Diet + Weight Control for Children

Let your child know he or she is loved and appreciated whatever his or her weight. An overweight child probably knows better than anyone else that he or she has a weight problem. Overweight children need support, acceptance, and encouragement from their parents.

Focus on the health and positive qualities of your child. NEVER focus on the weight of your child.

Try not to treat your child differently if he or she is overweight. Instead, focus on gradually changing the physical activities and eating habits of your family.

Be a good role model for your child. If your child sees you enjoying healthy foods and physical activity, he or she is more likely to do the same now and for the rest of his or her life.

Realize that an appropriate goal for many overweight children is to maintain their current weight while growing normally in height. They do not necessarily need to lose weight.

CALORIE NEEDS FOR TEENAGERS AND CHILDREN:

Children normally need a certain number of calories each day (energy allowance). Their bodies use these calories as energy for normal daily activities (walking, breathing, etc.).

The approximate calorie-needs for boys are: from 2000 calories for a 7-10 year old, 2500 calories for an 11-14 year old, and 3000 calories for a 15-18 year old.

The approximate calorie needs for girls are: from 2000 calories for a 7-10 year old, to 2200 calories for an 11-18 year old.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT:

*Decreasing calories-in: meaning eat fewer calories, or

*Increasing calories-out: meaning burn more calories, or

*Ideally, a combination of both.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT GOALS:

The first goal of weight management in kids and young teenagers should be to stop weight gain and maintain normal growth in height. This way they can GROW INTO their weight. To start, have your child eat healthier (about 500 fewer calories each day) and begin a program of regular exercise and physical activity.

Once your child has stopped gaining weight and is on a regular program of dieting and exercising, you can set further goals of slow weight loss, if necessary. Do so cautiously.

WEIGHT LOSS FOR CHILDREN & TEENAGERS - BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION:

It is important to modify the behaviors that have caused your child to become overweight and prevent weight loss, including:

LIMITING TELEVISION:
You should limit television viewing to about one or two hours each day (this includes playing video games or using the computer). Watching television encourages lack of exercise and exposes the viewer to fatty food commercials.

SNACKS:
You should limit snacks to two each day and they can include low-calorie foods, such as raw fruits or vegetables. Avoid using high calorie or high fat foods for snacks, especially chips, cookies, etc.

DRINKING:
You should encourage your child to drink four to six glasses of water each day, especially before meals. Water has no calories and it will help you to feel full. Other drinks can include diet sodas and lowfat milk. Avoid letting your child drink regular soft drinks or fruit juices, as they are high in calories (150-170 calories per serving).

DIET JOURNAL:
If you think it helps your child to improve his eating habits, (sometimes it does not) encourage him to keep a weekly journal of food and beverage intake. You should definitely encourage a teenager to keep track of the amount of time he spends watching television, playing videogames and exercising. You might also record your child's weight once a week.

CHECK FOOD LABELS:
It is not necessary to count calories, but you and your child should become more educated about the foods you eat and how many calories they contain. You should begin to routinely check the nutrition label of the foods that your family is eating. You want to try and eat foods low in calories and also low in fat. Be careful of many low fat or so-called diet foods, as they can still be high in calories even though they are low in fat.

CHECK FOOD SERVING SIZES:
Also, begin checking the serving size of prepared meals and snacks. A bag of chips might only have 200 calories, but you may be surprised when the serving size is only 10 chips.

WEIGHT LOSS FOR CHILDREN & TEENAGERS - EATING HABITS:

HEALTHY MEALS:
Your child should eat three well-balanced meals of average size each day. Serve fewer fatty foods. It is best to prepare foods that are baked, broiled or steamed, rather than fried. In addition to a small serving of lean meat, provide large servings of vegetables.

SINGLE SERVINGS:
Avoid serving seconds of the main course or desert. You can eat more salad or other vegetables if still hungry.

DESSERTS:
Serve fresh fruit as a dessert and avoid frequent eating of ice cream or cake or other high calorie foods.

GROCERY SHOPPING:
Buy low-calorie and lower-fat meals, snacks and deserts and buy low fat or skim milk and diet drinks. Avoid buying high calorie deserts or snacks, such as snack chips, regular soft drinks or regular ice cream.

EAT AT THE TABLE:
Avoid letting your child eat meals or snacks outside of the kitchen or dining room. And discourage eating while watching TV.

REDUCE FAST FOOD:
You should limit how often you allow your children to eat fast food, as it is usually high in fat and calories.

