Cara Natterson's Blog, page 19

Sugar Cube Challenge?

I totally would have underestimated sugar content if I was a parent in this study! Maybe someone should start a social media campaign where we take pictures of sugar cubes (approx 3 grams of sugar apiece) next to various foods to represent sugar content. Maybe I should start that ball rolling?! Would be a great visual tool to teach others - myself included! - about hidden sugar content.

More than 18 percent of elementary-school-age students in the United States are obese, and no one really knows why. The causes are numerous and tangled. But consuming too much sugar is widely accepted as an important factor. In 2015, the World Health Organization issued a recommendation: Everyone, regardless of age, should restrict his or her sugar intake to less than 10 percent of all calories consumed daily. For young children, that would... READ MORE

Consent is Gender Neutral

Such an important article from Lisa Damour, Ph.D.! I cannot state loudly enough how important I think it is to flip the conversation and think about it through the lens of our boys. Consent is gender neutral. And affirmative consent - the idea that every single physical move is mutually acceptable and agreed upon - sets a nearly impossible standard with complicated ramifications. Lisa, I love your last line in this article: "We owe it to our adolescents to remind them that healthy intimate relationships are about a lot more than securing agreement in bed."

When adults talk to young people about sex, the standard speech includes the warning that they must obtain consent before stepping up intimacy to the next level. Here’s the problem: guidance that centers on the term “consent” suggests that a legal standard for permissible sexual interactions is also a decent or desirable one.Which it isn’t. READ MORE

Getting 'Consent' For Sex Is Too Low A Bar

Such an important article from Lisa Damour, Ph.D.! I cannot state loudly enough how important I think it is to flip the conversation and think about it through the lens of our boys. Consent is gender neutral. And affirmative consent - the idea that every single physical move is mutually acceptable and agreed upon - sets a nearly impossible standard with complicated ramifications. Lisa, I love your last line in this article: "We owe it to our adolescents to remind them that healthy intimate relationships are about a lot more than securing agreement in bed."

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When adults talk to young people about sex, the standard speech includes the warning that they must obtain consent before stepping up intimacy to the next level. Here’s the problem: guidance that centers on the term “consent” suggests that a legal standard for permissible sexual interactions is also a decent or desirable one.Which it isn’t. READ MORE

Exergaming Is A Thing

Exergaming is a thing... and apparently it works. This is a really small study, but an important one. Twenty-three overweight and obese tweens who increased their daily exercise through gaming had improvements in BMI, cholesterol and self-efficacy/belief about personal control. There are bright sides to screens - here's one! 

A new study from LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center showed for the first time that video games, in combination with fitness coaching and a step tracker, helped overweight children lose weight, lower their blood pressure and cholesterol and increase their physical activity.The results of the GameSquad trial are available online and will be published in an upcoming Special Issue of the journal Pediatric Obesity in a scientific paper titled... READ MORE

Video Games Can Improve Health?

Exergaming is a thing... and apparently it works. This is a really small study, but an important one. Twenty three overweight and obese tweens who increased their daily exercise through gaming had improvements in BMI, cholesterol and self-efficacy/belief about personal control. There are bright sides to screens - here's one! 

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A new study from LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center showed for the first time that video games, in combination with fitness coaching and a step tracker, helped overweight children lose weight, lower their blood pressure and cholesterol and increase their physical activity.The results of the GameSquad trial are available online and will be published in an upcoming Special Issue of the journal Pediatric Obesity in a scientific paper titled... READ MORE

Virtual Worlds

These days, the word “friend” doesn’t just mean someone you hand out with face-to-face. “Friend” also refers to a person you know (or sort of know) virtually through social media. That means a “friend” can be a total stranger.

Many of the popular social media sites don’t allow kids under the age of 13. That’s because it takes maturity and smarts to understand how powerful social media is. It’s also about your personal data and privacy. What’s the big deal?READ MORE

From Beware to Aware

My consulting company may be called Worry Proof, but this summer I am focusing on the second half over the first, emphasizing the proof over the worry, being aware over beware. I don’t think I will ever look back.

Being ware – if that’s a thing – isn’t bad. But everything about “beware” connotes negativity. Beware of the monsters, the toxins, the rules, the haters. In my life as a pediatrician, I have taught kids and their parents to beware; as an author I have written about it endlessly; and holy smokes, as a parent I am constantly flagging my kids to take heed.

But beware is selfish: it’s about you and what you can do to protect yourself. Okay, maybe you can expand the warning to family or friends, readers or followers. But inherently, it’s narcissistic. Awareness, on the other hand, is often massively bigger than yourself. It is wide-eyed, alert, and generally positive or at the very least proactive. Awareness is the A side of the album, the best first listen, first impression, first step. Read More

 

The Biggest Heart of All

Allison Gingold is a crusader. After an AED (automated external defibrillator) literally brought her son back to life, she took it upon herself to make sure that other kids in the same unanticipated life-threatening situation could stand a chance. She may just have the biggest heart of anyone I know.  

This week we are celebrating the 9th anniversary of saving our son’s life. As I reflect on this miracle, I can attest to the power of sharing your story, being vulnerable and challenging the status quo in order to move humanity forward.

In June 2009, my family and I traveled to Israel for my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. It was a beautiful vacation that involved a two-week tour of the entire country from the 115-degree brutal deserts to its seas that are actually under sea level. Along the vacation, we traveled to Masada, the oldest known synagogue in the world, for my daughter’s service atop a cliff in the middle of the desert. Around 4:00 in the afternoon, after a two-hour bus ride back into town from Masada, Zach collapsed on the hotel lobby’s floor. I turned over his lifeless body to find his eyes rolled up and his skin cold and pale. Read more

Saving Hearts Foundation

This week we are celebrating the 8th anniversary of saving our son’s life. As I reflect on this miracle, I can attest to the power of sharing your story, being vulnerable and challenging the status quo in order to move humanity forward.

In June 2009, my family and I traveled to Israel for my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. It was a beautiful vacation that involved a two-week tour of the entire country from the 115-degree brutal deserts to its seas that are actually under sea level. Along the vacation, we traveled to Masada, the oldest known synagogue in the world, for my daughter’s service atop a cliff in the middle of the desert. Around 4:00 in the afternoon, after a two-hour bus ride back into town from Masada, Zach collapsed on the hotel lobby’s floor. I turned over his lifeless body to find his eyes rolled up and his skin cold and pale. Read more

Finding Real Beauty

We’re surrounded by images of women—in magazines, on TV, in the movies—that influence how people see themselves. Models and celebrities wear heavy makeup and spend hours on their hair. Then their images are altered to change the way they look even more. Most kids know that real people don’t look like that, but it’s easy to forget and to believe what you see. If you compare yourself to them, you’ll almost always feel you don’t measure up. Read more