Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 1, 1 January 2008 — Resolutions for 2008 should focus on positive changes toward a healthy family [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Resolutions for 2008 should focus on positive changes toward a healthy family

The New Year, 2008, has arrived to bursts of fireworks and fanfare. And, as is the custom, many will have made personal resolutions to change or improve something this year. Alas, just as the smoke from fireworks disappears, so will many of the well-meaning promises to turn over a new leaf. So, why don't we make this year different? After all, 2008 is quite different, it is a Leap Year. Why don't we take a leap of faith and commit to making changes that will stick, in 2008? Let's choose something really different this year. Let's coimnit to changes that help our children.

We ean use that perseverance, drive, detennination, knowledge and resolve used by our Hawaiian ancestors as they created a flourishing nation. These strengths are in our genetic code, too, so let's tap into them and use them. Let's keep our children healthy.

The health status of Native Hawaiians has been a great eoncern for decades. Mueh attention, education and new health services have been created for Hawaiians. And, yet, any change that has occurred has not been big enough or widespread enough for health

statistics to detect it. Let's plan changes to improve Hawaiian heahh together. Then, changes made within our individual homes will improve the heahh of our Hawaiian conununity. Let's think about heahh problems in the news and how they affect us. Several heahh issues have made nahonal news recently. One report said that the heahh of our ehildren is in peril. Not just Hawaiian children, but all U.S. children. Heahh professionals predict that the nation's children, including ours, will have shorter lives than their parents. The report said that U.S. children are fatter and less active than any previous generation. And so, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problems will occur earlier and shorten their lives by about a decade. Another report said that children who get eight hours of sleep eaeh night are less frequently overweight. Still another national report said that rickets, or weakened bones, is making a eome back. Rickets causes bowed legs, weakened ribs and smaller body-size. Rickets results from a laek of vitamin D, bone-building nutrients and exercise. Childhood rickets was nearly eradicated in the 1930s with the addition of vitamin D to milk. Another report said that women are now suffering from heart disease in their 40s. And, still another news release said that weight-gain after breast eancer diagnosis negatively effects a woman's recovery. These are new red flags, in heahh, that we ean vow to change. Let's resolve to help our family make positive changes for heakh in 2008. Issues in the problems for children are the laek of exercise and sleep, as well as poor nutritional choices. Focusing on changes to help Native Hawaiian children grow better and live longer and healthier are: getting enough sleep, adding regular physical activity every day, and nnproving food choices in meals and snacks. These are basic heakh

practices that will benefit all family members, including keiki, mākua and kūpuna. The first step is to include your doctor in the planning process. He ean monitor changes and assure your heakh nnprovements. The next step is to select among several changes and make them either incrementally or all at onee, whichever will work best. Help children get eight hours of sleep and, perhaps, even more if they are in a growth spurt or competitive sports. This means checking that homework gets started nmnediately after school and assuring that k is completed before dinner. Allow for physical activities before dinner, like shooting hoops, tossing the football or baseball, or jogging around the block. That will reduce mental stress, mental fatigue and nnprove appetites, as well as add sunshine as a source of vitamin D. Changes made with foods choices are nnportant. Great heakh improvements ean result from lowering and changing both the type and amount of fats and carbohydrates. Great heakh benefits eome from reducing the total fat in the diet, as well as limiting hannful saturated fats. Many lower-fat choices are available for foods that we buy. Fortunately, these are placed side-by-side in the supermarkets and some are produced by the same manufacturer, assuring their quality and taste will be the same. Compare the "nutrition facts" on food labels and select those that are lower in fat, cholesterol and lower in sugar. Eliminate deep-fried food. Increase the numbers of color-filled vegetables and fruit. Serve fruit to finish meals. Do not forget that water is critical for heakh. Eliminate fruit drinks and soda, except for party times. And, most nnportantly, assure that there is adequate dietary ealeium (milk, milk products and greens, like lū'au and spinach) for growth between the ages of birth and 20. Girls' final growth spurt occurs between 8 and 16 and boys' final growth spurt is between 10 and 20. Leap Year 2008 is the year to coimnit to protecting the heakh of our children and to help ourselves. Let's just do it! I

OLAKINO • YDUR HEALĪH

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D.