The study, Societal Values and Policies May Curtail Preschool Children’s Physical Activity in Child Care Centers, found that preschool kids are getting very little exercise during the day, a problem since a sedentary lifestyle may contribute to obesity. According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) guidelines, preschoolers should spend 120 minutes every day doing physical activities, but few reach that goal. Says the study:

“Children spend most (70%–83%) of their time being sedentary in child care — even when excluding time spent in naps and meals — and only spend 2% to 3% of the time in vigorous activities.”

Researchers conducted the study to figure out what’s contributing to the lack of exercise and activity. They found that there are three main reasons for kids’ sedentary lifestyle at school and daycare: concerns about injuries, financial limitations, and a stronger focus on academics.

I get the injuries thing. Little Girl got pushed through a playhouse window her first week at school and ended up with a huge scrape on her belly. Those are, I’m sure, the types of injuries parents and educators are worried about, and the reason fear of injuries was the number one worry of those interviewed for the study. I guess we’re all a little crazy these days when it comes to keeping kids safe. Still, as my husband reminds me kids are not veal. It’s okay for them to get bumped and scraped and bruised while they are playing. Or, even more direct: No, I cannot wrap Little Girl in bubble wrap to keep her safe.

As to the financial issue: Schools and daycare centers can’t afford “expensive” outdoor equipment or an indoor gross motor room where kids could play and run during inclement weather. Besides, they are being pressured by parents and regulations to make sure kids know their ABCs, colors, and shapes before entering kindergarten.

The study concludes with the following statement about kids and activity: “Child advocates must think holistically about potential unintended consequences of policies designed to protect children’s safety (eg, licensing codes that have rendered climbers uninteresting, or early learning standards that encourage child-care providers to cut time dedicated for outdoor play). Given that childhood obesity is quickly eclipsing childhood injury as a leading cause of morbidity, and that time in child care [including preschool] may be the child’s only opportunity for outdoor play, licensing standards may need to explicitly promote physical activity in as much detail as is devoted to safety.”

In other words, parents should encourage kids to run and jump as much as possible, and tell schools and daycare centers to do the same.

I don’t worry about my own preschooler. She never stops running here at home, doing laps around my house in her natural speed: fast. In addition, the preschool that she goes to has a policy to let kids play outside every single day as long as it’s not raining and the temperature is above 32 degrees. Between running my halls and running at school, Little Girl is definitely getting the recommended two hours of activity, but I can definitely see how that might be difficult for kids who are in daycare all day or those, like my older child, who prefers reading and art to jumping and climbing. There are things you can do to get kids moving, though.

For example, I bought Big Girl an indoor trampoline and one of those foam hopscotch boards and made sure she was spending time on both daily. I took her to parks, which are free, and on walks — also free — when it was nice outside. When it wasn’t, I made sure she had access to our doll carriages, to encourage indoor “walks.” We also played — and still do — hide-and-seek as well as other imaginative games that include running and moving. One of the easiest is freeze dance, which asks kids to dance until they hear the music go off. Another indoor favorite is family dance party, which gets kids up and moving. Bottom line: Aside from the trampoline, I didn’t need fancy equipment or have to spend a lot of time or money encouraging and fostering a love of movement and exercise. As I learned very quickly, kids want to move and will take your lead, so which path are you going to lead your children down today? I’d love to hear how you’re getting your kids moving indoors and out, especially since another study out of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that kids who exercise more do better in school. Yet another reason to make sure kids are getting plenty of activity throughout the day.

Grapes make an excellent snack -- as long as you make the choice.

It costs more to eat well, according to a research study out of the University of Washington.

Hoping to see what effect the new U.S. dietary guidelines would have on a family’s pocketbook, researchers –  including Pablo Monsivais, acting assistant professor at the University of Washington and part of the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network — evaluated hot much extra it would take to meet the new guidelines. (A quick aside: Prof. Monsaivais had already concluded back in 2009 that a better diet, which means a diet that’s richer in nutrients than calories, is more costly, and mostly consumed by those who are better educated.)

