You already know that your parenting style is either more permissive or more authoritarian than some of your friends’ styles. But did you know that your general approach to parenting could greatly influence your child’s diet and eating habits?

I’m not sure I ever really thought of it that way, but it makes sense. Extremely authoritarian parents probably don’t let their kids slide with eating half a chicken nugget and then moving along to dessert. Very permissive parents are less likely to stress a ton about what their kids eat, as long as they’re eating something. (Yes, I’m sure there are exceptions.)

Experts are now suggesting that neither extreme is particularly productive when it comes to instilling healthy eating habits in our children. Better is the authoritative parent — the one in the middle. She is more likely, they say, to have children who eat more balanced meals because she uses positive reinforcement and sets a good example with her own diet, which therefore lowers her children’s risk of childhood obesity.

Well, I have to admit that my diet isn’t the greatest in the world, and I probably err on the side of permissive parenting at times. Maybe if I crack down on my own eating habits, my children will eventually adopt those new, healthier standards as they get older?

In sum, the researchers conclude that that efforts to control childhood obesity need to consider family dynamics.

Posted by Sunshine.

When I think about high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other heart health issues, I envision a middle-aged or older guy with a beer gut and thinning hair, chomping on a huge greasy burger for lunch every day. Not my three-year-old daughter. The idea of her having problems like those seems ridiculous.

I just read an article that made me think twice about the absurdity of the possibility there.

Some children as young as two should be screened for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other heart disease risks, according to new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Say what? That’s right — the AAP is recommending that kids who are obese, whose medical history is unknown, or who have a familial background including high blood pressure and the like should be screened for early signs of problems that can lead to heart disease. If necessary, children of at least eight years of age would even receive medication to help lower their cholesterol.

The AAP recommends that the screenings, which include the fasting lipid profile, take place between the ages of 2 and 10 years.

Posted by Sunshine.

That’s not funky punctuation on my part. We Can! is a new national program designed to put the brakes on America’s rising obesity rates in children. We Can! (short for Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) is a partnership between the National Institutes of Health and the Association of Children’s Museums.

This program focuses on several lifestyle changes (such as portion control and daily exercise routines) that, when accomplished together, can lead to much healthier weights for kids and an increased activity rate, both of which have enormous benefits across the board. Bad habits in childhood often stick with people right on into adulthood, and before you know it, you’re an overweight, sedentary adult with big health problems. The best time to curb unhealthy habits is during childhood, before they’re so deeply ingrained.

We Can! can be a model for overcoming the challenges of childhood obesity and overweight, [acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Admiral Dr. Steven K.] Galson said. “Its partnerships are demonstrating how physical activity and sound lifestyle choices can make a difference and how communities can work together to make those lifestyle choices real,” he said.

We Can! is an education program to help children aged 8 to 13 years old to maintain a healthy weight. It’s being implemented in more than 450 communities in 44 states.

The newest cities in the program are Boston, Las Vegas, and Pittsburgh.

A full third of American adults are overweight. Let’s do something now so that our kids won’t follow in our too-heavy footsteps.

Posted by Sunshine.

Longevity is decreasing. Children of today may be the first generation who live a shorter life span than their parents. We are (not so) slowly but surely destroying our future health with the obesity epidemic. Obesity in children has tripled since the 1970’s. I guess this is not so surprising when you consider that two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. Yup… two-thirds.

More and more children are getting adults diseases, such as Type-2 diabetes. It is called “advanced aging” and it means that these children will have a lower life expectancy. And it is important to point out again that annual health care costs of of treating obesity and its complications currently run at $70 to 100 billion a year.

And it is also important to consider not only the life expectancy, but the quality of life, which probably will be hindered if dealing with obesity and its further complications. So please do your children a favor and permit them a childhood where they grow up with healthy and active habits.

A bowl of cereal a day to have a baby boy. It has been proven that a woman can further influence the chance of having either a boy or a girl by the foods she eats. Eating a bowl of cereal (calcium), more bananas (potassium), salty foods (sodium) and eating generally more calories overall can increase chances of conceiving a boy. 59% of women eating a bowl of cereal per day had baby boys, compared to 43% of women who ate 1 bowl or less per week. To be honest, I am not sure how that works considering it is the male sperm that determines gender, but apparently it does. Go figure.

Watch out for lemonade! A dad in Detroit has his son removed from the home by authorities for a few days while they determined whether or not he was negligent. He was at a ballgame with his 7 year son and accidentally got him drunk on “Mike’s Hard Lemonade”. Dad did not realize there was alcohol in the drink. In the end, the child’s blood test showed no signs of alcohol and the family has since been reunited.

Overweight mom equals overweight kids? Doctors in England are trying to figure out why women who are overweight tend to have overweight children. They have found that there is no metabolic programming in young children - so moms are not passing that down directly to their kids.

