Potty Training Awareness Month Preventing Constipation

June is Potty Training Awareness Month. Constipation in children is a common problem when potty training. Constipation is often characterized by infrequent bowel movements or hard, dry stools.

Causes of Constipation in Children

Toilet Training and Withholding. Your child may ignore the urge to have a bowel movement because of fear of the toilet or they don’t want to take a play break. Some children withhold when they are away from home because they are embarrassed to use a public bathroom. Withholding bowel movements sometimes results in a large painful mass of stool in the rectum called a fecal impaction. If it hurts to have a bowel movement, your child may try to avoid a repeat of the uncomfortable situation. If you begin toilet training too early, children may hold in there stools, which can quickly become an involuntary habit that's tough to break.

Dietary Changes. Lack of fruits and vegetables or fluid in your child's diet may cause constipation. For some children, too much milk and not enough water can lead to constipation.

Medication or Disease. Certain antacids, antidepressants, muscle relaxants and various other drugs can contribute to constipation. Changes in your child's appetite or diet due to illness may have the same effect.

Emotional Pressure to use the toilet or to give up diapers.


Symptoms of constipation in children
*Fewer bowel movements than usual.
*The child is fidgeting, clenching buttocks muscles or other unusual dancelike behaviors.
*Experiencing Abdominal pain and cramping.
*Painful or difficult bowel movements.
*Hard, dry, or large stools.
*Feces in the child’s underwear.


Prevention of constipation in children

*Offer high-fiber foods. Include: Fruits and Vegetables; Beans and Lentils; Bran sprinkled on cereals or yogurt; Whole grain bread and cereal; Dried or soft fruit added to muffins or cereal; Fruit spread

If your child does not like vegetables, serve them hidden in casseroles, pastas or puree in soups. Ask your child to help out when preparing meals. Children are more willing to eat their food if they play a role in making their own meals.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following amounts of fiber needed per age and gender. Pediatric Nutrition Handbook, 6th ed. Elk Grove Village (IL): American Academy of Pediatrics; 2009
Age/Gender            Fiber (grams)
2 - 3 years                      19
4 – 8 years                      25
9 – 11 years (female)        26
9 – 11 years (male)          31

*Encourage your child to drink plenty of fluids. Water is the best choice.
*Establish regular meal and snack times
*Promote physical activity. Regular physical activity helps stimulate normal bowel function.
*Create a toilet schedule. Set aside time after meals for your child to use the toilet.
*Remind your child to use the bathroom.
*Ask your doctor if your child is taking any medication that may cause constipation.

Treatment of Constipation in Children
*Follow the prevention instructions.
*Consult with the pediatrician or family doctor before using over-the-counter suppositories or laxatives.
*Contact the doctor if four or five days have passed without a bowel movement, or if constipation is accompanied by abdominal pain, vomiting or fever.
*Consult a dietitian who can help create an appropriate food plan high in fiber.

Resouces
Foods to Boost Your Child’s Fiber, Nourish Interactive (pdf)
American Academy of Pediatrics
International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders

This young child describes his concerns about Potty Training 

 Potty Training Tips from Parents TV - For Mom

 

Elmo and his Father show How
Potty Time Can Be Fun: Sesame Street 

 

Get in the Groove! Pull-Ups® Training Pants presents,
"The Potty Dance"! 

 

The information presented here does not constitute medical advice for any individual. Specific cases may vary. Dietitians-Online and Weighing-Success recommends readers consult a qualified health professional on an individual basis. All materials are provided for your information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. Readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being.

The Registered Dietitian Jenna A. Bell, PhD, RD, CSSD

Jenna A. Bell, PhD, RD, CSSD

Website. Swim, Bike, Run, Eat!

Blog. Eat Right Around Chicago 

Blog. Swim, Bike, Run, Eat

Twitter: @EatRightAround 
LinkedIn. Jenna Bell

Facebook.  Jenna A. Bell 

Newsletter. Swim, Bike, Run, Eat Newsletter

Jenna A. Bell-Wilson is a nationally recognized nutrition writer/presenter and co-author of Energy to Burn: The Ultimate Food and Nutrition Guide to Fuel your Active Lifestyle (John Wiley & Sons 2009). She is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, registered dietitian and a nutrition advisor to international sports nutrition companies, and co-founder of Swim, Bike, Run, Eat!. She has provided nutrition seminars at major athletic events like the Boston Marathon, the ING New York City Marathon, Bank of American Chicago Marathon and the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, HI.

