Search
Recommended Products
Related Links


 

 

Informative Articles

Gary Sheffield: Big bat, Big mouth
Yankees star outfielder Gary Sheffield claims he was misquoted, even suggested he was outright lied about in a column that will hit the papers in the morning, which he was quoted as saying, “ I know who the leader is on the team. I ain't going to...

MY PASSION FOR BASEBALL
MY PASSION FOR BASEBALL  What is something you are passionate about? Passion is contagious and feeds off this positive energy. Have you ever seen two people who truly love the game of baseball talk about baseball? I have a friend’s wife tell...

Public Golf Courses – Making The Right Choice
Chances are, if you’re just starting out, you haven't decided to apply to a fancy country club yet so you can play their outstanding course, right? That's a very good idea, because there are probably several public golf courses close to you that are...

Senior League Baseball Bats
Baseball bats are available in both wood and a variety of metal versions; purists often prefer the wood bat, but aluminum or other alloy bats are usually standard at non-professional levels. Wood bats still have their own beauty as well as technical...

The 7 Steps to Huge Velocity Gains
Now we all know that pitchers can get hitters out without throwing the ball with Nolan Ryan type speed. But why are most of us so obsessed with throwing the ball with obscene velocity? In visiting with good friend and Minor League...

 
Is Technology Robbing our Kids of Good Health?

Is Technology Robbing our Kids of Good Health?

Today's kids are technologically smarter than we were at their
age, but in some homes technology seems to have taken control of
our children's lives. Many parents don't realize the underlying
effect it's having on their children's health.

Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear a news report on
childhood obesity. With our children coming home from school,
sitting in front of the computer or spending time playing
video games it's no wonder obesity is on the rise. This being
said, there is another problem that many parents may be
overlooking.

Each year, reports pertaining to the number of bone fractures in
children are made public. Each year, those numbers rise. Some
reports attribute the increase in broken bones to an overload of
sugar from too much soda. This may indeed be a contributing
factor, but I believe improper calcium balance may be the real
cause.

Calcium balance is particularly important in our childhood years
when we are growing. Over 98% of the calcium is found in our
bones and teeth. Our bodies rely on vitamin D and weight bearing
exercise to help keep calcium levels intact. Weight bearing exercise
includes any activity in which your feet and legs carry your own
weight. Some good examples include:

* Walking
* Running
* Jumping Rope
* Dancing
* Climbing Stairs
* Jogging
* Aerobic Dancing
* Hiking
* Inline Skating/ice skating
* Racquet sports
* Team Sports such as soccer, Basketball,
field hockey, volleyball and softball or baseball.

These are a few of the exercises that can help to build strong bones.
Staying in the house and playing video baseball, instead of
hitting a real Little League home run, is robbing our children of sunlight.

Remember that vitamin D is manufactured in the body as a result
of sunlight on the skin. It is the messenger molecule that is
responsible for getting calcium to the parts of the body where it
is most needed. Without proper weight bearing exercise and
Vitamin D, the calcium


balance is seriously disrupted. You may
think that your children get plenty of vitamin D and calcium from
the milk they drink, but did you know that the human body absorbs
only 20-30% of the calcium in cow's milk. The American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition found that the body absorbs calcium from kale
easier than the calcium in cow's milk.

In addition, many studies have linked the consumption of cow's
milk to multiple health problems, but that's a story for a later
time.

Should you feed your child kale instead of milk? Maybe, but it's
time for us as parents to insist that our kids get outside and
play again. There simply is no better way to get the proper
amount of vitamin D than to be in sunlight.

If you are afraid to pull the video game plug and are considering
giving Junior a vitamin D supplement instead, you should know
that of all vitamins, vitamin D has the highest level of
potential toxicity. Some of the better D supplement choices would
be Cholecalciferol (Animal origin) and Ergocalciferol (yeast
origin.)

I'm not saying the kids should never be on the computer, but I am
strongly suggesting you consider limiting their time.

When children spend time outside, they get the chance to soak up
the sunlight thus enabling the skin to produce vitamin D -
naturally. More than likely, their outdoor activities will
include some good weight bearing exercise, which will allow even
more vitamin D to be produced. The increased activity may also
lead to weight loss and better overall health.

Vitamin-D:

Helpers- Sufficient exposure to sunlight

Robbers- Lack of sunshine and Fried foods.

Larry M. Glicken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Glicken is a Nutritional Consultant and owner of
Complete Life Nutrition.com. Dedicated to helping
people stay healthy. Visit www.completelifenutrition.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




About the Author

Larry M. Glicken is a nutritional consultant and owner of complete life nutrition .com.