Solving Childhood Obesity Is A Family Affair

Parents dictate their childrens future... statistics show us parents are failing at encouraging their children to have healthy lifestyles. Studies have shown that it is the responsibility of parents to provide guidance and inspiration for their children to pursue healthy and active lives. It is the environment that children live in home that will ultimately determine their pattern of eating, activity levels and attitude towards pursuing a healthy life. We can remove all the dessert bars; soda and junk food machines from the schools and children will still continue to eat improperly. Parents or guardians must take responsibility and maintain a healthy example for their children to establish a healthy physical, psychological and emotional lifestyle.

Poor nutrition and a lack of daily exercise have been the leading causes of the rise in health problems and the decrease in academic achievement amongst children. In addition, children will develop emotional and psychological problems that will manifest throughout the rest of their lives. Its a common understanding that you cannot put a price on ones health, but when bad habits begin to lower the quality of life and you can quantify the result in lower income and increased medical costs, it becomes very real. Thus, demanding the need to find a solution.

Kids are more physically active when their parent encourages and supports that interest. Such support boosts children's positive attitude toward exercise as well as their interest in organized sports. And when you participate in free-time physical activity with your daughter or son, you increase her or his enjoyment of unstructured fitness fun.

You don't have to excel at any sport to accomplish the necessary changes to improve your childrens health. Try these ideas for playing and being active together:

Take a family bike ride or walk. Find nearby trails, tracks or safe routes for all ages in your group. On weekends, when you have more time, plan rides or walks at sites farther from home to keep up interest.
Reduce the time your kids spend inactivewatching TV and DVDs, playing computer games, even at the movies. Substitute active entertainments such as swimming, bowling, going to the roller or ice rink, visiting the zoo.
play games outside with your kidseverything from hopscotch and jump rope to hide-and-seek, basketball or badminton. Don't worry about what the neighbors will think.
play physically active games indoors with your kids. Treasure hunts, dancing, ping-pong, even yoga can keep the family moving when the weather makes staying inside necessary.
Consider getting a family membership at the local "Y" or community center. These facilities give you opportunities for several kinds of play and often have special parent-child activity sessions.

If you belong to a health club or gym, find out if your adolescent or teenager is eligible to join. Then you can exercise side-by-side on various types of equipment. Be sure to have a trainer show your child how to use the machines and set up an appropriate workout program for him or her.

Obesity has so many ramifications. It contributes to higher incidences of cancer, specifically kidney cancer, and orthopedic complications, due to the excess stress on bones and cartilage. Diabetes alone costs about $130 billion a year. The disease can cause blindness, kidney failure, strokes and heart disease.

Experts with the International Obesity Task Force estimate that 22 million of the world's children under 5 are overweight or obese. The organization estimates that 300 million people worldwide are obese and 750 million more are overweight.

Genetics is not always fair and some people have more trouble staying lean than others. However, it is only recently that having a body that tended toward staying lean was any kind of advantage. Through most of history survival depended on being able to store as many calories as possible against times of scare resources or famine. So the modern body evolved to cope with times of scarcity not times of plenty - and we have the genes to prove it.

Unfortunately, given our lifestyle that provides huge amounts of easily available calories and very little exercise it is inevitable that people will tend to gain weight. The solution is for parents to teach their children to eat less, eat better and exercise more, that is not always easy, but many things that are simple are not easy.

Mike Torchia is a nationally-recognized health and fitness expert who specializes in children's fitness. He is the founder and president of Operation fitness, a program designed to improve health and fitness among America's young people.

More information on childhood health and fitness issues and programs can be found at Mike Torchia's Operation Fitness information page

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Dieting

Everyone is in competition nowadays to look good and live healthy. So to look good usually they go for dieting with the aim of losing weight as personality with overweight is not pleasing.

people diet for many reasons. Some are at an unhealthy weight and need to pay closer attention to their eating and exercise habits. Some play sports and want to be in top physical condition. Others may think they would look and feel better if they lost a few pounds. Lots of people feel pressured to lose weight and try different types of diets. But if you really need to lose weight, improving your eating habits and exercising will help you more than any diet. Dieting could be a solution if done in a right manner. Unhealthy Dieting, especially extreme food-intake reduction and rapid weight loss, can have the following side effects:

