This article will help you fill your shopping cart with the better choices. Please share this article with friends who have children!

Food for thought, and foods to avoid:

1. “Kids yogurt” – Read the label. Right after milk, do you see high fructose corn syrup and sugar, artificial flavorings and colors? Not good. I suggest real yogurt without all the additives. A teaspoon of low-sugar raspberry jam can give it some extra zing and natural color.
2. “Kids Meals” – These can be loaded with sodium and high fat foods with little nutritional value, but chock full of calories. Ask for a half-size adult portion, or split yours with your child.
3. “Breakfast bars” – Again, read the label You’ll probably see refined flour in first position, and sugar next – more empty calories that won’t really help your child. A better choice is to make up some oatmeal with diced up apples or raisins on top.
4. “Fruit snacks” – Despite fruit depicted on the front of the package, beware: There may be more corn syrup, sugar and artificial flavors, than any kind of real fruit. The label will give the info. A better choice? Banana or orange slices. A handful of organic grapes.

Remember: “Low fat” may still be “high sugar”. Don’t be fooled. Corn syrup is almost certainly a GM (genetically modified) food, which I avoid as much as possible, as do my adult children. It is pervasive in sweetened foods, but not a natural substance.

Hint! The healthier choices are usually located on the perimeter of the market, not in the center aisles.

For more reading: Health Freedom Alliance, interview with registered dietitian Susan March

Families Make Up PTAs

For years, I served in the PTA at my children’s elementary school through high school. Our PTA raised all of the funds for the salaries for the music teacher, art teacher, PE teacher and extra funds for teacher purchases. Funds have been cut further for most schools. It’s an increasing challenge to provide a well-rounded education that includes arts education and PE.

This week I am headed to Orange County for the California State PTA annual convention. I’m interested in exploring ways to help schools raise revenues through wellness events and programs.

If you have a chance to support a local PTA, don’t hesitate!

I research “life skills” posts weekly to check out what are people talking about and doing about life skills education Increasingly, I read about a special education program or a high school class that teaches kids job-interview skills, vocational skills and, occasionally, communication skills. Today, I read about a Home Depo class that teaches high schoolers handy skills for taking care of the leaky faucet and other Mr. or Ms. Fix-it skills. This is all fine, and to be applauded.

Outside of the educational arena, I listen to what the holistic medical field is saying about the skills that people can learn to improve their quality of life and health. I believe that these skills are also “life skills”. The ability to handle stress, manage feelings and cope with trauma (resiliency) are high on the list of skills that benefit health and longevity. Decades of research makes clear the inter-relationship of stress and the immune system, specifically, chronic stress is debilitating for the body’s natural ability to heal and protect.

From my years as a mediator, I recognize the wide spectrum of skills that people have either learned well, or failed to master, in resolving conflicts and communication. The quality of our interpersonal relationships – whether at home, school, or in the work place – ranks high in “quality of life” – as do the critical decisions we make in life, such as the vocation we choose or the person we marry.

I advocate for finding frequent mini-opportunities at home and in the classroom to become aware of, and practice, these “big picture” life skills. You’ll find some resources here.

What do you look for as indicators that a stroke event may be in progress? Doctors say these simple questions can help figure out if a stroke may be happening.

S –Ask the individual to SMILE
S –As the individual to STICK OUT their tongue
T- Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK a simple sentence (coherently)
R-Ask the person to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If he or she has trouble with any one of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

For more information on stroke symptoms, read more from the National Institute of Health and the Mayo Clinic.

If you have helped someone get medical help with a stroke, I’d like to hear about it.

The first United Nations “World Happiness Report” measured people’s self-reported satisfaction with their lives. So what are the happiest countries? Depending on what questions are asked, the order may change, but Northern European countries (including Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland), Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, consistently rank among the happiest and most satisfied nations. United States ranked 10th in the UN study. USA came in 25th in the World Values Survey.

From this list, we can see that “warm and tropical year round” versus “long and cold winters” have little, if anything, to do with happiness. Other factors, both external and internal, play into happiness.

The goal for governments to study happiness presumably is to see where policy can have a positive impact on well-being. Income equality, education, medical care and safety play large roles in the happiness of citizens. Once certain basic needs are met, the playing field levels out considerably when it comes to happiness.

There are many internal factors that, as individuals, we can influence which affect our feeling of satisfaction with our lives. For example, feeling our life has purpose, performing good deeds and cultivating self-compassion boost happiness. Working out improves one’s state of mind in part by burning cortisol (a by-product of negative emotions) and releasing endorphins (natural pain relievers). Being involved with friends and family is also correlated with happiness. Young children and adults can readily learn life skills that support happiness in life.

What do you find helps you to naturally keep your spirits up?

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, and reported in the New York Times, 24 diseases was analyzed from data collected on 53,666 identical twins. The question? Would those who ultimately got one of the 24 diseases have been forewarned by DNA sequencing?

The answer? The results surprised the researchers: Not much. Gene sequencing does not seem to be effective in predicting higher risk of getting these diseases. Most people will be at average risk for most of the 24 diseases. However, they did find that as many as 90 percent of people would learn that they are at high risk of getting at least one disease.

Why? Dr. David Altshuler, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical Schools says “Even if you know everything about genetics, prediction will remain probabilistic and not deterministic.” Behavior, environment and random events may effect the outcome of gene expression.

Gene sequencing has benefits, but it does not seem to be much help in predicting who’ll get what disease. What is underscored for me is that our life style, behavior and environment do have an impact on disease. These are factors you can do something about.

In a HealthDay Reporter article

Daytime sleepiness is a key sign

Researchers at Brigham Young University reported recently that most teens perform better in school when they get about seven hours of sleep each night, far less than the nine hours of sleep that the federal guidelines recommend. Curiously, the phenomenon of parents feeling that children did not get enough sleep at night goes back at least 100 years.

How much is enough sleep for your child? According to the article, Dr. Edith Chernoff at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago says the key sign is daytime sleepiness. “If they’re sleepy during the day or early evening, they’re probably not getting enough sleep.”

Two new studies published in the medical journal The Lancet are adding to the body of evidence suggesting that cheap and widely available aspirin may be a powerful weapon in the battle against cancer. New York Times writer Roni Rabin reports two studies that look at dozens of large, long-range randomized trials with thousands of men and women.

The article reports that over a 6 -1/2 year period, daily aspirin use reduced the risk of common solid cancers by 46% (including colon, lung and prostate cancers); and it reduced the risk of progressing to metastatic disease. Other benefits are also sited, as well as risks.

If there is cancer risk in your family, or if you are concerned, talk with your doctor about the benefits and risks of aspirin as a possible strategy in preventing cancer or controlling the disease.

I just returned from California Association for the Education of Young Children’s annual meeting in San Diego. Keynote speaker Nancy Carlsson-Paige delivered a terrific talk, urging all present to speak up against the push-down of academics into early childhood education.

If there is a young child in your life, spend time playing together and know that the foundations for learning, life skills and cognitive development are in the making.

Edutopia published an article summarizing some of the research findings on teaching meditation in school, such as 25% fewer class absences; improved scores on validated attention-skills tests; and 50% fewer rule infractions.  Middle schools and high schools in California are introducing meditation with positive reports.

There are many forms of non-religious meditation practices. I have found that children quickly grasp the concepts and enjoy applying them.