Kids Health Information: Get your kids to Eat themselves Healthy!

1. Learn to enjoy eating healthy yourself.

Example is, hands down, the best teacher.

Training yourself to like eating healthy will also give you the confidence to guide your children on the same path.

2. Curb their taste for processed sugars.

Sugar keeps your kids on an emotional roller coaster, causes disagreeable behavior and continually sets off cravings for more and more sugar. Never offer sweets as a reward or bribe.

3. Teach them to like pure water.

Children need liquids, but they don't need calorie laden, high sugar colas and juices. Clear water leaves room for good food.

4. Substitute whole grains for the processed ones.

Whole grain breads (especially sprouted ones), brown rice and whole wheat pastas should be your grains of choice. You may have to start with half and half and keep adding more of the good stuff until you eventually reach 100% whole grains.

5. Eliminate random snacking.

If your kids are full when they get to the table, they won't want the good foods you fix. Make sure they're hungry enough to eat what's put in front of them.

6. Help them learn to like nutritious fruits and vegetables.

Carrots and apples only taste sweet to children who don't eat a lot of sugar. Serve vegetables when children are hungry and fresh fruit for dessert.

7. Offer only good healthy choices.

Don't give them anything but nutritious foods. If their only choice is a tuna sandwich or natural peanut butter and unsweetened apple butter on whole grain bread, they'll eventually choose one of your healthy offerings.

Flu and cold usually accompany each other when attacking a child's immune system. It is a wide spread viral infection and the harsh truth is that there is no permanent treatment designed for it because of the involvement of many types of viruses which cannot be killed, but yes their growth rate can be suppressed.

Symptomatic treatments can trigger the rate of improvement in the child's health, but it might not work for all kids.

The child can get affected by the flu and cold virus when he is exposed to an infected person.

The symptoms are mild headache, feeling of tiredness, stuffy or runny nose, watery eyes, light fever, sneezing, cough, muscle aches, and sore throat. It takes two to five days for the symptoms to appear and three to five days for the complete development of the virus.

It takes nearly two weeks to completely get rid of the flu. The virus attacks the upper respiratory system. These are the symptoms of cold.

The symptoms of flu are more terrible than cold and grow very rapidly. They are high fever, runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion, chills, fatigue and nausea, vomiting, eye pain and extreme headache.

Symptoms are extremely important when trying to differentiate between flu and a cold. As stated before, the symptoms of flu are more severe when compared to the symptoms of cold. Also, it is easier to get over cold than flu.

The biggest clue will be recalling any incident of exposure to patients having either flu or cold. Even after thorough analysis, if it is difficult to reach any clear conclusion, a doctor should be consulted. A swab is taken from the nasal track or throat and the results are determined an hour after the test is taken.

No antibiotics work on these viruses. Intake of antibiotics cannot better the condition in any way whatsoever. Also, there are chances of secondary bacterial infections like sinus or ear infection.

The child should be administered with fluids and a cool mist humidifier to suppress the symptoms and to help him feel better. Medications are available over the counter which can be bought depending on the symptoms of the infected.

Antiviral medicines are available for the treatment of flu, which hasten the recovery process. But the medicines are effective only when given within forty eight hours after the onset of flu symptoms.

Runny nose, especially of infants and kids who cannot blow their nose, can be taken care of with the help of a bulb syringe or nasal drop. If flu isn't treated at the right time, it can worsen the health of the infected and can also lead to pneumonia.

Flu is a very commonly spreading infection among school going kids. According to a research, nearly twenty percent of Americans are infected with flu every year and nearly twenty thousand people die because of it.

The only way to prevent the child from contracting these virus is by getting him/her a flu shot before the flu season or as recommended by the physician. The vaccine is either administered through a shot or nasal spray. Regular dosage will strengthen the immune system by constructing antibodies. The nasal spray vaccine contains live weakened viruses and shots contain completely dead viruses.

