Sports Training for Babies and Toddlers: Have We Gone too Far?

In an age where parents are looking to advantage their children in an ultra-competitive world, kids are being started earlier and earlier in academics, arts and yes, athletics.

And not even children anymore, but babies and toddlers are getting very early starts in sports-related training.

Enter entrepreneurs like Doreen Bolhuis, founder of "Gymtrix", a company that offers a library of videos starting with training for babies as young as 6 months. "With the babies in our family," she said, "I start working them out in the hospital."

Yikes...

Companies have jumped on the insecurities of parents, with outfits like Baby Goes Pro, and Athleticbaby.

Even fitness facilities are fully on the bandwagon, with The Little Gym boasting 20,000 children under the age of 2 enrolled in their programs, accounting for a quarter of total enrolment.

My Gym, based in Sherman Oaks, California, said 55 percent of those who attend classes at its 200 locations -- 157 in the United States -- were 2 ½ or younger.

Youth fitness experts aren't overly enthusiastic of the trend.

Dr. Lyle Micheli, an orthopedic surgeon and founder of the first pediatric sports medicine clinic in the United States, at Children's Hospital in Boston, says this of the phenomenon;

I don't know of any evidence that training at this infancy stage accelerates coordination.

Dr. Micheli also notes that there is a risk of overuse injury.

Dr. Kwame Brown, of the International Youth Conditioning Association, and proprietor of an excellent Youth Fitness blog called "Move Theory," had some very lucid thoughts on this topic;

Children need opportunities to create. Adults often don't realize how stifling encouragement can be. We think encouragement and direction are always positive. In the long term, for a child, these things can be the kiss of death to creativity, and they can actually kill enjoyment when misapplied... Even biomechanically for a child, if they are always being "taught" how to move, it stifles the development of skill.

Read Dr. Brown's entire blog entry here.

Eric Chessen, founder of Autism Fitness went so far as to call the trend an "epic disgrace". He adds,

Play has become known, whether openly stated or not, as "unproductive" because it does not teach a toddler how to take the SATs effectively or drive a golf ball 400 yards.

Chessen's solution; Establishing healthy movement patterns, the opportunity to play, and reinforcing creative and social aspects of exercise... beneficial to ALL populations, and the basis for lifelong fitness, rather than the golden opportunity of a forty year-old obese guy talking about how he used to play high school football.

I agree wholeheartedly with the aforementioned Youth Fitness practitioners. An urgency has been created and people are lining up to cater to parent's fears that their children will somehow be left behind without them.

Play with your toddlers. Give them opportunities to explore their worlds with very little inhibition, and they'll be just fine.

Image Credit: Hygienematters

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Antioxidants, Orange and Green Vegetables Linked to Longer Life

Unlike McDonald's, which is mostly shades of brown, new research claims colorful vegetables, specifically oranges and dark greens, maybe help extend lifespan and decrease mortality.

Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that among the 15,000 study participants (American adults, ages 20 and older) taking part in a national health survey, individuals with higher blood levels of alpha-carotene had lower overall health risks after 14 years, regardless of lifestyle habits.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says insufficient intake of fruits and vegetables is a major risk factor for increased mortality worldwide. A 2003 WHO report claims as many as 2.7 million lives may have been saved each year, if more fruits and vegetables were consumed.

In the new study, experts report that both alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, present in orange and dark green vegetables, provided health benefits, but the effect was most pronounced with alpha-carotene. Our bodies convert alpha-carotene and beta-carotene into vitamin A. Carrots and red, yellow, and orange colored vegetables are all good sources of carotenes.

Individuals with the highest blood levels of alpha-carotenes had a 27% lower risk of death, especially dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Beta-carotene and alpha-carotene are antioxidants and have been shown to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Antioxidants prevent the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation causes chain reactions that release free radicals into the body, which can damage cells; a risk factor for cancer. Antioxidants stop these chain reactions.

Conversely, consuming foods like red meat and bacon, high in saturated fat and carcinogens, especially when cooked/burnt at high temperatures, raise risk of stroke and disease likes cancer and heart disease.

The CDC suggests choosing leaner cuts of meat, eating white meat, like chicken and turkey, and low-fat dairy to lower saturated fat intake.

Image credit: edbermac

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Poll: Atkins Diet vs. Dukan Diet

The Dukan Diet has been gaining popularity since it's recent release in the USA and the folks at Atkins aren't happy.

They recently sent out a press release including the following statement.

