Why do we need anything to fight our dinner table? If we do, what makes a ping pong table a worthy opponent? The answer is that for most Americans, especially children, our dinner table has grown to be a huge, hulking threat and a table tennis table represents one great solution. It's a bit of a David and Goliath story, but this David will need a lot of ping pong balls! Let's take a look at the monster in our midst first.
Our opponent is a fierce, ugly, habit forming, and now well-entrenched threat to our country, and it's hitting our kids even harder--obesity. According to Professor Barry Popkin at the University of North Carolina, Americans have increased their DAILY caloric intake from about 1,803 Kcal in 1978 to 2,374 Kcal in 2006. How did that happen?
Researchers conclude that portion size (especially "supersizing"), the number of daily meals, and type of snacks eaten are the biggest factors. Daily meals and snacks rose from 3.8 in 1977 to 4.8 in 2006 and went as high as 7 per day. Though portion size seems to have stabilized in the last few years, the total number of calories is still increasing. Where do the extra calories come from?
Expert advice has been to eat smaller, more frequent meals to boost metabolism and control hunger rather than 3 large meals a day. It appears that advice has been followed, but we flew off the tracks on the CHOICE of foods. When those smaller meals include high-calorie and salty options like "super sized" snacks, the benefits of smaller meals vanish, except around our middles of course!
One major villain in this dietary train wreck is soft drinks, including rehydration liquids, which account for over 220 excess daily calories over these years. At the same time, dry snack foods changed to higher amounts of fat and sugar with little fiber, vitamins, or minerals. Even shopping for healthy foods has become tougher.
Our food market space is now dominated by processed food, which hides threatening levels of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), an industry that now holds enormous political power. For more details, watch the YouTube video made by the University of California San Francisco called "Sugar: The Bitter Truth". Some physicians and food scientists make a strong argument that HFCS should be classified as a POISON. Yikes!
So, how can we manage our weight properly? Experts agree that over 90% of all diets fail to sustain long term weight loss. Those that ARE successful at keeping excess weight off have acquired a healthy lifestyle they actually enjoy. Moderating screen time, re-acquainting one's taste buds to the subtle flavors of fresh produce, whole grains, lean meat, and establishing a regular, amusing routine of exercise are all part of these long term success stories.
How much exercise is required for this new lifestyle? Not as much as you think. For example, statistics show that dog owners can add years to their lives. Though dog walking is mild exercise, its regularity and stress relieving components matter most to breaking "couch potatoship". Establishing a healthy lifestyle for children has become even more difficult lately.
Educators and experts agree that finding activities that most, if not all, children will embrace is a challenge. School sports have not been universally engaging to children. Plus, cutbacks in regular physical education time in schools have robbed our children of gazillions of calories burned. Even more important may be the loss of creating regular exercise habits. So, if children aren't exercising as much, what's taken its place?
Without regular exercise youth screen time has jumped enormously. How much? Eric Schlosser, noted health author, says screen time (television, web surfing, and video gaming) in youth ages 8-18 is about 1.5 hours on a computer, over an hour playing video games, 4.5 hours watching TV, and 7.5 hours on entertainment media...PER DAY! Now for the mighty ping pong ball!
Before the author was a sports medicine consultant, before he operated a tennis coaching business, before he was a tennis player, he was a ping pong player--one of the thousands of kids taking active shelter in the basement from Midwest snow playing table tennis. Before that, he was a target for the school bully. For that child, a little ping pong ball helped steer him away from a sedentary life style, and it was fun!
A ping pong table can beat a dinner table because the first time you pick up a paddle or table tennis racket, you can easily have fun and feel skilled without coaching. Against a friend or family member of similar ability, you can quickly rise to the self-appointed title of "Menace".
Compared to screen time, ping pong/table tennis might start as mild exercise, but it is enormously beneficial. Establishing fun exercise habits helps suppress appetite, relieve stress, and balance calorie intake. This can even be done alone as many table tennis tables have a playback mode, (remember Forrest Gump?), for a one player work out.
I believe no international sport is as convenient and easy to learn as table tennis. Since it's almost always played inside, it requires much less space and is much less expensive to learn and enjoy than other activities. Even better, every parent can "look like" a professional to a child and have a great time.
If you compare the potential for bonding experiences with a child to those provided by a screen, it's no contest. Doesn't matter what you call it...ping pong or table tennis--be a menace!
Jonathan Bailin, Ph.D. received his doctorate in Biomechanics/Exercise Physiology while coaching tennis at the University of Southern California. Currently, Dr. Bailin operates a tennis coaching business in Marina del Rey, California, publishes research, consults for corporations, and enjoys recreational table tennis locally.
When Dr. Bailin rediscovered his first childhood passion, ping pong, he published http://www.tabletennismenace.com/, but he wanted to use his expertise to better guide consumers to product.
Because the selection of sporting goods from a huge array of products can be such a daunting task, Jonathan decided to pre-select only the best and most popular ping pong tables, table tennis rackets, ping pong balls, blades, rubbers, table tennis machines, and accessories from the most respected suppliers. TableTennisMenace.com is also a site that gives expert advice to consumers on product combinations like an outdoor table tennis table and net, ping pong ball and iPong machine, or the best racket blade and rubber.
Because of the sport's universal appeal to all ages, modest requirements of space/money, and potential to fight inactivity, he truly feels that whether you call it "Ping Pong" or "Table Tennis", anyone can "Be a Menace" at TableTennisMenace.com.
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