Nutrition Frenzy

Has science overemphasized the danger of a few extra pounds?

Courtesy of Sarah Mahoney: Beyond the BMI
Turns out, I’m not the only one asking these questions. In fact, in light of several new studies, experts are divided on the danger posed by excess weight, especially if the person is, like me, generally healthy and fit. Much of the research linking excess weight and an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, among other chronic diseases (the list goes on and on), has been done on people who are obese, with a BMI of 30 or more. When the merely overweight folks are separated out, the health risks drop and sometimes even disappear.

“Being overweight may not be associated with any risk of heart disease,” says Robert Eckel, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and past president of the American Heart Association.

Recently, researchers from the CDC and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) caused waves in the medical community with a report analyzing the death records of 37,000 adults. Although obese folks had a greater risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, those who were simply overweight had, surprisingly, no greater risk than normal-weight people. Even more amazing, the findings suggested that being overweight may actually protect against death from a multitude of diseases other than cancer and heart disease. The research made headlines (”Is That Spare Tire a Lifesaver?”). Critics quickly responded that the study failed to consider quality-of-life issues caused by excess pounds and didn’t appropriately control for unhealthy habits like smoking, which can keep people lean but undeniably raise cancer risk. Still, it added fuel to the ongoing debate of whether losing weight is absolutely necessary to reduce disease risk if you’re not obese.

In a nutshell, if your waist is bigger than your chest, you may need to start living a healthier lifestyle. Ask your doctor or health care provider about your optimal healthy weight.

Struggling to stick to your shape-up plans? Consider working on your soundtrack, too.

Add new artists, rediscover old faves, and do whatever else you need to do to keep your workout music fresh and fun. Research proves that a good soundtrack takes the grind out of exercise.

A Near and Dear Distraction
Music does more than serve as a distraction. Studies show it actually gives you a better cardio workout by helping you go longer and stronger without noticing the extra effort. Listening to good tunes could also have you reaching for heavier dumbbells sooner. That’s what researchers found when they put a group of adults on a 4-week strength-training program. Those who trained with tunes were pumping out significantly more reps by the end of the program, compared with those who hadn’t gotten down. (Thank you, James Brown!)

The Surgery-Free Tummy Tuck

Help your body incinerate that stubborn spare tire by drinking this metabolism booster before your workout.

We’re not talking Red Bull here. We’re talking green tea. In a recent small study, extracts from green tea helped men burn 17 percent more fat during a 30-minute cardio workout.

Burn, Baby, Burn
It’s not clear how green tea boosts metabolism. Researchers suspect that something in the healthy brew makes fat more available as fuel, so you oxidize more of it when you exercise. Proven bonus: Green tea remains an excellent source of heart-healthy antioxidants called catechins.

Those searching for breast cancer help on Microsoft’s Live Search Health tool can now get up-to-date American Cancer Society information on that topic. The American Cancer Society has published “Health Guide: Breast Cancer Overview” on Microsoft’s Live Search Health tool. A customized set of articles from the American Cancer Society provides a guide to understanding breast cancer causes, prevention, and treatments.

In Part:

What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer is a malignant (cancer) tumor that starts from cells of the breast. It is found mostly in women, but men can get breast cancer, too. Here we will only talk about breast cancer in women. There is separate information about breast cancer in men available in our document, Breast Cancer in Men.

Parts of the normal breast
In order to understand breast cancer, it is helpful to have some basics about the normal structure or parts of the breasts, as shown in the picture below.

A woman’s breast is made up of glands that make breast milk (called lobules), ducts (small tubes that carry milk from the lobules to the nipple), fatty and connective tissue, blood vessels, and lymph (pronounced limf) vessels. Most breast cancers begin in the cells that line the ducts (ductal cancer), some begin in the lobules (lobular cancer), and a small number start in other tissues.

The lymph system
The lymph system is important because it is one of the ways in which breast cancers can spread. This system has several parts.

Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped collections of immune system cells (cells that are important in fighting infections) that are connected by lymphatic vessels. Lymphatic vessels are like small veins, except that they carry a clear fluid called lymph (instead of blood) away from the breast. Breast cancer cells can enter lymphatic vessels and begin to grow in lymph nodes.

