Strollerderby : weekly check-up

Weekly Check-Up: Five Ways to Exercise With Kids

Kelly Mills — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:29:00 GMT

With all the news reports about childhood obesity and the sedentary lifestyles of kids, there's usually some plug for getting your kids off the couch and into some form of physical activity. This has not been a problem (so far) at my house, because I have a highly active child. My theory as to why? Exercise is a huge part of our family life. I report this without righteousness because for most of my life, I avoided physical activity, and thought I was a total shlump. It wasn't until after my child was born that I fell in love with fitness. Now here's five ways we work physical activity into our lives.

1. Take the baby out. I started my fitness endeavors in a simple way: My infant cried unless the person holding her was moving. So I was forced from the get-go to put her in a front pack and walk outside. I started opting for hills on my walks, and eventually graduated to running with her in a jogging stroller. Basically her colicky nature helped get me fit.

2. Be your own mode of transportation. When my child went to daycare, I put her in the stroller and ran the two miles to the sitter's house. Then I ran home. For preschool I put her in a bike trailer and rode ten miles to school, then a few more to get to work. Yep, this meant I had to get up extra early, I had to change in the bathroom at my job, and I was kinda sweaty at my desk. You know what? Still worth it, because it made me active.

3. Tag-team. When the kid was old enough to go to the park on weekends, my partner and I would bring her to a park with a track. He'd hang with her for a while so I could do laps, then it would be his turn. When I played with my daughter I'd do sprints--also known as "tag"--and give her piggyback rides and wrestle in the grass. Beats a thighmaster session any day. You can also work this deal out with another parent if your partner isn't on board.

4. Shared sports. My partner enrolled my child in the same martial art he enjoys, and now coaches the kids' class. He reports that coaching can be a good way to participate and improve in an activity yourself. I've also taken classes that met at the same time as some class my kid was enrolled in. It's a good way to share the love of a pursuit. I even bring her to the gym I work at from time to time and we mess around with the "toys" there. We have a pull up bar in our doorway we all use, and she practices on the monkey bars at school too. Her pull ups are way better than mine.

5. Dance party. My personal favorite workout is when the kid and I put on music and do some very graceless and athletic dancing around the living room. After thirty minutes, I'm sweaty. Good times.

Weekly Check-Up: Girls Get Hurt More Than Boys

Kelly Mills — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:02:00 GMT

I hope you caught the New York Times magazine article on Sunday about girls and sports injuries, because if I could just soapbox for a sec, I think we all ought to be concerned about this. There's lots to digest in there, but one of the things that stands out: Some experts believe that in sports that both sexes play, girls rupture their A.C.L.s (i.e. blow out their knees) at rates as high as five times that of boys. Girls are also more likely to suffer concussions in sports like basketball. And as more girls play sports, we'd better figure out what to do about it.

Some possible reasons include the fact that girls have more estrogen, which makes ligaments more flexible and likely to tear; wider hips may lead to being 'knock-kneed'; and smaller necks can contribute to concussion rates. There's talk of how the mechanics of boys in running and jumping are better for the body, and that girls need to learn to "jump like a boy." One possible aid for the problem comes from a program designed to build strength through plyometric drills and lunges--but the initial study showing effectiveness needs to be replicated in a more scientific manner. I will say that I fail to see the harm in this program, and we may want to do some quick implementation. If my personal training client base is any indication, in ten years some of those girls will probably be handing money over to a trainer to learn the same movements.

But I just can't help but add that we can't allow kids to play one sport year-round. It's wearing out the bodies of all our young athletes. We have to get parents and coaches on board, and basically stop the practice before our children are hobbled at age thirty.

Weekly Check-Up: Men Are Not All the Same

Kelly Mills — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:01:00 GMT

Researchers from the Kinsey Institute have made this groundbreaking discovery: Men are not all from Mars. "We're probably from a whole bunch of different planets," says one of the study's authors. What the hell are we talking about? Well, men vary widely in frequency of sexual desire, in what turns them on, and in what an erection means. You mean they don't all just need a picture of Pamela Anderson in a bathing suit and ten minutes in the shower? Yeah. So I guess dads are just as diverse in their interests and the amount of hummada hummada they want as moms. This should be news to anyone who never met more than one man in their entire life.