Research, according to newspaper and online reports, found that “eating more potassium, the most expensive of the four nutrients, can add $380 to the average person’s yearly food costs.” It also costs more to meet the fiber and Vitamin D guidelines. In addition, researchers confirmed that you can lower food cost by getting more of your calories from saturated fats and sugar.

Researchers want the U.S. government to back up the new guidelines with advice, and tell people how they can get the biggest bang for their buck. Me? I’m not so sure this would do very much. People know, for example, that bananas provide a good helping of the blood pressure-lowering, heart-helping nutrient potassium. I just don’t think it matters. Sure, they could eat a banana for a snack — bananas that cost about $.19 each or $.29 each if they are organic — but most choose not to. It’s sad, but I truly believe we as a society have been conditioned by marketers and advertisements and huge, honking supermarket end caps that a snack of say, potato chips is a much better alternative. I mean, who really thinks about potassium aside from pregnant women and mothers of small children?

I know I sound very cynical, but I have spent the better part of a week interviewing people who were morbidly obese, and I got an earful about what brought them to the brink of death. (These were really, really sick people with multiple co-morbidities like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart issues, sleep apnea.) Every one of those interviews confirmed something to me: It’s just far too easy to overeat bad food because eating bad food makes us, at least for a moment, feel good. The rush of sugar and chemicals dopes us into feeling good. The ultimate self medication. And that bad food is often the cheapest and easiest to find and get.

All of the people I interviewed are now closer to “normal” weight. (Although with two-thirds of adults and one-third of children being overweight, what’s really normal anymore?) They have made big changes in their lives. They all cut out processed carbs, chips, candy, sweets. They eat lots of lean meat, vegetables, and whole grains. They exercise. Not coincidentally, they all feel great. The co-morbidities are gone. And many of them are a little bit angry that they were duped into eating garbage to begin with.

This is not the first time I’ve written a story about weight loss. In the past, every single expert I’ve interviewed told me the same thing about weight loss: Calories in, calories out. That’s how you get slim, that’s how you stay healthy. If you eat, for instance, a Trader Joe’s chocolate biscotti (150 calories for a single small cookie) you’re probably still be hungry after you wipe the crumbs off your chin. However, if you eat a huge cup of organic red grapes (about 100 calories as well as fiber, vitamin C, iron, B-1, manganese, and calcium), you’re not as likely to be hungry. I know this firsthand. You’re also closer to your goal of eating more antioxidants like the anti-aging resveratrol.

And so we are back at the beginning. Yes, it’s cheaper and easier to eat garbage. It takes lots more time, a little more money, and a lot more effort to make good food choices. But I am convinced that the government can’t help us with this. It’s up to every person to make his or her own choices. Yes, I think it would be great if, for example, the Food Stamp program would make it more difficult to buy high calorie processed foods, and reward recipient for buying fruits and vegetables, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. How about you?

Amazing that so many people think these are appropriate options for kids.

Plenty of people out in blogger land regularly bemoan the fact that “kid food,” for most people, is fried, fake, and/or filled with artificial colors or flavors. It’s my turn, I guess.

We’ve got a big kid-centric event coming up. We’ve gone for the past five years, and it’s always lots of fun. Quite honestly, the food is really secondary. There’s so much going on that most kids — including my own — aren’t really looking to eat. Still, I’ve always managed to get Big Girl to take a bunch of bites of her pizza, which is what’s always been served. This year, however, the choices were different: hamburgers, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets, all of which are being served with a side of French fries.

My biggest problem is the fact that Big Girl won’t eat any of these things. Not even that I won’t let her eat them. No, it’s more like she just doesn’t see any of these things as a food choice. I’m not a hamburger person, so we don’t have burgers. Hence, the kids don’t eat burgers. The same goes for hot dog. The only time I make them is when I’m preparing for game night, and even then they are uncured, organic hot dogs. By the time they hit the table, the kids are asleep, so they’ve really never eaten them. As for the nuggets: occasionally I will make for dinner either Bell and Evans air-chilled chicken strips or chicken cutlets that I egg, bread, and fry myself. I don’t serve either very often because Little Girl outright refuses to eat them. Big Girl will kinda sorta eat them, but she’d prefer a nice grilled chicken sandwich instead.

