First Lady Michelle Obama may be on to something with her unflagging “Let’s Move” admonitions – the latest research shows that physical activity may help children do better in school. Amika Singh, a senior researcher at VU University in the Netherlands, reports in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine that physical activity is associated with better academic performance, as measured by higher GPAs and better scores on standardized tests. She and her colleagues reviewed 14 studies, some of which simply recorded the amount of physical activity that children, parents or teachers reported that youngsters got over three days to seven days prior to the study, and some of which randomly assigned students to varying amounts of exercise a day. Taken together, the studies showed that the more physical activity the children had, the higher their scores in school, particularly in the basic subjects of math, English and reading. Follow this link for the rest of the story: http://www.havefunbiking.com/news/newsarticle.php?id=1052 

by Alice Park, Time.com

Winter is no reason to stay inside all day. Just because the sun is hiding doesn’t mean it’s time to hunker down and hibernate. During colder months, it is important to get the family outside and maintain activity even though there may be some frost on the ground. Besides, winter months bring on a whole new set of fun activities to explore.

Feed the Fowl

Many birds stick around for the winter, and these little friendly fowl are easy to spot on a snowy backdrop. Make your days brighter—and theirs, too—during the winter months by putting out bird feeders for your feathered friends. Send the kids out with binoculars to go search for birds and other wildlife in the neighborhood.

Treasure Hunts and Tag

Treasure hunts are also a great way to get the neighborhood kids running around. See if they can’t find certain items around the neighborhood. If it’s really snowy, maybe you can get them to identify certain neighborhood items under that white blanket. Or send the kids out for a game of tag or capture the flag. Giving them a reason to run around will keep them warm and happy throughout the winter months.

Go Ice Skating

Nothing says the holidays like bundling up the kids, lacing on the skates, and taking a spin on the ice. Most cities have annual ice rinks that open up when the winter season hits. Take the family out for a day downtown and finish it up by showing your moves on the ice and getting the family running around.

Snow Men, Sledding, Snow Angels and Snowball Fights

One of the best parts of the winter season is that cold, flaky ambush that falls from the sky. Adults, children, and pets alike enjoy this falling fun and the neighborhood’s transition into a powdery winter landscape is a great reason to get outside and play.

Building a snow man is an age-old tradition that starts with one small snowball and grows into a great afternoon of activity. Get your loved ones outside and build a snow buddy to guard your house for the winter. You can even make snow bricks, build an igloo, and create an entire winter wonderland in your own back yard.

Dragging a sled up a hill doesn’t even seem like exercise when it’s in anticipation of the fun slide back down. Sledding can bring hours of enjoyment to all ages. Grab a traditional sled, a saucer, or even a metal trash can lid and let it fly for hours of laughter.

Snowball fights are a great way to keep that throwing arm in shape over the winter. Get the family outside and build bunkers, organize teams, and start tossing around some chilly fun.

Skiing and Snowboarding

Skiing and snowboarding are picking up in popularity, and resorts are speckled across the country. Get out and active by heading to the mountains where you can practice your skills on the slopes and then hit the clubhouse for some hot chocolate and good conversation at the end of a long, jam-packed day of activity.

Snowshoeing

Snowshoeing is a lesser-known pastime that gets people outdoors in the colder months. Snowshoeing gives you a whole new perspective on the outdoors, and allows you the chance to make tracks on uncharted winter territory, and share some time with the winter wildlife.

Ice Hockey

What’s the one sport that’s made for the colder months? Hockey! Ice hockey is full of action and suspense. As the official winter sport of Canada and a popular U.S. pastime, professional games can be found throughout both Canada and the United States. Pick-up games can often be found on local ponds or simply played in neighborhood streets during the winter months.

Ice Fishing

When done safely on ice that is several inches thick and above, ice fishing can provide hours of winter fun. Ice fishers catch fish with lines and fish hooks by drilling a hole in the ice of a frozen body of water and dipping a line into the water below. Often sitting on a stool out in the open, ice fishing brings some action to those long winter months, and is a great reason to get outside and participate in the season. Just be sure to ice fish only in safe, designated areas.

