Tag: Fitness

Is Soda Responsible For Childhood Obesity

You probably know that soda is rich in sugar, but do you know how much sugar is contained in just 12 ounces of soda? 12 ounces of soda might look like a small amount, but it contains the equivalent of ten teaspoonfuls of sugar.

Now if I ask you to add the same amount of sugar to coffee or tea, imagine how awful would those beverages taste. Forget about tea or coffee; just imagine pouring ten tsps of sugar into plain cold water. Adding a little sugar in water may make it tasty, but add too much of it and its taste becomes awful.

Depending on the amount of soda your kids drink each day, they are consuming hundreds upon hundreds of empty, useless calories.

These calories don’t provide your kids with any kind of nutrition; if anything, they make your kids fatter. Now assuming that your kid consumes 12 ounces of soda per day, he is getting 140 useless calories everyday. That is almost 980 calories per week and more than four thousands calories per month – all empty, useless and zero-nutrition calories.

Sugar makes your kids fat in two ways: first by converting itself quickly into glucose and getting deposited in your body as fat, and second, by making them hungry.

You will notice that when you pop a sweet candy you would suddenly feel hungry even though you have eaten only a moment ago. Now that you understand how bad soda could be for your kids’ health, you are probably wondering about how to eliminate it from their life.

To be realistic, it is not at all possible to eliminate soda from the diet of your kids, especially if they have been addicted to it for months. Heck, even we adults take time to get rid of alcohol or cigarettes. However, you can surely control their soda intake in a number of ways.

How to Cut Your Kids Soda Intake

1. Pour one or two teaspoonfuls of sugar in water and make them drink it. Provide this drink to them as often as you can. I know that any amount of sugar is harmful for your kids, but if two teaspoonfuls of sugar could help them get rid of 10 teaspoonfuls of sugar, I would any day take that option.

2. Prepare fruit juices for them. Now I am not asking you to buy ready-made fruit juice packages from your local store; they are as bad as soda. I am talking of extracting the juices of organic fruits. This is yet another way to take their mind away from soda.

3. Limit your kids’ soda intake to no more than 1 can per week. Slowly you could teach them the advantages of avoiding it.

Is Soda Responsible For Childhood Obesity?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

5. Plan at least one lunch and dinner every week without meat or cheese. Build those meals around whole grains, vegetables and beans to increase fiber and reduce fat.

6. Reduce the fat content in your milk products. If you are currently drinking whole milk, reduce to 2% fat. From 2% reduce to 1%. Choose lower fat cheese and yogurt. When you buy yogurt, also check that it does not contain sugar.

7. Have at least three servings of fruit every day. This can be for dessert or snacks. Choose fruit that is in season.

8. Drink water instead of sodas, juices, milky drinks or alcohol. Avoid diet soda – the sweet taste only encourages you to crave sugar. Hot water with a slice of lemon can be very refreshing in the morning.

9. Include at least two servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner. If you are getting hungry, have more.

10. Eat slowly. The body is slow to register when you are full and it is easy to eat too much if you are racing through your meals.

11. Grated carrot makes a great snack. You will find that a grated carrot is much more filling than a whole carrot. Strange but true.

12. Use whole grains wherever possible. The fiber will give you a fuller feeling and also help your digestion.

13. Choose food that you can chew. Again this will increase your fiber intake, and the act of chewing will make you feel more satisfied too. This means eating fruit instead of drinking juice. If you have soup, make sure it is chunky.

14. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. Plan your shopping too – make a list of what you need and stick to it. If you just grab something when you are feeling hungry, you will probably choose high calorie food.

15. Always switch off the TV when you eat. That includes snacks as well as meals. Studies have proved that we eat larger portions in front of the TV, probably because we are much less aware of what we are eating. When you eat, only eat if you want to lose fast.

These tips of how to drop weight quick are for you to eat and drink and exercise with changes but without starving yourself or making you think you are really sacrificing. Let me know how you do with these. I know there are lots of ideas out there for low fat or high protein, or paleo, or vegetarian but often what is needed is to just make a bunch of healthy changes that add up to a lot.

Whether you are trying to drop weight quickly or just feel more healthy I hope these tips and the others on this blog help you out!

15 Tips on How to Drop Weight Quick, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

• We have no way of knowing how accurate the original 11 calcium supplements studies were because there are a lot of hazards in the kind of statistical number-crunching involved in a meta-analysis. Worst case scenario is a meta-analysis of 11 studies is conducted, all of which are flawed in their methods or have doubtful data or conclusions, and a larger conclusion may be reached.
• We do know that in the studies, the calcium was treated as an “independent variable” so magnesium and Vitamin D were not given.  Magnesium is needed to balance calcium supplements intake.  Vitamin D is needed for proper calcium metabolism
• Carrying out studies that do not provide the other vitamins and minerals needed could have some very poor results.  It is possible that calcium supplements, specifically when given without magnesium and Vitamin D, do cause additional calcium deposits in the arteries. This may lead to more heart attacks, but the meta-analysis is not sufficient evidence to tell.

Recommendations for Calcium supplements and Minerals

• Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D supplementation is especially important for premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The current recommendation for premenopausal and postmenopausal women is from 1000 to 1500 mg of calcium per day.
• Given that most people do get some calcium in their diet, 500 mg of calcium with 250 mg magnesium and 400 IU of Vitamin D (taken all together) is probably enough supplementation, unless the person is allergic to dairy.
• Vitamin D is very important to bone health.  There are many people walking around with Vitamin D deficiency in the United States—not enough sun exposure, and not enough Vitamin D in their diets.  In addition to osteoporosis, Vitamin D deficiency also is a factor in Alzheimer’s disease. Get your Vitamin D level taken, and if it is low, take 2000 IU or more per day until your level is normal.
• Take the Vitamin D orally, do not accept high dose injections—they have been associated with atypical bone fractures.

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These calcium supplements studies are in debate as you can see and the value of calcium supplements in your diet is very important.