Okay, so what to do with my event lunch issue? I ended up asking the person running the event if it was possible to get pizza. Thankfully, I was told that yes, I could get a slice of concession stand pizza. While that’s also iffy — my kids are pizza snobs like my husband — I’ve got a chance of getting a few bites in them. And just to make sure they don’t go hungry I will also be packing a few sandwiches. (Probably sunflower butter and jelly for Big Girl and plain sunflower butter for Little Girl.)

Now would be the time that I would usually start complaining about the lack of healthy kid choices at most events, but I’m just tired of making the effort. I will point out that study after study finds that what kids eat is one of the biggest contributing factors in the childhood obesity problem.

For instance, a University of Michigan study found that, “…children who are obese were more likely to consume school lunch instead of a packed lunch from home and spend two hours a day watching TV or playing a video game.” Hmm. Crappy processed food plus hours sitting on the couch equal extra pounds. Definitely not a stretch. Another study — this one from Southern Methodist University and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — found a direct link between federal school lunches and childhood obesity. Makes sense to me! Have you seen what most schools are serving for lunch? Hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken fingers!

Unfortunately, we will probably keep seeing studies like this for a while. The bad news is that nothing is going to change until more people start asking for healthy choices and our government and school districts start mandating real, whole, un-fried food. After all, money talks. Until then I’ll just keep packing lunches for my kids. How about you?

This post is how I am participating this week in Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays — two awesome campaigns to get people eating real food again.

The minute she said the kid’s name, I knew who it was. My stomach dropped a little bit. I looked across the table at one of the other kids who was listening. A kid who is also a little husky. She looked a little uncomfortable. Then I looked back at my storyteller, a little girl, who I really, really like. A nice kid. And I said, “Want to hear a story? Well, you know that little boy? He’s my friend’s son, and he’s really, really nice. Have you ever spoken to him?” The little girl looked at me, told me that she had never spoken to him, and then she said one word. “Ooops.”

I kept talking. “I’ll bet if you spoke to him you would see how very nice he is. By the way, just because someone is fat doesn’t mean they are smelly or stupid. Everyone is unique. Everyone has their gifts. I know [NAME], and he’s a great kid. You’d really like him.” And then I shut up and went back to doing the project.

I told Big Girl the story tonight at bedtime. I asked her how the heavier little girl probably felt when she heard the first girl call someone else names because he happens to be heavier. “Bad,” she said. I asked her what she thought of the story. “It was bad. I know [NAME]. He is really nice. I’m glad he didn’t hear that story. If I was there I would have told Storyteller that I know that boy, and he’s nice.” I told her I was, too, and that I was very proud of her for thinking of my friend’s son’s feelings. And that if she learns one thing from me I hope it’s that starting rumors is never a good thing. And then, after I explained what a rumor was, I switched the topic.

I hope by not making a huge deal about it, and just telling it like it is I touched one of the kids who heard the story. I hope my original storyteller will remember what I said and give someone a chance before making another snap judgment. I hope Big Girl really will have the courage and compassion to stick up for someone someday. I hope the chubby girl across the table from Storyteller heard what I said, and didn’t feel too bad hearing her make assumptions about someone who is overweight.

Okay, let’s hear it. Did I handle this right? Wrong? What would you have said or done? Honestly, this working with kids thing is really challenging sometimes.

The nutritionist spend about an hour or so with me during our first meeting. We discussed the food I liked, the food I didn’t, and what the growing baby inside of me needed. Not just calories, but also calcium, vitamins, protein, and essential nutrients. Then, based on my height and weight, she gave me a target calorie goal. I would be journaling my food intake every day, writing down exactly how much iron, for example, I was taking in, how much protein, how much fiber (to help ward off constipation), how much folic acid, how much good fat. I was charged with a huge responsibility: Take in enough good stuff to help that little baby grow. I took it very seriously.

