Malnutrition- a lack of nutritional elements necessary for your health.

Every year, 15 million children die from hunger.

For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years.

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger

The world’s sanitation and food requirements would only cost the United States $13 billion. This is how much people in the United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year.

One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5.

One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.

This week I discovered a program called “Stop Hunger Now” it is a hunger relief organization that distributes food and life saving materials to many different countries. Volunteers help package nutritious food to send to people in different countries and are used for crisis situations and school feeding programs. They even provide a school lunch program for families in poverty. The “Stop Hunger Now” program has helped children and their families since 1998, and they will do whatever it takes to help end hunger.

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You may be wondering how you can tell if you are REALLY being abused. Usually, there are a few signs that show you are being abused. Here are a couple:

*Your abuser constantly criticizes you and puts you down

*Humiliates you and yells at you in private or in public places

*Ignores your opinion and puts down your accomplishments

*Threatens or intimidates you

*Physically hurts you

*Blames you for his or her abusive behavior

If you realize that someone has done any of these things to you, you may be in an abusive relationship with this person. Wether it be a family member, close friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, you have to make them realize that the behavior they are distributing is unacceptable. You deserve to feel valued, respected, and safe.

Some things you can do to help the situation are listed here:

Talk to your abuser if you are comfortable doing so. Talk about your worries and be clear that you disapprove of his or her lack of control.

Encourage the idea of counseling for the two of you, so you can both understand why the abuse has gotten to the point that it has.

If the abuse has gotten out of hand, and you know you need immediate help:

Call the police or a trusted adult (preferably a guidance counselor, or family member).

Ask your school guidance counselor (providing that the abuser is your friend or partner,) If you can go to counseling together one or two days each week, for help with your relationship.

Stand up for yourself. Laughing at or ignoring the behavior only reinforces the abuse. Make it known to your abuser that physical violence or emotional abuse is not okay.

Once you recognize your abuser, and are able to realize that he or she really IS abusing you, it’s time for you to take a stand. It could make a big difference in your life.

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Here are some interesting facts I found about eating disorders:

1. 90% Of people who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.

2. In the U.S., eating disorders are more common than Alzheimer’s disease: five to ten million people have eating disorders compared to four million with Alzheimer’s disease.

3. Anorexia has the highest premature mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. The majority of deaths are due to physiological complications.

4. People who have severe anorexia often grow a downy layer of hair, called lanugo, all over the body, including the face, in an effort to keep the body warm.

5. Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives.

6. The average American woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 164 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds.

7. One out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder.

8. A study found that 53% of thirteen-year-old American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This number grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen.

9. Although recovery from anorexia can often take up to a decade, the outcome of treatment is better than for obesity or breast cancer.

Seeing these facts made me realize that we need to learn to be comfortable at a healthy wieght. I realized that for people with eating disorders, it must be difficult for them to unlearn their behaviors, and relearn others. But with time and patioence, you can understand your relationship between your feelings and eating, and you will be able to accept yourself for who you are.

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“Before a meet, I usually just try to surround myself with people who make me laugh, and I just listen to music or hang out with teammates. I swim the best when I’m relaxed and having fun and not really thinking too much about the race. I’ve already done all that in practice!”
—Katie Hoff: U.S. Olympic swimmer.

“Before I go out on the court, I like to think about this quote that my mom once texted me before a game, because it makes me mentally tough: ‘Pressure can make diamonds, or pressure can burst pipes.’ It reminds me to focus on the positive outcomes, and it motivates me to go out and play my best.”
— Skylar Diggins, junior guard for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team. Star of the 2010 NCAA tournament!

“Whenever I hit a wall in practice, or a game isn’t going our way, I do two things. First, I make myself smile because forcing that positive energy into your body really works after a while. Next, I start the positive chatter — just dishing out compliments and motivation to myself and to my teammates. I swear, confidence is contagious!”
— Alex Morgan, the youngest member of the U.S. Women’s World Cup soccer team.

Take this advice from the Pros, and go out and rock your season!

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Tooth Brush Squats!Stand up against a wall when you brush your teeth and bend your kneew until your sitting up against the wall. Hold this position ofr thirty seconds, stand up and take a breath, then go back in the same position for another thirty seconds to finish brushing your teeth. This simple work out tones your legs and butt, and should be done twice a day (or everytime you brush your teeth!).

Heavy Backpack!
Fill up your back pack with books! They don’t neccesarily have to be books from school, they could be any extra books you find around the house, you can even throw in some super-light wieghts. The extra wiegt helps you burn more calories whenever your walking around! Try not to put too many items in your bag. If your backpack is too heavy, it could cause a strain on your back. Try this on weekdays as often as possible!

Invisible Ab Work Out!
You can do this super sneaky trick wherever you are, whenever you want! All you have to do is sit up straight and squeeze your abs as tight as you can (but don’t overdo it!) and hold for 30 seconds. This counts as one set. Repeat this five times with a minute between each set. Nobody will even notice your doing it! You should do this work out at least three times a week.

