Managing our children

Often times, while searching the internet for new, interesting, and potentially credible pieces of nutritional information, I happen upon something that just really chaps my hide. When you’re passionate about something (which I’m sure is an idea that most of you are familiar with), it’s easy to get mad about all of the persistent misinformation that permeates the internet…. and TV for that matter…. on a daily basis.

It never ceases to amaze me, how hard these so-called experts will work to try and formulate a new cure for an old problem, by doing everything EXCEPT for addressing the problem directly, and in a logical way. To illustrate my point here, I’m going to point you towards an article that I stumbled upon on ScienceDaily.com, entitled “New Approach ToManagement of Overeating in Children”, published December 7^th, 2011.

Now, I can’t blame these “experts” for trying to find a solution for the growing numbers obese children in the country today…..it’s definitely a noble cause…. but is this just another misguided example of barking up the wrong tree?

Overeating, whether in children or adults, often takes place even in the absence of hunger, resulting in weight gain and obesity. Current methods to treat such overeating in youth focus on therapies that restrict what kids may eat, requiring them to track their food intake and engage in intensive exercise.

But for most children, such behavioral therapy techniques don’t work long term, according to Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Boutelle and colleagues are developing new ways to treat overeating in children and adults.”

Okay, so tracking intake, and restricting what kids eat could be valuable tools, IF we restrict appropriate things. Obviously, I’m not talking about restricting fat, and when we’re talking about growing children, it’s silly to think about restricting calories too much, because calories are required for growth.

And no, behavioral techniques do not typically work for people with weight issues, and they’re certainly not going to work on children who often have no concern for their future health issues, being potentially caused by what they eat right now. They just want to eat what tastes good…. period.

Their study, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology this week, describes two new methods for reducing overeating. The overall aim of these studies is to improve responses to internal hunger and satiety cues and decrease physiological and psychological responses to foods in the environment. Basically, how do we learn to stop eating when we are no longer hungry?

The first treatment group, called appetite awareness training, trains children and parents to recognize, and appropriately respond to, hunger and satiety cues. The other treatment group, called cue exposure training, trains children and their parents to resist the food that is in front of them.”

So, recognizing and responding to hunger and satiety cues, and resisting the food that is in front of them, are the two proposed methods…. Oh please! This kind of thing really annoys me! It’s just more of the same old calorie restriction dogma.

The article goes on to blame easily available “high calorie foods”, and suggests that these children should be instructed on how to “ride out their cravings”. Ironically, people don’t have to “ride out” their cravings, and avoid calories, if they’re eating all the right foods, and none of the crap.

While the appetite awareness group focused on training the participants to regulate eating by focusing on internal cues of hunger and appetite, the cue exposure group trained the participants to tolerate cravings to reduce overeating.

The researchers assessed the impact of these two different eight-week treatments on body weight, overeating, binge eating and caloric intake in both the children and parents.

“While this was a pilot study, our initial results suggest that the ‘cue exposure’ approach might be very helpful in reduction of eating in the absence of hunger,” said Boutelle. She added that significant reduction in such overeating was found in the cue-exposure group, even six months post-treatment, though there was very little long-term impact on overeating in the appetite awareness group. There was only a small effect on body weight and no effect on reported calories eaten in either group; however, both approaches resulted in decreased binge eating in children and their parents.

“These findings are exciting because they offer a completely new paradigm for controlling overeating and binge eating,” Boutelle said. “By reducing overeating and binge eating, we hope to provide a new way of preventing weight gain and providing children with a sense of control over what they chose to eat. This is really important, because a loss of control can lead to depression and other psychiatric problems, and of course childhood obesity.”

Whether I believe it 100% or not, this reminds me of the famous Gary Taubes quote, “they’re not getting fat because they’re overeating, they’re overeating because they’re getting fat”.

The big question here, is where does the Paleo Diet come into play for managing overeating in children, and how is it a better option that what these people have to offer? Well, there are many reasons why people and children in this country today have problems with general health and obesity. The majority of these reasons relate to hormones, and how we either manipulate them for a positive outcome, or screw-up the whole natural balance of things through our diet. I’m not about to go into the biology or the biochemistry of the whole thing here, because there are plenty of books that do that, but suffice it to say that we’re not just talking about “calories”, or the ability to mentally control our craving here…. it’s just not that easy. Hormones like insulin, leptin, ghrelin, ASP, and several others all work together in a harmonious symphony inside of our bodies. If we eat the foods that we evolved over 2.5 million years to eat and thrive on, our hormones do precisely what they were designed to do. We get hungry when need food, and feel satisfied when we don’t. When we mess with the natural order of things, and eat massive amounts of refined carbohydrates, grains, and added sugars, like in the goods old S.A.D (Standard American Diet), our hormones fall out of whack, and suddenly the symphony just doesn’t sound right anymore. We pack on the pounds, and we get sick and depressed.