• Fatigue
• Depression
• Prolonged hunger
• Sinus
• Muscle loss
• Blood shot eyes
• Gall bladder diseases
• Acidosis
• Rashes
• Irritability
• Fainting

The best way to diet is to eat a wide variety of enough food to meet your body needs. Aim to eat more fruits and veggies, cut back on meats high in fat (like burgers and hot dogs), greasy fried foods, and sweets, and drink more water instead of sugary drinks like sports drinks or sodas. Great Dieting tips to loose weight safely:

• Eat less. More often.
• Do not eat right before going to bed.
• Kick the sugar habit.
• Shop with calories in mind.
• reduce the amount of breads, chips, crackers, and salty snacks you eat.
• exercise daily.
• Drink milk, including fat-free or low-fat milk.
• Drink plenty of water (at least four to six 8-ounce glasses a day).
• Eat lean, high-protein foods, like lean meat, chicken, fish, or beans.
• Eat whole grains (like whole-wheat bread or pasta), which provide fiber, B vitamins, and iron.
• Eat breakfast.
• Choose smaller portions at fast-food restaurants.
• Stay away from fad diets you might lose a few pounds temporarily, but if you do not focus on changing your habits, you will probably just gain it back when you go back to your usual way of eating.
• Do not take diet pills.
• Avoid seeing foods as "good" or "bad" or eliminating entire groups of foods, like dairy. If you eliminate entire food groups, you may miss out on important nutrients, like calcium
• If you choose to become a vegetarian, talk to your doctor or dietitian about how to make nutritious vegetarian choices.

Author is running a health information site http://www.peoples-health.com where information on several diseases like allergies, blood disorders, cancer, childrens health, digestive disorder, liver diseases etc. and tips on dieting, nutrition and improving lifestyle has been provided. Find some useful articles on dieting here- http://www.peoples-health.com/diets.htm

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Things To Do In Singapore

The best way to explore Singapore is to do what the locals do. Thats right, do things that are non-touristy. I have compiled a list of places and things to do in Singapore that are mostly free, other than a bottle of drink and transport fares. Hope you will find them useful and have fun!

1. Grab your 20 mega pixel camera and head down to Chinatown .... ok, ok, 2 million pixel is just as good. Take some pictures of the old shops and their almost 90 degrees staircases. If you like taking pictures of elderly people, there are many sitting around the wet market doing nothing.

2. Go to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for mountain biking or walk around and smell the green. Bring a bottle of water and shades.

3. Take a ferry (cost only $2) to Pulau Ubin and explore the island. You can also rent a bike or worn out motocycle. Try taking a taxi if you can find one, they can climb rough terrains better than jeeps. Explore some of the Malay kampungs and prawn farms.

4. visit the Changi Prison. It's free entrance for both tourist and inmates. Drop by the museum and chapel for some WW2 history and photos.

5. visit the Siang Lim Si temple at Toa Payoh. watch people get blessed. For the non-believers, you can count the number of deities inside ... it should occupy you for one hour.

6. Go to the East Coast park for a swim and followed by satay-bee hoon at the hawker centre.

7. Take a train to Changi airport. Buy two cups of coffee, find a comfortable pillar in the departure hall viewing gallery, watch planes take off and ask yourself why you are not on the plane heading for a vacation.

8. Take a map and walk through MacRitchie Reservoir.

9. Go Sim Lim Square and check out the latest laptops and hardware.

10. Go jogging from Kallang River to Benjamin Sheares Bridge.

11. Take a train from the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. You can go over to Malaysia and back within a day.

12. Try water skiing at Pungol.

13. Make your own kite and fly them at the Marine South open field. after that, you can have a delicious steamboat dinner at the many steamboat restaurant nearby.

14. Go to the Flea Market at Sungei Road. Some people called it the Thieves Market because most of the things sold there are not bought by the merchants.

15. Go cycling at the Sembawang park. Quiet and nice even on the weekends. Cycle to the end and you can see some of the big ships refuelling.

16. Bring your own pit and barbeque along the Upper Pierce Reservoir. But if you feel oily, don't jump into the reservoir, you may end up in Point no. 4.