They studied thousands of families in 1991-1992, and their conclusion was that if children are obese, it is more likely that the mother is obese than the father. Doctors, being unable to conclude that it is metabolic driven, are considering whether other factors could impact. Her are my thoughts - what about obese mothers passing unhealthy eating habits to their children? Arguably, moms are more “in charge” of food than dads are, and they tend to be around children more hours during the day to teach them unhealthy snacking habits, etc. I wonder…

1 in 4 teen girls has an STD. Shocking. No parents wants to think this is accurate (especially myself with a 12 year old knocking on the door of puberty!) But that is what it is. So, to me, it is time to face reality and not keep our parental heads buried in the sand to what is going on in teens’ lives.

I know that sex education — and how to raise your child in general — is an individual thing, but many parents are relying on sex-ed to teach their children. These programs are not effective. So please take your child’s sexual learning into your own hands and ensure they are well informed about not only what is happening to their bodies, but to their emotions and mind as well. And please don’t skip the chapter on condoms and safe sex. Now is a good time to get them to regular checkups, even if they are not sexually active- it is a good safe habit to start. Don’t let your child be one of the 25%.

Tiny reader! I saw this and it really amazed me. A 17 month old girl who can read. Actually read and not memorize/mimic. It appears she has a gift, and mom and dad have been good at stimulating her and helping to develop this. Wow!

Watch out for salt! There are many reasons why. But just to remind you - when kids eat salty snacks they get thirsty they usually reach out for sugary beverages loaded with empty calories. What you may not be aware of is that putting away the salt shaker does not help much. People get 80% of their salt from manufactured foods. It’s everywhere - not just that MSG in Chinese takeaways. Campbell’s has just announced that they are reducing the sodium content in about 50 of their soups. That is one small step in the right direction. But we all need to be aware of how much sodium we have each day.

So how much do you need per day? An adult requires 500mg per day. They should not exceed 2,400mg/day. And unfortunately, the average American consumes 4,000-5,000mg/day. I did a bit of net searching, and much to my dismay my favorite fast food meal - a McDonald;s Quarter Pounder with Cheese - is one of the worst offenders with 3,200mg of sodium. Yikes!

Stay in school to reduce Alzheimers risk. Studies indicate that people with higher levels of education may have reduced risk of contracting Alzheimers when they get older. They are not sure why, but they believe that highly educated people just might have some “reserve” brain power that they can use when memory begins to fail.

A study of seniors over the past decade has shown that their average level of education has increased by one year, now at 12 years and we can expect that to go even higher for the next generations. They also are wealthier, which suggests that they held more mentally stimulating jobs.

There are other things that can contribute to Alzheimers - cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure and clogged arteries) can cause periods of time when blood does not flow properly to the brain, as well as obesity with complications such as type 2 diabetes and again those clogged arteries.

I guess the lesson is - get yourself educated, keep yourself stimulated and watch your general health. I am sure it will provide benefits beyond Alzheimers prevention!

Need help for your pelvic floor muscles? Perhaps you are like me - having children has wrecked havoc on my pelvic floor muscles. And I constantly forget to do my kegel exercises, only being reminded of this after a big sneeze. Well… wearing heels can help this! Good news it, you don’t have to wear stilettos! Apparently, having the feet at a 15% angle provides women with a good a posture as flat shoes while providing the best exercise for those special muscles. Do you think this is a valid survey, or just a bunch of men trying to convince us to wear sexier shoes? (btw - the shoes in the pic are Louboutins, my dream shoe! someday…)

Acupuncture can help those who are TTC. There are no scientific tests to this non-traditional practice, although they did run some tests with different groups of women undergoing fertility treatment and it seems as though acupuncture can help the chances of conceiving. It is one of those “It can’t hurt, it is relatively easy enough and inexpensive, so why not try it”

I had acupuncture treatments when my third child went overdue. It was amazing how fast and hard my contractions came when they put these needles in the webs of my hand and twisted them. She arrived the evening of the third daily treatment, but unfortunately I cannot say it was the treatment or the fact that she was 6 days overdue. It did put my mind at ease that I at least was doing something (short of castor oil) to get her out!

Genetics over environment for obesity. In researching twins, doctors have determined that genetics have a much greater impact on children’s weight than environmental factors. They weigh it at 77% genetics, 23% environment. This does not mean that some people are doomed from birth to be obese, but it can explain why some people have a harder time with their weight. And all that tempting fatty food surely does not help. “Genetics” should never be used as an excuse for bad lifestyle decisions. In the end, it is still the responsibility of the parent to instill good eating habits in their children to give them the best start at life, whatever their weight is.

