Today I'm going to point you to one of my favorite educational magazines and websites called, Edutopia.org They cover all aspects of education but for my readers I'm bringing to your attention their content about health and fitness. Enjoy.

* Fighting for Fitness: Educational Institutions Step into the Ring
* Sage Advice: The Challenge of Childhood Obesity
* Fit for Life: A Coach's Pep Talk
* The New PE Curriculum: An In…

The schools held food tastings, planted edible gardens, amped up physical education classes and moved recess to before lunch. The result? "It's working," said Sutin, deputy secretary for programs at the Department of Health. She was speaking about the community effort to reduce childhood obesity in Las Cruces, NM and specifically Coplee Elementary.

Their big pet project was the Healthy Kids program. Their slogan: "Building a f…

A national running campaign in China requires that all students K-16 run daily at school (Elementary -1 K, Middle School 1.5K, and High School -College 2K). It's all in the name of health and will continue from September 08 through the end of April 09.

It seems China's Minister of Education and teachers felt that childhood obesity and health concerns made the mandate necessary. However, some parents and students felt the running mand…

In researching childhood obesity I recently came across an article which described parents giving their overweight or obese children diet drinks such as slimfast or medifast meals...I was quite shocked and alarmed.

While limiting calorie consumption is on the right track, a more nutritious choice for the developing bodies of children is to focus on 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day...As well as following the FDA food guide pyramid.
If …

Last week there were an abundance of articles and news coverage regarding the Journal of the American Medical Association (CDC data) study that found U.S. childhood obesity rates may be leveling off after surging for more than two decades. I found it difficult to get very excited about these new revelations. I will admit that "leveling off" is better than "gaining" (no pun intended) .

It reminds me of the visual of a boat…

Tips for healthy kids:

1) Provide them with at least five servings of vegetables and fruit a day.
What does that look like? a small apple, half of a banana, a handful of baby carrots, one celery stalk cut up and a stalk of steamed broccoli.

2) No sugary drinks: offer water once an hour, and 100% juice (1 serving/day), and or low fat milk.

3) Encourage children to be active. Buy them consumable equipment like balls, hula hoops, beanbags etc. Children…

Childhood obesity is the public health crisis affecting the world!

Explore:
1) What lead to the current epidemic?
2) What research tells us about the schools’ influence on childhood obesity?
3) What schools can do?

USDA Eat Smart Play Hard
for free materials!

http://www.fns.usda.gov/EATSMARTPLAYHARD/
LISTEN HERE