ceoMoms want to know what's going on. It's one of the ways we can improve ourselves and expand our minds. We encourage you to read the news, pick up the book you've been putting off or learn about the world in general. Then pass on your thirst for knowledge to your children. Go mom!
Want to boost kids' grades? Get them moving
August 25, 2008
Want to help your kids do better in school this fall? Get them moving. That's the message from a growing field of research linking physical activity with better academic performance.
At a time when many schools have reduced or eliminated gym classes and recess, experts say the worry goes beyond the childhood obesity epidemic.
"It's not only Johnny's getting fat, and heart disease down the road — all that's true. But it's also that he might not do as well in school," says James Pivarnik, president-elect of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and a professor of kinesiology at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Read more
Strife over shots: Should our kids play together?
August 25, 2008
Karey Williams never thought a parenting decision would come between her and a good friend. The two had known one another for a decade, supported each other through infertility treatment and had their first babies around the same time. But when she told the friend that she had stopped vaccinating her daughter at age 1, the relationship abruptly ended.
"She said, 'Well then, your child can't come into my house,'" recalls Williams, 47, who lives in the Chicago area. Read more
Autistic students get help navigating college life
August 24, 2008
When Dan Hackett started college, he didn't make the grades he knew he could.
Hackett, who has Asperger's syndrome, found at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh that some of his symptoms were holding him back. He had difficulty organizing his time and managing assignments.
"I always knew I could do better," said Hackett. Read more
'Slow Food' movement finally picking up speed
August 24, 2008
Trailing Alice Waters through a Marin County garden, watching her gather fragrant pea blossoms and lemon verbena, it is easy to believe the tide is turning against America's mac-and-cheese culture.
In the wealthy rural enclave of Bolinas, Calif., there are no Starbucks or Wal-Marts. It is home to uber-eco rancher Bill Niman; small farms are nestled into hillsides; the shelves of the co-op are stocked with local, organic greens.
Yet Waters knows that to the east lies a nation starved for time, bloated with fast food and mostly ignorant of her effort to make people think more about where, how and by whom their food is produced. Read more
More women are having fewer children
August 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - More women in their early 40s are childless, and those who are having children are having fewer than ever before, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the last 30 years, the number of women age 40 to 44 with no children has doubled, from 10 percent to 20 percent. And those who are mothers have an average of 1.9 children each, more than one child fewer than women of the same age in 1976.
The report, Fertility of American Women: 2006, is the first from the Census Bureau to use data from an annual survey of 76 million women, ages 15 to 50, allowing a state-by-state comparison of fertility patterns. About 4.2 million women participating in the survey, which was conducted from January through December 2006, had had a child in the previous year. The statistics could be used by state agencies to provide maternal care services, the report said. Read more
Olympian Power Secrets
August 12, 2008
Breaux Greer: Javelin
Go for gold! Learn to train like an Olympian
August 12, 2008
Despite all the corporate grandstanding, the saccharine profiles, and the cheesy music, we're still drawn to the Olympic Games because they promise a glimpse of athletic perfection — that sinuous state of being when the outer boundaries of raw physical ability are reached and then exceeded ever so slightly.
But the fact that such boundaries are breached raises a question: How can each generation of athletes become faster, stronger, and quicker ... without doping?
The answer is simple: They train with coaches on the absolute cutting edge of exercise science, coaches whose tips will help you build muscle, burn stubborn fat, and even recover in record time. You'll find their secrets here. Beijing may be out of your reach, but a leaner, stronger, more energetic you is only a few weeks away. Read more
Olympian Power Secrets
August 12, 2008
Breaux Greer: Javelin
Eight. That's how many national javelin titles Breaux Greer owns. Unfortunately for him, it's also three less than the number of surgeries he's endured in his 15-year career. There was the torn elbow ligament in 1998, the busted shoulder joint in 2002, and the shredded knee ligament in 2004. "My pain tolerance is off the charts," says the 31-year-old, who holds the U.S. distance record for a javelin throw (91.29 meters, or nearly 300 feet).
And yet, without fail, Greer jumps out of bed every morning and continues to work at his violent discipline, using his body to whip-launch a 2-pound spear the length of a football field. Even the slightest break in form can crack his back, a fear for nearly all javelin throwers. Not for Greer, though. His only trepidation: a second Olympic failure.
