For those expectant moms out there – this is rather crucial to know… pregnancy nutrition. It truly is important to increase your calorie intake as well as vitamins and minerals, like folic acid and iron. It is mainly because you are not eating just for your self, you’ve got a little one growing in your tummy.

Let us say your eating habit is poor – your diet is for that reason not good for your condition. It is quite crucial to start eating healthy, well balanced meals. It isn’t very easy for some, but you need to stay away or just limit eating junk foods. It’ll just provide you with empty calories and couple of or no nutrients at all.

Expectant moms’ bodies are becoming much more efficient in utilizing energy you get from eating your meals. For some average ladies, she doesn’t need to add extra calories for the first six months of pregancy. She can just add about 200 calories per day on the final three months of the pregnancy cycle.

But the additional 200 calories is not a lot, it really is just good for a small snack. Just to provide you with an example of what 200 calories meal or snacks are:

1 slice of string cheese at 20 pcs almonds
Toast with slice of cheese
3 whole grain crackers with tuna or chicken mayo
Small potato with cheese

When you suffer from nausea or sickness in the course of the very first few weeks, your appetite might not be good at all. But during the middle part of your pregnancy, the typical appetite will return – just like the same way prior to you got pregnant. And then by the end of the pregnancy, the appetite will most likely increase. But once you suffer from a full feeling after eating or also known as heartburn, attempt to eat in little frequent meals instead.

The perfect tip on expectant moms diet is just eat when hunger. Do not worry if your appetite alter, as long as what you’re eating is healthy. Just remember the food pyramid – keep in mind that oils, sweets and fats really should just be used moderately.

In the end, a person’s appetite is the good indication on just how much or how little to eat. Throughout the course of pregnancy, appetite is recognized to fluctuate. So just focus additional on what your body is telling you. So long as your weight is well within the expected weight gain. Try to consult your doctor when in doubt.

Dee Martinez, the author is a mother and a wife. She considered the period when she was pregnant the most important part of her life. She wants to share her knowledge for all the expectant moms out there.

There are number of reasons for the use of physical therapy also called physiotherapy in children. There are some special conditions that must need physical therapy treatment. These conditions include cerebral palsy, better mobility incase of broken leg, arm or shoulder and muscular weakness in somewhere in the body. Physical therapy is not devoted only for adults but also for kids who have more vigorous life and suffer wide variety of disorders, such as neuro-motor congenital and non-congenital diseases. Good news is, the delays in growth are treatable with physical therapy, whatever the reason.

Benefits of Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is equally beneficial in children as in adults, in the cases of restoring from diseases or accidents and rehabilitation of physical movements for the better quality of life. Children, who take the treatment in the early stages of their lives, get the better and permanent results all the way through their life. It has been analyzed that the children who suffer from cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or various neurological or muscular problems can perform their routine work more comfortably with physical therapy. The reason being the physical therapy concentrates on the abilities to cope with the illnesses.

Use of physical therapy

There are number of diseases that can be treated with the physical therapy including accidents and sports injuries in children. Jumper’s knee, the most common problem among children and teenagers, which express symptom of pain and tenderness, situated at the bottom of the knee cap. Growing kids, who actively participates in the sports, usually tend to have this problem. For the treatment ice, heat, ultrasound even MRI can be recommended by the physical therapist. The physical therapist not only treats the pain and inflammation but also works on strengthening the knee muscles through different exercises.

Working of physical therapy

A physical therapist, after the thorough analysis, suggests the rehabilitation course but the duration depends on the severity of injury. The main purpose of treatment is to ease life and reduce the problem. Physical therapy has the potential to treat even neonatal complication. In case of prosthetics physical therapy has proven health benefits and has the better ability to deal with the problem. Now the physical therapy has become the ray of light for those children, who don’t have the good start in the early days of their life.

Few newborns look picture perfect at birth. They have many variations in normal appearance – from color of the skin to its  texture to the shape of the head. Some of these differences are just temporary, part of the physical adjustments a baby goes through. Mentally, mostly all babies are awake and alert during the first few hours after birth.

Every mother is said to be a “doctor” since she devices ever solution of the child’s problem. For taking care of a baby’s health, the health care tips are insignificant. Some mothers just glide into motherhood with more grace than others without even health care tips, but the rest can build the patience and get there with trial and error method. While they make the efforts and worry about the baby’s health and seek health tips, learn a lot of things. Be it infant colic, umbilical cord, infant constipation or the newborn rashes, they are all the concerns of a mother. To attain free health tips the mothers can consult online health care tips for the betterment of the child.Other than these minor issues mothers also need to get the health tips for themselves. So they take care of their child efficient. By gathering all the tips for health need proper practice in actual because otherwise there is no use for all these free health tips when they are not being brought to practice. When all the home remedies go in vain the best thing is to get basic guide line from the health tips. A mother is a manual guide for health tips for her own child. She is her guardian angel.

