1. livewellF A L L 2 0 0 7A B E A C H C I T I E S H E A LT H D I S T R I C T P U B L I C AT I O N
10 easy ways to
keep your kids fit
not so sweet:
what you should
know about fructose
schedule inside

2. is also available
online at
www.bchd.org
livewell
FALL 2007 | LIVE WELL 1
contents
10 Pilates
Pilates is a popular exercise regimen that
helps strengthen core muscles and increase
postural alignment. Stabilize, move and
breathe from a new intelligence!
F A L L 2 0 0 7
8Asset Building:
The Path from Childhood
to Responsible Adulthood 16 Yoga
Yoga classes for all levels.
18 Center for
Health & Fitness
The gym at Beach Cities Health District.
12 Wellness Classes
Find balance. Eat better. Get a health
screening. Classes to help you live well.
schedules
features
20 Health in the News

3. 4 LIVE WELL | FALL 2007 WWW.BCHD.ORG
feature
Be a role model. “If you
want your kids to be
physically active, be active
yourself,” recommends Cindy
Foster, AdventurePlex general
manager and certified health
education specialist. Foster says
nothing encourages physical
activity in children like parents
who make it a priority in their
own lives.
Do it together. Foster
also recommends
family-friendly activities.
John Wordin, executive director
of Southern California’s Fitness
Challenge Foundation, agrees it
can be as simple as taking the
family on an evening walk
through the neighborhood. At
AdventurePlex, families can climb
the rock wall or navigate the
ropes courses together.
Walk to school. As
the acting chief of
the California Center
for Physical Activity, Lisa Cirill
oversees Walk to School Month
in October. She encourages
communities to establish year-
round walking activities. “Parents
can make neighborhoods more
conducive to exercise by getting
involved at the community level.
Check to make sure sidewalks
If you were like most kids
when you were young, recess
was always on your mind.
After school you’d race home
on your bike, and summer
gave you even more reasons
to build a fort or explore the
neighborhood. But today’s
rising levels of childhood
obesity and Type II diabetes
signal a dangerous shift. Kids
just aren’t as active as they
used to be. Keep your child
active and healthy with these
simple tips.
1. 2. 3.
by C h r i s t i na Ko s ta P ro c o p i ou
10Ways to Keep Kids
ACTIVE

4. are connected and safe for
walkers,” says Cirill.
Limit screen time. The
American Academy of
Pediatrics recommends
children over 2 years spend less
than two hours a day with screen
media. Excessive television view-
ing has been linked to physical,
academic and behavioral problems.
Foster says television and other
media can be a barrier to keeping
kids active. “Parents can offer
alternatives or compromises. For
example, limit screen time to an
hour a day and balance that with
an hour of activity,” she says.
Encourage play.
Wordin says parents
can keep kids active
by simply sending them outside.
“Tell your kids to go out and
play. There’s sure to be some-
thing outdoors they’ll find fun
that will keep them moving.”
Start early.
“Appreciation for
movement can start as
early as 6 months,” says Foster.
6-to-12 month old children in the
Discoverers Class at Adventure
Plex explore and develop their
movement skills. At 12 to 18
months, children enter an
Explorers Class designed to
increase coordination, balance
and motor skills development.
Make chores fun.
With older kids, make
chores entertaining
rather than merely instilling a
sense of responsibility. “You
might say to your kids, ‘Who can
collect the most litter or rake the
most leaves?’” Wordin and Cirill
say getting children — even little
ones — involved in gardening is
good exercise.
Put kids in charge.
“Let your kids take
ownership of the day’s
or week’s activity,” says Foster.
You might allow your child to
choose an AdventurePlex class
like hula dancing or karate.
Be silly. Engaging
your child’s imagination
can also encourage
movement. “Think creatively with
your kids. Can they hop like a
bunny, run like a gorilla, stretch
like a cat or walk like a spider?”
asks Foster, who believes silliness
is a good motivator.
Attend an event.
Wordin says
fitness events can
motivate and expose parents
and children to different
activities. The Fitness Challenge
Foundation’s annual event at the
Rose Bowl (tentatively scheduled
for January 26, 2008) features
health screenings, fitness
classes, noncompetitive events
and healthy food preparation
demonstrations.
To learn more, check out the
following books at the Center for
Health Information, BCHD’s free
health library: “10 Ways to Keep
your Child Active: Trim Kids” by
Melinda Sothern, Ph.D., M.Ed.,
C.E.P.; “Helping Your
Overweight Child: A Family
Guide” by Caroline J. Cederquist,
M.D.; and “Fit Kids!” by Kenneth
H. Cooper, M.D.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
WWW.BCHD.ORG FALL 2007 | LIVE WELL 5
Body Mass
Index and
Childhood
Obesity
Many of us have heard of BMI, or Body
Mass Index, and a few of us may even
know our BMI score. But what does BMI
mean for children?
BMI is a number calculated from a person’s
height and weight. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention view this number
as a reliable indicator of body fat for
most people and it is used to screen
for weight categories that may lead to
health problems.
In children, BMI is used to screen for
overweight, at-risk overweight or
underweight, but it is not used as a
diagnostic tool. If a child has a high
BMI, further examination by a medical
doctor would be needed to determine
if excessive fat is a problem.
What you can do as a parent to ensure
your child is protected from childhood
obesity and other health risks is to
encourage healthy eating, model an
active lifestyle, and ensure that your child
receives regular check-ups from a health
care provider.
Childhood obesity is caused by multiple
factors including genes, behavior, culture,
metabolism, environment and socio-
economic status. As a parent, you have
control over the kinds of foods you buy
and the types of activities you plan.
By making healthy decisions, you can
take significant strides in preventive
health for your entire family.
– Donna Murany