Get fit in 18 minutes
To condition his body, Greer runs stadium steps. He hits every step his first time up, every other step the next time, and then every third step. He repeats the cycle, always jogging down one step at a time. "By the time you hit 18 minutes, your legs are on fire and you can't breathe," he says. "It'll get you into shape real fast." It may be the ideal strategy for the business traveler: Try it in your hotel stairwell, using four flights as your stadium stand-in. Read more
Celebrity mamas fuel post-baby body blues
August 11, 2008
Elaine Schoch once loved nothing more than spending her Sunday mornings flipping through the "mind-numbing" celebrity-filled pages of Us Weekly.
Then something happened: her daughter Samantha, born Feb. 4, 2008.
"I decided to subscribe right before I had my baby so I could still read the gossip every weekend," says Schoch, a 31-year-old public relations maven from Denver. "But then I just got depressed. They'd have all these beautiful pictures of Christina Aguilera and Nicole Richie and they'd be talking about how they lost all their baby weight. It made me feel bad about myself. So I canceled my subscription." Read more
Nebraska Beef recalls 1.2 million pounds of beef
August 6, 2008
OMAHA, Neb. - Federal authorities last month assured consumers that a meat plant linked to nearly 50 illnesses caused by tainted ground beef had made enough changes after a recall to ensure that its products were safe. Less than a month later, the same processor has recalled 1.2 million pounds of other beef products that might have sickened more than 30 people.
The changes made after the first recall of meat processed by Nebraska Beef Ltd. affected only ground beef, Laura Reiser, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Saturday.
Nebraska Beef on Friday recalled 1.2 million pounds of primal cuts, subprimal cuts and boxed beef that were made on June 17, June 24 and July 8. The products have been linked to illnesses in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illlinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Read more
10 infant deaths in Arizona tied to cold meds
August 6, 2008
NEW YORK - At least 10 infant deaths in Arizona in 2006 were linked to over-the-counter cough and cold remedies — underscoring the danger of giving the medications to children younger than 2, researchers report.
The investigators found that of 21 infants who died unexpectedly and had autopsy data available, 10 had evidence that they been given cough or cold medication shortly before they died.
The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, do not prove that the medications caused or contributed to the infants' deaths, but they add weight to a recent warning from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that parents not give cough and cold remedies to children younger than 2. Read more
Kids' cell phones: Cancer caution adds to debate
July 27, 2008
NEW YORK - When Amy Morris' twin boys, then 11, went on an academic trip to Washington last year, she agreed to give them cell phones at the program's request. But this summer she was dismayed to learn that girls at her 8-year-old daughter's day camp were using cell phones they'd taken along in their backpacks.
"We were outraged," says the Connecticut mother, who adds that the camp didn't know. "These girls think it's a cute game. But it's inappropriate, and it's unnecessary."
It's a signature parenting dilemma of the wireless age: Should kids have cell phones? And how old is old enough? It pits our understandable desire to keep tabs on our offspring — not to mention make them happy — against the instinctive feeling that it's simply, well, wrong for youngsters to spend their time chatting and texting over the airwaves. Read more
Baby bottle chemical levels safe, agency says
July 24, 2008
MILAN - The amount of a controversial chemical bisphenol A (BPA) found in baby bottles is tiny and cannot harm human health, the European Union's top food safety body said, reacting to recent health concerns.
Earlier this year, a heated debate over BPA safety sparked in the United States and Canada after various studies involving laboratory rodents suggested that even small levels of BPA — used in products ranging from baby and water bottles to beverage cans — can be harmful.
A scientific panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has looked into how people metabolize BPA and concluded that tiny amounts of the chemical to which humans are exposed leave body quick enough to cause no harm, EFSA said Wednesday. Read more
You've got mail — now get moving
July 23, 2008
Kimberly Thomas-McPherson likes to walk for exercise. But as a single mother of two who works a full-time job at night and goes to college during the day, physical activity isn't always high on her priority list.
So when Thomas-McPherson, 43, of Atlanta, heard about a pilot study aimed at getting people to stick to their exercise routine, she signed up — and was pleasantly surprised when it gave her program a boost.
