Being kids.. And Having Kids..

I came across a great article today, and I wanted to share my thoughts on it. The article touched on some things that I have been reviewing and studying on within the past 6 months.. It's a subject that we all seem to not want to talk much about it. The subject is exercising.. Keeping our bodies strong... Well I have probably viewed and read over thousands of articles, talking about over weight, to obesity,to helping ward off disease, to viewing million's of visualizations on different exercise routines. Millions of workout DVD's, quick lose weight products, to magazine and TV commercials.. I often wonder just how many people really reach out to this concept.. The concept of healthy bodies.. Why do so many of us, walk around or dodge this concept.. DO you dodge it? Well I will answer my own question here.. I was one that dodged it, until this past summer.. And yes I raised 4 daughter's.. And thinking back over the year's when I was raising them, not once that I can remember teaching them about exercise and the importance of it.. Not once did I ever get them involved with some kind of sports activity, with health being the reason behind it.. Yes I did have them involved in a few things, but in all reality, it wasn't much.. The list I came up with on their activities in 20 years or more ..

* Going to the park to play

* Dance.. (which was only for 2 years for one child, and 1 year for another child..) Great not...

* Church basketball (two daughter's, 2 years only)

* Small activities around the house.. Playing baseball, running, chasing each other.. Great not...

This is my list.. Not good.. Not good at all...

What am I doing right now.. Right now, this very moment.. Well I am shaking my head, and thinking.. What the heck was I thinking.. What was I doing those 20 years, while I was raising them. I was always looking for the Mother of the Year award.. It never came.. I always thought that I deserved it.. Maybe just one time of glory for all my hard work.. Needed a pat on the back.. Always looking for someone to tell me what a great mother I was... Have you ever felt this way? Did you ever want the same award? Is your list bigger than mine, or is it smaller than mine!!.. Well I am a reasonable kind of woman most of the time, so I can just reply back to myself on this.. You really messed up Julie.. I firmly believe that we do what we do with what we know and have..

I started my family at a very young age.. 16 years old was my age when I was married, the first time.. 16 years old.. Now that all in its self was a wrong thing to do. You see I had just started to live my own life.. We take out of our basket of life learning's, and share with your children as you are raising them, as you have probably guessed it.. My basket was empty.. I had nothing to teach with, and nothing to give.. But I had a few things up my sleeve, that kept me going.. In which allowed me to be a great mom, Deserving that award still.. I knew how to love them... That was my plan from the very beginning.. I was going to be the best mother ever.. I was going to love them, no matter what kind of trouble they got into, I was going to love them, when they brought home bad grades, I was going to love them when they fell and got hurt.. My solution to everything I did for them was based on Love... On my definition of Love.. Won't go into that definition..

Now my daughter's are all grown, and some with family's of their own. And you guessed it.. I am a lot wiser than what I was at my young age in raising my family.. The way I was raised had absolutely nothing to do with the way I raised them, without exercise in their young lives.. It had everything to do with education, electronic gadgets, working full time, and knowledge and understanding...

This past summer has been a turning point in my life. I am over 50 year's in age, and health issues have surfaced into my life now. Being under weight my whole life, and now dealing with the changes that come with aging, had begun to take over my life, as well as depression.. All I know is that you do not need to be where I was. It is a simple concept, and yet it is something that millions of people research online daily by the millions..

SO my question's to you are simple ones, be brave to answer them.. Do you exercise? Do you teach your children to exercise? Do you dodge the question's because you know you need it, but you do not want to take the time to do it. Do you dodge the question because you don't have time too tired. Do you dodge the question because like me you knew, yet didn't know where to begin, or what to do.. Do you keep from teaching this to your children because you do not even do it for yourself. Do you dodge it because you are not willing to give up certain things in your life.. Do you dodge it because you think you still have time to live dangerously and carelessly.. Do you dodge it because you have convinced yourself that you  do not have the money to support such activity.. Do you dodge it because you have no gym equipment. DO you dodge it because it's not important to you. Do you dodge it because you already think you get enough exercise. Do you dodge it because your to far gone for any help at this stage in your life. Do you dodge it because you are scared, so you run away.