Most lymph vessels of the breast lead to lymph nodes under the arm. These are called axillary nodes. If breast cancer cells reach the underarm lymph nodes and continue to grow, they cause the nodes to swell. It is important to know whether cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes because if they have, there is a higher chance that the cells have also gotten into the bloodstream and spread to other places in the body. This could affect the treatment plan.

More classes tailored for those being treated for cancer, other illnesses

When Patti Kiernan found out she had osteoporosis, she decided it was time to find a more focused workout.

The 61-year-old signed up for a fitness program at her Dallas gym that’s geared specifically for women with health problems. Kiernan liked the four-week Female Focus program so much she’s still in after two years.

“I just felt that this was the right way to go,” said Kiernan, who also began taking medication and saw her bone density improve after a year. “Plus, there were other women in the program who had the same problem.”

More and more clubs are offering exercise programs fine-tuned for people coping with a variety of ailments, said Joe Moore, head of the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. He said the number of programs has grown along with the number of studies showing the health benefits of exercise.

Medical and fitness experts say that exercise not only elevates the mood and energy levels, but helps control weight — a contributing factor for many diseases.

For breast cancer patients, “being overweight or gaining weight post diagnosis is a huge risk factor” for recurrence, said Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society.

Her group and the American College of Sports Medicine are devising a special certification for people who work with cancer patients on exercise programs.

Julie Main developed such a program after she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36 in 1993. She was inspired after her doctor mentioned that she seemed to be going through treatment better than other patients.

She told him one thing she was doing was continuing to exercise.

“He said, ‘Most of my other patients don’t do that.’ I said, ‘Well, maybe they should,’” Main said.

Experts say such programs can also serve as a support group.

“There’s no substitute for the camaraderie that forms among those that know what the other is going through,” said Brown of the Santa Barbara center.

Dr. John Pippen, a cancer specialist at Baylor University Medical Center, said that he tells his breast cancer patients to try to walk three to five hours a week.

“To me, it’s killing several birds with one stone — preventing osteoporosis, reducing cancer risk, perhaps most important of all, reducing cardiovascular risk,” Pippen said.

And while joining a fitness club might help keeping up with an exercise routine, he said it’s not necessary.

From Foxnews:A commonly used diabetes drug that contains the “spit” of a poisonous lizard called the Gila monster may also help with weight loss

The drug is created synthetically and marketed under the name Byetta and is used by diabetics to help control their blood sugar, but one doctor says the drug may also help users shed pounds.

Dr. Antonia Verso from Banner Health in Phoenix said Byetta helped her patient Ralph Bustamante lose nearly 40 pounds, while other diabetes drugs made him gain weight.

Byetta is not without its side effects, however. In August, federal regulators said they were working on a stronger warning label for the drug after it was linked to six cases of pancreatitis, two of which were fatal.

Verso is currently participating in a study to assess the drug’s weight loss effects.

The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors and patients of diabetic drug, Byetta, which may cause acute pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that can be fatal.

The drug, approved in 2005, may be associated with 30 reports of acute pancreatitis, following use of type 2 diabetes drug. In the reports, 27 of the patients also had at least one other risk factor for developing the pancreatitis, including gall stones or alcohol use, according to the FDA. However, in six of the other cases, the pancreatitis worsened after a Byetta dosage was increased, the FDA said. The drug has been used by more than 700,000 patients since its introduction.

Byetta, a synthetic hormone taken from a lizard, which is similar to a human hormone, is an injection taken before morning and evening meals. The hormone is recommended for patients with type 2 diabetes, who cannot lower their blood-sugar and blood-glucose levels with other diabetes drugs. The hormone helps to boost the production of insulin to better regulate blood-sugar levels.

The drug company, Amylin, which co-markets the drug with Eli Lilly, has agreed to update the Byetta label to include possible risk of pancreatitis. The most common side effects currently reported include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, indigestion and upper abdominal discomfort. However, acute pancreatitis pain can be more severe.

The FDA is urging doctors and patients to be aware of some of the signs and symptoms of acute pancreatitis, which include persistent, severe abdominal pain that can travel to the back and may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

Set to original-form music, Zumba classes combine dancing and aerobics

Zumba adherents rave about its physical and psychological benefits

It’s not a dance club. This is a regular morning exercise class at the YMCA in Alpharetta, Georgia. It’s called Zumba.

Part dance, part aerobics, Zumba is an hourlong routine that works almost every muscle in the body.

