HOW TO HAVE HEALTHY CHILDREN?

If you do not stop your children from consuming lard filled diet during earlier years, you might have some problems in controlling them during their teenage years. There are so many fast food centers all over the country. Children will not be aware of its threat to his health if parents were not given the public awareness on the danger of unbalanced diet. Obesity may come in, bringing in other threats such as heart diseases, diabetes, strokes and so on to the child when he grows older. It is not that you totally banned your children from consuming fast food, but too much of anything can ruin his health. How healthy should your children be?

BE THE ROLE MODEL: Practice what you preach by setting a positive role model. Eat healthily and your children will be convinced to follow suit.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES: Set a date and time weekly and get the whole family out for some outings such as jogging, swimming, riding or simply play some garden games. At least everyone get involved in exercising themselves.

REWARDS: Do not frequently reward your child with snacks and candies for good behavior or achievement. Think of another healthier way such as purchasing a book or a toy from a nearby mall.

DIETS: Make eating vegetables and fruits as a must in your daily diet. You can allocate once or twice weekly as dessert day where you can take not-too-sweet ice creams and jellies. Too much sugar in a diet is a bad idea.

MEALS: Setting a specific time for the whole family to dine together is a great way to avoid unnecessary consumption of junk food between meals. Moreover, it is a bonus to have some quality time together.

TV AND COMPUTER GAMES: These should be limited as you not want them to end up with excessive snacking lifestyle. Encourage them to something they like, such as reading, writing, drawing, or doing quizzes. This will further help them in their future education.

FOOD INFORMATION: Try labeling the sugar and cholesterol levels on all the food in the kitchen in a chart form and paste it on the door of your refrigerator. Everyone will learn what is good for their health and be more conscious of what they eat. It is a habit that will help change their eating behavior for a lifetime.

WATCH YOUR SUGAR LEVEL

Asians are believed to be among the highest consumers of sugar in the world. According to the Ministry of Domestic and Consumer Affairs, the recommended intake of sugar is 50 grams a day for women and 63 grams a day for men. There are many complications that may arise with an overdose of glucose level in the blood system.

One of the main concerns is diabetes. Higher sugar intake for a diabetes person may results in hyperglycemia. In the long run without proper medication from the wide range of diabetic supplies easy available in the market, can cause metabolic damage and also structural damage to many body organs.

Today with dietary and lifestyle changes, cutting down the sugar intake is healthy. What is the best way to reduce your sugar intake? Let us look at some of the points below:

- Eat regularly.

- Limit gassy drinks and artificially sweetened fruit juices. Take fresh fruits compared to juices as it also provide you with the fibre you required.

- Add half time less sugar to your hot beverages such as coffee, tea, etc.

- Know what you eat. Processed food contained a lot of hidden sugar.

- Use two to three times lesser sugar in your baking or cooking.

- Exercise regularly.

- Choose alternative energy booster such as cooked rice, fruits, boiled potatoes and white bread.

HOT OR COLD?

Have you been feeling emotional, depressed, moody, loss of appetite or having sleepless nights? What have you been consuming daily? Ice Blended Mocha? “Kopi Peng”? “Teh Tarik Ais”? Coke? Mint Tea? Green Tea? Earl Grey? “Nescafe Susu”? Well, those beverages that you have consumed daily will somehow affect your brain and caused you to have mood swings. In fact, some researchers have found that cold drinks will make the brain function less actively whereas hot drinks will make it more alert.

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Try doing my earlier post on IQ Test. You may experience that the brain functioned better with the HOT APPROACH, e.g. by having a warm bath and a hot drink. The COLD APPROACH of having a cold bath and a cold drink gives you a lower IQ result. It was proven that the brain and the body are interdependent to each other. The brain works wonderfully if the body is well taken care of. If the body is given the proper food and nutrients, the brain will follow suit. So will the moods and appetite.

Here are some of the ways which I have tried before to improve my mind and body. Maybe you can consider using some of my approaches.

1. Stay out of junk foods, artificial flavoring/colouring/sweetener, and MSG (mono sodium glutamate) as it can affect the inner balance of the body. In fact, there are cases that MSG can cause children to be hyperactive for no reasons at all.

2. Do some yoga or meditation as it is believed that it may generate some inner warmth. This will enable the mind to be more alert and mindful of the surroundings.

3. Exercise is very important. By doing so, the body will have the required inner heat to push some warm blood towards the brain. Some people might go for gym a few times weekly.

4. Let the sunshine into your room when you wake up in the morning. The warmth from the sunlight will “wake up your mind”. By closing the curtains/Venetian blinds, you tend to feel sleepier. Remember this, the more you sleep the sleepier you get. An average of 10 hours of sleep is adequate for the body.

5. Avoid exposing yourself too long in front of a brightly lighted computer screen. Bright light delays the melatonin cycles of sleep. It can also cause insomnia for some people.

6. Take more vegetables and fruits as they contain good fibre for the bowel system. They do cleanse the body of some toxic, thus making your body functions better.

7. Consume food with ginger, red chilly pepper, pepper corn occasionally. These spices have been used traditionally for warming the body. The memory gets better too.

8. Nuts are good natural “brain food” that might boost your brainpower and stabilize your moods. Try munching some slightly roasted non-salted nuts like walnuts, cashew nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecan nuts, almonds or just simply peanuts. Gingko nuts are as good too in your diet plan. These are some of the “anti brain fog” nuts which contained healthy Omega-3S & 6S fatty acids, vitamin B6 & E, which are good for the body’s nervous system. Thus, a healthier nervous system results in a clearer and happier thinking. In fact, the compound of a walnut is the best anti-depressant natural remedy in boosting the appetite, treating the insomniac, depressed, improving the digestive system as well as one’s compulsive behavior.

9. Seeds are another good alternative “brain food” with Omega-3S (fish is the most common source but some hated the smell and taste). Flax seeds are the one most sourced for. They are sometimes known as the emotion boosting seeds. Nowadays, bakeries are getting healthier by producing flax seed buns and breads for the ever-rising demand of the healthy conscious consumers. Flax oil is also easier available over the counter as a supplementary. On top of that, other seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds also act as boosters for memory and cognitive functions.

10. Wheat germs are also good for the body. They build energies for the body and aid in gaining muscle and reducing instances of catabolism. A healthier body provides a healthier mind. Do try out some of these products at your nearest healthy bakeries.

There are in fact so many other healthy diets and supplements which can improve the body and mind. Those mentioned above are the few which I have practiced. Occasionally, I also did consume Liquid Spirulina, Liquid Chlorophyll, and Wheatgrass Powder for my general health.

Recently, I have found out that there are many people whom I have spoken to have some emotional and moods trouble. Are you one of them? Are you lacking the nutrients that are required for your body? Are you having a healthy lifestyle? Do share your experiences on your moods here.