What is your reason why? I can tell you that I came up with this list of reason's why, because it is a list that was my list.. I have not conquered them all.. But I can honestly say that I am tearing down some wall's in my life. I now have both eye's opened, both ear's are listening, and my mind is thinking.. I didn't do it all on my own, and it didn't happen over night. I was and I am very grateful for others who stepped up to the plate and decided to start a new mission. People who want to get America Moving.. People who have the tools and resources to educate others, but they can not do it alone, and neither can I and neither can you. But what I can tell you is that it is important to became a steward ship of learning and helping others.. It is our children. The next generation, and we are killing them.. And it is pretty scary to see the number's rise every day.. Diabetes, depression,obesity, sadness and loneliness.. No hope in people's eye's, and fighting with an entire nation that is suffering from stress, as we all go through this difficult time in all of our lives with the economy as it is.. We all know all of this, please search out your own reason's why, sit with yourself, and think.. Where is your path taking you. Learn about what just a little bit of exercise can do for your own health, your children, and your parents an friends. I think you will be amazed at what you get back.. I know I was..

I hope you enjoy this article, visit this website, and please leave your comment's for this individual. You will need to scroll down the page to locate article..

Diet, Exercise, and Your Kids' Grades

Diet, Exercise, and Your Kids' Grades

By Steve Edwards

There's a lot more you can do for your kids' education than lock them in bulletproof SUVs and wait in smog-choked lines of other SUVs to drop them at the steps of their schools. Teaching proper eating habits and providing time for exercise will do more for your children's potential to excel than any other thing that you, as a parent, can do.

Unfortunately, you may not get support from your school in these matters. Lack of funding and programs such as the ill-named "No Child Left Behind" are making it more and more difficult for your kids to eat well and exercise properly at school, thus making your parenting decisions more vital than ever before.

Exercise

A growing body needs to exercise to develop properly. There's no science to dispute this, yet schools have begun to cut PE classes to minimal levels. Lack of exercise not only makes it harder for children to concentrate on classwork during the day but it is a leading cause in the childhood obesity epidemic that's sweeping the nation. "Over the last 25 years, caloric intake in toddlers and young kids has gone up three or four percent, but the level of physical activity has dropped nearly 20 percent to 25 percent," says Ken Reed, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Physical Education.

When I was in school, I had five recess periods, and my memories are of swarms of kids charging all over our exercise fields. In a survey of parents, I found that most kids have three or less periods of PE these days. Plus, it's becoming increasingly rare to walk to school, something that provided me and most of my classmates hours of random muscle-building, calorie-burning activity 5 days per week.

While there are plenty of studies that show the connection between physical fitness and academic performance, it's still a challenge for school administrators who feel they must focus on academics. One researcher, Dr. John Ratey of Harvard, does brain research on physical fitness and calls physical activity "Miracle-Gro for the brain." Despite this, it's still an uphill battle.

"The situation isn't good and it's getting worse," says Reed. "Physical activity levels have dropped dramatically in the last 25 years and we believe there's a direct link there to childhood obesity, as well as a dramatic increase in type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels in children. PE cuts are primarily due to budget problems in schools. Also, the focus is on the educational assessment test that almost every state has due to No Child Left Behind and other factors. The assessment test has become the scorecard for administrators and teachers. The focus is on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Parents are also picking up on the state assessment scores as their scorecards on how their school's doing, so they put more pressure on schools to focus on those academic areas. Something's got to give, and it's usually PE, music, and art classes." Beachbody® and Shaun T also knew they had to respond to this dire situation of cuts and lack of exercise through the creation of Shaun T's Fit Kids™ Club.

Diet

Then there's your child's diet to consider, which most likely won't be improved at school. According to statistics cited in Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation, the worst-quality food goes to fast food restaurants, schools, and pets, in that order—a pretty scary thought when we consider that fast food restaurants and the school cafeteria make up a large percentage of what is forming the dietary pattern of our future generations.