Physical appearance:

Head
The head may look pointed due of pressure during birth. It would become normal in two weeks. When you touch on the top of your baby’s head, you can feel a soft spot. This is the part where the bones of the skull have not joined together. It becomes normal when your child is 16-18months.

Skin
You will find little marks, spots and rashes, red or greenish blue on the skin of your new born baby. This is completely normal and some babies may have more than others.  Skin may be peeling on the hands and feet and some babies may have noticeable downy body hair. But all these will disappear on their own  accord.

Hands and Feet
The fingernails of the baby seems long at birth. The legs look bowed as he had been lying curled in the womb.

Eyes
The eyes may look as if they are squinting. This is very common in the first months. Puffy or blood shot eyes should be checked by the doctor.

Nose
The nose may appear flat as the bone hasn’t yet fully developed.

Genitals
Most of the babies genitals look large. There may have a milky discharge from the breasts and sometimes blood or discharge from the vagina in a baby girl. This is because of  an infusion of mother’s hormones from the placenta, just before birth. This is perfectly normal and will soon disappear.

Mental Ability
Mostly all babies are awake and alert during the first few hours after birth. They are attracted to human sights especially faces and human sounds. They have a grasp reflex  and sucking reflex.  If an object is placed in his palm he involuntarily clenches his fists around it, likewise if the newborn is placed near his mothers breast, the baby will seek the nipple and begin to suck. Babies can see now, although objects may be blurred. They may respond to a sudden loud noise and to human voice, but not to ordinary sounds.

Fitness is essential even at a younger age. It is not just about maintaining a healthy weight but also, a sound mind which resides in a healthy body. Weight issues can lead to several related problems and can affect various aspect of a child’s life, right from being able to study till one’s maximum capacity to performing in sports and other physical activities. Children are expected to be agile and on their toes all time but, with the invasion of video games and T.V in their lives at an early age, they are less likely to be involved in activities that are physically demanding.

 The article comes up with some useful health tips for kids to maintain the required fitness level for kidsYour active lifestyle can be a powerful stimulus for your child. If you want an active child, be active yourself. You can’t just “talk” activity — you need to make activity a priority for yourself as well. Go for a brisk walk, ride your bike or take a yoga class. Better yet, invite your family to play catch or to join you on a walk. Talk about physical activity as an opportunity to take care of your body, rather than a punishment or a chore. Praise, reward and encourage activity. You might even set goals and have everyone track their activities and progress.

Wonder how much physical activity is enough? Consider these guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services:

• Kids. Children and adolescents age 6 and older need at least an hour a day of physical activity. Most of the hour should be either moderate or vigorous aerobic activity. In addition, children should participate in muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activities at least three days a week. Many classic activities — such as playing on playground equipment and jumping rope — cover all the bases at once.
• Adults. Most healthy adults need at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking or swimming, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running — preferably spread throughout the week. Adults also need strength training exercises at least twice a week.

Limit screen time

A surefire way to increase your child’s activity level is to limit the number of hours he or she spends in front of a screen — including television, video games and online activities. For example, you might consider a limit of one or two hours a day and, for a better night’s sleep, no screen time in the hour before bed. To make it easier, don’t put a television in your child’s bedroom, don’t watch television while you’re eating dinner, and restrict computers and other electronic gadgets to a family area. Also consider limiting other sedentary activities, such as text messaging or chatting on the phone.

If your child plays video games, opt for those that require movement. Activity-oriented video games — such as dance video games and video games that use a player’s physical movements to control what happens on the screen — boost a child’s calorie-burning power. In a Mayo Clinic study, kids who traded sedentary screen time for active screen time more than doubled their energy expenditure.

Weight loss exercises for kids should be lively and fun. Keep changing the activity so that it does not get monotonous for your child. The physical activities that we perform on a daily basis, like walking, working in the office or even sleeping, help us in burning those calories. Weight gain occurs when the number of calories consumed is more than the number of calories burnt. These excess calories get converted into body fat.

programs chosen should suit the temperament of the child. He should not be pressurized into doing something he is not interested in. For example, if he likes team sports, encourage him to play basketball, baseball or soccer. But if he prefers to be on his own, include individual activities like walking and jogging in his routine.

