African Americans and Kidney Disease

Hello everyone!
Here is a recent post from the National Institutes of Health that I thought you might find interesting:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases



NEW PUBLICATION HELPS AFRICAN AMERICANS "MAKE THE KIDNEY CONNECTION"
The National Kidney Disease Education Program Creates New Brochure for African Americans at Risk for Kidney Disease

The National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has created an educational brochure tailored specifically for African Americans at risk for kidney disease. The brochure - "Kidney Disease: What African Americans Need to Know: -- explains the connection between diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease, and encourages those at risk to talk to their health care providers about getting tested.

African Americans are disproportionately affected by kidney failure due in part to higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure -- the two leading causes of kidney failure. "Diabetes and high blood pressure are all too common among African Americans, yet many are unaware of their risk factors and the importance of getting tested," said Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). "NKDEP recognizes the importance of promoting key messages about kidney disease risk factors to this audience."

The brochure explains the blood and urine tests used to detect kidney disease in simple, easy-to-read language. It also outlines several steps to protect one's kidneys. These include:

-- Keeping your kidneys healthy by managing your diabetes and high blood pressure;
-- Asking your health care provider to test your blood and urine for kidney disease; and
-- If you have kidney disease, talking to your health care provider about treatment options.

"Unlike many diseases, kidney disease often has no symptoms until it is very advanced," says NKDEP Director, Dr. Andrew Narva. "For this reason and others, it is important for African Americans to not only become aware of their risk, but also to learn about the steps they can take to keep their kidneys healthier longer. An important step is to get tested."

In developing the brochure, NKDEP worked with health care professionals who routinely care for African American patients at risk for kidney disease. Reviewers included NKDEP Coordinating Panel members and representatives from the Association of Minority Nephrologists.

By partnering with national, state, and local organizations, including government agencies, NKDEP hopes to reach a large number of African Americans with this information.

For more information about the brochure and other NKDEP materials, visit or call 1-866-4 KIDNEY (1-866-454-3639).

NKDEP, an initiative of NIDDK, aims to improve early detection of kidney disease, help identify patients at risk for progression of kidney failure, and promote interventions to slow progression of kidney disease.

NIDDK, a component of the NIH, conducts and supports research in diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about NIDDK and its programs, see .

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit .

Teaching Kids to Cook

Hello everyone,
Parents always ask me when they drop off their kids at my school (sometimes I have 12 kids with knives!) how I do it. They are such nervous wrecks when they see their child with a knife. It's really very simple teaching kids how to cook. Here is my secret; relax...that's it.
Granted when your child or a room full of children have knives you have to be very careful and set very clear ground rules. When kids are using knives at my school they know the rules. When you are slicing and chopping, your eyes are only on your board, period. In the almost 5 years I've had my school I have had very few accidents and when I ask the child who might have nicked themselves why they think that happened they always say that they weren't being careful and rarely does it happen again. On the flip side if you are standing behind them and are such a nervous wreck, they become nervous and that can also become a problem.
This carries through to other parts of being in a kitchen. Let them experiment with seasonings and altering ingredients. Be relaxed and the process will become fun and you will set up a lifetime of kitchen enjoyment.
In good (relaxed) health,
Patty

Milk and Calcium

Hello everyone,
Here is a subject that should go in the same category with religion and politics-things not to be discussed- because they get folks so riled-up. Here is something I received from the National Institutes of Health:

"MILK MATTERS" ONLINE LESSON RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR TEACHERS

New online resources stressing the importance of calcium for bone health are now available for middle and high school teachers. The resources are available through the Milk Matters calcium education campaign, sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

The new resources, available at feature fun, hands-on classroom lessons created to teach young people about the importance of calcium for bone health.

The online lessons for teachers are part of the NICHD's "Milk Matters" calcium education campaign, which aims to increase awareness about the importance of calcium in children's and adolescents' diets. The campaign encourages 11-to-15-year-olds in particular to consume sufficient calcium because these are the years of rapid bone growth.

"Teachers play an important role in raising awareness about healthy behaviors," said NICHD Director Duane Alexander, M.D. "The "Milk Matters"' Web resources offer teachers user-friendly tools that focus on the importance of calcium for bone health among tweens and teens, age groups that often don't get enough calcium to meet their needs."

"Milk Matters"' online lesson resources are designed to help students understand the importance of making smart food choices through calcium lessons, fact sheets, take-home assignments, and classroom discussion. In "The Great Calcium Challenge", students learn to read nutrition labels and calculate their calcium intake. The "Calcium Collector" includes a game in which students choose a combination of foods that will provide 1,300 milligrams of calcium -- the daily recommended intake. Both lessons also reinforce students' math skills.

