What’s New? Yoga in the Park

Every Saturday 9:00am

Gray’s Lake

Free

www.dmgov.org/

Departments/Parks/Pages/

YogaandZumba.aspx

Farmers’ Market

Featuring the Center for

Advocacy & Outreach

June 28, 2014

Court Ave., Des Moines

Color Vibe Run

Principal Park

One Line Drive, Des Moines

June 28, 2014

www.thecolorvibe.com/

desmoines.php

The Great Amazing Race

July 19, 2014

www.greatamazingrace1.info

/iowa.html

Volume 5, Issue 6

June 2014

Summer programs are now in full-swing! We are gearing up for our

Healthy Cold Lunch Challenge with the Waukee YMCA Day Camp program

in July. If you would like to get in on the challenge, please let me know.

There is still time to get your site involved and helping your kids make

smart choices in what they pack for lunch.

Meet Hannah!

Hi, My name is Hannah Lee and I am an intern at

Blank Children’s Hospital in The Center for Advoca-

cy and Outreach program. I will be graduating this

summer from Iowa State University with a bache-

lor’s degree in Kinesiology and Health with Child,

Adult, and Family Services minor. Throughout my

life, I have always enjoyed working with children in various capacities in-

cluding volunteering, tutoring math and English, and assisting teachers at

summer youth fitness camp. I am passionate in teaching children how to be

healthier in their physical, emotional and intellectual levels. Someday I

want to be a health educator who supports and recognizes importance of

individual child’s health behavior for him/herself and also their families.

When I am not doing my school work I enjoy baking cookies, making jewel-

ry, crafting pictures and news,Yoga and building Legos. My new challenge

for this summer is Wall Climbing with my friends!

As the weather gets hot, children will spend more time being active outside. As parents, it is important

to pay special attention to your children’s hydration when they are physically active outside during the

summer time. You can’t go wrong giving enough plain water to kids. Grabbing a sweetened drink from

the fridge is one of the bad habits that leads children to become overweight. Even though there are

many drink options out there besides water, what is the best drink and to put in the fridge for your

kids? Let’s learn about different types of beverages how they would affect you and your children’s

health!

How bad are the sweetened drinks?

The consumption of children’s sweetened drinks is on the rise. At the same time, the childhood obesity

problem is increasing in the nation. On average, most boys are getting 15 teaspoons and girls are get-

ting 10 teaspoons of refined sugar from sweetened beverages. These amounts account for most of the

recommended sugar consumption for kids each day. This proves that drinking sweetened drinks are one

of the major causes of children’s high calorie consumption. Even though children drink lots of soda or

juice, sweetened liquids do nothing for their hunger. Sodas and other sweetened drinks are full of sug-

ar. We can even call it Liquid Candy. They are not only providing wasted calories, but they are also rot-

ting kids’ teeth. Soft drinks increase the risk of dental problems because of the high sugar content.

As parents, let kids know that sweetened beverages are

harmful for their health and teeth. It is important that

you make the change first and stock the kitchen with

the right drinks for your children!

Is the diet drink actually better?

Americans drink an average of two cans of soda every

day. But you might have said or thought that, “It’s okay.

I drank diet soda with no calories or sugar so I did not

gain any calories. Right?” Well, if you thought that way,

your thinking was wrong. Why? Artificial sweeteners can

disrupt the body’s natural ability to regulate calorie in-

take based on the sweetness of foods (Purdue Universi-

ty). According to this fact, people who consume diet

foods might be more likely to overeat since their bodies

are tricked into thinking they are eating sugar which

makes them crave more. If you want to learn more

about effects of drinking diet soda, visit here: http://

healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/7-side-effects-

of-drinking-diet-soda

(Continued on Page 4.)

Parent Page

Kids Korner

Kids are required to drink at least six to

eight cups of water a day. Do you drink

enough water or do you forget? Here are

easy and useful applications to keep track

your kids’ water consumption on your

smartphone!

Water Your Body Hydro Drink Water

Source:

http://www.eatright.org/kids/article.aspx?

id=6442470651

World’s Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL)

With the weather finally reaching high temperatures, what better way to stay active than

swimming? With schools out for the summer and pools filling with children of all ages, it’s im-

portant to know how to stay safe in the water.

Drowning is the number one cause of injury-related death among children ages 1-4, with swim-

ming pools being the most common site for a drowning to occur. On average, 1,027 children die

each year from unintentional drowning. There is a worldwide effort to decrease this number by

improving the skill of young swimmers.

The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL) is an around the globe event aimed at creating

awareness of the importance of having adequate swimming skills and breaking a world record, of

course. In 2013, WLSL set a new Guinness World record™ for the largest simultaneous swim-

ming lesson ever conducted when 32,450 kids and adults representing 13 countries participated

last June.

On Friday, June 20, 2014, the 5th attempt at setting a new record took place. The Altoona

Campus Aquatic Park acted as a host facility working with Blank Children’s Hospital and the Io-

wa Department of Public Health to make this event a success again this year. The 30-minute

swimming lesson started at 10am, and covers the basic swimming skills every child and adult

should know. 193 people participated in the event at the Altoona Campus which was almost four

times as many as last year!

Do my children need sports drinks to avoid dehydration after playing sports?

Sports drinks are beneficial for kids who participate in vigorous physical activity that lasts an hour, such

as long distance running, biking, soccer or hockey. However, sports drinks are not necessary for the casual

athlete and should not be consumed on a regular basis. Sports drinks are sweet and contain calories which

may aid hydration in athletic kids. Yet, this might increase the risk of gaining weight.

What if my children are not big fans of plain water?

Well, if your child is avoiding drinking just plain water and keeps looking for sweet drinks, here are the

options you can try with your children!

Add just about any fruit in the bottle. It is fresh, sweet and made from 100% whole fruit and no added

sugar! Iced Tea, is a good choice for lunch to stay healthy. Just consider finding a decaffeinated version

for your kids. Smoothies are popular drinks in summer. My favorite one is blending strawberry and banana

with some milk and yogurt. Delicious!

What is the best drink option for my children?

Instead of juice, soda or sugar sweetened beverages, change their drink to water, nonfat milk or spar-

kling water without added sugar. Check out the Kids Total Daily Water Requirement down below.

Sources:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/power_drinks.html#

http://www.eatright.org/kids/article.aspx?id=6442470651

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/06_drink_gdlnes.htm

http://www.webmd.com/children/features/children-and-sweetened-drinks-whats-a-parent-to-do

http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/sweet_drinks_and_obesity/

Age Range Gender Total water

(L/Day)

4-8 years Girls and

Boys

1.3

9-13 years Girls 2.1

Boys 2.4

14-18 years Girls 2.3

Boys 3.3