Does this sound familiar?

“Mom & Dad I am so bored, isn’t there anything to do?”

Well if your like most parents your thinking to yourself,”If your that bored then you can wash the dishes, take out the trash once in a while and clean your room!”

Do I have it right?

Well this summer can be a family effort. You can pick one night a week to spend as a family doing various things. As a father of 2 I sure do delight in my children so I wanted to incorperate a fun activity that they WANT to do coupled by some dull things I want to do. So let me describe what we do as a family followed by places to find these activites.

1) Movie night is fun…for everyone. I used a service called Netflix to get the kids entertained. I whip up my favorite smoothe and get some carrots for the movie. They pick the movie I pick the food and drink. HaHaHa  Excellent catch right?

2) One night will be game night for the kids. I pick the game. Instead of the normal shoot um up games I pick up a health game like

The Largest Looser Ultimate Workout, or Nickelodeon – Kid Fit. This one they really like Family Have fun: Fitness Fun. Then I let them choose the food and drink. Half the time they choose the junk food and drink but I found a way to get around this… {evil laughter}  Don’t have them in the house that night. Only place one junk food in the house for that night and the rest can be healthful. Is this manipulation? YES but that is what a parent is for, to make sure the kids are well taken care of.

So these are just 2 things I have found that really works well for our family.

I would LOVE to hear about your family nights so we can share it with other parents. This summer might not be as dull for us and our kids as last summer. We might even loose a few pounds! ^^

This post sponsered by Game Swan

There’s really no questioning it: childhood obesity is a problem. Many have labeled it as an epidemic. In the past, the term “obesity” has only been associated with adults, but this thought has altered, as cases of child obesity are increasing every day. Studies show that childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years — The Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that obesity among children from the ages of 6 to 11 years has increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.8% in 2008, and that obesity among young people from the ages of 12 to 19 years increased from 5% in 1980 to 18.1% in 2008 (and these statistics are now 3 years ancient). More often than not, obesity is the result of a flawed lifestyle, where the number of calories consumed far outweighs the number of calories expended. Although genetics can be a thing, it is more and more common now for children to be obese or overweight because of environmental and behavioral factors. With nearly 25 million children affected by it today, the bottom line is that obesity is a threat to our children. These 10 frightening facts illuminate just how perilous and costly childhood obesity is.

