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Weight Problems & Obesity in Children

The number of children who are obese or overweight is growing at an alarming rate. Extra pounds put kids at risk of serious health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. Childhood obesity also takes an emotional toll. Overweight children are frequently teased and excluded from team activities, which can lead to low self-esteem, negative body image, and depression. However, with the right support, encouragement, and positive role modeling, you can help your child reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Helping Your Child Reach and Maintain a Healthy Weight

Diagnosing weight problems and obesity in children

Overweight and obese children are at a greater risk of developing serious health problems such as:

type 2 diabetes high blood pressure high cholesterol bone and joint problems

asthma restless or disordered sleep patterns liver and gall bladder disease depression and low self-esteem

Kids who are unhappy with their weight may also be more likely to develop eating disorders and substance abuse problems. Diagnosing and treating weight problems and obesity in children as early as possible may reduce the risk of developing these and other serious medical conditions as they get older. Whatever your children’s weight, though, let them know that you love them and that all you want to do is help them be healthy and happy.

How to Sleep Better

How you feel during your waking hours hinges greatly on how well you sleep. Similarly, the cure for sleep difficulties can often be found in your daily routine. Your sleep schedule, bedtime habits, and day–to–day lifestyle choices can make an enormous difference to the quality of your nightly rest. The following tips will help you optimize your sleep so you can be productive, mentally sharp, emotionally balanced, and full of energy all day long.

Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

The secret to getting good sleep every night

Well-planned strategies are essential to deep, restorative sleep you can count on, night after night. By learning to avoid common enemies of sleep and trying out a variety of healthy sleep-promoting techniques, you can discover your personal prescription to a good night’s rest.

The key, or secret, is to experiment. What works for some might not work as well for others. It’s important to find the sleep strategies that work best for you.

The first step to improving the quality of your rest is finding out how much sleep you need. How much sleep is enough? While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need at least eight hours of sleep each night to function at their best.

How to sleep better tip 1: Keep a regular sleep schedule

Getting in sync with your body’s natural sleep–wake cycle—your circadian rhythm—is one of the most important strategies for achieving good sleep. If you keep a regular sleep schedule, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, you will feel much more refreshed and energized than if you sleep the same number of hours at different times. This holds true even if you alter your sleep schedule by only an hour or two. Consistency is vitally important.

• Set a regular bedtime. Go to bed at the same time every night. Choose a time when you normally feel tired, so that you don’t toss and turn. Try not to break this routine on weekends when it may be tempting to stay up late. If you want to change your bedtime, help your body adjust by making the change in small daily increments, such as 15 minutes earlier or later each day.

Want Better Sex? Give It Time

How many movie plots revolve around hot college hookups? A lot, that’s how many. Enter, science. A group of researchers at the University of Michigan, New York University, and Stanford University asked over 13,000 heterosexual undergraduate women at 21 U.S. colleges about their sex lives—including how good their last sexual experience was. Their study found that movies may be overselling the hotness of random hookups—at least when it comes to college women.

The researchers wanted to understand what makes it more or less likely that heterosexual women will have an orgasm and enjoy sex in general. They asked women about their most recent hookup and about their most recent relationship that lasted at least six months. “Hooking up” was self-defined, and women included just kissing, using hands on each other, oral sex, and good old-fashioned intercourse.

Getting to know you…

Factor N 5: Hi-tech biomedicine

For the individual concerned, medical treatment may obviously have a literally vital role in permitting a long and healthy life. But we should not forget that such "crisis-management", necessary and important as it is, is not the same as dealing with the aging process itself.

There is sometimes a temptation (and even, from the narrow "medical-industry" point of view, a commercial incentive) to live recklessly -- the most obvious example is of course smoking; closely followed by eating the typical "junk" diet -- and assume that the "repair depot" will be able to magically fix any resulting problems. (This is alas, all too often, a young person's perspective.)

Perhaps, by outlining examples of the "nitty-gritty" detail involved in some of the latest techniques, we may be able to give such a reader pause for thought. Prevention, where this is feasible (and in many cases it is), is incomparably better than cure!

The Grapefruit Diet

The Grapefruit Diet: What It Is

The Grapefruit Diet has been around a long time -- since at least the 1930s. It's a short-term, quick weight loss plan.

The plan lasts for 12 days. Most versions promise a 10-pound weight loss during that time.

Unfortunately, the results aren't likely to last. The weight you lose is mostly fluid, and because you don't change your long-term eating habits on the diet, there's a good chance you'll gain it all back.

