Helpguide Blog

Parents aren’t the only defense in the fight against child obesity. According to a study published in the April 2008 edition of Pediatrics, schools that “serve healthier foods, offer nutrition education and reward students for nutritious eating habits” can reduce the number of overweight students by 50%. The efficacy of these programs might be due to the fact that school-age kids spend more time in school than at home, so even despite parents’ best efforts, the additional support from school might be the clincher in teaching kids good nutritional habits.

This study focused on kids in grade four and older, but the researchers urge schools to start nutrition programs at a younger age and combine them with better physical education programs, as well. This could further cut down on the number of kids affected by obesity.

So what can parents do to help encourage schools to incorporate these programs? The School Nutrition Association offers  Tips for Talking to Your School Foodservice Director,  as well as other suggestions on how parents can help make a difference in local school health policies.

Good eating habits do start at home, however, so help your kids get the best start possible - check out Healthy Eating for Kids and Teens.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 5.7 million U.S. adults have bipolar disorder in any given year. For the majority of these people, the illness goes unrecognized and untreated—leading to unnecessary suffering for both the bipolar individuals and those who care about them. Read the rest of this article »

Compulsive gamblers can’t resist the urge to gamble, even when they’re on a losing streak. The causes of this uncontrollable impulse are unknown, but new research from the University of Pisa provides a clue—a clue that implicates the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in cognitive flexibility and the ability to learn from mistakes. Read the rest of this article »

Just like an apple a day keeps the doctor away, the Big Apple is doing its part to improve your health, too. A New York City ordinance comes into effect on April 21 that will force major chain restaurants to post calorie counts of all products on their menus and menu boards. Read the rest of this article »

It’s no secret that post-menopausal women need to worry about bone loss and osteoporosis. But a recent study has suggested that there’s another reason women may sustain more falls or become more frail than their male counterparts - the inability to rebuild lost muscle mass after the age of 50. Read the rest of this article »

The consequences of poor sleep go far beyond how you feel the next morning. Sleep difficulties have been linked to a range of health issues, including diabetes, heart problems, cancer, and stroke. However, poor sleep is harder on women’s health than it is on men’s. Now, researchers at Duke University Medical Center think they know why.

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Teenage girls who regularly sit down for family meals may have a lower risk of developing eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, according to a recent study. Researchers found that girls who ate five or more meals with their families each week were less likely to use extreme measures to control their weight. At the five-year follow-up, those who participated in frequent family meals reported lower levels of self-induced vomiting and use of diet pills, laxatives, and diuretics.

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The source of a learning disability is in the brain, it is not a problem with intelligence. Often the individual who struggles with a learning disorder has an average to above- average IQ. They have trouble processing sensory information which results in seeing, hearing and understanding things in a different way. Their hardware filters the incoming information and changes the intended communication which creates frustrating situations at home and in school. Children with learning disabilities commonly hear statements such as, “If he would just try harder, he could understand the lesson,” which can add to the child’s deflated sense of self because in most situations they are trying as hard as they can. If left untreated, a learning disability can severely affect a child’s self-esteem. Scientists are currently studying the brain’s potential for change (neuroplasticity) which has shown that exercising the brain through learning can help the brain re-wire itself. Brain research may hold the key for unlocking these individuals’ full potential.

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Related Helpguide Articles:

• Parenting a Child with ADD/ADHD
• Help for Children with Learning Disabilities

A recent study described in the March 1, 2008 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that diets with a high glycemic index (GI) or a high glycemic load (GL) can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Read the rest of this article »

Women who are contemplating pregnancy have a lot of mixed messages to contend with. Regardless if you’ve been trying to conceive for months, or are just beginning your fertility journey, chances are you’ve read some of the recent “revolutionary” articles connecting diet to infertility and miscarriage. The latest study to strike fear in the hearts of many women came out on January 20, when researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. announced that consuming 200 mg or more of caffeine daily may double your chance of miscarriage.

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