The winter season can be a time to pursue new and exciting adventures. From fishing to hockey and scouting out birds, getting the family outside for the winter season should be as easy as pointing them toward the sleds, the snow boots, and the great outdoors.

Source:http://www.sparkpe.org/blog/fun-outdoor-activities-for-the-winter-season/trackback/

The holiday season can be the most challenging time of year to stick to a diet, lose weight, or simply maintain healthy eating habits. Some individuals reluctantly choose to deny themselves holiday treats or substitute with unsatisfying alternatives, while others are unwilling to forgo the holiday smorgasbord and may overindulge. Linda Antinoro, RD, a senior nutritionist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), offers useful tips for staying on track during the holiday season without completely missing out on this delicious time of year.

To find a balance between overindulgence and deprivation when it comes to eating during the holidays, Antinoro suggests these tips:

• Have a light snack before heading to holiday parties. Arriving hungry often results in over eating, and most likely consuming foods that are high in saturated fat and calories. 

• Offer to bring your favorite healthier choice dish when attending a party to ensure that you have some healthy food options.

• When attending holiday events, stop dressing for excess.  Choose form fitting slacks that leave very little “wiggle room” for over indulgences.  People tend to overeat without realizing it if they are wearing lose clothing. 

• Using a small plate or no plate at all is a great way to avoid overeating at holiday events. You will ultimately eat less if you have to walk back and forth from the hor d’oeuvres table. 

• It’s all about portion control. A dinner plate should be half vegetables, a quarter protein, and a quarter carbs; and try to avoid going back for seconds and thirds.

• Channel your inner food snob. Resist the foods you can and save the calories for your favorite holiday treats.

• Serve big holiday meals buffet style. Getting up for seconds helps prevent mindless overeating that can occur if the food is within arms reach.  Wait at least 20 minutes before getting up for seconds, as it can take that long for your brain to realize you are full.

• Be mindful of high calorie holiday drinks like apple cider and eggnog. Enjoy only a small cup of your favorite drink and sip lots of water to help curb your appetite. 

• Focus on conversation or activities with your family and friends, rather than on food.

• Start a new tradition, like taking a family walk after the main holiday meal.

• Whether at work or at the mall, prevent derailing your weight management efforts by pre-portioning protein rich snacks in your purse/dash board or desk drawer to grab incase of a low blood sugar episodes.

• If you find yourself lonely/bored during the holidays try treating yourself to something you might not treat yourself to on a regular basis.  Ideas can range from a trip to the movies, a nap, a manicure, or cozying up to a good book or magazine with a cup of warm tea. 

The holiday season is a difficult time to control eating, says Antinoro, making it more realistic to try to maintain your weight, rather than lose weight during the holidays.

 Minnesota Department of Health awards Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) grants to fight chronic disease

Locally driven plans will create sustainable, systemic changes to support healthy choices

In a nation-leading effort to reduce chronic disease, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has awarded 18 grants to Minnesota communities to help lower the number of Minnesotans who use tobacco or who are obese or overweight.

 The Statewide Health Improvement Program, also known as SHIP, will cover 51 counties, four cities and one tribal government over the next 18 months. Funding for the 18 grants totals approximately $11.3 million.

 “The Statewide Health Improvement Program reflects our commitment to improving the health of our communities,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Edward Ehlinger said, “and is an important part of containing the spiraling costs of health care.”

 SHIP is part of Minnesota’s historic bi-partisan health care reform initiative first signed into law in 2008. It seeks to reduce the staggering human and financial cost of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases related to insufficient physical activity, poor nutrition and commercial tobacco use. In the first two years of SHIP funding, 41 grantees covering all 87 counties and 9 tribal governments began this important work, and resulted in successes such as helping improve nutrition at 544 child care sites serving approximately 8,564 children, assisting 255 cities create plans to increase walking and bicycling, and supporting Farm to School efforts in 350 schools and 22 school districts serving at least 69,323 students. Funding for SHIP was reduced during the 2011 legislative session; therefore, fewer grantees are receiving funding this year.

