'Thigh Gap' Health Threat

A recent fad trending all over popular social media websites is the 'thigh gap'. This space between your thighs occurs when your legs are skinny and your thighs don't touch. Also, the skinny, often photo shopped women and teenagers in popular magazines are causing teens to become more self conscious about their own bodies.  This is inspiring young and insecure girls and boys around the globe to develop unhealthy eating habits because they are striving to be society's vision of 'perfect'.
This is a serious problem and it needs to be solved. I don't know where the idea came from and I don't know why it has had such a large explosion all over the internet. Teenage girls are already going through a hard time, I know from experience that middle school and high school are the hardest times in a girl's life. They constantly feel like they are being judged by their peers and they just want to fit in. If they see the 'thigh gap' trending all over social media, and skinny models in magazines, they will believe that being skinny is their solution to being accepted.
Girls develop unhealthy eating habits to acquire this so called "thigh gap." They may begin skipping meals or eating lower calorie foods to keep their weight down. They may also over exercise or even try to regurgitate the food that they have eaten. These habits are very unhealthy to a growing teen or to anyone, and something needs to be done about it.
Personally, I believe that girls should be comfortable with any and every body type. There is no such thing as a "perfect" body and no girl should ever strive to be perfect. Imperfections are what make a girl beautiful. This is what should be spreading all over social media, that every body type can be beautiful if you treat it right. I also think that apparel magazines should have models of all shapes and sizes, so that girls will recognize that they can look just as beautiful in that company's clothes as a girl with a smaller build.
I think that a girl that is muscular and fit looks so much better than a girl with not an ounce of fat on muscle on her bones. I wish that teens with eating disorders and unhealthy habits could see what they are doing to their body and how much more healthy and happy they would look if they ate healthy and exercised a healthy amount.
I am a runner so I can relate to what these teens are going through. I often wish that I was less muscular and thinner. However, I realize that it's not realistic and it is much better for me to be muscular rather than stick thin. The point is that teens, both boys and girls, should realize that health is more important than your appearance. As long as you are in good shape and eat healthy, it doesn't matter what size or shape you are.

Gym Class Dilemma

I am on my third year of high school, in the previous two years we were allowed one academic waiver out of gym class and as many sports waivers as we chose per year, each lasting one trimester. You were eligible for an academic waiver if you had a full schedule of 6 classes and you were eligible for a sports waiver if you were participating in a school sport during that trimester.

This year however the rules have changed. Everyone is now only allowed one sports waiver and one academic waiver each year, requiring everyone to take a gym class at least one time every year. I believe that this is unfair to students who have a full class load and are in school sports during the majority of the year. I am one of those students. I have a full course load, including three advanced placement classes. I am also involved in cross country in the fall and track in the spring. As you probably know, these are very rigorous running sports that require a lot of time and effort. I don't believe that I should have to take a gym class as I am very active and am very fit. 

I am signed up for a zero hour gym class that meets in the morning before school in the spring. This means that every other day I will be getting to school an hour early to work out, and then staying after school for one to two hours for track practice, in which I will run an average of 5-6 miles every day. I don't understand why I am required to take a gym class when I will be working out after school every day for longer than the average student.

I don't think that this was thought about when the eligibility for unlimited sports waivers was taken away. I think that if students are in a sport during a particular trimester then it is safe to say that they are being active enough outside of school and they don't need a gym class. I do understand that schools are trying to keep students active and healthy, but I don't think that gym should be required for those students in sports practicing every day.

Take the Step to a Healthier Lifestyle

One of the latest fitness tools used today in the Fit bit. The Fit bit is a device that monitors how many steps you take every day, keeping track of your overall fitness. The Fit bit recommends an average of 10,000 steps per day and you would be amazed at how quickly those steps add up.

