Raising a Healthier Generation: 

Preventing Childhood Obesity

According to a 2003 study published in The Journal of Marriage and Family, 88 percent of the 991 families interviewed admitted to shouting, yelling or screaming at their children in the previous year. That percentage jumped to 98 percent in families with 7-year-old children.

The truth is, we’re moms, who live life at varying degrees of pressure, so whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve probably let out a yell, or, at the very least, wanted to.

It’s been said, repeatedly, that a mom’s life is a busy life.  Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, driving all over town, involved full-time with kid stuff; or, a career mother, battling rush-hour traffic, sprinkled with adolescent activities in between, most of us spend more time than we want to in our cars, and if you’re like me somewhere along your daily route, the hunger pangs will strike. 

Last week I connected with some powerful national presenters and we discussed the concept of self-care. Like many, they see self-care as something you "should do" for your physical health (exercise, eat well, get enough sleep), but that's where it ends. They were curious when I shared that I define self-care as the art of attuning and responding to your needs and desires, moment to moment.

It feels good to sleep, doesn’t it?  And being able to sleep in for a mom is like winning the lottery.  It's a rare achievement, and an almost impossible feat!

Friday was my birthday. And while I’ve enjoyed quite a few of them as the years have swept swiftly by, I, as always, enjoyed my special day. I’m a firm believer in that we should celebrate ourselves. And we’re never too old for birthdays.

I’ve been writing this blog and keeping to my new plan for six months now, and I’ve got to say it’s going great. But let’s be honest – six months is a long time. So long, in fact, that I’m going to fully admit to getting a little distracted.

That said, I haven’t gained any weight – and if you’re at all like me, you’ll know that counts as a win. But I have lost focus and I know why.

Summer is just around the corner, and with the hot months fast approaching people are stocking up on sunscreen to avoid the harmful effects of over exposure to the sun.

And, because of the negative stigma associated with too much fun in the sun, like skin cancer, cataracts and wrinkles, many people are taking the extreme step and avoiding the sun altogether, opting instead to take in the hot summers days indoors.

Yes, Jennifer, you are 100% right: Having a good night sleep has a major impact on weight and on someone’s ability to stick with a healthy eating plan. It sounds like one of the easiest recommendations to put into effect, “Sleep more and you will lose more weight.” But we all know it’s not always that easy, so putting some real thought into your sleep hygiene may be required to put this into effect.

If someone is not getting enough sleep, or a good quality of sleep, a number of things may occur that impact their ability to lose weight:

There’s something about laughter that does a body good, after all, it is good like medicine.  Laughter is a visual expression of a number positive emotional states like joy, happiness, and relief, so how could it not have some medicinal advantages to it?