17. visit the Tekka Market at Serangoon Road for a variety of fruits and vegetables. There is a stall selling one of the best Bryani Chicken Rice I have ever tasted.

18. Go fishing at Pasir Ris park.

19. visit the Kinokuniya Bookstore.If your are dizzy after browing the library size bookstore, sit down for a cup of tea at the cafe inside the bookstore. If you feel like a bookworm that day, then head for the Borders bookstore for a second helping.

20. visit the Sungei Buloh Nature park. Bring binoculars and do bird watching. after that, you can buy some hydroponic vegetables home at the nearby farms.

copyright : http://www.platimumbooks.com

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Find The Best Weight Loss Program

According to American Dietetic Association every year Americans throws 33 Billion Dollars on weight loss program, foods, services and products. So, it is no surprise that you will find many fad diets and other so-called best weight loss programs in this flourishing market.

With the arrival of fad diets, special exercise regiments and all manner of junk science, it won't be easy for most of us to distinguished good weight loss program from the bad weight loss program. There are no extensive scientific studies conducted for different weight loss programs. However we do find a few scientific studies conducted on different weight loss programs, which is either contradictory or supporting a particular weight loss program.

In absence of any scientific studies, if you find out that majority of serious sources agrees on certain bodybuilding program then you may safely rank that program as the best bodybuilding program. In the best interest of your physical health, there is no doubt that you have to lose the extra fat. You have gained this extra fat due to your poor lifestyle and your bad eating habit. You can reduce your extra fat by following the best weight loss program.

What is the best weight loss program? The best weight loss program is that, which is easily affordable, rational and flexible - a well organized program, which you would like to stick with.

What is the mechanism of weight loss?In theory the mechanism of weight loss is very simple. Our overall body weight is determined by the calories we consume and the calories we burned. You will gain weight if you consume more calories than you burned. Similarly you lose weight if you consume fewer calories and burned more calories.

All is not that simple I know many people who exercising daily and eating well but still they complain that they are not loosing any weight. Thats why you have to follow the best weight loss program.

Types of weight loss program

Broadly speaking there are three types of bodybuilding programs.

1. Do-it-yourself weight loss programs: This type of weight loss programs are preferred by the busy people, who has very little time to go to the gym or clinic. This type of program may be done at home alone or with the help of someone. They rely heavily on the books, videos and other such materials for the guidance.

2. Non-clinical weight loss programs: This type of weight loss programs is mostly professionally managed. You have to go to their premises for daily or thrice in a week for the consultation. They also use different weight loss and diet books. They will monitor your weight loss and give you counseling regarding your eating habit and your diet.

3. Clinical weight loss programs: This type of weight loss program is conducted mostly in hospitals or other health care units. This program is recommended to very overweight people. The weight loss is monitor by the nurses, physicians, psychologist and the dietitians.

Before finding the best weight loss program, you have to decide which type of weight loss program is suitable for you. Then start researching for the weight loss program that suits you best.

Choose that weight loss program which has exercise programs built in and also gives emphasis on lifestyle changes. This will help you to lose weight and keep it off for a longer time and at the same time it will also keep you fit and healthy. It is your health. So, do some homework to find the best weight loss program for you. The best weight loss program does not hammer you to change your food habit drastically. It does not ask you to join a posh gym or hiring a personal trainer.

Author Ajay Charvak is a consultant for weight loss program. He has review many e books which deals with the weight loss program. You can find here the best weight loss program e book.

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Is Golf Tournament Sponsorship an Effective Form of Advertising?

golf tournaments have become a very popular way for charity to raise money. Probably the number one reason why most companies support a tournament is an affinity for the cause. But in addition to supporting a worthy cause, golf tournament sponsorship represents an opportunity for effective advertising. this article contains some anecdotal evidence to support this theory.

At a golf tournament a while ago, I happened to be on the same foursome and share a cart with one of that tournaments major sponsors. this fellow was a marketing manager for a car dealership. His rather enviable job description included playing in tournaments that the company sponsored, which through the summer months amounted to about two or three a week. Of course, he had some other responsibilities like making sure the cars from the dealership were displayed properly and the gift bags his company sponsored got to every golfer. So it was a long day for him, showing up well before the tournament started and leaving long after the last after dinner speech was made. But even so, he still got to golf as major part of his job. He had a hard time garnering any sympathy from our group.