1. Only 2% of kids in the U.S. eat healthful: Based on diet specifications established by the United States Department of Farming (USDA), only 2% of children in the United States have a healthful diet. It can be simple to dismiss statistics when so many numbers are thrown at you at once. Don’t be fooled. This means that 98% of American children eat unhealthy meals every day. This is a staggering number. In a survey of American high lecture seniors, only 3 out of every 10 report eating vegetables “nearly” every day. Of the vegetables consumed in the United States, one-fourth are in the form of french fries or potato chips. We despise to say it, but vegetables fried in grease hardly count as your daily dose of vegetables (even though they go oh so excellent). Vegetables aside, soft-drink consumption has increased 300% in the last 20 years. 300%! To give us all a modest perspective, one 16 ounce serving of regular Coke has 194 calories and 54 grams of sugar. That’s terrible.
2. Quick food consumption is rising: One of the primary contributing factors to obesity in both adults and children is quick food consumption. We all know that quick food is terrible for us and yet we continue to eat it. Quick food can be simpler and even cheaper when time and money are both scarce. But, the more quick food children consume, the further we get from remedying the epidemic of child obesity. In a survey of high lecture students, the average teenager in the United States eats quick food twice a week. Eating quick food at a young age develops the habit of eating quick food as an adult. Studies show that low income families are more likely to eat quick food than higher income families. Even more alarming, a study done of 200 neighborhoods reported that there were three times as many supermarkets in wealthy neighborhoods as there were in poor neighborhoods, leaving quick food restaurants as the most convenient option for many low income families.
3. About 25% of kids don’t do any physical activity: When we reckon of being a kid, we reckon of running and playing tag or going t-ball practice. In movies and television shows modest kids seem to be constantly running around and playing. Our idealized conception of childhood as a time of playful activity is what makes the following statistic so shocking: one in every four children does not participate in any free-time physical activity. What?! This means that one-fourth of all children under the age of 10 are not running and playing tag or hide-and-seek. No chasing each other on the playground? No climbing trees or jumping rope? More and more kids are spending their free time doing stationary activities. Furthermore, the importance of activity for children is going unnoticed as physical education classes are cut because of lowering lecture budgets. 92% of elementary schools do not have daily P.E. classes year-round and less than a quarter of high lecture students take a P.E. class once a day.
4. Kids spend up to 5 hours daily watching TV: To further the problem, in addition to physical education classes being cut, children are spending more time pursuing sedentary activities. According to The Clinton Foundation, a typical American youth spends approximately 4 to 5 hours a day watching TV, using the computer or playing record games. It’s no real surprise that television watching is closely correlated to childhood obesity. After all, there is no way a child can burn the calories he or she consumed that day if nearly all of their leisure time is spent sitting in adjoin of a television. Numerous studies indicate that television viewing must be regarded as an vital contributing thing to childhood obesity. Among kids ages 12 to 17, the prevalence of obesity increased by 2% for each hour of television viewed, even after considering variables such as former weight, race, and socio-economic status.
5. Obese children make poor students: There is growing evidence indicating that children who eat well and lead an active lifestyle perform better academically. It’s not hard to believe that a healthful body makes a healthful mind. As discussed by the organization Action for Healthful Kids, a recent study of 5,000 children established a relationship between diet quality and academic performance. The lower the quality of diet, the lower a person performs academically. Research shows that regular physical activity aids in cognitive and academic development in kids between the ages of 7 and 11. Furthermore, overweight children miss 4 times more lecture than a child of normal weight does. So, on top of the fact that poor diet and low activity levels make it more hard to perform cognitive functions, obese children are also missing valuable time in the classroom because of their obesity. If kids aren’t in lecture and performing to the best of their ability, then they can’t learn and flourish.
6. The risk for heart disease jumps: Cardiovascular Disease technically refers to any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. But, generally the term is used to refer to atherosclerosis, which is a condition that develops when plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries. This buildup inhibits blood flow, potentially causing heart attack or stroke. Now you’re thinking, “wait, weren’t we talking about child obesity here?” Most people consider stroke and heart attack adult concerns. But, in a populace-based sample of children ages 5 to 17, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk thing for cardiovascular disease. High levels of cholesterol and high blood pressure are two of the main risk factors for the development of heart disease. Most obese children have high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, or both. The primary way to deal with cardiovascular disease is with diet and lifestyle intervention.
7. Half of diabetic children are overweight: Type-2 Diabetes is also termed “adult onset diabetes” because originally, only adults were afflicted with it. This, but, is quickly changing. There is an alarming increase in the number of children and young people developing Type-2 Diabetes throughout the world due to being overweight. According to The American Diabetes Association, 45% of children diagnosed with diabetes have Type-2 Diabetes due to being obese or overweight. Moreover, between the years 2005 and 2008, the number of children with Type-2 Diabetes doubled in America (if this rate continues that number will have doubled again this year in 2011). In some countries, type-2 diabetes has become the most common form of disease in children and in North America at least one in every 100 youth has been diagnosed with some form of diabetes.
8. Sleep apnea is a growing threat: As defined by the Mayo Clinic, sleep apnea is a condition where one’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts throughout the night. A study preformed in 2009 suggests that sleep apnea is the most severe problem faced by obese children. There are two types of sleep apnea: central sleep apnea, which occurs when the brain doesn’t send the proper signals, and obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when throat muscles relax too much and the airway collapses. Obese children are at a greater risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea because their tonsils are so large that it can interfere with the ability of the chest and abdomen to fully enlarge during breathing. Sleep apnea is associated with decreased quality of life. Sufferers may also experience behavioral, neurocognitive, cardiovascular, metabolic, endocrine, and psychiatric complications.
9. Health care costs are triple what they are for healthier children: The cost of obesity for both the national health care system and the individual has sky rocketed in the past few years as obesity quickly becomes an epidemic. In an examination of the cost of obesity for Americans, researchers report that Americans spend 9% of their total medical costs on obesity-related illnesses and that the national cost of obesity is approximately $45 billion per year. Moreover, children treated for obesity are roughly three times more expensive for the health care system than children of normal weight. To place this statistic into perspective, this means that children who are being treated for obesity and obesity related illnesses spend more on health care than smokers. The indirect cost of obesity, including missed work and future return losses, has been estimated at %56 billion dollars per year. As if the cost of your health and happiness weren’t enough, obesity also costs your bank account and the national health system a huge amount of money.
10. Obese children will live shorter lives than their parents: I don’t know the most frightening facts concerned with childhood obesity are the projections being made about an obese child’s life expectancy. We know that heart disease and type-2 diabetes shorten a person’s lifespan, but what happens when we talk about children under the age of 10 with these “adult” conditions? A study performed in 2005 projected that if obesity among children continues to increase, the current generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents. Let’s hear this just one more time: if childhood obesity trends continue, children born now may die before their parents. This is an utterly terrifying thought. This projection means that obesity is not only more expensive, but also, more perilous to a person’s health than smoking cigarettes. With obese youth being 80% more likely to become overweight or obese adults and, consequently, more at risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancer, and osteoarthritis, it’s not too hard to see that shorter lifespan could become a problem. Childhood obesity is a dire issue. These 10 facts underscore the necessity for a healthful diet and active lifestyle at all ages, but especially for children.