5. 6 LIVE WELL | FALL 2007 WWW.BCHD.ORG
This corn-derived additive appears
on labels for items you’d expect
like sodas, cookies and candy. It
also appears in other foods like
fruit jelly, ketchup, whole wheat
bread, barbecue sauce, fruit juice,
crackers, cereal, yogurt and
applesauce. High fructose corn
syrup is popular with food
manufacturers because it extends
shelf life and costs less than sugar.
A research study tracked the
timing of the introduction of
high fructose corn syrup with
the start of the nation’s obesity
epidemic. The findings led some
nutritionists to believe high
fructose corn sweeteners are
partially responsible.
Dr. Robert Lustig, a University
of California San Francisco
researcher, determined many kids
are obese due to high-calorie, low
fiber diets that promote hormone
imbalances and prompt them to
overeat. He identifies excessive
fructose as a leading culprit.
“Today’s Western diet is highly
‘insulinogenic,’” Lustig says. “In
other words, our meals feature
foods with increased energy
densities, high fat content, high
glycemic indexes, increased
fructose composition, decreased
fiber and decreased dairy content.”
“In particular, fructose (too much)
and fiber (not enough) appear to
act as the cornerstones of the
obesity epidemic due to their
affects on insulin,” he adds.
According to Lustig, insulin blocks
the signals traveling from the
body’s fat stores to the brain by
suppressing the effectiveness of
the hormone leptin. This hormone
regulates caloric intake and
feature
Surprising Facts and Hidden Dangers
by C h r i s t i na Ko s ta P ro c o p i ou
Obesity rates have tripled among children in certain age
groups and doubled among 2 to 5 year-olds since 1980.
One reason may be a relatively new and ubiquitous food
sweetener – high fructose corn syrup.
FRUCTOSE—

