Fitness Tips

Fitness Tips (Link)

• What is 'holding you back' from implementing an exercise program?

Mine are very similar to "I don't have time,"and "It's boring."

• What does moderate exercise feel like?

Your heart is beating, your body is hot, and you have a greater need for oxygen, but you can still easily converse with your partner. 

• List tips to move more during your daily life that you learned from the article.

Walk during lunch or coffee breaks, walk while talking on your phone, park your car a little bit farther from work so you can walk, get off the bus a stop early, do a chore in the house or in the yard, take stairs instead of elevators, play outside, walk your dog, etc.  

• Which tips could help you start or continue to exercise?

Make more diversity in my exercising, walk my dog, play in my yard, and work in my yard and house.

Eating Well on Cheap

Eating Well on Cheap (link to article)

• What are the differences between canned fruit or vegetables and fresh fruit or vegetables?

According to the article canned or frozen vegetables & fruit have a similar nutritional value to fresh ones. It means that if you usually have fresh food leftovers that go bad you can switch to frozen or canned to help preserve your food.

• What "convenience" foods do you enjoy? Why should you try to avoid them?

I like mac 'n cheese, hot dogs, ramen, and frozen burritos. I probably can make fresh burritos, avoid eating ramen & hot dogs too often, and maybe look for recipes or ideas to replace the mac 'n cheese.

• What tips can you give your parents from this article?

My mom is already good at looking for coupons and sales for healthy food and ingredients she needs for recipes, because we have a tight budget, so I think she is right on track. :)

200 Calories

(Link to article)


• Which food do you think has the most calories? How did you come to this conclusion?

I already thought that McDonald’s food (or any fast food really) has the most calories, and it looks like I was close. I am a pretty sure gummy bears and jellybeans are worse, but a burger isn't far behind. I thought that McDonalds had a lot of calories because I’ve seen the nutrition information and also fast food tends to be that way, because of all the oils and processed grains & meat.

• Which food has the least amount of calories? How did you come to this conclusion?

I thought fruit would have the least, because it is organic and delicious, but it turns out vegetables do— especially celery. It surprised me how much celery you could eat without going over 200 calories.

• Which food surprises you most? Why?

Although the celery was pretty surprising, cheese was the most shocking. I love eating cheese. So seeing that small portion for 200 calories made me a bit sad. I thought cheese wouldn't be that bad since it was a dairy product. Guess I was wrong.

Coping with Grief

(Link to article)

• What is the right way to grieve?

There is no "right way." We know that everyone on Earth is unique and individual and it is the same with our reactions and feelings— and the way we grieve.

• Define grief.

Grief is the suffering you feel when you lose something or someone very precious to you. You can feel pain, sorrow, guilt, and blame. 

• Name a few things that can lead to someone grieving.

Loss of a person or a pet, loss of a job, loss of a relationship (friend or lover), or a loved one is seriously ill. 

• What are the 5 stages of grief?

Denial: "This can't have happened."
Anger: "Someone needs to be blamed. This shouldn't have happened."
Bargaining: "If this doesn't happen, I'll do ___"
Depression: "I'm too sad to do anything."
Acceptance: "I accept what's happened and I am at peace."

These are stages of grief, but they do not necessarily happen in this order or individually. A few stages can come on all at once fade away into other stages, and reappear. But, in a period of time specific to the person who is grieving, acceptance does happen.

• What can you do to help someone who is grieving?

Support them in ways they feel they need support: help them face their grief, help them get good physical care, help them express their feelings, etc.

Peer Pressure

(Link to article)

• List some benefits of increasing the number and quality of friendships during adolescent teen years.

The friendships developed in teenage life are usually stronger and more intimate. You will most likely find many similarities between friends in hobbies, thought process, and personal taste. 

• What fears do parents face as their teens become more independent and more focused on their relationships with friends as opposed to them(their parents)?

Parents fear that their teens friendships will pull them away from their family, and the parent-teen relationship, and that their friends will give negative peer pressure that it will influence their teen to take part of harmful activities. 

• List examples of positive peer pressure.

Since friendships usually spark when two people have similar ideas & values, the pressure could lean towards keeping family and personal values and staying away from harmful activities. It also could pressure them to keep high level of performance in education, family, and work. 

• List examples of negative peer pressure.

A teen's friend could easily take part of harmful activities themselves and get addicted to them, then negatively influencing the teen (either silently or verbally) to join them in the activities. It could also pressure them to drop education, leave family, and to not care about work. 

• Do you agree with the statement below? Why or why not?

"While it seems that teens are influenced by their peers, parents continue to be the most influential factor in their lives."

I do agree with this statement, because parents are the ones that have raised the child up to teenage years— they have been extremely influential that entire time! And to think that their influence would stop right when they make friends as teens is slightly ridiculous. In fact, most likely the conflicts between teen and parents happen because either the teen feels like his parents expect too much of him or the parents feel the teen isn't reaching the expectations they feel would lead their teen to a good life. 

• List and describe 4 strategies to cope with peer pressure.

Parents can train their kids, when young, to know how to react to negative peer pressure by going through scenarios and practicing answers. Parents also can build their child's self-esteem and confidence so that they don't feel the need to do whatever they can to "fit in". Families, schools, and communities can create safe environments for teens to develop their relationships and identities. Finally,  parents can respectfully communicate to their teen which friendships they feel harmful or appropriate for them.