She is the Heart Beat columnist for Today’s Dietitian and her expertise has been featured in Us Weekly, Fitness magazine, Pilates Style, Men’s Health, Runner’s World, IDEA Fitness Journal, IDEA Health and Fitness Source, IDEA Personal Trainer and related publications and on the web. She has been published in scientific journals, and has had nationwide TV appearances on ABC, NBC and FOX affiliates, radio programs and podcasts. Dr. Bell-Wilson is also featured in ten Healthy Learning videos and is an annual presenter at IDEA Health and Fitness International Conferences.

Dr. Bell-Wilson has been a media spokesperson for the food industry and has aided in the development of nutrition communications programs for a variety of companies in the food industry. Her clients have included brands such as Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, the Cranberry Institute, Ocean Spray, USA Rice Federation, Lactalis Sorrento, Inc and others.

Short collection of highlights from the work
Dr. Jenna Bell has done for TV, print, radio, and online.

Eat Right Around Chicago

Dr. Bell is dedicated to eating her way around the the city of Chicago and still fit in her jeans. She refuses to miss out on the offerings of Chicago's established and up-and-coming Chefs, neighborhood gems, foodie-hot spots, late night diners and fine dining temptations.

Armed with her appetite and nutrition credentials, Jenna's mission is to eat RIGHT around Chicago.

"I have made it my mission to eat my way around the city, but I'm going to EAT RIGHT around each and every neighborhood. I refuse to starve my taste buds, deconstruct a chef's creation to save waist and I won't miss a local hot spot. Simultaneously, I will maintain my weight, make nutritious choices and keep my nutrient dense diet."

 

"My aim is to give easy to digest diet tips, nutrition insights and ideas to dine right at any eating establishment. I don't believe in compromising taste to eat right; good food and a healthy body are not mutually exclusive. I rate restaurants based on their "yummy-ness" as well as their healthiness."

The Registered Dietitian Karen Giles-Smith, M.S., R.D.

Karen Giles-Smith, M.S., R.D.

Website. The Wellness Writer®

Blog. The Wellness Writer® Blog

LinkedIn. Karen Giles-Smith, M.S., R.D.

Director of Nutrition Communications at Dairy Council of Michigan

Karen Giles-Smith, MS, RD is the Manager of Nutrition Communications for Dairy Council of Michigan/United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) where she provides health professionals, the media and consumers with current information on nutrition and health. She serves as a media spokesperson on a variety of issues including child nutrition, dental health, lactose intolerance, and osteoporosis prevention. In addition, Karen is a freelance writer at the Wellness Writer® and Contributing Editor at Healthy & Fit Magazine.

Karen Giles-Smith, MS, RD Interviewed
by WJBK FOX 2 on Healthy Snacks

Karen is active in the state and local district dietetic associations, serving as the annual conference co-chair for the Michigan Dietetic Association and as President of the Lansing Dietetic Association. She received the 2004 Michigan Registered Dietitian of the Year Award and the 2008 Public Relations Individual Award from the Michigan Dietetic Association.

Karen specializes in nutrition, health, wellness and nature writing for consumer and trade magazines and offers the following Freelance Writing Services:

For magazines:
Features and columns

For businesses:
Annual reports
Manuals and brochures
Newsletters
Press releases
TV and radio interview scripts, PSAs and tags
Web site content

For the media:
Expert resource for credible nutrition information

Question from Reader Is Aspartame sweetener harmful to our health?

Aspartame and its Relationship to
Science, Politics and Industry

Question:
Is Aspartame sweetener harmful to our health? I was reading online that the acid included can burn a hole in the brain. Is this true?  FW

The safety of aspartame has been the subject of several political, industrial and medical controversies.

Science.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener used as a sugar substitute in many foods and beverages. The body breaks down aspartame into two common amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine, and a third substance, methanol. These three substances are available in foods we commonly eat. Because its breakdown products include phenylalanine, aspartame must be avoided by people with the genetic condition phenylketonuria (PKU).


Politics, Government and Industry.
 In 1980, the FDA convened a Public Board of Inquiry charged with examining the relationship between aspartame and brain cancer. The board concluded aspartame does not cause brain damage, but it recommended against approving aspartame at that time, citing unanswered questions about cancer in laboratory rats.

FDA task force investigated allegations of errors in the research conducted by the manufacturer (G.D. Searle & Company) and found only minor discrepancies that did not affect the study outcomes.

In 1981, G.D. Searle & Company then led by CEO Donald Rumsfeld, re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame in food sweetener. The new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review the board’s decision. The panel upheld the ban by a 3-2 decision. Hayes then added a sixth member to the commission, and the vote was tied. Hayes personally broke the tie in favor of aspartame. Hayes later left the FDA under allegations of impropriety. He later took a position with Burston-Marsteller, the chief public relations firm for G.D. Searle and Company. Since that time he has never spoken publicly about aspartame.

