Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope that you managed to mother yourself, your children, your own mother, your partner, your pets, your house, your work, the earth, and the people you came into contact with today.

What a wonderful opportunity Mother's Day is to appreciate all of the unconditional love and attention that we enjoy every day and all of the blessings of love and attention we are able to bestow on others. Today is a chance to be thankful for all of the opportunities we have to teach, love, nurture, care for, and sustain the people in our lives!

I hope you find joy and love today!

Photo credit: nochoice

Labels: Healthline, Parenting

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

The Care and Feeding of Adolescents

Given that food is a basic need and we all know that the obesity rate among children has tripled in the last 40 years, and that more and more people are living with Type 2 Diabetes, you would think that there would be lots of support for eating a healthy, well-balanced diet and exercising daily. Riiiight!

That would be in the perfect world, where preteens and teens did not care what their peers think, manufacturers did not advertise food that will make us fat and sick with skinny, beautiful people, school lunch programs did not (usually) suck, and where our children did not spend more time in front of "screens," being bombarded with advertising each year, than they spend in school!

Sadly enough, the best time to instill healthy eating habits is with their first solid food, but if you have gotten past 13 years old and have a teen you are encouraging to eat better, here are some tips:

• Be a role model - exercise daily and eat well;
• Set screen time limits;
• Do outside activities together;
• Cut the portions you usually serve down;
  
• Do not keep the unhealthy, sugary, easy foods in the house;
• Make the healthy foods easy - keep fruit cut up in the fridge with a tasty yogurt, and granola on the counter;
• Pack snacks they can take to school, practice, work, and other outside the home activities;
• Try new recipes until you find the ones they like;
• Go to local farmer's markets and cook meals together using the ingredients; and
  
• Make food something that the family enjoys preparing and sharing.
  

One great resource for helping preteens eat right and understanding the marketing that goes into what we eat is Shaping Youth. I heard the Founder, Amy Jussel, speak last week and couldn't wait to send parents, teachers, and teens to her Blog. This is a new organization so I think the web site will continue to grow.

Good luck and keep up the fight!

Photo credit: mOOrango

Labels: Body Image, Healthline, Preteens, Teen Health

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Thank You - Grand Rounds 4.33

Thanks to Dr. Bates at Suture for a Living for hosting Grand Rounds 4.33 this week and including my post from Teen Health 411 about the danger of cosmetics.

This week was really interesting and the photos from Arkansas were beautiful!

Photo credit: web_guy94301

Labels: Grand Rounds, Healthline, Teen Health

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Social Norms and Teen Drinking

Oh my, teachers are having DUI courts in middle school these days, suggesting that teen drinking and driving is a frequent enough occurrence to warrant early prevention, but the data says otherwise.

I believe it is our own bad habits and the media that are driving our perception that teens are drinking and driving more frequently. In fact, in 2006 there were 63% fewer teen DUI-related deaths than there were in 1982! Teens are getting it - drinking and driving do not mix! In fact, they are getting many of the anti-drug messages and rates of marijuana use are declining, as are rates for alcohol and other drug use. You can check out the Monitoring the Future Report for more information, and the California-specific press release at safestate.org.

If we continue to portray drug and alcohol use as "normal," we are doing serious damage to all teens - we are not acknowledging those making healthy decisions and we are ignoring those who may be developing addictions. The social norms campaigns being waged by PTAs across the country are trying to do just that and are worth taking some time to explore.

Photo credit: Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline

Labels: Healthline, Substance Abuse, Teen Health

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

For Goodness Sake - Cosmetics Can Kill You

Why must everything be a struggle? I think I am doing my teenage girls a favor by buying what I consider to be high-end facial cleansers, moisturizers and make-up, in hopes that their chance of getting cancer will be reduced through the use of "organic, natural" products. Silly me - just because it says it is organic does not mean it really is - for goodness sake - what was I thinking?

A friend sent me to a web site called safecosmetics.org which completely undermined my sense of trust in the company making our "natural" cosmetics. The first story I read was about Herbal Essence, of course a favorite in our house with their bright packaging and great names like "drama clean" and "none of your frizziness," as well as catchy ads about "organic experiences." Little would you know that the maker of herbal essence products, none other than Proctor & Gamble, puts chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive problems and fragrance in their products.

Then I read a 2007 report from their News Room about the amount of lead in lipstick, which was just as disturbing. I learned that Maybelline, Cover Girl, Dior, L'Oreal all produce lipsticks with higher than acceptable lead levels.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics recommends avoiding products with "fragrance" on the label and using things only scented with essential oils because companies are not required to list any of the chemicals used in a fragrance mixture on the product label - who would have known?

If you want to know how safe your personal care products are, you can go to Skin Deep, the cosmetics safety database and have your confidence destroyed, too! There is also an interesting-looking book called "Not Just a Pretty Face" The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry," which I may just have to review.

There was some good news - Whole Foods Market just introduced a "Premium Body Care" seal that will appear on products that are free of synthetic fragrance or any of 250 chemicals on a “unacceptable list” that do not meet a high standard for efficacy, safety and environmental impact. Oh my, never a dull moment!

Photo credit: eperales

Labels: Beauty, Health Fact, Healthline

Permalink | 2 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment