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