According to a recent study released by Dr. Claudia Galindo of the University of Maryland, Latino children are more likely to be obese than White and Asian children.

In 2009, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through the Saludo America! organization, funded 20 pilot research grants to study obesity in Latino children. Dr. Galindo’s project was #17.

You can read more of her findings here

Then take a few minutes to watch these videos released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which showcases how the programs are impacting many communities:

Totally awesome program. Do you live in one of the communities which has one of these programs? We’d enjoy your comments!

What is your personal opinion about childhood obesity in general and the “problem” being more prevalent in the Latino community in particular?

Children and Fitness - Children and fitness information resource

Today we have a brain teaser for you!

In which United States’ state would you be more likely to find a yoga studio called “Big Yoga?”

Did you say, “Texas?!”

Congrats!

Folks in Texas seem to do most everything “BIG.” Big Yoga in Houston is no exception.

Big Yoga offers many programs, including Kids Yoga and Family Yoga. Their philosophy is to offer yoga for kids to create mindfulness, self-confidence, compassion, inspire creativity and flexibility. And, most of all to have fun in the process.

Explore their website here:

Is there a facility like Big Yoga in your town? It is a business model to really take a look at to see if you could begin to add a “Big Yoga” look-a-like studio in your locale.

You could even begin to add the concepts and movements in your own home.

Kudos to them for their awesome vision.

Children and Fitness - Children and fitness information resource

That headline might cause your brow to furrow and you to wonder what in the world those words could possibly mean.

Actually the cigarettes and beer analogy grew out of a study recently released in “Nature”conducted by a group of researchers at the University of California.

One of the researchers reported that “sugar is toxic beyond its calories.”

Read more here about the new findings about the effect sugar has on healthy kids:

This study is a wake-up call for all of us, parents, children, teens, adults.

Let’s make a pledge to ourselves and to the children we are responsible for to eliminate, as much as possible, the daily sugar we ingest. One of the first changes we can make is to add more water to our liquid intake.

Become avid label readers. Make a game of it so that your children and grandchildren will find it fun to join in. Encourage them to become label reader detectives!

Vigilence, attention and creating fun around eliminating sugar from your household will go a long way to having healthy kids.

And that is every parent’s dream.

As the Nike slogan says, “Just do it!”

Children and Fitness - Children and fitness information resource

In a newly release study led by Dr. Jacob Barkley of Kent State University reveals that children who are socially excluded exercise less, leading to a risk for obesity.

Social acceptance has long been recognized as a critical component of a child’s life and self-esteen.

Read Dr. Barkley’s new findings here”

We understand that children can be mean and cruel, especially when they feel unaccepted. They tend to lash out and create more havoc than existed initially.

What are some of the ways you guide the child or children in your care to be respectful of others and to support each other?

Comments are welcomed as we explore the child exercise, self-esteem and childhood obesity connection.

Children and Fitness - Children and fitness information resource

Personal trainers for kids? Is this just a novel concept or does it really work?

Staff at the Southdale YMCA in Edina, Minnesota say it really works. In fact they’ve seen an increase in the past few years of kids asking for and enrolling in a program with a personal trainer.

The statistic that 1-3 children are overweight across the United States comes as no surprise.

What is possibly a surprise is that more than a million American kids a year work with a personal trainer.

Read more here about Edina’s YMCA program:

Children in general do seem to respond better, and much more easily, to “outside the family” suggestions regarding their health and exercise.

If you have the financial means to be able to offer the services of a personal trainer to your child, you have to potential to change the life of your child, and do your part to change the statistic of childhood obesity.

Children and Fitness - Children and fitness information resource