How to kick start healthy eating behaviors in your kids?

There is growing science around allowing children to self-regulate their appetites to prevent reducing obesity in children.

Children are born with built-in biological processes that enable them to know when they are full. Rather than fight against nature, create a structured environment that enables kids to learn to trust their own bodies.

"Children are born with an ability to eat to their energy needs and then stop," said Alexis Wood, an assistant professor of nutrition at Baylor College of Medicine, and lead author of a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association. 

Bribing kids to finish all of their healthy foods like lima beans and broccoli is a parenting crutch with deep roots. But parents could inadvertently make their children overeat. A growing body of scientific evidence has suggested tactics like that one are counterproductive and could potentially lead to childhood obesity. 

Don't do that, Wood said. It is important to eat for your own internal satiety, not for an external reward.

Incorporate healthy foods into things they already like. Pairing nutritious foods like carrots and parsnips with something sweeter, like a dipping sauce, is a way of helping kids warm up to healthier choices.

Serve healthy food consistently: Kids with a sweet tooth might not gravitate toward vegetables, but you can nudge them along first by serving healthy foods without expectation that kids have to eat them. And create a household environment where "less desired food choices are just not around," Wood said. 

Children between ages 2 and 5 often become picky about the foods they eat, developing an urge to show control over their bodies and their surroundings. 

Dietary salt is linked to high blood pressure and in certain demographic groups. It is important to note that dashing table salt on foods for added taste is a trick kids learn from adults. You can show them a better way. Besides just serving children foods naturally low in salt, you can instill a taste for healthier seasonings by using herbs, spices or lemon juice in your cooking instead.

Parents should also model healthy eating behaviors for their kids and make sure to "enthusiastically enjoy" those foods as you eat them.

Diet Soda no better than Regular Soda for Heart Health

According to a recent study, people who regularly drink either sugary drinks or artificially sweetened beverages have a higher risk of stroke and heart disease than those who avoid sugary drinks. Drinking ‘diet’ versions of sugary drinks with artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame and stevia does not diminish heart health risks.

Thus people who want to stay heart healthy should avoid drinking artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda. 

“The belief that artificial sweeteners are a safe substitute for sugar is fake news,” Dr. Guy L. Mintz, director of cardiovascular health & lipidology of cardiology at Northwell Health’s Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in New York said. 

 “This study demonstrates that high consumers of sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages both had a higher risk of a first cardiovascular event,” continued Mintz.

“This study is further proof that drinks with artificial sweeteners are unhealthy. Artificial sweeteners have been associated with weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes.”

Researchers also discovered that people who drink diet versions of those drinks with artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame and stevia experienced almost the same health risks, compared to their participants who did not report drinking any sweetened beverages. 

Artificial sweeteners may potentially have adverse metabolic effects such as increased adiposity, impaired glucose homeostasis and hyperinsulinemia, as well as alteration of gut microbiota.  Research finds an association between consuming artificially sweetened beverages and cardiovascular disease.

However, the study could not prove that sweeteners caused disease, only that there was an association. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reviewed hundreds of studies to find no conclusive evidence that artificial sweeteners put people at risk for weight gain or disease.

Inflammatory Foods can increase Heart Disease and Stroke Risk

The research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that a diet of foods that causes increased inflammation in the body is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. 

On the other hand, following a more plant-based diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, will lead to lower inflammatory risk over time. 

Many foods such as sugary drinks, processed meats and refined grains will cause the inflammation that can lead to cardiovascular issues down the road. It was found that the 20 percent of study population consuming the most pro-inflammatory diet were 46 percent more likely to develop heart disease and 28 percent more likely to develop stroke.

Whole, low fat, plant-based foods are known to be anti-inflammatory. And so following a diet that is rich in fruit and vegetables, along with whole grains and healthy proteins, is better for your health than eating refined and processed foods.

Poor diet: Children 20cm shorter as a result

Poor diets for school-age children may contribute to an average height gap of 20cm (7.9in) between the tallest and shortest nations.

The research team analysed data from more than 65 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years from more than 2000 studies between 1985 and 2019.

In 2019, on average, children and teenagers in north-western and central Europe (eg those in the Netherlands and Montenegro) were the tallest in the world. The tallest 19-year-old boys lived in the Netherlands (183.8cm or 6ft)

Meanwhile, the 19-year-olds who were on average the shortest lived in South and South-East Asia, Latin America and East Africa. The shortest lived in Timor Leste (160.1cm or 5ft 3in). 

On average, 19-year-old boys in Laos were the same height (162.8cm or 5ft 4in) as 13-year old boys in the Netherlands.

