9 Summer Health Myths -- Debunked

Fact vs. Fiction

Should you swim with a full stomach? Let scrapes air out? Tinkle on a jellyfish sting? There once may have been some wisdom behind the advice (although probably not with the jellyfish sting), but many summer suggestions are outdated. With the lowdown from top experts, find out which warm-weather beliefs are based on real common sense—and which are complete nonsense.

Posted 8/13/2012  6:00:00 AM By:   : 11 comments   11,744 views

Read More ›

Kindergarten 'Redshirting': A Leg Up or an Unfair Advantage?

August is flying by. All too soon a new school year will begin, and with it will come the same mixed feelings and buzz of energy that surrounded the end of the school year. Besides the traditional anxieties of getting to the bus stop on time and remembering to pack a healthy lunch, for many parents of kindergarten-age students, there is another anxiety, this one with much higher stakes than being tardy on the first day of school: When should you enroll your child in kindergarten?   

When we were kids, most US children started school at 5 years old.  It's a much bigger decision now, with controversy and even politics on both sides of the issue.
I followed the old rule and kept it simple.  I enrolled my son in kindergarten for one reason: He was 5 years old, and being five meant going to kindergarten.  He started school two days after his late August birthday in 2009. To me, it was a no-brainer. From the start, there were good signs: In the first week of kindergarten he met his (still) best friend, and their birthdays are less than a week apart!  They were instant buddies. 

But the naïve bubble in which I was living soon burst. 

Their birthdays are within a week of each other, in two different years.  His newfound chum was an entire year older than him and there were kids in his class who were nearly 18 months older than him (At age five, that's almost a third of your life older!)  Evidently, it was not as simple as I thought.

How much did you (or do you) think about when to start your son or daughter in kindergarten?  Is your child one of the youngest or the oldest in the class?  Have you heard the term redshirting?

Read More ›

Label Decoder: Pectin

You’ve seen it on hundreds of labels and may have even used it in your own kitchen — learn all the need-to-know facts about this additive.

What Is It?

Pectin is a gelatin-like substance that is naturally found in some fruits. It’s often added to jams and jellies to help cooked fruits reach a gel-like consistency. It can also be used to thicken barbecue sauce, cranberry sauce, canned frosting and yogurt. Some homemade jellies may call for high pectin fruit such as quince, concord grapes, currants, raspberries or apples in order to help thicken them. Fruit that is slightly underripe contains more pectin than fruits that have fully ripened. 

Read More ›

Secrets to Stress-Free Doctors' Visits

Easier Doctors’ Appointments

You've been putting off scheduling your gyno appointment for weeks. The flimsy gown, the stirrups...no matter how many times you've gone, you still feel vulnerable. As tempting as it is, delaying regular medical exams won't make them any better, since timely checkups can catch problems in their earliest stages when they're easiest to treat.

Fortunately there are ways to make exams more comfortable. The first step is to call the doctor's office before your appointment and speak to a nurse or physician's assistant. "Often, it's the fear of the unknown that prevents people from scheduling a test like a colonoscopy, so ask for an overview of what to expect," says Sandra Cialfi, nurse manager of the endoscopy center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "We're more than happy to answer all of your questions in advance because it makes our job easier once you're here," she says. Knowledge is power, and that's particularly true when it comes to these often anxiety-producing health screenings. Top medical insiders explain how to navigate four of the most common.

 

Read More ›

Taste Test: Gluten-Free Breads

The gluten-free phenomenon has lead to dozens of new products on store shelves. Breads and baked goods are some of the hardest foods to make tasty and sans gluten. We polled our readers and took their favorite brands for a test drive.

The Criteria

For this taste test, we rated breads based on taste, texture, nutrition and cost. Each variety was rated on a 5-point scale (5 being the highest). Gluten-free breads are famously higher in calories so we tried hard to find some smart and tasty options. Most of the brands recommended toasting for best taste –this was definitely the preferable way for just about all of the options. 