In what cynical couch potatoes might view as a whole lot of nagging, Thomas-McPherson received e-mails every other day reminding her of all the benefits of exercise and why it should rank among her top priorities. She didn't see the messages as nagging, though, more like friendly nudges. Read more
Salmonella found in jalapenos
July 21, 2008
WASHINGTON - Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled by a small Texas produce shipper.
But Monday's discovery doesn't solve the mystery: Authorities don't know where the pepper became tainted — on the farm, or in the plant in McAllen, Texas, or at some stop in between.
Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect. Read more
Cord blood choice: Private fears vs. public good
July 21, 2008
Voshte Gustafson was just three months pregnant when she got the first brochure in the mail urging her to spend $2,000 to collect her newborn's umbilical cord blood as a hedge against future illness.
Now that the 31-year-old Seattle woman is rapidly approaching delivery, the barrage of glossy flyers has ballooned, warning repeatedly that she may have just one chance to save her baby's life — before it even begins.
"A lot of the companies prey on the fact that your kid is important to you," said the dad-to-be, Kiley Gustafson, 30, who estimates the couple have received 25 private cord blood banking pamphlets in the past several months. "I understand enough about it to know what they wanted to do." Read more
Too much sleep can hike stroke risk in women
July 21, 2008
NEW YORK - Sleep patterns in middle-aged women can increase their risk for stroke, researchers in the United States have found. The greatest increase in stroke risk — 70 percent — was noted among women who slept 9 hours or more per night, according to their report in the medical journal Stroke.
A link between sleep duration and mortality has previously been noted in a number of studies, but evidence of an association between sleep patterns and cardiovascular disease has been lacking, Dr. Jiu-Chiuan Chen, from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and co-researchers note.
The current investigation included 93,175 women, between 50 and 79 years of age, who were enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative study. Read more
Record number of babies born last year
July 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - More babies were born in the United States last year than ever before, according to preliminary data, but it's not another baby boom just yet.
About 4,315,000 children were born in 2007, about 15,000 more births than the peak time of the baby boom in 1957, said Stephanie Ventura, a demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics, which compiled the data from provisional birth certificate registrations at state health departments.
"According to our provisional data, we had the highest number of births ever reported in 2007," she said. Read more
Scientists find key brain circuits for attention
July 16, 2008
LONDON - Scientists have identified the brain circuits that play a key role in helping us pay attention, a finding that may help explain why things go wrong in diseases such as Alzheimer's and attention deficit disorders.
The finding published in the journal Nature could provide a new target for potential drugs to treat some neurodegenerative conditions and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, the researchers said.
"What we have identified is the way this works in one particular area of the brain," said Alex Thiele, a neuroscientist at Newcastle University, who led the study. Read more
When teen years hit, sluggishness sets in
July 15, 2008
CHICAGO - One of the largest studies of its kind shows just how sluggish American children become once they hit the teen years: While 90 percent of 9-year-olds get a couple of hours of exercise most days, fewer than 3 percent of 15-year-olds do.
What's more, the study suggests that fewer than a third of teens that age get even the minimum recommended by the government — an hour of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, like cycling, brisk walking, swimming or jogging.
The sharp drop raises concerns about inactivity continuing into adulthood, which could endanger kids' health throughout their lives, the study authors said. Read more
House of lies: Is fibbing to your kids ever OK?
July 15, 2008
On a recent shopping trip to Marshalls, Colleen Weston decided to skip the parenting advice about teaching kids life lessons at every opportunity. Instead of explaining to her son why he couldn't have a toy that day, which surely would have triggered a tantrum, she took the easy way out: She lied.
"My son, who's 3, started to fuss about wanting a toy, some gladiator or Transformers man I wasn't going to waste my money on," Weston, 35, a Middletown, Conn., mother of two, recalls. "I told him, 'That's for 8-year-olds. The checkout clerk won't allow you to have it. You're too young.'" Read more
Background TV harms tots' attention spans
July 15, 2008
NEW YORK - Having the television on in the background while pre-schoolers play with their toys disrupts their efforts to sustain attention, even when they don't pay much attention to it, and may harm their development, researchers report in current issue the journal Child Development.
