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Our View
Drop in child obesity is truly good news
In this time so often filled with news of tragedies and problems, it’s so refreshing to hear some good news, and it’s very good news to hear childhood obesity may be on the decline, at long last. Obesity in children nationwide had been dubbed “an epidemic.” However, federal researchers have found evidence the epidemic may be waning. The obesity rate for preschool children from poor families declined in 18 states between 2008 and 2011, according to a study. It’s the first time such a decline was reported after decades of rising rates among low-income children. We can be proud Minnesota is one of those 18 states in which there was a drop in obesity among low-income children. The rate in Minnesota fell from 13.4 percent in 2008 to 12.6 percent in 2011, which is one of the sharpest drops nationally. One in eight preschoolers is obese. Among low-income children, it is one in seven. The rate is highest for blacks (one in five) and for Hispanics (one in six). “We’ve seen isolated reports in the past that have had encouraging trends, but this is the first report to show declining rates of obesity in our youngest children,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which prepared the report. “We are going in the right direction for the first time in a generation.” No one is certain exactly why a decrease is happening, although theories abound: less intake of sugary soda drinks, healthier foods available from federal nutrition programs and increased breast feeding (which can lead to healthier weight gain among young children). Other possible reasons are increasing nutritional awareness in daycare homes and centers and improved nutrition in preschool programs. A nationwide anti-obesity program started and promoted by First Lady Michelle Obama may also have helped, the study noted. That program emphasizes wise eating and exercise habits. One reason health experts worry about lowincome children is in many cases their parents cannot afford to buy high-quality nutritious foods like fresh fruits and vegetables or they have no ready access to such foods in innercity neighborhoods. Whatever the reasons, the news is good. The obesity epidemic may be permanently on the decrease. We should never rest on laurels, however. We must continue to promote healthy eating and healthy lifestyles for people – children and adults – across all income groups. That will take time; it’s a slow, incremental process, but a big part of this good news is it appears that healthy trend has already begun to take hold.
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Friday, Oct. 25, 2013
Opinion Will Tea Party cause another shutdown? Our elected are supposed to be public servants – not bullies, not grandstanding stars, not scoundrels. But that’s just the way the Tea Party faction in Congress has been behaving for the past three years. I’m sick and tired of hearing how the government shutdown and the threatened rejection of the debt limit was caused by the president and the Democrats. That’s like saying if everybody’s guilty, nobody’s guilty. The recent inexcusable crisis was caused by the vast majority of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, whipped by the Tea Party upstarts, all of it orchestrated by a self-serving egotist and presidential hopeful by the name of Sen. Ted Cruz. Some say the president and the Democrats wouldn’t compromise. While it’s true the president, thankfully, stuck to his guns, refusing to cave into the Tea Party extortionist scheme, he did, in fact, meet many times with Republicans, and every time they balked. First, the Tea Party insisted on defunding ObamaCare, even though they knew that was a no-go, no matter how much they whined, wheedled and plotted. Then, they proposed incremental changes to ObamaCare, hoping to whittle away at its foundation like famished termites. When that appeared to be a no-go, they proposed budget cuts and all manner of manipulations to frustrate Congress and the president. The Tea Party’s ultimately self-defeating tactics were obvious from the beginning when Ted “Fake Filibuster” Cruz talked nonsense for 21 straight hours to make a name for himself in the spotlight, like a copycat of movie star Jimmy Stewart in the famous filibuster scene in “Mr. Smith Goes to
Dennis Dalman Editor Washington.” The Tea Party and some of their Republican minions were completely reckless, not caring one whit for the sufferings their shutdown caused. Indeed, some of them, like our “very own” Rep. Michele Bachmann gleefully gloated about how the shutdown had made Republicans “so happy.” We should demand a recall election to get rid of her. It was nauseating to see these Tea Party types, after they’d caused the shutdown, scurrying around at the World War II Veterans Monument expressing phony outrage about how the president caused the memorial’s closure. One congressional creep even berated a woman park-department employee at the monument, telling her she should be ashamed of herself, as if SHE had anything to do with the shutdown. And there was Bachmann, of course, for yet another photo op, hugging and kissing veterans. Later, Cruz and other Tea Party rabble-rousers gathered near the White House. One protest sign depicted Obama as a kind of mentally retarded monkey. Another riff-raff hooligan held up a confederate flag by the White House gates. For three years, Tea Party rallies far and wide have attracted riff-raff elements displaying ignorant, blatantly racist behavior – as ugly as a lynch mob. What drives these people is a blind, irrational, rabid hatred of President