“It is dance fitness,” explained Stephanie Maxim, one of two class instructors. “We teach them moves that you can see on ‘Dancing with the Stars’: salsa, mambo, cha-cha, and we put it into a group fitness format.”

“It’s not like a workout,” explained Diane Walterstiel, 55, of Alpharetta. “Before I come, I’m tense, but when I leave, I could kiss the world.”

Nearly a year after being introduced at the YMCA in suburban Atlanta, Zumba is the most popular exercise offering at the facility.

Alberto Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Zumba Fitness in Hollywood, Florida, wasn’t surprised when the concept took off not just in the United States but around the world.

“We turned exercise into a party,” Perlman declared. “Zumba broke some of the rules of fitness. We used music in the original form instead of using step counts.”

Perlman, whose background is in marketing, teamed up with Colombian dancer and choreographer Alberto “Beto” Perez in Miami in 2001.

“One day, Beto forgot his aerobics tapes, so he played his salsa and meringue songs during class in their original form,” Perlman said. “People went crazy. They didn’t feel like they were in a class with a drill sergeant.”

Perlman said Perez decided to call the exercise Zumba, after the Colombian slang word meaning to buzz like a bee or move fast.

Zumba is now a brand name. Since 2003, Perlman’s group has trained 20,000 instructors around the world and sold more than 3 million DVDs on the Internet and through infomercials, he said.

Heather Bleakman teamed up with Maxim to teach the Georgia YMCA session. She called the class a form of therapy.

“We see women change,” she said. “We see their faces light up.”

Bleakman stood at the front of the room and offered a high-impact version of Zumba for those who could keep up while Maxim focused on a slower low-impact routine.

Maxim warned participants at the beginning of class to modify the exercise to fit their needs. She added that wearing proper footwear is one of the best ways to guard against injury.

“In Zumba, we do a lot of pivoting, so you’ve got to have a shoe that has more of a flat base so you can move, or you’ll feel the torque in the knee,” Maxim cautioned.

There are signs that anorexia is increasing at a faster rate among men than women as the beauty and fashion industry puts a greater focus on males, an eating disorder expert has warned.

In recent years designers have promoted sizezero chic for both sexes, with waif-like men in slim-fit clothes parading the catwalks of London Fashion Week.

Professor Hubert Lacey, a psychiatric consultant at St George’s Hospital in Tooting and the Capio Nightingale clinic in Marylebone, saw more male than female anorexia referrals for the first time this summer.

He said: ‘”It was shocking, a huge surprise and evidence of how rapidly male anorexia is increasing.

‘Although it’s not at the level found in women, people working in the field have seen it really take off over the past couple of years.

‘I came back from holiday last week and for the first time ever I had more male referrals for anorexia than female ones.’

He said that men are subject to a relentless message that body perfection is a measure of self worth - with men from the higher social classes most commonly affected by eating disorders.

Harvard University found last year that a quarter of anorexia and bulimia sufferers are now male.

The British Fashion Council says its health guidelines apply equally to both sexes.

What Is Anorexia?

Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. Anorexia usually begins in young people around the onset of puberty. Individuals suffering from anorexia have extreme weight loss. Weight loss is usually 15% below the person’s normal body weight. People suffering from anorexia are very skinny but are convinced that they are overweight. Weight loss is obtained by many ways. Some of the common techniques used are excessive exercise, intake of laxatives and not eating.

Anorexics have an intense fear of becoming fat. Their dieting habits develop from this fear. Anorexia mainly affects adolescent girls.

People with anorexia continue to think they are overweight even after they become extremely thin, are very ill or near death. Often they will develop strange eating habits such as refusing to eat in front of other people. Sometimes the individuals will prepare big meals for others while refusing to eat any of it.

The disorder is thought to be most common among people of higher socioeconomic classes and people involved in activities where thinness is especially looked upon, such as dancing, theater, and distance running.

City could follow NY in passing ordinance requiring calories on menus. Great idea!

Los Angeles residents are notorious for worrying about their waistlines and if two Los Angeles County Supervisors have it their way, calorie counting while dining out in the city may get easier.

Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Antonovich will present a proposed ordinance to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors next week that would force fast-food chains and restaurants to display the number of calories alongside the price of items on their menus.

