Fitness Is Important For Kids Minds As Well As Their Bodies

The emphasis on Kids fitness has almost exclusively been placed on the fitness of their bodies and ignores what it does for their minds. In order for Kids brains to attain peak performance, physical activity is crucial.

Exercise affects mood, anxiety, attention, and ability to learn. It fights off depression and can generate enthusiasm for learning,or the task at hand. It has a positive effect on the neurotransmitters that determine thoughts and emotions. Later in life it reduces the effects of aging in the brain.

In reality, the brain responds like muscles do, withering with inactivity, growing with use. Exercise causes the brain neurons to grow and bloom, and to improve in function at the fundamental levels. Scientists have found that muscle movement produces proteins that travel by way of the bloodstream into the brain.These proteins play a major role in our thought processes. Only within the past few years that scientists have begun to describe how these factors work.

Certainly, there is much we don't understand about what goes on in the brain, but what we are learning can help make big changes in our lives.

Why care about the brain? If for no other reason, it's running the show. For another, evidence shows that our brains, when stimulated by exercise, function at it's peak and adds considerably to the learning and problem solving processes.

If we can understand just the basics of how exercise, and Kids fitness and weight management routines improve brain function, we should have increased motivation to make it a priority for both ourselves and your kids. It can more readily become something you want to do, rather than something you "should" do. Something that will have us, and our kids, performing at our best--whether it's a physical or mental task.

Only a small minority of high schools offer a physical education class. Most grade schools have cut either the frequency, or time allotted for Physical Education, or both. At the same time, an increasing number of kids are spending five or more hours a day watching TV, playing video games, and on their computers. This suggests that at a time when more fitness and exercise is needed, educators and administrators are prescribing less.

Kids fitness and weight management programs have gained much attention as a result of what's been labeled a "childhood obesity epidemic''. Recent research shows that, not only the body, but the mind functions at it's best when exercise is a part of our daily routine, for both adults, and kids alike.

Fitness is important for mind and body, for adult and child.

Original article

How To Diet: 4 Mistakes Parents Routinely Make With Their Fat Kids - Teach Them How To Lose Weight

There is no doubt about it...we love our kids! We'd throw ourselves under the bus for them in a heartbeat if necessary to protect them. Why then do we seem to be in a fog when it comes to the reality that our children are overweight or even obese and that there is no end to this trend in sight? It makes no sense...unless...we are believing things that are not true and failing to grasp those which are.

Let's look at a few of the mistakes parents routinely make about childhood obesity.

1. "It's just baby fat". Unfortunately the connotation of "baby fat" or "angelic chubby-ness" glosses over the reality that a child is overweight or obese. The fact is, health care providers have tools at their disposal, such as BMI (body mass index), for determining whether the weight of your child is within healthy guidelines. Don't ignore your "chubby" child assuming that he will "grow out of it" (or, "grow into" the extra pounds). He may be developing a pattern of weight gain that will follow him through life and predispose him to the diseases that accompany obesity.

2. Don't excuse extra pounds because "our whole family is big-boned". That only serves to muddy the waters. Your child may indeed be overweight. In fact, the whole family may be overweight without knowing that the excess pounds are a result of bad eating styles. Or, your child may be suffering from an internal imbalance that may require the intervention of the doctor at an early age so as to avoid more serious problems. Let your health care provided make the determination whether or not your child is "just chubby".

3. Don't fall into the trap of feeling ashamed to seek help for your child (and yourself). Many parents believe, in error, that the doctor will judge them if they bring their overweight child in for an examination. Never mind the ideas perpetrated by magazines and media "feature programs" that suggest that if one exercises adequate self-control, weight will be normal. There are many, many complex factors that come into play in these hectic times...stress, busy schedules, fast foods, mis-labeling, faulty information, sugar-laden and over-processed foods to name a few. The doctor understands this. He or she will not judge you. Rather, you can expect clear-headed guidance, valuable information, and direction toward resources that can help.

4. Don't ever put your child on the same diet that you are using. Most commercially available "diet plans" are ineffective and potentially dangerous, especially for children. Obesity among children is a national problem and many professionals are working hard to find a solution.

In the meantime, don't lose valuable time...seek help for your child today.

Do you really want to help your child lose weight?

By Sue Bristol, R.N.

My eBook will lead you through the way to make weight loss work for you, and your obese child, or spouse. Here's the "Secret Weight Loss Diet" that virtually EVERY successful dieter uses. (Whether or not they are even aware of it!)

"Click Here" to get your Free e-book, which will give you the "Weight Loss Secret" Kids shouldn't be obese.
http://www.how-to-loseweight-101.com/index1.html

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