The point is that WE as parents, directly control what goes in a child’s mouth, and WHEN. If we keep a child surrounded by nothing but good, whole, real foods as we find within the Paleo diet lifestyle, then that’s precisely what they’ll eat. They won’t have any choice in the matter. Also when a child is USED to eating only good, whole, real foods, they’ll grow to like it, and automatically shun the standard American “food” nastiness that they will undoubtedly be exposed to over the course of the rest of their lives. It’s not about behavioral modifications, as much as LIFESTYLE modification. When people eat nutrient rich, calorie dense foods that fuel their bodies, and reinforce their health (like in the Paleo lifestyle), they don’t feel the need to be constantly snacking, and looking for more to eat. Plus, when a person isn’t riding the blood sugar roller coaster that is caused by the over consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates, they generally tend to have a much more “tame” appetite. Instead of that painful “gnawing” in the stomach that many people experience between meals (which is caused by low-blood glucose levels), people with proper blood-sugar control can go all day without eating, and maybe just be mildly aware of the idea that it might be a good idea to eat at some point.

Don’t taunt or temp your kids with food they love, and then take it all away as some asinine lesson in self-control. Just provide them with a diet of real, unprocessed, nutrient dense food, and let them eat as much as they want. Their appetites will self regulate and mother nature will take care of the body-weight, and the health of your child, in the way that our bodies were designed to do. This stuff isn’t rocket-science, it’s just good evolutionary logic that managing overeating in children with proper Paleo diet style nutrition, is easily the best way to go.

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Have you found behavior modification to work for overeating or was it a total lifestyle change to the Paleo diet or other low carbohydrate plan that helped you lose weight? Pleease leave your comments below. And if you found this article useful or interesting, please click the ‘LIKE’ button below to share on Facebook and Twitter.

Go to www.undergroundnutritionist.com, and download my 30-Day UN-Challenge eBook now……It’s a step-by-step guide to your personal health revolution.

Barry Cripps is a Paleo-based Nutrition and Wellness Consultant, who operates out of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

For more information please visit: www.undergroundnutritionist.com

trigan summer 2010

Ages 8 to 11 week 1

Warm up
Safety System


EOTD
Air squat


WOD
7 minute AMRAP
10 air squats
10 mountain climbers
50 ft bear crawl


Game

Ages 4 to 7 week 1

Safety system


EOTD

• skipping
• galloping
• skipping

Game

Lilly pad jumps & relay race

Dear Parents

Dear Parent(s),

Thank you for enrolling your child in our CrossFit Kids program at AMRAP Fitness.  

 Ray Traitz & Suzanne Traitz will be supervising, designing and implementing a unique, educational and fun program for your child or children.  

This program will help motivate our youth to exercise and get involved in extracurricular as well as recreational activities.  Not only will the program encourage children physically, it will assist in building respect, teamwork, self-confidence, self-esteem and social skills.

We encourage parents of our students to meet and speak with us prior to class about any issues or concerns.  Parents are always welcomed to watch our lessons.  We feel creating a relationship and channel of communication between parent(s) and instructors will be extremely beneficial for everyone.

Series I will begin the week of November 14^th  and end the week of December 12^th with a makeup week during December 19^th .

If your child has a sibling and/or friend between the ages of 4 and 11 who is interested in joining the program, we are still accepting enrollment.

ALL children must be dropped off and picked up after all classes.

Class times:

·        Tuesday ages (4 to 7) 4:30pm to 5:25pm

·         Fridays ages (8 to 11) 4:30pm to 5:25pm

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thanks again for your interest in CrossFit kids here at AMRAP Fitness

Playing hostage to your child

We have all seen TV footage which normally accompanies the “childhood obesity epidemic” stories. Strangely headless muffin-topped children’s bodies in oversized t-shirts, digging into a packet of chips or clutching an ice-cream, filmed walking out of a fast-food joint with their obese parents. You’ve all seen it, right? This picture is remarkably divisive: some of us come pouring out with indignant accusations (“child abuse”, etc), some shrug off the criticism recognising themselves or friends. Dismissing the unlikely scenario that the parents of the 25% of overweight and obese children in Australia really don’t give a toss about their offspring (let’s work on the assumption that most people love their kids) what do we do?