Read More ›

Run Like an Olympian: 4 Tips to Your Fastest 5K

Whether you are a seasoned athlete, a stay-at-home mom, or a true weekend warrior, setting your sights on running a 5K is an achievable and rewarding goal. The second you sign up for a race you become an athlete. And once you start thinking like an athlete, your training plan and overall goal are easier to achieve.

Athletes approach every training session, every meal time and every activity with our end goal in mind. Asking themselves the question, “How will this help me be faster, stronger and more prepared for my competition?" ensures that they make good choices.
 
Here are four questions that you should ask yourself to think like an athlete, improve your running speed and run your fastest 5K time ever.

Read More ›

See How Angela Lost 186 Pounds!*

Angela Baldo (4A-HEALTHY-BMI) knew her life had to change when she reached her highest weight of 336 pounds. Check out this special segment of the Today show to see how she looks now--and find out how she lost the weight!

*Weight loss results will vary from person to person. No individual result should be seen as a typical result of following the SparkPeople program. 

Read More ›

The New Food Rules

How to Eat

Do you sometimes feel like you're being bombarded with hot-off-the-presses information about the best way to eat? (Gluten-free will help you lose weight! Swap sugar for agave! Fat-free is healthiest!) It's enough to make you think the heck with it and grab a bag of cookies. Deep breath: It's not nearly as complicated or restrictive as it seems. Ditch these old misconceptions and follow this simple advice.

 

You’ve heard: Eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

New thinking: Fill half your plate with produce at every meal.
Of course it's ideal to eat your nine servings, but who can keep track? This new guideline, from both the Harvard School of Public Health and the USDA, is an easier, don't-have-to-think-about-it way to make sure you're eating enough of the good stuff. "Nothing is more important to lowering your risk of just about every ailment—especially cancer and heart disease—and staying at a healthy weight (or losing it if you need to) than eating lots of produce," says registered dietitian Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD, author of Eat Your Way to Sexy. As for the other half of your plate? One-quarter should be lean protein (fish, chicken, lean cuts of pork and beef) and one-quarter whole grains (brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, couscous).
 

Read More ›

Can We Teach Ourselves (and Our Kids) to Be Happier?

Every morning, I start my day with a hot chai.  In the summer, it is a particularly special treat.  Instead of my usual vanilla chai, it is transformed into a half-coconut, half-vanilla chai.  I realize it has too many calories and I should opt for sugar-free syrup (at least it is nonfat), but I consider it my one indulgence.  My one addiction. 

My morning pleasure. 

It makes me happy. 

Happiness.  Most of us want it.  Many of us have it. The drive-thru window where I get my chai provides an interesting backdrop for a small study of the differences in people's levels of happiness. 

There is one girl who is simply bubbling over with happiness each and every time I see her.  It is genuine.  She actually makes you happy.  I would love to meet her parents. 

Then there is another person whom you dread hearing on the speaker and seeing at the window.  Nothing about him even whispers, "Hey, I'm a mostly happy guy."  

With which person do you most identify?

There are two ways that we can think about happiness.  We can consider things that come and go, but bring happiness to us when we experience them (for many, these include shopping, eating, and drinking).  We can also consider something that I think of as our "way of being."  We can have episodes of happiness or we can just simply be happy. 

Read More ›

Baked Potato Chips: Are They Healthy?

A health halo has been placed on baked chips while fried chips have been getting a bad rap. But are you really making a healthy choice when you toss a bag of baked chips into your shopping cart? Let’s take a closer look.

Read More ›

How to Get Your Kids to Drink Water

Water is the best thing you can give your kids to drink during the hot summer days. But how do you get them to drink it? How do you get them to chug down plain old water at the pool when they're surrounded by other kids guzzling down sugary juice boxes? How do you get your hard-playing child to drink water instead of sugar-laden sports drinks? How do you expect them to get a bottle of water at the baseball game instead of a cold, fizzy soda?
 

Read More ›

Sarah Lost 115 Pounds and Gained a New Life!*

Meet Sarah Brakke (VALFREYJA), a SparkPeople member who has lost 115 pounds! Find out her secrets of success here.

