STORY TO BE TOLD

4 Tips To Prevent Childhood Obesity
by Intent.com, on Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:34pm PDT

I struggle almost every day to get my younger daughter to eat fruits and vegetables. Since she was a baby, she has just refused to open her mouth to certain foods, and I have tempted all sorts of games, rewards, punishment, tricks, bribes, you name it.

So I was very excited to speak with Rick Delashmit, one of the first winners of the year-long Pepsi Rerfresh Project as he has a plan to get kids to try vegetables.

Rick will be using his $25K grant to push forward his Taste Buds program, where he drives around in a truck full of fruits and vegetables to different elementary schools and quizzes kids about nutrition facts, where food comes from and the nutritional benefits of different foods. In order to win the game, kids must at least one small bite of three different vegetables and two fruits.

And, if they all try it, they get Vege bucks which they can use at the local farmers market to redeem fruits and vegetables. Its a bit of healthy peer pressure to get them to try something new. I found this tactic actually worked in with Leela! I showed her the bucks that Rick gives out and told her that if she tries some new vegetables, I would ask him for some. And, she actually tried some corn! :)

Click here to listen to the podcast of my conversation with Rick. Rick talks about the original inspiration behind the idea, what he plans on doing with the $25K grant and how crucial it is to get kids to know their fruits and vegetables at an early age.

Childhood obesity is a problem that affects all of us. I invite all of you to read through our exclusive Intent series "How To Prevent Childhood Obesity," where 11 different Intent Voice contributors share their insights on what we can all do to prevent childhood obesity in this country.

Here are my 9 tips for preventing childhood obesity in your household and in your community as a whole. If all of us do our best to raise healthy children, then we are all truly making a difference in raising a healthier generation of kids.

Here are my 9 tips for preventing childhood obesity in your household and in your community as a whole. If all of us do our best to raise healthy children, then we are all truly making a difference in raising a healthier generation of kids.

1. Educate yourself on the facts. Knowledge truly is the first step in galvanizing our communities to solve this problem. Did you know the childhood obesity rates have tripled in the last three decades in this country? More obese children means more obese adults, which means more costs for the healthcare system to treat preventable diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, not to mention a much shortened life expectancy. Read Brett Blumenthal's article to get the facts on childhood obesity.

2. Make sure your kids are getting enough sleep. Did you know that quality sleep plays a huge role in helath and weight maintenane for kids? Though we should all focus on what our kids are eating and how much exercise our kids are doing, sleep is also a huge factor in healthy weight control. Read Sleep Expert Nancy Rothstein's article on how sleep is the missing link in preventing childhood obesity.

3. Make brown bagging cool. Explore with your kids fun, easy and delicious lunch recipes that she can eat at school. Read nutritionist Renay Matthew's article for healthy and easy lunch ideas for kids.

4. Shower your kids with love, not judgment. Teaching your kids how to eat healthy and love their bodies should be a fun learning process that raises their self-esteem, not punish them or make them feel bad for not achieving a certain expectation. Read weight loss expert Janice Taylor's tips for raising your kids' self-esteem and health knowledge to prevent childhood obesity in the household.

Natural ways to stop snoring
by Raj, on Mon May 3, 2010 1:10am PDT

Snoring is often a problem among people who snore and those people around them. This is one of the causes of separations among couples when the snoring of their partner is already unbearable. Couples often start by sleeping on separate rooms until such time that they decide to separate or divorce. This is how serious snoring could be.

Snoring is caused by the narrowing of air passage. As the person sleeps, the muscles in the palate relax thereby narrowing the passage of the air that comes out. As a result the person opens his mouth and snores. Snoring varies from person to person. There are people who snore softly but there are people who snore too loud that those around them could not sleep.

Here are some natural ways to stop snoring.

1. Sleep on your side.

The cause of snoring is the narrowing of the air passage as the palate relaxes. This will not be possible if the person sleeps on his side. But you will never know when you change position in your sleep and once you sleep flat on your back the snoring starts again. You can put a pillow at your back in order to prevent you from sleeping flat on your back. The pillow will serve as a barrier which will prevent you from turning flat on your back.

2. Use more pillows to elevate your head when you sleep

When your head is elevated, your palate will not sag that much thereby allowing the passage of air freely which will prevent you from snoring loudly.

3. Exercise

Exercising your jaws, tongue and mouth will help prevent snoring. You must do the exercise of closing and opening your mouth daily because this could help your muscles not to relax so much thereby allowing for more air passage.

4. Avoid overeating

Overeating could affect the snoring of a person. When the person overeats the stomach will be overworked which enhances the person to snore more. Overeating makes the person sleep deeply and relaxes the muscles including the palate muscles thereby making the muscles sag.

5. Avoid alcohols, drugs and all sleep inducing pills

All of these help increase muscle relaxation and depresses the air passage that causes snoring.

6. Treat colds and all nasal problems

If your snoring is caused by colds or any nasal problem, drink plenty of water and fruit juice. You can also drink mint tea. Once the air passage is blocked because of colds or other related nasal problems, the person cannot stop snoring. If you have allergy colds, try spraying the room with anti-allergy sprays.

Always make the room clean and free from dust particles to prevent having colds and allergy that will lead to the possibility of air passage blockage.

7. Reduce your weight

Most people who are overweight snore, that is why it is important to reduce your weight. If you are fat, the air passage narrows which will make you snore.

There are lots of remedies to stop snoring. Choose one that works for you because not all remedies are applicable to people.

source taken from: http://shine.yahoo.com/