Weight loss exercises for kids should be combined with a nutritious diet in order to achieve the best results. Include lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and fiber rich foods in his diet. Avoid soft drinks or diet sodas, instead make him shift to low fat milk. Consumption of processed foods and other high calorie foods like ice creams and chocolates should be in limit as they lead to childhood obesity. If possible, provide the kids with food prepared at home.Make the activities competitive. Put up a chart with your kid’s name and the amount of time he needs to spend on exercising on that particular day. If he exercises more than the target set for the day, write the extra time on the chart. When he collects one extra hour of exercising, reward him by taking him out for a movie or a soccer game. Remember, if a child is made to compete with himself rather than with others, his focus remains on self improvement rather than shifting to petty jealousies.

Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle Yourself

Make exercising an integral part of your family time. Children follow the eating habits of their parents. So eat healthy yourself.

Weight loss Exercises for Kids

• Regular activities like walking, running, jogging and skipping can be made into fun activities and included in your kid’s daily exercise regime. Take your kid to a nearby park. Assign signals to each activity like one clap for running, two claps for jogging, whistle for jumping. Give a particular command and the kid has to do the corresponding activity. Change signs every 2 days.
• Let your child create his own game or dance routine. The entire family can participate in it. This way the family works out together thus, helping the kid to remain involved and enjoy his workout session without getting distracted.
• Ever thought watching TV can be a weight loss exercise for kids? Well it can be. During the commercial breaks, plan a treasure hunt for him. Leave clues for him in various corners of the house. In the end, if he is successful, he gets an ice cream or a chocolate or his favorite dish. But remember to keep the portion size small.
• Trampoline is fun and the kids love it. Put one in the backyard and if space is a constraint, use a mini trampoline which can be easily adjusted in the house. Children can bounce, jog and run on it to lose weight. For more information read mini trampoline exercises.
• In addition to the regular sports like baseball and basketball, activities like rope jumping, Frisbee, ball catching are very effective weight loss exercises for kids. They can be conducted on alternate days so that it does not get tiresome or monotonous.
• Kids who don’t like sports can be made to learn a dance form, aerobic exercises or martial arts. These too, are weight loss exercises for overweight children.

Yoga as a Weight Loss Exercise for Kids

Yoga increases flexibility, improves concentration and at the same time reduces stress. Different animal postures are among the best weight loss yoga exercises for kids. The kids can pose as a butterfly by sitting on their butt, their knees bend , joining the soles of their feet, and moving the knees up and down. They can also practice the cobra posture by lying on their stomachs, their hands on the ground under their chests and lifting the upper body till the hips and lowering it again to the ground alternatively. Visualization is another weight loss yoga exercise for kids. Ask the child to close his eyes and visualize that the fat in his body has turned into a bird and is now flying away from him. Visualization prepares the kids for weight loss.

Weight gain not only leads to medical complications, it also has a huge psychological impact on kids. So it is important for the parents to be very supportive of the child during the weight loss process. With proper planning, patience, love and of course a well planned exercise routine, your child can turn into a healthy and well rounded person.

In the present days it is quite a challenge to keep the kids interested in exercises. It is definitely a must that children get some kind of exercise everyday. With all the different yummy tasting junk food available in the market, it is yet another challenge to get the kids to stay away from eating these.The junk food that I am talkin chips, soda, wafers, cookies, pizzas, sugary sweets etc etc. These are so yummy to taste, they look very interesting, very easily available in the stores. This is like the age of fast foods . Everyone in the family is working and is always running behind something as there is always something to be completed or left out. Our children grow amidst such scenario. Also the various advertisements in the television also tempt the children to opt for those unhealthy food.I follow very simple rules to prevent my children from having junk food. The best way to avoid junk food is to not buy them in the first place. Imagine a bottle of soda sitting in your fridge. It is obviously tempting for anyone in the family to look for something to munch or drink while watching TV. If you did not have it in the fridge you would obviously be looking for something but the only thing you would get is probably crunchy carrots.

But children are children, they do look at other children in the school munching upon tasty junk food bites. I make it a point to buy my children junk food, a small pack but only once in 2-3 weeks. If my children ask for juice, they do get it but in the form of lemonade, orange juice made at home or any other fruit juice made at home depending upon the season.Ultimately it is the HEALTH of our own kids. We need to take responsibility for their food habits and help them choose the right kind of food. So let us take the first step and educating ourselves and our kids towards better health and GOOD HEALTH.

Whether it’s washing hands while singing happy birthday two times, learning to cough into the crook of an arm when no tissue is nearby, or keeping a healthy distance from others when sick, there are good habits that can help keep the cooties away and result in healthier and happy kids. Here are quick health tips to teach kids to help stop the spread of germs:

When should kids wash their hands?

