The Blame Game On Raising Children

I will admit that I'm not a parent but I am a daughter, a sister, a friend and a mentor. The other day one of my coworkers and I were talking about health and convenience. We live in a society that is go go go and so we don't stop to take the time to take care of ourselves.
One topic that came up is my sister who has terrible acne scarring on her face. She spends hundreds and hundreds of dollars every year trying to get rid of it, from one treatment to the other. Last month it was microdermambrasion, which didn't help, with a side of pregnancy pills to control her hormones. This month she is continuing the pills but has replaced the microdermambrasion with an orange peel. She has a morning and night ritual of face creams and nothing has helped. I have talked to her before and recommended that she look into detoxing and changing what she eats. Her diet consists of easy to create food such as frozen pizzas, instant things, pop, beer and such. Our bodies needs more nutrients, vitamins and just plain old healthy things. Unfortunately she won't touch the vegetables I cook and her version of vegis are either frozen or from a can (filled with preservatives). One night she took a can of corn and heated it in a microwave. Intending on making me proud she pointed out she was eating vegetables. I didn't have the heart to tell her that corn has no nutritional value and the corn she was eating was not only drenched in preservatives but also it was genetically engineered. My sister is a prime example of someone who thinks she is doing what is right but isn't. Instead she wants an easy fix, an easy answer, so she can go on and enjoy her life. Detoxing means giving up somethings she likes to eat and spending the time to take care of herself.

The example my coworker had was of her children and their friends. One of her daughter's friends stayed with them. She wouldn't eat their organic chicken nuggets and said they tasted funny. Her breakfast at home was typically a poptart and when offered fruits she didn't want them and with quite a few berries have never had them. That is sad. It makes you wonder what her diet at home is. There was a video clip from a documentary that I saw a long time ago. A doctor came into a classroom of children bringing vegetables to show the children. The children didn't know what a potato was but knew what fries were. The children didn't know what a tomato was but knew what ketchup was. The world of convenience made it very difficult for people to lead healthy lives. Instead on changing ourselves we go back and try to get a pill to fix our problems.

We need to take responsibility for our actions and change ourselves instead of trying to cover up the symptoms then blame the world.

Childhood Obesity Awareness Campaign

Not too long ago I wrote an article about another article about childhood obesity. Yesterday I stumbled on another article about Childhood Obesity Awareness. In my position I wanted to add in my insight on childhood obesity, my position is from being an obese teenager. A lot has changed since then I am more in shape than before but am forever imprinted a concern about my weight and appearance. I question myself every day on my looks and even my self esteem, which has improved.
A series of ads have been released discussing childhood obesity in order to make it aware. It was quoted that it blamed the victims of childhood obesity and their family. A line saying "it starts at home and at the buffet line" another saying "it's hard to be a little girl when you're not." Blunt. The debate in the article on whether it would cause parents to take action or would it do the opposite and cause parents to avoid it even further. Very interesting debate.
As a teenage, if I saw that ad I would be even more ashamed of myself. The reason I say that is because being in the position I was in, I was already sensitive of how I looked. I would avoid my reflection like it was the plague, which I sometimes do right now. The ad just states what I already know, not how to fix it. I feel like it takes a lot for a person to take responsibility for their body and improve themselves. Parents today are confused on how to tend to their children's health without just taking them to the doctor. They expect to just drop their child on the laps of a doctor and everything would be ok. The ad should be talking about something like that.
I was fortunate to have my parent's support. My father actually jogged beside me as he encouraged me to run laps around the soccer field near our park. That was one of the most difficult moments for me. Positive reinforcement can help too by telling your child how much nicer they looked. You must make the positive outweigh the negative as much as possible. The little girl in the video talks about being picked on because of her weight, I remember those days. I agree, parents need to stand up and encourage their children to eat healthy, stay active and most importantly be positive.

Arsenic Consuption in our Water and Apple Juice

Arsenic is a semi-metal element that is odorless and tasteless. It was once a popular poison for assassins and unhappy widows. There has been a lot of debate lately on how harmful is the little bits of arsenic we get in water and apple juice. According to the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) that there are non-cancer effects which includes "thickening and discoloration of the skin, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting; diarrhea; numbness in hands and feet; partial paralysis; and blindness." But Arsenic has also been linked to several including bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver and prostate.
I am not sure about you but reading this makes me concern. Then why are we letting juice companies tell us that the little bits of arsenic we are feeding not just ourselves but also our children is okay? It's not. In an interview with Fox News, Michael Taylor (FDA's deputy commissioner for foods) said "We continue to think that apple juice is generally safe based on the fact that the vast majority of samples are very low. But we want to minimize these exposures as much as possible."
Currently the FDA uses 23 parts per billion as a guide to judge whether apple juice is contaminated. Consumer Reports published an article recently about arsenic in apple juice. They tested several popular brands of apple juice to find there were higher levels of arsenic. "Five samples of apple juice and four of grape juice had total arsenic levels exceeding the 10 ppb federal limit for bottled and drinking water. Levels in the apple juices ranged from 1.1 to 13.9 ppb, and grape-juice levels were even higher, 5.9 to 24.7 ppb. Most of the total arsenic in our samples was inorganic, our tests showed." Consumer groups also stated that the FDA's level is too high and isn't enforced with enough urgency.
Not too long ago popular TV Doctor, Dr. Oz did a program that did similar testings. He was criticized and the FDA responded saying that most of the arsenic were organic so they were harmless. Since then the FDA now has new research that says that arsenic was really inorganic and that makes them harmful now. Doesn't this make you concerned? Sometimes I question if the FDA is concerned about the people or are they concerned about making the big corporations happy?

Free Workshop on Water Detox hosted by Dr. Trent Iverson at Bandana Chiropractic and Wellness Center at 11:15 AM. Call 651-354-8343 to reserve a seat today.

Childhood Obesity, what does that mean?

I stumbled upon this article yesterday: “Obese Third Grader Taken From Mom, Placed in Foster Care.” The boy was a third grader who weighted more than 200 lbs which is obviously not good. The state took him away and put him foster care. This is not the only incident but it brought up a very interesting topic.

Childhood Obesity has become very prominent over the past few years. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the past 30 years childhood obesity has more than tripled. This is very alarming and bring obese is a precursor for several diseases including cancer, diabetes and many problems.

I do empathize with the parents who are in this situation. Yet the best way for a parent and family to help the child is to change their lifestyle to help encourage change in their children’s lifestyle. This refers to activities in the family, eating habits, hobbies and much more.

So what happened in the past 30 years to make childhood obesity so prominent today? Well lifestyle in general has changed. ‘Let’s Move” is a program throughout the United States that is supported by First Lady, Michelle Obama. The program encourages keeping our youth physically active. They state children today experience a different lifestyle. “Walks to and from school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Gym class and after-school sports have been cut; afternoons are now spent with TV, video games, and the Internet. Parents are busier than ever and families eat fewer home-cooked meals. Snacking between meals is now commonplace.”

So what can parents do? According to KidsHealth, the best way to prevent child obesity is to changing the way your family interacts with one another through eating, exercises, how you spend time together. “Helping kids lead healthy lifestyles begins with parents who lead by example.”

The best practice to raising a healthy child is to lead by example. In January 2012, Dr. Hugh Wegwerth at Bandana Chiropractic and Wellness Center will be hosting a workshop, the “Extreme Makeover”. The Makeover offers an historical view of how our eating habits have changed for the worse as well as simple, easy to implement, baby steps to making healthy living part of your lifestyle. It is free and open to the public, call 651-354-8343 to register today.