It's easy to see the food/performance relationship among school kids. One example is Appleton Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin; the school implemented a health food program in 1997 and saw a dramatic increase in student performance. By removing soda and candy machines and changing the cafeteria fare from the standard burgers, fries, etc., to salads, veggies, whole-grain breads, fresh water, and healthy recipes, they saw grades go up, truancies go down, and disciplinary matters nearly vanish.

"I don't want to say better than ever, because it's always worked," said Dean of Students Greg Bretthauer recently, "but we've made minor revisions, based on experience, to improve it. We've incorporated flaxseed and focused on the omega content of foods. Made fresh water even more available. We have monthly fruit smoothie days, and have really worked to incorporate more education about eating away from school—trying to get students to follow through at home. We've found that diet does play a major role in increasing the ability [of students] to concentrate."

Adds teacher Mary Bruyette, "If you've been guzzling Mountain Dew and eating chips and you're flying all over the place, I don't think you're going to pick up a whole lot in class. Now I don't have to deal with daily discipline issues; that just isn't a factor here." While there's little doubt that better food will increase scholastic performance, there's also little chance it's going to happen on a wide scale anytime soon. "Our district is so strapped for cash that all they can look at is the bottom line," states Reed Bartlett, a teacher in the Riverside, California, school district. So we get cheap, low-quality food, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Weird science

It probably doesn't help that there's always a study out there for someone to fall back on and say things like, "See, it doesn't matter what the kids eat." Case in point: The infamous "sugar study" that came to the conclusion that diet played little to no role in children's behavior.

Since I can say, with 100 percent certainty, that I've never had a client who wasn't affected by what they ate, I'm pretty sure not many people will disagree with me that food can alter the way you feel, which can alter your behavior. Yet, according to Steven Pliszka, MD, professor of psychiatry at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, "The biggest myth of all is that food has any connection to behavior." Say what?

And there's more where that came from. Wesley Burks, MD, professor and chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center states, "There haven't been any good scientific studies that show that there is an adverse effect on a child or adult's behavior chronically with the ingestion of foods." Perhaps not, but there's at least one school with thousands of real-world examples of diet playing a major role on behavior. In fact, the Appleton school tried an experiment where they served nothing but sugar-laced foods, caffeinated beverages, foods prepared with palm oils, etc., like "normal school kids get" and it had a significant effect. According to Bretthauer, "They ran around like hyped-up squirrels, felt sick, couldn't seem to concentrate. 'Pleeease,' they said. 'Don't have another one.'"

Scary science

Your kids are likely to live less time than you, which is one of the most alarming statistics I've seen recently, if not in my life. And that's the big-picture stuff. On a smaller scale, we see studies on the negative effects of many things associated with the daily lives of children.

Kids are drawn to bright colors, so marketers love to change the way food looks—just look at any chain restaurant's kid menu for examples. Yet eating foods with artificial colors and preservatives can cause negative behavior changes in children, according to a study published in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood. And that's just one. In a review of two dozen scientific studies, the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) contends that food dyes and certain foods can adversely affect children's behavior. In a 32-page report titled "Diet, ADHD, and Behavior," CSPI charges that federal agencies, professional organizations, and the food industry ignore the growing evidence that diet affects behavior.

And with researchers out there like Mina Dulcan, MD, head of child and adolescent psychiatry at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, it's hard to argue. She states, "The bottom line is that too much artificial food stuff isn't good for you, but I don't think you can believe that it's going to hurt your child's behavior or learning very much." Yet, in order for her statement to make sense, we would have to conclude that nothing you eat makes any difference in how your body responds. We know this to be false, making this statement—from a prominently credentialed professional—unequivocal nonsense.

It makes a lot more sense to listen to Reed, who states, "The country's decline in fitness levels, of adults and children, is negatively impacting productivity. This generation of kids is the first in 100 years to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Fitness levels, as well as health issues like diabetes and high blood pressure, are much worse trend-wise than we've ever seen with teenagers and young children. The economic cost just in terms of health care costs is going to be dramatic. Then, when you factor in the loss in productivity, it's really going to be dramatic for our country if it's not turned around." What can you do?

