The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recently came out with a “Get Your Plate in Shape” Campaign for 2012 National Nutrition Month.

Here are their tips from the campaign to shape your plate:

• Think about what you are putting on your plate.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Choose “reduced sodium” or “no salt added” canned vegetables.
• Make at least half your grains whole grains.
• Switch to fat free or low fat dairy products.
• Eat a variety of proteins such as sea food, nuts, beans, lean meat, poultry and eggs
• Cut back on sodium, solid fats and sugary drinks.
• Enjoy your foods but eat less.
• Be conscious of calories.
• Use a smaller, plate bowl and glass.
• When eating out, choose lower calorie options.
• Write down what you eat and keep track of what you eat.

For more eating tips, go to www.eatright.org

In addition to watching what you put on your plate, the Academy offers the following exercise guidelines:

• Children and teens need to get 60 or more minutes a day of physical activities.
• Adults need two hours and thirty minutes a week of activity that requires moderate effort such as brisk walking.

In a recent newsletter from Beth Israel Hospital, NYC, Elizabeth Palillo, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacy Manager stresses that at least once a year we need to go through our medicine cabinets and do the following:

• Throw out expired products.
• Discard prescription medications we don’t use anymore.
• If the cold and flu season is over, throw that medicine out. The cough medicine bottle is probably contaminated because someone drank right from the bottle.
• Throw out last year’s sunscreen as sunscreen degrades after being exposed to heat.
• Restock first aid products.

Ms. Palillo offers the following advice about storing and disposing of medicine:

• Find another place than the bathroom to store medicine as there is too much heat and steam in this room on a regular basis. Better places are: nightstands, a kitchen cabinet or a desk.
• Take care disposing of your medicines. Dump pills and liquids in a tin can that can be sealed, such as a coffee can and mix with something non-edible such as kitty litter or powdered detergent. Duct tape the lid to the can and dispose of in the garbage.

• Be environmentally friendly and don’t flush medicine down the toilet. Exceptions to the no-flush rule are narcotics and painkillers. The reason for suggesting flushing these medications is there is potential for them to be found in the trash and abused.

According to an article published in women’s health.gov, those of us who are not getting enough sleep may be consuming more than 500 extra calories each day.

These findings are the outcome of a recent small study in which healthy young men and women were studied for eight nights.

Half of the participants got their normal amount of sleep (control group) while the other half got only two-thirds of their typical amount of sleep (sleep-deprived group).

All the participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted during the study.

Those in the sleep-deprived group slept one hour and 20 minutes less each night than those in the control group, and consumed an average of 549 additional calories per day.

Both groups burned about the same amount of energy for activity, which suggests that those in the sleep-deprived group didn’t burn additional calories.

Lack of sleep was associated with increased levels of leptin and decreased levels of ghrelin, both of which are appetite-associated hormones. These changes were more likely a result of overeating, rather than the cause of overeating, according to the study, which was presented last week at an American Heart Association (AHA) meeting.

“Sleep deprivation is a growing problem, with 28 percent of adults now reporting that they get six or fewer hours of sleep per night,” study co-author Dr. Andrew Calvin, a cardiology fellow and assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said in an AHA news release.

Although this study suggests sleep deprivation may be an important and preventable cause of weight gain and obesity, it was a small study and does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers noted.

“Larger studies of people in their home environments would help confirm our findings,” Calvin said.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, March 14, 2012

From time to time our readers write and offer to share their knowledge and ideas in a guest post.

Today’s post is from Flashlight Press, an independent publisher of children’s picture books.

Flashlight Press is sharing free printable activities for each of their book titles. Just go to their URL at:

http://www.flashlightpress.com/Activity_Guides.html >

 An invitation…If you want to share with readers by submitting a guest post, please know that:

• We accept posts about a particular subject of interest to parents or teachers of children 3-7 years of age
• We accept a post that gives access to a free product , such as the downloads above, if suitable for the same age group

We do not accept straight advertising, sales or promotional materials, etc. If someone has a new book out and wants to include that in their brief bio accompanying the article, that is acceptable .

A guest post needs to be between 500 and 750 words. We reserve the right not to publish posts that we feel are not appropriate for our readers due to content.

If you are interested in submitting a guest post for this blog or the children’s blog, please send it to jeanc@candostreet.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

From time to time, “Can Do” Street features a guest post by someone who provides a service or product that might be of interest to parents and teachers of children 3-7 years of age.

We do not endorse or recommend, we just share information.

We welcome guest posts from parents, teachers and professionals who work with young children and their families. We also will feature guest posts from book companies and others wanting to provide sample products at no cost to our readers.

The following guest share is by Sara Dawkins, an active nanny as well as an active freelance writer. She is a frequent contributor of nanny service. She can be reached at saradawkins61ATgmail.com.

How to Teach the Importance of Sharing

It’s always a big debate when you’re trying to decide if you’re going to hire a nanny to watch over your child or if you’re going to place them in a daycare setting. Each option has distinct advantages and disadvantages, especially the different character traits your child will learn.

Having a nanny watch your children gives parents more flexibility with work schedules and a certain piece of mind knowing that your child isn’t being exposed to different illnesses and bad behavior.

However being a nanny you realize quickly that because the child you’re watching isn’t surrounded by other kids their age that it’s important to teach them as soon as possible how important the act of sharing is.

The trick to teaching kids how to share is to make it fun!

1. Share constantly

Get out two different toys and give one to the child and keep the other one for yourself. After playing with them for a little while ask if they want to play with the one you have.

If you go out for ice cream get a different flavor than they do and then ask if they want to try a bite of yours. Go out of your way to share with them whenever you can so that they learn that this is good behavior to mimic.

2. Express appreciation

Whenever the child swaps a toy with you express gratitude for their selfless sharing, even if you prompted them to share something. Getting them to understand how rewarding it is to share things with other people will help them want to continue to share.

3. Compliment frequently

Anytime they share something with you, even if it’s only a story or they just want to show you what they have, compliment them on their wonderful ability to share. Try to use the word “share” somewhere in the compliment so that they associate the behavior with the act of sharing.

As soon as their parents get home each night compliment the child’s sharing to them also. Reinforce good behavior as often as possible.

4. Donate old toys

Coordinate with the parents a day that you can take them to donate old toys. As they begin to outgrow certain toys or books start collecting them and then take the kids to a place that accepts donations. Having them go with you will give you a chance to show them that their old toys will become someone’s new toys. You can talk to them about how other kids may not be as fortunate as they are, and explain to them how they’re helping these children by sharing their stuff.

5. Pick certain toys to share

When friends are coming over to play let the child pick out a few toys that they can put away and then let them know that all of their other toys have to be shared with friends. This will help them feel like they’re not giving up everything to others.

Being in a role model position gives the perfect opportunity to teach young children the act of sharing. The younger you start teaching kids about sharing, the better, and it’s important for parents and nannies to work together as a team to teach the children about sharing.