The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • Page 52

IMUliyRSlUY. NOVl'MMl'R 15, 200. rnii sun Healthy Living 13 'Color Me Healthy' classes make nutrition fun Tips for parents Tips on helping kids develop healthy eating and exercise habits, from "Color Me Healthy" newsletters: Encourage children to try new foods by letting them pick out a new fruit, vegetable or grain each week at the grocery store. Cut down on television. Studies show that kids who watch the least TV are least likely to be overweight.

Instead of renting a video, use the money to buy an Inexpensive toy, such as a jump rope, ball or Frisbee. Encourage kids to drink water by letting them drink it out of a sports bottle. WANT TO KNOW MORE? Visit the "Color Me Healthy" Web site at www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com i 1 'mm j.fcn!namiini By Pam 1 1 Hi CIIAHI.oriU OHStiRVHR Four-year-old Davis Cheek nibbled his cauliflower and made a discovery. "Hey, it is good," he announced. "I tasted a little bit of it, and it's good!" If you've ever struggled to persuade a child to try new, healthy foods, the sound of a kid singing the praises of raw cauliflower is sweet indeed.

But in the classrooms at Charlotte's YWCA Uptown Child Development Center, such declarations aren't unusual. Trying new foods is just part of the classroom experience. The child-care center is among hundreds of N.C. child-care providers now using "Color Me Healthy," a preschool curriculum designed to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. Developed two years ago by the N.C.

Division of Public Health and N.C. Cooperative Extension at N.C. State University, "Color Me Healthy" aims to sell youngsters on the importance of healthy eating and physical activity while their habits are still being shaped. A new study suggests such guidance is sorely needed. The study examined eating habits of CHARLOTTB OBSHRVUR Shamarie Grant tries broccoli at the YWCA Uptown Child Development Center in Charlotte, N.C.

Since 1980, the percentage of overweight children ages 6-11 has nearly doubled, to 13 percent. For adolescents ages 12-19, it has nearly tripled, to 14 percent, Doctors now see overweight children with type 2 diabetes, until recently considered an adult disease. But teachers using "Color Me Healthy" can instill healthy habits early and help prevent weight problems later, says N.C. Cooperative Extension nutrition specialist Carolyn Dunn, one of the curriculum's authors. Teachers using the "Color Me Healthy" curriculum get posters, picture cards and a CD of songs that teach healthy habits while encouraging marching, jumping and running around.

They also get scripts that prompt children to move. And they learn ways to introduce new fruits and vegetables. The curriculum even involves parents by providing newsletters with health tips and kid-friendly recipes. In the YWCA uptown center classroom recently, kids walked, jumped and danced to the "Heartbeat Beat" song: When I walk around (beat beat) My heart makes this sound (beat beat) I walk faster, it beats faster I can feel my heartbeat beat During a pause between songs, four-year-old Shamarie Grant held hand to chest and announced: "My heart is beeping." After working up an appetite, the class sat down to snack on raw carrots, celery, broccoli and cauliflower, accompanied by ranch dressing and peanut butter for dipping. Launched in 2001, "Color Me Healthy" program has begun drawing national notice.

In August, N.C. officials trained health educators in 10 other states, so they could then train child-care workers to use the curriculum. 3,000 U.S. infants and toddlers and found that nearly 25 percent of those 19 to 24 months old ate no fruits or vegetables in a day, though most consumed sweets, desserts or salty snacks daily. Commissioned by baby-food maker Gerber Products the study also found that the median calorie intake for children 1 to 2 years old was nearly 30 percent more than that age group needs.

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He was 12 years old and had been bullied so badly at his school in Meridien, that he had missed 44 days of classes that year. This may be a particularly tragic example of that classic school-age behavior, bullying, but more and more people are viewing bullying as a serious problem that needs to be fixed. A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2001 surveyed more than 15,000 sixth- to 10th-graders and found about 30 percent reported being involved in "moderate or frequent" bullying either as a bully, or being bullied, or both. "Bullying is very prevalent in U.S. schools and is often invisible," says Dr.

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Contrary to the popular belief that "boys will be boys" and "girls will be girls," Bidwell adds, bullying is harmful. Both bullies and targets have higher rates of depression and suicide. Bullies are more likely to engage in other risk behaviors such as substance abuse, while people who are continually targeted have higher rates of physical complaints such as headaches, stomachaches and even infectious. problems such as colds. All of this is compounded by the fact that most schools do not have effective policies or programs to address bullying, Bid-well adds.

Part of the problem is that schools (and others) disagree on whether bullying is even a problem. For those who agree it's a problem, there's disagreement on how to solve it. Over the years, Bidwell has realized that few teachers are trained to deal with the issue. "What's really needed is a lot of teacher and administration training about the nature of the issue," Bidwell says. "I don't think (teachers) are getting the skills to recognize or address bullying.

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