WEIGHT CONTROL FOR CHILDREN - EXERCISE SUGGESTIONS:

Be physically active. It is recommended that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) of moderate physical activity most days of the week.

Even greater amounts of physical activity may be necessary for the prevention of weight gain, for weight loss, or for sustaining weight loss. Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise and enjoyment.

Provide a safe environment for your children and their friends to play actively. Encourage swimming, biking, skating, ball sports, and other fun activities.

WEIGHT CONTROL FOR CHILDREN - HEALTHY EATING SUGGESTIONS:

*Follow the dietary guidelines for healthy eating.

*Guide the choices for your family rather than dictate foods.

*Encourage your child to eat when hungry and to eat slowly.

*Eat meals together as a family as often as possible.

*Carefully cut down on the amount of fat and calories in the eating plan your family follows.

*Do not place your child on a restrictive diet.

*Avoid the use of food as a reward.

*Avoid withholding food as punishment.

*Children should be encouraged to drink water and to limit intake of beverages with added sugars, such as soft drinks, fruit juice drinks, and sports drinks.

*Plan for healthy snacks. Stock the refrigerator with fat-free or low-fat milk, fresh fruit, and vegetables instead of soft drinks or snacks that are high in fat, calories, or added sugars and low in essential nutrients.

*Aim to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

*Eating a healthy breakfast is a good way to start the day and may be important in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

IF YOUR CHILD OR TEENAGER IS OVERWEIGHT:

The diet for you child should be safe and nutritious. It should include all of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for vitamins, minerals, and protein and contain the foods from the major Food Guide Pyramid groups. Any weight-loss diet should be low in calories (energy) only, not in essential nutrients.

Even with extremely overweight children, weight loss should be gradual. Crash diets and diet pills can compromise growth and are not recommended by many health care professionals.

Weight lost during a diet is frequently regained unless children are motivated to change their eating habits and activity levels for a lifetime. Weight control must be considered a lifelong effort.

A physician should supervise any weight management program for children.

A 2 Minute Chinese Weight Loss Secret

Here is how to rub fat away from your belly

The conventional methods for losing weight and flattening the abs are often tedious and they simply don’t work, they require a lot of sacrifice and are very expensive, each day there is a new book on how to lose those inches!

Today I am going to show you a simple way to remove fat from your belly-it is a simple 5000 year old Chinese method that tales just two minutes of your time!

To begin this exercise lie on your back. Now put the palm of your hands on your navel- then simply rub it as follows.

Use your right hand, then rub clockwise from the center, that is from right to left, first in small circles, then increase the circles until the upper and lower abs are being rubbed when you have covered both the lower and upper abs, reverse the movement counter clockwise , this time the circle gets smaller with each and every counter clockwise rotation until you are back at the navel.

Do not apply force, you want a simple gentle rub, when you get to the navel, repeat from the start again, do this 10-12 times

What is happening when you apply your right hand on your belly and you are performing the clockwise movement, is that your chi- invincible energy is being passed from the hands through the skin to your belly, so as you go in circles, you are applying energy to the muscles of the stomach.

To make this exercise more effective visualize the energy from the hands going through the skin to your belly, gently massaging and burning fat off your abdominal area.

This electricity from your hands- your chi- massages your intestines, your blood vessels and your digestive and bowl system

Fat accumulations are disturbed from their resting place and broken up, where it is passed into the bowl system and eliminated.

This way your stubborn fat is burned away simply by rubbing away!

But there is another benefit- when you rub your abs in a clockwise position you are encouraging proper bowl movement, this relives constipation and allows you to have the proper bowl movements/ Constipation is what usually causes water retention, and weight gain (fat deposit!)

So if you suffer from constipation, this exercise will allow you to have regular bowl movements which will allow you to lose those last few stubborn pounds.

10 Things You Should Know About Stretching

Before fitness training, one must give importance to doing warm-up or stretching exercises to prevent accidents or to enhance the output during the training. There are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as guidelines when doing fitness exercises. Here are some of them.

1. To increase your flexibility and to avoid injuries, stretch before and after workout. Almost everyone knows that stretching before workout prevents injuries during the exercises, but only few people know that stretching after workout, when muscles are still warm, can increase flexibility.

2. Hold your stretching position for more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility. While holding your position for 20 seconds is enough for warm ups, holding each position for at least 60 seconds will develop the body's flexibility.

