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The
Health Zone Newsletter In
this issue: Fat
or Fit? You are what you eat! Every day the average person puts 3 to 5 pounds (2,2 KG) of stuff into their stomach. This 'food' is digested and absorbed to provide for the needs of our body - nourishment and energy. Indeed, what we eat soon becomes an actual part of our body, our blood, flesh and bones. The sugar from a fruit you ate may find its way into the cells of your brain, or the calcium in your vegetables could soon become part of your back bone. just as how the quality of the gasoline you put into your car will affect its performance, so the type of food you eat is going to influence the condition of your body. The three biggest "natural" killers in our country are:
All these conditions have one thing in common - they are related to your diet. In other words, the kind of food you eat has everything to do with your chances of getting one or all of the 'big three'. Medical research has shown that the right kind of diet can prevent and even reverse these illness'. The holistic approach to health declares that the body is created with the wisdom and knowledge to maintain itself in a healthy condition if we simply give it what it needs. What are the body's nutritional needs?
These need to be available in the right proportions, in a form that the body can easily use. With "civilization" and "progress" man's diet has moved further and further away from this ideal. The modern man's diet is characterized by excesses and deficiencies. Often he consumes too much fat, protein and calories and too little vitamins, minerals, water, fiber and herbs. The increase in these illnesses is greatly due to this imbalance. What has gone wrong ? Why are we in this predicament ? We have somehow lost touch with what food is all about. Most people now eat for pleasure. We focus on eating the things we like, not what is good for us. We have forgotten that the primary purpose for eating is for nutrition. Parents are often the number one culprits. Many parents use food to either punish or to reward children. Thus we create in the child's sensitive mind the concept that food, particularly some foods, can be used to make us 'feel good'. Then there is the food industry. They are the people who use advertisements, and the psychology of persuasion to cause us to eat what they are selling, although it may be harmful to us. A review of the television commercials shown when our children are watching cartoons reveal that up to 90% of the advertisements are for "fast foods". In this way the youngster is being programmed to desire a type of food which is nutritionally unhealthy. Ignorance on the part of the consumer, and greed on the part of the food merchant has led to our current dilemma. As a result deadly food addictions have become a common problem in our society. We suffer the consequences. There is a great need for us to educate ourselves and our children on the basic facts about food. Food is in fact mankinds greatest medicine - Nutritional Medicine.
Obese
Kids Rank Quality Of Life Low Obese children rate their quality of life with scores as low as those of young cancer patients on chemotherapy, a study found, highlighting the physical and emotional toll of being too fat. Teasing at school, difficulties playing sports, fatigue, sleep apnea and other obesity-linked problems all severely affect obese youngsters' well-being, the study found. While the researchers didn't expect to find the youngsters to be entirely happy, the dismal scores were far lower than anticipated, said lead author Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of California in San Diego. "The magnitude ... is striking," Schwimmer said. "The likelihood of significant quality-of-life impairment was profound for obese children." The study comes amid doctors' growing concern about the nation's obesity epidemic and recent data suggesting 15 percent of U.S. youngsters are severely overweight or obese. A JAMA editorial notes that Schwimmer's study found that severely obese youngsters and adolescents seeking obesity treatment have more than a fivefold increased risk of reporting low quality of life than healthy youngsters. "It seems clear that one of the most compelling medical challenges of the 21st century is to develop effective strategies to prevent and treat pediatric obesity," Drs. Jack and Susan Yanovski of the National Institutes of Health said in the editorial. Schwimmer's study involved 106 children aged 5 to 18 who filled out a questionnaire last year used by pediatricians to evaluate quality of life issues. Parents answered the same questionnaires, and their ratings of their children's well-being were even lower than the youngsters' self-ratings. On the 100-point questionnaire, obese youngsters scored an average of 67 points - 16 points lower than in a group of 400 mostly normal weight healthy youngsters. The obese children's scores were similar to quality of life self-ratings from a previously published study of about 100 pediatric cancer patients. Youngsters were asked to rate things like their ability to walk more than one block, play sports, sleep well, get along with others and keep up in school. Girls and boys appeared to be equally adversely affected by obesity. Youngsters were aged 12 on average, with an average height of 5 feet 1 inch and average weight of 174 pounds. All had a body-mass index that would be considered obese. Obesity-related ailments were common and included fatty liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes and orthopedic problems caused by excess weight. "Even in the absence of these physical conditions, children and parents reported a low quality of life," Schwimmer said. Dr. Nancy Krebs, head of the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee, said the results aren't surprising given what is known about self-esteem and health problems in obese youngsters. On the other hand, Krebs said, "It is almost becoming the norm," which may be de-stigamatizing obesity and making it easier for affected children to cope. Still, the prevalence only underscores the need to treat it, she said
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