Herbal Medicines

Fast food is a big part of modern life these days, making it very hard to teach a child how he or she should eat healthy. The cheapest and easiest foods are those that are normally the least healthy. If you give your child the choice between healthy food and junk food, you normally won't like the results.

Even though it isn't possible to get a child to like all healthy foods, there are some ways to get your child to try and hopefully like at least a few of them. You can be as creative as you like, as getting kids to eat healthy foods can be a little harder than you may think.

- Sneak the healthy food in. Even though it would be great if your kid understood the importance of fruits and vegetables, this isn't always possible. If you can't get them to eat good food willingly, there are ways to sneak them in, such as making muffins out of bananas or apples, or pizza with spinach on it.

- Call fruits and vegetables by funny names. You can refer to broccoli as "trees", making them more fun to eat. There are many different names you can call fruits and vegetables, even making up your own if you prefer. Most kids prefer to eat foods that sound fun.

- Make the foods taste better. Ranch dressing is great for broccoli, while peanut butter is a great topping for celery. There are several combinations for vegetables that can make them taste much better. You can let your child pick a topping for a vegetable, even if it's something you wouldn't normally like yourself.

- Dress the vegetables up. Just as much as calling them names help kids eat healthy foods, making them look funny also helps. You can do this by making funny designs on the plate, or setting them up to look like people. Although some parents don't like their kids playing with their food, sometimes it helps to get them to eat healthier.

There are several ways to make your kids eat healthier, but to make them enjoy it also has to be fun as well. This isn't always an easy task, because kids normally don't like foods that are good for them. It can however, be done with a bit of creativity. Hopefully, doing this will help your child develop a love of healthy foods for the rest of their lives.

They say that granola is a healthy snack that you should have but the problem is that it is not always healthy. Like then they are in cereals like Honey Oats and Raisons…sounds healthy huh? Not really because it is jam packed with sugar! You mind as well have a chocolate [...]

This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

Don’t Forget to Get Your ZZZs

A study presented this week at the Forum of European Neuroscience conference in Geneva, Switzerland suggests that a good night’s sleep can improve memory.

For the study, researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland enlisted 32 volunteers to each learn a new skill, such as following a moving dot on a computer screen using a joy stick. Participants were then divided into two groups: the first was allowed to sleep for eight hours and the second was deprived of sleep or only permitted to take a short nap.

To assess the impact of these sleep patterns on the brain, researchers then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brain activity of participants as they repeated the tasks that they had learned the previous days.

According to the researchers, those who had slept properly the previous night performed better on the skills, a finding that was also reflected in their brain activity. Specifically, the researchers reported that in those that were not sleep deprived, there was more activity in certain regions of the brain associated with learning and memory.

Noting that it has long been thought that sleep is essential for clarifying thinking, lead researcher Dr. Sophie Schwartz notes that the data proves that “a period of sleep following a new experience can consolidate and improve subsequent effects of learning from the experience. This improvement comes from changes in brain activity in specific regions that code for relevant features of the learned material.” As such, she suggests that getting a good night’s sleep can help the brain “harden up weak memories which otherwise might fade in time.”

Schwartz notes, however, that the study did not determine how much sleep was necessary for optimal memory retention, and also suggested that fluctuations in sleep cycle or structure – such as those created by sleep aids – may also impact memorization.

Here at MDA we’ve long touted the benefits of sleep (here, here, and here, for example), but let this serve as (yet more) proof that your Great Aunt Gilda was right when she told you that there wasn’t too much that a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix. To name a few off the top of our (well-rested) heads, sleep is essential for allowing the mind to rest and recuperate and is also, quite frankly, associated with a better mood (you can thank the release of feel-good hormone melatonin for that one). Sleep also gives worn-out muscles the time necessary to rest and repair and allows time for the release of hormones associated with fat loss.

In short, sleep is associated with a better mind, a better mood and a better body, so this weekend, make an appointment to get your snooze on and sign up for a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep or, if that’s simply not possible in your house, carve out some time for a lazy afternoon nap.

We promise you, it will really pay off come Monday morning.

nndosi Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

The Benefits of Short Breaks

Naps are a Sensible Vice

Fasting May Stave Off Jet Lag

If you like this post please share it with StumbleUpon.

Subscribe to Mark’s Daily Apple for FREE updates via RSS or email.

Over in the Science Based Medicine blog, Wallace Sampson is expresses outrage that the National Institutes of Health has announced an initiative to fu. Benefits of Natural Health Remedies buy soma