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The Biggest Threat to Our Children By James H. O'Keefe, M.D. To me, children are the joy and the light of the world. Their eyes sparkle with energy and curiosity, and the future belongs to them. By nature, we are hard-wired to worry about the safety and well-being of our children and grandchildren. We put so much time, effort, and love into raising these kids; in them we invest our hopes and dreams. So we buckle them in, smear on the sunscreen, strap on their helmets, and supervise their every move like watchful mother hens. Yet many parents unwittingly poison their children on a daily basis by giving them drive-through junk food and unlimited access to inactive pastimes like TV, computer games, and spectator sports. Indeed, the modern world is a very dangerous place in which to grow up, but not for the reasons most people fret about. To be sure, abductions, accidents, violent deaths, serious infections, and child abuse are tragic events that still scar or end too many young lives. Yet the likelihood that a newborn baby will grow into maturity is far better today than it has ever been in the history of humankind. The more insidious dangers that stalk our children are disguised as harmless pleasures: way too little physical play and fresh air, and way too much TV and junk food. Obesity and diabetes increasingly threaten to ruin the health and longevity of the new generation. Obesity among children has risen five-fold in just 25 years, and experts predict that one-third to one-half of all American children born in the new millennium will develop diabetes in their lifetime. These calamities result from a diet and lifestyle that are increasingly at odds with our genetic identity. Kids were meant to be very physically active. The single best predictor of mood in a long-term study of teenagers was their level of daily physical exercise-inactive kids tended to be depressed, whereas active youngsters tended to be happy. The most important step you can take to ensure the long-term vitality, both emotional and physical, of the children in your life, is by teaching them by example how to eat right and find their fun mostly through physical play. Outdoor exercise was, by necessity, how all humans stayed fit for countless millennia. However, in recent decades most people have migrated indoors permanently, transitioning abruptly into an unnatural mole-like existence. Yet the natural world remains our native milieu and it has the power to energize and inspire our lives. The vogue terms for outdoor activities are ecotherapy or green exercise, and I am an enthusiastic advocate of this fitness strategy. An English team of researchers recently reported that a 30-minute walk in a park boosted self-esteem and lifted depression, whereas a half-hour stroll in a mall actually increased tension. I can personally attest to the fact that when I want to relax, an indoor mall would be about the last place I would think of going. On the other hand, I find that walking outdoors with the kids through the Plaza in Kansas City, for example, to be invigorating and fun. Even more enjoyable is an outing to Loose Park with the kids and dogs to spend an hour walking, running, scooting, skating, climbing trees, or playing Frisbee. Another British study found that being active outside in nature induces instant relaxation in 84 percent of people, both young and old. When you get out in nature and do something exhilarating, it's not that you no longer have worries; it's more like you just can't remember what you were worried about. Admittedly my kids love TV too, but I have found that rather than just tell them to turn off the screen, if I offer them an active alternative, they will usually jump at the chance to play. If you could see what was happening in your kid's or grandkid's bloodstream arteries right after they gulp down a 'Happy Meal,' it would make you cringe. Disturbingly, a fast food meal of a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke will cause dangerous rises in the blood levels of glucose and fats that immediately trigger inflammation, stress hormone release, a rise in blood pressure, and constriction of the blood vessels-even in apparently healthy young people. In fact, the stress to the arteries induced by such a meal is the same as smoking two cigarettes. So when you take your kids out for a junk food meal, you might as well be taking them out behind the garage to smoke a couple of cigarettes. Do everything you can to see that the kids in your life eat more natural, unprocessed whole foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, and berries and less of the ubiquitous tasty, but toxic junk food. I have always thought of berries as nature's candy, and they are one of my kids' favorite foods. Children instinctively love candy, whose natural sweetness is a marker of a high-calorie treat that can fuel the energetic pursuits of youth. Among the nutritional superfoods, berries might be tops. Their intense, dark purple pigments that temporarily stain your fingers and lips are also potent anti-oxidants that cool the damaging fires of inflammation and keep your heart, arteries, and brain youthful and healthy. Berries occupy six of the top 11 spots on the list of the best anti-oxidant foods, including tangy and tasty options such as wild blueberries, regular (cultivated) blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and cranberries. Wild blueberries are the best of the berries, and you can find these little nutritional powerhouses at Costco all year round for a very reasonable price (about $7 for a 3-pound bag of frozen wild blueberries). If your kids are clamoring for sweets, get in the habit of substituting berries and other healthful fruits for sweets. |
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