Dairy Council of California

Teens, Young Adults Reduce Milk Consumption

New research conducted at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis found a majority of the 1,500 teenage and young-adult study participants reduced their calcium intake in high school and the years immediately following high school. The researchers found that more than half of the males and more than two-thirds of the females consumed less than the daily recommended level of calcium. The study findings are published in the July issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Human bone mass peaks when a person is in his or her early 30s.  Consuming sufficient amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D—all found in dairy products—during the teen and young-adult years is considered key to lowering the risk of osteoporosis and other health issues later in life. For children aged 9 – 18, the recommended daily intake of calcium is 1,300 mg and 1,000 mg a day is recommended for young adults.

The authors noted that those who consumed higher amounts of dietary calcium during these critical years more often had increased availability of milk at mealtime, a healthy attitude and approach toward weight, health and nutrition and a taste for milk. Excessive television watching and lactose intolerance were associated with lower calcium levels.

"The findings of this study indicate that future interventions designed to promote improvements in calcium intake should encourage the families of adolescents to serve milk at meals," the team concluded in their report. The authors also suggested that specific efforts should target concerns particular to each sex.

Larsen, et al. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
Volume 41, Issue 4, July-August 2009, Pages 254-260

Healthy Eating on a Budget

Meal planning can be very beneficial for your health because it allows you to incorporate nutritious foods into your meals throughout the week. Eating nutrient-rich foods is a lot easier when planning in advance and making meals at home.

Meal planning also helps you stick to your food budget because when you have a plan for your meals you eliminate random purchases while you are shopping. You also save gas by making one trip to the store instead of multiple trips each week.

10 meal planning tips that can help you save money:

1. Pack your lunch. Preparing a lunch at home rather than eating fast food is a great way to save money – and it’s generally healthier! Keep it green by using reusable containers.
   
2. Eat at home more often. Meals prepared at home are usually more nutritious and less expensive than restaurant meals. Our meal planner will get you started.
   
3. Eat breakfast at home – it’s healthy and cheap! And, eating breakfast helps with weight loss.
   
4. Use food you already have on hand. Taking an inventory of the food in your cupboards, refrigerator and freezer is the best way to start your weekly meal planning. You’ve already paid for the food; build your meals around these ingredients!
   
5. Buy fresh produce in season—when it’s cheaper. You’ll pay more for food purchased off-season so choose recipes that use seasonal ingredients.
   
6. Make better use of the food you purchase and reduce spoilage by planning your meals for the week. Food that goes uneaten in your refrigerator is a waste of money. Read food storage tips.
   
7. Make all of your purchases in one trip to the store. Creating your weekly shopping list reduces your trips to the grocery store, which saves time, gas and money.
   
8. Build meals around sale items featured at your grocery store. Search our recipe database by ingredient to take advantage of what’s on sale.
   
9. Clip coupons only for foods you buy on a regular basis. Coupons won’t save you money if you buy things that you wouldn’t normally purchase.
   
10. Stock up on your cooking staples when they go on sale. That way you will have healthy food on hand for those nights when you don’t know what to cook.

Child’s Play: The Foundation of Good Health 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans

Encouraging regular physical activity among elementary school children is a goal worthy of every educator. Regular physical activity in children promotes health and fitness. Physically active youth have higher levels of cardiovascular fitness and stronger muscles than their inactive peers. They usually have less body fat, their bones are stronger and they may have reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. Helping children achieve success in whatever physical activities they choose can boost self-esteem and competency which in turn can encourage them to further expand their activity choices.

Active youth also have a better chance of a healthy adulthood. Although young children typically don’t have chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or osteoporosis, risk factors for these diseases can begin to develop early in life. With regular physical activity, it is less likely that these risk factors will develop and more likely that children will remain healthy as adults.

The Federal Government has issued its first-ever Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines describe the types and amounts of physical activity that promote health. Children and adolescents should do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity each day. Activities should be developmentally appropriate, based on the age of the child. The 60 minutes should be comprised of three essential activities: aerobic, muscle building and bone strengthening.

• Aerobic activities—those activities in which children rhythmically move their large muscles—should make up most of your child’s 60 or more minutes of physical activity each day. The activity does not need to come in a 60-minute block; it can be in 10- to 15-minute activity bursts throughout the day. Daily activities can include either moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, dancing or bicycling or vigorous-intensity activity, such as running or swimming. Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity should be included at least 3 days per week.
• Muscle-strengthening activities, such as tug-of-war, playing on a jungle gym or push-ups, should be included at least 3 days per week as part of the 60 or more minutes. As children get older, they may start structured weight training programs, for instance with an organized sports team.
• Bone-strengthening activities, such as jumping rope or running, should be included at least 3 days per week as part of the 60 or more minutes. Bone-strengthening activities remain especially important for children and young adolescents because the greatest gains in bone mass occur during the years just before and during puberty. The majority of peak bone mass is obtained by the end of adolescence.

What is moderate- or vigorous-intensity activity?

On a scale of 0 to 10, where sitting is a 0 and the highest level of activity is a 10, moderate-intensity activity is a 5 or 6. When doing moderate - intensity activity, the heart will beat faster than normal and breathing is somewhat harder than normal. Vigorous-intensity activity is a level 7 or 8. When doing vigorous-intensity activity, the heart beats much faster than normal and breathing is much harder than normal.

Download this new handout, Child’s Play: The Foundation for Good Health to learn more about what schools can do to promote physical activity.

Healthy Meal Planning

How often do you come home from a hectic day at work and struggle to determine what to do for dinner? More than likely you are all too familiar with this feeling.

One of the best ways to avoid racking your brain every evening to come up with an answer is through meal planning. By planning a few meals for the upcoming week, you will alleviate this unnecessary stress and have more time to spend with your family.

Family meals are especially important when you have children. Research has also shown that children and teens that eat regular meals with their families are nearly 5 times less likely to use drugs or smoke than those who do not eat family meals on a regular basis. Dinner is often the best time to have meals together as this is when everyone is winding down from a busy day. This can also be a time to learn about your children, how their day has been, and simply reconnect with one another

Meal planning can be very beneficial for your health. It allows you to have more control over portion sizes and helps to avoid spur-of-the-moment purchasing of fast food as a last resort. Ensuring that you and your family are eating nutrient-rich foods is a lot easier when planning in advance and making meals at home. When you can eliminate last minute trips to the store, you’ll have more time to prepare meals and side dishes full of functional foods, which are excellent for you and your family’s health.

Meal planning can also help you save money. When you have a plan of what you will need to purchase for the week ahead, you will be able to reduce the number of random purchases you make while you’re shopping and you’ll save gas by making one trip to the store instead of multiple trips each week.

Part of meal planning is having an idea of what ingredients you will need in the coming week, and creating a shopping list containing those ingredients. When you arrive at the store you’ll know exactly what you need, so that you can avoid the uncertainty of what to purchase, which can often lead to impulse spending.

Making the commitment to a meal planning routine is just the first step. The next question is where to find the meals that you will make. We offer hundreds of recipes and meal ideas for you to browse, so that you can find the perfect recipes for you and your family. Once you have found the recipes that you want to try, be sure to make use of our shopping list and meal planner to get you started on the right track.

MYFITNESS PLANNER REALLY MOVES YOU

Dairy Council of California’s Free Online Tool Increases Physical Activity

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.—Jan. 13/EurekAlert!/New research suggests that a healthier, more physically active lifestyle is just a few clicks away with Dairy Council of California’s MyFitness Planner.

Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, yet less than half of all American women (47.7 percent) engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity or greater physical activity on most days of the week. To help, Dairy Council of California developed MyFitness Planner, formerly called the Women’s Fitness Planner.

A randomized control trial of 150 healthy adult women showed that MyFitness Planner’s individually tailored Internet-plus-email physical activity intervention resulted in 37 minutes of increased walking and 48 minutes of increased total moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week compared to a control group. Study results were published in the December issue of Preventive Medicine.

A study led by Genevieve Fridlund Dunton, Ph.D., M.P.H., a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, indicated that Dairy Council of California’s online tool can positively impact women’s physical activity levels. Results further showed that participants who clicked more links in the update emails trended toward greater activity by 10–20 minutes per week, regardless of socio-economic or education status.

MyFitness Planner produces individualized physical activity feedback based on an online assessment. Participants receive weekly follow-up email newsletters to support the information on the website and encourage further learning. Full study results are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.10.004.