Guess what turned on an overwhelming majority of guys? Being outdoors, like for camping or a picnic. Maybe it's time to make that family trek to Yosemite a couples-only thing. And while I'm mocking this thing a little, since the idea that all guys are simple creatures who want it all the time is completely dumb, it is good that studies like this actually quantify what many of us know, that men are as complicated and varied as women. I did recently read that male lack of sexual desire was the biggest unspoken taboo nowadays, and it's not uncommon. Oh, and the researchers say that "as many as 30 percent of women may be more easily sexually aroused than most men" so ladies, don't feel bad if you are the lusty one in your relationship.

Weekly Check-Up: Energy Drinks Are Bad For Kids

Kelly Mills — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:01:00 GMT

Um, maybe it's because I have a very high energy child (sometimes called "spirited" meaning "is there a 'pause' switch cuz mama's so tired") but the idea of children consuming energy drinks is totally appalling to me. And of course, the Red Bulls and Rockstars and Monsters and Pimp Juices (ahem) are quite popular with the kids. Some have 350 milligrams of caffeine--equal to the amount in ten cans of Coke. Let's think about it: A 170-pound adult consuming that amount of caffeine is going to have a different reaction than a 60-pound kid doing the same. In fact, the whole thing kinda makes me wish I wasn't (cough) so hooked on sugar-free Rockstar.

Last month four kids in Florida were hospitalized for racing hearts and sweating after sharing a Redline energy drink. And one doctor in the story says more kids are being admitted for anxiety attacks, and the physicians always ask, "Are you drinking energy drinks?" Some schools are considering banning them on campus. Okay, okay! I get it. The energy drinks are bad news. I knew that. I'm on board with that. I'd never give my kid one or let her drink one, even prior to reading this. Ever. But, um, how am I supposed to lead by example when my Rockstar helps fuel my important life activities like blogging and boxing and killing the guitar solos on the PS3 "Rockband"? Sigh. Perhaps you need a health blogger with less of an adolescent mindset...

Weekly Check-Up: Skittles and Wellness

Kelly Mills — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:31:00 GMT

Maybe you heard this story: An honor student at a Connecticut middle school got busted for buying Skittles on school grounds. He was stripped of his job as class president, banned from attending an honors student dinner, and suspended for three days, later communted to one day (maybe for good behavior, like he ate an apple in front of the principal or something.) The latest breaking news is that he was cleared of the charges and had his records cleaned up. The student says he didn't know candy was contraband, though he did notice the student dealing in sweets was acting all furtive. Candy is forbidden as part of the school's wellness policy.

Ah, back in my day the schools themselves sold candy to kids at a snack bar, and I'm super glad that's a thing of the past. But this level of punishment is ridiculous, unless the Skittles came with an accompanying bag of weed and a switchblade. On the one hand, this must be an extreme example of a school taking a no-sugar policy to the nth degree, and I'd hate for folks to rise up and cry foul when the food industry and soda lobbies are working hard to push crap-food on our kids by sweetening the deal for schools (sponsoring football fields, generating revenue through soda machines, etc.) However, it does raise one point I think is key: Keep perspective on junk food so we don't lapse into hysteria. Sugar and candy and cupcakes (mmmm) are not going to make anyone "unwell" unless they are consumed in mass quanities very regularly (or you have some medical reason for not being able to eat them, of course.) We don't have to allow them to be pimped in schools, but we also don'thave to make candy a crime. Teaching our children the value of moderation and balance is far better.

Weekly Check-Up: If Work Stress Causes Heart Problems, Does That Mean Your Kids Can Kill You?

Kelly Mills — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:31:00 GMT

There's been this story in the news lately: Work can kill you. Okay, the job itself won't necessarily take you out (unless you are a professional stunt person) but the stress just might, since it can be a big deal for heart disease. The finding came out of a long-running study of civil servants in Britain called the Whitehall II Study (the first Whitehall Study included examination of the link between social status and mortality, and it was a big deal, and don't even ask me how I know about it, but I have a dark past.) Anyhow, the minute I got to reading this, I immediately thought, "What does that mean for stay-at-home parents? If your job is raising your children, are you at risk for a hurting heart?"

