Atlanta, U.S.A. — Monkey Joe’s, a national children’s entertainment facility known for its giant inflatable jumps and obstacle courses, has reached nearly three-quarters of a million total hours of jumping from customers, a benchmark that aims to combat the rise in childhood obesity and other health problems caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. With programs such as First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! bringing attention to the health issues facing our nation’s youth, places like Monkey Joe’s can encourage fun and alternative ways to get exercise.

Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative launched by Michelle Obama that is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. The program focuses on a variety of ways to encourage healthier youth, and it recognizes that physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle.  Sonny Crumpton, Monkey Joe’s brand leader, says that he sees Monkey Joe’s as a place to help with this initiative, as they strive to provide a fun-filled experience for kids to play and jump.

“We are proud to be able to contribute to our youth’s physical activity in a fun way, and we are thrilled to have reached such a high number of jumps,” says Crumpton. “The children always have a great time, and they are getting an excellent form of exercise without thinking twice about it.”

According to the Let’s Move! website, over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. At this rate, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives and many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems.

To reduce the risk of these health issues, children need 60 minutes of play with moderate to vigorous activity every day, according to the American Heart Association. Unfortunately, today’s on-demand entertainment from a variety of gadgets and busy family schedules often push intentional physical activity to the bottom of the priority list.

One way to get physical health back to the top of the list is to emphasize activity, not exercise. According to an article from The Mayo Clinic, a child’s activity doesn’t have to be a structured exercise program – the object is just to get him or her moving. The article continues to say that free play is an excellent form of physical activity for children. Monkey Joe’s allows for creative play and freedom of movement, all in one facility that has amenities for both children and adults.

Since opening its first location in 2004, Monkey Joe’s has reached 719,780 total hours of jumping at its 62 locations across the country. Monkey Joe’s is often the destination of children’s birthday parties, as well as walk-ins customers, looking to experience the active and fun atmosphere at Monkey Joe’s.  Monkey Joe’s attributes the growth and success to affordable rates, being open seven days a week, having a frequent customer incentive program, offering group rates and providing a consistent overall experience.

All Monkey Joe’s locations have committed to full jump sanitation from Swisher Hygiene, the country’s leading provider of commercial hygiene services. The service is intended to reduce exposure to germs and cross-contamination for all who visit and play at Monkey Joe’s, making it a cleaner environment than public playgrounds, schools, daycares and amusement parks.

A destination that caters to both children and parents, Monkey Joe’s provides wall-to-wall inflatables, including a main play center and a separate Mini Monkey Zone for toddlers. In addition to fun for the kids, Monkey Joe’s provides an unmatched parent lounge with comfortable seating, computer stations and flat screen TVs, allowing the facility to be the ultimate location for families.

Image Courtesy of  AN HONORABLE GERMAN

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New York, U.S.A – A balanced and healthy diet is crucial to good health and overcoming stress. In his forthcoming book called entitled Stress Pandemic, lifestyle and stress expert Paul Huljich shares a simple and holistic approach to nutrition, paying added attention to the effects of what we eat on our neurochemistry.

“Ensuring that we are supporting a healthy neurochemical balance is a vital and proactive step toward managing our stress,” Hulijch asserts. “When you feel tense, stress eating or emotional-eating is triggered like an automatic response. That’s especially so if your body reacts strongly to stress-released hormones.”

A 2010 study from the University of Michigan showed that when levels of the stress hormone cortisol were boosted in healthy, non-stressed adults, they ate more junk food. When people feel stressed out, most either stop eating altogether or binge on high-fat, high-sodium products such as chocolate, doughnuts, potato chips and other snack foods. And when combined with America’s growing portion sizes, people grow sicker, gain weight and develop bad habits that can endure a lifetime unless they say “NO” and take charge of what and how they eat.

Bad eating habits start young so where else to begin teaching kids about good nutrition outside of home but in this nation’s schools?  Thankfully, people like Michelle Obama are championing this crusade. Hoping to combat the growing problem of childhood obesity, the Obama administration recently announced its long-awaited changes to government-subsidized school meals, a final round of rules that adds more fruits and green vegetables to breakfasts and lunches and reduces the amount of salt and fat.

“As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat and ensure that they have a reasonable balanced diet,” Mrs. Obama said in a statement. “And when we are putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria.”

About 32 million children participate in school meal programs each day. The new rules are a major component of Mrs. Obama’s campaign to reduce the number of overweight children through exercise and better nutrition. The announcement came months after the food industry won a vote in Congress to block the administration from carrying out an earlier proposal.