I ate real, whole food. Lots of lean meat, cheeses, vegetables. I ate a protein bar every day. (They were super-yummy chocolate raspberry bars.) I ate yogurt. Almost everything was organic. If I ate something sweet it was made with real sugar — no artificial anything. At the end of my pregnancy I had only gained 19 pounds. It seemed to be the right prescription, though. Big Girl was born a week late at 8 pounds, 5 ounces. I went home with only ten pounds to lose. It came off that first month. So what’s the point of this story? Who cares?

Well, according to a recent study by Janet Currie, a health economist at Columbia University, and Dr. David S. Ludwig of Children’s Hospital Boston, women who gain too much weight during pregnancy may be setting their kids up for obesity in adulthood. A scary thought — that overeating during pregnancy can make your kid fat. The New York Times has a great story about this study and others. It talks about the recommended guidelines for weight gain — typically much less than most people gain. It’s not happening, though. Very few people stay within the recommended range. Pregnancy is now a free-for-all, with many women eating hot fudge sundaes every night and chocolate chip muffins for breakfast with snacks of candy in between. (And many end up with too-large babies and gestational diabetes and all sorts of health complications.)

It could be so easy to say women are just selfish gluttons. But that would be too easy, and not the real reason, I think, that women are getting so fat during pregnancy. I think the problem stems from our society’s ideals that say people — women in particular — should be super-skinny. Most aren’t, of course, but most of us try to get or stay slim. When you’re pregnant and this no longer applies, your mindset shifts. I have several friends who were size 2 before they got pregnant and who gained 40, 50, or even 60 pounds over the course of 10 months. They have been subsiding on next to nothing pre-baby and so when they were told, “Make sure you’re eating enough for the baby,” they went nuts. Who wouldn’t want to eat everything you’ve been denied for months and years? Heck, if I didn’t go into pregnancy with a nutritionist in my corner who knows how much I would have gained?

For me, though, I couldn’t eat all those “bad” foods because I was so focused on the nutrition. In fact, I think my healthy gain can be linked back to the protein and iron goals I had. Sure, I could meet my caloric needs eating five bowls of ice cream, but in order to hit 40 grams of protein, I had to be eating enough meat, hummus, beans, and soynut butter to make that number. Same went for iron. I have always been slightly anemic because I am not a red meat eater. So every morning I started my day with a big bowl of Cream of Wheat. I also ate broccoli, beans, and spinach. I am not exaggerating when I say after hitting all my nutrient goals some nights I felt quite literally stuffed. I couldn’t have chowed down on brownies if I wanted to. I didn’t have the room in my stomach.

I’m not sure why pregnancy isn’t seen as more of a collaborative health condition. I don’t know why, for example, every woman doesn’t get to meet with a nutritionist and a therapist after seeing their doctor or midwife. I can tell you that, as someone who went through it not once but twice, it was really nice having lots of different supporters in my corner. And that cream of wheat really is a great way to start the day.

How much weight did you or your spouse gain during pregnancy? Were you happy with your gain? Would you do anything differently? BTW: This post is how I am participating this week in Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays — two awesome campaigns to get people eating real food again.

Okay, PepsiCo. I like the idea of pulling soda out of schools. And you can’t get much healthier than water and milk. (Although the bottle is troubling, but I digress as always.) But diet soda? REALLY? With what we already know about artificial sweeteners, Wouldn’t a better policy be to stick with milk, juice, and soda? Do little kids really need to get hooked on artificial junk so early? Not to mention the effect on our environment. For example, did you know that last summer researchers in Germany found that sewage treatment plants can’t extract all of the aspartame that gets flushed –cough, cough, you know what I mean — down the toilet? And unfortunately we know nothing about what those chemicals can do to an ecosystem. And if you’re actually trying to curb obesity, why would you offer drinks that have ingredients that have been directly linked to causing obesity, according to several different studies. Here’s an excerpt from one: “Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. The findings appear in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).”