 “To improve health in Minnesota, we have to think in terms of prevention, not just treatment,” Ehlinger said. “In Minnesota and nationally, the two main causes of chronic disease and premature death are obesity, caused by poor nutrition and insufficient physical activity, and commercial tobacco use. We must do something to address these problems as individuals, as communities and as a state.”

Nationally, tobacco use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition have been estimated to cause 35 percent of all annual deaths in the United States, or 800,000 deaths each year. These factors also drive up health care costs. “Not only do chronic diseases reduce the quality of life and life expectancy for Minnesotans, but the costs of treating them create a substantial burden for our health care system,” Ehlinger adds.

 “SHIP is, at its core, a program by and for local communities,” says Patricia Adams, director of the Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives. SHIP is an innovative approach to health improvement, taking proven best practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other leading public health organizations to create a menu of health improvement strategies for local communities. The grants to local communities will allow communities to choose what works best for them. “Strategies that work best in Minneapolis may or may not be the best way to go in Rice County,” Adams said.

SHIP efforts focus on four areas: schools, health care, work places and the community in general. Examples include improving nutrition by working with schools to increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, decreasing exposure to second-hand smoke by assisting owners of multi-unit housing wishing to make their buildings smoke-free, lowering insurance costs by supporting employers interested in workplace wellness programs, and increasing physical activity by helping communities make biking and walking safer.

MDH supports local public health and tribal governments by gathering together effective strategies, offering technical assistance and training and assisting in evaluation. Evaluation is one key to SHIP. “It is critical that we know we are being effective,” says Adams. “The goal is health improvement and cost savings, and we will settle for nothing less.”

The grantees include:

• Anoka County.
• Beltrami, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, Hubbard, Norman, Mahnomen and Polk counties.
• The cities of Bloomington, Edina and Richfield.
• Carlton, Cook, Lake, St. Louis, Aitkin, Itasca and Koochiching Counties.
• Clay, Wilkin, Becker, and Otter Tail Counties.
• Douglas, Grant, Stevens, Pope, and Traverse Counties.
• Faribault, Martin, Watonwan, Cottonwood and Jackson Counties.
• Hennepin County.
• Kanebec, Pine, Isanti and Mille Lacs Counties.
• Leech Lake.
• Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Pipestone, Rock and Nobles Counties.
• The city of Minneapolis.
• Meeker, McLeod and Sibley Counties.
• Morrison, Todd, Wadena and Cass Counties.
• Olmsted County.
• Rice county.
• St. Paul-Ramsey County.
• Sherburne County.

More information is available online at www.health.state.mn.us/healthreform/ship.

Are American children healthy?

The consensus is no, and the statistical analyses are troubling — to say the least. The rate of U.S. childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s, and a third of American children are now overweight or obese. With this crisis in mind, President Obama recently launched his second annual “Childhood Obesity Awareness Month” campaign that urges all Americans to take action to promote healthy eating and physical fitness habits. Developing awareness is an important step, but immediate solutions are needed to reverse this trend.

Forty years ago, 48 percent of U.S. children biked or walked to school. Today, just 12 percent of children arrive at school by bike or on foot. The benefits haven’t changed over time. Students who regularly bike or walk to school accumulate an average of 24 minutes per day of physical activity. More importantly, biking can help children create a healthy future. Overweight adolescents who participate in bicycling three to four days per week are 85 percent more likely to become healthy-weight adults.

Our children are growing up in an increasingly sedentary culture, and physical education programs are being cut from schools across the country. Encouraging biking is one simple, immediate way we can help. I am the leader of a national movement that promotes the lifelong benefits of bicycling, Peopleforbikes.org. Our goal is simple: Get more people riding bikes more often. I strongly encourage parents to hop on their bikes and encourage their kids to do the same.

Bicycling provides a variety of benefits that go far beyond gains in personal physical fitness, but its role in improving the health of children is a key asset and a worthy — essential — cause. Biking is an easy way for children to stay active, and allow tomorrow’s leaders to thrive for years to come.