The Smart Snack Cookbook gives students an opportunity to create a recipe book of simple, healthy snacks, such as fruit smoothies. The lesson resources also include a lactose intolerance discussion guide to help teachers discuss the symptoms of lactose intolerance (stomach pain, diarrhea, bloating, and gas) and ways for reducing them. All of the materials are consistent with National Health Education Standards. These Standards were developed by the American Association for Health Education, the American Public Health Association, the American School Health Association, and the Society of State Directors of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation to establish, promote, and support health-enhancing behaviors for students in all grade levels.

In addition to teacher materials, the "Milk Matters" Web site offers a variety of free materials for parents and health care providers that emphasize the importance of calcium in the diets of children and teens, including a booklet, poster, fact sheets, a coloring book, and sticker. Many of these materials are available in English and Spanish.

The "Milk Matters" campaign stresses low-fat or fat-free milk as an excellent source of calcium because:

-- milk has high calcium content in a form the body can easily absorb

-- milk contains other nutrients, including vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin K, riboflavin, B12, potassium, magnesium, and protein, that are essential to healthy bone and tooth development

-- milk is widely available and is already a part of many people's diets.

To download the classroom activities and other "Milk Matters" materials, or for more information on the "Milk Matters" campaign, visit or contact the NICHD Information Resource Center at 1-800-370-2943; .

O.K. now tell me our Dairy Lobby isn't powerful. Here is some non-biased information on calcium so you can make a good decision about calcium and where to find it.
Calcium is a mineral that the body needs for building and maintaining bones and teeth, blood clotting, the transmission of nerve impulses, and the regulation of the heart's rhythm. Ninety-nine percent of the calcium in the human body is stored in the bones and teeth and the remaining 1 percent is found in the blood and other tissues.
The National Academy of Scieces recommends the following, but keep in mind these are derived from short-term studies and many believe these amounts might be too high (stay tuned for updated information.)
1,000 mg/day for those age 19-50
1,200 mg/day for those age 50 or over
1,000 mg/day for pregnant or lactating adult women

O.K. here comes the milk part. Reasons why milk intake for calcium sources could be a problem.
~Many people are lactose intolerant
~High-saturated fat content
~Possible increased risk of prostate and ovarian cancer

Here is a chart crested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that you might find useful:

Food Amount Calcium
Yogurt, plain, low fat 8 oz 415
Collards, frozen, boiled 1 cup 357
Skim milk 1 cup 306
Spinach, frozen, boiled 1 cup 291
Yogurt, plain, whole milk 8 oz 275
Cheese food, pasteurized American 1 oz 162
Cottage cheese, 1% milk fat 1 cup 138
Baked beans, canned 1 cup 154
Canned salmon 3 oz 181
Oranges 1 cup 72
Trail mix (nuts, seeds, chocolate chips) 1 cup 159
Almonds 1 oz (24 nuts) 24 nuts 70
Blackeye peas, boiled 1 cup 211
Green peas, boiled 1 cup 94

Whew...this was a long one, but I hope it helped.
In good health,
Patty

Life-Skills for Kids

I have discovered at my school these past 4 years, that kids really love to cook and to learn about healthy choices. I have a group of kids from a local public school who come into my school every semester. They will eat anything that they get to make and are very curious about food and health. It is wonderful when they ask so many questions and later one of the parents tells me that they can’t have white bread in the house anymore because their child tells them it’s not healthy. The biggest success for me is when the kids understand why drinking soda is so harmful to their health and they simply stop drinking it.
Here is the bottom line; our nation’s kids are in ill-health as a group and it goes back to education. I have found that when you explain to kids what is good for them and then show them how to make healthy food, they “get-it.” They don’t want to grow up to have diabetes. They don’t want to be over-weight. They do want to feel good and strong and healthy.
As a nation, we teach our children trigonometry, but leave out basic life skills such as nutrition, cooking, sewing on buttons, balancing a checkbook, etc. How did this happen? Why did this happen? It’s typical short-sighted thinking. We think that it’s too expensive to offer these classes in school, denigrating the worth of basic skills. What about the high cost of health care (or more appropriately in this country and many others disease-care)? What about the intrinsic value of knowing you can take care of yourself?
I watch these kids in my kitchen and I hear their questions and I know how much they need and enjoy this basic education. Let’s get these basic skills back into our schools.

Best of health,
Patty

October 5, 1947

Hello everyone,
I always wake-up to the New York Times on my computer. They always have a quote or interesting fact of the day and today's was very interestng to me. Here it is:

~On October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address; President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.

For those who eat meat everyday, this advice could be inspiring. If not to stockpile grain for people elsewhere (though that is noble as well) but to help environmentally. As we all know, feeding grain to animals is not the best way to consume those grains. Wasn't it Diet for a Small Planet that first talked about this?

Just food for thought...
Patty