It’s that time of year again where your favorite candies and cookies in orange and black wrappers are everywhere. Halloween candy is hard to resist because these seasonal treats hit the shelves just after Labor Day and stick around until long after October 31. Interested in managing your weight during the Halloween season? Here are some tips to help you succeed! Continue reading →
Everyday we see how obesity affects poor children in dramatic and difficult ways. One of the ways we’ve seen it hurt children is through words. The words that other people say, even those who mean to help, can hurt. Parents, teachers, doctors and other children can be cruel. Obese children suffer in their grades at school and have higher rates of depression, largely because of weight bias. Continue reading →
For many families living in New York City’s poorest neighborhoods, the cost of buying school supplies for the first day of school is staggering. The list that schools send home — pencils, binders, backpacks and glue — can quickly add up to a price tag well above what a family can afford. For obese kids who face weight bias in school, having the right supplies can make a huge difference in their academic success. Continue reading →
Next time you sit down to eat a meal, try this trick. Stop, take a deep breath and then pick up your fork. Before you take a bite of the food, look at your meal. Think about slowing down. Eating more slowly can help you control your weight. When you eat fast, your stomach has no time to tell your brain that it’s full! It takes 20 minutes for your brain to catch up to your stomach signals. But if you slow the process down, your body will realize that it’s had enough and you may find that you weren’t as hungry as you thought you were.
At first, Steven didn’t want to go to the Live Light Live Right summer camp program. He was very stubborn and combative about the idea, his mom said. Before camp, his mom had difficulty explaining to him benefits of eating fruit, drinking water, and moving more.
But all that changed once he started camp. He has been exercising and has changed his eating habits completely. He now eats fruit, smaller portion sizes and hardly eats any junk food at all. He says that Miss Ebony and Miss Kim were very encouraging. They told him “no junk” and encouraged him to snack on granola bars and water. His mom says he has never consumed as much water as he does now! Continue reading →
School lunch is an excellent time to refuel your child’s energy as well as help boost concentration and memory for the afternoon. The trick is providing a lunch that packs a nutritional punch and appeals to your child. Live Light Live Right nutritionist Judy Marshel shared her tips with us.
The ideal lunch contains 1/4 lean protein, 1/4 whole grain, 1/4 vegetable, 1/4 fruit and a serving of low-fat dairy. Continue reading →
It’s true, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In fact, eating breakfast instead of skipping it can actually help you lose weight. Why?
Well, when you sleep for a full night, your body hasn’t had any calories in 8 or 10 hours, so it’s like a car running on fumes. It needs fuel to get going. (That’s why it’s called breakfast as in, you are breaking a fast.)
If you eat when you wake up, it helps fire up your metablism, allowing your body to burn more energy. Eating breakfast helps you from getting too hungry and overeating later in the day.
If you’re not a breakfast fan, try some of these healthy breakfast ideas:
Pulling an all-nighter might help when it comes to cramming for a high school chemistry test, but it can also make you reach for a Big Mac the next morning. When people don’t get enough sleep, they are more likely to eat junk food, say researchers.
A new study from the University of California, Berkeley found that people who did not get enough sleep had impaired decision-making skills and the reward center of their brain was heightened. So people who didn’t get a good night’s sleep were more likely to reach for an unhealthy snack than someone who was well rested. Continue reading →
For six summers the Live Light Live Right program has run a summer camp. It’s a special time for us and a great chance for the kids to spend time together, play and enjoy time outside. We wanted to share some pictures from the summer highlights.
We are thrilled to welcome Elisa Zied, a registered dietitian nutritionist, to our advisory board. Elisa also writes a blog for Parents.com called The Scoop on Food. It highlights topics that parents care most about when it comes to feeding their kids. She’s written about sugary drinks, fast food, hydration, food allergies and much more. Check it out here.
“As a mother of two, I work hard to raise my children to live and eat well,” Elisa told us recently. “Once an overweight child, I turned my life around by eating less and eating better, and making fitness a priority in my life. I am thrilled to share my personal and professional experiences and work alongside an amazing staff and terrific children by serving on the Advisory Board of Live Light Live Right. I also love the fact that it’s based out of Brookdale Hospital–the hospital in which I was born!”
We’re excited to welcome Elisa to our team and look forward to working with her.
Our Live Light Summer camp started its 6th season this summer!. The 40 campers were excited as they all ran into the gymnasium at Teacher’s Prep High School, our venue for many of the past six years. Some of the campers knew each other from previous Live Light summer camps. Some knew each other from their Live Light Live Right exercise site throughout the year. Some knew each other from the neighborhood. The one thing that was certain is that they felt emotionally and physically safe with each other. They already had their Live Light Live Right T-Shirt, hat and backpack and were ready to start the summer with fun, laughs and inspiration. Continue reading →
Salads can make a wonderfully healthy meal, but when the ingredients aren’t chosen wisely, they can also be deceptively fattening with rich creamy dressings and fatty toppings like bacon that pile on the calories. Learning how to navigate the salad bar options can take some time, but the reward is certainly delicious.
When you go to choose a salad, fill your bowl with healthy, low-fat ingredients. Here are some of our favorites: Continue reading →