“Children born in the year 2000 or later are not expected to outlive their parents,” stated Dr. David Katzof the Yale Preventive Medicine Research Center at a nutrition conference in April. Why are our kids so sick? One reason is that they eat too much bad food.  In March of last year, Dr. Katz quoted in a Wall Street Journal article that a “poor diet in kids is more dangerous than alcohol, drugs, and tobacco combined!”

If you can believe it, the top 3 foods consumed in America are hot dogs, white bread and coffee. And the marketing industry is capitalizing on our society’s obsession with eating junk food, evidenced by an announcement made last week by 7-Eleven, the nation’s largest convenience chain, of a low-cal line of Slurpees! The move comes at a time when companies have been marketing everything from “Spam Lite” to “skinny cocktails” aimed at calorie-conscious consumers.

Huljich believes that as a society we must revolutionize the ways in which we eat beginning with cutting out all the C-R-A-P (an acronym for coffee, refined food, alcohol and processed food). He also does not endorse the use of fad diets, counting calories or choosing to eat certain food groups over others.

His approach to a healthy diet, which is outlined in detail in his forthcoming book Stress Pandemic, is a balanced and practical one, which first identifies and bases his diet on the good foods and eating patterns in your life while eliminating the bad ones. “The human body is designed to thrive on a variety of foods therefore I feel a more holistic approach to diet is far more effective and supportive to overall health and well-being than any of those revolving popular diet fads can ever be,”  Huljich states.

“When you go on a fad diet and exclude any of the necessary nutrients, you’re putting yourself at risk for illness.” It is precisely as Gary Taubes warned in Newsweek’s recent cover story “The government has spent hundreds of millions telling Americans to exercise more and eat less. But the country is getting heavier every year. It’s time to change the way we think about fat.”

A balanced eating plan supports all of the body’s functions so that it can absorb and use nutrients efficiently and effectively. Health maintenance promotes physical fitness and disease prevention such as the risk for heart disease, heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.

America is a nation trying to find a cure yet not looking closely enough at the symptoms. By finding the courage to and wisdom to look at the root cause and going back to basics, individuals can learn how to master stress and live longer and healthier lives.

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Winston-Salem, U.S.A. – With nearly one-third of American children being overweight or obese, doctors agree that there is an acute need for more effective treatments. In many weight management programs, the dropout rate can be as high as 73%, and even in successful programs, the benefits are usually short term.

Although family-based approaches to pediatric obesity are considered the gold standard of treatment, theories of the family and how it functions have not been incorporated into effective interventions, according to a study published in the May issue of the International Journal of Obesity by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

“The field of family studies provides an innovative approach to the difficult problem of pediatric obesity, building on the long-established approach of family-based treatment,” said Joseph Skelton, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and director of the Brenner FIT (Families in Training) Program at Wake Forest Baptist, and lead author of the study.

Skelton and his research team reviewed medical literature published between 1990 and 2011 to identify the use of prominent family theories in pediatric obesity research. Of the 76 manuscripts found, 13 were selected for the study.

Wake Forest Baptist researchers found limited use of family theories in the study of pediatric obesity, particularly in weight management treatments. Family behavioral theories can provide valuable insight into the complexities of families, and increased use of these theories in both research and practice may help in the development of more effective treatments for childhood obesity, the study found.

“Traditionally doctors looked at the patient as the one in the family to focus on, but now we have to look at the entire family as the patient,” Skelton said.

“One of the problems we found was that there wasn’t even a clear definition of family in the literature. A two-parent household with a stay-at-home mother and working father is no longer the norm. Inability to define the family makes it difficult to apply a straightforward model of family function to child health and weight management.”

In the clinic setting, families are often represented by a child and a parent, typically the mother. However, this often does not accurately reflect family complexity and it doesn’t define which family members should be included in treatment, Skelton said.

A common theme in the field of family studies is that families are a system, made up of interdependent units. Intervening with one unit, such as a mother and a child, will influence other units. These interpersonal relationships influence the health behaviors of the child and the family as a whole, according to the study.

“The challenge is to find ways to incorporate the entire family in the process, while allowing for different schedules and different age kids with different health needs,” Skelton said. “If we don’t find more effective treatments and this epidemic continues, these children will likely go on to become obese adults, resulting in an entire generation with lower life expectancies than their parents’ generation.”

Skelton and his team at Brenner FIT have begun incorporating theories of the family into their research and in their treatment approach, and are finding ways to engage more members of the family in treatment.

Funding for the study was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Duke Endowment and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Foundation.

