Children, TV, & Blood Pressure

A study from the University of California, San Diego, shows that watching too much television can lead to obesity and high blood pressure in children.

This study, published in the December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that obese children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were 330% more likely to have high blood pressure than children who watched less than two hours a day.

Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer wrote in the study that: "There is a significant association between hours of television watched and both the severity of obesity and the presence of hypertension in obese children". Many studies have found a strong link between watching TV and obesity, but this is the first study to show a link between TV and blood pressure in obese children and teens, the researchers wrote.

Obesity in children is on the rise, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Moreover, high blood pressure in children has been rising right along with obesity rates. High blood pressure in children is often undetected and can quietly damage the internal organs, especially the kidneys.

We encourage parents everywhere to guide their children towards a more active lifestyle and to make healthier food choices available in the home. Small changes, over time, offer parents the best chances of success. A little less TV and a few more healthy snacks are two small changes that we can all live with and enjoy.

To Your Health,

John Hall NSCA-CPT

Chocolate

Some “chocoholics” who just couldn’t give up their favorite treat have inadvertently done their fellow chocolate lovers - and science - a big favor.A study at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine was focused on blood platelets and blood clots. The study participants, some of whom were fond of eating chocolate, were given a list of foods to avoid – the list included chocolate. It seems that some of them ended up indulging their cravings for chocolate during the study.Amazingly, their indulgence led to researchers to an important discovery which is believed to be the first of its kind. Through biochemical analysis, the researchers are now able to explain why just a few squares of chocolate a day can reduce the risk of heart attack death in some men and women by almost 50%.It turns out that the chocolate decreases the tendency of platelets to clot in narrow blood vessels. “What these chocolate ‘offenders’ taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart attack,” says Diane Becker, M.P.H., Sc.D., a professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health.Becker cautions that her work is not intended as a prescription to gobble up large amounts of chocolate candy, which often contains diet-busting amounts of sugar, butter and cream. But as little as 2 tablespoons a day of dark chocolate - the purest form of the candy, made from the dried extract of roasted cocoa beans - may be just what the doctor ordered.

To Your Health,

John Hall NSCA-CPT

Virgin Coconut Oil

Virgin Coconut Oil is an extremely versatile and wonderfully delicious tasting oil. Good quality coconut oil is one of the most stable cooking oils, plus it's highly resistant to rancidity.There are many ways to incorporate coconut oil into your diet. It could be used anywhere you currently use any of the "seed" oils (soybean, corn, canola, safflower, sesame seed, sunflower seed); used as a butter for spreads, over popcorn, or for baking; used in soups or 'smoothies'; eaten right off the spoon; eaten as a "candy" or "white chocolate" when refrigerated or frozen; put in coffee or tea; mixed with peanut butter; etc. Good quality coconut oil is also mild on the skin, and used in many areas around the world to both nourish and protect the skin and hair from, among other things, the harsh effect of the sun.Coconut oil has natural anti-oxidants and acts as an anti-oxidant itself. Also, coconut oil is rich in medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), which have natural anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. Coconut oil contains Monolaurin, which is the same anti-microbial agent found in human mother's milk. Plus, Caprylic and Capric acids (medium chains), which are relatively and uniquely high in coconut oil, diminish the nutritional requirements for essential fatty acids (EFAs).Our coconut oil is made using a process called the Fresh Centrifuge Process. Fresh-Centrifuge Process is the emerging process benchmark for VCO extraction from fresh coconut meat that prevents contamination, alteration and deterioration of the oil, and retaining its freshness. The VCO produced is practically the same as it exists in fresh coconut meat - fresh smell and taste, no fermentation acid contamination, no peroxide contamination, no aflatoxin, no diminution of the heat-sensitive vitamin E, un-altered fatty acid profile, and high laurin content.It is a wholistic process that starts at coconut growing where and natural farm productivity improvement methods are implemented, and age of coconut fruits are monitored to get the optimum age for harvest (Note: underage and overage nuts contain lesser laurin oil). It employs an innovative process of extracting the oil at fresh conditions using purely physical method of centrifugation or high-speed spinning, thru a specifically-fitted high-speed low-turbulence centrifuge, without use of heating, fermentation and freezing methods of extractions. The final oil is packed in bottles and containers that undergo 100% preventive sanitation and disinfection, and sealed with slight vacuum to maintain freshness throughout shelf life.

To Your Health,

John Hall NSCA-CPT

Where's The Fruit?

Over half of the most aggressively advertised children foods that prominently feature fruit on their packaging contain no fruit at all, according to a study released by the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments. The study - Where’s the Fruit? reveals that 51 percent of these products do not contain fruit, and another 16 percent contain only minimal amounts of fruit despite prominent fruit promotions on the packaging.“Parents drawn to products that seem healthier for their children based on references to fruit on the packaging are being deceived,” explains Leslie Mikkelsen, a registered dietician with the Strategic Alliance and lead author of the study. “Food and beverage companies are some of the most sophisticated communicators in the world and are clearly capable of accurately reflecting what is in their products if they wanted to.”The Where’s the Fruit? study identifies the most heavily advertised children food products that include words and images of fruit and/or fruit ingredients on the packaging. A total of 37 products were included in the final study, and their ingredient lists were analyzed to determine the presence of fruit ingredients. A full 51% of the products contained no fruit ingredients at all despite the images of fruits and use of words such as “fruity,” “fruit flavors” and “berry” on the packaging.“The nation is facing a staggering epidemic of chronic diseases that result from poor eating and physical inactivity,” cautions Dr. Andria Ruth, a pediatrician for the Diabetes Resource Center of Santa Barbara. “Children are particularly affected and these food companies are making parents’ jobs even harder by using misleading packaging to lead them to think that they are making a healthy choice when they are not."


To Your Health,

John Hall NSCA-CPT