6. expenditure. When functioning
properly, leptin increases physical
activity, promotes feelings of well-
being and decreases appetite, he
explains. If leptin is suppressed,
the reverse effect occurs,
characterized by increased food
intake and decreased activity.
Insulin also promotes dopamine,
a brain chemical that delivers a
“high” after eating. This can lead
to overeating as this pleasurable
feeling becomes addictive.
Beach Cities Health District
(BCHD) nutritionist and registered
dietitian Jeanne Peters advises
parents to read food labels in the
grocery store and avoid products
that contain high fructose corn
syrup as much as possible.
“Choose foods with the most
fiber per serving and the least
amount of sugar per serving,”
Peters says. “When people eat
high fiber foods, their hunger
is more satisfied.” Peters says
another answer is to offer kids
a variety of foods daily. Over
several days, let children
eat foods representing all the
colors of the rainbow.
Gretchen Oshita, BCHD Youth
Services director, says the health
district trains parent docents to
teach nutrition education in the
classroom. During these lessons,
students learn the differences
between high-quality and low-
quality sugars and fats, and the
importance of eating foods that
are close to nature’s source and
minimally processed. Through its
Obesity Prevention program,
BCHD has partnered with the
Redondo Beach Unified School
District (RBUSD) to provide farm
fresh fruits and veggies on salad
bars at elementary schools.
RBUSD superintendent Dr. Steven
Keller says, “Addressing the
physical needs of students is also
part of serving the whole child.
Farm fresh fruits and vegetables
are the ideal for school nutrition,
and we are certainly moving in
that direction. Thanks to the
health district and our child
nutrition services program I
think the synergy has been
greatly enhanced.”
Oshita advises parents to expand
their thinking beyond merely what
their children eat to why they eat.
“Children often eat for reasons
other than hunger — stress,
boredom, numbing emotions
or burying feelings,” she says.
“The solution is not just diet and
exercise. It’s looking at behavioral
elements, parental support and
environmental factors,” says
Oshita. “Kids must learn to listen
to their internal signs of hunger
and fullness. When they reconnect
with these signals, they’ll eat only
when they’re hungry, and stop
eating when they’re full.”
Read more about the sugar
content in kids’ foods. Visit
BCHD’s free health library, The
Center For Health Information,
and check out: “Helping Your
Child Lose Weight the Healthy
Way” by Judith Levine, R.D.,
M.S.; “Feed Your Kids Well”
by Fred Pescatore, M.D.; and
“A Healthier You” by U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services.
WWW.BCHD.ORG FALL 2007 | LIVE WELL 7
DID YOU KNOW…
Family meals protect youth from
common behavioral risks
Eating meals together as a family may protect your child against
tobacco and alcohol abuse, according to a 2000 study at
Columbia University. The study found that children who do not
eat dinner with their families are 60 percent more prone to
substance abuse while those who ate dinner with their families
were 20 percent less likely to drink, smoke or use illegal drugs.
Further evidence of the benefits of family meals for youth was
found in a 2004 study by University of Minnesota epidemiology
professor Dianne Neumark-Sztainer. Neumark-Sztainer studied
the eating habits of 4,746 adolescents and found that frequent
family meals protect against low grade-point average,
depression and suicide, particularly among adolescent girls.
In a culture that values thinness as a measure of beauty and
health, eating disorders are prevalent among adolescent girls.
Neumark-Sztainer’s study found that 18 percent of girls who ate
only one or two family meals a week reported practicing
extreme weight control behaviors, as compared with 9 percent
of girls who ate three to four family meals a week.
The study found that 74 percent of teenagers polled reported
that they enjoyed eating meals with their families, an
encouraging statistic for parents who may want to establish
more frequent family meals.
Visit www.bchd.org for ideas on how you can make family meals
both nutritious and fun.

7. T8 LIVE WELL | FALL 2007 WWW.BCHD.ORG
feature
by Christina Kosta Procopiou
Through its school-based health
education programs, BCHD
exposes children to a framework of
developmental assets established in
the 1990s by the national non-profit
organization, the Search Institute.
The Search Institute maintains that
asset building, or purposefully
helping youth experience positive
experiences, relationships,
opportunities and personal
qualities, may influence choices
they make and help them become
caring, responsible adults.
These developmental assets are
grounded in child/adolescent
development research, risk
prevention and resiliency.
According to Cindy Foster, general
manager of BCHD’s AdventurePlex,
while these 40 assets are part of
the healthy framework for California
and included in the school health
curriculum, they are not
incorporated successfully at all
schools. The California Healthy
Kids Survey shows that beach
cities children benefit from the
programming rooted in asset
building offered by BCHD.
Asset Building—
The Path from Childhood
to Responsible Adulthood
“Kids will be kids,” is something most parents have said
of their children. Kids, however, aren’t predestined to use
alcohol or smoke. Helping youth develop positive assets
can help prevent some of the ways in which they can be
labeled “bad” kids.

