Health Education: deridre dingman

NSLP debut

Today is the day.  The National School Lunch Program has its first thorough revision in 15 years and now more closely aligns to the USDA's  Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010. In the past few months, I talked (blogged) a lot about the new rules based on the recommendation from the Institute of Medicine and the challenges they faced in Congress.  The potato lobbyists won their fight and the limits to potatoes were directly changed (omitted), but my indirectly be implemented.  I found it very important and telling that the DGAs and the school rec's recognized that starchy foods and vegetables needed to be limited in the diets of the American adult and child.  These types of foods are more calorically dense.  It is a good idea to limit them in schools because this could lead children to limit them as adults.  We eat what we're fed. The school lunches still have to limit calories, salt, saturated and trans fat.  Servings of leafy vegetables and fruits must increase. No whole milk will be available.  All milk will be 1% or less fat. (that is another thing for adults to consider - whole milk and even 2% milk is too high in saturated fat to be considered healthy). I think that these conditions will lead to less potatoes, peas and corn served, even if the actual mandate to limit them was thrown out.  I believe this because the schools still have to keep the calories low and trust me, potatoes and marcaroni are not low on calories. If you are interested in more information on how the NSLP played out - my previous posts on this issue are available <a href="http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2011/10/potato-wars.html">here</a>. For news on the implementation that started this week, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/us/politics/new-school-lunch-rules-aimed-at-reducing-obesity.html?_r=1" target="_blank">this article</a> from the NY Times may interest you.

NSLP debut

Today is the day. The National School Lunch Program has its first thorough revision in 15 years and now more closely aligns to the USDA...

7:23 PM

Too Much Chair Time

The body of research that associates prolonged sitting with all cause mortality, heart disease and several types of cancer continues to grow.  A news story published last month in a  WebMD newsletter listed three recent studies that support those previously published. The studies can control for other factors, including how much exercise a person gets or what their BMI (fat status) is and look only at the effect of prolonged sitting.  The findings are that sitting for more than an hour at a time has significant adverse consequences. The health promotion message is being modified accordingly.  It now goes beyond telling people to get daily exercise and advises them to limit sitting as well. (you realize 'people' and 'them' is you, right?) I have read at least one of the studies that was mentioned in the article and I am in the process of reading another, but here are some of the findings that you might find interesting: A study by Owen associates sitting with an increase in inflammation and other physiological changes that have been linked to cancer occurance. Friedenreich reports that exercise can prevent colon and breast cancer.  She looked at both colon and breast cancer incidence and compared people who exercised the most to those that exercised the least or not at all and found between 20 and 30% fewer cancer cases in the exercisers. Patel and Berstein (the study I am reading now) have found a link between sitting, regardless of weight and exercise levels, with any cause of death in the 14 years that they followed a group of persons.  Results included that for men who sit more than 6 hours continuously, there is a 18% greater risk of death than for men who sit the least and for women the increased risk was 37%. A study that I reported on earlier this year (<a href="http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2011/01/move-more-sit-less-it-matters.html" target="_blank">here)</a>, found that sitting time increased the risk of heart disease. The WebMD article ends with the suggestion that everyone make time for exercising but also include break times in their sitting occasions.  I have to be honest with you, and you can verify this with my classmates and even my mother (though I see her less often) - I have read so many of these studies that I have become almost incapable of sitting for more than an hour for fear that it will kill me :)

Too Much Chair Time

The body of research that associates prolonged sitting with all cause mortality, heart disease and several types of cancer continues to grow...

6:49 PM

Exercise Challenge

I do not talk about the physical activity guidelines very often, but there were released in 2008 and call for no less than 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise five days a week.  More is better and it applies to all adults, even those with disability and those who are over age 65.   The recommendations for children are higher, 60 minutes every day. If persons are questioned about their physical activity and they report NO strength training - even if they exercise 5-7 days a week, they are categorized as NOT meeting the PA guidelines.  Cardiovascular exercise (elevating your heart rate) and  muscle conditioning are the two most important aspects of the recommendations.  After which comes balance and core work for preventing falls as we age.  (A reduction or stabilization in the number of falls in persons over age 65 is one of the goals of the National Prevention Strategy). I am going to tell you what my plan for the next month is with regards to a regular exercise routine.  I will re-evaluate in September and adjust based on the availability of the pool (open swim times) and my teaching and course work schedule.  What is not included in this plan are the many short walks that I take, cycling to and from campus and the ten minute segments of yoga or pilates that I do in the evening (after dinner).  Those are just extra little things, and I do not count them towards my daily or weekly activity goals. My plan is to run four days a week, swim on two days, lift weights on the swim days (or two other days if there is a conflict - but two days every week [as I already do]) and to walk (1hr with a friend who is less athletic than I) one day and to cycle for fitness one day.  Oh wait!  that is eight days, well - I will figure it out. It might look like this: Monday - lift weights and swim laps Tuesday - run , four miles and adding up to six/eight Wednesday - run Thursday - lift weights and swim laps Friday - run Saturday - walk with friend and or cycle Sunday - run I do a full body weight training session - all muscle groups - low reps heavier weights (and don't give me any excuses about "oh, I don't want to bulk up", because bulking up is HARD people - and it takes hours and hours in the gym)- but I wait at least 48 hours between my workouts so that my muscles can recover and build.  The time after the workout is as important in strength training as the time during the workout. So what is your plan for the next month??

Exercise Challenge

I do not talk about the physical activity guidelines very often, but there were released in 2008 and call for no less than 30 minutes of mod...

7:21 PM

Health Education

NSLP debut

Too Much Chair Time

Exercise Challenge

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