As we talked throughout the day, I learned that his job of playing golf had not come about by accident. A few years earlier, he had done some extensive research and analysis of the companys advertising budgets, their media exposure and the cost effectiveness of the various types of promotion they were undertaking at the time. this analysis resulted in the very conscious and deliberate decision to drop their media advertising and focus their budget on event sponsorship.

In other words, they found that the caps and shirts they gave away at each golf tournament, the cars they had on display at hole-in-one and other contest holes, their logo on the program and on signs located around the golf tournament, and their name on the sponsor list in the paper and on the tournament website, and so on, resulted in more exposure and more people showing up at the dealership when shopping for a car, than the ads they used to run in the paper and on radio and television.

He would not divulge any numbers, but I can imagine what a major car dealership in a city of over a million would spend on advertising in a year. It would be millions of dollars. To divert this budget to sponsorships was a major decision. Given the money involved, I believe him when he talked about the homework they did before making the decision and the research they did on an ongoing basis to monitor the effectiveness of their expenditure.

He believed the strategy of sponsoring golf tournaments and other events was effective for a number of reasons. They appeared to be more a part of the community if they were associated with local causes and organizations. this elevated the perception of trust in the minds of consumers. The prizes and gifts they gave away, like caps and shirts, displayed their company logo to far more people for far longer, with that positive association, than any form of media advertising. And they could target their audience very carefully and specifically.

So when a charity calls asking your company for sponsorship of its golf tournament, think about supporting the cause, but also think about the win-win that can be accomplished by strategic placement of some of your promotion budget into golf tournament sponsorship.

Ron Strand is a part-time Instructor at the Centre for Communication Studies at Mount Royal College and the President of Strateo Consulting Inc. - a strategic marketing and communications consulting firm.

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Choosing A Video Game System: Which One Is Best For Kids?

In the old days, choosing a video game system for children wasn't all that hard. After all, parents didn't have to worry about games carried by systems like Atari (there was nothing threatening about Pac-man or Space Invaders). Today, however, with the proliferation of games with mature content available on games supported by the major system manufacturers, parents want to know which system carries the most kid-friendly games, ones that the young ones will enjoy and one that parents will not regret spending money on.

Let's start with the Sony PlayStation 2, the best-selling game console on the market today. There are literally thousands of titles available for this system, which cater to every age range. There are approximately 600 games for the PS2 that have the "E" rating, meaning that it is suitable for players ages six and above. However, many of these games are too complicated for young children to play. Games that children ten years old and above can enjoy are rated E10+, while those that are rated EC (Early Childhood) are of course, suitable for the very young. The PS2 carries about a dozen E10+ games, including movie-based titles like Shrek Super Slam for PlayStation 2 and Chicken Little. EC titles that little ones can enjoy include Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple planet, Eggo Mania and At the Races Presents Gallop Racer.

Nintendo's GameCube console continues to be popular because it carries titles that are popular with children. The Entertainment software Rating Board (ESRB) lists 263 video game titles rated E for the GameCube, and these include some of the most popular and beloved among the children of today and years past, such as Sega's sonic GEMS Collection, Nintendo's own Mario Party 6 and Mario Tennis. The Legend of Zelda series and several Pokemon titles are available exclusively on the GameCube as well.

Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles likewise have many, many titles that are rated E; the Xbox with approximately 270 games and the Xbox 360 with so far about a dozen -- but count on the number of Xbox 360 titles to increase since it's a new release. Some games published by Microsoft exclusively for the Xbox and the Xbox 360 and which have the E rating are Astropop and Feeding Frenzy. However, remember that most game publishers release crossover titles, or games that are available on multiple platforms. For instance, Eidos Interactive's LEGO star Wars (rated E) is available for the GameCube, PS2 and Xbox; Activision's Madagascar (rated E10+) is available on the same platforms, while Global star Software's Dora the Explorer (rated EC) is available on the PS2 and Xbox, but not on the GameCube.