3. Do not go into a stretching position then immediately return to the relaxed position, and do it repeatedly. This is more appropriately termed as bouncing while in a position. When stretching, hold that position for several seconds, and then slowly relax. You may do this exercise repeatedly this way. Bouncing or forcing yourself into a position during stretching can strain or damage some joints or muscles.

4. Work slowly in increments instead of immediately proceeding to doing the hardest exercise or position.

5. Make sure that you have stretched or warmed up all muscle groups. For some people, even if they have strong bodies, they tend to neglect the neck when working out of stretching. Stretching the neck muscles can be as simple as placing the palm of one's hand against the front of the head and pushing it. Then, do the same to the sides and the back of the head.

6. Stretch regularly to continually increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and strength.

7. Workout considering only your capabilities and not of others. Do not force yourself to do exercises that you are not yet capable of just because there are people who can do it. Increase your limits slowly. Listen to your body. There are days when your body may be too tired that you may have to consider reducing your range of motion.

8. Learn to rest. Rest in between sets and stations to make sure that the body has enough time to recover its energy. Also, it is advisable that you don't work the same muscle groups consecutively for two days. The muscles grow during the period when you rest and not when you are working out.

9. Do aerobic exercises to strengthen your heart. Aerobic exercises are those physical activities that much oxygen for fuel. This includes cardiovascular exercises such as skipping rope, running or swimming.

10. Music may help you when you want to train for longer periods or to increase your intensity. You can use mp3 players, CD players or lightweight am radio receivers for this. Just make sure that you brought your headset with you so you wouldn't disturb people who don't prefer music while exercising.

Apart from preventing injuries and increasing one's limit, it is also said that stretching is good for a tired body and also for a stressed mind and spirit.

Until next time, keep living your best life!

Hypertension Prescription Medication: What the Prescription Drug Companies Do NOT Want You To Know!

You or a loved one suffers from the 'silent killer' of High Blood Pressure or Hypertension. Unfortunately, you are dealing with a very deadly disease that kills almost 60,000 Americans every year. Fortunately, you know that you (or a loved one) have High Blood Pressure and you are doing something about it! Information is one of the most important tools you have for not allowing High Blood Pressure to take your life!

Before you begin treating your high blood pressure with hypertension medication, it is important you know what you might be getting from the medication. And like some things, high blood pressure prescription drugs have their good and their bad!

What Prescription Drug Companies Don't Want You To Know…

1. Diuretics: Though diuretics relieve your body of water and sodium (decreasing blood pressure), did you know diuretics will literally drain your body of precious nutrients that keep the body healthy. ISN'T THERE A BETTER OPTION?

2. Beta Blockers: Beta Blockers create a slowing of the heart thus relieving pressure. However, common side-effects include: fatigue, cold hands/feet (poor circulation), dizziness, dryness of mouth/eyes/skin and asthma like symptoms. NO THANK YOU!

3. ACE Inhibitors: ACE Inhibitors inhibit the formation of angiotensin II which relaxes the arteries thus lower the blood pressure. Unfortunately, common side-effects include loss of taste, skin rash, raspy cough, and sometimes kidney failure. NEXT!

4. Alpha Blockers: Alpha Blockers relax muscles and keep blood pressure down. But get this, Alpha blockers's common side-effects are headaches (migraines), nausea, fatigue, weight gain, pounding heartbeat, and raise bad cholesterol and in some cases cause of heart failure. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

5. Vasodilators: Vasodilators are usually a last-resort medication and have severe side-effects. Side-effects include: chest pain, rapid heartbeat, heart palpitations, fluid retention (edema), nausea, vomiting, dizziness, flushing, headache, nasal congestion and excessive hair growth. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANTS THAT?

6. The Cost: Did you know that millions of people spend hundreds to thousands of dollars alone on these medications? That is why health care is a multi-billion dollar industry! IS THERE SOME CHEAPER?

Thousands of People Cure Hypertension Naturally and Permanently

I was shocked to find out that the hypertension prescription medications were worse than the disease of high blood pressure. But is there a better way? Yes! In fact, there is a cheaper, more effective (not a prescription band-aid), more permanent and more natural way to make your blood pressure plummet. Our natural cure for high blood pressure has helped thousands save their lives from the deadly disease of hypertension. What would you give to end the worrying, give you and your family peace of mind, make your blood pressure plummet, and get your life back? Thousands of dollars? Hundreds? How about a fraction of what it would cost for one prescription of HBP medication? Take a minute to see what others have said about our 100% risk-free, money-back guaranteed remedy report. Please don't wait another day to treat your hypertension problem!