Whether you are a parent or plan to become one some day you might feel legitimately concerned about how to keep your child out of similar news footage.

You might want to do what any responsible parent would do to find information: google it. A cursory search for “healthy eating for children” has yielded a staggering 19 500 000 results. So far so good: almost 20 million ways to avoid being a weight statistic. Encouraging to see so many experts.

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011

Should You Eat like a Caveman?

By Jennifer Pinkowski

Most New Year's resolutions have an awfully short shelf life. By the end of January, folks who swore they would lose weight and shape up may already be back on the Krispy Kremes. But that's not entirely our fault, claims Arthur De Vany, a former economics professor at the University of California, Irvine. In his new book, The New Evolution Diet, De Vany argues if we really want to get fit, we should follow the lead of our ancient ancestors, Paleolithic humans who lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers some 40,000 years ago.

For more than 25 years, De Vany has been an advocate of what he calls "evolutionary fitness": a regimen of low-carb eating and interval- or cross-training workouts (with periodic fasting) aimed at controlling insulin. But he has also become the grandfather of the growing Paleo movement, a health philosophy built around the belief that modern life — dating from the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago — is simply alien to our genes. Believers say that only by returning to a diet of wild game and fresh produce, eliminating grains and dairy, and exercising in short, intense bursts, can we thrive in a world of escalators and cheese fries. (See 10 new diet books for 2011.)

CrossFit Reebok 2011 North East Regionals

April 13, 2011

Is Sugar Toxic?

By GARY TAUBES

On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology.

Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country. He published his first paper on childhood obesity a dozen years ago, and he has been treating patients and doing research on the disorder ever since.

The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”

www.strongkid.com

StrongKid.com supplies resources to enhance the health, fitness and sport performance of children and teenagers. We do this by providing research-based information on youth strength training for educators, teachers, parents and fitness professionals. Guidelines by the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology are helping us promote safe and effective strength training practices to improve the health and fitness of youth and teens.

StrongKid.com was founded by Dr. Avery Faigenbaum in 2001 to dispel the myths associated with youth strength training and provide reassurance that regular strength exercise can be safe, effective and enjoyable for boys and girls provided that age-appropriate training guidelines are followed. 

As a pediatric exercise scientist with 20 years of experience working with children and adolescents, Dr. Faigenbaum shares his experience, knowledge and research about youth strength training on strongkid.com. Dr. Faigenbaum is a Professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at The College of New Jersey, and Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is a leading researcher and practitioner in the field of pediatric exercise science and has co-authored more than 145 scientific publications, 25 book chapters and eight books related to youth health and fitness.

10 Ideas to Stay Active

We know you’re busy with your job, we know you’ve got a lot of homework, but take it from us, you can fit activity into your life.Here are some easy ways to get started.

Adults

1. Use a push mower to mow the lawn.
2. Go for a walk in a nearby park.
3. Take the stairs instead of an elevator.
4. Bike to work, to run errands, or to visit friends.
5. Clean out the garage or the attic.
6. Walk with a friend over the lunch hour.
7. Volunteer to become a coach or referee.
8. Sign up for a group exercise class.
9. Join a softball league.
10. Park at the farthest end of the lot.

Kids

1. Take your dog for a walk.
2. Start up a playground kickball game.
3. Join a sports team.
4. Go to the park with a friend.
5. Help your parents with yard work.
6. Play tag with kids in your neighborhood.
7. Ride your bike to school.
8. Walk to the store.
9. See how many jumping jacks you can do.
10. Race a friend to the end of the block.

Benefits of Fitness

The human body was designed for activity, and by exercising regularly you’ll look and feel better—every day.

Remember, fitness is about improving muscular strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory strength and endurance, and flexibility through regular physical activity. That even includes things like walking the dog, folding the laundry, or playing tag with the kids.

Why Is Staying Active So Important?

Because the results are amazing:

A HEALTHY HEART

Regular physical activity can lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels and can reduce the risk of illnesses such as type 2 diabetes or heart disease.

STRONG BONES

Exercise is necessary to build strong, healthy bones and can help slow the bone loss associated with getting older.

A SENSE OF WELL-BEING

Being in good shape can give you more energy, reduce anxiety and depression, improve self-esteem, and help you better manage stress.

A GOOD SOCIAL LIFE

Staying active is a great way to have fun, make new friends, and spend quality time with family.

LOOKING AND FEELING BETTER

You look better when you’re in shape. Staying active helps you tone muscles and maintain a healthy weight—and can even improve your posture.

Get Started—Right Now!