Pediatricians recommend no TV for children under age 2, yet studies show that three quarters of very young children in America live in homes where the TV is on most of the time, notes the research team led by Dr. Marie Evans Schmidt of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston.
In a controlled setting, the researchers observed 50 children, who were 12-, 24- and 36-months old, play with a variety of age-appropriate toys for one hour. For half of the hour, a television was on in the room, showing an episode of the adult game show Jeopardy! with commercials. During the other half hour, the TV was turned off. Read more
Asthma risk from too many nuts in pregnancy
July 15, 2008
LONDON - Pregnant women who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily raise the risk their children will develop asthma by 50 percent, Dutch researchers said on Tuesday.
The study also showed that moderate amounts did not seem to have an effect, meaning it is too soon to say whether pregnant women should give up nuts because they contain many important nutrients and healthy fats a developing fetus needs, they said.
"We were the first to find these strong effects on asthma symptoms," said Saskia Willers, an epidemiologist at Utrecht University, who led the study linking nuts with asthma. Read more
Feeling hungry can make you happy
July 14, 2008
Contrary to the moans of many dieters, being hungry may make you happy. Or, at least, it can be a serious motivator whose evolutionary intent was to help you find dinner instead of becoming dinner.
When our bodies notice we need more calories, levels of a hormone called ghrelin increase. Ghrelin is known to spur hunger, but new research suggests this may be a side effect of its primary job as a stress-buster.
Researchers manipulated ghrelin levels in mice through a variety of methods, including prolonged calorie restriction, ghrelin injection and a genetic modification rendering the mice numb to ghrelin's effect. Read more
The world is getting happier, study says
June 30, 2008
Denmark is cheeriest, Zimbabwe is gloomiest and U.S. ranks 16th happiest. Despite the anxieties of these times, happiness has been on the rise around the world in recent years, a new survey finds.
The upbeat outlook is attributed to economic growth in previously poor countries, democratization of others, and rising social tolerance for women and minority groups.
"It's a surprising finding," said University of Michigan political scientist Ronald Inglehart, who headed up the survey. "It's widely believed that it's almost impossible to raise an entire country's happiness level." Read more
Why shopping — and adventure — feel so good
June 28, 2008
LONDON - Scientists have identified a primitive area of the brain that makes us adventurous — a finding which may help explain why people routinely fall for "new" products when shopping.
Using brain scans to measure blood flow, British researchers discovered that a brain region known as the ventral striatum was more active when subjects chose unusual objects in controlled tests.
The ventral striatum is involved in processing rewards in the brain through the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine. Read more
Battle against teen smoking stalls, CDC says
June 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - Efforts to reduce teen smoking have stalled in the past five years as states lose funding for anti-tobacco efforts and as companies use new strategies to recruit customers, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
While fewer youths are trying cigarettes for the first time, overall smoking rates stayed stable at just under 22 percent for students aged 14 to 18 between 2003 and 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Many fewer students have ever tried a cigarette — just 50 percent, down from 70 percent in 1999. But CDC officials were not celebrating this number. Read more
Little bullies begin tormenting others early on
June 23, 2008
Recess was Allie Long's favorite part of the day until the second grade, when some of her friends on the playground pressured her to join their whisper campaign against a classmate.
Allie shrugged. She didn't want to hear their rumor or help spread it around. In an instant, her best friends since kindergarten became her tormenters.
"They started taunting and teasing her," said Allie's mom, Trudy Ludwig. "She was on this play structure and they blocked all of the exits and wouldn't let her off. They started moving closer to her. Allie just freaked out. One of the girls realized it was getting out of hand and got a teacher to help." Read more
Oh baby! Newborn twins tip scales at 23 pounds
June 20, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A set of North Carolina babies surprised their parents by tipping the scales and being among the biggest twins on record: Sean William Maynard and Abigail Rose Maynard weighed in at a combined 23 pounds and 1 ounce at birth this week, a North Carolina hospital announced Friday.
Freda Springs, spokeswoman for Forsyth Medical Center, said the twins were delivered two minutes apart by Caesarean section on Tuesday at the center's Sara Lee Center for Women's Health in Winston-Salem.