What about parental control options? Among the four systems, the Xbox and the Xbox 360 have the most efficient parental lock functions. Parents are able to set limits on the games and films to be played on the systems. If you set the system to play only E-rated games, kids won't be able to play DVD's or games that have Teen, Mature, or Adults only ratings. The GameCube also has a parental lock feature, albeit a less effective one. Users note that all it does is tone down certain effects that might be troubling for children (for example, the amount of blood seen in games) but do not block the playing of games at all. It doesn't even screen or bleep offensive language. The parental control function of the PlayStation 2 is even worse -- it doesn't allow parents or anyone to restrict access to video games at all. The most parents can do is to set the PS2 to prevent their kids from watching DVD movies with inappropriate content.

When it comes to price, the GameCube comes out tops. Available for only $99, it's significantly cheaper than the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, whose prices range from $150 to $199 (or more if bundled with game titles). The Xbox 360, being the newest of the bunch, is the highest-priced. For $299, you get the system and a wired controller. For $399, you get a wireless controller, a headset that players can use to talk to other people online, a 20 GB hard drive that is loaded with game-related videos and music, and a remote.

Parents should go out and try each system personally as well as look at the different titles available for them before deciding which one to buy. Factors such as number and age of users at home, game title availability, and budget should also be considered. Each system has its own pros and cons, and families will differ in their preferences: some will be content with the limited but popular games of the GameCube; some might prefer the wider offering of the PlayStation 2 or the Xbox; others might opt for the high-tech features of the Xbox 360. But all things considered, making the right choice will provide hours of wholesome, fun, and worry-free entertainment for the little ones and for their parents as well.

Mark Robbins is a gamer providing valuable tips and advice on video game systems, game cheats, and giving new game reviews. http://www.official-game-cheats.com.

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The Power Of Abdominal Exercise Routines

The beauty of abdominal exercise routines is that they don't necessarily require any exercise equipment for their successful workout flow. The most that an exerciser would want to have would be an exercise mat, which is geared for an exerciser's safety, as well as comfort.

most of abdominal exercise routines involve muscle work overload, as well as a progressing workout intensity scheme, and should be done on regular intervals, divided between rest periods for abdominal muscles to recover. Most abdominal exercise routines also consider the vital role of ones back, carefully targeting the internal and external obliques, as well as the rectus abdominis, which is the six pack muscles, as they are commonly referred to.

In understanding abdominal exercise routines, as well as successfully doing them, an overall knowledge with the abdominal region would greatly aid exercisers. The primarily targeted muscle in abdominal exercise routines would be the rectus abdominis, the muscle which spreads from ones ribs to the hips, and down the stomach area. Running down the sides of the stomach to the waist would be the internal and external obliques, which are also targeted by abdominal exercise routines.

An overall workout of these muscles, coupled with a balanced diet, would eventually yield to abs to steel. One thing worth knowing about abdominal exercise routines is that they are not geared to convert fat into muscle. They are simply strengthening workout routines. A low carbohydrate, high protein diet is said to effectively reduce flabby abs, coupled with a comprehensive abdominal exercise.

Here are two of the most simple of abdominal exercise routines.

abdominal Crunches

With the exerciser lying face up on the floor with hands behind his/her head, or on his/her chest, abdominal crunches are accomplished by slowly lifting the upper torso two to three inches off the floor. An exerciser doesnt have to perform full sit ups, as sit ups strengthen other muscle areas in the body.

Exercisers simply have to focus on moving their upper torso regions towards their hips, completing the abdominal exercise routine with 12-16 repetitions.

Revere Curl

Reverse curls are successfully done with the exerciser first lying on his/her back, followed by raising his/her knees towards his/her chest, maintaining their hips position. This abdominal exercise routine focuses on the lower abdomen areas, and is quite easy to do. 12 to 16 repetitions on a regular basis are oftentimes good enough.

With the regular workout of these two abdominal exercise routines, along with a balanced diet, washboard abs are bound to come to exercisers.

Milos Pesic is a professional fitness trainer who runs a highly popular and comprehensive Abdominal Training web site. For more articles and resources on abdominal exercises, abdominal workout tips, abdominal fitness equipment and much more visit his site at:

http://abs.need-to-know.net

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