Oh, and did you know just having those drinks in schools may hurt kids and their ability to learn and make decisions? A January study out of the University of South Dakota was able to link drinking diet soda with a propensity to want immediate gratification. Those people who drank full sugar soda were more likely to make choices to delay reward. I’ll let the researchers explain: “The finding that a diet soda drink increased the degree of future discounting suggests that artificial sweeteners may alarm the body of imminent caloric crisis, leading to increased impulsivity.” Impulsivity? In school? Not a great thing.

So, PepsiCo: I like your thinking. You’re almost there. I’m really happy that you’re considering the welfare of our kids. I like that they don’t have access to the high fructose-filled soda that you put out. But I can’t give you an A. Not just yet. You’re still at a C+. And my kids? They’ll still be taking their water-filled stainless steel thermos to school. Way cheaper, and way better for their bodies.

p.s. PepsiCo: My husband loves Pepsi Throwback. Why don’t you just do away completely with the HFCS in your sodas? Is it that much cheaper to produce your products using something that’s been proven to cause high blood pressure, affect memory, contribute to obesity, and may increase the risk of kidney disease? Seriously. I’m asking. I’d love to hear your answer. I know you read my blog.

What’s your take on soda in schools? Are you for it? Against it? I’ve seen people on my Facebook page say that they had entire football fields paid for by soda machine sales –shudder, think of all those calories! Who should decide?

Finally, see that little brown button next to this? The one that says TopMommyBlogs.com? Well, you can click it daily and help me move up from my dismal spot in the 200s. Also, are you following me on Twitter yet? I tweet a lot (usually) throughout the day about all things green, crunchy, natural, and kid-related. Pregnancy, technology, and marketing, too. If you’re following me, you already know this. If you’re not, just click through to start listening to my daily banter.

My doctor admonished me, telling me toddlers were sometimes like puppies. They would keep eating for the sheer fun of eating. “Cut her down to one bowl. That’s all she needs,” my doctor said. She said she didn’t want Big Girl, who from birth had always been 95th percentile for height and 50th for weight, to end up at 95th percentile for both height and weight. (That month she had crept up to 75th percentile for weight.) I listened to my doctor’s advice and watched my daughter’s weight level out at her next check up.

When I told some of my friends, they questioned my doctor’s advice. Cutting back her breakfast was tantamount to putting her on a diet, they said. If she was hungry she obviously needed the calories. I thought about it some more and decided my doctor was right. A 15-month-old should not be eating three bowls of dry cereal in the morning. Heck, a 15-year-old shouldn’t be doing that, either. Turns out my doctor may have helped us dodge the obesity bullet.

Harvard University researchers this month published a study that says that risks for obesity may start while a child is in the womb, which is why obesity prevention should probably start then, too.

According to research, moms who gained more than the recommended amount while pregnant had kids who — at age seven — were 48 percent more likely than their peers to be overweight. This varies depending on how much a woman weighs before she gets pregnant, but it’s typically between 15 and 35 pounds, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Whether or not they got gestational diabetes also impacts childhood obesity.

Here’s where my doctor helped me out: Researchers found that babies who gain a lot of weight during their first few years and are disproportionate — they might be in the 25th percentile for height but the 75th for weight — often end up being overweight as children. Starting solids before four-months-old, and not sleeping enough were two other obesity risk factors that were identified, too. (We didn’t have these problems since Big Girl had the thrust reflex until six or seven months old, and she’s always been a phenomenal sleeper unlike her mom, thank goodness.)