“Kids Can Cook” Internet Show starring Haile. This bright young kid is presenting her “Quick and tasty PICK – A Healthful Snack” segment. She show is about recipes that any kid can make. Got to mind this bright young cook whip up her Smoothie cany kid can make.

Please support our budding kids as they grow. ^^
Record Rating: 5 / 5

You Don’t Have to Be an Elite Athlete to Delight in the Benefits of Shaklee Sports Nutrition Products

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Summer is synonymous with outdoor activities – running, cycling, swimming, tennis, baseball, volleyball, soccer and more.  All require stamina, strength and endurance. And whether you are an elite world class athlete or a weekend warrior, proper nutrition and preparation beforehand, rehydration before and during events, and recovery afterwards are all vital.

In 1980, Shaklee Corporation became the official nutrition consultant to the U.S. Ski Team, where it engaged in comprehensive analysis of the diets of elite athletes, developing and testing products to support and help make landmark expeditions and record-breaking achievements possible.  This research translated into sport-specific dietary recommendations and the development of high performance nutritional sports products – Shaklee Performance® Maximum Endurance Sports Drink and Shaklee Physique® Workout Maximizer Supplement.

Shaklee Performance® Maximum Endurance Sports Drink

Stuck-up performance with Shaklee sports products is defined by the Shaklee Difference in Shaklee Performance and Shaklee Physique – developed through clinical testing at leading research institutions including the University of Texas at Austin, Yale, Stanford University/VA Medical Center, and NASA Ames.

Shaklee Performance®is the perfect sports drink to help maintain optimal hydration and body fluid balance during physical competition. A well-designed sports drink that offers a finely tuned mixture of electrolytes, Performance encourages rehydration by balancing thirst with fluid wants. It also provides a research proven concentration of carbohydrates, which your body uses as muscle fuel, without decreasing fluid absorption.  Shaklee Performance®was designed with all of these wants in mind, without the addition of any artificial flavors, sweeteners or added preservatives.

The Shaklee Difference:

OptiCarb®
OptiCarb is a patented Shaklee combination of carbohydrates, including glucose, fructose and maltodextrin.  Glucose and fructose are simple carbohydrates for quick absorption.  Maltodextrin is a more complex carbohydrate designed to prolong absorption to help sustain energy and endurance.  The unique OptiCarb and electrolyte formulation in Shaklee Performance®is designed to give a high level of carbohydrate energy without gastrointestinal distress.

Performance provides the carbohydrate energy the body wants for maximum endurance, as well as fluids and a unique balance of electrolytes to help prevent dehydration.  In clinical testing, Performance helped maintain athletes’ blood glucose levels for muscle energy and fluid levels for proper hydration.

Daedalus Project (1988)
Shaklee Performance® was designed under the guidance of Dr. Ethan Nadel of Yale University to fuel a record-setting pedal-powered running away of a man-made airplane – the Daedalus Project, a 72 mile human powered running away between the Greek islands of Crete and Santorini.  Kanellos Kanopoulos had only one fuel during his record-breaking running away: Performance, the maximum endurance sports drink developed by Shaklee.

Electrolytes
Shaklee Performance® has a unique balance of five electrolytes designed to help optimize the maintenance of body fluids, including potassium 50 mg, calcium 40 mg, sodium 115 mg, phosphorus 20 mg, chloride 45 mg, magnesium 5 mg per serving. Electrolytes are essential for maintenance of body fluids, nerve and muscle gathering and other vital body functions to fuel physical activity. 