The boy weighed 10 pounds, 14 ounces; the girl, 12 pounds, 3 ounces. Springs said both babies are in excellent condition after their birth to parents Joey and Erin Maynard of Winston-Salem. Read more
Is it harder to raise boys or girls?
June 17, 2008
I often say that I spend more time and energy on my one boy than on my three girls. Other mothers of boys are quick to say the same. Forget that old poem about snips and snails and puppy dog tails, says Sharon O'Donnell, a mom of three boys and the author of "House of Testosterone." "Somehow it's been changed to boys being made of 'fights, farts, and video games,' and sometimes I'm not sure how much more I can take!"
Boys and girls are both challenging to raise in different ways, experts say.
Not so fast, say moms of girls, who point out that they have to contend with fussier fashion sense, more prickly social navigations, and a far greater capacity to hold a grudge. And as a daughter grows, a parent's concerns range from body image to math bias. Read more
Best fuel for your workout
June 17, 2008
When planning your exercise sessions, it's important to factor in how you'll fuel those workouts beforehand and how you'll replenish lost energy afterward.
You don't want to eat too much food before exercising, because if you become sluggish, nauseated or throw up, you've lost that workout.
But if you don't eat, you might be too weak to lift the weights or too sapped of energy to swim laps.
Good food choices to fuel your workout include high-carbohydrate, low-fat snacks such as:
- a banana with yogurt;
- a whole-wheat toasted bagel with fruit spread; or
- a quick bowl of instant oatmeal.
Why parents go nuts on the sidelines
June 13, 2008
What turns otherwise upstanding citizens into loud-mouthed, combative you-know-whats at youth sporting events?
The worst offenders are ego-driven parents who take personally any slights to their children on the field, new research suggests.
While that might not be a big surprise, the study found the level of rudeness and rowdiness depends mostly on parents' personality types, and it put some numbers to an issue that had been largely anecdotal.
Overall, about half of the parents in the study reported getting angry during soccer games, and nearly 40 percent of the angry parents made their emotions known. These sideline expressions ranged from muttering or yelling comments to walking toward the field.
The findings make sense to a psychologist not involved in the study. "Their own sense of their personal worth gets wrapped up in how their children are doing in these ball games," said Edward Deci, a psychologist at the University of Rochester in New York. "And so the parents feel intense, internal pressure to see their kids performing because the kids are like extensions of themselves." Read more
When moms criticize, dads back off of baby care
June 13, 2008
When Jeremy Adam Smith's infant son, Liko, woke up in the middle of the night screaming, Smith wanted to help calm him down. While his wife tried to sleep, he'd take the baby into another room and sing, coo and plead with his son to quiet down.
But all that accomplished was keeping all three of them up. More often than not, his wife, Olli, would insist that he just let her breast-feed Liko. It worked like flipping a switch — no more crying.
"For many fathers, they see that and, on the one hand, they don't want to intrude — and on the other, it's a lot of work to intrude!" says Smith, who lives in San Francisco with his wife and their now-4-year-old son. Within weeks, he began to back away from trying to soothe his son's screams.
During the first few months of a new baby's life, every parent suffers moments of self-doubt. But new research suggests that dads might be especially susceptible to that lack of self-confidence — and that moms may be partly to blame.
Moms' words of criticism or encouragement directly affect how involved their husband or partner becomes in the day-to-day care of their infant, finds a new study published in the June issue of the Journal of Family Psychology. When a mother criticized her partner's child-care efforts, it often caused him to lose confidence, and even withdraw from caring for the baby. But when a mom praised dad's efforts, he took a more active parenting role. Read more
Bunk beds cause boo-boos — and serious injury
June 13, 2008
In a house with six kids under the age of 10, including a set of twins, bunk beds were almost inevitable, said Tiera McMahon of Fort Worth, Texas.
Still, the 41-year-old mother resisted the urge for more space — and the pleas of her boys — because she just wasn't certain about safety.
"Bunk beds were one of the hardest things for me to go to because of the accidents," said McMahon, who finally broke down and bought the beds nearly three years ago...
But McMahon is right to worry. A comprehensive new study found that nearly 36,000 children and adolescents are treated for bunk bed-related injuries in the nation's emergency rooms each year.