The Grapefruit Diet: What You Can Eat

3 Easy Full-Body Exercises, 1 Piece of Equipment

If you are looking for one very efficient piece of exercise, look no further than the kettlebell. Kettlebell workouts are famous for burning fat by increasing lean muscle while building balance and grace. Plus it is an amazing stress-reliever that relieves tension in both the muscles and the mind. The exercises are simple, yet effective.

When used correctly, kettleballs are wonderful conditioning tools. They can be used for various purposes such as:

• Cardiovascular conditioning
• Fat loss
• Strength and stamina
• Muscular endurance, especially the legs, buttocks and lower back

Choosing the Correctly Sized Kettlebell

The 15 Best Lean-Muscle Building Foods

1. Beef (From Grass-Fed Cattle)

Beef is important for building lean muscle due to its protein content, cholesterol, zinc, B vitamins and iron content.

Beef from grass-fed cattle have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than conventionally raised cattle, which gives you a boost in shedding bodyfat and building lean muscle.

2. Beets

A good source of betaine, also known as trimethylglycine, this nutrient not only enhances liver and joint repair, but also has been shown in clinical research to increase muscle strength and power.

Beets also provide an NO boost which can ehance energy and aid recovery.

Do Nuts Have Fewer Calories Than We Thought?

If nuts aren't already a part of your healthy eating repertoire, perhaps the results of a new study may entice you to add them to your diet. According to a new study, a one-ounce serving (28 grams) of almonds was found to have only 129 calories, which is 20 percent fewer calories than previously thought. Using the Atwater factors, this serving of nuts was previously determined to have 168 to 170 calories. This new research from the USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Surprising Ways to Reduce Wrinkles SlideshowSurprising Ways to Reduce Wrinkles Slideshow

Sleep On Your Back

Sleeping in certain positions night after night leads to "sleep lines" -- wrinkles that become etched into the top layers of skin and don't fade once you're up. Sleeping on your side leads to wrinkles on cheeks and chin, while sleeping face down gives you a furrowed brow. To cut down on new wrinkles, sleep on your back

30 Diet Tips – To Help You Lose Weight Healthily

You could lose weight with that new crash diet, or opt for the ‘perfect 100 per cent of the time with your diet’ approach. But deep down you will know that these ‘all or nothing’ diets don’t last for long. Nor are they healthy – for body, mind or soul.

Dietitian Lyndel Costain gives her top diet tips to lose weight and keep it off.

1. Stay clued up

Knowledge is power. By arming yourself with the facts about healthy diet, and ignoring the fads, you are more likely to build confidence in your abilities and achieve your weight loss goals.
WLR can help! Long term weight control is about being realistic, and enjoying healthy eating and exercise habits for life – and reaping all the benefits.

2. Have clear motivations

Write down your reasons for wanting to lose weight. Having clearly identified reasons helps your feeling of commitment. Try to include reasons that aren’t just about appearance, for example, ‘will help me feel fit enough to do more of the things of I want to do’ or ‘will help my back pain’. Looking back on them can also be a very useful motivator if the going gets tough.

Take 5 Exercise Plan

Three exercise plans designed to suit three starting point fitness levels. Each plan has six exercises and should be done five times a week for maximum benefit. All the exercises can be done at home with minimal equipment.

Once you have completed 4 weeks of one exercise plan, progress to the plan for the next fitness level. Aim to do all 3 plans in a 12 week period.

Exercise Plan for Fitness Level 1

Best Weight-Loss Diets

1. Weight Watchers (3.8 stars) -- The diet plan uses a points system to help people lose weight and keep it off. Weight Watchers beat other diet plans for both short-term and long-term weight loss in experts’ ratings.

2. The Biggest Loser Diet (3.5 stars) -- The diet based on the television show of the same name is built around healthy food and regular exercise. Experts said it required a lot of grunt work and may be hard to maintain for long-term weight loss.

DASH Diet Ranked Best Overall -- See What's Second

The best diet plan for overall health may not cost a thing.

A new ranking of diets by U.S. News & World Report gives top honors for best overall diet to the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet.

Originally developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to lower blood pressure, the diet plan is available free online.
Experts also ranked top diets in seven other categories, including weight loss, diabetes, heart-healthy, commercial, easiest to follow, plant-based, and healthy eating.
Weight Watchers won best weight loss diet as well as easiest to follow and best commercial diet.
The DASH diet tied with The Biggest Loser diet as the best diet plan to prevent and manage diabetes. The DASH diet was also named best diet for healthy eating, while the Mediterranean diet won best plant-based diet.

Ranking the Best Diets