Shaklee Performance® does NOT contain:

Shaklee Performance® Maximum Endurance Sports Drink:

• Natural Banana 19-oz #20306
• Lemon Lime 19-oz #20351
• Team Pack Lemon Lime #20390
• Orange:  19-oz. #20350
• Team Pack Orange #20391

Want to learn more?
Please look here: http://guarantee-me.myshaklee.com/

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5 high quality, educational Jumbo workbooks for kids 3-7 years ancient. Fun, Creative and engaging! Get ready for lecture.

5 – 50 Page Workbooks to aid your childs learning.

Find it Here:
Fun Jumbo Workbooks for kids get ready for lecture

Making Healthful Lecture Lunches For Kids 

One of the issues moms face as they send their kids back to lecture is preparing lunches. Not only are they concerned with preparing food for the kids each day, but preparing healthful and nutritious lunches! This can be quite the challenge, especially with picky youngsters. We all want our kids to eat well so they can learn well, but how do we make a meal that’s healthful that our kids will really eat? 

Here are a few tips and thoughts for doing just that: 

Reckon further than the lunch box. Don’t just make a plain ancient dull square sandwich every day. Try a lettuce wrap, a tortilla roll-up, a pita, or a sandwich made with a cookie cutter or whole grain waffles (use some of the organic frozen ones) for the bread. Try various types of bread to make unique sandwiches that will be not only healthful but fun and exciting for your child to eat. Presentation is huge with kids. They like to eat foods that look fascinating. 

Another further than the box thought is to use tiny fake containers or Bento boxes to make a fun, visually appealing meal. Try veggies and bread sticks with yogurt dips or sauces. What about slices of meat and a few different cheeses with crackers? You can make your own meal that is much more healthful than the pre-packaged ones that you can buy in grocery stores. There are numerous websites that lecture Bento – the Japanese art of take out – that have fun thoughts for kid’s lunches. Try browsing these for inspiration. 

Be huge on variety. Offer your child lots of options. This will help them to find something that they like. Include fruit, bread, a veggie, a protein source, and a drink. Try to alternate them as well instead of sending an apple daily, sending an apple one day, an orange the next, grapes the next and then swap it up. For their drinks, try a smoothie. These are simple to make and fun to experiment with. 

Get the kids involved. Kids are creative and savvy moms know they are more likely to eat something they have chosen for themselves. They can even find fun ways to package the items to make them more appealing. Let them use cookie cutters to make playful sandwiches or cuts of cheese. Have fun together browsing cookbooks and websites making new thoughts for future lunches. Let them help you do some of the work in the kitchen preparing their lunch box for the next day. 

Use your leftovers. Who says lunch has to be a cold sandwich and an apple? If your child loved last night’s dinner and you have leftovers send them for your child’s lunch. At least you know they will eat it. It saves you some work too. 

These are just a few ways to make healthful lunches that your child will eat. You’ll also feel certain that they are getting the nutrition they need to stay all ears at lecture. 

Carrie Lauth -
About the Instigator:Find fun healthful lunch box and Thermos recipes with an emphasis on whole foods at Whole Foods Recipes – pick up your free meal plotting guide to save time in the kitchen too!

A few Healthful Smoothies for Kids products I can recommend:

Fun Mother’s Day Crafts
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Gluten Free Recipes for Kids
Tasty simple to prepare recipes for Gluten Free children. Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. All set quickly with no fuss. Food and drink, Delectable Desserts, treats to go, Special Occasions and Lunch Box goodies.
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A few Healthful Smoothies for Kids products I can recommend:

ChineseforSmartKids : Chinese for kids | Official for kids
Earn to per sale! Very low competition on Search Engines. The best software package designed to lecture Official Chinese to children.
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Cool Kids Add Program
The Cool Kids Program Increases Your Childs Concentration, Focus and attention span as well calming him down in minutes…perfect for the hyperactive/Add child.
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Scribble Scrabble Writing Journal for Kids
An simple way to lecture children to write their own tales! Twenty tale-starters with illustrations and extra pages. An ultimate supplement for classroom and home lecture language arts curriculum. Scribble Scrabble Writing Journal for Kids

www.rawfamily.com — Dove demonstrates her favorite recipe for children. For more fantastic green smoothie thoughts, check out our E-books at
Record Rating: 5 / 5