White bread has nutritional value. Yeah, I meant to type white. That soft, marshmallowy, oh so yummy bread that your mom always felt guilty about making your sandwiches with because it was supposed to have no nutritional value. Well, it does. It contains folic acid. And the past decades of eating Wonderbread and all of those white hamburger and hot dog buns have one positive aspect - it has contributed to the decline in cases of Spina Bifida in America. The March of Dimes is now going to put a special label on bread containing at least 40 micrograms of folic acid. They are doing this to increase awareness of the benefits of folic acid, and are not suggesting that a woman needs to eat 10 slices of white bread per day to get the recommended daily allowance of 400mg. There are many “healthier” sources of folic acid found in other foods as well, such as leafy green vegetables, fruits, dried beans, peas and nuts.

Childhood obesity not related to poverty. It was thought by some that childhood obesity was higher in poorer areas where the families has lesser access to healthy foods. A new study that just came out challenges this idea.

Previous research has suggested that poor children weren’t getting nutritious food and instead ate junk food, such as hot dogs. Or that children may have eaten well when money was available, but would skip meals when cash was short, a cycle that could slow their metabolism and cause them to gain weight.

The new research indicated that this is not necessarily the case, and that it could be possible for the government to move ahead with possible plans to increase food assistance programs without being worried about additional obesity problems.

Top kids websites. While browsing the net, I happened on a fun little site called GeekParenting.com. They have listed their top 10 favorite kid’s web sites. Their number one site, BrainPOP, is a cool educational site that I will be showing my bigger kids tonight!

More on childhood obesity. The news reports are sounding like a broken record regarding this, but it bears repeating because it is one of the most important things that could impact your children. About one-third of children and teens in the USA — about 25 million children — are overweight or on the brink of becoming so, government data show.

• Excess body weight in children dramatically increases their risk of developing heart disease in adulthood, research shows, including a decades-long study in Denmark that tracked what happened to 277,000 children as they grew up.

• Childhood obesity could decrease life expectancy by two to five years if something isn’t done about the epidemic, according to provocative research by pediatric endocrinologist David Ludwig, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

• One in three obese children have excess fat in their liver, which could lead to hepatitis, cirrhosis or liver failure, Ludwig says.

The article gives tips to help motivate positive lifestyle changes:

1. Stock up on good food - Fill your house with foods that are both delicious and nutritious (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans, fish, lean protein, reduced-fat dairy products) and don’t bring home junk food such as cookies, cakes, sweetened cereals and sugary drinks.

2. Make sweets a treat - Save treats for special occasions. You don’t have to give up sweets entirely, but go out for them instead of having them at home, he says.

3. Ditch the drive-through - Avoid fast food, he says. Ludwig did a study that showed overweight teens consume about 400 more calories on a day when they consume fast food compared with a day in which they don’t.

4. Turn off the TV - Make physical activity the focus of the home instead of television. Don’t allow TVs in the kitchen or bedrooms.

5. Equip for exercise - Give older children the basic tools to be active: jump ropes, balls, baseball gloves, Frisbees.

6. Shake it! - Encourage them to dance. Dancing is an excellent activity, he says. “Kids love to dance in a non-judgmental setting. When they are having fun, they are not thinking about it as exercise.”

Some hearts might be broken… Matthew McConaughey has impregnated his girlfriend. He is gonna be a daddy and he is thrilled. The little one is due in about 6 months. Sorry Tab…

Night Terrors linked to infant’s temperament? Researchers have found that some preschoolers may be more vulnerable to having nightmares, and it could be linked to their temperament as infants showing even as young as 5 months old. More anxious or difficult children appear to be more prone to these nightmares.

In this study, “bad dreams” as early as the age of 2 1/2 were predicted by signs of anxiety at the ages of 5 months and 17 months, explained Nielsen, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal. It goes on to explain that as a child grows older, some “minor traumas”, such as the first days of school, can subsequently trigger these nightmares again.

You are what you eat. Even children who are overweight, yet not technically obese, are at increased risk for serious heart problems as they get older. To me, what it comes down to is not only the child’s weight, but WHAT they eat that is important. We have seen as adults that there are adults who are not overweight that have serious heart issues as well. It is tempting to feed children empty, fat-filled calories. Especially with all the packaged and pre-prepared junk food out there - and it is impossible not to notice with all of the advertising campaigns these days. But getting down to food basics and feeding children fresh foods filled with vitamins and all the “good” things they need to grow healthy is an essential building block for a child’s future.

FTC cautions movie marketing to young children. The FTC is asking the Motion Picture Association of America to reconsider their advertising recommendations for some PG13 movies. This was brought to their attention after merchandise for the somewhat violent Transformers movie was marketed to children even as young as 2 years old. This includes restaurant advertising (children’s meals toys). I tend to agree with their recommendation - parents can do their best to protect their children from more mature themed toys and such, but it sure can be difficult when these days advertisers are very clever in their abilities to keep their products right in front of our faces everywhere we turn. I am seeing a constant theme in today’s post…