My dad and my uncle both own a Fit bit. It has pretty much taken over their lives. My dad tries his hardest to get in his daily steps even if he is in meetings all day. Some nights, when he is behind on steps, he will get up and start doing laps around our house trying to get more steps. He realizes that these steps, if he stays consistent, will benefit his health and his fitness.
My uncle is also obsessed with this fitness tracker. He took a family vacation and while waiting for his kids to ride a roller coaster, he would walk around the amusement park to get in as many steps as he could. However, on a day that he forgot his Fit bit at his hotel, it changed his behavior. While his kids were on a ride, he would sit on a bench instead of walk around the park because he didn't have something to track his steps. I find it interesting that because he wasn't tracking his steps, he just decided to not take any extra like he had the previous days. This shows how much the Fit bit has impacted his life, and how much more motivating it is to keep up with your fitness if you can see immediate progress.
I think that the Fit bit is a great concept and I would recommend it to anybody and everybody. I see the effects that it has on my dad and it has even had effects on my life. We were always walking the long way on our family vacation and walking places that we would normally take a bus or subway. It leads to a much healthier lifestyle in the long run and you can see the progress immediately by checking how many steps you have walked in that day. Also, according to reviews, it is easy to use, durable and easily portable. I believe that it is the next big thing that will improve our health and fitness in a simple way.

A Right to Choose

So its no big secret, kids are unhappy about their school lunches, and rightfully so. When I was in elementary and middle school my favorite school lunches were turkey gravy with mashes potatoes and oriental salad with popcorn chicken. We were always forced to take a fruit or a vegetable, which I was okay with, and about once every week or two weeks we would get the option of a cookie or small slice of cake. Recently, since Michele Obama's health promotions, school lunches have been lacking the appeal that they once had to students. There are now whole grain bread and noodles and quite honestly, it is not as appetizing.
According to a recent article, my school is not the only one opposing these changes. Lunch revenue in schools across the nation has gone down. Personally, I would much rather bring my own lunch than eat a school lunch any day. It is not just the fact that they are making us eat healthier, I love fruit and I am all for eating it. However, at least at my school, their fruit never looks fresh or appealing to me, which is why when I throw it away I can see all of the students that had done the same before me. If the school had fresher and cleaner fruit, students might be less opposed to eating it.
Another thing that I strongly believe about school lunch is that it should be our right, as we are almost adults, to make our own decisions about our health. It is great that schools and communities are promoting healthy foods and a healthy lifestyle, however I don't think that the foods we put into our body should be their decision. I also don't think that all sweets are bad. For lunch, I think that it is okay to have a sandwich on white bread instead of whole grain, fruits and vegetables, and then a cookie or cosmic brownie for desert. When I was younger, they did not have desert available every day, but they had it every once in a while. Now, we never get a desert option. I believe that all foods should be available to students for purchase, the school district should not be able to dictate what I eat, my eating choices will only affect me after all.
I don't believe that promoting healthy lunches is a bad thing, I actually think it is great. However, I don't think that it is okay to take away every other alternative option. Also, I believe that whole grain and vegetables are the only ways to eat healthy at lunch.

The Truth About Your Friends

As many of you probably have noticed, or maybe you haven't, but your friends can have a large impact on your life and your health. I recently read a Mayo Clinic article that discussed the ways that your friends can have a positive impact on you and it is amazing how true this article is.
Healthy friendships boost your self-esteem and contribute to good mental health. I have noticed this with my friends. If I am in a down mood I can count on them to cheer me up and become more positive. Also, because my friends are for the most part happy people, it makes me happier. Being happy and walking around with a smile on your face leads to feeling more confident and surprisingly, it can make you feel less ill. If I am sick but am around my friends, I don't notice my cold or strep throat symptoms as much. Lastly, hanging out with my friends on the weekend helps me to release school or family stress that I would otherwise hold inside.
Friends also convince you to make healthy life choices. I joined the cross country and track teams at my school not only because I wanted to, but also because all my friends were doing it. They also encourage me to try my best and do well at it, increasing my fitness and physical health. Many of my friends also make healthy eating choices, which also influences the way that I eat.
The tricky part of this is that they can also create the opposite effects. If you have friends that are sad or pessimistic, it makes it really hard for you to be a happy person. You may also feel like you can't share your problems with these people because they are too concerned with their own problems. Holding these things in will make you feel even more sad and stressed out which is not a good thing for your mental health. Lastly, if your friends are making bad decisions concerning drugs or alcohol, that could influence you to make bad choices that could be potentially harmful to your health.
The most important thing to keep in mind is to choose the right friends. If you can find people who make you happy then you are doing things right, and keeping healthy, however if the people you hang around seem to be down all the time, you may want to reevaluate and decide if it is time to get new friends.