"MyFitness Planner gets women moving by providing motivation and ongoing support to help them overcome many of the barriers to physical activity that they face," said Trina Robertson, M.S., R.D., Project Manager with Dairy Council of California and study co-author. "Online programs like MyFitness Planner provide additional tools for health professionals to use in counseling their clients."

To increase your physical activity level, access MyFitness Planner in the Tools section of the Dairy Council of California or Meals Matter websites at http://www.dairycouncilofca.org/Tools/MyFitnessPlanner/Default.aspx or http://www.mealsmatter.org/EatingForHealth/Tools/MFP/. Take the quick assessment questionnaire, view your personal activity graph and start improving your activity level. Be sure to read and explore weekly emails for further benefit.

Through various nutrition education programs, Dairy Council of California promotes healthy choices from all the food groups and regular physical activity as the foundation for optimal health. Healthy Eating Made Easier®.

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Take the Nutrition and Fitness Challenge!

The Meals Matter Nutrition and Fitness Challenge is a three-week self-directed program that will help you achieve your nutrition and fitness goals faster.

How the Nutrition and Fitness Challenge Works

Each week of the Nutrition and Fitness Challenge you will receive email communications and have access to Meals Matter tools that guide you through the steps that will help you achieve your personal goals.

The Meals Matter tools, Nutrition and Fitness Challenge blog, daily activity messages and social networks will work together to support your efforts and inform the choices you make each day.

You can also sign up for a daily reminder using our Challenge Feed that will deliver daily activity messages to your news reader starting January 6, 2009.

Weekly Topics

Week 1: Focus on Nutrition

Begins January 6, 2009

Find out which foods are important to your health and then set your goals for achieving good health with a balanced diet.

Week 2: Fitting in Fitness

Begins January 13, 2009

Learn ways to overcome barriers to physical activity and set goals to reach your recommended level of activity.

Week 3: Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

Begins January 20, 2009

Use our meal planning tools to feel your best and meet your healthy weight goals faster.

Social Networks

The Nutrition and Fitness Challenge begins January 6, 2009, but you don’t have to wait until then to start making healthy choices. We’ve established social networking pages to help you connect with friends, family and other participants for social support before, during and after the three-week Challenge. Come see us on Facebook, LinkedIn, LiveJournal or Twitter today!

Reward Yourself

You can start the Nutrition and Fitness Challenge at any time until January 13, 2009, but make sure you participate in each step of the Challenge. This will help you get the most out of the Challenge and make you eligible for the $100 reward.

Sign up today!

Holiday Eating

How to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Just thinking about traditional holiday meals can put the appetite in high gear, before even lifting a fork to taste that first savory bite. And then it begins: about six weeks of feasting at holiday parties—along with what seems like the inevitable holiday weight gain.

The temptation to overeat is lurking at every table. By New Year’s Day, many of us are avoiding the scales, wearing elastic-waist pants and thinking about joining a health club to undo the damage to our waistlines.

How much holiday weight gain

Holiday weight gain is a very significant problem. According to the National Institutes of Health the average American gains about a pound during the six-week winter holiday period. Another study of 200 people, reported in the March 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found the following:

• Holiday weight gained during the six-week period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day accounted for most of a person’s total weight gain over a year’s time.
• The more overweight the study subjects were at the beginning of the holiday season, the more likely they were to gain at least five pounds or more over the holidays.

The relatively small holiday weight gain of just a pound or so, when added together year after a year, can contribute significantly to the substantial total weight gain that occurs during adulthood. Since more than half of all Americans are considered overweight, holiday weight gain is something to be taken seriously.

Focus on Maintaining Your Weight

The holidays are no time to diet or try to lose weight. You will likely feel frustrated and deprived when you force yourself to say “no,” or guilty when you decide to indulge. Rather than trying to lose weight, try to prevent holiday weight gain.

8 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

1. Never go to a party ravenous because you’re more likely to overeat. Skipping a meal to “save room” for later isn’t a good idea. You're better off eating light meals at your usual times to maintain your normal appetite.
2. Choose a few of your favorites hors d’ouevres, in sensible amounts, rather than a pile of everything offered.
3. Go light on dips, chips and sauces and concentrate on fresh veggies, fruit, cheese cubes and lean meats. Dips and sauces can be deceptively high in calories and fat.
4. Take small meal portions from the buffet table.
5. Put together a plate of food and sit down and eat, rather than walking around the buffet table several times or sampling from passing trays.
6. Eat slowly. You’ll likely find you’re full and don’t really want seconds.
7. Go easy on the holiday cookies and cakes. Have one special dessert or split one with a friend.
8. Avoid drinking too much alcohol and other high calorie drinks. Alcohol can increase your appetite and lower your resolve to resist overeating.

