Eating For Health

We all know that most of us eat too many foods high in added sugar.   But then we hear “All things in moderation” to justify our sugary snack fixes.   But what about kids, is added sugar harmful to kids?   Some new research indicates sugary drinks in preschoolers can lead to obesity.     When I was growing up, it seemed no one drank sugary drinks very often.   Once a week, my father would let us have a 7 ounce sugary soda (soda came in 7 ounce bottles back then).   The rest of the time we had milk with our meals and drank water if we were thirsty.   Now, many parents give their kids soda at meals instead of milk and sugary drinks like Sunny D and Capri Sun in place of 100% juice.   So what did the study find? Researchers found that 5 year olds who drank sugared drinks like sodas, sports-drinks and even juices high in added sugar every day were more likely to be obese than their peers who drank these sugary drinks less often. ...

Harvard School of Public Health recently tweeted, “How man y hours are you going to spend sitting down today?" Turns out this is an important health question as studies are finding the more you sit the higher your risk for diseases.   A recent study has indicated that sitting less can add to your life.  So how do you add years to your life?  This study found that people, who sat for less than 3 hours a day, could add 2 years to their life span.  Those that limited their TV viewing to less than 2 hours a day, added about 1.4 years to their life.  It seems sitting is a health risk factor just like obesity is a health risk factor.   So if you sit more, you die earlier?  Not exactly but sitting more increases your risk of dying earlier.  One of the authors for this study was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal ( Wall Street Journal blog ).  The author, I-Min Lee noted how she is trying to be more active by jumping up and ...