What it Takes to Get Into The Zone

I know first hand how hard it is to get motivated to work out, especially after a long day at work or school. I have cross country or track practice after school every day, and sometimes I just think about how much nicer it would be to go home for a short nap or get a head start on that nights long hours of homework, but then I think about the consequences. It is hard to get excited about working out, but it's not impossible.
Think about your goals. The first thing that you have to do is remember why you're doing this. Think about the great body shape that you'll be in or the progress that you will see at the end of the year. Personally, the meets make everything worth it for me. I just think about what will happen at the meets if I don't go to practice or what will happen if I do and try my absolute best. I'll be so much happier with my race performance if I show up and work hard at practice every day. Also, I get into great shape which boosts my confidence. When I think about all the great reasons to go, it makes me so much more motivated to go running.
Have a Hit List. Another thing that gets me pumped up for practice is listening to music. I have a list of all my favorite upbeat songs that I can play and it really gets me into the zone. I love music and listening to it before a workout really gets me excited and pumped up for anything my coach decides to throw at me.
Take a Snack Break. After a long day you probably feel worn out and the last thing that you want to do is go for a long run. Keeping something small in your bag such as a granola bar or some wheat thins to snack on will give you the energy you need for a good workout. Let's face it, everybody loves food and everyone feels better once they've had a snack, So not only will it give you more energy, but overall it will put you into a better mood for a workout.
These are the things that I do before my practices and they almost always work. There will be days that no matter how hard you try, you're just not feeling it. Believe it or not, that's completely normal. You just have to remember all the great things about a tough workout. All you can do is tough it out and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Finding Time to Eat Healthy

In today's society, it is hard to find the time to cook and eat healthy meals. Teenagers and children have so much going on in their lives that they aren't home around dinner time, and with the many hours of sports practices and commitments, it may seem like the only option in fast food.
It is true that people are busy and finding time for something other than McDonald's or Wendy's seems near impossible but it is actually not as difficult as it may seem. If you only have one busy night in the week then I think it is acceptable to designate that as the night you go out to dinner every week. However, if you have more than one night a week with a full schedule, which most people do, then you should plan ahead and leave fast food as your last possible resort. I have a few different things that I do on nights that I have multiple activities. One thing I try is packing myself a dinner (a turkey sandwich, grapes and a granola bar), before the day starts. It only takes about 3-5 minutes of my morning to throw a few things together and put it into a lunch box. Then, if I have 30 minutes between two activities, I already have my dinner made and I don't have to worry about figuring out how to cook something in that short amount of time.
Another great way to avoid fast food is cooking ahead of time. My mom does this often with her spaghetti casserole. She can make it during a free hour in her day and keep it cool in the refrigerator. Then it is available to cook in about 15 minutes around dinner time. It is fast, easy and a healthy alternative to fast food.
Something else that is great for eating healthy is slow cook dishes in a crock pot. You can create anything from sloppy Joes to weenies to chicken tacos. All you have to do is create the dish is the morning and then attend to it later in the day, then it is ready to eat for dinner. This takes a little extra time in the morning, however it saves you time in the evening. Especially if you are in a lot of activities and only have thirty minutes in between two practices, crock pot recipes are always my mom's number one go to.
Lastly, some people don't like to cook healthily because they are too tired or worn out from the day's events. That is very common among teenagers and their parents. It's not something you should be ashamed about but you also shouldn't default to fast food or pizza because of this. It would be much healthier to have something fast and easy such as subs for dinner. All you need is bread, lunch meat and your preferred toppings and then you can eat your subs with fruit. It is simple yet healthy and you will feel much better eating a healthy sub than you would after eating a big mac.
It is understandable that people get caught up in their busy lives and often resort to fast food, but there are other options for dinner. I encourage you to think twice about the next time you are planning on going out and decide if you can find a different alternative instead.