Today she is still on that 95/50 percentile ratio. Her sister is, too. I won’t stop them from having an occasional second bowl of cereal if they want it, but they very rarely want one. Every once in a while Big Girl is ravenous in the morning, but most days she’ll rush out the door after eating her cereal telling me she’s full. (Usually as I am trying to get her to eat a little yogurt, too.) I think it’s because she’s in the habit of eating about the same amount every day. So thank you, Doctor, for letting me know I was making a mistake. Thank you for not being afraid to tell me the truth. One day Big Girl will appreciate it.

What do you think about limiting what kids eat? How about solid foods? Is there such a thing as giving kids food too early? Let’s hear it.

This week the New York City health department launched what has become a popular YouTube clip. In it, a man gets ready to guzzle some soda. When he pours it into a glass, globs of fat drip out instead. He drinks it anyway, which makes for good video. The point, of course, is to gross you out and get the message across that soda isn’t good for you. In fact, it’s bad for you, as the video explains, because drinking a single can of soda a day will add ten pounds to your weight. Sobering, but will it matter to those who are addicted to their 4 p.m. soda high?

About six or seven years ago, I would have said no. Back then, my husband drank at least three or four cans of Pepsi every day. No matter what. If we went out to lunch or dinner, he added another few glasses to his total. Around that same time I was starting on my current natural-as-possible path. I was reading a lot about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I passed along the information. Since then, the news has only gotten worse. One study links HFCS to diabetes — especially in children. A more recent February 2009 study — this one out of the Loyola University Health System — found that women who drank more than two cans of soda a day “are nearly twice as likely to show early signs of kidney disease.” The American Society of Nephrology in October of this year released another study calling HFCS “a recipe for hypertension.” According to the study “…Americans consume 30% more fructose than 20 years ago and up to four times more than 100 years ago, when obesity rates were less than 5%.” The results point to HFCS being “significantly and independently associated with higher blood pressure levels in the US adult population with no previous history of hypertension.” HFCS even affects the brain. A July Georgia State University study found that it impairs memory function. This is because HFCS is metabolized by the liver, which in turn produces triglycerides that get into the bloodstream and mess with brain signaling.

And then there’s the whole it-makes-you-fat thing. A can of soda has 200 calories. (Yes, the label says 150, but that’s per serving, and a can has 1 1/2 servings of soda in it.) Many of us don’t use the portion controlled cans, instead slurping soda from Big Gulp cups (400 whopping calories — 800 if you get a Super Big Gulp). That’s a whole lot of calories, people. Drink a soda a day and — like NYC says — you’re going to gain weight unless you’re logging a lot of hours in the gym to work them off. Soda also erodes tooth enamel, fills you up so you’re not hungry for actual healthy foods, and diet sodas are no better since they are linked to obesity, too. ““The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar,” said researchers.

Back to my husband: After hearing all this, Chris went cold turkey on soda. (I also offered a deal he couldn’t resist, but that deal is not fit for a family blog, so we’ll just leave that there…) It was difficult. He craved soda. He couldn’t find something to replace it with for a while. But in the end he lost 15 pounds within a few months, and he didn’t change his routine at all aside from saying goodbye to Pepsi.

Today Chris drinks water, orange juice, a beer, or lemonade (made without HFCS) if he’s thirsty. Since it’s still a temptation, we try to avoid having soda in the house. For a while, we did try the natural sodas from Whole Foods, but they were expensive, and he decided that he didn’t want the calories after all. Is he completely off soda? No. He’ll still drink soda if we’re out to dinner, or at a party. And every once in a while like this past weekend he’ll swing into 7-11 and get a Big Gulp. Around the Jewish holidays he does buy Pepsi for the house because — since it has to be kosher — it’s made with actual sugar instead of HFCS. Still, bottom line: It can be done. You can eliminate soda from your diet. It can be as easy as thinking the way I do: I don’t like it, but I also won’t sacrifice the calories. I’d rather eat 200 calories worth of cookies than drink them out of a can. And until Pepsi starts putting chocolate chips in its products I should be okay.

Are you a soda addict like my husband? What do you think of the YouTube ad? Would you ever consider banishing soda from your diet? What do you drink every day? Would love to hear more.