The proposed law is intended to decrease obesity among adults and children in America’s second-largest city.

While Los Angeles has a reputation as a mecca of diet and exercise crazes, the county’s Department of Public Health says residents are less fit than many realize.

The percentage of obese adults in Los Angeles County increased 46 percent over eight years, to 20.9 percent in 2005 from 14.3 percent in 1997, according to the department.

“The menu should be as informative of what its effect is on one’s waistline as it is on their pocketbooks,” Yaroslavsky said. “Not ingesting 800 calories in a meal makes a huge difference to one’s health and quality of life.”

New York already has a similar ordinance in place. Fast-food and casual-dining chains in the Big Apple can be fined $2,000 for not displaying calorie counts.

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Although disease is becoming more common in obese kids, few are tested

In a new and disturbing twist on the obesity epidemic, some overweight teenagers have severe liver damage caused by too much body fat, and a handful have needed liver transplants.

Many more may need a new liver by their 30s or 40s, say experts warning that pediatricians need to be more vigilant. The condition, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure or liver cancer, is being seen in kids in the United States, Europe, Australia and even some developing countries, according to a surge of recent medical studies and doctors interviewed by The Associated Press.

The American Liver Foundation and other experts estimate 2 percent to 5 percent of American children over age 5, nearly all of them obese or overweight, have the condition, called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

“It’s clearly the most common cause of liver disease,” said Dr. Ronald Sokol, head of public policy at the liver foundation and a liver specialist at Children’s Hospital and University of Colorado Denver.

Few given necessary test
Some experts think as many as 10 percent of all children and half of those who are obese may suffer from it, but note that few are given the simple blood test that can signal its presence. A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnose this disease.

As fat builds up, the liver can become inflamed and then scarred over time, leading to cirrhosis, a serious condition, which in years past was mostly caused by hepatitis or drinking too much alcohol. Liver failure or liver cancer can follow, but if cirrhosis has not yet developed, fatty liver disease can be reversed through weight loss.

The disease is most common in overweight children with belly fat and certain warning signs, such as diabetes or cholesterol or heart problems. However, it’s been seen in a few children of normal weight.

Genetics, diet and exercise level all play a role. It is most prevalent among Hispanics, relatively rare among African-Americans, and more common among boys than girls.

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Adderall spurs rapid weight loss, but it can lead to dangerous addiction

Abusing Adderall
Since 2002, the number of prescriptions for all amphetamine-based drugs used to treat ADD — including Concerta and Strattera — have skyrocketed. Sales for Adderall XR (extended release) have more than doubled in the past five years, from 4.2 million in 2002 to 9.5 million in 2007, according to IMS Health, a health-care information company. And online, Adderall ranks right up there with Viagra in most-hawked pharmaceuticals on the Internet; indeed, type in the words “Adderall abuse” and you’re likely to be directed to a site that sells the stuff.

Just why Adderall helps people with ADD is a little unclear. But scientists believe that sufferers have some imbalance of three chemicals in the brain dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin — and that Adderall helps by inhibiting the reuptake of these chemicals so they remain in the synapses longer, says Paul Thompson, professor of neurology and director of a neuroimaging lab at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. For the most part, Adderall is used exactly the way it is prescribed — to increase concentration among those with ADD. But there is a tempting yet dangerous side effect to all stimulants: They stimulate the dopamine — or pleasure — center of the brain, which causes a feeling of euphoria and a loss of appetite. So it’s no great surprise that the young and beautiful, many of whom have grown up bumming their friends’ Adderall to increase their mental edge at exam time, do not necessarily want to give it up when studying is no longer the issue.

Indeed, the weight-loss effects of Adderall have not been lost on some physicians. Fuad Ziai, a pediatric endocrinologist in Oak Lawn, Illinois, made headlines last year when CNN reported that he had prescribed Adderall to hundreds of obese kids; reportedly, 90 percent of his patients lost weight. His rationale? The risk of side effects — headaches, irritability, mood swings, and increased heart rate — was far smaller than the risk of diabetes to the overweight-kid population. The report neglected to mention a detail that might have been used to bolster Ziai’s treatment: The formulation now known as Adderall was originally marketed as the weight-loss drug Obetrol. (In a statement to Allure from Shire Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Adderall XR, Matt Cabrey, the company’s director of corporate communications, noted that a physician can prescribe Adderall “off-label” — i.e., in whatever way he sees fit — but that a pharmaceutical company cannot promote it for anything other than what the FDA approved it for. Says Cabrey, “Shire does not support the abuse, misuse, or diversion of any prescription medicine and Shire does not promote the use of ADHD medicines for any purpose other than the approved indication as an ADHD treatment.”)