"The Atkins Diet remains the only low-carbohydrate weight loss approach scientifically validated as safe and effective."

They go on to justify why Atkins is far superior to The Dukan Diet.

Atkins has been heavily marketing their New Atkins Diet this year which focuses more on nutrition and is less restrictive than their previous version.

The Dukan Diet was originally developed in France 10 years ago, but has recently been released in English for the UK market and just this month became available in the USA.

So why does The Dukan Diet have the folks at Atkins shaking in their boots? Will it really challenge the low carb king? Participate in the poll or comments below.

Which diet plan do you think is better?

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Does Lunch At Your PC Make Your Eat More?

If you eat lunch parked in front of your computer every day, you need to know that this habit may be boosting your appetite.

Most of us know the advice to avoid eating in front of the TV or computer, but many completely ignore that message.

Well, a recent small study has shown that those who ate lunch while playing a computer game ended up eating more 30 minutes later, than those who had eaten their lunch with no distractions.

Previous studies have demonstrated that distractions at mealtimes lead to eating more, however this study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, went a little further, showing the effects of this distraction actually last beyond the meal.

44 volunteers were assigned to one of two groups. One group was asked to eat a set lunch while playing solitaire on a computer. The other group had the same meal, but with no distractions.Thirty minutes after their lunch, both groups took a cookie "taste test," where they could sample as much as they wanted. They were also asked to recall all nine items they'd eaten at lunch, and the order in which the foods were served.On average, the computer group ate roughly 250 calories worth of cookies, while the other group ate half as much.Also, the computer group had more difficulty remembering the order in which their lunch had been served, and reported feeling less full afterwards.

The researchers suggest computer users have a fuzzier memory of their lunch, and therefore felt less satisfied afterwards, in comparison to the control group.

Researcher Jeffrey Brunstrom, of the University of Bristol, UK, said:

We think that memory for recent meals influences the amount of food that we select and then consume at a subsequent meal... When our memory is poor, then at a subsequent meal we tend to select and consume a greater amount of food.

It's pretty obvious, but you can't possibly pay attention to what you eat and how much, when you are distracted so heavily. One of the keys to eating less at mealtimes is to eat mindfully -- you can't eat mindfully when you aren't paying attention to what your stomach is telling you.

If you are the master multi-tasker in your home, taking a break at mealtimes away from the TV and computer screen, is a new habit you should try to implement. Also, if you've got children, take note -- one U.S. study found that up to a quarter of children's calorie intake occurs in front of a TV.

So, is it time to set some new healthy goals for the incoming year, to improve your health and that of your whole family?

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No Fruit in Ottawa, Illinois

Let me explain. And sorry for what I am about to say, and sorry if you call Ottawa, Illinois, "home".

I just drove across country; from New Jersey to Portland, Oregon. I needed a change. I'm almost thirty, all my friends are married, and like the Allman Brothers say, "Nobody left to run with anymore. Nobody left to do the crazy things we used to do before."

So I hit the road a few weeks ago. But the second day into my 2,500 mile drive, about 120 miles from Chicago, my car craps out in the middle of route 80, and I'm stranded for four days in "lovely" Ottawa, Illinois, with nothing to eat.

I'm stuck in a lousy hotel in the middle of no where, and while I'm waiting for my car repair bill of $2,000 to come to fruition, I obviously need to eat. But I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on take out.

So I go to the front desk and ask the girl if there's a supermarket around here. She gives me a hangdog look and says, "Oh you mean like Wal-Mart." Of course, I should have known she was going to say Wal-Mart, it's the Midwest after all.

Apparently a Wal-Mart superstore was just down the road. We don't have those in New Jersey, at least I have never seen one, so I trudge through sub-zero temperatures to the supermarket - err, Wal-mart.

I walk in to what looked like an underground colony. I have never seen a Wal-Mart this big. It was cavernous. But luckily I didn't have to spelunk the store that much, the grocery section was in plain sight. I figured I would buy some fruit and maybe a few bagels. I'm from the east coast, I love me some good Jewish bagels.

Well, there were no bagels in site. I'm guessing bagels are a metropolitan thing. And sorry, if you buy Thomas's Bagels in a bag, you're lying to yourself; those aren't real bagels, just stick with Wonder Bread.

So I skip the bagels and load up on fruit: apples, pears, bananas, and clementines. Here's where it gets sad.