At 19 years old, girls in Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal and Timor Leste were the same average height as 11-year-old Dutch girls (about 152cm or 5ft).

The largest improvements in the average height for children over the last 35 years were seen in China and South Korea.

But in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, average heights remained unchanged or reduced since 1985.

While researchers acknowledge that genetics play an important part in individual children's height and weight, when it comes to the health of entire populations, nutrition and the environment are the key.

Dr Andrea Rodriguez Martinez from Imperial College London, one of the lead researchers, said healthy weights and heights in childhood and adolescence have lifelong benefits for people's wellbeing. 

She said: "Our findings should motivate policies that increase the availability and reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as this will help children grow taller without gaining excess weight for their height." 

"These initiatives include food vouchers towards nutritious foods for low-income families, and free healthy school meals."

Working Out but not Losing Weight?

Do you exercise often and still feel like you are not maintaining a healthy weight? One of the following reasons could be why you are not shedding pounds: 

You are not eating the good stuff
If you are working out but not losing weight, you might focus all your energy on burning off calories but do not take the time to consider what you are putting in as fuel. You should stick to all natural, whole foods. Look for foods that have the fewest ingredients on the label. 

You are not striking the right balance
If you have been shunning carbohydrates because you think they are making you fat, you might cut out an entire macronutrient from your daily diet which can make you feel deprived and tempt you to binge. 

And so reach for healthy, complex carbs—like sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, oats, peas, beans and whole grain bread and digest them slowly so as to release glucose into your bloodstream more slowly.  A steady diet of simple carbs, like candy, soda, sugary sweets and processed foods with added sugar will not help you reach your weight-loss goal. 

You are eating too much
In order to shed pounds, your body needs to run a calorie deficit, meaning you need to burn more than you consume. That being said, you should not have to deprive yourself either. Life is about balance.   
Eat whenever you are hungry and eat slowly enough so you can stop just before you get full. Healthy snacking during the day will keep you from overeating during meals.   

You are doing too much cardio
Although cardio is a necessary part of your workout routine to keep your heart healthy and boost your metabolism, only doing cardio—or doing too much of it—can actually add to the problem. 

Longer cardio sessions, like staying on the elliptical for 90 minutes or going for regular 10-mile runs, can eat away at your lean muscle mass, which is essential for increasing your metabolism to burn more calories. It causes the body to become more endurance-focused, storing energy as fat to ensure it has plenty of reserve fuel to keep you going for all those miles, not to mention it dramatically increases your appetite, making you more susceptible to unnecessary snacking or overeating. 

The best way to lose weight and build lean muscle is by doing some form of strength training in addition to your cardio. The more muscle tone your body has, the more fat you will burn.

Moreover, give yourself time to fully recover. Recovery and rest are often more important than the workout itself. It is during these periods that your body does most of the actual fat burning.

 
Your body is under too much stress
Exercise is a stressor on your body. When you have a healthy balance of exercise-related stress and recovery time, your body is healthy and can lose its excess fat. 

However, if not giving your body enough time to recover,  you will start to produce an excessive amount of cortisol, a stress hormone. When your body is exposed to cortisol for longer periods of time, it starts to cause negative effects, like stubborn fat in areas you do not want. 

You have plateaued
If you are cutting calories, you may experience a rapid drop in weight initially, as your body burns stored glycogen for energy. You might even lose a little muscle along with fat. Eventually, your weight loss has plateaued. To rev up your weight loss again, you may need to cut more calories or amp up your physical activity.

Learn to take control of psoriatic arthritis and improve your quality of life

Psoriatic arthritis is a type of arthritis that affects some people with the skin condition psoriasis. It typically causes affected joints to become swollen, stiff and painful. If it is severe, there is a risk of the joints becoming permanently damaged or deformed, and surgery may be needed.

Almost 1 in 3 people with psoriasis have psoriatic arthritis. Like psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis is thought to happen as a result of the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissue.

As psoriatic arthritis can cause joint pain that may affect the quality of your day-to-day life, it has been linked with an increased risk of depression and anxiety, characterized in part by negative thoughts due to sadness and hopelessness. 

“Psoriasis can be disfiguring for the skin, then when you add in the arthritis, people can also have problems moving around,” explains rheumatologist William Harvey, MD, clinical director of the division of rheumatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. 

“We have a wide variety of treatments available to them,” Dr. Harvey says. He suggests that people consider complementary approaches such as yoga, tai chi, meditation and acupuncture. These will not cure psoriatic arthritis but could improve your quality of life.

With psoriatic arthritis, it is true that there may be some activities you cannot do when you want to do them. Try focusing on on the things you can do, learn new skills and hobbies, and reach out to your support system. In fact, you have more options for coping with a flare.