Go-getting women with high powered jobs and salaries to match might appear to have it all. But results of a new study suggest that, unwittingly, these twenty and thirty somethings are reducing their chances of having children by doggedly pursuing demanding careers.Professor Elizabeth Cashdan, an anthropologist at the University of Utah, believes that the pressures that come with the superwoman lifestyle are to blame for hormonal and body shape changes that might affect fertility. The result? When it comes to starting a family, many women struggle to conceive.

In her research, published in a recent issue of the journal Current Anthropology, Cashdan found that career women were less likely to be curvaceous with the waspish waist and hourglass shape long associated with fertility and, instead, displayed the more masculine, straight-up-and-down figure that is less conducive to child-bearing.

With work stress and the drive to succeed, Cashdan says, comes a shift in hormonal balance that leads the female hormone, oestrogen, to be replaced by androgens, a class of hormones that includes testosterone and that are associated with strength, stamina and competitiveness.

Crucially, Cashdan says, this appears to affect a woman’s waist to hip ratio (WHR), a formula derived by dividing someone’s waist circumference by her hip measurement. Classic Marilyn Monroe types with large breasts and narrow waists typically have a curvy WHR of 0.7 (ie, their waist is 70 per cent of their hip circumference) which has been linked in numerous medical papers to optimal fertility. One 2004 study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society suggested that women with hourglass figures had about 30 per cent higher levels of the female reproductive hormone, estradiol, compared with other body shapes and that, as a result, they were roughly three times more likely to get pregnant

Large-breasted and narrow-waisted women have also been shown to have higher levels of oestrogen and progesterone, other female hormones linked to fertility.

But when Cashdan analysed the WHR of women from 37 different populations and cultures, she found their average WHR to be above 0.8 – that’s less Sophia Loren or Jessica Alba and more Keira Knightley – a ratio that makes it harder to conceive.

“Although the hormonal profile associated with a high WHR may favour success in some stressful and difficult circumstances where women must work hard, there are well-known costs,” Cashdan says. “Women may suffer lower fertility and possibly lower attractiveness to men who may have an innate preference for curviness.”

Many of Britain’s leading infertility experts are unsurprised by the findings. “Certainly, at my clinics we see predominantly very successful businesswomen who do not have hourglass figures,” says Laurence Shaw, associate director of the London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology and Genetics Centre and a spokesperson for the British Fertility Society (BFS). “They are very slim, very straight-up-and-down.”

Dr Martin Tovee, a psychologist at Newcastle University who has studied the influences on female body shape, says that it is determined by a number of different factors, but that being a go-getter could be one of them. “We know that if women over-exercise or diet obsessively, then their oestrogen levels drop and they become less fertile,” Tovee says. “So, potentially, working hard could affect fertility too.”

Super-skinny women who under-eat to stay that way have long been known to risk compromised fertility. Several years ago, Rose Frisch, an associate professor at Harvard School of Public Health, explained how too few calories and too little body fat triggers a woman’s brain to switch off her body’s ability to reproduce by gradually restricting the flow of a hormone called leptin.

There is what Frisch has described as a “razor-thin borderline” where a drop of just 3lb can tip a normal-sized woman into infertility without her realising it. She may continue to menstruate, but might not ovulate during her cycle. If body-fat falls much lower, then amenorrhoea occurs when the menstrual cycle simply stops.

However, Cashdan’s findings suggest that career women can become infertile even if they don’t lose excessive weight. The very androgenic hormones that underly the women’s professional mettle are also responsible for transferring fat from hips to waist. And the more fat that settles on her belly, the lower her level of female hormones such as oestrogen. “What is at issue here is not overall body weight, but its distribution,” Laurence says. “The new study suggests that these driven women with high-achieving Type A personalities have a lesser oestrogenic state, which doesn’t favour their chances of conceiving.”

The stress of some women’s lifestyles also plays a significant role. In research at Emory University’s School of Medicine in Atlanta, Professor Sarah Berga of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics, has shown how stress often triggers a cascade of events that result in reduced levels of two hormones crucial for ovulation. Women with hectic jobs on top of busy lives, she says, are most at risk.

In one of her studies, Berga found that women who didn’t ovulate had excessive levels of the stress hormone cortisol present in their brain fluid, often due to trying to squeeze in too much work and exercise. “Your brain is hard to fool,” Berga says. “If you are under-eating, overworking and over-exercising, then the hypothalamus – the part of the brain that controls the release of hormones – keeps a running tally of what you are doing.”

Around 20 per cent of women who are infertile have problems with ovulation, and lifestyle factors, including anxiety and stress, are often to blame.

Berga found that talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, could reverse stress levels and boost the chances of a woman getting pregnant. But, she stresses, it is not just a case of telling career women to “pull themselves together”.

