Insight Nutrition Blog

Are today’s children becoming the sickest generation? Looking at the statistics on children’s health, across the board, paints an alarming picture…

• ADD/ADHD – up a whopping 400% over the last 25 years.
• Bi-Polar Disorder – 40-fold increase among children over the last decade.
• Allergies – 40% of children now have allergies.
• Asthma – up 160% in children under the age of 5 since 1980.
• Autism – dramatic gains since the 1980’s with estimates now of 1 in 150 children in America today having an autism spectrum disorder.
• Sleep Disorders - 25% of children have sleep disorders, which is also a precursor linked to obesity, asthma and allergies. Researchers have found that every additional hour per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the child’s chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40 percent. If there was a magic number for the third-graders, it was nine hours, 45 minutes of sleep.

Jean Weiss of MSN Health and Fitness reports on the state of children’s health:

“More kids are getting diagnosed with bipolar, ADHD, allergies, and asthma in this decade than in previous decades. Some attribute this increase to improved diagnosing, others to over-diagnosing. Still others view the sick-kid trend as the proverbial canary in the coalmine: More children are getting sick because they are fragile and affected by an increasingly industrialized world.

“I do think we are in the midst of an epidemic of these child disorders,” says Dr. Kenneth Bock, co-founder of the Rhinebeck Health Center and author of Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, Allergies (Ballantine Books, 2007). “I don’t believe it is all due to better diagnosis.”

Bock suggests that children predisposed to these medical conditions are more likely to manifest them after cumulative exposure to pollutants such as heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides, flame retardants, and chemicals from plastic additives to name a few. “All those kinds of things together are increasing the toxic load on children,” he says.

The simplest thing parents can do for their child is decrease their exposure to toxins, Bock says, whether it means eating pesticide-free whole natural foods or avoiding processed foods, heavy metals and harmful pollutants found in myriad products such as food, toys, computers, and clothing. “This is a recent phenomenon over the last 20 years,” says Brock. “We are living in a chemical soup, and it’s the kids that are the most susceptible.”

Living Life with Trust

As we create the life of our dreams, we often reach a crossroads where the choices seem to involve the risk of facing the unknown versus the safety and comfort of all that we have come to trust. We may feel like a tightrope walker, carefully teetering along the narrow path to our goals, sometimes feeling that we are doing so without a net. Knowing we have some backup may help us work up the courage to take those first steps, until we are secure in knowing that we have the skills to work without one. But when we live our lives from a place of balance and trust in the universe, we may not see our source of support, but we can know that it is there.

If we refuse to act only if we can see the safety net, we may be allowing the net to become a trap as it creates a barrier between us and the freedom to pursue our goals. Change is inherent in life, so even what we have learned to trust can surprise us at any moment. Remove fear from the equation and then, without even wondering what is going on below, we can devote our full attention to the dream that awaits us.

We attract support into our lives when we are willing to make those first tentative steps, trusting that the universe will provide exactly what we need. In that process we can decide that whatever comes from our actions is only for our highest and best experience of growth. It may come in the form of a soft landing, an unexpected rescue or an eye-opening experience gleaned only from the process of falling. So rather than allowing our lives to be dictated by fear of the unknown, or trying to avoid falling, we can appreciate that sometimes we experience life fully when we are willing to trust and fall. And in doing so, we may just find that we have the wings to fly.

When we believe that there is a reason for everything, we are stepping out with the safety net, and we know we will make the best from whatever comes our way.

When stressed out or anxious, some people turn to food as a way to comfort themselves. However, what may be soothing at the time can make you feel worse - and weigh more - in the end. If you tend to turn to food as a way to cope with a stressful situation, consider the following tips:

• Don’t drink caffeine or alcohol (and don’t smoke) when stressed. These can heighten or prolong your anxiety and worsen its side effects.
• Drink plenty of water - between six and eight glasses per day. This can help quell the pangs of an empty stomach and promote a healthy digestive system.
• Keep your blood sugar levels stable by eating several small, nutritious meals rather than three large ones.
• Make sure your meals or snacks incorporate omega-3 fatty acids. Include walnuts, salmon and freshly ground flaxseeds into your diet.
• Incorporate foods rich in magnesium, which helps relax muscles, into your diet. Whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts and seeds are good sources.
• Above all, be aware of your eating habits. If you find yourself eating to combat stress, limit yourself to small portions, enough so you can savor the taste or texture. Then go for a walk or practice meditating: both are proven, healthier ways to address stress.