8. In 2005, 80 percent of RBUSD
ninth grade students reported
having high levels of expectations
at home and in the community (a
developmental asset), compared
with 63 percent of respondents in
L.A. County and 63 percent of
RBUSD students surveyed in 2003.
Only 53 percent of students
surveyed in 2003 in California
reported high levels of
expectations at home and in
the community.
“I think what the survey results
show is that BCHD programming
is making a difference,” says
Foster. “Our schools in the beach
cities have shown less alcohol and
drug abuse and bullying violence
because, in my opinion, we are
helping kids build assets.”
Carolyn Seaton, executive director,
Educational Services for Manhattan
Beach Unified School District, says
that a preliminary review of the
results of the 2007 California
Healthy Kids Survey might indicate
that the district’s substance abuse
policy is having a positive effect
on students. The study shows an
improvement between 2003 and
2007 in the percentage of ninth-
graders who report having used
alcohol and marijuana.
“Results like this could be
attributed to the total district
focus we have on substance abuse
prevention,” says Seaton. “It’s a
unified front of police officers,
faculty, students, parents, Beach
Cities Health District, the medical
community and administrators.”
Substance abuse prevention
programming in Manhattan Beach
schools includes having a sub-
stance intervention advisor at Mira
Costa High School, a voluntary
drug testing program for student
athletes and a Safe Space
program through which parents
can designate their homes as
drug- and alcohol-free gathering
spaces for students.
In Redondo Beach, student
leaders from 12 schools join
together monthly and work on
service projects. In 2006 they
raised money in support of
hurricane victims. Foster says
that giving students such
opportunities provides them
with high levels of expectations,
another developmental asset.
Anita Boyd, now a college student
at California State University of
Dominguez Hills, was a participant
as a fourth grader in BCHD’s
school health program.
Boyd recalls learning how to
eat right and avoid dangerous
behaviors like smoking. “They
didn’t just say, ‘Don’t smoke
because it’s bad for you or
because it will kill you,’” she
says. “They said it in a way that
mattered to me as a kid by telling
me ‘Don’t smoke because you
won’t be able to run as fast as
you did today if you smoke.’”
Foster says BCHD helps build
developmental assets within
schools and outside of them.
“Starting when children are very
young is the way to go.”
Did you know…
Good Nutrition May
Help Ease Anxiety
Although most experts agree that additional
scientific evidence is needed to support the
claims of “anti-anxiety diets,” recent studies
point to the validity of certain nutrients in
helping to reduce the impact of stress.
Dr. Jonathan Davidson, M.D., director of the
Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke
University Medical Center, recommends a diet
rich in omega-3 fats, whole grains and fresh
fruits and vegetables, the essential components
of the Mediterranean way of eating. “We now
have some evidence that this same diet is good
for your brain and, hence, for your moods,
emotional states and cognitive abilities,”
says Dr. Davidson.
Folate (or folic acid) also has been linked to
mental well-being, as outlined in the book
“Complementary and Alternative Treatments
in Mental Health Care” (James Lake and
David Spiegel, editors, American Psychiatric
Publishing, December 2006). A chapter
dedicated to nutritional supplements presents
evidence that folate supplementation
effectively helped subjects with severe
depression reduce their symptoms.
You can help prevent or minimize symptoms of
anxiety with a few minor dietary adjustments.
Reduce your intake of foods high in saturated
fat, such as red meat, full-fat dairy products and
butter. Substitute these with fish, lean meats
such as chicken, and olive oil for cooking and
salad dressings.
Foods high in refined white sugar such as
cookies and processed sweets may trigger a
crash in blood sugar levels, which may cause
jitters and anxiety. Opt for fruits instead; their
natural sugar (fructose) does not cause drastic
fluctuations in blood glucose.
And as counter-culture as it may sound, you
may consider eliminating caffeine from your
diet if you are prone to anxiety. Most nutrition
experts agree that caffeine-laden beverages
may exacerbate symptoms of anxiety, so opt
for herbal teas or go decaf.
As with all health-related lifestyle changes, seek
the advice of your doctor before altering your
diet or exercise routine.
— Pamela Corante
WWW.BCHD.ORG FALL 2007 | LIVE WELL 9