It's not far-fetched at all when you hear how the researchers measured stress. They asked participants questions about their job demands such as "how much control they had at work, how often they took breaks, and how pressed for time they were during the day." Well, golly, if I remember one thing about being a SAHM (for a hot few months, I detested it) it was that your day is largely dictated by nap needs and meals and poop explosions, all of which can change at a moment's notice even for the most rigorously scheduled of folks. That feels like a lack of control to me. I also remember there were very, very few breaks (any nap hours were spent scrambling to do other stuff) and that the day was always packed with things I needed to get to, like food shopping, and that I felt one step behind a ton of the time. Hmmm. Sounds like a heart diesase recipe, especially when you add the unfairly low level of job credibility you get as a SAH ("Must be nice, sitting on the couch and eating bon bons while the baby sleeps.")

Now, obviously I was not SAH material, and I can imagine (sort of) that the sheer joy of being home with a sweet kidlet or two might counteract some of the job stresses I listed. Plus you are probably much better at dealing with this stuff than I was. But it does make me wonder if we couldn't get a little more research on the stress levels of those who work at home caring for kids full time.

Weekly Check-Up: Blogger Loses Weight On Advice of Elmo's Daddy

Kelly Mills — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:32:00 GMT

I have personal trainer certification through one of the more reputable certifying entities, which shall remain nameless for now. I have never heard of anyone having their certification stripped from them for anything other than some litigation-worthy bad behavior or neglecting to pay dues or get those dang continuing education credits. But I am now about to test the standards of that entity. Should a bunch of very tanned, fit people rush me in the middle of my next workout class and make a big show of ripping my certificate into shreds, this is probably why.

See, Linda Keenan, mom to a toddler and creator of the blog Thoroughly Modern Mommy, wrote on the Huffington Post that she lost weight by abandoning exercise and salads, and by always having dessert and even bags of potato chips every once in a while as a meal. Heresy! Her guru was Elmo's father. Yeah, the red, furry monster Elmo. And I think it sounds wonderful and incredibly sharp. I'm behind her 100 percent.

When Elmo was potty training, his papa said (in Keenan's words): "Elll-moe, you gotta listen to yo' body!" And that's what she did, and it worked for her. Now, in all honesty, anyone who can make me laugh as much as she did has already made it off my porch and through my front door. Personally, I like the kind of exercise I do and I love all the benefits that I get from it. I also eat a darn lot of salad. But I am a huge believer in the individual approach to weight loss and health, meaning you must do what works for you, and the crap that works for your friend might just doom you to a period of misery until you break down and sleep with a box of Krispy Kremes.

Check out her post, and see what she says. Basically, she cut calories, but she did it by making sure she got plenty of what she likes and she didn't go so calorically-low that her body fought the weightloss (classic diet mistake, and one that can screw you in the long run.) Is she healthy? Well, most nutrition folks probably wouldn't advise eating chips for dinner, and every person ever can probably recite the many benefits of exercise, but you know what? Stress messes your health up too, in ways we are just beginning to understand. Keenan sounds like she's found a plan and a way of life that makes her happy, I'm guessing reduces her stress ALOT and keeps her less freaky-diet-y-uptight. And when she says the bit about listening to her body, I think part of that is just finding ways to know when she's full, a lost art nowadays. Sounds pretty healthy to me. Plus, did I mention she's hi-larious?

Love her.

Weekly Check-Up: Tommy the Tomato Brings, Er, Fruit To Life?

Kelly Mills — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:31:00 GMT

You know the old PSA trick of animating inanimate objects to make them friendly and appealing for kids? Like, the toothbrush comes to life and tells you how to brush, or perhaps even a forlorn little bill sits on Capitol Hill waiting to be made into law. Sometimes I find these animated things scarier than clowns, and sometimes if there's a catchy song involved, they become part of my fond Saturday morning memories. So I guess it's up to you to decide where Tommy the Tomato will fall in this. My kid likes his website. He's a tomato created by a nutritionist to educate kids about healthy eating, because of course "childhood obesity" is right up there with "ebola" and "nuclear". There's no singing, and his friend Barry the Banana looks...well...full of nutrients.

Let's hope Tommy comes out quickly as a fruit (not vegetable) and that he can teach kids valuable lessons about antioxidants and whole foods and stuff like that. But there's a danger in anthropomorphizing things: While Tommy is advocating healthy eating, isn't he also promoting the consumption of his own kind? Isn't he in fact endorsing cannibalism?