One multi doesn’t fit all; here’s how to make sure you get what you need

Your Preteen or Teen Needs:

Calcium
Why? “You get one chance in your lifetime to build a strong skeleton — and that time is adolescence,” says Roberta Anding, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. But kids typically get far less than the daily 1,300 mg of calcium they need.

Food Or Supplements? Food. Dietary calcium helps teens gain more bone mass than supplements do because it’s easier to absorb.

Try This: “Teens often skip milk in favor of soda and juice, so limit sugary drinks to one a day,” says Malena Perdomo, RD. Serve milk at every meal or stock up on calcium-rich snacks like low-fat yogurt or string cheese.

Iron
Why? The nutrient is essential: Kids with a deficiency are 2 ½ times more likely to have low math scores. Girls, who lose iron during their periods, need 15 mg daily; boys need 11 mg.

Food Or Supplements? Food. Never dispense iron pills without your doctor’s okay — high doses can be toxic.

Try This: Give your teen a morning boost with fortified breakfast cereals; most pack 4 to 8 mg of iron per serving. To help absorption, pair high-iron foods with ones rich in vitamin C, such as black beans (a great vegetarian source of the mineral) and bell peppers.

Men and women:

To Rethink Folic Acid
Why? This vitamin seems like such a do-gooder: It helps prevent birth defects, and studies suggest that it could help adults lower heart disease risk. But recently, researchers raised the possibility that excess folic acid may increase the danger of colon cancer. Answers aren’t in, but some experts say that only women of childbearing age should take 400 mcg daily — the amount in most multivitamins. Other healthy adults should pick one with lower amounts.

Food Or Supplements? Food. It’s still important to get folate (the natural form of folic acid) in your diet.

Try This: Put beans and dark green veggies high on your shopping list: One cup of cooked lentils contains nearly 100% of your day’s folate requirement.

Vitamin D
Why: Increasing numbers of studies suggest that it can reduce your risk of several cancers by 30 to 50% and lower your risk of death from any cause. Yet up to 74% of Americans don’t have optimal blood levels of the vitamin.

Food Or Supplements? Supplements. Your body produces D from sunshine, but if you live in the northern United States, the sun isn’t strong enough in the winter for you to synthesize adequate amounts. Vitamin D is found naturally in few foods.

Try This: Take up to 1,000 IU per day and look for D3 — the kind skin makes from sunlight.

Hello, my name is Brick ONeil, and I’m the new Nutrition Frenzy Blogger!

I’ve been with 451 Press since March, 2007, blogging on Encouraging Health, and am enjoying my time here immensly.

I’m excited about blogging for Nutrition Frenzy, bringing you information, news and updates about foods, nutrition and exercise and how they impact your life. There is a wealth of information in the world today, sometimes it can be overwhelming. This blog will bring you the information in a clear, logical and concise way for you to mentally ‘digest’ and take from it what you will. It is my hope that you will bring your experience, knowledge and expertise to the table as well. We can only learn if we continue to share information for everyone to learn from.

My experience is a medical/health background. I am a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, was a Workers’ Compensation Adjuster for six years and have been a Freelance Writer for the past seven years. My work has spanned many fields, such as Health, Fitness, Copywriting, Research, Real Estate, to name a few. I can bring this knowledge to you, so we can all learn the benefits of Nutrition and how it imapcts our lives.

Head on over to Urban Ecoist and say hello to new blogger over there, Lulu McGrew.

Rich? Who’s rich? I love rich!!!

And bleach? Well, honey my hair could tell you a thing or two about that . . . .

Too bad neither enriched nor bleached flour have any redeeming value - kind of like the jerk you went out with last Saturday.

You know, the one who looked really great, and dare I say may even have tasted kinda nice, but who was really only out to use and abuse you – nothing of value there.

ENRICHED MEANS ITS GOT MORE VITAMINS AND STUFF, RIGHT?

No!