Almost 573,000 kids from infants to age 21 suffered injuries significant enough to warrant a visit to the ER between 1990 and 2005, according to an investigation by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Nearly half of the injuries occurred in children under 6, but there also was a surprising jump in accidents among 18- to 21-year-olds, who were more than twice as likely to be hurt as kids ages 14 to 17. Read more
The signs of "dry drowning" that every parent needs to know about
June 5, 2008
The tragic death of a South Carolina 10-year-old more than an hour after he had gone swimming has focused a spotlight on the little-known phenomenon called "dry drowning" — and warning signs that every parent should be aware of.
"I've never known a child could walk around, talk, speak and their lungs be filled with water," Cassandra Jackson told NBC News in a story broadcast Thursday on TODAY.
On Sunday, Jackson had taken her son, Johnny, to a pool near their home in Goose Creek, S.C. It was the first time he'd ever gone swimming — and, tragically, it would be his last...
Dr. Daniel Rauch, a pediatrician from New York University Langone Medical Center, told TODAY's Meredith Vieira that there are warning signs that every parent should be aware of. Johnny Jackson exhibited some of them, but unless a parent knows what to look for, they are easily overlooked or misinterpreted.
The three important signs, he said, are difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior. All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain. Read more
'Do more, talk less' to help heavy teens
June 4, 2008
Parents of overweight teens who recognize that their kids are too fat don't take steps to help them to eat more healthily or to be more active, but they do push them to diet — and this pressure is likely to backfire, a new study shows.
Parents who are concerned about their child's weight should do more and talk less, Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, told Reuters Health. "Serve more fruits and vegetables, have more family meals, find ways to be more physically active, turn off the TV," said Neumark-Sztainer, the author of "I'm Like So Fat: Helping Your Teen Make Healthy Choices About Eating and Exercise in a Weight-Obsessed World."
"Possibly more important is to talk less about weight and dieting," she added. "Teens are very sensitive about these topics, and are very likely to take a parents' well-intentioned comments as criticism. Parents are for the most part trying to help their children, it's just a sensitive issue." Read more
For moms, more kids can mean fewer teeth
May 29, 2008
WASHINGTON - A German folk saying that means "every child costs the mother one tooth" may hold a lot of truth, research published on Thursday indicates.
Women who gave birth to more children tended to lose more teeth during their lives, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, U.S researchers found.
They examined data on 2,635 U.S. women ages 18 to 64, sorting the nationally representative sample into three categories — low, middle and high socioeconomic status. Read more
10 surprising places where germs lurk
May 27, 2008
Is there a more potent symbol of purity than the fluffy white snowflake, wafting from heaven and landing — ping! — on the tip of your tongue?
Well, along comes the journal Science to spoil the fun, noting that bacteria called Pseudomonas syringae are lurking at the dark heart of many an earthbound crystal of frozen water. And if Frosty the Snowman is a target, what chance do the rest of us have?
A pretty good one, actually — if you make note of the places where the bugs lie and swat them before they can do harm. Here's an updated to-disinfect list for all the surprising places (and people) contagion clings to:
- Your vacuum cleaner
- Your weight-lifting gloves
- The grocery cart
- Gym equipment
- The restaurant menu
- The flight attendant
- Your bed
- The lemon wedge in your drink
- Your contact-lens case
- Your shower curtain
Craving chocolate? Ditch that diet mentality
May 27, 2008
No matter how riveting this week's episode of "Lost" is, when all you really want is a chocolate chip cookie, it seems impossible to focus on anything else until you take that first bite.
Although it's true (and truly frustrating) that we don't crave healthy eats such as carrots with the same intensity as not-so-healthy treats like chocolate, new studies provide some much-needed hope to would-be overeaters everywhere: You can learn to curb cravings without feeling deprived. Scientists have zeroed in on the source of cravings (your head, not your belly) and figured out ingenious ways to tweak the way you think about food, so you crave less and feel satisfied with smaller bites.
Snack smarter
It's not a cruel joke that our favorite noshes happen to be the bad boys of the food world. Our desire for all things decadent may date back thousands of years, to when high-calorie eats were dietary heroes.
