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CHOCOLATE DIPPED CLEMENTINES
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Members & Employees
Care for Your Health
Wellness Health Screenings
at the AMO Plans Medical Clinic
Call Ext.7305
or
Stop by the clinic for your
Sailing Members:
As with all AMO Plans Health & Wellness Initiatives, any health information obtained is private and not shared with any required merchant mariner physical exam process. This information is strictly for your betterment and may be shared with your physician at your discretion
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Back to School
Much like New Year's Day, a new school year represents a new start. Perhaps, this is the perfect time for you to consider creating new healthy habits to enhance your family's health. Among many other benefits, a healthy lifestyle will improve overall wellness, prevent disease, and childhood obesity.
Childhood Obesity
Today about 1 in 3 kids is overweight or obese and studies show that overweight kids are likely to become overweight and obese adults. Obese and overweight children are at risk for a number of serious health problems such as:
- Diabetes: Type 2 diabetes was once called adult-onset diabetes. Now with the rise in childhood obesity, there is a dramatic rise in the number of children suffering from type 2 diabetes. Untreated, this can be a life-threatening condition.
- Asthma: Extra weight can make it harder to breathe and can inflame the respiratory tract. There is a rise in childhood asthma and children with serious asthma are more likely to be overweight.
- Heart Failure: Being overweight makes the heart work harder. Overweight children are more likely to grow up to be overweight adults who develop heart problems.
Creating Healthy Habits
Eating more nutritious foods that lead to a healthier life can help prevent obesity and serious health problems. As a result, creating a healthy lifestyle is a common goal for many families. But the question is, how? How do we turn that goal into action and start taking the necessary steps to eat better?
Make Real Foods Easy
Healthy foods should be the easy snacking options around the house. We grab for chips or cookies because chips and cookies are there. If fruit is sitting in a bowl on the counter, we might grab for that instead.
Real foods should also be the easy meal options around the house. This takes planning. We often stop at the drive-thru for a quick dinner instead of going to the grocery store to pick up food to prepare. Make your trips to the grocery store last for the week. Plan out the meals you will eat every night so that the quick fast food stop is not even a temptation.
Swap Juice for Whole Fruit
Try feeding your kids whole fruit instead of juice. The fruit is rich in fiber and its high water content helps to keep the calories low. On the other hand, it is so easy to guzzle down too many calories from juice without even realizing it. A pint of orange juice, for example, contains around 225 calories. This is equivalent to 2-3 cups of mixed berries, which would certainly make you feel much more satisfied. Most of us wouldn't think twice about drinking the pint of juice but few of us would eat 3 cups of berries in one sitting.
Start the Day off Right
Eating breakfast as a family is a perfect time to bond and spend quality time together while also preparing a healthy breakfast for the kids. Eggs with whole grain toast, fruit and yogurt, or whole grain unsweetened cereal with milk and berries are several great choices. It is suggested that kids begin their day with a meal consisting of protein and fiber, a winning combination of nutrients that will help them feel satisfied until lunch.
Nix the Added Sugar
A recent
American Heart Association's
announcement is suggesting that children and teens ages 2-18 limit added sugar to no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams) per day. These new guidelines aim to help improve children's overall diet. Kids who eat foods high in added sugars tend to eat fewer healthy foods that are good for their heart. Added sugar provides no nutritional benefits and is found in a wide range of food from cookies, ketchup, salad dressings, sugar sweetened cereals (even some whole grain ones!), smoothies, to sweetened yogurts. The major culprit of added sugar, however, is soda and sugary drinks including iced tea and fruit punch so it is suggested to limit them from your kids' diets. The
guidelines
also suggest that children and teens consume no more than 8 ounces of sugary drinks a week. Sugary drinks, often called "liquid calories," provide no health benefits.
Keep Portions Healthy (no measuring cup required)
Regardless of what you feed your kids, you can serve your children healthy portion sizes. Try the "Healthy Plate" method: At dinner, for example, fill half the plate with veggies and a quarter with protein (lean meat, fish, chicken) and the other quarter with a healthy starch (brown rice, sweet potato). To avoid overeating, limit eating in front of the TV and pre-portion snacks into no more than 100 calorie portions.
In the Month of September
American Maritime Officers Plans
(Sources:American Heart Association.org; Healthier Generation.org)
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