“To the observer these women actually look very well pulled together,” Berga says. “Many don’t report feeling stressed and will even say that everything is just fine. But they may have unrealistic attitudes about themselves and others. Often they think that they can do more work than is realistic, and their sense of worth depends upon their achievement.”

If a woman takes her foot off the pedal, it can certainly help. Laurence says that, ultimately, her sensitivity to oestrogen is determined when her oestrogen receptors are established during puberty. You can’t change what you are given, he says, but good nutrition, a balanced exercise plan and fewer hours spent getting stressed can pay off.

“Oestrogen makes someone relaxed, calm and thoughtful, the perfect state in which to become pregnant,” he says. “It is no biological mystery that so many studies have shown men are drawn to women who are curvaceous and have a narrow waist, indications of health and fertility.”

Vital statistics

A study of 6,000 women by researchers at Northern Carolina State University found that just 8 per cent of females now have the sort of hourglass figure flaunted by 1950s film stars

A 2007 survey of 9,000 British men and women at University College London (UCL) revealed that, since 1951, the average bust size has increased by 2in to 39in and hips by a further 2in to 41in. However, waistlines have increased a massive 6.8in, meaning that women no longer go in in the middle.

Last year, Dr Devendra Singh from the University of Texas analysed 345,000 texts to confirm that the Western male’s preference for a slim-waisted woman has been generally constant throughout the centuries A 2004 survey by researchers at UCL and the London College of Fashion showed that 20 per cent of women now have a pear-shaped figure (with hips larger than their bust), whereas 46 per cent are cylindrical or straight-up-and-down.

Exercise for Children

Like adults, kids need exercise. Most children need at least an hour of physical activity every day. Regular exercise helps children

• Feel less stressed
• Feel better about themselves
• Feel more ready to learn in school
• Keep a healthy weight
• Build and keep healthy bones, muscles and joints
• Sleep better at night

As kids spend more time watching TV, they spend less time running and playing. Parents should limit TV, video game and computer time. Parents can set a good example by being active themselves. Exercising together can be fun for everyone. Competitive sports can help kids stay fit. Walking or biking to school, dancing, bowling and yoga are some other ways for kids to get exercise. An increasing number of children are obese, and if no intervention is made, 80% of them will stay overweight as adults. This can put them at risk for many medical problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea. Obesity can also adversely affect their self-esteem. An important way to help your child with weight loss, maintaining a normal weight and develop healthy habits is to encourage him to participate in regular physical activity. This can include participating in a physical education class in school or extracurricular sports at school or in the community.

Warming Up

To prevent injury, it is important for your child to warm up before exercising. This should include about five minutes of light activity, such as walking, calisthenics (jumping jacks, bending, knee lifts), and stretching.

Exercising

After warming up, your child should perform fifteen to forty minutes of a regular exercise each day. This can include fast walking, jogging, biking, roller blading, running, swimming, jumping rope or group activities, such as playing soccer, hockey, volleyball, baseball, basketball, or football.

You should also encourage regular physical activity as part of your child’s regular daily routine. This can include:

• Walking or riding your bike instead of driving for short distances.
• Taking a walk with a friend or walk the family dog each afternoon.
• Using stairs instead of escalators or elevators, especially if you have to walk out of your way to find the stairs.
• Parking your car at the end of the parking lot and walking to the entrance of the mall or grocery store.
• Chores, such as doing yardwork or housework.
• Family exercise: go for routine family walks or bike rides in the neighborhood or local park

Cooling Down

To prevent injury, it is also important for your child to cool dcalisthenics (jumping jacks, bending, knee lifts), and stretching.

The Importance own after exercising. Like the warm up, this should include about five minutes of light activity, such as walking, of Getting Kids to Be Active

Everyone knows that kids should be physically active and need to exercise regularly to be physically fit.

Whether they are overweight or at a healthy weight, regular physical activity is considered by most experts to be an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.

When most adults think about exercise, they imagine working out in the gym on a treadmill or lifting weights.

But for kids, exercise means playing and being physically active. Kids exercise when they have gym class at school, soccer practice, or dance class. They’re also exercising when they’re at recess, riding bikes, or playing tag.

Fun fitness activities to keep kids healthy and Fit!

The lifestyles of today’s youth have undergone enormous change. Television, computers and video games have replaced many of the physical activities children once enjoyed. So when we discuss our children, we often hear words like ‘obesity’, ‘heart disease’, ‘high blood pressure’ and ‘diabetes’.

Fitness seems to have taken a backseat when it comes to the modern child. Our kids are becoming victims of inactive, unmotivated, unhealthy lifestyles and their health is deteriorating.