"Throughout most of history, food scarcity was a real risk, so it made sense for the body to encourage eating," says Evan Forman, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Read more
Causes of morning sickness revealed
May 27, 2008
As irritating as morning sickness may be for pregnant women, it may protect embryos.
Doctors have long known that morning sickness — the nausea and vomiting usually experienced in early pregnancy — is actually a good sign of a healthy pregnancy, despite the discomfort it brings.
However, scientists have debated whether morning sickness actually helps pregnancies succeed. It could just be an annoying byproduct of a healthy pregnancy, as pregnant women and their embryos carry out a tug of war over the body's resources.
... Morning sickness is usually triggered in specific circumstances — in response to:
the sight, smell, or taste of meats and strong-tasting vegetables, which were historically likely to contain foodborne microbes or birth-defect-inducing chemicals; alcohol and cigarette smoke.
This all suggests morning sickness serves a useful function, evolving to protect mothers and embryos from things that may be dangerous, the researchers figure. Read more
Make a Splash Like Julia Roberts
May 27, 2008
Water workouts aren't just for grannies in swim caps, anymore. Far from it. Even my long-time client Julia Roberts bought into my water fitness plan.
My training programs often include the pool because I like how the water allows you to run hard, stretch deep and develop long and lean muscles. So with the weather warming up, why not consider hitting the water for your workout? If you don't have a pool in your backyard, there are other options: Gyms today often have pools, indoor or outdoor, or you could try community centers, YMCAs, hotels or local colleges.
Beginners may want to take a class to get started. From there, the possibilities are limitless. There are hundreds of exercises that can be done in the shallow and deep ends of a pool. I'm not just talking about doing laps up and down, or treading water. You can actually do many of the same exercises in the water than you can on land, including walking, marching, running, cross-country skiing, kicking, leaping – even crunches.
When I have Julia in the pool, we do a range of shallow- and deep-water activities. The cardio exercises include jumping jacks, water walking and water running in the deep end using flotation belts. For toning, we do scissors, heel lifts, leg lifts, leg circles and knee swivels. Read more
Stress during pregnancy may raise baby's risks
May 18, 2008
CHICAGO - Women who are stressed about money, relationships and other problems during pregnancy may give birth to babies who are predisposed to allergies and asthma, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.
The findings, presented at a meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Toronto, suggest a mother's stress during pregnancy may have lasting consequences for her child.
"This research adds to a growing body of evidence that links maternal stress such as that precipitated by financial problems or relationship issues to changes in children's developing immune systems, even during pregnancy," Dr. Rosalind Wright of Harvard Medical School in Boston said in a statement. Read more
10 ways to be kind to your skin in the spring
May 18, 2008
May, not April, could actually be the cruelest month: The first glimpse of ashen skin, blue veins, callused feet, and unexpected hairs can make you feel as though the body is thoroughly unprepared. "May is really the month of self-discovery," says Ranella Hirsch, a dermatologist at Boston University Medical Center.
What's more, the change of season can prompt a whole new set of issues. "It may be instantly hot and humid, so on top of all your dry skin, you're suddenly having oiliness and acne, or even an allergy that starts in the spring with the first burst of sun exposure," says Audrey Kunin, associate clinical instructor of dermatology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
Fortunately, skin responds well to kindness. The right treatments are new sources of hope — something that spring manages to inspire even in the wasteland. Read more
More than 2 million U.S. teens depressed
May 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - More than 2 million U.S. teenagers have suffered a serious bout of depression in the past year, including nearly 13 percent of girls, according to a federal government survey released on Tuesday.
On average, 8.5 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 described having had a major depressive episode in the previous year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported.
But there were "striking differences" by sex, with 12.7 percent of girls and 4.6 percent of boys affected. Read more
Being breast-fed may lower breast cancer risk
May 14, 2008
Adult women who were breast-fed as infants may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who were not breast-fed, unless they were first-born, study findings suggest.
"As a general group, women who reported they had been breast-fed in infancy had a 17 percent decrease in breast cancer risk," Hazel B. Nichols, who was involved in the study, told Reuters Health.
"However, we did not observe this reduction when we looked specifically among first-born women," said Nichols, of the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. Read more