What is your age?: 29
 
How long have you been a SparkPeople member? How did you find SparkPeople?: I've been a member since 1/17/2006. It's been so long that I don’t remember how I found the site! I’m sure I found it when looking for weight-loss help online.

What is your favorite feature on SparkPeople?: The SparkRecipes recipe calculator! I absolutely HAVE to know how many calories are in each serving of my recipes so that I can stay within my range. I also love being able to group my meals now. I’m usually fairly consistent with my food as far as snacks, breakfasts, and lunches. Not having to re-enter the food individually every single day is wonderful.

How much weight have you lost?: 115
 
How long did it take to lose the weight?: 21 months. I’ve kept it off so far for 16 months.
 
What was your light bulb moment that made you decide to lose weight?: I’d been fighting with my weight since I was a sophomore in high school, and always wanted to start losing...which I could do, but I could never seem to make the commitment. I could work out, but I wouldn’t change my eating. Even having high cholesterol and being told I needed to lose weight didn’t make me do more than half-heartedly try and run on an elliptical I purchased at Walmart.

I guess it took seeing myself in comparison to the other bridesmaids in my brother’s wedding in May of 2009 that really made me want to change.

Read More ›

Does Healthy Food Cost More Than Junk Food?

Does following a healthy diet mean dishing out more dough? Not necessarily. A new study published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that healthy food isn’t any more expensive than junk food.

The Studies

With more than one-third of U.S. adults being overweight and a push from the Obama administration to fight rising obesity levels, this new study sheds light on budgetary concerns when it comes to healthy eating. 

Previous studies were highly criticized for comparing the cost of food per calorie. These studies found that pastries and chips and cheaper than fruit and veggies. The newest study conducted by the Agricultural Department compared cost of foods by weight or portion size which reveals that grains, veggies, fruit and dairy foods are less costly than most meats or foods high in added sugar, salt, or artery-clogging saturated fat. The study found that carrots, banana, lettuce and pinto beans were all cheaper per portion than soda, ice cream, ground beef or French fries.

Read More ›

10 Reasons Your Body Thinks It's Hungry

A staggering 63 percent of Americans are overweight. The most common cause? We eat more food than we need—and we're all guilty of doing it: mindlessly munching on a bag of pretzels during a reality TV marathon or treating ourselves to a second helping when the first was plenty. But boredom and indulgence aside, why else are we reaching for a snack when we should feel full? Some of it can be blamed on habit, while other triggers have more to do with our body's hunger signals. Check out the list below to find out the most common overeating pitfalls and simple solutions for avoiding these traps.

 
1. You didn't get enough sleep last night.

Lack of rest stimulates two faux hunger triggers: energy deficiency, to which our natural reaction is to nourish our bodies, and appetite hormone confusion. "When our bodies are drained, levels of leptin—a hormone produced by our fat cells that controls our appetite—decrease, while levels of gherlin—a hormone produced by our stomach that stimulates our appetite—increase," explains Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) spokeswoman Karen Ansel, RD. That's two hormones working against you. "Getting eight hours of sleep a night is the easiest thing you can do to prevent overeating." If you do fall short on zzz's, be sure to load up on nourishing, naturally energizing foods—such as fresh fruit, complex carbohydrates and lean proteins—throughout the day to help your body feel satisfied.

Read More ›

Find Out How Amanda Lost 137 Pounds and Counting!*

Meet Amanda Pruss (DANDYMANDERZ), a bright young woman who has lost 137 pounds and counting! Find out how SparkPeople helped her on her journey to healthy living.

What is your age?: 22
 
How long have you been a SparkPeople member? How did you find SparkPeople?: I joined SparkPeople in 2010. If I remember correctly, I heard about it in a magazine article.
 
What is your favorite feature on SparkPeople?: I love the Motivational SparkPages feature. When I was first starting out, seeing how other people had lost the weight was a huge motivation. I knew if they could do it, I could do it.

How much weight have you lost?: In total, I have lost 137 pounds. I've lost 54 pounds since joining SparkPeople. 
 
How long did it take to lose the weight?:

Read More ›