If you overeat at a party or holiday dinner, don’t despair. Overeating on one eating occasion won’t cause you to gain weight. It’s your day-to-day eating habits that have the biggest impact on your weight. So, put the overindulgent meal behind you and focus on healthy eating for the days to follow.

Stay Active and Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Physical activity is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and your family during the holiday season. Fitness experts recommend at least 30-60 minutes a day. During the busy holiday season, sneak in exercise by:

• Taking a family walk before or after your holiday meal.
• Picking up your walking pace while shopping at the mall.
• Parking at one end of the mall and walking to the other end and back.
• Using the stairs instead of the escalator.
• Scheduling a walking date with a friend.

All of these small steps toward maintaining your weight during the holidays can add up to big steps toward your lifelong good health. Happy Holidays!

Staying Healthy During Cold and Flu Season

As the weather becomes colder and we stay indoors more, people often catch colds or other viruses. The cold and flu season can begin as early as October and usually ends sometime in April. While there is no way to cure the common cold or the flu, there are several things that you and your family can do to prevent them and stay healthy this season.

Keeping the germs away

The most important thing you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands. A common way to catch a cold is by rubbing your nose or eyes, so to protect against infection wash your hands frequently. Your hands pick up germs from other people or from contaminated surfaces and washing them prevents you from infecting yourself with the germs. Use warm water, soap and wash for several minutes for best results.

Other good health practices are not sharing cups, or silverware and cleaning high-contact items, such as doorknobs, faucets and telephones, with soap and water.

Boost your immune system

Even when your hands are clean, staying healthy means more than simply avoiding germs. Healthy bodies have an easier time fighting off infection. To stay healthy and rev up your immune system:

get plenty of rest eat a well-balanced diet exercise regularly decrease stress cut back on unhealthy habits, such as smoking and over consuming alcohol

Studies have shown that a session of moderate physical activity produces positive effects on the immune system. Over time, this means catching fewer colds and other upper respiratory tract infections.

Food for prevention

Researchers are finding positive links between immune function and components in food. If you or your kids seem to get one cold after another, you'll want to make sure they eat plenty of immune-building foods.
Garlic boosts your immune system, increasing resistance to infection and stress. To get the immune power from garlic, crush the cloves with the flat side of a knife before adding them to your food. This releases the garlic juice, which has great immune properties.
Cheese and other dairy products contain conjugated linoleic acid, a natural component of dairy fat that have boosted immune response in animal studies. Probiotics, which are found in yogurt, may also strengthen the immune system.
Vitamin C, found in citrus fruits and juices, also helps the body's immune system.
Zinc, found in meat, chicken, peanuts and peanut butter, plays an important role in the proper functioning of the immune system in the body.

Foods that heal

Fresh ginger root can help you when you are sick by inducing sweating and decreasing nausea and diarrhea. Make ginger tea by grating one ounce of fresh ginger in a pint of water. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add lemon and honey to taste.
Chicken soup and warm beverages increase the flow of nasal secretions, helping alleviate cold symptoms. Of course, the taste and wonderful aroma of chicken soup may be an important part of the beneficial effects.
The best way to get the daily requirement of essential vitamins and minerals is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods from the food guide pyramid.

Feeling better

For most of us getting sick is a part of life. If you do catch a cold or the flu, the following advice still holds true.

To feel better while you are sick:

Get plenty of rest Drink lots of fluids Use a humidifier - to moisten mucus membranes

Add immune-boosting foods to your Shopping List this flu season.

When you are sick, stay home so you don’t infect others. If you do go out and need to sneeze or cough, use a tissue or sneeze or cough into your sleeve or upper arm. Don’t do it into your hand, since you can spread the virus to others by touching people or handling objects that others may use.

This information is not a substitute for a physician's advice or your own good judgment. If you are feeling truly awful, your symptoms worsen or last a long time it is always wise to contact a physician.