I go to the register and Starla the cashier, who coincidently had a series of stars tattooed on her neck - no knock on tattoos, I have a bunch - rings up the apples and stuff, but pauses when she grabs the clementines. The expression on her face is what I imagine early man looked like when he discovered fire for the first time. "Ugh, what dis' be?"

Starla, bless her heart, picks up her cash register encyclopedia -- a fold out with pictures of various fruits and vegetables listing their names and product codes -- and after a minute of quandary, she asks, "What are these?"

"Clementines," I answer. Starla's initial response was vacant, like when your dog stares at you when you go to the bathroom with the door open.

But after another 30 seconds Starla says, "Are you sure these aren't apricots."

I'm a jerk, so I reply, "Not a chance." No offense, but I wasn't surprised. Starla didn't exactly look like she ate that much fruit.

Puzzled by my response, Starla, in an epiphany, says, "I'll just key them in as little oranges." Poor girl, it's the best she could do.

Now, I think I know why Starla had no idea what clementines were, and its not her fault. When I got back to my room, I started eating the fruit, and all of it, including the vaunted clementines, were terrible. Desperately unripe, totally bland, and "dried out" tasting.

So this made me think, no wonder the Midwest is very obese, their access to good quality produce may be lacking. They're certainly not as close to ideal growing temperatures as coastal areas.

Maybe, just like poorer urban areas back east, like New York City, we should pay close attention to the import of better quality fruits, vegetables, and fresh foods to the Midwest; especially since I saw a lot of morbidly obese customers wheeling around the Wal-Mart, instead of walking.

But fortunately for me, Portland has a bevy of farmers markets, Asian grocery stores, and most importantly, micro breweries.

Image credit: me

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HCG Diet Slammed by Nutritionists During Holiday Promotion

HCG Diet Direct has tried to capitalise on Christmas diet anxiety by offering a holiday promotion - prompting nutritionists and health professionals to warn dieters away.

The HCG Diet uses human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone which women produce during pregnancy. By taking it, dieters trick their bodies into trying to provide food for a non-existent baby.

The HCG diet has been criticised both for the use of hormone injections, and for the very low calorie limit, just 500 calories per day (a quarter of what an average woman needs).

Normally, using HCG has involved injections, but HCG Diet Direct are promoting a homeopathic (very diluted) version of HCG that dieters take in the form of drops. Despite being highly diluted (and thus to conventional scientific thinking, highly ineffective), the HCG drops are expensive, costing $79.95 for a 15 day supply.

Dieticians and nutritionists have spoken out against the diet, with Jan Milne, Dietitians New Zealand's executive director, saying:

Very low calorie diets without strict medical and dietary supervision can be dangerous. They are only reserved for severely obese people, and even then must be closely monitored by a qualified medical professional.

And since 1975, the FDA has the full-strength HCG, used by clinics, labelled and advertised with this disclaimer:

HCG has not been demonstrated to be effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity. There is no substantial evidence that it increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or "normal" distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restricted diets.

Our verdict? Stick to sensible, healthy eating and exercising instead. That means eating at least 1,000 calories per day (most dieters will need considerably more), and aim to meet the recommended minimum exercise guidelines.

Don't waste your money on drugs which are at best useless, and - if they do work - potentially hazardous to your health.

And don't keep looking for a quick fix, either. A safe, sustainable rate of weight loss is 1 to 2lbs per week. Any diet promising significantly more than this is probably a dangerous scam.

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Link Time! Jane Fonda, Healthy Christmas Cookies, and More.

If you were around in the 80's you might remember the advent of the VCR which made The Jane Fonda Workout extremely popular.

Jane Fonda who turns 73 tomorrow, is back with the Jane Fonda Workout Revamped. While Fonda is still in great shape, she relies on a team of experts to actually instruct the workout series. The new DVD is available from Amazon.

If you're getting ready to bake your Christmas cookies, stop the press and check out these Healthy Christmas Cookie Recipes. They are healthier versions of traditional favorites.

If you need some tools to help you keep track of your Calories and eating this holiday season and/or during the new year, check out MyNetDiary.com for great food tracking tools you can use on your home computer as well as your mobile device.

Finally this week, we wanted to give a shout out to Hood to Coast which is a new doco covering the popular 197 mile annual relay race that starts 6000 feet on Mt. Hood and finishes at sea level in Seaside, Oregon.

It will premiere in over 350 USA theaters on January 11, 2011 for one night only. If you can't make it out to the premiere, it will be available on DVD soon.

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