Benefits of Exercise

Everyone can benefit from regular exercise. Kids who are active will:

• have stronger muscles and bones
• have a leaner body because exercise helps control body fat
• be less likely to become overweight
• decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
• possibly lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels
• have a better outlook on life

Besides enjoying the health benefits of regular exercise, kids who are physically fit sleep better and are better able to handle physical and emotional challenges — from running to catch a bus to studying for a test.

The Three Elements of Fitness

If you’ve ever watched kids on a playground, you’ve seen the three elements of fitness in action when they:

1. run away from the kid who’s “it” (endurance)
2. cross the monkey bars (strength)
3. bend down to tie their shoes (flexibility

Aerobic exercise can be fun for both adults and kids. Examples of aerobic activities include:

• basketball
• bicycling
• ice-skating
• inline skating
• soccer
• swimming
• tennis
• walking
• jogging
• running

 Exercise Equals Fun

Getting America’s children to exercise has never been more difficult as the new boob-tube generation slouches in front of TVs, or sits for hours, mesmerized behind shoot-out video and computer games.

However, it is possible to foster a regular exercise pattern for children from an early age, with simple activities that are more “fun” than “exercise.

The regular interval in jumping rope pumps the heart steadily, and is an efficient form of aerobic exercise.

Biking
Biking is another excellent way to get a child to exercise. From first learning on a tricycle to the celebrated arrival of the two-wheeler, biking is something that can be viewed as an achievement, as well as an easy way to increase a child’s physical activity. Biking helps children develop coordination, balance, work the back muscle groups that aid good posture, and build up leg muscles. Moreover, biking gives children an easy way to travel to their friends’ houses and assert independence–an added incentive that will get those legs, and lungs, pumping! As nine-year old Michelle Yuen says, “I love riding my bike. It’s so much fun. I ask my mom, and then I can bike down to my friend’s house.”

Rollerblading
Bikes aren’t the only wheels that kids can use to rev up their heart rate. Rollerblading is an activity that can be done indoors, and out, and an activity the whole family can join in. Whether in an indoor skating rink, or just playing by the sidewalk, rollerblading is an activity that is fun for the children and healthy as well.

A Walk with Fido
Another exercise that can be performed daily by a child is none other than the traditional walk with the dog. Jogging, or even walking at a brisk pace, with the dog, floods the body with endorphins and a slew of other health benefits related to exercise. Bring along a stick to throw to Fido, and the workout has becomes even more intense. What’s more: walking the dog everyday is a sure-fire way to maintain regular exercise, which is much more advantageous, in the long run, than intermittent exercising.

Yoga for Kids
Yoga has taken America by storm in recent years. From celebrity yogis like Madonna to stay-at-home moms, yoga has proven to be a way to tone and “center” the mind and body. Yoga is beginning to creep into the school gym programs, too. Just as many high schools throughout the nation have begun offering yoga as a gym option, many “yoga for kids” programs have sprung up as well. Yoga aims to tone the muscle groups, aid coordination, and improve flexibility through stretching. In addition, it has been said that a key principle in yoga, correct breathing, seems to alleviate stress in children.

Exercise that isn’t Exercise
Taking the non-traditionalist approach to exercising is just as easy. Children can help mom carry the groceries or walk with her to the drugstore. Whatever the case, mixing up a regular exercise pattern for kids helps them create a healthy lifestyle.

Meal Plan Ideas for Kids

Breakfasts

• Low-sugar granola. Can be served with milk, chopped banana, or diluted fruit juice.
• Cup of cornflakes with chopped apple and/or chopped nuts.
• Scrambled eggs on toast, perhaps with plain yogurt and berries.
• Oatmeal with raisins.
• Baked beans on toast with a small glass of whole milk.

Lunches

• Baked potato with tuna.
• Shepherd’s pie and green vegetables.
• Macaroni cheese and green vegetables.
• Chicken and lentil soup.
• Pasta with ham and peas.
• Tuna sandwich

Dinners

• Omelet with green beans.
• Lamb with small new potatoes lightly roasted (not fried) in olive oil.
• Tuna with pasta bows and vegetables.
• Pita bread with chicken slices and sliced sweet red peppers.
• Salmon fillet with mashed potato and ratatouille.
• Chicken and mixed vegetable casserole.

Snacks

• Cup of plain popcorn (home-made).
• Fruit and unsalted mixed nuts.
• Cream cheese on oatcakes and grapes.
• Smoothie made of milk and red berries.
• Unsweetened nut butter (almond is popular with children) on toast.
• Sliced carrots and celery with avocado dip.
• Fresh fruit salad with oat pancake.