The nightmare called Enriched Flour happens when manufacturers strip wheat flour of its bran and germ and then “enrich” it by adding back in some stuff like thiamin, riboflavin and niacin so that they can call it something like “enriched,” which makes us feel good about buying it.

Bleached flour is also a manufactured creation, devoid of the fiber that is vital to keeping our weight in check and our system running properly.

WHY’D THEY DO THAT?

Manufacturers decided that the softer texture enriched and bleached flour lend to products would be more appealing to consumers. Now we are used to it.

Well, get un-used to it – quick.

It’s not a hard switch - hearty, rich breads, chewy muffins, whole wheat pizza crusts, whole wheat spaghetti are all readily available, healthy alternatives.

In fact, for the next 6 hours I will be on a plane to Hawaii. Plenty of time to compile a list of my favorite whole grain products – stayed tuned . . .

A REAL PISSER

I just have to put this sad tale in here to remind you to please read the ENTIRE label, even on 100% Whole Grain products. It seems that some manufacturers just love playing games.

Here’s an example: I was so psyched when I heard Nabisco came out with 100%Whole Grain Fig Newtons. I high-tailed it to the store, all set to dive into some Figgy’s. I took one look at the label and was SO PISSED!

Seems now companies know we are getting smarter, catching on that enriched and white flour suck. So, they are marketing things like Fig Newtons and Chips Ahoy as, “100% Whole Grain”.

But don’t put on your healthy-halo and start cramming these goodies in your mouth just quite yet, one look at the label will tell you that Figgers and Chippies are alsomade with High-Fructose Corn Syrup. Damn.

Check out www.accidentalhedonist.com for a great compilation (it’s a huge list, but sadly far from complete) of products, including many 100% whole wheat/whole grain products that also contain High-Fructose Corn Syrup. You’ll probably be surprised by some of the duds on this list, like 100% Whole Grain Pepperidge Farm bread!
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The big guy has really scored some major points in the humanity department with his new reality show, “Shaq’s Big Challenge.”

The program, which airs Tuesday at 9pm ET/8CT on ABC, showcases the harsh realities that accompany America ’s epidemic of childhood obesity.

This show resonates for one simple reason: It’s one thing to hear statistics about the rise in childhood diabetes, the increased rate of suicide among obese children, and the low-self esteem and taunting that fat kids face, it is quite another to fall in love with a cast of obese kids and become emotionally involved in their struggles.

Shaq’s Big Challenge features an all-star line-up of doctors, fitness experts and nutritionists, hand-picked to help 6 obese Florida middle-schoolers lose weight, gain nutritional knowledge and get control over their lives. In addition to dealing directly with the kids, Shaq documents his struggle to get a mere 20 minutes of physical activity into a Broward County middle school which has no physical education due to budget cuts.

Absolutely Shocking

I was appalled to learn that cut-backs have forced MANY schools to completely abolish physical education programs. Hopefully, Shaq’s pilot program will meet with success in Broward County and eventually be incorporated into curriculums across the country.

The Hurdles

While all the kids express a desire to be thinner, the show makes no bones about showing the true battle that must be waged in order to shed the weight. It’s clear that lifestyle changes don’t come easy, even for children.

Examples: The kids cheat on their diets - one boy tells viewers he eats candy while walking on the treadmill, another boy binges on pizza (which he dips bite by bite in a tub of garlic butter) and yet another professes a desire for ice cream that verges on a mantra.

The Parents

This program proves how incredibly important it is for parents to get educated about basic nutrition. For example, the kid who dips greasy pizza slices in butter? Well, mom was sitting by his side explaining that this behavior was a-ok, since it was his “cheat day”.

A father watches his obese son mow through a bag of Halloween candy. His thinking? He had done his as much as he could by removing some of the candy so that his son couldn’t eat quite so much. Clearly, these folks aren’t bad parents. It’s obvious they love their kids. The problem is they don’t have the skills to deal with the issues their kids face.

Will They Lose It?

I have no idea. While the kids want to lose weight, they struggle mightily with what it takes to do it - intense exercise and eating right. Working in their favor are the talented professionals Shaq has assembled and some primo bribes involving a limo and Miami Heat box seats. At odds with their goal is the fact that losing weight is tough, even when Shaquille O’Neal is on your team.

Good Luck Kiddos!

Shaq, Shaq’s Big Challenge, fit kids, health tips for kids