Plenty. This isn't a red tape or lawmaker's issue. While those are factors, you are still the primary influence on your child's health. For one, make sure they have plenty of opportunities to exercise. The upside to the decline of PE is the availability of affordable extracurricular sporting activities. While your doctor may tell you that you can exist on 30 minutes of exercise three times per week, that ain't going to cut if for a healthy child. They need exercise and movement, and a lot of it.

Get 'em out there. "Even with the diets kids are getting in schools, if the kids were more active, they'd be better off," says Reed. But you're also a major contributor to your child's diet, which begins at home. If your school won't provide healthy meals, go on strike and utilize a lunch box. And remember that schools, both public and private, respond to public demand. As do politicians. Just because school menus are dismal and schools are cutting out PE and losing their funding doesn't mean this is the way of the future. If enough people demand that it changes, then it will.

Also, lobby government agencies and politicians. We live in a democracy. Take advantage of your rights.

"The Department of Health and Human Services should withdraw its printed and Internet documents that largely dismiss the effect of food ingredients on behavior. For starters, the FDA should halt distribution of a pamphlet on food additives that it co-published with an industry group, the International Food Information Council," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of CSPI. "It's high time that the government—as well as doctors—provided the public with accurate information that might help many children."

The solution is for each one of us to keep trying. One person can—and always has—made a difference. Because one turns into two, which turns into three, and pretty soon you have an army on your side demanding change—take the Message Boards as an example of how unity can positively affect health and fitness. "If we could just get the soccer mom phenomenon working on physical education, we could rally parents and that would be a great advantage," says Reed.

Related Articles
"5 Ways to Stay Young"
"12 Steps to Having Fit and Healthy Kids"
"Burger Buddies: Fast Food Nation's Richard Linklater and Eric Schlosser"

Got something to say? Chat with the writers and other readers this Thursday, September 4th, at 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT in the Beachbody Chatroom!

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, click here to add a comment in the newsletter review section or you can email us at mailbag@beachbody.com.

Check out our Fitness Advisor's responses to your comments in Steve Edwards' Mailbag on the Message Boards. If you'd like to receive Steve Edwards' Mailbag by email, click here to subscribe to Steve's Health and Fitness Newsletter. And if you'd like to know more about Steve's views on fitness, nutrition, and outdoor sports, read his blog, The Straight Dope.

Comments

[Joyce]

I started exercising when I was 19. At age 9 I started to pudge out and my older brother made fun of me even when I attempted to exercise which discouraged me. I have always kept my children active and explained to them how important exercise is. I also thought by them seeing me exercise it would be a good example, nope. Anyway I contribute my good healthy check ups to not just regularly exercising, but God. Don't diet change your lifestyle. Exercise holds numerous benefits for women. Yes, sometimes you just have to push yourself to do what's good for you, but you will look and feel better.

[Anastasia]

Raising children at a very young age is quite an achievement! Instead of having regrets on not encouraging your daughters to take up physical exercise or sports, why don't you congratulate yourself on all the other things you have taught them? And I guess the list is endless!I was raised in a family that hated gym and sports. Most of my friends then, in my country, would take ballet lessons, but not me! My parents thought I'd take up foreign languages which I happened to love very much! I grew up to be an overweight young lady. In my mid thirties, I decided to join a gym class. It was hard at the beginning but now I can't live without exercising at least 3 times a week. I like Step aerobics most, body pump and body attack ( high impact aerobics). My first gym instructor once told me this:"You go to the hairdresser's to have your hair done and you make up your face to look prettier because that shows. What about what doesn't show? Like the lungs and the heart? Cardiovascular exercise has become for me a lifestyle since then. I only wish I didn't smoke!

[Anastasia]

Oh by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed the music on your blog!

[collapsible water bottle]

Exercising is so important, we just can't live without it. During the week we must activate our body at least 4 hours. I started to do yoga every morning for 15 minutes, I'm doing it over three month now and my pain it the back vanished and ofcourse a start my day with a great feeling.