Diet Advice for Kids

Talk to your child about the benefits of eating well and looking after their body. Health is generally not a priority for children so focus on other issues that are important to them. 5 A Day for Kids

One trick that often works for both fruits and vegetables is to find foods that your kids already like to eat, like smoothies, muffins, yogurt, etc., and find recipes that allow you to add fruits or vegetables to them, like banana .

The easiest way to get some fruit into your child is to switch from soda and fruit drinks to 100% fruit juice. Although eating whole fruit is better because it also has fiber, 4-6 oz of 100% fruit juice for children 1-6 years old and 8-12 ounces for older children is an easy way to ‘eat’ 1-2 servings of fruit.

Tips

• let your kids pick the fruits they want to eat when you go shopping
• mix fruit pieces in with yogurt or serve them with a dip
• make fruit smoothies
• offer a fruit salad, with a mix of watermelon, grapes, strawberries, etc. as a dessert or snack
• make a snack mix with raisins, nuts and cereal
• add chopped fruit, especially berries and bananas, to your child’s cereal
• try dried fruits
• mix in some chopped fruit with jell-o

Fruit isn’t usually the big problem though. Getting kids to eat their veggies is usually the bigger challenge.

Creative ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables can include camouflaging them in with other foods, like chopping up and mixing vegetables in with pasta sauces, lasagna, casseroles, soup, chili, omelets, etc. or adding veggie toppings to pizza. You can even find recipes for things like banana raisin pancakes, carrot beef meatballs or zucchini cookies, that your kids might enjoy.

It might also help to:

• offer chopped veggies with a dip, like ranch dressing
• serve vegetables as a stir-fry
• let your child help prepare the meal
• start a vegetable garden at home so your kids can eat the vegetables they grow or visit a farm or farmer’s market.

What about popcorn? Although often thought of as a grain, it is really just popped corn, which is a vegetable, right? Maybe. But popcorn is usually thought of as a starch or gain and doesn’t count as a serving of vegetables.

Getting kids to eat well, and especially eat fruits and vegetables is a challenge for many parents. To help prevent your child from becoming a picky eater, you should:

• start early by offering a large variety of foods to your toddler
• make mealtimes fun and don’t try to force your kids to eat things they don’t want
• look for creative ways to offer your kids fruits and vegetables

If all else fails, consider offering a multi-vitamin and talk to your Pediatrician.

Fruits and Vegetables

First of all, get your kids to help creating menus, shopping, and preparing food. They are generally more apt to eat when they have made some decisions about the meals. You, of course, can guide their decisions. Look for children’s cookbooks, which have kid-friendly recipes and basic cooking lessons.

In the summer, try to get your children interested in gardening. If they can see super sweet cherry tomatoes, strawberries, corn, or baby peas growing, then harvest them, that may get them more interested in vegetables and fruits.

You can try sneaking fruits and veggies into the foods you make, but I think it’s a better idea to try to get them gradually used to eating more fresh foods. I know that sounds like a challenge, but their taste buds need to be ‘trained’. Kids’ taste buds are far more sensitive than adults, and many kids have a very strong negative reaction to bitter flavors, making foods like spinach, brussels sprouts, and asparagus really unpalatable.

Nutritionists say that most children need to actually see a new food four to five times before they’ll even try it, so keep introducing those fruits and veggies. In our house when I was growing up, we had a rule: you had to taste every thing on your plate just once. Back then, I would NOT eat brussels sprouts or asparagus, even though I do like them now. Here are some more ideas:

• Try to focus on the sweeter ‘good for you’ foods, like strawberries, mandarin oranges, cherries, tomatoes, sweet peas, and corn.
• You can add some finely chopped fruits to gelatin salads, add some pureed sweet peas to guacamole, and serve tiny vegetables, like baby carrots and baby corn, with appetizer dips.
• I like using pureed fruits in desserts – even though they’re desserts, you are getting some nutrition into your kids.
• Finely chop carrots and mix them into spaghetti sauce.
• Make some fruit breads – banana bread, pear bread, and apple bread are all good.
• vegetables to the sauce. You can get some minced veggies into tuna or chicken salad as well.

First-Aid Essentials for Child Safety

Natural excitement and curiosity are normal and healthy parts of development, but they present special challenges for child safety. Children don’t usually spend much time thinking about how to stay safe and healthy. That’s mom and dad’s job. While scrapes and bruises are also a normal part of childhood, there are more serious threats, such as poisoning and burns. Keeping key first-aid supplies handy for common injuries is a great first step in a child safety plan.