In 1983, the FDA further approved aspartame for use in carbonated beverages, and for use in other beverages, baked goods, and confections in 1993. In 1996, the FDA removed all restrictions from aspartame allowing it to be used in all foods.

Critics claim FDA’s approval of aspartame was impaired by conflicts of interest and questionable research. The validity of these claims were examined and dismissed. In 1987, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the food additive approval process had been followed properly for aspartame.

Aspartame has been found to be safe for human consumption by more than ninety countries worldwide, with FDA officials describing aspartame as "one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives the agency has ever approved" and its safety as "clear cut" (2). The weight of existing scientific evidence indicates that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a non-nutritive sweetener.


Aspartame (1) as listed in the Food Additive Status List
NUTRS (Nutritive Sweetener).
REG (Food additives for which a petition has been filed and a regulation issued).
GMP (In accordance with good manufacturing practices; or sufficient for purpose; or quantity not greater than required).

Sweetening agent, sugar substitute uses stated in - 172.804. Sugar substitute tablets, breakfast cereals, chewing gum, dry bases for beverages, instant coffee and tea beverages, gelatins, puddings, fillings, and dairy product analog toppings, ready-to-serve nonalcoholic flavored beverages, tea beverages, fruit juice based drinks where food standards permit such use, fruit flavored drinks and ades, imitation fruit flavored drinks and ades, frozen stick-type confections and novelties, breath mints, hard and soft candy, refrigerated ready-to-serve gelatins, puddings, and fillings, fruit wine beverages with EtOH <7%, yogurt-type products where aspratame is added after pasteurization and culturing, refrigerated flavored milk beverages, frozen desserts, frostings, toppings, fillings, glazes and icings for precooled baked goods, frozen, ready-to-thaw-and-eat cheesecakes, fruit and fruit toppings, frozen dairy and nondairy frostings, toppings, and fillings, fruit spreads, fruit toppings, and fruit syrups, malt beverages with <7% EtOH and containing fruit juice, baked goods and baking mixes 0.5 wt.-% of ready-to bake products or of finished formulation and prior to baking.


References
1. Listing of Food Additive Status Part I.
2. Sugar Substitutes: Americans Opt for Sweetness and Lite. John Henkel, writer for FDA Consumer.

A Special Gift for Father's Day

Dear Dad.

We have a Special Gift for you. 
 

 

Checklist to Stay Healthy

No Tobacco

Eat Healthy

Exercise regularly

Stay at a healthy weight

Take Your Medication

Go for Screening Tests for

Cholesterol, HDL, LDL

High Blood Pressure

Colorectal Cancer

Diabetes

Depression

We love you Dad.

The Registered Dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN

Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN

Website. BTD Nutrition Consultants

Blog. Better Than Dieting (USA Today) 

Facebook. Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN 

LinkedIn Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA,RD,CDN 

Twitter @eatsmartbd 

Bonnie Taub-Dix details healthy lunch ideas on a budget.

Bonnie Taub-Dix is a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and Director and Owner of BTD Nutrition Consultants with offices on Long Island and in New York City. She is a specialist in behavior and lifestyle modification, nutritional psychotherapy, obesity and weight management.

Ms. Taub-Dix is a regular guest on national television and radio programs and in the press, providing practical advice on healthy living to publications such as The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and WebMD and shows including CNN, CBS Early Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, FOX 5 News, and The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.

 

She’s worked with The Discovery Channel and Lifetime TV as an on-air consultant for several nationally broadcast shows As a consultant to Cartoon Network, she collaborated on designing a program for the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regarding food labeling for children. As a liaison between industry and the public, she holds a position on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Family Circle Magazine and Environmental Nutrition Newsletter. In 2003, she was named “Outstanding Nutrition Entrepreneur of the Year” by the American Dietetic Association, and the following year she received the New York State Dietetic Association’s Media Excellence Award.

National Men's Health Week June 14 - 20, 2010

Men's Health
Prevention - Act Now

  •Men are dying of the top causes of death at higher rates than women

 •Approximately 30,000 men in the US die each year from prostate cancer
 - from Men’s Health Policy

Men's Health: A Global Perspective
Part One. Dr. Larry Goldenberg speaks at the 2nd Public Forum
on Men's Health on May 19, 2010 in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Men's Health Week.com  is maintained by Men's Health Network. Men's Health Network (MHN), is a non-profit educational organization focused on improving the health and wellbeing of men, boys and their families through a broad spectrum of national screening, educational campaigns, advocacy opportunities and patient navigation.


MHN can be found in every state and over 25 foreign countries. The advisory board consists of over 800 physicians, researchers, public health workers and community leaders specializing in men's and family health.

Men's Health Week

The purpose of Men's Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.

