons of carbs/sugars/fat....Some folks think that eating pancakes and bacon for breakfast, a brownie or 2 for brunch, a sandwich with coldcuts and tons of mayo for lunch, potato chips for snack, then a roast, mashed potatos, gravy, veggies smothered in butter, rolls w/butter with a 'healthy' salad thrown in, or even pasta, day after day is fine! Well it's not! Come on folks...use a little common sense here!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Obesity can be contagious in social groups, study says BY ALICIA CHANG The Associated Press
Watch out if your best friend gets pudgy. A new study suggests obesity can spread like an infectious disease and that your odds of becoming obese are much greater if your friends and family put on weight. By studying a large social network of 12,067 people who have been closely tracked for the past three decades, researchers found that when one person became fat, those close to them gained as well. The strongest influence was seen among friends no matter where they lived. A person’s chances of becoming obese went up 57 percent if a friend became obese. In the closest friendships, the risk almost tripled. Among siblings, the risk of obesity increased by 40 percent and 37 percent among spouses. “We were stunned to find that friends who are hundreds of miles away have just as much impact on a person’s weight status as friends who are right next door,” said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego. The researchers think it’s more than just people with similar eating and exercise habits hanging out together. Instead, it may be that having relatives and friends who become obese changes one’s idea of what is an acceptable weight. Despite their findings, the researchers said people should not sever their relationships. “There is a ton of research that suggest that having more friends makes you healthier,” Fowler said. “So the last thing that you want to do is get rid of any of your friends.” The study was published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the National Institute on Aging. Researchers analyzed medical records of people in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following the health of residents of that Boston suburb for more than a half century. They tracked records for relatives and friends using contact information that participants provided each time they were examined over a 32-year period. In all, 12,067 people — all Framingham participants — were involved in the study. After taking into account natural weight gain and other factors, researchers found that social ties seemed to play a surprisingly strong role, even more than genes are known to do. Geography and smoking cessation had no effect on obesity risk. On average, the researchers calculated, when an obese person gained 17 pounds, the corresponding friend put on an extra 5 pounds. Gender also had a strong infl uence. In same-sex friendships, a person’s obesity risk increased by 71 percent if a friend gained weight. Between brothers, the risk was up by 44 percent and 67 percent between sisters. Indiana University statistician Stan Wasserman said while the study was clever, it had its limitations because it excluded relationships outside of the Framingham group.
Many mothers today work and don't get home until late and their solution is to stop at McDonald's or Burger King on the way home from work to feed the family for dinner. It's no wonder this country has a weight problem.
And that probably cost her more $$ than a healthy meal prepared at home......where does this merry-go-round end......in NYS it just goes faster and faster and faster......is it the 'keeping up with the Jones' by having to work to afford certain neighborhoods, certain cars, certain clothes, kids going to certain extracarricular activities etc......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
If it's one thing that I've seen with my own kids is that money doesn't seem to be an object when they want something. In our generation when we had the money we'd buy when we've been waiting to get for a long time. With the parents today when they want it they get it no matter what they have to do like charge it.
Yes there is an element of 'keeping up with the jones', but there is also a very real element of just plain survival. These young adults don't have it quite as 'simple' as the older generation did. Everything is so expensive and childrens 'real' needs seem to be more. Playing outside is not an option any longer. There is a need for 'play dates'. Two cars in a family was a luxury...today it is a necessity! Computers use to be for the computer 'geeks'. Today they are a necessity for the kids, for future employment. It's just a different time and all past generations have gone through it! And they young adults will make it through just fine like the generations from the past has.
They may be just a wee bit fatter!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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