If you’re reading this, you’re already on your way to a healthier you. Now, just do a little follow-through. Create an account with the President’s Challenge, and thenchoose a challenge. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to physical activity or an Ironman competitor—we have a program for you.

The time is now. You’ll notice the difference right away, in your body and your mind.

Setting Goals

Setting realistic goals, and sticking to them, is an important part of fitness. We’ve been doing this goal-setting stuff for decades, and here’s what we’ve learned.

• Be realistic. Whether they’re for students or adults, goals should be challenging, but attainable. An unreachable goal will only be discouraging.
• Think short-term. Live for the moment. Goals must be meaningful and reachable in the near future.
• Write it down. Kids and adults alike benefit from writing out their goals and putting them where they can see them every day. Maybe on the fridge or bathroom mirror?
• Keep it simple. Goals should be straightforward and restricted to one major behavior. For example, “I’ll play soccer with my friends for 60 minutes each day for a week” or “I’ll increase my activity time by 5 minutes each week until I reach 60 minutes a day.”

Take Advantage of Our Tracking Tools

The President’s Challenge wants you to meet your goals, and we’ll help you (or your students) along the way.

Educators, you will be able to use our free software (coming in early 2011), Fitness File, to:

• Enter information about your students and their Physical Fitness Test scores.
• Create custom reports to track students’ progress.
• See which students qualify for awards, which you can order in our Shop.

If you’re an educator with an existing account, you can log in now to use the current version of Fitness File. We encourage new coordinators to wait for the new software to be released before creating an account.

If you sign up for the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) challenge orPresidential Champions challenge, you can enter your activities and track your progress on our site. You’ll get an update every time you log in. Stick with it, and you’ll earn cool awards for your hard work.

First Lady On Obesity In America: 'Fast Food Has Become The Every Day Meal

First Lady On Obesity In America: 'Fast Food Has Become The Every Day Meal'
DARLENE SUPERVILLE 02/ 8/11 07:29 PM

WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama says she talks about her love of french fries so people won't get the idea that her anti-obesity and healthier eating campaign is all about "complete, utter deprivation."

"The message has always been about balance," she said Tuesday.

The first lady, who celebrates the first anniversary of her "Let's Move!" campaign on Wednesday, said she tells daughters Malia and Sasha that if they eat vegetables at every meal they'll "still be OK" when they're downing pizza and ice cream with friends on the weekend.

"The problem is when that fun stuff becomes the habit. And I think that's what's happened in our culture," Mrs. Obama said. "Fast food has become the everyday meal."

"We flipped the script. As opposed to pizza being the treat, it is the thing that kids eat every day because sometimes that's all they eat," she told reporters at the White House.

With the campaign, the first lady – who has said publicly several times that french fries are her favorite food – is trying to flip the script back in the opposite direction.

Memorial Day 2011 - Freedom Isn't Free

Alarming New Studies: 50% of U.S. Children Have Chronic Disease/Disorders, 21% Developmentally Disabled

by Augie

What can each of us do to change this?

American children are suffering more and more disorders—and are growing into even sicker adults—the worst of most major countries. Two studies were released this week underscore this alarming reality.

In a study published in Academic Pediatrics, an estimated 43% of US children (32 million) currently have at least 1 of 20 chronic health conditions assessed, increasing to 54.1% when overweight, obesity, or being at risk for developmental delays are included. The estimate is derived from 2007 data—4 years old. This tells us matters are much worse now–perhaps 50% are now chronically ill not counting obesity.

Another study in the June 2011 issue of Pediatrics says developmental disability is on the rise in the U.S. Between 1997 and 2008, the number of school-age children diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or another developmental disability rose by about 17 percent, a new study showed. It also said roughly 15 percent of kids – nearly 10 million – have such a disability. The numbers were based on information collected from parents, who were asked whether their kids had been diagnosed with a variety of developmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, seizures, stuttering or stammering, hearing loss, blindness, and learning disorders, as well as autism and ADHD. Note that these numbers are three years old. Applying the same rate of increase, today’s numbers would amount to 21% by simple arithmetic. Boys were twice as likely to have a developmental disability. It also found except for autism, developmental disabilities were more common among children from low-income families.

A third study I found was published by the Archives of Psychiatry in March and it found that the U.S. has the highest in the world lifetime rate of bipolar disorder at 4.4%, and India the lowest, with 0.1%, as reported by CNN. In other words, the U.S. has 44 times more bipolars (manic-depressives) than India. Bipolar disorder is characterized by cycles of depression and mania, a euphoric, high-energy state that can result in heightened levels of creativity or output as well as erratic or risky behavior. People with bipolar disorder are at high risk of substance abuse and suicide, and treatment includes psychiatric care and medication.