This week gives health care providers, public policy makers, the media, and individuals an opportunity to encourage men and boys to seek regular medical advice and early treatment for disease and injury.

The Goals of Men’s Health Network

 *Save men's lives by reducing premature mortality of men and boys.

 *Foster health care education and services that encourage men of all ages to implement positive lifestyles for themselves and their families.

 *Increase the physical and mental health of men so that they can live fuller and happier lives.

 *Energize government involvement in men's health activities so that existing government health networks can be utilized to increase the health and well-being of men and boys.

 Men’s Health Week
 From Australia  

Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age Your Checklist for Health (pdf file)

The information in this fact sheet is based on research findings from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The USPSTF is the leading independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care. The Task Force, which is supported by AHRQ, conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services.

Meet the Dietitians on Facebook

Meet the Dietitians on Facebook.
Stop By and Join Us at Dietitians Online

Dietitians on Facebook

A Look at Wellness Topics for the Week of June 14 to June 20, 2010

Journalists, Bloggers and Writers are needed to provide current wellness topics.

Topics Focus on.....
Current News, Events and Holidays related to Nutrition, Food, Health, Wellness, Weight Control, Food Recalls, Food Safety, Disability Rights, the Environment and Animals.

The Goals are to encourage awareness and inspire ideas for Journalists, Educators and Health Professionals. The information can than be passed on to consumers, families and students.

Weekly Events

June 14-20 National Men's Health Week

June 20-26 Lightening Safety Week 

June 20-26 National Mosquito Control Awareness Week 

Daily Events

June 14th 

Army's Birthday

World Blood Donor Day

Flag Day

National Strawberry Shortcake Day

June15th 

National Lobster Day

Nature Photography Day 

Arkansas becomes the 25th State

June 16th

National Fudge Day

June17th

Eat Your Vegetables Day

June 18th

International Picnic Day

World Refugee Day (usually celebrated on June 20th. Every year, people across the United States use World Refugee Day as a focus for raising awareness and funds in their own communities to gather support for UNHCR.  

June 19th

Juneteenth

World Sauntering Day. Smell the roses and pay attention to the world around you.

June 20th

Father's Day

West Virginia becomes the 35th State

The Registered Dietitian Pamela Ofstein, MS, RD, LDN

 Pamela B. Ofstein, MS, RD, LDN

 Blog. Pamela Ofstein

Website. eDiets

Twitter. @PamRD_eDiets

Facebook. Pamela Ofstein

LinkedIn. Pamela Ofstein

Pamela Ofstein is the Director of Nutrition Services at eDiets.com since 2003. eDiets.com is one of the leading providers of online diet and fitness services.

As head of the Nutrition Division, Pam represents eDiets in the following areas:
1.   Develops, Designs and Implements the company’s nutritional components, including all product offerings, food plans and meal development.

2.   Involved with the review of nutritional branding and marketing initiatives.
3.   As the Nutrition Expert and Company Spokesperson she is responsible for all nutrition media, public relations, web videos and podcasts. Pam has appeared on NewBaby.com, ITunes, iGot2Know.com, ExerciseTV, myalli.com, film productions (television commercials and recipe videos) and radio talk shows. She has contributed articles to Cooking Light, Best Life, Redbook, Maxim, Boston Herald, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel and local magazines.

Decoding Food Labels

Pam takes you to the Supermarket

Since there is always room to work with the public and community sector, Pam owns and operates a private consulting practice Pamela B. Ofstein &amp; Associates for over the past ten years promoting health and educating individuals on renal disease, diabetes, child obesity, weight-management and general nutrition health. Serving the public allows Pam to continue to lend her expertise as a national spokeswoman for a vast array of media venues.

Pamela Ofstein offers

Nutritional Tips, Post Pregnancy for Newbaby.com

Pam is the author of Look and Feel Great Through Nutrition, A Simple Guide to a Healthier You. The book is practical, easy to understand and designed for the public to control weight, improve energy, and enhance overall health.

“I think we can all agree that things in life need to be less complex. Understanding nutrition and ways we can improve our health should be just that – simple and easy. With so much information available it is easy to get caught up in nutrition overload. My goal is to reach out and provide the essential health and nutrition points that can be useful and make you think, ‘Aha, I understand this’."

 

Look and Feel Great Through Nutrition

Pam discusses her new book - a 60 minute guide to Nutrition, Health and Dieting.

Pam is a member of the American Dietetic Association and serves on the board of the Florida Council on Renal Nutrition/National Kidney Foundation. She received her Certification in Adult Weight Management from the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Pam is the co-founder of the Annual Renal Professionals Forum Seminar. Some of her accomplishments include being named “The Young Recognized Dietitian” and the recipient of the “National Kidney Foundation Dietitian Exemplary Practice Award.”