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Childhood obesity has been a rising problem for some time now, and most Americans are aware of the epidemic proportions that childhood obesity has reached. According to a new CNN report, however, this children’s health crisis is presenting whole new sets of challenges. CNN reveals that many children are outgrowing their clothing, and even the furniture used in their schools. According to Children of America CEO Thad Pryor, the CNN report points to a serious problem — and a possible solution.

In his time as the leader of Children of America, Thad Pryor has championed the cause of children’s fitness. One of his most noteworthy initiatives has been the implementation of a Presidential Fitness program, in Children of America locations across the country. According to Thad Pryor, the CNN study goes a long way toward illustrating why childhood obesity is such an urgent concern.

In fact, Thad Pryor points to one anecdote as particularly troubling. The CNN story reports that a 14-year-old boy, having reached a weight of more than 300 pounds, found himself no longer able to fit comfortably in his school desk. Rather than ask for the school to accommodate his physical need, however, the student suffered quietly, simply not wishing to draw attention to himself.

According to Thad Pryor, this public school incident reveals how bad the problem of childhood obesity has become, but it also reminds us of where a possible solution lies — in education. According to the Children of America CEO, teaching kids to make healthy choices from a young age might be one of the best ways to prevent obesity later in life. His own fitness initiatives at Children of America serve as a possible model.

Thad Pryor, a former martial arts champion, has emphasized the importance of physical fitness throughout his time at Children of America. He notes that physical development goes hand in hand with mental development, and that an emphasis on strong body-and-mind connection ultimately helps kids do better in their academic pursuits.

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Adults aren’t the only ones who should be thinking heart smart this February, as heart disease is a concern for an increasing number of children too. Research shows that overweight kids are more likely to develop heart disease as adults. And many overweight children already have conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which puts them at risk for heart disease now.

The good news is that most kids can address these risks with changes in diet and exercise. Throughout February, which is American Heart Month, BeSmartBeWell.com highlights the heart risks facing overweight kids and provides advice for how to manage them.

At BeSmartBeWell.com, real-life kids, like Maya, share their stories. Maya was only 5 years old when her family learned she had dangerously high triglycerides. Triglycerides are a type of fat in your blood; having too much increases the risk for heart disease. By making changes to her diet and encouraging her to be active, Maya’s family helped her lower her triglycerides and improve her heart health.

“Fatness hurts your heart. If your heart is hurt, you won’t live that long,” says Maya in a video on the site. “I don’t want to be unhealthy and I’d rather have this diet than get those high triglycerides again.”

The alarming numbers

According to the American Heart Association, an estimated one out of every three kids in the United States is overweight or obese. It’s not that hard to understand how they got there. Kids can be picky eaters. Like most kids her age, Maya preferred pizza and chicken nuggets to fruits and vegetables, and her parents didn’t realize the health risks of this kind of diet.

But the consequences of an unhealthy diet can be significant. A recent study published in the journal Obesity showed that overweight kids are more likely to have high cholesterol, which is associated with higher heart-disease risk in adulthood.

“Type 2 diabetes, high triglycerides, high cholesterol–these used to be considered old people problems and we are seeing them in little kids,” says David Thoele, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist and one of the experts featured on BeSmartBeWell.com.

What can I do about it?

BeSmartBeWell.com/Childhood-Obesity provides practical information to help parents understand the health risks of childhood obesity. Produced by the country’s largest customer-owned health insurer, in collaboration with medical experts and national health organizations, BeSmartBeWell.com features:

• Life stories of real kids who are managing weight issues
• Interviews with parents who provide practical tips for getting kids to eat healthy
• Practical videos featuring leading health experts
• Reputable resources and links for more information
• Childhood obesity news and updates
• Health quizzes

At the site, visitors can also register for the monthly Spotlight Newsletter and News Alerts for in-depth articles and breaking news on childhood obesity and other important health topics.

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Kids treated more than 150 days after an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury have higher rates of other knee injuries, including medial meniscal tears, say researchers presenting at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Specialty Day in San Francisco, CA.

“In our research, children who had delayed treatment of an ACL injury more than 150 days, tended to have an increased chance of also having a medial meniscus or chondral injury in their knee.

These additional injuries may increase recovery time, inhibit return to play, and worsen long term functional outcomes of the knee,” said lead researcher, Guillaume D. Dumont, MD of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. “This finding may also be relevant when counseling patients and their families regarding timing for injury treatment.”

The researchers analyzed records from 370 patients who underwent ACL reconstruction between January 2005 and January 2011 at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. 200 patients were more than 15 years old and 170 patients were less than 15 years old. There were 208 male patients and 162 female patients involved in the study.

Patients were injured in a variety of athletic activities: football (29.7%), basketball (20.2%), soccer (17.6%), cheerleading/gymnastics (4.3%), and other (28.1%).