Source:www.havefunbiking.com

Article Published: 10-03-2011

Tim Blumenthal, President, Peopleforbikes.org

Thousands of school kids expected to walk or bike to school

Governor Mark Dayton has declared October Safe Routes to School Month to highlight the benefits of walking and bicycling to school. Across Minnesota, thousands of kids are expected to walk and bicycle during events held at local schools.

The events are part of local, state and national Safe Routes to School efforts that support walking and bicycling to school year-round. Research shows that kids who walk or bicycle to school are healthier and arrive more focused and ready to learn. For example, a 15-minute walk or bicycle ride to and from school each day will help kids achieve half of their daily physical activity needs. 

“Walking and bicycling to school is a great way to find time to get physically active,” said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health. “The whole community benefits when more kids walk and bicycle to school.”
In addition to the health benefits, research shows that kids who walk or bicycle to school have fewer behavior problems and tend to have better academic achievement.

“Healthy kids are better learners,” said Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. “By encouraging children to walk and ride their bikes to school – and by modeling those activities as adults – we’re helping them establish lifelong patterns of fitness that will benefit them in school and at work.” 

Safe Routes to School initiatives make walking and bicycling easier and safer for students. It also helps reduce congestion around the school area during drop-off and pick up-times. Educational activities teach safe walking and bicycling skills. Promotional activities such as walking school buses and bike trains create safety in numbers and help attract more people to try walking and bicycling to school. Infrastructure improvements include improving intersections, sidewalks and bicycle paths near schools. 

“Walking and bicycling are important components of a complete transportation system and of Minnesota’s quality of life,” said Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel. “People of all ages deserve to arrive at their destinations safely, no matter what mode they choose.”

Across Minnesota, Safe Routes to School is a growing movement that has more than 115 schools reaching more than 78,000 students and staff to support more active and healthier lifestyles. 

Safe Routes to School Month is supported by the State Safe Routes to School Network, a coalition working to make it safe and easy for kids to walk or bicycle to school. Coalition partners include the Minnesota Departments of Health, Transportation, and Education, local public health, schools, and other interested organizations and individuals across the state, and is hosted by Blue Cross Blue Shield and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

View the governor’s proclamation at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/oshii/srts/srtsproclamation.html

Autumn has arrived in Minnesota. If you haven’t had time to check out the beautiful fall colors here in Minnesota, we highly recommend you do!

You can check the status of fall colors around the state, upload your own photos, and take your show on the road with the Fall Colors mobile page provided on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website.

View the current fall color report

 International Walk to School Day is taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. This year’s theme is “Hike it, Bike it, I like it!” More than 1,000 schools are currently registered, with 19 communities in Minnesota. Register events at www.walktoschool.org/register . For more resources, such as promotional tools, event ideas and more, visit www.walktoschool.org . The Safe Routes to School National Partnership encourages event planners to think about the bigger picture of whom to invite. Inviting a congressional member and local elected officials to the event is a great way to show them Safe Routes to School in action and to generate more support for future funding. With the transportation bill up for reauthorization, this is the perfect time to plan an event with your congressional member. Check out the National Partnership’s step-by-step toolkit, which was created specifically to help event planners extend invitations to elected officials and gain media attention.

Source:Prevention Minnesota

In study, Texas communities involved parent volunteers to get youngsters more active.

Saying “no” to the school bus and walking kids to school instead could be a step — or more — toward boosting children’s activity levels, a new study shows.

Texas researchers split a group of 149 fourth-graders from eight schools in Houston into active commuters — those who walked to and from school up to five days a week — and a control group who were driven by bus or car. At the beginning of the study, both groups had logged similar amounts of moderate to vigorous activity, about 46 to 49 minutes per day. But over the next five weeks, the kids who walked to school upped their activity slightly — an average of 7 extra minutes per day of moderate to vigorous exercise.

In contrast, those who got driven to school actually lowered their daily activity over the study period, to an average of 41 minutes daily. While the activity increase for walkers may seem modest, study author Dr. Jason Mendoza said that even small amounts of exercise are meaningful in a country with a 17 percent obesity rate for kids under age 19. About a third of adult Americans are obese, and another third are classified as overweight. “It’s not like they’re going to the gym to work out,” said Mendoza, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “It’s something they can build into their days without a lot of extra effort or equipment.”