 The Top Tips For First-Aid Essentials

1. Your local poison control number. Almost 80 percent of reported poisoning cases involve children, and most of those are among children age 5 and under. Haller recommends placing the phone number for your local poison control center in your medicine cabinet and on your refrigerator, and programming it into your cell phone. “The centers are open 24 hours a day and have a nurse on call who can tell you exactly what to do after you describe the situation,” Dr. Haller says. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in a life-threatening emergency situation, dial 911. If the victim is awake and alert, you can call your local number or the national hotline, 1-800-222-1222.
2. Pain relief medication. Child safety choices include acetaminophen (Tylenol) and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve). Monitor children’s dosages carefully. For instance, if they’re sick with a cough and congestion and you’ve already given them a medicine with acetaminophen (like a cold remedy), you don’t want to give them another dose of Tylenol at the same time.
3. An assortment of bandages. A two-inch-square sterile gauze pad can clean almost any wound, says Haller. In addition, have adhesive-free dressings, other sizes of sterile pads, or a roll of gauze for minor burns or kneecap scrapes. Tape and strip bandages in a variety of sizes work for cuts and blisters, and an elastic wrap like an Ace bandage is effective for sprains.
4. Soap for clean-up. “For most wounds, cleaning with soap and water is good enough,” says Haller. Always wash a wound before dressing it. You might also want to have an antiseptic solution or towelettes handy, and rubbing alcohol, which Haller says makes a good disinfectant.
5. Antibiotic ointment. Choose today’s gold standard, Polysporin, or the old standby, bacitracin. For a large open wound on a frightened young patient, you can put the ointment on the bandage pad, instead of directly on the injury.
6. Tweezers. Essential for the removal of splinters or dirt particles from a cut or puncture wound, tweezers should be wiped with alcohol before using. If possible, have both a pointed tip and a slanted tip pair.
7. Itch relief. Choose a few different formats to cover all itchy bases. Calamine lotion is still a soother for poison ivy and the like. Over-the-counter (OTC) hydrocortisone cream is great for dermatitis-type skin rashes and irritations, while an OTC antihistamine like Benadryl (a cold symptom and nasal allergy mainstay), is handy for an itchy initial reaction to a wasp or bee sting. If your child breaks out in hives and has any throat swelling, signs of a serious allergic reaction, call your doctor immediately.
8. “Instant” ice packs. These disposable packs don’t need to be kept frozen and are literally a snap to use to reduce swelling after an injury.
9. A tooth-preserving storage device. Should one of your child’s permanent teeth get knocked out by accident, a product like Save-A-Tooth will hold and protect it on your way to the dentist, improving the chances of it being replanting.
10.   A sterile eye wash. This is handy to flush out any dirt or foreign particles that get into the eyes.

Toss for Child Safety
Here are a few medicine chest items that can be cleared out to make room for the top child safety items:

• Ipecac (a poison treatment). “Ipecac is not recommended anymore,” says Haller. Not only can ipecac cause a number of side effects, it can also make the damage of certain harsh poisons worse. Each poison affects the body differently and needs a different treatment approach.
• Neosporin. This antibacterial ointment may cause redness or inflammation and has been largely abandoned in favor of Polysporin or bacitracin.
• Aspirin is not recommended for children, unless specifically directed by your physician, because of the risk of a condition called Reye’s syndrome.
• Expired products. Check your medicine cabinet every three months and get rid of products that have reached their expiration date. “It’s not that they become toxic, but that the components break down, so they’re simply no longer effective,” Haller explains. “If you notice that your product is only past the date by a week or so and you need it right then, go ahead and use it. Just make a mental note to replace it soon.” This advice goes for both over-the-counter and prescription items.

ots of words can describe kids. “Naturally exuberant,” “naturally active,” and “naturally curious,” are three phrases that Ken Haller, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, chooses to use.
 
Here are a few medicine chest items that can be cleared out to make room for the top

Child safety items
Ipecac (a poison treatment). “Ipecac is not recommended anymore,” says Haller. Not only can ipecac cause a number of side effects, it can also make the damage of certain harsh poisons worse. Each poison affects the body differently and needs a different treatment approach.Neosporin. This antibacterial ointment may cause redness or inflammation and has been largely abandoned in favor of Polysporin or bacitracin.Aspirin is not recommended for children, unless specifically directed by your physician, because of the risk of a condition called Reye’s syndrome.Expired products. Check your medicine cabinet every three months and get rid of products that have reached their expiration date. “It’s not that they become toxic, but that the components break down, so they’re simply no longer effective,” Haller explains. “If you notice that your product is only past the date by a week or so and you need it right then, go ahead and use it. Just make a mental note to replace it soon.” This advice goes for both over-the-counter and prescription items. Taking time to ensure child safety is important. With a carefully thought-out shopping list and a trip to your favorite drugstore, you can easily outfit your medicine cabinet for most of life’s little bumps along your child’s road to discovery.