Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Saturday, December 10, 2011

"My Feelings are Hungry"~How You Can Help Childhood Obesity

As the Author, Ava Parnass states, "Did you even know that feelings could get hungry? Well they can! My Feelings Are Hungry, discusses the power of feelings and the need to discuss them. 


Children don't know what they feel and need to be taught the words to describe the feelings inside so they feel better and behavior improves. 


My Feelings Are Hungry teaches them to express themselves in a creative way while still knowing they are in a safe environment.

I have been a child and family psychotherapist for over 15 years and am a strong advocate for a comprehensive approach to a healthy lifestyle. I developed these products entirely with the children in mind and helping them better communicate their thoughts and feelings to their parents and loved ones in order to grow up in a healthier environment."


Just in the United States alone, obesity is a growing epidemic and childhood obesity is sadly increasing to a staggering number. 

According to the CDC
  • Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese.
  • Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.
Mushy
That is why I was so excited to be given this opportunity to review My Feelings are Hungry by Ava Parnass, Illustrated by Al Margolis and Contributor Rebecca Parnass! 

Mushy is a Fairy Godmother and Hero all tied up in one cute and loving character! Everyone of us has the opportunity to become like Mushy. Whether as a parent, grandparent, family member or even in the classroom as a teacher.
Rebecca is having a bad day and replaces her feelings with snacks and junk food. Mushy appears and takes her on a journey to a special place called Feeling Town.
We can all learn how to deal with feelings of anger, sadness and even loneliness. Instead of quickly choosing to bury her feelings with unhealthy food choices, Rebecca learns that she can deal with these feelings in a healthy way.
 


You will enjoy reading this book to your children.  I guarantee that both you and your child will learn many valuable lessons from Mushy! I know I did!




"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." Mother Teresa

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Rise Above Your Limits and P.O.T.S

I was recently asked to be a guest on Becky Jane's blog, Rise Above Your Limits. Here I discuss how my condition, Hyperadrenergic Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome affects me on a daily basis.

If you visit her blog and leave a comment make sure you mention you are visiting from I Am All a Twitter About Life! Thank you for taking the time to read about this condition.

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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

12 Ounce Baby Amanda

Jaap Vermeulen, Jacoplane in a Neonatal intens...Image via Wikipedia
In all my years of nursing, I can say that working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was one of the most rewarding of my career.  
One of my smallest patients was Baby Amanda. She was born at around 33 weeks gestation, and weighed under 1 pound. She ended up dropping down to 12 ounces a day after she was born. An average weight of a baby at that age should be around 4 pounds instead!
When we took her first picture, we placed a pencil along side of her and the pencil was even longer! 
I was her Primary Care Nurse and took care of her every day until she went home at her desired birth weight of 4.5 pounds. 
Baby Amanda was so strong and feisty! I will never forget her not needing Oxygen or a Ventilator, she was able to breath on her own from the first day of her admission into the NICU! She was all over the Isolette, despite having her swaddled in the sheep skin blanket.  I would find her in all corners of her new home and would have to reposition her back to the center!
Her Mommy was a smoker and also had Pre-Eclampsia during her pregnancy.  When Mom arrived for the first time she asked me where her baby was, and why was there a little doll in the Isolette? I told her that was her baby girl and eventually after the shock wore off she held her little girl for the first time. 
Baby Amanda had a few scares while in the NICU, but after two months we were able to discharge her home. 
There are many studies out about smoking, low birth weight babies and all the other complications that potentially can arise.  However, this study was encouraging for moms who are able to quit smoking as soon as they find out they are pregnant.  Of course there are never any guarantees, as there are many other variables that can affect this outcome. 
"The findings are based on data from more than 50,000 pregnant women in Southampton, England, from 2002 to 2010. The average weight of babies born to smokers who kicked the habit when they found out they were pregnant was 33 grams (10.6 ounces) more than babies born to women who kept smoking during their pregnancyAgence France-Presse reported."
I lost track of Baby Amanda after she was discharged but always wondered how she was. She would be around 23 years old today! 
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