The study is published in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics. Because of a “car-centric” society that favors wider roads and fewer sidewalks — as well as a heightened fear of abductions by strangers — far fewer kids walk to school than was the case four decades ago. According to study authors, 42 percent of children actively commuted (walked or biked) to school in 1969-70, compared to only 13 percent in 2009. Because of the brevity of the study period, Mendoza’s team did not compare differences in the children’s body mass indexes (BMIs) over that time, so it’s impossible to say that the intervention caused the kids to lose (or at least not gain) excess weight. But all participants came from low-income districts with high numbers of ethnic minorities, groups that tend to have higher levels of childhood obesity. Study staff members took the helm of “walking school bus” groups of up to a dozen kids or more, Mendoza said, some of whom were also accompanied by parents who wanted to participate in the effort.

Programs like this are supported by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, a national organization that advocates for safe walking and bicycling to and from schools. However, walking school bus programs are still not exceptionally common, said Dr. Silva Arslanian, chief of the weight management and wellness center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. “The results aren’t surprising,” she said. “The real question is what happens once you stop the activity. The important thing is to sustain a behavior, and that’s always been the difficulty in obesity prevention or treatments programs.” Arslanian wasn’t impressed by the fact that only 26 percent of the families who were approached for the walking school bus study decided to participate. “A 75 percent refusal for any study is extremely high. So, are people averse to the idea of walking?” she said. “Parents are not interested because they themselves are heavy, or have other burdens. It all boils down to role modeling and expectations in your child.” Of course, walking to school versus being driven does require a bit more time — the study showed a 38 percent jump in relative commuting time between the two groups. But Mendoza believes that parents can make “walking school bus” programs feasible by approaching them as a community endeavor. “Usually walking school buses split up days, like carpools, so it should save parents time if they get other parents to help,” he explained. “There are parents who’ve decided to leave the car at home and take turns walking the kids to school. It might take a little longer to do it, but they build it into their day. It’s good for them and good for the kids.”

Another advantage of the program is decreased traffic congestion around schools, where carpool lines can pose dangerous circumstances for kids getting into or out of cars, Mendoza noted. “I’m hoping policy makers and public health officials consider supporting these programs,” he said. “It’s a broad-based way to get our children to be more physically active. We could say it’s an old-fashioned idea, but what’s old is new again. We’re adapting it to the reality of today.”

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership has more information about walk-to-school programs at www.saferoutespartnership.org/about More information Find out more about walk-to-school programs at the Safe Routes to School National Partnership .

By Maureen Salamon HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News)

(SOURCES: Jason Mendoza, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor, pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Silva Arslanian, M.D., chief, weight management and wellness center, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh; September 2011 print issue, Pediatrics.)

As America wrangles daunting issues, no challenge is more urgent than protecting the health and wellbeing of our children—now, and as they grow.

Over the past several decades we have witnessed childhood obesity grow to epidemic proportions. More than 23 million children and teenagers are obese or overweight. That’s roughly one child in every three. Some groups are disproportionately affected.These youngsters risk developing serious health problems in adulthood, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and several types of cancer. The financial impact is a sobering $14 billion per year in direct health care costs alone. The psychosocial consequences can hinder these kids academically and socially.

You can help: join our community in observing National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month this September. Parents, health care providers, educators, civic leaders and organizations have created programs and activities to promote healthy eating and physical activity.

Meeker-McLeod-Sibley Healthy Communites along with SHIP in Meeker, McLeod and Sibley Counties will be working with schools to improve nutrition standards and fostering healthy eating habits that can help change behaviors.

The effort also begins at home. Parents have enormous influence over their children’s lifestyles by the example they set and the decisions they make. By modeling healthy eating and physically active lifestyles, we can set our children on the road to a lifetime of good habits. The fight against childhood obesity gains momentum in September, and the results can last a lifetime. All children deserve a healthy start in life; it’s our responsibility to make that possible.

Learn more at www.HealthierKidsBrighterFutures.org