Weekly Check-Up: Now Eating Fat Makes You Sleepless

Kelly Mills — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:01:00 GMT

Since I posted earlier this week about how not getting enough sleep can make kids gain weight, this study on how eating a high fat diet messes with sleep cycles caught my eye. Makes you think about the little chicken-and-egg action happening here. Rats fed a diet with 45 percent of the calories coming from fat spontaneously showed disruptions in the sleep-wake cycle. So researchers are loking at how eating a high fat diet contributes to weight gain and less sleep, which contributes to eating more high fat food, which results in more weight gain and good lord let's hope it stops at some point because now I'm tired and hungry.

See, here's what's interesting about this: Guess what the rats on the high fat diet did during what was once sleep/rest time? They ate more high fat food. The lead author says, "We found that as an animal on a high-fat diet gains weight it eats at the inappropriate time for its sleep/wake cycle -- all of the excess calories are consumed when the animal should be resting. For a human, that would be like raiding the refrigerator in the middle of the night and binging on junk food." Yep, vicious cycle, also known as "Midnight twinkies beget midnight twinkies."

Weekly Check-Up: More Parents Claiming Religion To Avoid Vaccination Requirements

Kelly Mills — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:32:00 GMT

If you don't want to vaccinate your children before they enter school, some states will let you claim philosophical objections, and some will only allow you to bypass the requirement if you claim vaccination conflicts with your religious beliefs or for medical reasons. In 20 out of 28 states with medical/religious-only rules, rates of exemptions have gone up. So it's probably safe to say that some parents are lying about their religious beliefs to avoid the vaccine requirement. Now, rates of exemptions in some states that allow philosophical objections have gone up as well, and it seems to me that the more important story might be "more parents are opting out of vaccinations for kids" rather than "parents lie to get around state requirements".

Not that lying about religion is super clear-cut. The religions that oppose shots--Christian Scientists and some fundamentalists--oppose many other medical treatments as well, treatments the non-religious might want their child to have if he or she falls off the play structure or has an allergic reaction to a food, for example. I doubt most schools would run to the vaccination forms in case of emergency, especially since you don't have to state what your religion is, but personally, I'm a worrier so I think about things like that.

I get very concerned when I hear that more kids are entering schools without being vaccinated, though it's clear the numbers are still small. Babble has a good piece on this here, and we've talked about it on Strollerderby before as a social contract and a difficult choice. At the end of the day, it's a choice that can have far-reaching consequences. Part of my decision to vaccinate was this: When I worked in a public health school at a major university, I met people who led campaigns to eradicate diseases all over the world through vaccination, and the stories they told of children getting sick and dying were pretty heartbreaking. I just hope an epidemic doesn't come along to make this choice easier for parents.

Weekly Check-Up: Exercise Won't Make You Lose Weight

Kelly Mills — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:31:00 GMT

There's an article in New York magazine about how exercise, rather than promoting weight loss, actually makes you hungrier. While there are, of course, numerous other benefits to exercise, the author claims weight loss and maintenance ain't one of them. He argues that studies of exercise and weight loss have been inconclusive, at best, and that those of us who store fat easily are just likely to keep doing that, making up for calories burned by eating more. And a thousand personal trainers simultaneously clutch their hearts and shriek in horror.

Okay, I myself am a personal trainer and fitness instructor, so obviously I'm kinda pro-exercise. But I thought this guy had a couple okay points, to tell you the truth. We do tend to see hunger as a question of willpower, rather than a biological drive. And exercise does make you hungrier, no doubt. Now, I think the research is more varied than he presents: for example, a couple of studies have looked at the habits of people who maintained significant weight loss, and found the majority exercised regularly as well as making dietary changes. But I can also say that if you have the kind of bod that really wants to hold weight, and you run six miles and then hit the fridge buffet with equal gusto, you probably won't get the big weight loss you want. You might be healthier, happier, stronger, more able to walk stairs with ease and carry your screaming toddler three blocks and all that good stuff, but not skinny.

But here's one thing: I think it's easier to make changes in your diet (and by that I mean stuff like eating less sugar, not ignoring hunger) when you have a regular exercise program. You might be hungrier, but you are also investing work and sweat and time towards your physical self. There's something about making steps towards living a certain way that makes other changes easier. You can create a new homeostasis, a new norm for your body. That was absolutely true in my case, for example, though I'm hardly a scientific sample. That said, I'd love to see some of the moral judgments around weight removed. I mean, there's skinny folks who have daily candy bars and milkshakes, and overweight people who eat much more modestly. But think twice before canceling the gym membership.