Tips for Parents!

This is a great article that highlights 10 tips for parents to help prevent childhood obesity in their children.

Top Ten Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Tips Parents Can Teach Their Kids to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Check it out  and share any other tips that you think can help.

Hydration During Your Workout

By guest blogger, Kelie Anderson

The blog post about staying hydrated throughout the day inspired me to write a follow-up blog about staying hydrated while you’re exercising. Proper hydration is essential to comfort, safety and optimal performance during your workout. If you’re doing workouts like lifting weights, crunches, or sit-ups, have a bottle of water near you so that it is easily accessible. If you’re doing something that requires more mobility, such as running, use a water belt so that you don’t have to carry the water bottle in your hand. It is especially important to stay hydrated while exercising during the summertime when the weather can get so hot! Remember, the more you sweat, the quicker you will become dehydrated.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you exercise, your body also sweats out electrolytes. What are electrolytes? They are elements like sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium that are essential for muscle and nerve function. Electrolyte imbalance can cause headaches, dry mouth, nausea and fatigue. A way to replenish your electrolytes is to add some electrolyte powder, or Gatorade, to your water. An alternative to electrolyte-enhanced water is bananas. Bananas are high in potassium, which is an electrolyte that your body burns off the most. So if you can’t find any electrolyte powder or Gatorade, have a banana.

Exercise safely!

Focus on the Positive

There is so much talk out there about what we should not eat, and not enough about what we should be eating.  Instead on focusing on not being able to eat trans fats, watching our sodium, and cutting out sugar, we could concentrate on feeding our bodies delicious vegetables and fruits at every single meal and snack.  In doing so, there will not be as much room on our plates for the bad stuff, and we will still leave the table feeling satisfied. 

What are some of your favorite ways to get your daily 5 – 7 servings of veggies and fruits?

BBQ Chicken Salad

Looking for a easy, healthy weeknight dinner?  Make a BBQ chicken salad.  It was so easy and inexpensive, and, oh-my-gosh, is it delicious!

• 1 head or 2 hearts of romaine lettuce (cut, rinsed, and dried)
• 1 bunch of cilantro ( cut, rinsed, and dried)
• 1/2 cup corn (we used frozen and thawed it)
• 1/2 cup black beans (we used canned and we drained them)
• 1/2 avocado (cubed)
• 1 small tomato (cubed)
• 1/4 jicama (cut into thin strips or cubes) – optional
• 1 chicken breast
• BBQ sauce
• 1 whole wheat tortilla
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• 2 Tbs ranch dressing (light or fat free optional)

1. Toss the first 7 ingredients in a salad bowl with a little bit of low fat ranch dressing and a little bit of BBQ sauce.
2. Cook the chicken any way you like with BBQ sauce.  Here is one way to cook it:  Place the frozen breast in a small saute pan with a little bit of oil, cover, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Flip over and cook another 5 minutes.  Move the chicken breast to a cutting board and cut into cubes.  Return chicken to pan and add 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce.  Saute until chicken is cooked through.
3. To make the tortilla chip strips cut the whole wheat tortilla into strips about 1 1/2″ x 1/4″.  Place on a cookie sheet, spray lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, and cook in a 350F oven for about 10 minutes.

Serves about 2 people
Enjoy!

Water – Drink it Up!

The body consists of 55-60% water in an average adult.  What do we do with all that water, you may ask? Water removes toxins, helps carry electrolytes throughout the body and drives the chemical reactions needed to create energy.  Did you know being only 2% dehydrated can decrease physical and mental functions, including muscle repair and short term memory.  This means we all have to make a conscious effort to drink about 8-10 glasses of water, to restore the fluids lost, throughout the day.

You must be thinking how can I drink so much water? It’s got no flavor, it’s just bland! Well here are some of my favorite ways to spruce up your average glass of water. Mix cucumber slicesand mint to provide a refreshing alternative on a warm day (it even freshens your breath!). Feeling a little fruity? Slice up your favoritefruits and pop them into your glass. You can even brew somegreen tea to chill in the fridge, about 1 tea bag per 4 cups of water. If you want to be really fun, try a sparkling water and add lemon and lime for a citrus twist. Mmm…good:)

Now that I’ve told you my favorite ways to spice up a glass of water, how about you share some of your delectable water secrets…

Essential Amino Acids

Have you ever had quinoa?  It is a really healthy grain that is a complete protein. Proteins are made up of chains of a combination of 20 different amino acids.  There are 8 essential amino acids that our bodies cannot produce, and therefore need to be taken in through our diet.  For a food to be a complete protein, it has to have all 8 of the these essential amino acids.   All meats are complete proteins, but we can find complete protein in none meat foods as well.  You can also learn what different combinations of food make up a complete protein, like rice and beans for example.  What are some of your favorite ways to get the 8 essential amino acids?

The 90 Second Workout

Getting home late? Don’t have time for a full hour workout? No problem. When you’re in a bind, try slowing down to get a more effective workout. It’s called “stop and hold” training. Hold a position for 90 seconds to complete one rep, for example hold a plank position for 10 seconds and slowly fall closer to the floor while holding the position. Continue this until you’ve completed a full push up in 90 seconds. Do the same with any other exercise you can do at home (i.e. squats, crunches, pull-ups). Check out some other great moves at Self.com…90 Second Moves

Do You Have It In You?

Have you ever dreamed of running a marathon?  Can you just imagine that feeling of accomplishment when you finally cross that finish line?  Well, this could be your year to make that dream come true in the LA Marathon that will take place in March of 2011.  Stay tuned as we will soon be filling you in on all of the details of joining team ShapeUp in the LA Marathon to help raise money for the fight against childhood obesity.  It is amazing what we can accomplish when we put our heart’s into it.

SOSMentor – A Bright Future

This is such an exciting time for SOSMentor.  We are in the process of seeking a Program Coordinator / Manager, a couple registered dietitians and personal trainers, a number of nutrition interns, and tons of volunteer mentors in preparation for our 2010-2011 ShapeUp programs.  We are excited to embark on this new program year and cannot wait to see where it leads.  Spread the word and do your part to help our youth live long, happy, healthy lives.