Swivel Chair Ab Work Out!
If you have a swivel chair at home or at school, you should try this easy excercise. Simply place your arms on the desk in front of you, tighten your core, and swivel to the right and left in your chair. Doing this at least fifteen times a day for five sets will tone your abs and boost your flexibility!

If you do these workouts as they are instructed, you will eventually start to see changes! These simple excercises do pay off, and they take almost no time out of your day!

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You may be the person that decides to work out regularly for 1-2 months, however you never get the results you really want, so you end up “taking a break” for a couple months before realizing you should probably get in shape, so you start exercising again. This cycle will continue to go on if you don’t stay motivated while trying to stay in shape. If you back down just because you don’t have the perfect body within 1-2 months, then this only means that you need to work out more regularly, and try to keep exercising for a longer period of time. If you really try staying motivated you won’t believe what a difference it will make! If you still don’t feel like your seeing any changes, try eating healthier food items along with your work out routine!

Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated:

1.) Keep Your Goals In Mind!
Remind yourself why you started working out in the first place and what you really want to get out of this. When you do this, it will help you finish your work out and strong, and get you the results you REALLY want!

2.) Invite A Friend!
When your exercising with a friend, your able to hold yourself accountable. This way, you can’t schedule a date with them to go work out and then bail on them the day before. Plus, it’s easier to be motivated to do practically anything when you know a friend is going to be with you!

3.) Stay Consistent!
If you do your exercises in sets at anytime you want during the day, your body will get used to it, and pretty soon it’ll become a habit! It will seem as though your body will start missing the daily routine when you skip a day! Try to remember these tips, and you’ll be able to stay motivated throughout your work out routine!

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For example, the diversity club that I am a member of is hosting an ethnic food week at our school. We’ll be making different foods from all over the world, to celebrate people’s backgrounds. We are having a bake sale to raise money for supplies that will be provided by the activist group “Invisible Children” to go to Uganda for the Kony children. We are also going to be sponsoring the new movie “Bully” when it hits our small town’s theater, and as a group, we will go see it the day it comes out.

We make posters with slogans on them about eating healthy, accepting different backgrounds, and bullying, and hang them up around our school. We even create skits that are presented to the school that have to do with different problems that teenagers in high school are facing, like peer pressure, relationships, etcetera.

All in all, diversity club is a good way to express to your school that you care about what’s going on, and you want to get your school to feel the same way. Your able to express how you feel about different situations, and you end up getting involved in some pretty cool stuff. So maybe think about joining your school’s diversity club, or make one of your own. You could be making a big difference in your school.

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At Boys Town, their motto is “Every child has the inherent potential to succeed, no matter what his or her circumstances.” I think that Boys Town is a great opportunity for teenagers to talk to someone if they are having problems with school, family, friends, drugs and alcohol abuse, depression, and more.

Sometimes, we feel uncomfortable telling our parents how we feel about certain issues, so what better way to get your feelings out then by telling someone who you know will listen, and will comfort you every step of the way.

Here are what some kids have to say about how contacting Boys Town completely turned their life around:

DEMARCO
“Boys Town made a difference in my life by providing me with stability.”

TAYLOR
“Boys Town gave me what I needed to put my past behind me and move forward with my life.”

MAYA
“Boys Town believed in me and gave me faith that I had a promising future.”

I believe that when you contact Boys Town or sign up online, your voice will truly be heard, and you won’t have to feel alone any longer.

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As I continued to watch the trailer, I noticed a parent of one the students at the school was having a meeting with one of the directors of the school. She told them what her child has been through on the bus, and how it’s not safe for him to be on that bus any longer. The director simply replied “I’ve been on that bus. Those kids are ANGELS.” It surprised me that the school seemed to do nothing about the fact that a child was being cruelly harassed on the bus and at school, yet no one was doing anything about it.

The movie is not only based on Alex and his trouble with being bullied at school. It also deals with other kids who have been bullied, such as a 14 year old put in jail for pulling a gun on her tormentors, and families that deal with the loss of they’re children because of bullying. The movie focuses on how the issue of bullying is being dealt with in our society today, and how it changed the lives of parents and kids everywhere.

Learn more about the film, and watch the trailer!:

http://thebullyproject.com/

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One example, is a commercial of a girl attending a party. She had been drinking a lot, and as a result, becomes extremely ill. She runs to the bathroom and gets sick in the toilet. However, when the camera moves to the toilet, you can see that she had thrown up pictures of her family and friends, trophies that she’s won throughout her life, and other things that brought back memories. At the end of the commercial, it says “Your not the only thing getting wasted.” This is one of my favorite commercials, because it shows you that if you start abusing alcohol and drugs, your basically throwing your whole life away.

I hope that for some teens, watching many of the “Above The Influence” commercials you see on TV today make them realize that they can either choose to waste their life away, or live a happy, risk free life, saying no to peer pressure, and rising above the influence.

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