Obama. They are fueled by lunatic lies about him, lies they either invent or parrot after hearing them on right-wing hate radio shows. What’s worse, the Tea Party never berates these crude ralliers; Tea Party leaders not only tolerate them but slyly encourage them through the use of dog-whistle code words. It’s a disgusting irony the Tea Partiers and intimidated Republicans, who pretend to care so much about wasteful spending, caused this nation to lose at least $24 billion in the shutdown, according to Standard and Poor’s, a respected, nonpartisan financial research company. Because of their implied threat on the debt limit, they also sent jitters of uncertainty through companies and financial markets worldwide. These jokers claim ObamaCare will ruin the economy when they themselves came close to tanking the economy big-time in one fell swoop. And what if these reckless wreckers cause another shutdown come January? I get very upset when I hear people say, “That blankety-blank Congress. They’re all crooks. All useless.” That is simply not true. There are many hard-working, good public servants in Congress on both sides of the aisle. There is hope that reasonable, decent Republicans will stand up to these extortionists and tell them just where to go. The Tea Party has hijacked the Republican Party, and it’s the party’s fault because it has courted these obstructionist rebels for too long. If good Republicans want to win in presidential elections, they better start soundly rejecting the Tea Party, which has become a millstone around Republicans’ necks.
Beware of nonprescription contact lenses Don’t buy contact lenses from any store or website if it doesn’t require a prescription Selling lenses without a prescription is illegal and can put consumers’ eye health at risk, warns the Minnesota Optometric Association. Halloween is all about trick-or-treating and finding a creative costume, but before playing dress up, consumers need to heed health and safety first. Some enthusiastic partygoers may wear decorative contact lenses as part of their costume, which can change a person’s eye color or create the effect of being a character like a cat, zombie or vampire. However, if these lenses are bought illegally and without a prescription from your eye doctor, they could lead to serious health issues and potentially damage your eyesight. The Minnesota Optometric Association urges you to talk to your eye doctor first and obtain a prescription before incorporating decorative contact lenses as part of your costume. Decorative contact lenses purchased over-the-counter put the wearer at risk for bacterial infections, allergic reactions and/or significant damage to the eye’s ability to function, with the potential for irreversible sight loss. All contact lenses are classified as medical devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, whether they correct your vision or are worn simply for fun or a special occasion, like prom or a wedding. However, some decorative lenses are sold illegally
Dr. Nicholas Colatrella Guest Writer through flea markets, the Internet, beauty salons and convenience stores. The MOA warns that you should never buy lenses from these sources. It’s important to have a medical eye and vision examination from your optometrist to be sure you are a good candidate for contact lenses. Your eye doctor will also make sure your lenses fit properly and teach you how to safely care for your lenses. Even though these are non-corrective lenses, they still pose the same potential health and safety risks as other contact lenses. Don’t buy contacts from any store or website that doesn’t require an eye doctor’s prescription. If you can walk in off the street, or logon to a website and buy them without verification of your prescription, the lenses are not being sold legally. According to the American Optometric Association’s 2013 American Eye-Q® consumer survey, 17 percent of Americans have worn non-corrective, decorative contact lenses. Of those individuals, 24 percent purchased them illegally without a prescription and from a source other than an eye doctor. The MOA offers the following recommendations for all contact lens
wearers: wear contact lenses only if they are fitted and prescribed by an optometrist; do not purchase contact lenses from gas stations, video stores or any other vendor not authorized by law to dispense contact lenses; never swim while wearing contact lenses – there is a risk of eye infection when contact lenses come into contact with bacteria in swimming pool water; make sure contact lenses are properly cleaned and disinfected as instructed by your eye-care professional; make sure you wash your hands before handling and cleaning your contact lenses; never swap or share contact lenses with anyone; and never sleep while wearing contact lenses unless they are extended-wear lenses specifically designed for that purpose. For more information about the risks associated with decorative contact lenses, or to find additional resources about contact lens hygiene and safety, please visit www.aoa.org or http://Minnesota.aoa.org. The Minnesota Optometric Association has more than 400 member doctors of optometry around the state. The MOA is committed to furthering awareness of optometrists as primary eye care or family eye doctors and to bringing about change that positively impacts the MOA member doctors and their patients. Dr. Nicholas Colatrella is owner and medical director of PineCone Vision Center, Sartell, and vice president of the Minnesota Optometric Association.