These rates will continue to increase, in my view, since nothing is really changing in terms of the amount of unhealthy, industrially processed foods families and children eat, the poor USDA dietary guidelines being promoted as healthy, the very high rate of vaccinations and their damages inflicted, a continuiing flow of pharmaceuticals, and of course, other environmental and lifestyle factors. So in five years we may be looking at 60-70% of American children being chronically ill and even more obesity and infertility.

Even if the rates were 100%, the public health authorities and their partners in health care and food/agriculture industry will accept no blame or liability for their policies that have help destroy so many families. They will be to busy planning for lucrative programs for their medicine and long-term care rather than real prevention.

All should take heed of telling others of the importance of taking control of their own health by getting more educated on nutrition and natural prevention and healing options.

What can each of us do to change this? One way right now is to spread the message by using the share buttons and SOUND THE ALARM.

STOP THE MASSACRES

Cartoon is a courtesy of Mike Adams’ Natural News

 

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Acne: Are Milk and Sugar the Causes?

It's confirmed. Dairy products and sugar cause acne.

As our sugar and dairy consumption has increased over the last 100 years so has the number of people with acne. We now have over 17 million acne sufferers, costing our health care system $1 billion a year, and 80-90 percent of teenagers suffer acne to varying degrees. The pimply millions rely on infomercial products hawked by celebrities or over-the-counter lotions, cleansers, and topical remedies. Recent research suggests that it's not what we slather on our skin that matters most but what we put in our mouth.

Many have suggested a diet-acne link, but until recently it has not been proven in large clinical studies. Instead dermatologists prescribe long-term antibiotics and Accutane, both of which may cause long-term harmful effects. In 2009, a systematic review of 21 observational studies and six clinical trials found clear links. Two large controlled trials found that cow's milk increased both the number of people who got acne and its severity. Other large randomized prospective controlled trials (the gold standard of medical research) found that people who had higher sugar intake and a high glycemic load diet (more bread, rice, cereal, pasta, sugar, and flour products of all kinds) had significantly more acne. The good news is that chocolate (dark chocolate that is) didn't seem to cause acne.

The dietary pimple producing culprits--diary and sugar (in all its blood sugar raising forms)--both cause spikes in certain pimple producing hormones. Dairy boosts male sex hormones (various forms of testosterone or androgens) and increases insulin levels just as foods that quickly raise blood sugar (sugar and starchy carbs) spike insulin.

Androgens and insulin both stimulate your skin to make those nasty, embarrassing pimples. One patient recently told me he would give a million dollars for a pill to cure acne. He doesn't need to. It seems that for many the cure to acne is at the end of their fork, not in a prescription pad.

While pimples are not as simple as too much milk or sugar in your diet, both have a significant impact. Nutritional deficiencies as well as excesses can worsen acne. Correcting common deficiencies including low levels of healthy omega-3 anti-inflammatory fats, low levels of antioxidants such as vitamin E, zinc, and vitamin A, and including an important anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat called evening primrose oil all may be helpful in preventing and treating unwanted pimples. I will explain how you can correct and incorporate all of these nutritional elements of your diet and outlines some supplements that will help you fight acne in a moment.

The Importance of Play

The Importance of Play, Long Walks and Outdoor Workouts, or Why the Optional Stuff Isn’t Actually Optional

Welcome Stumblers and all newcomers! If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, increase energy levels, reduce stress or just generally look and feel healthier you've come to the right place.

Get the 92-page Primal Blueprint Fitness eBook for FREE and also receive my weekly newsletter with tips, advice and special insider-only information.

Learn more about the Primal Lifestyle by visiting the Primal Blueprint 101 page. Thanks for visiting!

Before I get to today’s Monday Musings I wanted to give a shout out and big thanks to everyone that came out the inaugural PAST in Southern California this weekend. It was wonderful meeting each of you in person. And because of you the first event was a smashing success. So thank you!

Coming out of the gate, this event surpassed my expectations by a large margin. 30 devoted Primal enthusiasts trekked from all over SoCal and even as far as Phoenix to spend 7 hours immersed in all matters Primal. We convened at Karma Crossfit in Manhattan Beach thanks to our gracious hostess Katy Rickman. I was particularly impressed by the knowledge and passion from the audience about the Primal Blueprint, and how quickly they absorbed and appreciated the message. The guests added so much to the event and kept me excited and energized for 7 hours, which I must admit is about twice as long as I’ve ever talked in a single day.