“Weight also appeared to be a factor associated with the rate of meniscal tears found at the time of surgery,” comments senior author, Philip Wilson, MD. “Our data demonstrates patient weight over 143 lbs (65 kg) to be associated with an increased rate of medial and lateral meniscal tears at the time of surgery. With recent significant increases in child and adolescent obesity rates, this finding may have significant public health implications.”

The study also demonstrated a relationship of age with children more than 15 years old having a higher rate of medial femoral chondral injury. Neither gender nor sport played during injury was found to be associated with an increased rate of injury in the study.

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Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea had substantial improvements in attention, anxiety and quality of life after treatment with positive airway pressure (PAP)—a nighttime therapy in which a machine delivers a stream of air through a mask into the nose.

“The benefits occurred even when children didn’t fully adhere to the treatment,” said study leader Carole L. Marcus, M.D., a sleep specialist and director of the Sleep Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Sleep Center follows thousands of children and adolescents with sleep problems.

The study appears online ahead of print in the American Journal of Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a condition of interrupted breathing caused by a narrowing in the throat or upper airway, related to large tonsils and adenoids, obesity or other medical problems. Using continuous positive airway pressure commonly relieves OSAS in adults, in whom it has been studied extensively. However, there have been few studies of PAP in children with OSAS.

“The vast majority of children with OSAS undergo surgery on their tonsils and adenoids instead of receiving PAP therapy,” said Dr. Marcus. “It is difficult to get children to wear the mask used in PAP treatments.” However, surgery is not always effective in treating OSAS in children, especially in obese children,” said Dr. Marcus.

She added that many children who require PAP therapy have underlying chronic illnesses such as Down syndrome, or developmental delays. Furthermore, the rising incidence of obesity among children and adolescents has also increased the rate of OSAS in young people.

The current study followed 52 children and adolescents with OSAS at Children’s Hospital. The patients had a mean age of 12 years old, and 10 of them had significant developmental delays. The study team assessed sleepiness, behavioral problems, attention, and quality of life at baseline and after three months of PAP treatment.

The researchers found significant improvements in attention deficits, daytime sleepiness, behaviors such as anxiety and shyness, and quality of life. Both the parents and children reported on quality of life using standardized questionnaires that asked about feelings, daily activities, getting along with other children, and keeping up with schoolwork.

“We found that improvements occurred even when children were only using PAP as little as three hours a night,” said Dr. Marcus, who noted that higher compliance would be expected to yield greater benefits. She added that getting children to fully adhere to treatments requires a commitment by parents and family members to a behavioral plan that supports the treatments.

Dr. Marcus said that further pediatric sleep research is warranted, such as blinded studies to compare treatment to a placebo group and further investigations of neurobehavioral outcomes. “This study was the first comprehensive study of PAP use in children, so more research should be performed, but our results have encouraging implications for using this treatment in children with sleep apnea,” she concluded.

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The US government decided that the problem of obesity amongst children in America has gone far enough and will be stepping in to regulate. The government will be limiting what foods can be advertised to children.

Data from the National Health and Examination Survey shows that about one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese. Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese.

According to the New York Times 11 food giants, including McDonald’s, Campbell Soup and PepsiCo, have already agreed to stop advertising products that do not meet nutritional standards to children 12 years old and younger.

“We are hopeful that people will look at this and say that the community has done a substantial, enormous amount of work,” Dan Jaffe, executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers told the New York Times.

The Council of Better Business Bureaus and its Children’s Advertising Review Unit will be reviewing these companies marketing plans and will report to the public on their findings.

The Times reports, according to industry estimates, advertisers spend almost $900 million annually on television made for children younger than 12.

“This is great public relations for the companies, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough,” said Susan Linn, co-founder of the Boston-based group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. “It is going to be impossible to monitor if the companies are actually doing what they say.”

Obesity currently results in an estimated 400,000 deaths a year in the United States and costs the national economy almost $122.9 billion yearly.

Obesity and weight gain are caused by consuming more calories than the body needs. It is most commonly cause by having a poor diet, consuming high calories, fatty foods, and living an inactive lifestyle.
Obesity impacts more than people’s lifestyles, it can also lead to lower self-esteem, cause depression and can cause people to be uncomfortable in social situations; Obesity can considerably weaken someone’s quality of life.

The government stepping in plays a role in the fight against childhood obesity. But parents need to do their part as well. To avoid childhood obesity, parents should incorporate healthy diets and exercise into their children’s daily lives.

Both children and parents should participant in activities that involve physical exercise and limit the time watching TV, playing video games or on the computer.

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