By any chance, if the child does get exposed to the virus, he/she should be given medicine meant for flu patients, immediately. More than hundred viruses are known which cause cold. A lesser number of viruses are known to causes flu. That is the reason why there is a shot for flu and not cold. Unfortunately flu shot cannot be taken by anyone or everyone. People who complain of allergic reactions from previous flu shots, people who have the Guillain-Barre syndrome and people allergic to eggs are not eligible for flu shots. It is highly recommended to take advice from a physician before getting vaccinated.

Children and elderly should be given nasal spray vaccination, but instead they should opt for flu shots. Out of total population, there are certain people who have a greater probability of getting flu.

Children up to five years of age, elders older than sixty five years, nursing home residents, pregnant women, patients with long term problems regarding health, and health care workers who come directly in contact with flu patients.

Childhood Eczema is increasing and is becoming a common problem to school age children. According to National Eczema society of UK it is a common disease effecting children up to one fifth of all children in UK.

The harshness of this disease can vary in different forms. This disease shows its effect on the skin of child and so the symptoms of this disease can also be judged from the inspection of the child's skin.

In its initial forms the skin is hot, itchy and dry while in more severe forms the skin becomes raw, broken and which also results in bleeding which looks very unpleasant and cause uncomfortableness, sleeplessness to child but it is not infectious and it cannot spread to others just by touching.

The Aromatherapy treatment can reduce the effect of Eczema in child. The treatment of Eczema can be done with Aromatherapy by the application of Essential Oils on the child through massage but before applying these essential oils it is advisable better not to take risk and should consult from professional Aromatherapist rather than self prescribe this is to avoid any harm because these essential oils can cause harm to children if applied incorrectly.

This has been proved by one experiment. The experiment was done to find a better, efficient and effective solution to Eczema. The experiment was that a group consisting of eight children was taken to test the application of Aromatherapy.

These children were divided into two groups randomly in which first group received treatment of Aromatherapy in which the essential oils choose to massage the children skin were from among 36 commonly used essential oils.

These Essential oils were German Chamomile, Thyme, spike, lavender, benzoin and Litsea cubeba. While another group of children received massage without essential oils. This was done for the period of eight weeks in which massage was given by the therapist once a week while for remaining times mother gave massage to their children.

The treatments were evaluated day by day. Children from both groups showed improvement but there was no differences in the improvement of both the groups.

Easy on the digestion, apples contain malic and tartaric acids that inhibit fermentation in the intestines. Their high fiber content adds bulk that aids the digestive process, making elimination natural and comfortable. Apples contain pectin, a soluble fiber that encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract.

Apples contain flavonoids, antioxidants that improve immune function and prevent heart disease and some cancers.

Green apples act as a liver and gall bladder cleanser and may aid in softening gallstones.

Because of their high water content, apples are cooling and moistening and aid in reducing fever. Simply grate them and serve them to feverish patients.

Steamed apples sweetened with honey are beneficial for a dry cough and may help to remove mucous from the lungs.

Hippocrates (circa 400 BCE), the Greek physician considered the father of medicine, was a proponent of nutritional healing. His favorite remedies were apples, dates, and barley mush.

Today medical practitioners are beginning to recognize that the apple's abundant quantity of pectin is an aid in reducing high cholesterol as well as blood sugar, a wonder food for people with coronary artery disease and diabetes.

If these aren't enough reasons to "eat an apple a day," there's more. Eating raw apples gives the gums a healthy massage and cleans the teeth.

This popular fruit is said to have properties that are a muscle tonic, diuretic, laxative, antidiarrheal, antirheumatic, and stomachic.

Nutritional Benefits
Unpeeled apples provide their most plentiful nutrients just under the skin. Apples are a good source of potassium, folic acid, and vitamin C.

A medium apple, approximately 5 ounces, has only 81 calories and a whopping 3.7 grams of fiber from pectin, a soluble fiber. A medium apple supplies 159 mg of potassium, 3.9 mcg of folic acid, 7.9 mg of vitamin C, and 9.6 mg of calcium.

Additionally, there are trace amounts of B vitamins, iron, magnesium, and zinc.